PECTEN (κτείς), a comb. The Greeks and Romans used combs made of
box-wood. The Egyptians had ivory combs, which also came into use by
degrees among the Romans. The wooden combs, found in Egyptian tombs,
are toothed on one side only; but the Greeks used them with teeth on
both sides. The principal use of the comb was for dressing the hair,
in doing which the Greeks of both sexes were remarkably careful and
diligent. To go with uncombed hair was a sign of affliction.
PĔCŬLĀTUS, is properly the misappropriation or theft of public
property. The person guilty of this offence was _peculator_. The
origin of the word appears to be _pecus_, a term which originally
denoted that kind of moveable property which was the chief sign of
wealth. Originally trials for _peculatus_ were before the populus or
the senate. In the time of Cicero matters of _peculatus_ had become
one of the quaestiones perpetuae.