-an R A 



iLi R E 



put ER for n-i!t, and the letter A, witliout any difcrimlna- 

 tion, both for annus and ylu^ujlus. Vodlus neverthdefs 

 favours the conjefture, and judges it at Icall as probable as 

 either that of Ifidoro, who derives ara from its, the tribute- 

 money, wherewith AuguRus taxed the workl : or that of 

 .Scaligcr himltlf, who deduces it likewife from ts, though 

 in a different manner. JEs, he obferves, was ufed among 

 the ancients tor an cirlicle, or ititn, in an account ; and hence 

 it came alfo to iland for a fum or number itfelf. From the 

 plural tira, came by corruption if in, irram, in the lingular ; 

 much as OjTia, OjVium, the name of a place, from OjVui, the 

 months of the Tyhn: 



JEti.\ amounts to the fame with epocha ; though fome 

 authors make a diflerence between them ; but wherein it 

 confifts they do not agree. A late critic afligns this dif- 

 ference, that in ilrictnefs of fpetch, epocha is that fixed 

 point where an a:ra mad^ ufe of commences. Bibl. Germ, 

 torn. V. p. 172. Vallemont makes another difference, viz. 

 that an epocha is a point fixed by chronologers, and an 

 aera a like point, only fixed by the popular ufagc of a 

 country, or nation. Perhape it might not be amifs if 

 chronologers wotild keep to this difference, but it is cer- 

 tain moll of thera hitherto ule the two words promifcu- 

 owfly. The proper idea of an sera, as it is now generally 

 underftood, is that of a feries of years, reckoned from a 

 fixed point of time, called an epoch or epocha. Thus we 

 fay, that the Chrillian a»ra began at the epoch of the birth 

 of Chrift, and any particular year is fuch a year, according 

 to the date of it, of the Chriftian Era. The particvdar 

 xras are mentioned under epocha. See aUo Chrono- 

 logy. 



^RA is alfo ufed, in fome writers of the barbarous age, 

 for any year. 



In which fenfe, we meet with enltring ilci-zcn the itro, the 

 eleven hundred and eighth ara, &c. 



JE^/E, in Ancient Geography, a town of Macedonia, and 

 another of Ionia in Afia Minor, according to Stephan. 

 Byzant. and a people of Afia towards Gedrofia or Ger- 

 mania according to Ptolemy. 



jERARIUM, the public treafiiry of the Roman flate. 

 The temple of Saturn at Rome, being the great treafury 

 of the flate, was firft called a;rarium ; from as, itris, copper ; 

 that being the only money in ufe before the year of Rome 

 485, when the filver began to be coined. 



It was firfl erefted under Augullus, and maintained by 

 a yearly voluntary contribution ; but that proving infuf- 

 ficient, the twentieth part of all legacies and inheritances 

 e-xcept of fuch as feU to the nt^t of kin, or to the poor, 

 were configned to this treafury. 



For the cullody hereof, three of the emperor's life-guards 

 were conilituted pr.rfedi erarii. 



^RARiUM differs irom Jifrus, as the firfl contained the 

 public money, the fecond that of the prince. Yet the 

 two are fometimes ufed indifcrimiaatdy for each other. 

 Calv. Lex. Jur. 



^Erarium fanSius, was an appendage to tUe former, 

 added on occafion of the growth of the Roman flate, when 

 there was not room enough for lodging all the public mo- 

 nies, and the public afts, which were dcpofited with it. 



It was caWed fonSius, becaufe placed in an. inner and 

 fafer part of the temple ; or becaufe in it was lodged the 

 aurum vieeftnarium, or twentieth, which was kept as a fund 

 or referve, for extreme neceflity of the Hate. On which 

 account it was aUo called i?mnum I'ieifimarhim. 



j^RARiUM Ilithie, or of Jnvo Lucina, was ercfled by 

 Servius TuUius, fixth king of the Romans, and compofed of 

 money paid in by parents for the birth of each child, The 

 Vol. I. 



erarium Veiitrit, Called lAliilnir, was for the cuftoJy of iiii>- 

 ney paid into it for thofe who died : and the arnriuin juveii- 

 tu/is for the money dcpofited on account of tliofe who ar- 

 rived at the age of manhood. By thefe means he was able 

 to alcertain the poptdation and wealth of the country. 

 Dion. Hal. lib. iv. torn. i. p. 212. lid. Oxon. 



VErarium privatum, or the privy purfe, contained the 

 money and efleAs which the prince was mailer of before 

 his acceffion to the empire. This was under the care of 



the COMES reruni privaiarum Wc meet alio with other 



Icffcr treafuries, itraria minora, in the provinces. 



yERARiUM Ecehfve, the treafury or lank of the church, 

 was foniud in the firfl century of the Chriflian ara, ot free 

 gifts, which were coUefted and prefcrved in churches, partly 

 for the purpofe of defraying the expencc of divine fcrvice, 

 and partly to relieve the poor. Such capitals, which were 

 confidered as ecclefiailical funds, were by Rudentius, 

 (Hymn. ii. in honorem Laurentii) in the beginning of the 

 fifth centuiy, called monies annonx, and area numinis. 

 TertuUian (Apolog. c. 39. oper. p. 3J. Ed. Rigaltii.) 

 calls them depofiia pietatis ; and hence were formed the 

 montes pietatis of later times. See Mounts of Piety. 



.iERARIUS, in Antiquity, an officer inftitnled by Alex- 

 ander Sevcrus, for the diflribution of the money given in . 

 largefles to the foldiery, or people. Pitilc. Lex. Ant. 



j^rarius was alfo ufed for a perfon whole name was 

 flruck out by the cenfors from the album, or lifl of his cen- 

 tuiy, and was only confidered as a citizen fo far as to make 

 him fubjeCl to pay taxes, ura, witliout being entitled to any 

 privileges, or advantages, from the common-wealth. 



Hence the phrafes, eerarium facere, inter o'rarios referre^ 

 eerariis eximere, 6ic. — Not only plebeians, to whom fome have 

 reflrained it, but alfo knights and Icnators, were fubjedl to 

 this kind of degradation. 



The lerarii were incapable of making a will, of inheriting, 

 of voting in affemblies, of enjoying any poll ot honour or 

 profit ; in effeft, were only fubjeft to the burdens, without 

 the benefits of fociety ; yet they retained their fi'cedom, and 

 were not reduced to the condition of flaves. To be made 

 an serarius was a punifhment inflieled for fome offence, and 

 reputed one degree more fevere than to be expelled a tribe, 

 tribu moveri. Concerning the precife meaning of thefc 

 terms and the penalties denoted by them, which have been 

 differently underflood by critics, fee a note to c. Xviii. 1. 24. 

 Livy, torn. Hi. p. 859. Ed. Drakenb. 



jErarius is alfo ufed for a perfon employed in coining, 

 or working brafs. 



Thefe are fometimes called terarii fufores : at other times 

 a?rariu3 is diflinguiflicd irm-n fufor ; the former anfwering to 

 what we now call copper-finiths, the latter to founders. 

 yERARius is alfo applied to a foldier v.ho receives pay. 

 tERATA aqua. See Ziment tvater, 

 AERATED luater. See Pvrmont tvafcr. 

 AERATION of foils, in J.grinihnre, denotes the im- 

 pregnation of them" with air, by ploughing, harrowing, and 

 other means of pulverization, whicli Icrve to releafe the 

 air in the interllices of the foils, and to form various kinds 

 of new combinations. 



yERDING, orEaDiNG, in Geography, a fmall town of 

 Lower Bavaria, feven leagues fouth of Landfliut, on the 

 river Sempt, in a diRricl wliich produces the beft grain of 

 that country. It was fet on fire by t}ie Swedes in 1632, 

 and in 164S reduced by them to afhes. 



iL"-REA, in Ancient Geography, a town of Thrace upon 

 the Propontis, fouth of a fmall gulf, and north-weil of Pe- 

 rinthus. It is alfo a furname of Diana, taken from a moun- 

 tain oi Arffolis, where (lie was worQiipped. 



• Pp JLKZ 



