STLVA CRITICA CANADENSIUM. 83 



MENSE • FEBR ■ M • TVL " C • ANT • COS • ANCHIAL • SIRTI • L • S • 



SPECTAT • NVM. 

 From this it appears that of the two expansions spectatus is the more probable ; 

 but even it is not satisfactory, and Mommsen with good reason calls it in ques- 

 tion. He objects that the words of Horace by no means prove that spectatus 

 was the proper or ordinary term for expressing the fact that a gladiator had 

 fought.* Pugnavit, he believes, would be much more clear and suitable than 

 spectatus est. He also notices the inconsistency of the days named on the 

 tesserce with the days which we know were fixed for the ludi gladiatorii at Rome, 

 viz., a.d. xiii. xii. xi. x. k. Apr. To these objections I would add, that there is 

 no notice, so far as I am aware, in any ancient author, of tesserce gladiatorial, t 

 The designation is a modern invention, accepted and used by those archaeolo- 

 gists who read S P as spectatus, with reference to gladiators. . . . When I 

 first examined the inscriptions on the tesserce consulares, I had seen only those 

 containing the names of slaves, and was inclined to conjecture that they might 

 have been given to persons of that class as testimonials of approved character. 

 Thus Terence, Adelphi, v. 6, 5, is mihi profecto est servos spectatus satis. On 

 re-examination of the subject two or three years ago, I found the names of 

 freemen also ; and observing the frequent mention of the Calends, Nones and 

 Ides, I was led to think that the tesserce were in some way connected with 

 money. Hence I conjectured that the word was SPECTATOR, in the sense 

 "examiner of money;" and now, perceiving that this conjecture derives sup- 

 port from SPECTAT • NVM • (i. e., as I read it, spectator numorurfi or numu- 

 larius) + in the recently published Aries inscription, I submit this reading as 

 more probable than any of which I am aware. 



"Of the use of specto and its derivatives in this sense, the following passage 

 affords sufficient evidence : Ex omni pecuiki certis nominibus deductiones fieri 

 solebant, primum pro spectatione, &c. Cicero, Verr. v. 78 ; Cape hoc, sis. Quin 

 das? Numi sexcenti heic erunt Prohi, numerati ; fac sit mulier libera, Atque 

 hue continuo adduce. Jam faxo heic erit. Non, hercle, quoi nunc hoc dem 

 spectandum, scio. Plautus, Per see, iii. 3; Quum me ipsiim noris, quam elegans 



* The sense in which the word was understood by the greater number of those who received 

 it, conveyed more than this, as I have elsewhere stated Mommsen's objection, however, as to 

 the application of spectatus to gladiators is valid in whatever sense the term was taken. Indeed 

 I do not recollect any passage in a Latin author, besides that cited from Horace, in which spec- 

 tatus is used with a reference, direct or indirect, to gladiators. 



t This designation is used by Mafltei, Pabretti, Orsato, Marini, &c. And yet the phrase is, as 

 I have remarked, unsanctioned by ancient authority. There is no passage with which I am 

 acquainted that mentions any such object as a tessera given as a reward, unless the words 

 tabulam illico inisit in Suetonius, Claudius, c. 21, be taken an this sense, as MorceUi interprets 

 them. His explanation, however, is, in my judgment, very unsatisfactory. He seems to have 

 forgotten the statement in Dio Cassius, Ix. 13, relative to the usage of Claudius at these shows : 

 KTjpv^i (ilv sXaxiora s^^p^ro, to, 6k Si] ttXeiw ig cravidag ypd(pa)v SieSi)\ov ; i- «•. 

 Prceconibus rarissime usus est ac pleraque tabulis inscripta significavit. 



X The numularii did more than tell whether coin was good or base. They seem to have been 

 like our money brokers. Their occupation and position were below those of argentarii. In the 

 Theodosiaa Code, xvi. 4, 5, sevri and numularii are classed together. 



