ADMISSĬŌNĀLES, chamberlains at the imperial court, who introduced
persons into the presence of the emperor. They were divided into
four classes; the chief officer of each class was called _proximus
admissionum_; and the proximi were under the _magister admissionum_.
Their duty was called _officium admissionis_. They were usually
freedmen.
ĂDŎLESCENS, was applied in the Roman law to a person from the end of
his twelfth or fourteenth to the end of his twenty-fifth year, during
which period a person was also called _adultus_. The word adolescens,
however, is frequently used in a less strict sense in the Latin
writers in referring to a person much older than the above-mentioned
age.
ĂDŌNĬA (ἀδώνια), a festival celebrated in honour of Aphrodite and
Adonis in most of the Grecian cities. It lasted two days, and was
celebrated by women exclusively. On the first day they brought into
the streets statues of Adonis, which were laid out as corpses; and
they observed all the rites customary at funerals, beating themselves
and uttering lamentations. The second day was spent in merriment and
feasting; because Adonis was allowed to return to life, and spend
half the year with Aphrodite.
ĂDOPTĬO, adoption. (1) GREEK.--Adoption was called by the Athenians
εἰσποίησις, or sometimes simply ποίησις, or θέσις. The adoptive
father was said ποιεῖσθαι, εἰσποιεῖσθαι, or sometimes ποιεῖν: and
the father or mother (for a mother after the death of her husband
could consent to her son being adopted) was said ἐκποιεῖν: the son
was said ἐκποιεῖσθαι with reference to the family which he left;
and εἰσποιεῖσθαι with reference to the family into which he was
received. The son, when adopted, was called ποιητός, εἰσποιητός, or
θετός, in opposition to the legitimate son born of the body of the
father, who was called γνήσιος. A man might adopt a son either in
his lifetime or by his testament, provided he had no male offspring,
and was of sound mind. He might also, by testament, name a person
to take his property, in case his son or sons should die under
age. Only Athenian citizens could be adopted; but females could be
adopted (by testament at least) as well as males. The adopted child
was transferred from his own family and demus into those of the
adoptive father; he inherited his property, and maintained the sacra
of his adoptive father. It was not necessary for him to take his
new father’s name, but he was registered as his son in the register
of his phratria (φρατρικὸν γραμματεῖον). Subsequently to this, it
was necessary to enter him in the register of the adoptive father’s
demus (ληξιαρχικὸν γραμματεῖον), without which registration it
appears that he did not possess the full rights of citizenship as a
member of his new demus.--(2) ROMAN.--The Roman relation of parent
and child arose either from a lawful marriage or from adoption.
_Adoptio_ was the general name which comprehended the two species,
_adoptio_ and _adrogatio_; and as the adopted person passed from
his own familia into that of the person adopting, _adoptio_ caused
a _capitis diminutio_, and the lowest of the three kinds. [CAPUT.]
Adoption, in its specific sense, was the ceremony by which a person
who was in the power of his parent (_in potestate parentum_),
whether child or grandchild, male or female, was transferred to the
power of the person adopting him. It was effected under the authority
of a magistrate (_magistratus_), the praetor, for instance, at
Rome, or a governor (_praeses_) in the provinces. The person to be
adopted was emancipated [MANCIPATIO] by his natural father before
the competent authority, and surrendered to the adoptive father by
the legal form called _in jure cessio_. When a person was not in
the power of his parent (_sui juris_), the ceremony of adoption was
called _adrogatio_. Originally, it could only be effected at Rome,
and only by a vote of the populus (_populi auctoritate_) in the
comitia curiata (_lege curiata_); the reason of this being that the
caput or status of a Roman citizen could not, according to the laws
of the Twelve Tables, be effected except by a vote of the populus
in the comitia curiata. Clodius, the enemy of Cicero, was adrogated
into a plebeian family, in order to qualify himself to be elected
a tribune of the plebs. Females could not be adopted by adrogatio.
Under the emperors it became the practice to effect the adrogatio by
an imperial rescript. The effect of adoption was to create the legal
relation of father and son, just as if the adopted son were born of
the blood of the adoptive father in lawful marriage. The adopted
child was intitled to the name and sacra privata of the adopting
parent. A person, on passing from one gens into another, and taking
the name of his new familia, generally retained the name of his old
gens also, with the addition to it of the termination _anus_. Thus
Aemilius, the son of L. Aemilius Paullus, upon being adopted by P.
Cornelius Scipio, assumed the name of P. Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus,
and C. Octavius, afterwards the emperor Augustus, upon being adopted
by the testament of his great-uncle the dictator, assumed the name of
C. Julius Caesar Octavianus.
ĂDŌRĀTĬO (προσκύνησις), adoration, was paid to the gods in the
following manner:--The individual stretched out his right hand to the
statue of the god whom he wished to honour, then kissed his hand,
and waved it to the statue. The adoratio differed from the _oratio_
or prayers, which were offered with the hands folded together and
stretched out to the gods. The adoration paid to the Roman emperors
was borrowed from the Eastern mode, and consisted in prostration on
the ground, and kissing the feet and knees of the emperor.