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

74 ALAUDA. ALEA.
4. Lastly, under the empire, the term ala was of the head-piece. Cicero in a letter to Atticug,
applied to regiments of horse, raised it would seem written in B. c. 44, states that he had received inwith very few exceptions in the provinces, serving telligence that Antonius was marching uposn the
apart from the legions and the cavalry of the le- city "cum legione alaudarum," and from the
gions. It is to troops of this description that Philippics we learn that by the Lex Judiciaria of
Tacitus refers when (Ann. xv. 10) he mentions Antonius even the common soldiers of this corps
Alacles Pannonii robur equitatus. (Alaudae - masnsiplares ex legione Alaudarun)lc
Some further details on this subject are given were privileged to act as judices upon criminal
under EXERCITUS. [W. R.] trials, and enrolled along with the veterans in the
ALABARCHES (AXaCepxils), appears to have third decuria of judices, avowedly, if we can trust
been the chief magistrate of theJews atAlexandria; the orator, that the framer of the law and his
but whose duties, as far as the government was friends might have functionaries in the courts of
concerned, chiefly consisted in raising and paying justice upon whose support they could depend.
the taxes. (Joseph. Ant. xviii. 18. ~ 1, xix. 5. That the legion Alauda, was numbered V. is
~ 1, xx. 5. ~ 2; Euseb. H. E. ii. 5.) Hence, Ci- proved by several inscriptions, one of them becero (ad Att. ii. 17) calls Pompey alabarches from longing to the age of Domitian in honour of a cerhis raising the taxes. The etymology of this word tain Cn. Domitius, who among many other titles is
is altogether uncertain, and has given rise to great styled TRIB. MIL. LEG. V. ALAUDAE. It had
disputes; some modern writers propose, but with- however disappeared from the army list in the
out sufficient reason, to change it, in all the pas- time of Dion Cassius, that is, in the early part of the
sages in which it occurs, into arabarches. The third century, for the historian, when giving a cataquestion is fully discussed by Sturzius. (De Dia- logue of such of the twenty-three or twenty-five
lect. Macedon. et Alexandrin. p. 65, &c.) legionswhich formed the establishment of Augustus,
ALABASTRUM and ALABASTER (acAd- as existed when he wrote, makes no mention of any
aa-r'pos, akdCao-Tpos), a box or vase for holding fifth legion except the Quinta Macedonica. (Sueton.
perfumes and ointments; so called because they Jul. 24; Caesar, B. C. i. 39; Plin. IH. N. xi. 44;
were originally made of alabaster, of which the Cic. Philip. i. 8. ~ 20, v.5. ~ 12, xiii. 2. ~ 3, 18.
variety, called onyx-alabaster. was usually em- ~ 37; Gruter, Coap. JInscrip. Lat. ccccIii. 1,
ployed for this purpose. (Plin. I. N. xiii. 2. s. 3, DXLIV. 2, DXLiX. 4, DLix. 7; Orelli, Inscrip.
xxxvi. 8. s. 12.) They were, however, subse- Lat. n. 773.) [W. R.)
quently made of other materials, as, for instance, ALBOGALE'RUS. [ApEX.]
gold (XPdoeia a&XdCaorpa). Such vases are first ALBUM is defined to be a tablet of any matementioned by Herodotus (iii. 20), who speaks of rial on which the praetor's edicts, and the rules
ans "alabaster-box of perfumed ointment" (MsIpov relating to actions and interdicts, were written.
&hagaXrrpov), as one of the presents sent by [EDIcTu.M.] The tablet was put up in a public
Cambyses to the Ethiopian king; and after his place in Rome, in order that all persons might
time they occur both in Greek and Roman writers. have notice of its contents. According to some
(Aristoph. Acharn. 1053; Aeliams, V. H. xii. 18; authorities, the album was so called, because it was
Martial, xi. 8; Matth. xxvi. 7; Mark, xiv. 3; either a white material, or a material whitened,
Luke, vii. 37.) These vessels were of a tapering and of course the writing would be a different
shape, and very often had a long narrow neck, colour. According to other authorities, it was so
which was sealed; so that when the woman in the called because the writing was in white letters.
Gospels is said to break the alabaster-box of oint- If any person wilfully altered or erased (raserit,
ment for the purpose of anointing Christ, it ap- corrupe-it, mutaverit) any thing in the album, he
pears probable that she only broke the extremity was liable to an action albi cor-owpti, and to a heavy
of the neck, which was thus closed. penalty. (Dig. 2. tit. i. s. 7, 9.)
ALABASTRI'TES. [ALABASTEa.] Probably the word album originally meant any
ALAEA ('Axana), games which were annually tablet containing any thing of a public nature.
celebrated at the festival of Athena, surnamed Thus, Cicero informs us that the Annales Maximi
Alea, near Tegea, in the neighbourhood of the were written on the album by the pontifex maximagnificent temple of the same goddess. (Paus. mus. (De Orat. ii. 12.) But, however this may
viii. 47. ~ 3.) [L. S.] be, it was in course of time used to signify a list
ALA'RII. [ALA.] of any public body; thus we find the expression,
ALAUDA, a Gaulish word, the prototype of album senatorium, used by Tacitus (Ann. iv. 42),
the modern French Alouette, denoting a small to express the list of senators, and corresponding
crested bird of the lark kind which the Latins in to the word leucoma used by Dion Cassius (Iv. 3).
allusion to its tuft denominated Gales-ito. The The phrase album decurionumn signifies the list of
name alauda was bestowed by Julius Caesar on a decuriones whose names were entered on the
legion of picked men, which he raised at his own album of a municipium, in the order prescribed
expence among the inhabitants of Transalpine by the lex municipalis, so far as the provisions
Gaul, about the year B. c. 55, not as erroneously of the lex extended. (Dig. 50. tit. 3.) Albumn ijasserted by Gibbon, during the civil war; which dicume is the list of judices. (Suet. Claud. 1.6.)
he equipped and disciplined after the Roman [JuDnx.] [G. L.]
fashion; and on which in a body, he at a sub- ALCATHOEA (&XcKaoZa). The name of
sequent period bestowed the freedom of the state. games celebrated at Megara, in commemoration of
This seems to have been the first example of a the Eleian hero Alcathous, son of Pelops, who had
regular Roman legion levied in a foreign country killed a lion which had destroyed Euippus, son of
and composed of barbarians. The designation was, King Megareus. (Pind. Istlhnm. viii. 148; Paus. i
in all probability, applied from a plune upon the 42. ~ 1.) [L. S.]
helmet, resembling the "'apex " of the bird in ALEA, gaming, or playing at a game of chance
question, or from the general shape and appearance of any kind. Hence, alea, aleator, a gamester, a