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And I fhall begin with the Tejfera ho f pit alts , 
which was either public or private. As to the for- 
mer, we find among the inferiptions publifhed by 
Gruter inftances of two municipal towns, who put 
themfelves under the patronage of a Roman gover- 
nor. And the reciprocal ingagement between them, 
which was ingraved on two copper plates, in the 
form of an oblong fquare, with a pediment at the 
top, is called in both tessera hospitalis (a). 
The defign of the latter was to cultivate and main- 
tain a lading freindlhip between private perfons, 
and their families 5 and gave a mutual claim to the 
contra&ing parties, and their defeendants, of a re- 
ception and kind treatment at each others houfes, 
as occafion offered. For which end it was requi- 
re, that thofe Tejferae fliould be fo contrived, as 
might bed; preferve the memory of that tranfaefion 
to pofterity (^). And one method of doing this 
was by dividing one of them lengthwife into two 
equal parts, upon each of which one of the parties 
wrote his name, and interchanged it with the other. 
draught of one made of bone, and io divided, 
may be feen in Thowtajinus, with the name of the 
perfon on each part. Upon one of them is, 
POL YNICES 
ascanio.f. 
And upon the other, 
CL APHYR 
an DR AE. M. I. F. 
The 
(a) Pag . CCCLXII. CCCLXIIL 
22. V. 2. § 7 .. 
( b ) Plaut. Pcenuh 'v. 1 . 
