SEXTĀRĬUS, a Roman dry and liquid measure. It was one-sixth of the
congius, and hence its name. It was divided, in the same manner as
the As, into parts named _uncia, sextans, quadrans, triens, quincunx,
semissis, &c._ The uncia, or twelfth part of the sextarius, was the
CYATHUS; its _sextans_ was therefore two cyathi, its _quadrans_
three, its _triens_ four, its _quincunx_ five, &c. (See Tables.)
SĬBYLLĪNI LIBRI. These books are said to have been obtained in the
reign of Tarquinius Priscus, or according to other accounts in
that of Tarquinius Superbus, when a Sibyl (Σίβυλλα), or prophetic
woman, presented herself before the king, and offered nine books
for sale. Upon the king refusing to purchase them, she went and
burnt three, and then returned and demanded the same price for the
remaining six as she had done for the nine. The king again refused
to purchase them, whereupon she burnt three more, and demanded the
same sum for the remaining three as she had done at first for the
nine; the king’s curiosity now became excited, so that he purchased
the books, and then the Sibyl vanished. These books were probably
written in Greek, as the later ones undoubtedly were. They were kept
in a stone chest under ground in the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus,
under the custody of certain officers, at first only two in number,
but afterwards increased successively to ten and fifteen, of whom
an account is given under DECEMVIRI. The public were not allowed to
inspect the books, and they were only consulted by the officers, who
had the charge of them, at the special command of the senate. They
were not consulted, as the Greek oracles were, for the purpose of
getting light concerning future events; but to learn what worship
was required by the gods, when they had manifested their wrath by
national calamities or prodigies. Accordingly we find that the
instruction they give is in the same spirit; prescribing what honour
was to be paid to the deities already recognised, or what new
ones were to be imported from abroad. When the temple of Jupiter
Capitolinus was burnt in B.C. 82, the Sibylline books perished in the
fire; and in order to restore them, ambassadors were sent to various
towns in Italy, Greece, and Asia Minor, to make fresh collections,
which on the rebuilding of the temple were deposited in the same
place that the former had occupied. The Sibylline books were also
called _Fata Sibyllina_ and _Libri Fatales_. Along with the Sibylline
books were preserved, under the guard of the same officers, the books
of the two prophetic brothers, the Marcii, the Etruscan prophecies of
the nymph Bygoe, and those of Albuna or Albunea of Tibur. Those of
the Marcii, which had not been placed there at the time of the battle
of Cannae, were written in Latin.
SĪCA, _dim._ SĪCĪLA, whence the English _sickle_, a curved dagger,
adapted by its form to be concealed under the clothes, and therefore
carried by robbers and murderers. _Sica_ may be translated _a
scimitar_, to distinguish it from PUGIO, which denoted a dagger of
the common kind. _Sicarius_, though properly meaning one who murdered
with the sica, was applied to murderers in general. Hence the forms
_de sicariis_ and _inter sicarios_ were used in the criminal courts
in reference to murder. Thus _judicium inter sicarios_, “a trial for
murder;” _defendere inter sicarios_, “to defend against a charge of
murder.”