SĪTŎPHỸLĂCES (σιτοφύλακες), a board of officers, chosen by lot, at
Athens. They were at first three, afterwards increased to fifteen, of
whom ten were for the city, five for the Peiraeus. Their business was
partly to watch the arrival of the corn ships, take account of the
quantity imported, and see that the import laws were duly observed;
partly to watch the sales of corn in the market, and take care that
the prices were fair and reasonable, and none but legal weights and
measures used by the factors; in which respect their duties were much
the same as those of the Agoranomi and Metronomi with regard to other
saleable articles.
SĪTOS (σῖτος), corn. The soil of Attica, though favourable to the
production of figs, olives, and grapes, was not so favourable for
corn; and accordingly a large quantity of corn was annually imported.
Exportation was entirely prohibited, nor was any Athenian or resident
alien allowed to carry corn to any other place than Athens. Whoever
did so, was punishable with death. Of the corn brought into the
Athenian port two-thirds was to be brought into the city and sold
there. No one might lend money on a ship that did not sail with
an express condition to bring a return cargo, part of it corn, to
Athens. Strict regulations were made with respect to the sale of
corn in the market. Conspiracies among the corn-dealers (σιτοπῶλαι)
to buy up the corn (συνωνεῖσθαι), or raise the price (συνιστάναι τὰς
τιμὰς), were punished with death. The sale of corn was placed under
the supervision of a special board of officers called _Sitophylaces_
(σιτοφύλακες), while that of all other marketable commodities
was superintended by the agoranomi. It was their business to see
that meal and bread were of the proper quality, and sold at the
legal weight and price. Notwithstanding these careful provisions,
scarcities (σιτοδεῖαι) frequently occurred at Athens. The state then
made great efforts to supply the wants of the people by importing
large quantities of corn, and selling it at a low price. Public
granaries were kept in the Odeum, Pompeum, Long Porch, and naval
storehouse near the sea. _Sitonae_ (σιτῶναι) were appointed to
get in the supply and manage the sale. Persons called _apodectae_
(ἀποδέκται) received the corn, measured it out, and distributed it in
certain quantities.
SĪTOU DĬCĒ (σίτου δίκη). If anything happened to sever a marriage
contract, the husband or his representative was bound to repay the
marriage portion (προῖξ); or, if he failed to do so, he was liable
to pay interest upon it at the rate of eighteen per cent. per annum.
A woman’s fortune was usually secured by a mortgage of the husband’s
property; but whether this was so or not, her guardian might bring an
action against the party who unjustly withheld it; δίκη προικὸς, to
recover the principal, δίκη σίτου, for the interest. The interest was
called σῖτος (alimony or maintenance), because it was the income out
of which the woman had to be maintained. The word σῖτος is often used
generally for provisions, just as we use the word _bread_.
SĬTŬLA, _dim._ SĬTELLA (ὑδρία), was probably a bucket or pail
for drawing and carrying water, but was more usually applied to
the vessel from which lots were drawn. The diminutive _sitella_,
however, was more commonly used in this signification. It appears
that the vessel was filled with water (as among the Greeks, whence
the word ὑδρία), and that the lots (_sortes_) were made of wood;
and as, though increasing in size below, it had a narrow neck, only
one lot could come to the top of the water at the same time, when
it was shaken. The vessel used for drawing lots was also called
_urna_ or _orca_ as well as _Situla_ or _Sitella_. It is important
to understand the difference in meaning, between Sitella and Cista,
in their use in the comitia and courts of justice, since they have
been frequently confounded. The _Sitella_ was the urn, from which
the names of the tribes or centuries were drawn out by lot, so that
each might have its proper place in voting, and the _Cista_ was the
ballot-box into which the tabellae were cast in voting. The Cista
seems to have been made of wicker or similar work.
[Illustration: Cista. Sitella.]
SOCCUS, _dim._ SOCCŬLUS, was nearly if not altogether equivalent in
meaning to CREPIDA, and denoted a slipper or low shoe, which did not
fit closely, and was not fastened by any tie. The Soccus was worn by
comic actors, and was in this respect opposed to the COTHURNUS.
[Illustration: Socci, slippers, worn by a Mimus or Buffoon. (From an
ancient Painting.)]
SŎCĬI (σύμμαχοι). In the early times, when Rome formed equal
alliances with any of the surrounding nations, these nations were
called _Socii_. After the dissolution of the Latin league, when the
name _Latini_, or _Nomen Latinum_, was artificially applied to a
great number of Italians, only a few of whom were real inhabitants
of the old Latin towns, and the majority of whom had been made
Latins by the will and the law of Rome, there necessarily arose a
difference between these Latins and the Socii, and the expression
_Socii Nomen Latinum_ is one of the old asyndeta, instead of _Socii
et Nomen Latinum_. The Italian allies again must be distinguished
from foreign allies. The Italian allies consisted, for the most part,
of such nations as had either been conquered by the Romans, or had
come under their dominion through other circumstances. When such
nations formed an alliance with Rome, they generally retained their
own laws; or if they were not allowed this privilege at first, they
usually obtained it subsequently. The condition of the Italian allies
varied, and mainly depended upon the manner in which they had come
under the Roman dominion; but in reality they were always dependent
upon Rome. The following are the principal duties which the Italian
Socii had to perform towards Rome: they had to send subsidies in
troops, money, corn, ships, and other things, whenever Rome demanded
them. The number of troops requisite for completing or increasing the
Roman armies was decreed every year by the senate, and the consuls
fixed the amount which each allied nation had to send; in proportion
to its population capable of bearing arms, of which each nation was
obliged to draw up accurate lists, called _formulae_. The consul
also appointed the place and time at which the troops of the socii,
each part under its own leader, had to meet him and his legions.
The infantry of the allies in a consular army was usually equal in
numbers to that of the Romans; the cavalry was generally three times
the number of the Romans: but these numerical proportions were not
always observed. The consuls appointed twelve praefects as commanders
of the socii, and their power answered to that of the twelve military
tribunes in the consular legions. These praefects, who were probably
taken from the allies themselves, and not from the Romans, selected
a third of the cavalry, and a fifth of the infantry of the socii,
who formed a select detachment for extraordinary cases, and who were
called the _extraordinarii_. The remaining body of the socii was
then divided into two parts, called the right and the left wing. The
infantry of the wings was, as usual, divided into cohorts, and the
cavalry into turmae. In some cases also legions were formed of the
socii. Pay and clothing were given to the allied troops by the states
or towns to which they belonged, and which appointed quaestors or
paymasters for this purpose: but Rome furnished them with provisions
at the expense of the republic: the infantry received the same as
the Roman infantry, but the cavalry only received two-thirds of what
was given to the Roman cavalry. In the distribution of the spoil and
of conquered lands they frequently received the same share as the
Romans. They were never allowed to take up arms of their own accord,
and disputes among them were settled by the senate. Notwithstanding
all this, the socii fell gradually under the arbitrary rule of the
senate and the magistrates of Rome; and after the year B.C. 173, it
even became customary for magistrates, when they travelled through
Italy, to demand of the authorities of allied towns to pay homage
to them, to provide them with a residence, and to furnish them
with beasts of burden when they continued their journey. The only
way for the allies to obtain any protection against such arbitrary
proceedings, was to enter into a kind of clientela with some
influential and powerful Roman. Socii who revolted against Rome were
frequently punished with the loss of their freedom, or of the honour
of serving in the Roman armies. Such punishments however varied
according to circumstances. After the civitas had been granted to all
the Italians by the Lex Julia de Civitate (B.C. 90), the relation of
the Italian socii to Rome ceased. But Rome had long before this event
applied the name Socii to foreign nations also which were allied
with Rome, though the meaning of the word in this case differed
from that of the Socii Italici. There were two principal kinds of
alliances with foreign nations: 1. _foedus aequum_, such as might
be concluded either after a war in which neither party had gained a
decisive victory, or with a nation with which Rome had never been at
war; 2. a _foedus iniquum_, when a foreign nation conquered by the
Romans was obliged to form the alliance on any terms proposed by the
conquerors. In the latter case the foreign nation was to some extent
subject to Rome, and obliged to comply with anything that Rome might
demand. But all foreign socii, whether they had an equal or unequal
alliance, were obliged to send subsidies in troops when Rome demanded
them; these troops, however, did not, like those of the Italian
socii, serve in the line, but were employed as light-armed soldiers,
and were called _milites auxiliares_, _auxiliarii_, _auxilia_, or
sometimes _auxilia externa_. Towards the end of the republic all the
Roman allies, whether they were nations or kings, sank down to the
condition of mere subjects or vassals of Rome, whose freedom and
independence consisted in nothing but a name. [Compare FOEDERATAE
CIVITATES.]