SCRIPTŪRA, that part of the revenue of the Roman Republic which was
derived from letting out, as pasture land, those portions of the
ager publicus which were not taken into cultivation. The names for
such parts of the ager publicus were, _pascua publica_, _saltus_,
or _silvae_. They were let by the censors to the publicani, like
all other vectigalia; and the persons who sent their cattle to
graze on such public pastures had to pay a certain tax or duty to
the publicani, which of course varied according to the number and
quality of the cattle which they kept upon them. The publicani had
to keep the lists of persons who sent their cattle upon the public
pastures, together with the number and quality of the cattle. From
this registering (_scribere_) the duty itself was called _scriptura_,
the public pasture land _ager scripturarius_, and the publicani, or
their agents who raised the tax, _scripturarii_. The Lex Thoria (B.C.
111) did away with the scriptura in Italy, where the public pastures
were very numerous and extensive, especially in Apulia, and the lands
themselves were now sold or distributed. In the provinces, where the
public pastures were also let out in the same manner, the practice
continued until the time of the empire; but afterwards the scriptura
is no longer mentioned.
SCRŪPŬLUM, or more properly SCRIPULUM or SCRIPLUM (γράμμα), the
smallest denomination of weight among the Romans. It was the 24th
part of the UNCIA, or the 288th of the LIBRA, and therefore = 18·06
grains English, which is about the average weight of the scrupular
aurei still in existence. [AURUM.] As a square measure, it was the
smallest division of the jugerum, which contained 288 scrupula.
[JUGERUM.]
SCŪTUM (θυρεός), the Roman shield worn by the heavy-armed infantry,
instead of being round, like the Greek CLIPEUS, was adapted to the
form of the human body, by being made either oval or of the shape
of a door, (θύρα), which it also resembled in being made of wood or
wicker-work, and from which consequently its Greek name was derived.
Polybius says that the dimensions of the scutum were 4 feet by 2½.
[Illustration: Scuta, shields. (Bartoli, Arcus Triumph.)]
SCỸTĂLĒ (σκυτάλη) is the name applied to a secret mode of writing, by
which the Spartan ephors communicated with their kings and generals
when abroad. When a king or general left Sparta, the ephors gave to
him a staff of a definite length and thickness, and retained for
themselves another of precisely the same size. When they had any
communications to make to him, they cut the material upon which they
intended to write into the shape of a narrow riband, wound it round
their staff, and then wrote upon it the message which they had to
send to him. When the strip of writing material was taken from the
staff, nothing but single letters appeared, and in this state the
strip was sent to the general, who, after having wound it round his
staff, was able to read the communication.