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

PONTIFEX. PONTl'EEX. 9S1
Cic. de Leg. ii. 8, 12.) The pontiffs theulselves xv. 27; ADOPTIO.) Whether the presence of the
were not subject to any court of law or punish- pontiffs together with that of the augurs and two
ment, and were not responsible either to the senate flaminIes was necessary in the comitia curiata also
or to the people. The details of these duties and in cases when other matters were transacted, as
functions were contained in books called libri Niebuhr thinks (i. p. 342, ii. p. 223), does not
pontificii or pontificales, commentarii sacrorum or appear to be quite certain. The curious circumsacrorum pontificalium (Fest. s. v. Aliutcc and stance that on one occasion the pontifex maximus
Occisuzm), which they were said to have received was commanded by the senate to preside at the
from Numa, and which were sanctioned by Ancus election of tribunes of the people, is explained by
Martius. This king is said to have made public Niebuhr (ii. p. 359, &c.).
that part of these regulations which had reference As regards the jurisdiction of the pontiffs,
to the sacra publica (Liv. i. 32); and when at the magistrates and priests as well as private indivicommencement of the republic the wooden tables duals were bound to submit to their sentence, proon which these published regulations were written vided it had the sanction of three members of the
had fallen into decay, they were restored by the college. (Cic. de Hsarusp. Resp. 6.) In most cases
pontifex maximus C. Papirius. (Dionys. iii. 36.) the sentence of the pontiffs only inflicted a fine
One part of these libri pontificales was called Indi- upon the offenders (Cic. Philip. xi. 8; Liv. xxxvii.
gitamenta, and contained the names of the gods as 51, xl. 42), but the person fined had a right to
well as the manner in which these names were to appeal to the people, who might release him from
be used in public worship. (Serv. ad Viryt. Georg. the fine. In regard to the Vestal virgins and the
i. 21.) A second part must have contained the persons who committed incest with them, the
formulas of the jus pontificium. (Cic. de Re Publ. pontiffs had criminal jurisdiction and might proii. 31.) The original laws and regulations con- nounce the sentence of death. (Dionys. ix. 40;
tained in these books were in the course of time Liv. xxii. 57; Fest. s. v. Probreui.) A eman who
increased and more accurately defined by the de- had violated a Vestal virgin was according to an
crees of the pontiffs, whence perhaps their name ancient law scourged to death by the pontifex
commentarii. (Plin. H. AT. xviii. 3; Liv. iv. 3; maximus in the comitium, and it appears that
Cic. Brizt. 1.4.) Another tradition concerning these originally neither the Vestal virgins nor the male
books stated that Numa communicated to the offenders in such a case had any right of appeal.
pontiffs their duties and rights merely by word of Gbttling (p. 185) considers that they had the
mouth, and that he had buried the books in a right of appeal, but the passage of Cicero (de Re
stone chest on the Janiculum. (Plut. Nium. 22; Publ. ii. 31) to which lie refers, does not support
Plin. I. IV. xiii. 27; Val. Max. i. 1. 12; August. his opinion. Incest in general belonged to the
de Civit. Dei, vii. 34.) These books were found jurisdiction of the pontiffs, and might be punished
in 181 B. c., and one half of them contained ritual with death. (Cic. de Leg. ii. 19.) In later times
regulations and the jus pontificium, and the other we find that even in the case of the pontiffs having
half philosophical inquiries on the sane subjects, passed sentence upon Vestal virgins, a tribune inand were written in the Greek language. The terfered and induced the people to appoint a
books were brought to the praetor urbanus Q. quaestor for the purpose of making a fresh inquiry
Petilius, and the senate ordered the latter half to into the case; and it sometimes happened that
be burnt, while the former was carefully preserved. after this new trial the sentence of the pontiffs
Respecting the nature and authenticity of this was modified or annulled. (Ascon. ad illon. p.
story, see Hartung, Die Relig. d. RMm. i. p. 214. 46, ed. Orelli.) Such cases, however, seem to have
The annales maximi were records of the events of been mere irregularities founded upon an abuse
each year kept by the pontifex maximus, from the of the tribunitian power. In the early times the
commencement of the state to the time of the pontiffs were in the exclusive possession of the
pontifex maximus, P. Mucius Scaevola, a. c. civil as well as religious law, until the former was
133. made public by C. Flavius. [AcTIO.] The reguAs to the rights and duties of the pontiffs, it must lations which served as a guide to the pontiffs in
first of all be borne ill mind that the pontiffs were their judicial proceedings, formed a large collection
not priests of any particular divinity, but a college of laws, which was called the jus pontificium, and
which stood above all other priests, and superin- formed part of the libri pontificii. (Cic. de Oral. i.
tended the whole external worship of the gods. 43, iii. 33, pro Donzo, 13; compare Jus, pp. 656,
(Cic. de Leg. ii. 8.) One of their principal duties 657.) The new decrees which the pontiffs made
was the regulation of the sacra both publica and either on the proposal of the senate, or in cases
privata, and to watch that they were observed at belonging to the sacra privata, or that of private
the proper times (for which purpose the pontiffs individuals, were, as Livy (xxxix. 16) says, inoriginally had the whole regulation of the calendar1 numerable. (Coumpare Cic. de Leg. ii. 23; MiIaseeCALEN DAsRIUa, p. 230, &c.), andin their proper crob. Sat. iii. 3; Dionys. ii. 73.)
form. In the management of the sacra publicas The meetings of the college of pontiffs, to which
they were in later times assisted in certain per- in some instances the flamines and the rex safornlances by the triumviri epulones [ErPULONES], crorur were summoned (Cic. de l1aruZsp. Resp. 6),
and had in their kIeeping the funds from which were held in the curia regia on the Via Sacra, to
the expences of the sacra publica were defrayed. which was attached the residence of the pontifex
[SCRAx.] maximus and of the rex sacrorum. (Suet. Caes. 46
The pontiffs convoked the assembly of the curies Serv. ad Aen. viii. 363; Plin. Epist. iv. 11.) As
(conlitia calata or curiata) in cases where priests the chief pontiff was obliged to live in a domus
were to be appointed, and flamines or a rex sacro- publica, Augustus, when he assumed this dignity,
rum were to be inaugurated; also when wills were changed part of his own house into a domus pubto be received, and when a detestatio sacrorum and lica. (Dion Cass. liv. 27.) All the pontiff were
adoption by adrogatio took place. (Gell. v. 193 in their appearance distinguished by the conic cap