SPĔCŬLĀTŌRES, or EXPLŌRĀTŌRES, were scouts or spies sent before
an army, to reconnoitre the ground and observe the movements of
the enemy. Under the emperors there was a body of troops called
Speculatores, who formed part of the praetorian cohorts, and had the
especial care of the emperor’s person.
SPĔCŬLUM (κάτοπτρον, ἔσοπτρον, ἔνοπτρον), a mirror, a looking-glass.
The looking-glasses of the ancients were usually made of metal,
at first of a composition of tin and copper, but afterwards more
frequently of silver. The ancients seem to have had glass mirrors
also like ours, consisting of a glass plate covered at the back with
a thin leaf of metal. They were manufactured as early as the time of
Pliny at the celebrated glass-houses of Sidon, but they must have
been inferior to those of metal, since they never came into general
use, and are never mentioned by ancient writers among costly pieces
of furniture, whereas metal mirrors frequently are. Looking-glasses
were generally small, and such as could be carried in the hand.
Instead of their being fixed so as to be hung against the wall or to
stand upon the table or floor, they were generally held by female
slaves before their mistresses when dressing.
[Illustration: Looking-glass held by a Nymph. (From a Painting at
Herculaneum.)]