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

PATRICIT. PATRONOMI.: 877
first Punllic war, by which the expenses for the or they had only the title and were called patricii
reiblic games wcre no longer given from the aera- codicillares or honorarii. (Cassiod. viii. 9; Savaron
rium, but were defrayed by the aediles; and as ad Sidon. Apoll. i. 3.) All of them, however, were
their office was the first step to the great offices of distinguished in their appearance and dress from
the republic, that measure was a tacit exclusion of ordinary persons, and seldom appeared before the
the poorer citizens from those offices. Under the public otherwise than in a carriage. The emperors
emperors the position of the patricians as a body were generally very cautious in bestowing this great
was not improved; the filling up of the vacancies distinction, though some of the most arbitrary
in their order by the emperors began more and despots conferred the honour upon young men and
more to assume the character of >an especial honour, even on eunuchs. Zeno decreed that no one should
conferred upon a person for his good services or be made patricius who had not been consul, praemerely as a personal favour, so that the transi- feet, or lmagister militum. (Cod. 3. tit. 24. s. 3.)
tion from this period to the third had been gra- Justinian, however, did away with some of these
dually preparing. restrictions. The elevation to the rank of patricius
Respecting the great political and religious privi- was testified to the person by a writ called diploma.
leges which the patricians at first possessed alone, (Sidon. Apollin. v. 1 6; Suidas, s. v. rpapy.cMeEaiov,;
but afterwards were compelled to share with tile compare Cassiodor. vi. 2, viii. 21, &c.)
plebeians, see PLEBS and the articles treating of This new dignity was not confined to Romans
the several Roman magistracies and priestly offices. or subjects of the empire, but was sometimes grantCompare also GENS; CuRlA; SENATUS. ed to foreign princes, such as Odoacer, the chief of
In their dress and appearance the patricians the cleruli, and others. When the popes of Rome
were scarcely distinguished from the rest of the had established their authority, they also assumed
citizens, unless they were senators, curule magis- the right of bestowing the title of patricius on
trates, or equites, in which case they wore like eminent persons and princes, and many of the
others the ensigns peculiar to these dignities. The German emperors were thus distinguished by the
only thing by which they appear to have been dis- popes. In several of the Germanic kingdoms the
tinguished in their appearance from other citizens, sovereigns imitated the Roman emperors and popes
was a peculiar kind of shoes, which covered the by giving to their most distinguished subjects the
whole foot and part of the leg, though they were title of patricius, but these patricii were at all
not as high as the shoes of senators and curule times much lower in ranlk than the Romanpatricii,
magistrates. These shoes were fastened with four a title of which kings and emperors themselvies
strings (cowrrigiae or lora patrmicia) and adorned with were proud.
a lunula on the top. (Senec. De Tranquil. Arsnis. (Rein, in Erscls untd Grmzlter's.Encyclopiidic,
11; Plut. Quaest. Rom.. 75; Stat. Silo. v. 2. 27; s. v. Patricier, and for the early period of Roman
Martial, i. 50, ii. 29.) Festus (s. v. v. lulleos) History, Gittling's Gesci. der RnMm. Staatsvesf:
states that mulleus was the name of the shoes p. 51, &c., Becker's Ilandbuch. 1. c., and p. 133,
worn by the patricians; but the passage of Varro &c.) [L. S.]
which he adduces only shows that the mullei (shoes PATRIMI ET MATRIMI, also called Paof a purple colour) were worn by the curule magis- trismes et lftitrimes, were those children whose
trates. (Compare Dion Cass. xliii. 43.) parenmts were both alive (Festus, s. v. Flamniina
Third Period: frome the tise of Consta!ilne to ltatr-ines; called by Dionysius, ii. 22, asupoahess);
the eiddle ages. From the time of Constantine the in the same way as pater pattrisns signifies a
dignity of patricius was a personal title, which father, whose own father is still alive. (Festus, s. t.
conferred on the person, to whom it was granted, a Paler Pats.) Servius (ad TlVir. Geoey. 31), how.
very high rank and certain privileges. Hitherto ever, confines the term pat-ioit et matrinti to chilpatricians had been only genuine Roman citizens, dren born of parents who had been married by
and the dignity had descended from the father to the religious ceremony called confarreatio: it aphis children; but the new dignity was created at pears probable that this is the correct use of the
Constantinople, and was not bestowed on old Ro- term, and that it was only applied to such children
man families; it was given, without any regard so long as their parents were alive. We know
to persons, to such men as had for a long time dis- that the flamines majores were obliged to have
tinguished themselves by good and faithful services been born of parents who had been married by conto the empire or the emperor. This new dignity farreatio (Tac. AInn. iv. 16; Gains, i. 112); and
was not hereditary, but became extinct with the as the children called patrinzi et matrimi are almost
death of the person on whom it was conferred; always mentioned in connection with religious
and when during this period we read of patrician rites and ceremonies (Cic. de liar. resp. 11; Liv.
families, the meaning is only that the head of such xxxvii. 3; Gell. i. 12; Tacit. Hist. iv. 53; Macrob.
a family was a patricius. (Zosim. ii. 40; Cassiodor. Saturn. 6; Vopisc. Aurel. 19; Orelli, Inscr. n.
Variar. vi. 2.) The name patricius during this 2270), the statement of Servius is rendered more
period assumed the conventional meaning of father probable, since the same reason, which confined'of the emperor (Ammian. Marcellin. xxix. 2; Cod. the office of the flamines majores to those born of
12. tit. 3. ~ 5), and thosewho werethusdistinguished parents who had been married by confarreatio,
occupied the highest rank among the illustres; the would also apply to the children of such marriages,
consuls alone ranked higher than a patricius. who would probably be thought more suitable for
(Isidor. ix. 4. 1. 3; Cod. 3. tit. 24. s. 3; 12. tit. the service of the gods than the offspring of other
3. s. 3.) The titles by which a patricius was dis- marriages. (Rein, Das Riim. Privatrechlt. p. 177
tmuguished were magnificentia, celsitudo, eminentia, Gbttling, Gesc7/. d. RMms. Staatsv. p. 90.)
and magnitudo. They were either engaged in PATRO'NOMI (raerpovJluoi), were magistrates
actual service (for they generally held the highest at Sparta, who exercised, as it were, a paternal
offices in the state, at the court and in the pro- power over the whole state. Pausanias (ii. 9. ~ 1)
xvinces), and were then called pat-icii praesentales, says, that they were instituted by Cleomenes Ill.