JUSJŪRANDUM (ὅρκος), an oath. (1) GREEK. An oath is an appeal to
some superior being, calling on him to bear witness that the swearer
speaks the truth, or intends to perform the promise which he makes.
We find early mention in the Greek writers of oaths being taken
on solemn and important occasions, as treaties, alliances, vows,
compacts, and agreements, both between nations and individuals.
The Greeks paid high regard to the sanctity of oaths. The poets
frequently allude to the punishment of perjury after death, which
they assign to the infernal gods or furies, and we find many proofs
of a persuasion that perjurers would not prosper in this world.
Anciently the person who took an oath stood up, and lifted his hands
to heaven, as he would in prayer; for an oath was a species of
prayer, and required the same sort of ceremony. Oaths were frequently
accompanied with sacrifice or libation. The parties used also to
lay their hands upon the victims, or on the altar or some other
sacred thing, as if by so doing they brought before them the deity
by whom the oath was sworn, and made him witness of the ceremony.
Hence the expressions πρὸς τὸν βωμὸν ἐξορκίζειν, ὀμνύναι καθ’
ἱερῶν. The hand especially was regarded as a pledge of fidelity,
and the allusions to the junction of hands in making contracts and
agreements abound in the ancient writers. The different nations of
Greece swore by their own peculiar gods and heroes; as the Thebans
by Hercules, Iolaus, &c., the Lacedaemonians by Castor and Pollux,
the Corinthians by Poseidon; the Athenians swore principally by Zeus,
Athena, Apollo (their πατρῷος θεὸς), Demeter, and Dionysus. The
office or character of the party, or the place, or the occasion often
suggested the oath to be taken. As swearing became a common practice
with men upon trivial occasions, and in ordinary conversation, they
used to take oaths by any god, person, or thing, as their peculiar
habits or predilections, or the fancy of the moment, dictated. Women
also had their favourite oaths. As the men preferred swearing by
Hercules, Apollo, &c., so the other sex used to swear by Aphrodite,
Demeter, and Persephone, Hera, Hecate, Artemis; and Athenian women by
Aglauros, Pandrosus, &c.--(2) ROMAN. I. _Oaths taken by magistrates
and other persons who entered the service of the republic._--After
the establishment of the republic the consuls, and subsequently all
the other magistrates, were obliged, within five days after their
appointment, to promise on oath that they would protect and observe
the laws of the republic (_in leges jurare_). Vestal virgins and the
flamen dialis were not allowed to swear on any occasion. During the
later period of the republic we also find that magistrates, when the
time of their office had expired, addressed the people and swore that
during their office they had undertaken nothing against the republic,
but had done their utmost to promote its welfare. All Roman soldiers
after they were enlisted for a campaign, had to take the military
oath (_sacramentum_). It may here be remarked that any oath might be
taken in two ways: the person who took it, either framed it himself,
or it was put to him in a set form, and in this case he was said
in _verba jurare_, or _jurare verbis conceptis_.--II. _Oaths taken
in transactions with foreign nations in the name of the republic._
According to the most ancient form the pater patratus pronounced
the oath in the name of his country, and struck the victim with a
flint-stone, calling on Jupiter to destroy the Roman nation in like
manner, as he (the pater patratus) destroyed the animal, if the
people should violate the oath. The chiefs or priests of the other
nation then swore in a similar manner by their own gods. In swearing
to a treaty with a foreign nation, a victim (a pig or a lamb) was
in the early times always sacrificed by the fetialis (whence the
expressions _foedus icere_, ὅρκια τέμνειν), and the priest while
pronouncing the oath probably touched the victim or the altar. The
jus fetiale, however, fell into disuse as the Romans extended their
conquests; and as in most cases of treaties with foreign nations, the
Romans were not the party that chose to promise anything on oath, we
hear no more of oaths on their part. At first the Romans were very
scrupulous in observing their oaths in contracts or treaties with
foreigners, and even with enemies; but from the third Punic war to
the end of the republic, perjury was common among the Romans in their
dealings with foreigners as well as among themselves.--III. _Oaths or
various modes of swearing in common life._ The practice of swearing
in ordinary conversations, was as common among the Romans as among
the Greeks. The forms used were sometimes simple invocations of one
or more gods, as _Hercle_ or _Mehercle_, that is, ita me Hercules
juvet, amet, or servet; _Pol_, _Perpol_ or _Aedepol_, that is, per
Pollucem; _per Jovem Lapidem_ or simply _per Jovem_; _per superos_;
_per deos immortales_; _medius fidius_, that is, ita me Dius (Δίος)
filius juvet; _ita me deus amet_, or _dii ament_. Women as well as
men swore by most of the gods; but some oaths were peculiar to one
of the sexes. Thus women never swore by Hercules, and men never by
Castor. Sometimes oaths were accompanied with an execration, in case
the swearer was stating a falsehood: as _Dii me perdant_; _dii me
interficiant_; _dispeream_; _ne vivam_; _ne salvus sim_, &c.--IV.
_Oaths taken before the praetor or in courts of justice._ There might
be a _jusjurandum_ either _in jure_ or _in judicio_. The _jusjurandum
in jure_ is the oath which one party proposed to his adversary
(_detulit_) that he should make about the matter in dispute; and
the effect of the oath being taken or refused was equivalent to a
judicium. The _jusjurandum in judicio (jusjurandum judiciale)_ was
required by the judex, and not by either of the parties, though
either of the parties might suggest it.
JUSTĬTĬUM, a cessation of public business of every kind. Thus the
courts of law and the treasury were shut up, no ambassadors were
received in the senate, and no auctions took place. The _Justitium_
was proclaimed (_edicere_, _indicere_) by the senate and the
magistrates in times of public alarm and danger; and after confidence
and tranquillity had been restored, the Justitium was removed
(_remittere_, _exuere_) by the same authorities. As such times of
alarm are usually accompanied with general sorrow, a _Justitium_
came in course of time to be ordained as a mark of public mourning,
and under the empire was only employed for this reason.
JŬVĔNĀLĬA, or JŬVĔNĀLES LŪDI, scenic games instituted by Nero, in
A.D. 59, in commemoration of his shaving his beard for the first
time, thus intimating that he had passed from youth to manhood. He
was then in the twenty-second year of his age. These games were not
celebrated in the circus, but in a private theatre erected in a
pleasure-ground (_nemus_), and consisted of every kind of theatrical
performance, Greek and Roman plays, mimetic pieces, and the like. The
Juvenalia continued to be celebrated by subsequent emperors, but not
on the same occasion. The name was given to those games which were
exhibited by the emperors on the 1st of January in each year. They no
longer consisted of scenic representations, but of chariot races and
combats of wild beasts.