CAPSA, or SCRĪNĬUM, a box for holding books among the Romans. These
boxes were of a cylindrical form. There does not appear to have
been any difference between the _capsa_ and _scrinium_, except that
the latter word was usually applied to those boxes which held a
considerable number of rolls. The slaves who had the charge of these
book-chests were called _capsarii_, and also _custodes scriniorum_;
and the slaves who carried in a capsa behind their young masters
the books, &c. of the sons of respectable Romans, when they went to
school, were called by the same name.
[Illustration: The Muse Clio with a Capsa. (Pitture d’Ercolano, vol.
ii. pl. 2.)]
CAPSĀRĬI, the name of three different classes of slaves. [BALNEUM;
CAPSA.]
CĂPUT, the head. The term “head” is often used by the Roman writers
as equivalent to “person,” or “human being.” By an easy transition
it was used to signify “life:” thus, _capite damnari_, _plecti_,
&c., are equivalent to capital punishment. _Caput_ is also used
to express a man’s _status_, or civil condition; and the persons
who were registered in the tables of the censor are spoken of as
_capita_, sometimes with the addition of the word _civium_, and
sometimes not. Thus to be registered in the census was the same
thing as _caput habere_: and a slave and a filius familias, in this
sense of the word, were said to have no _caput_. The sixth class of
Servius Tullius comprised the _proletarii_ and the _capite censi_,
of whom the latter, having little or no property, were barely rated
as so many _head_ of citizens.--He who lost or changed his status
was said to be _capite minutus_, _deminutus_, or _capitis minor_.
_Capitis minutio_ or _deminutio_ was a change of a person’s status
or civil condition, and consisted of three kinds.--A Roman citizen
possessed freedom (_libertas_), citizenship (_civitas_), and family
(_familias_): the loss of all three constituted the _maxima capitis
deminutio_. This capitis deminutio was sustained by those who refused
to be registered at the census, or neglected the registration, and
were thence called _incensi_. The _incensus_ was liable to be sold,
and so to lose his liberty. Those who refused to perform military
service might also be sold.--The loss of citizenship and family only,
as when a man was interdicted from fire and water, was the _media
capitis deminutio_. [EXSILIUM.]--The change of family by adoption,
and by the in manum conventio, was the _minima capitis deminutio_.--A
_judicium capitale_, or _poena capitalis_, was one which affected a
citizen’s caput.