SACCUS (σάκκος) signified in general any kind of sack or bag made
of hair, cloth, or other materials. We have only to notice here its
meaning as--(1) A head-dress. [COMA.]--(2) A sieve for straining
wine. [COLUM.]--(3) A purse for holding money. Hence the phrase in
Plautus _ire ad saccum_, “to go a begging.”
SĂCELLUM is a diminutive of _sacer_, and signifies a small place
consecrated to a god, containing an altar, and sometimes also a
statue of the god to whom it was dedicated, but it was without a
roof. It was therefore a sacred inclosure surrounded by a fence or
wall, and thus answered to the Greek περίβολος.
SĂCERDOS, SĂCERDŌTĬUM. As all the different kinds of priests are
treated of separately in this work, it is only necessary here to
make some general remarks. In comparison with the civil magistrates,
all priests at Rome were regarded as _homines privati_, though all
of them, as priests, were sacerdotes publici, in as far as their
office (_sacerdotium_) was connected with any worship recognised
by the state. The appellation of _sacerdos publicus_ was, however,
given principally to the chief pontiff and the flamen dialis, who
were at the same time the only priests who were members of the senate
by virtue of their office. All priestly offices or sacerdotia were
held for life, without responsibility to any civil magistrate. A
priest was generally allowed to hold any other civil or military
office besides his priestly dignity; some priests, however, formed an
exception, for the duumviri, the rex sacrorum, and the flamen dialis
were not allowed to hold any state office, and were also exempt
from service in the armies. Their priestly character was, generally
speaking, inseparable from their person as long as they lived: hence
the augurs and fratres arvales retained their character even when
sent into exile, or when they were taken prisoners. It also occurs
that one and the same person held two or three priestly offices at a
time. Thus we find the three dignities of pontifex maximus, augur,
and decemvir sacrorum united in one individual. Bodily defects
incapacitated a person at Rome, as among all ancient nations, from
holding any priestly office. All priests were originally patricians,
but from the year B.C. 367 the plebeians also began to take part
in the sacerdotia [PLEBES]; and those priestly offices which down
to the latest times remained in the hands of the patricians alone,
such as that of the rex sacrorum, the flamines, salii, and others,
had no influence upon the affairs of the state. As regards the
appointment of priests, the ancients unanimously state, that at first
they were appointed by the kings, but after the sacerdotia were
once instituted, each college of priests--for nearly all priests
constituted certain corporations called collegia--had the right of
filling up, by cooptatio, the vacancies which occurred. [PONTIFEX.]
Other priests, on the contrary, such as the vestal virgins and the
flamines, were appointed (_capiebantur_) by the pontifex maximus, a
rule which appears to have been observed down to the latest times;
others again, such as the duumviri sacrorum, were elected by the
people, or by the curiae, as the curiones. But in whatever manner
they were appointed, all priests after their appointment required
to be inaugurated by the pontiffs and the augurs, or by the latter
alone. Those priests who formed colleges had originally, as we have
already observed, the right of cooptatio; but in the course of
time they were deprived of this right, or at least the cooptatio
was reduced to a mere form, by several leges, called leges de
sacerdotiis, such as the Lex Domitia, Cornelia, and Julia; their
nature is described in the article PONTIFEX, and what is there said
in regard to the appointment of pontiffs applies equally to all the
other colleges. All priests had some external distinction, as the
apex, tutulus, or galerus, the toga praetexta, as well as honorary
seats in the theatres, circuses, and amphitheatres. Most of the
priestly colleges possessed landed property, and some priests had
also a regular annual salary (_stipendium_), which was paid to them
from the public treasury. This is expressly stated in regard to the
vestal virgins, the augurs, and the curiones, and may therefore be
supposed to have been the case with other priests also. The pontifex
maximus, the rex sacrorum, and the vestal virgins had moreover a
domus publica as their place of residence.
SACRA. This word, in its widest sense, expresses what we call
divine worship. In ancient times, the state, as well as all its
subdivisions, had their own peculiar forms of worship, whence at
Rome we find sacra of the whole Roman people, of the curies, gentes,
families, and even of private individuals. All these sacra, however,
were divided into two great classes, the public and private sacra
(_sacra publica et privata_), that is, they were performed either on
behalf of the whole nation, and at the expense of the state, or on
behalf of individuals, families, or gentes, which had also to defray
their expenses. This division is ascribed to Numa. All sacra, publica
as well as privata, were superintended and regulated by the pontiffs.
SACRĀMENTUM, the military oath, which was administered in the
following manner:--Each tribunus militum assembled his legion, and
picked out one of the men, to whom he put the oath, that he would
obey the commands of his generals, and execute them punctually. The
other men then came forward, one after another, and repeated the same
oath, saying that they would do like the first.
SACRĀRĬUM was any place in which sacred things were deposited and
kept, whether this place was a part of a temple or of a private house.
SACRIFĬCĬUM (ἱερεῖον), a sacrifice. Sacrifices or offerings formed
the chief part of the worship of the ancients. They were partly
signs of gratitude, partly a means of propitiating the gods, and
partly also intended to induce the deity to bestow some favour
upon the sacrificer, or upon those on whose behalf the sacrifice
was offered. Sacrifices in a wider sense would also embrace the
DONARIA; in a narrower sense sacrificia were things offered to the
gods, which merely afforded momentary gratification, and which
were burnt upon their altars, or were believed to be consumed by
the gods. All sacrifices may be divided into bloody sacrifices and
unbloody sacrifices.--_Bloody sacrifices._ In the early times of
Greece we find mention of human sacrifices, but with a few exceptions
these had ceased in the historical ages. Owing to the influence
of civilisation, in many cases animals were substituted for human
beings; in others, a few drops of human blood were thought sufficient
to propitiate the gods. The custom of sacrificing human life to the
gods arose from the belief that the nobler the sacrifice and the
dearer to its possessor, the more pleasing it would be to the gods.
Hence the frequent instances in Grecian story of persons sacrificing
their own children, or of persons devoting themselves to the gods of
the lower world. That the Romans also believed human sacrifices to
be pleasing to the gods, might be inferred from the story of Curtius
and from the self-sacrifice of the Decii. The symbolic sacrifice
of human figures made of rushes at the Lemuralia [LEMURALIA] also
shows that in the early history of Italy human sacrifices were not
uncommon. For another proof of this practice, see VER SACRUM. A
second kind of bloody sacrifices were those of animals of various
kinds, according to the nature and character of the divinity. The
sacrifices of animals were the most common among the Greeks and
Romans. The victim was called ἱερεῖον, and in Latin _hostia_ or
_victima_. In the early times it appears to have been the general
custom to burn the whole victim (ὁλοκαυτεῖν) upon the altars of the
gods, and the same was in some cases also observed in later times.
But as early as the time of Homer it was the almost general practice
to burn only the legs (μηροί, μηρία, μῆρα) enclosed in fat, and
certain parts of the intestines, while the remaining parts of the
victim were consumed by men at a festive meal. The gods delighted
chiefly in the smoke arising from the burning victims, and the
greater the number of victims, the more pleasing was the sacrifice.
Hence it was not uncommon to offer a sacrifice of one hundred bulls
(ἑκατόμβη) at once, though it must not be supposed that a hecatomb
always signifies a sacrifice of a hundred bulls, for the name was
used in a general way to designate any great sacrifice. Such great
sacrifices were not less pleasing to men than to the gods, for in
regard to the former they were in reality a donation of meat. Hence
at Athens the partiality for such sacrifices rose to the highest
degree. The animals which were sacrificed were mostly of the domestic
kind, as bulls, cows, sheep, rams, lambs, goats, pigs, dogs, and
horses; and each god had his favourite animals which he liked best
as sacrifices. The head of the victim, before it was killed, was in
most cases strewed with roasted barley meal (οὐλόχυτα or οὐλοχύται)
mixed with salt (_mola salsa_). The persons who offered the sacrifice
wore generally garlands round their heads, and sometimes also carried
them in their hands, and before they touched anything belonging to
the sacrifice they washed their hands in water. The victim itself
was likewise adorned with garlands, and its horns were sometimes
gilt. Before the animal was killed, a bunch of hair was cut from its
forehead, and thrown into the fire as primitiae (κατάρχεσθαι). In the
heroic ages the princes, as the high priests of their people, killed
the victim; in later times this was done by the priests themselves.
When the sacrifice was to be offered to the Olympic gods, the head
of the animal was drawn heavenward; when to the gods of the lower
world, to heroes, or to the dead, it was drawn downwards. While the
flesh was burning upon the altar, wine and incense were thrown upon
it, and prayers and music accompanied the solemnity. The most common
animal sacrifices at Rome were the _suovetaurilia_ or _solitaurilia_,
consisting of a pig, a sheep, and an ox. They were performed in all
cases of a lustration, and the victims were carried around the thing
to be lustrated, whether it was a city, a people, or a piece of land.
[LUSTRATIO.] The Greek _trittya_ (τριττύα), which likewise consisted
of an ox, a sheep, and a pig, was the same sacrifice as the Roman
suovetaurilia. The customs observed before and during the sacrifice
of an animal were on the whole the same as those observed in Greece.
But the victim was in most cases not killed by the priests who
conducted the sacrifice, but by a person called _popa_, who struck
the animal with a hammer before the knife was used. The better parts
of the intestines (_exta_) were strewed with barley meal, wine, and
incense, and were burnt upon the altar. Those parts of the animal
which were burnt were called _prosecta_, _prosiciae_, or _ablegmina_.
When a sacrifice was offered to gods of rivers, or of the sea, these
parts were not burnt, but thrown into the water. Respecting the use
which the ancients made of sacrifices to learn the will of the gods,
see HARUSPEX and DIVINATIO.--_Unbloody sacrifices._ Among these we
may first mention the libations (_libationes_, λοιβαί or σπονδαί).
Bloody sacrifices were usually accompanied by libations, as wine was
poured upon them. The wine was usually poured out in three separate
streams. Libations always accompanied a sacrifice which was offered
in concluding a treaty with a foreign nation, and that here they
formed a prominent part of the solemnity, is clear from the fact that
the treaty itself was called σπονδαί. But libations were also made
independent of any other sacrifice, as in solemn prayers, and on
many other occasions of public and private life, as before drinking
at meals, and the like. Libations usually consisted of unmixed wine
(ἔνσπονδος, _merum_), but sometimes also of milk, honey, and other
fluids, either pure or diluted with water. The libations offered
to the Furies were always without wine. Incense was likewise an
offering which usually accompanied bloody sacrifices, but it was
also burned as an offering for itself. A third class of unbloody
sacrifices consisted of fruit and cakes. The former were mostly
offered to the gods as primitiae or tithes of the harvest, and as
a sign of gratitude. They were sometimes offered in their natural
state, sometimes also adorned or prepared in various ways. Cakes were
peculiar to the worship of certain deities, as to that of Apollo.
They were either simple cakes of flour, sometimes also of wax, or
they were made in the shape of some animal, and were then offered as
symbolical sacrifices in the place of real animals, either because
they could not easily be procured, or were too expensive for the
sacrificer.
SACRĬLĔGĬUM, the crime of stealing things consecrated to the gods,
or things deposited in a consecrated place. A Lex Julia appears to
have placed the crime of sacrilegium on an equality with peculatus.
[PECULATUS.]
SAECŬLUM was, according to the calculation of the Etruscans, which
was adopted by the Romans, a space of time containing 110 lunar
years. The return of each saeculum at Rome was announced by the
pontiffs, who also made the necessary intercalations in such a
manner, that at the commencement of a new saeculum the beginning of
the ten months’ year, of the twelve months’ year, and of the solar
year coincided. But in these arrangements the greatest caprice and
irregularity appear to have prevailed at Rome, as may be seen from
the unequal intervals at which the ludi saeculares were celebrated.
[LUDI SAECULARES.] This also accounts for the various ways in which a
saeculum was defined by the ancients; some believed that it contained
thirty, and others that it contained a hundred years: the latter
opinion appears to have been the most common in later times, so that
saeculum answered to our century.