40 Communion Tokens. 



ground Avlien we come to the HOSPITIL'M or league of friend- 

 ship which classical writers tell us obtained between individuals 

 of different states in the earlier stages of Greek and Roman 

 civilisation. In days when the population of these republics or 

 empires was but a cluster of tribes, allied or hostile, the traveller 

 abroad ran much personal risk of arrestment and summary hand- 

 ling as a suspect. It was therefore necessary for him to have an 

 understanding with at least one of the citizens of the particular 

 state or states into which he proposed to \enture. This under- 

 standing or league of friendship held good reciprocally and, once 

 made, became hereditary. To secure the bona fides of such a 

 bond tokens were exchanged by the contracting parties. These 

 tokens, called tesserae Jiospitales were preserved and handed 

 ■down. Thus an individual might go abroad and claim the rights 

 of hospitium in a strange city "at the hands of descendants of 

 ancient contractors of a league, e\Qn although such descendants 

 were quite unknown to him and all intercourse between the two 

 families had been suspended for generations.^ In these " tesserae 

 hospitales " we have the idea of the modern passport to the 

 Lord's Table almost fully developed. When we enter the 

 Roman Camp we see the thing complete. The dispositions of 

 the soldiery for the safe-guarding of the camp have been made. 

 For the night season precautions are redoubled. Four times in 

 the night the guards are t-hanged. The watchword is not passed 

 verbally. Inscribed on small wooden tablets called tesserae 

 milittiin it is placed b\' the Commander-in-chief in the hands of 

 the Tribunes, who in turn entrust it to four men out of each 

 Legion. These men, named " tesserarii," carr) the "tesserae" 

 to the outposts farthest removed from head(|uarters. Passing 

 from company to company, and from legion to legion, the timber 

 password returns to the Tribunes at each period of the night — a 

 token that all is well. As the "tessera " bore with it the pa.ss- 

 word without which the soldier was unfit for his fluty as night- 

 guardsman, so the leaden or j^ewter passport was a token that the 

 bearer was judged to possess the recognised qualifications for 



3. Profe.ssor William Kamsay in his " Roman Anti{|uities," chapter 

 III., gives an example of an individual claiming rights of 

 Hospitium in a foreign land at the hands ot a Hospes whom 

 he had never seen. Vide the " Poennlus " of T. Accius 

 Plantns (250-180 b.c), Act V., 8c. ii., 82. 



