MENSA (τράπεζα), a table. The simplest kind of table was a round
one with three legs, called in Greek τρίπους. Tables, however, must
usually have had four legs, as the etymology of τράπεζα, the common
word for table, indicates. For the houses of the opulent, tables were
made of the most valuable and beautiful kinds of wood, especially of
maple, or of the citrus of Africa, which was a species of cypress
or juniper. As the table was not large, it was usual to place the
dishes and the various kinds of meat upon it, and then to bring it
thus furnished to the place where the guests were reclining. On many
occasions, indeed, each guest either had a small table to himself,
or the company was divided into parties of two or three, with a
separate table for each party, as is distinctly represented in the
cut under SYMPOSIUM. Hence we have such phrases as _mensam apponere_
or _opponere_, and _mensam auferre_ or _removere_. The two principal
courses of a _deipnon_ and _coena_, or a Greek and Roman dinner,
were called respectively πρώτη τράπεζα, δεύτερα τράπεζα, and _mensa
prima_, _mensa secunda_. [COENA; DEIPNON.]
MENSĀRĬI, MENSŬLĀRĬI, or NŪMŬLĀRĬI, a kind of public bankers at
Rome who were appointed by the state; they were distinct from the
argentarii, who were common bankers, and did business on their
own account. [ARGENTARII.] The mensarii had their tables or banks
(_mensae_) like ordinary bankers, in the forum, and in the name of
the aerarium they offered ready money to debtors who could give
security to the state for it. Such an expediency was devised by the
state only in times of great distress. The first time that mensarii
(_quinqueviri mensarii_) were appointed was in B.C. 352, at the time
when the plebeians were so deeply involved in debt, that they were
obliged to borrow money from new creditors in order to pay the old
ones, and thus ruined themselves completely. On this occasion they
were also authorised to ordain that cattle or land should be received
as payment at a fair valuation. With the exception of this first
time, they appear during the time of the republic to have always
been _triumviri mensarii_. One class of mensarii, however (perhaps
an inferior order), the _mensularii_ or _numularii_, seem to have
been permanently employed by the state, and these must be meant when
we read, that not only the aerarium, but also private individuals,
deposited in their hands sums of money which they had to dispose of.