HĂRUSPĬCES, or ĂRUSPĬCES (ἱεροσκόποι), soothsayers or diviners,
who interpreted the will of the gods. They originally came to Rome
from Etruria, whence haruspices were often sent for by the Romans
on important occasions. The art of the haruspices resembled in many
respects that of the augurs; but they never acquired that political
importance which the latter possessed, and were regarded rather
as means for ascertaining the will of the gods than as possessing
any religious authority. They did not in fact form any part of the
ecclesiastical polity of the Roman state during the republic; they
are never called sacerdotes, they did not form a collegium, and
had no magister at their head. The art of the haruspices, which
was called _haruspicina_, consisted in explaining and interpreting
the will of the gods from the appearance of the entrails (_exta_)
of animals offered in sacrifice, whence they are sometimes called
_extispices_, and their art _extispicium_; and also from lightning,
earthquakes, and all extraordinary phenomena in nature, to which the
general name of _portenta_ was given. Their art is said to have been
invented by the Etruscan Tages, and was contained in certain books
called _libri haruspicini_, _fulgurales_, and _tonitruales_. This
art was considered by the Romans so important at one time, that the
senate decreed that a certain number of young Etruscans, belonging
to the principal families in the state, should always be instructed
in it. In later times, however, their art fell into disrepute among
well-educated Romans; and Cicero relates a saying of Cato, that he
wondered that one haruspex did not laugh when he saw another. The
name of haruspex is sometimes applied to any kind of soothsayer or
prophet.
[Illustration: Hastae, spears.]
HASTA (ἔγχος), a spear. The spear is defined by Homer, δόρυ χαλκήρες,
“a pole fitted with bronze,” and δόρυ χαλκοβάρες, “a pole heavy with
bronze.” The bronze, for which iron was afterwards substituted,
was indispensable to form the point (αἰχμή, ἀκωκή, Homer; λόγχη,
Xenophon; _acies_, _cuspis_, _spiculum_) of the spear. Each of these
two essential parts is often put for the whole, so that a spear is
called δόρυ and δοράτιον, αἰχμή, and λόγχη. Even the more especial
term μελία, meaning an ash-tree, is used in the same manner, because
the pole of the spear was often the stem of a young ash, stripped
of its bark and polished. The bottom of the spear was often inclosed
in a pointed cap of bronze, called by the Ionic writers σαυρωτῆρ
and οὐρίαχος, and in Attic or common Greek στύραξ. By forcing this
into the ground the spear was fixed erect. Many of the lancers who
accompanied the king of Persia, had, instead of this spike at the
bottom of their spears, an apple or a pomegranate, either gilt or
silvered. Fig. 1. in the annexed woodcut shows the top and bottom of
a spear, which is held by one of the king’s guards in the sculptures
at Persepolis. The spear was used as a weapon of attack in three
different ways:--1. It was thrown from catapults and other engines
[TORMENTUM]. 2. It was thrust forward as a pike. 3. It was commonly
thrown by the hand. The spear frequently had a leathern thong tied
to the middle of the shaft, which was called ἀγκύλη by the Greeks,
and _amentum_ by the Romans, and which was of assistance in throwing
the spear. The annexed figure represents the amentum attached to the
spear at the centre of gravity, a little above the middle.
[Illustration: Hasta with Amentum. (From a Painting on a Vase.)]
Under the general terms _hasta_ and ἔγχος were included various
kinds of missiles, of which the principal were as follow:--_Lancea_
(λόγχη), the lance, a comparatively slender spear commonly used by
the Greek horsemen. The appendage shown in woodcut, Fig. 2, enabled
them to mount their horses with greater facility.--_Pilum_ (ὑσσός),
the javelin, much thicker and stronger than the Grecian lance. Its
shaft, often made of cornel, was 4½ feet (three cubits) long, and
the barbed iron head was of the same length, but this extended half
way down the shaft, to which it was attached with extreme care, so
that the whole length of the weapon was about 6 feet 9 inches. It
was used either to throw or to thrust with; it was peculiar to the
Romans, and gave the name of _pilani_ to the division of the army by
which it was adopted.--Whilst the heavy-armed Roman soldiers bore the
long lance and the thick and ponderous javelin, the light-armed used
smaller missiles, which, though of different kinds, were included
under the general term _hastae velitares_ (γρόσφοι). The γρόσφος was
a dart, with a shaft about three feet long and an inch in thickness:
the iron head was a span long, and so thin and acuminated as to be
bent by striking against anything, and thus rendered unfit to be
sent back against the enemy. Fig. 3, in the preceding woodcut, shows
one which was found in a Roman entrenchment in Gloucestershire.--The
light infantry of the Roman army used a similar weapon, called _a
spit_ (_veru_, _verutum_; σαύνιον). It was adopted by them from
the Samnites and the Volsci. Its shaft was 3½ feet long, its point
5 inches. Fig. 4, in the preceding woodcut, represents the head
of a dart in the Royal Collection at Naples; it may be taken as
a specimen of the _verutum_, and may be contrasted with fig. 5,
which is the head of a lance in the same collection.--The Romans
adopted in like manner the _gaesum_, which was properly a Celtic
weapon; it was given as a reward to any soldier who wounded an
enemy. [GAESUM.]--_Sparus_ is evidently the same word with the
English _spar_ and _spear_. It was the rudest missile of the whole
class.--Besides the terms _jaculum_ and _spiculum_ (ἄκων, ἀκόντιον),
which probably denoted darts, resembling in form the lance and
javelin, but much smaller, adapted consequently to the light-armed
(_jaculatores_), and used in hunting as well as in battle, we find
in classical authors the names of various other spears, which were
characteristic of particular nations.--Thus, the _sarissa_ was the
spear peculiar to the Macedonians. This was used both to throw and
as a pike. It exceeded in length all other missiles.--The Thracian
_romphea_, which had a very long point, like the blade of a sword,
was probably not unlike the sarissa.--With these weapons we may also
class the Illyrian _sibina_, which resembled a hunting-pole.--The
iron head of the German spear, called _framea_, was short and narrow,
but very sharp. The Germans used it with great effect either as a
lance or a pike: they gave to each youth a framea and a shield on
coming of age.--The _Falarica_ or _Phalarica_ was the spear of the
Saguntines, and was impelled by the aid of twisted ropes; it was
large and ponderous, having a head of iron a cubit in length, and a
ball of lead at its other end; it sometimes carried flaming pitch and
tow.--The _matura_ and _tragula_ were chiefly used in Gaul and Spain:
the tragula was probably barbed, as it required to be cut out of the
wound.--The _Aclis_ and _Cateia_ were much smaller missiles.--Among
the decorations which the Roman generals bestowed on their soldiers,
more especially for saving the life of a fellow-citizen, was a spear
without a head, called _hasta pura_. The _celibaris hasta_, having
been fixed into the body of a gladiator lying dead on the arena,
was used at marriages to part the hair of the bride. A spear was
erected at auctions [AUCTIO], and when tenders were received for
public offices (_locationes_). It served both to announce, by a
conventional sign conspicuous at a distance, that a sale was going
on, and to show that it was conducted under the authority of the
public functionaries. Hence an auction was called _hasta_, and an
auction-room _hastarium_. It was also the practice to set up a spear
in the court of the CENTUMVIRI.