ALBUM, a tablet of any material on which the praetor’s edicts, and
the rules relating to actions and interdicts, were written. The
tablet was put up in a public place, in order that all the world
might have notice of its contents. According to some authorities,
the album was so called because it was either a white material or a
material whitened, and of course the writing would be of a different
colour. According to other authorities, it was so called because the
writing was in white letters. Probably the word album originally
meant any tablet containing anything of a public nature. We know that
it was, in course of time, used to signify a list of any public body;
thus we find _album judicum_, or the body out of which judices were
to be chosen [JUDEX], and _album senatorium_, or list of senators.
ĀLĔA, gaming, or playing at a game of chance of any kind: hence
_aleo_, _aleator_, a gamester, a gambler. Playing with _tali_, or
_tesserae_, was generally understood, because this was by far the
most common game of chance among the Romans. Gaming was forbidden
by the Roman laws, both during the times of the republic and under
the emperors, but was tolerated in the month of December at the
Saturnalia, which was a period of general relaxation; and old men
were allowed to amuse themselves in this manner at all times.
ĂLĬCŬLA (ἄλλιξ or ἄλληξ), an upper dress, in all probability
identical with the chlamys.
ĂLIMENTĀRII PŬĔRI ET PŬELLAE. In the Roman republic the poorer
citizens were assisted by public distributions of corn, oil, and
money, which were called _congiaria_. [CONGIARIUM.] 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 puellaeque
Ulpiani_.
ĀLĬPĬLUS, a slave, who attended on bathers to remove the superfluous
hair from their bodies.
ĂLIPTAE (ἀλείπται), 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 much perspiration, and the weakness
consequent thereon. The athleta was again anointed after the contest,
in order to restore the tone of the strained muscles. He then bathed,
and had the dust, sweat, and oil scraped off his body, by means
of an instrument similar to the strigil of the Romans, and called
_stlengis_ (στλεγγίς), and afterwards _xystra_ (ξύστρα). The aliptae
took advantage of the knowledge they necessarily acquired of the
state of the muscles of the athletae, and their general strength or
weakness of body, to advise them as to their exercises and mode of
life. They were thus a kind of medical trainers. Among the Romans the
aliptae were slaves who scrubbed and anointed their masters in the
baths. They, too, like the Greek aliptae, appear to have attended to
their masters’ constitution and mode of life. They were also called
_unctores_. They used in their operations a kind of scraper called
strigil, towels (_lintea_), a cruise of oil (_guttus_), which was
usually of horn, a bottle (_ampulla_), and a small vessel called
_lenticula_.
[Illustration: Allocutio (Coin of Nero.)]
ALLŎCŪTĬO, an harangue made by a Roman imperator to his soldiers,
to encourage them before battle, or on other occasions. On coins
we frequently find a figure of an imperator standing on a platform
and addressing the soldiers below him. Such coins bear the epigraph
ADLOCUTIO.
[Illustration: Allocutio. (Coin of Galba.)]
ALŌA or HALŌA (ἀλῶα, ἁλῶα), an Attic festival, but celebrated
principally at Eleusis, in honour of Demeter and Dionysus, the
inventors of the plough and protectors of the fruits of the earth.