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On this page: Aleaia – Alfpilus – Alicula – Alimentarii Pueri Et Pue – Aliptae

ALE A.

gambler. Playing with tali or tesserae was gene­rally understood ; because these were by far the most common games of chance among the Romans. [talus ; tessera.]

Gaming was considered disreputable at Rome ; and hence aleator was used as a term of reproach. (Cic. in Cat. ii. 10, ad Att. xiv. 5.) It was also forbidden at Rome by special laws, during the times of the republic, and under the emperors (vetita legibzts alea). (Hor. Carm. iii. 24. 58; Cic. Philip, ii. 23; Ov. Trist. ii. 470, &c., Dig. 11. tit. 5.) We have, however, no express inform­ation as to the time when these laws were en­acted or the exact provisions which they contained. There are three laws mentioned in the Digest (I.e.} forbidding gambling, the Leges Titia, Pub-licia, and Cornelia^ and likewise a senatus con-sultum, and the praetor's edictum. At what time the two former laws were passed is quite uncer­tain ; but the Lex Cornelia was probably one of the laws of the dictator Sulla, who, we know, made several enactments to check the extravagance and expense of private persons. [SuMTUS.J Some writers infer from a passage of Plautus (Mil. Glor. ii. 2. 9) xthat gaming must have been for­bidden by law in his time; but the lex talaria in this passage seems rather to refer to the laws of the game than to any public enactment. Some modern writers, however, read lex alearia in this passage. The only kinds of gaming allowed by the law were, first, playing at table for the different articles of food, and playing for money at games of strength, such as hurling the javelin, running, jumping, boxing, &c. (Dig. /. c.) Those who were convicted of gaming were condemned to pay four times the sum they had staked (Pseudo-Ascon. in Cic. Div. § 24. p. 110. ed. Orelli), and became in-fames in consequence. We know that infamia was frequently a consequence of a judicial decision [infamia] ; and we may infer that it was in this case from the expression of Cicero. (" Hominem lege, quae est de alea, condemnatum, in integrum restituitj"1 Cic. Phil. ii. 23.) Justinian forbade all gaming both in public and in private. (Cod. 3. tit. 43.) Games of chance were, however, tolerated in the month of December at the Saturnalia, which was a period of general relaxation (Mart. iv. 14, v. 84; Gell. xviii. 13; Suet. Aug. 71); and among the Greeks, as well as the Romans, public opinion allowed old men to amuse themselves in this manner. (Eurip. Mod. 67 ; Cic. Senect. 16.) Under the empire gambling was carried to a great height, and the laws were probably little more than nominal. Many of the early emperors, Augustus, Caligula, Claudius, Vitellius, and Do-mitian, were very fond of gaming, and set but an evil example to their subjects in this matter. (Suet. Aug. 70, 71 ; Dion Cass. lix. 22 ; Suet. Cat. 41, Claud. 33; Dion Cass. Ix. 2 ; Suet. Dom. 21.) Professed gamesters made a regular study of their art; and there were treatises on the subject, among which was a book written by the emperor Claudius. (Ov. Trist. ii. 471; Suet. Claud. 33.)

Alea sometimes denotes the implement used in playing, as in the phrase jacta alea est, " the die is cast," uttered by Julius Caesar, immediately before he crossed the Rubicon (Suet. Jul. 32); and it is often used for chance, or uncertainty in gene­ral. (Hor. Carm. ii. 1. 6; Cic. Div. ii. 15.) Re­specting the enactments against gambling, see Rein, Criminalreclit der Homer, p. 833.

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ALIPTAE.

ALEAIA ('AAe'cua), a festival celebrated to the honour of Athena Alea at Tegea with games and contests, of which we find mention in inscriptions. (Paus. viii. 47, § 3 ; Krause, Die Gymnaatik u. Agonistik d. Hellenen, pp. 734—736 ; K. F. Her­mann, Lelirbuch d. gottesdienstlichen Alterthumer d. Griechen, § 51, n. 11 ; comp. halotia.)

ALICULA (&AAi£ or ciAA^I), an upper dress, which was, in all probability, identical with the chlamys, although Hesychius explains it as a kind of chiton (Euphor. Fr. 112, op. Meineke, Anal. Aleoc. p. 137 ; Callim. Fr. 149, ap. Nacke, Opusc. vol. ii. p. 86 ; Hesych. s. v. ; Suid. s. v. &AAi/ca and eVerpo-i; Miiller, Arch. d. Kunst, § 337, n. 6; Martial, xii. 83.) [P. S.]

ALIMENTARII PUERI ET PUELLAE. In the Roman republic, the poorer citizens were as­sisted by public distributions of corn, oil, and money, which were called congiaria. [CoNGiARiUM.] These distributions were not made at stated periods, nor to any but grown-up inhabitants of Rome. The Emperor Nerva was the first who extended them to children, and Trajan appointed them to be made every month, both to orphans and to the children of poor parents. The children who received them were called pueri et puellae alimentarii., and also (from the emperor) pueri pudlaeque Ulpiani ; and the officers who administered the institution were called quaestores pecuniae alimentariae^ quaestores alimenlorum^ procuratores alimentorum, or praefecti alimentorum.

The fragments of an interesting record of an in­ stitution of this kind by Trajan have been found at Velleia, near Placentia, from which we learn the sums which were thus distributed, and the means by which the money was raised. A similar institution was founded by the younger Pliny, at Comura. (Plin. Epist. vii. 18, i. 8 ; and the inscription in Orelli, 1172.) Trajan's benevo­ lent plans were carried on upon a larger scale by Hadrian and the Antonines. Under Commodus and Pertinax the distribution ceased. In the reign of Alexander Severus, we again meet with alimen- tariipueri and puellae, who were called Mammaeani, in honour of the emperor's mother. We learn, from a decree of Hadrian (Ulp. in Dig. 34. tit. 1. s. 14), that boys enjoyed the benefits of this in­ stitution up to their eighteenth, and girls up to their fourteenth year ; and, from an inscription (Fabretti, 235, 619), that a boy four years and seven months old received nine times the ordi­ nary monthly distribution of corn. (Aurel. Vict. Epit. xii. 4 ; Capitolin. Ant. Pi. 8, M. Aur. 26, Pert. 9 ; Spart. Had. 7 ; Lamprid. Sev. Aleoc. 57 ; Orelli, Inscr. 3364, 3365 ; Fabretti, 234, 617 ; Rasche, Lex. Univ. Rei Num. s. v. Tutda Italiae ; Eckhel, Doct. Num. Vet. vol. vi. p. 408 ; F. A. Wolf, Von einer milden Stiftung Trajans.} [P. S.]

ALFPILUS, a slave, who attended on bathers, to remove the superfluous hair from their bodies. (Sen. Ep. 56 ; Pignor. de Serv. 42.). [P. S.]

ALIPTAE (dAenrra:) among the Greeks, were persons who anointed the bodies of the athletae, preparatory to their entering the palaes­tra. The chief object of this anointing was to close the pores of the body, in order to prevent excessive perspiration, and the weakness consequent thereon. To effect this object, the oil was not simply spread over the surface of the body, but also well rubbed into the skin. The oil was mixed with fine