ADULE ADULTERY. 



in Italian, German, and I'reiich, the old name con- 

 linurs. ! an arm of tin 1 Mediterranean, included by 

 (he coasts of Italy, lUyria, Daluiatia, Alluniu ami 

 Kj-inis ulwut 200 leagues long luui 60 bruad, ex- 

 tending from somh-ca>t to north-west. Int. 4O> to 

 5O" 55' north. It contains about 90,000 sq. miles of 

 surface. Different derivation-, of the name are given. 

 On the Austrian coast it lias a number of small 

 Hands, ami forms many bays, the most remarkable 

 of which are those of Trieste, Qnnniaro, anil Cat- 

 taro. It is called the gulf of f'enice from the city of 

 this name, which formerly claimed exclusive domi- 

 nion over this sea, and in those times annually wed- 

 ded it on Ascension Day. The ceremony was per- 

 formed by the doge of Venice tlirowing a ring into 

 the -'.i with great pomp. The entrance of the gulf 

 is commanded by Corfu, one of the Ionian islands 

 un.it r the British government. The coast of the A. 

 sea is, in many places, very dangerous. The most 

 important ports on the gulf are Venice (since 1829 a 

 free port), Trieste, Ancona, Otranto, &c. 



ADDLE ; APPI.IAN MARBLE. Adule, a city in Ethi- 

 opia, mentioned by ancient authors as the most 

 important commercial place of the Troglodytes and 

 Kthiopians, in later times the emporium of Axum, 

 seems to be the same with the modern Arkiko. This 

 city, now the residence of the Naib of Massuah, is 

 frequently mentioned on account of an inscription, 

 first copied in the TopograpMa Christiana, a work 

 parily theological, partly geographical, written by 

 Commas Indicopleustes, in the 6th century, under the 

 r -ii of the emperor Justin. The inscription, en- 

 graved on marble, is contained in part oil a throne, 

 Die remainder on a stone separated from it, and there 

 are many inconsistencies in the several fragments, 

 which have induced some scholars to declare the in- 

 scription spurious. Besides the genealogy of Ptolemy 

 Euergetes, it contains on a second part, which Salt 

 supposes to be of Axumitic, that is of Ethiopic or 

 Abyssinian origin, the catalogue of nations whom 

 some king boasts to have subdued. Buttmann (in 

 /fol/'a Museum der Alterthumscunde, vol. 2, p. 105) 

 has removed the difficulties arising from the date on 

 the marble, which is the 27th year of the reign of a 

 king, whose name is unknown, probably not Ptolemy 

 Euergetes. Several things, however, remain to be 

 explained, and require a more accurate knowledge 

 than we liave at present of the country where the 

 inscription was found. 



ADCLTERY. Mankind, in almost all ages, and in 

 all civilized countries, have regarded the violation of 

 the marriage-bed with abhorrence. It has been 

 punished in various ways and with different degrees 

 of severity, according to the general manners and 

 morals of the country ; sometimes with extreme and 

 even cruel rigour ; in other instances, with capricious 

 and ridiculous penalties. By the Jewish law, it was 

 punished with death. Strabo says the same was the 

 case in Arabia Felix. Among the ancient Egyp- 

 tians it was not common, but when it did occur, a 

 thousand lashes were inflicted on the man, and the 

 woman was deprived of her nose. In Greece, the 

 laws against it were severe. The rich were some- 

 times allowed to redeem themselves by paying a fine ; 

 in which case, the woman's father returned the dower 

 which he had received from the husband. Some 

 suppose it was refunded by the adulterer. A fre- 

 quent punishment there, was putting out the eyes. 

 According to Homer, adulterers were stoned to 

 death. By the laws of Draco and Solon, adulterers 

 when caught in the act, were at the mercy of the 

 injured party. Adulteresses were prohibited, in 

 Greece, from appearing in fine garments, and enter- 

 ing the temples. Some suppose that this offence 

 was made capital by a law of Romulus, and again 



>y the twelve tables; others, tliat it was first made 

 apiial by Augustus; and others, not till the reign 

 >f Constantine. The fact is, that the punishment 

 v..s h ft to the discretion of the husband and parents 

 >f the adulteress. The most usual mode of taking 

 i-xengc was by mutilating, castrating, or cutting oif 

 he ears or nose. The punishment assigned by the 

 'ex Julia de ailnltfris, instituted l>y Augustus, was 

 Kinishment or a heavy fine. It was decreed by An- 

 oniiius, that, to sustain a charge of adultery against 

 1 wife, the husband who brought it must be innocent 

 limseif. Under Macrinus, adulterers were burned 

 at a stake. Under Constant ins and < (.ii-unis, they 

 were burned or sewed in sacks and thrown into the 

 -ea. But the punishment was mitigated under Leo 

 and Marcian to peqietual banishment, or cutting oft 

 .he nose ; and under Justinian the wife was only to 

 ie scourged, lose her dower, and be shut up in a 

 monastery ; at the expiration of two years, the hus- 

 Dand might take her again ; if he refused, she was 

 (haven, and made a nun for life. Theodosius insti- 

 tuted the shocking practice of public violation, which, 

 however, he soon abolished. In Crete, adulterers 

 were covered with wool, as an emblem of their elie- 

 minacy, and carried in that dress to ihe magistrate's 

 liouse, where a fine was imposed on them, and they 

 were deprived of ah 1 their privileges and their share 

 in public business. The punishment in use among 

 the Mingrelians is the forfeiture of a hog, which is 

 usually eaten very amicably by the woman, the gal- 

 lant, and the cuckold. In some parts of India, it is 

 said, that any woman may prostitute herself for an 

 elephant, and it is reputed no small glory to liave 

 been rated so high. Adultery is stated to be ex- 

 tremely frequent at Ceylon, although punishable 

 with death. Among the Japanese and some other 

 nations, adultery is punishable only in the woman. 

 Among the Abyssinians, the crime of the husband is 

 punished on the innocent wife. On the contrary, in 

 the Marian islands, the woman is not punishable, 

 but the man is, and the wife and her relations 

 waste his lands, burn him out of the house, &c. 

 Among the Chinese, adultery is not capital ; fond 

 parents will even make a contract witli the future 

 husbands of their daughters, to allow them the in- 

 dulgence of a gallant. In Portugal, an adulteress 

 is condemned to the flames, but the punishment is 

 seldom executed. By the ancient laws of France, 

 this crime was punishable with death. In Spain, 

 the crime was punished by the deprivation of the 

 instrument. In Poland, previously to the estab- 

 lislunent of Cliristianity, the criminal was carried to 

 the market-place, and there fastened by the testicles 

 with a nail ; a razor was laid within his reach, 

 and he had the option to execute justice on him 

 self, or remain where he was and die. The Saxons 

 consigned the adulteress to the flames, and over her 

 ashes erected a gibbet, on which her paramour was 

 hanged. King Edmund the Saxon ordered adul- 

 tery to be punished in the same manner as homicide, 

 and Canute the Dane ordered that the offender 

 should be banished, and the woman have her ears 

 and nose cut off. In the tune of Henry I., it wa^ 

 punished with the loss of the eyes and the genitals. 

 Adultery is, in England, considered a spiritual of- 

 fence, cognizable by the spiritual courts, where it ii 

 punished oy fine and penance. The common law 

 allows the party aggrieved only an action and da- 

 mages. The Mahommedan code pronounces adul- 

 tery a capital offence. It is one of the three crimes 

 which the prophet directs to be expiated by the 

 blood of a Mussulman. In France, before the revo- 

 lution, an adulteress was usually condemned to a 

 convent, where the husband could visit her during 

 two years, and take her back if lie saw fit. If he. 



