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On this page: Masteres – Mastigia – Mastigophori – Matara – Materfamilias – Mathematical – Matralia – Matrimonium – Matrimonium

MATRALIA.

in supposing that it was necessary under the Athe­nian law to convict more than half the number of the witnesses. This appears from the passage above cited from Isaeus on the estate of Hagnias.

We conclude by noticing a few expressions. WlapTvpe'iv tivi is to testify in favour of a man, Kara/j.apTvps'iv rtvos to testify against. Mcprv- pecrGcu to call to witness (a word used poetically), Sia/j.aprvp€<r6ai and sometimes eirtfAapTtipea-Oai, tovs Ttapovras, to call upon those who are present to take notice of what passes, with a view to give evidence. (Demosth. c. Euerg. et Mnes. 1150.) ^euSo/xaprupe?!/ and evrzop«:e?v are never used in­ differently, which aifords some proof that testi­ mony was not necessarily on oath. The fjiaprvs (witness in the cause) is to be distinguished from the tcA7)T7]p or /cA^rw/3, who merely gave evidence of the summons to appear. [C. R. K.]

MASTERES ow-t^). [zetetae.]

MASTIGIA. [flagrum.]

MASTIGOPHORI or MASTIGO'NOMI (fji.a(j'Ttyo(f)6poi or naffriyovSfj.OL), the name of the lower police officers in the Greek states, who car­ ried into execution the corporal punishments in­ flicted by the higher magistrates. Thus Lycurgus assigned mastigophori to the Paedonomus at Sparta, who had the general superintendence of the edu­ cation of the boys. (Xen. Rep. Lac. ii. 2, iv. 6 ; Pint. Lye. 17,) In the theatre the mastigophori preserved order, and were stationed for this pur­ pose in the orchestra, near the thymele. (Schol. ad Plat. p. 99, Ruhnken ; Lucian, Pise. 33.) In the Olympic games the £a£80D%oj performed the same duties. At Athens they were discharged by the public slaves, called bowmen (to£otcu), or Scythians (SttvdaL). [demosii.]

MATARA. [hasta, p. 589, a.]

MATERFAMILIAS. [matrimonium.]

MATHEMATICAL [astrologia.]

MATRALIA, a festival celebrated at Rome every year on the llth of June, in honour of the goddess Mater Matuta, whose temple stood in the Formn Boarium. It was celebrated only by Ro­ man matrons, and the sacrifices offered to the god­ dess consisted of cakes baked in pots of earthen­ ware. (Varro, de Ling. Lat. iv. p. 31, Bip. ; Ovid. Fast. vi. 475, &c.) Slaves were not allowed to take part in the solemnities, or to enter the temple of the goddess. One slave, however, was admitted by the matrons, but only to be exposed to a humi­ liating treatment, for one of the matrons gave her a blow on the cheek and then sent her away from the temple. The matrons on this occasion took with them the children of their sisters, but not their own, held them in their arms, and prayed for their welfare. (Plut. Camil. 5, Quaest. Rom. p. 267.) The statue of the goddess was then crowned with a garland, by one of the matrons who had not yet lost a husband. (Tertull. Monogam. c. 17.) The Greek writers and their Roman followers, who identify the Mater Matuta with Leucothea or Ino, explain the ceremonies of the Matralia by means of the mythological stories which relate to these Greek goddesses. But the real import of the worship of the Mater Matuta appears to have been to inculcate upon mothers the principle, that they ought to take care of the children of their sisters as much as of their own, and that they should not leave them to careless slaves, the con­ tempt for whom was symbolically expressed by the infliction of a blow on the cheek of the one

MATRIMONIUM. 73£

admitted into the temple. (Compare Hartung, Die Relig. der Romer, vol. ii. p. 75.) [L. S.]

MATRIMONIUM, NU'PTIAE (yd/nos), marriage. 1. greek. The ancient Greek legis­lators considered the relation of marriage as a matter not merely of private, but also of public or general interest. This was particularly the case at Sparta, where the subordination of private in­terests and happiness to the real or supposed exi­gencies of the state was strongly exemplified in the regulations on this subject. For instance, by the laws of Lycurgus, criminal proceedings might be taken against those who married too late (ypatyfy otyiyaftiov) or unsuitably (ypaty)] KaKoyaftiov),- as well as against those who did not marry at all (ypa<p$) aya//:ou). (Pollux, viii. 4 0 ; Plut. Lycurg. 15.) These regulations were founded on the generally recognised principle, that it was the duty of every citizen to raise up a strong and healthy progeny of legitimate children to the state. (Mill-ler, Dorians., iv. 4. § 3.) So entirely, in fact, did the Spartans consider the re/c^oTroda, or the pro­duction of children, as the main object of marriage, and an object which the state was bound to pro­mote, that whenever a woman had no children by her own husband, she was not only allowed, but even required by the laws, to cohabit with another man. (Xen. de Rep. Lac. i. 8.) On the same principle, and for the purpose of preventing the extinction of his famil}r, the Spartan king, Anaxaiidrides, was allowed to cohabit with two wives, for whom he kept two separate establish­ments : a case of bigamy, which, as Herodotus (vi. 39, 40) observes, was not at all consistent with Spartan nor indeed with Hellenic customs. Thus the heroes of Homer appear never to have had more than one KovpiSiTj a\o%os (Buttmann, Lexiloyus, 73) ; though they are frequently repre­sented as living in concubinage with one or more Solon also seems to have viewed mar-

riage as a matter in which the state had a riht to

interfere, for we are told that his laws allowed of a ypatyT) ayap.iov9 though the regulation seems to have grown obsolete in later times ; at any rate there is no instance on record of its application. (Platner, Process, &c. vol. ii. p. 248.) Plato too may be quoted to prove how general was this feel­ing, for according to his laws (Leg. iv. p. 721), any one who did not marry before he was thirty-five was punishable not only with arista, but also with pecuniary penaltfes : and he expressly states that in choosing a wife every one ought to consult the interests of the state, and not his own plea­sure. (Leg. vi. p. 773.)

But independent of any public considerations there were also private or personal reasons (peculiar to the ancients) which made marriage an obliga­tion. Plato (I. c.} mentions one of these, vi/;. the duty incumbent upon every individual to pro­vide for a continuance of representatives to succeed himself as ministers of the Divinity (toj ©e&j vttti-ptras avff avrov TrapadiSovai). Another was the desire felt by almost every one, not merely to per­petuate his own name, but also to prevent his " heritage being desolate, and his name being cut off" (oVa'S /at] e'lep^/xwcrcocn rovs (rfyerepaw avratv cftcovs), and to lesave some one who might make the customary offerings at his grave (aAAs earai ris Kal 6 eVcr/i<3z/, Isaeus de Apoll. Hered. p. 66. Bek.), We are told that with this view childless persons sometimes adopted children.