TESSERZ CONSULARES. 431 
The expansion of these letters, which has been generally adopted 
by Epigraphists from the 16th century, is SPECTATVS, with refer- 
ence to gladiators, whence the objects are also called tessere giadia- 
torie. This view is supported by the consideration that the great 
majority of the persons mentioned are slaves, but few are freemen, 
and there are no names of women in the nominative. 
The sense, in which this expansion was generally* understood, 
was that the gladiator, to whom the ¢essera was given, was “tried,” 
“‘ approved,” and allowed to retire on the specified day of the month 
in the year indicated by the specified consuls. In support of this 
interpretation the well-known verses were cited : 
““ Spectatum satis, e6 donatum jam rude queris, 
Mecenas, iterum antiquo me includere ludo.” 
Morcelli, de Stilo, i. p. 412, suggested, instead of spectatus, spec- 
tavit,f on the authority of an inscription given by Tomasini and 
Fabretti, in which that word appeared on a ¢essera, in extenso, scil. 
PILOMVSVS:PERELI‘SPECTAVIT. The sense in which he 
understood the word, was—‘‘was a spectator,” ‘took his seat 
amongst the citizens and looked on.” He believed that these 
tessere were given to gladiators, who had received not only the 
rudis, but liberty, and that they entitled those who had received 
them to sit amongst the citizens. The inscriptions would thus be 
regarded as stating the date of the first occasion on which such 
gladiators availed themselves of the privilege conferred by the pre- 
sentation of the ¢essere. Another expansion, spectaculum, has 
been proposed by Gori, Jnserip. i. 74, but I am unable to conjec- 
* Thus Reinesius, Syntag. p. 372, remarks: “ Fulvius Ursinus putabat significart videre, 
quo anno seu consulatu, mense ac die gladiator spectatus, diu multumque in arte versa- 
tus, rude sit ac tessera eburnea donatus, quibus solutum se palestre atque arene legibus 
athletam ostenderet.” Amati, Giornale Arcad. 1826, explains spectatus thus: “ Le picciole 
taglie quadrilatere di avorto or di osso erano visibili documenti di morte per essi gladia= 
tori ad altri recata, e almeno di sanguinosa vittoria ottenuta con atterrar Vavversario.” 
Tomasini, de tesseris, makes the astonishiug statement: “Hrat autem rudis tessera 
quedam eburnea, cui nomen gladiatoris etate emeriti inscribebatur quam qui accipiebat, 
is ab omni pugnandi necessitate eximebatur.” tis scarcely necessary to remark relative 
to this view, that there is no authority for the notion that the rudis was a tessera. 
+ Ursatus, de Notis Romanorwm, remarks: SP. Spectatus. Pignorius, q’wi, de Servis, serzbzt, 
hance notam que doctos viros hucusque torsit, nihil aliud “ Significare, quam, spectavit, ut 
detur intelligere, conductos fuisse aliquos, veluti ab editore, gladiatores insignes, rude 
olim donatos, spectandi gratia, non pugnandi.” Pitiscus, Lexicon, in tessera, Facciolati, 
Lexicon, in Specto, and Orelli, n. 2561, adopt the view of Morcelli. Heuzen, n. 6162, seems 
to prefer swectatus. Zell, Delectus, p. 60, reads spectandus. 
