ĂCAENA (ἀκαίνη, ἄκαινα, or in later Greek ἄκενα, in one place
ἄκαινον), a measuring rod of the length of ten Greek feet. It was
used in measuring land, and thus resembles the Roman decempeda.
ĂCATĬUM (ἀκάτιον, a diminutive of ἄκατος), a small vessel or boat
used by the Greeks, which appears to have been the same as the Roman
_scapha_. The _Acatia_ were also sails adapted for fast sailing.
ACCENSUS. (1) A public officer, who attended on several of the Roman
magistrates. The Accensi summoned the people to the assemblies,
and those who had law-suits to court; they preserved order in the
courts, and proclaimed the time of the day when it was the third
hour, the sixth hour, and the ninth hour. An accensus anciently
preceded the consul who had not the fasces, which custom, after being
long disused, was restored by Julius Cæsar in his first consulship.
Accensi also attended on the governors of provinces.--(2) The accensi
were also a class of soldiers in the Roman army, who were enlisted
after the full number of the legion had been completed, in order to
supply any vacancies that might occur in the legion. They were taken,
according to the census of Servius Tullius, from the fifth class of
citizens, and were placed in battle in the rear of the army, behind
the triarii.
ACCLĀMĀTĬO, was the public expression of approbation or
disapprobation, pleasure or displeasure, by loud acclamations.
On many occasions, there appear to have been certain forms of
acclamations always used by the Romans; as, for instance, at
marriages, _Io Hymen_, _Hymenaee_, or _Talassio_; at triumphs,
_Io Triumphe_; at the conclusion of plays, the last actor called
out _Plaudite_ to the spectators; orators were usually praised by
such expressions as _Bene et praeclare_, _Belle et festive_, _Non
potest melius_, &c. Under the empire the name of _acclamationes_ was
given to the praises and flatteries bestowed by the senate upon the
reigning emperor and his family.
ACCŬBĀTĬO, the act of reclining at meals. The Greeks and Romans were
accustomed, in later times, to recline at their meals; but this
practice could not have been of great antiquity in Greece, since
Homer always describes persons as sitting at their meals; and Isidore
of Seville, an ancient grammarian, also attributes the same custom
to the ancient Romans. Even in the time of the early Roman emperors,
children in families of the highest rank used to sit together, while
their fathers and elders reclined on couches at the upper part of the
room. Roman ladies continued the practice of sitting at table, even
after the recumbent position had become common with the other sex.
It appears to have been considered more decent, and more agreeable
to the severity and purity of ancient manners, for women to sit,
more especially if many persons were present. But, on the other
hand, we find cases of women reclining, where there was conceived
to be nothing bold or indelicate in their posture. Such is the case
in the preceding woodcut, which seems intended to represent a scene
of matrimonial felicity. For an account of the disposition of the
couches, and of the place which each guest occupied in a Greek and
Roman entertainment, see SYMPOSIUM and TRICLINIUM.
[Illustration: Accubatio. Act of Reclining. (Montfaucon, Ant. Exp.,
Suppl., iii. 60.)]