Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

1846 OVATIO. PAEAN.
viz. wine, honey, cheese, flour, and a little oil. chiariot drawn by four horses, lbut on foot; le was
(Athen. xi. p. 4.95.) According to other accounts not arrayed in the gorgeous gold embroidered robe,
the victor onlly drank from this cup. The story but ill the simple toga praetexta of a maoistrate;
which was s-imbolically represented in the rites his brows were encircled with a wreath not of
and celremonies of this festival, and which was said laurel but of myrtle; he bore no sceptre in his
to hlave given rise to it, is related by Plutarch hand; the procession was not heralded byr trunm(7T'es. 22, 23) and h)y Proclus (p. 3188, ed. Gais- pets, headed by the senate and thronged with vic-'dCrl. (Conmpare Belkker's Anecdot. p. 318; Ety- torious troops, but was enlivened by a crowd of
mlol. Mign. and IIesychl. s. v.'nXoi; Suidds, s. v. flute-players, atteinded chiefly by knights and ple-'nryo;dpspie a.nd scrXo~tpos.) [L. S.] beians, frequently without soldiers; the ceremonies
OSCl iT,IJU, a diminutive through osculczit were concluded by the sacrifice nlot of a bull but
fiLni os, ceaninig' a little face," was the term of a sheep. (Plut. Ilrarcell. c. 22; Dionys. v. 47;
iappi-lied to faces or heads of Bacchus, which were Gell. v. 6; Liv. iii. 10, xxvi. 21.) The word
sucspen)ded in the vineyards to be turned in every ovatio seems clearly to be derived from the kinid of
directiou by the wind. Whichsoever way they victim offered, and we need pay little respect to
looked, they were supposed to make the vinles in the opinion of Festus (s. v. Oerntes), who supposes
that qcuarter friuitful. (Virg. Geo.?c. ii. 388-392.) it to have been formed from the glad shout 0! O!
The left-hand figure in the annllexed woodcut is fiequently reiterated. nor to that of Dionysius,
tacken f'rom an oscillum of white marble in the whose system required him to trace every customl
British Museum. The back of the head is want- to a Greciacn ourigin, and who therefore maintains
ing. and it is concave within. The mouth ancd that it is corrupted from the Bacchanalian e voL.
pupils of the eyes are perforated. It represents Dionysius makes another mistake in assigning a
the countenance of Bacchus with a beaultifuld, mild, laurel chaplet to the conqueror on these occasions,
anld propitious expression ()moltle, honestcmt, Virg. since all the Roman writers agree with Plutarch
1. c.). A fillet, spirally twisted about a kind of in represencting that the myrtle crown, henlce called
wreath, scurrounds the head, and descends by the Ovelis Corona, was a characteristic of the ovation.
ears towards the neck. The metallic ring, by (Festus, s.v. Ovalis Corona; Plin. HI. N. xv. 29
which the marble was suspended, still renfmains. Plut.; Gell. II. cc.) Compare CORONA, p. 361.
l'he other figure is from an ancient gem (Maffei, In later timres, the victor entered upon horseGemz. Ant. iii. 64), representing a tree with four back (Serv. in Visg. Ae s. iv. 543), and the ovations celebrated by Octavianus, Drusius, Tiberius,
~ O-\ &c., are usually recorded by Dion Cassius by a
reference to this circlmn:stance. (Dion Causs. xlviii.
31, xlix. 15, liv. 8, 33, Iv. 2.)
4 ~ 31' An ovation was granted when the advantage
1 X >l l/'~ if \E r F gained, although considerable, was not sufficient to,x,~ 12, /)t 4 constitute a legitimate claim to the higher distinc~' W f tion of a tricumph, or when the victory had been
~ 0 i t/g{n achieved with little bloodshed, as in the case of
Postumius Tnbertus,. who first received this honour
(Plin. H. N. xv. 29); or when hostilities had not
\ 11:; JQ'/,~ / been regularly proclaimed (Festus, Gell. 11. cc.);
or when the war had not been completely terminated, which was one of the ostensible reasonis for.oscilla hung upon its branches. A SYRINX and a refusing a triumph to Marcellus on his return from
PEDnit are placed at the root of the tree. Sicily (Plut. 1. c.; Liv. xxvi. 21); or when the
From this noun came the verb oscillo, meaning contest had been carried on against base and un" to swing." Swinging (oscillatio) was among the worthy foes, and hence when the servile bands of
bodily exercises practised by the 1Romans, acnd was Athenion and Spartacus were destroyed by Perone of the amusements at the Feriae Latinae. perna cad Crassus, these leaders celebrated ova(Festus, s. v.; Hygin. lab. 130; Wunder, Corn- tions only (Florus, iii. 19 Plin. Gell. I.c.), alnzent. cad Cic. pro Plane. p. 93; FERIAE, p. though thle latter by a special resolcutionI of the se530, a.] [J. Y.] nate was permitted to wear a laurel crown. L W.R.]
O'SCINES. [AGURv, P. 175, b.] OVI'LE. FCOsMrTIA. p. 336, b.]
OSTIA'RIUM was a tax upon the doors of OLU'SIAS DIKE. [EN:,omoru DIsu.]J
houses, which was probably imposed along with OXYBAP'IUM. [AC~rETAUUaLUM.]
the Colimncasrizcne by the lex sem2fietaria of Julius
Caesar. It was levied by Metellus Scipio in Syria,
together with the Columnarium, on which see Co- P.
LvAINARIUM (Caes. B. C. iii. 32; Cic. ad Faeo.
iii. 8). PA'CTIO, PACTUM. [OBLIGATIONES.]
OSTIA'RIUS. [Dovuss p. 4275 b.] PAEAN (Oracicv, raeitl, wracv), a hymn or
O'STIUM. [JANUA.] song which was originally sung in honour of
OSTRACISMUS. [ExsILIUMr, p. 514.] Apollo, and seems to be as old as the worship of
O'STRACON (ihorpaKoe). [FCTILEc.] this deity. The etymology of the word is doubtOVA'TIO, a lesser triumph,; the terms em- fll. Some suppose that it obtained its name from
ployed by the Greek writers on Roman history are Paeon, the god of healing; but in the Homeric
sva, Ecwo'ruvsv, wrebs;Spiagog. The circumstances poems Paeon is always spoken of as a separate
by which it was distinguished from the more im- divinity, distinct from Apollo. Other writers,
posing solemnity [TRIUMPHUS] were the follow- with still less probability, connect it with crefsw, to
ing: - The- general did. not enter the_ city i- a strike. - -- --