ĂDŬNĂTI (ἀδύνατοι), were persons supported by the Athenian state,
who, on account of infirmity or bodily defects, were unable to obtain
a livelihood. The sum which they received from the state appears to
have varied at different times. In the time of Lysias and Aristotle,
one obolus a day was given; but it appears to have been afterwards
increased to two oboli. The bounty was restricted to persons whose
property was under three minae; and the examination of those who
were entitled to it belonged to the senate of the Five Hundred.
Peisistratus is said to have been the first to introduce a law for
the maintenance of those persons who had been mutilated in war.
ADVOCATUS, seems originally to have signified any person who gave
another his aid in any affair or business, as a witness for instance;
or for the purpose of aiding and protecting him in taking possession
of a piece of property. It was also used to express a person who
in any way gave his advice and aid to another in the management
of a cause; but, in the time of Cicero, the word did not signify
the orator or patronus who made the speech. Under the emperors it
signified a person who in any way assisted in the conduct of a cause,
and was sometimes equivalent to orator. The advocate’s fee was then
called _Honorarium_.