Scanned text contains errors.
240
FORUM——FREEDMEN.
right bank of the Tiber below Rome. To this a pilgrimage was made down the stream by laud and water on the anniversary of its foundation (June 26). As time went on, the worship of Fortuna became one of the most popular in Italy. She was worshipped at a great number of shrines under various titles, given according to various circumstances of life in which her influence was supposed to have effect. These titles were Fortuna PrlmlgSnia, who determines the destiny of the child at its birth ; Fortuna Publlca or POpull Somanl, the tutelary goddess of the state ; Fortuna Ccesdrts or Augusta, the protectress of the emperor ; Fortuna prlvata, or of family life ; Fortuna patrlcia, plebeia, Squestrls, of the different orders, classes, and families of the population ; Fortuna llbSrum, of children ; vir-glnatts, of maidens, muttebris, of women ; Fortuna vlrllis was the goddess of woman’s happiness in married life, of boys and of youths, who dedicated to her the first cuttings of their beards, calling her from this Fortuna barbata. Other epithets of Fortuna were victrix, or giver of victory ; dux or cdmSs, the leader or attendant ; rSdux, who brings safe home ; tranquilla, the giver of prosperous voyages. This Fortuna was worshipped with Portunus in the harbour of Borne. There were also Fortuna bona and mala, good and evil Fortune ; blanda or flattering, obsgquens or yielding, dubla
or doubtful, viscata or enticing, brgvls or fickle, and manens or constant. Trajan at
last founded a special temple in her honour
as the all-pervading power of the world. Here an annual sacrifice was offered to her
on New Year’s
Day. In works
of art she was
represented with
the same attri-
butes as the
Greek Tycke (see
ttche). For-
tuna, in her
general character
as a goddess of
Nature and Fate,
‘goddesses op fobtune. (Fortma •**Hlj«". ,coil> ."’ .(?"•
hard, Ant. Bildw.
had an ancient
and celebrated •
^ , . i . . Bustw, from
temple, in which taf. iv, 3, 4.)
oracles were de-
livered, at Praeneste and Antium (see cut).
Forum (Latin). An open space used for political meetings, judicial proceedings, and traffic. In Rome the oldest forum was the .Forum Romanum, afterwards the Campo
Vaccino, a long and irregular four-sided space, lying between the Capitol and the Palatine, in the direction of WNV. and ESE(seeplan,p. 241). In the course of time it was surrounded with temples, public buildings, and basilicas. It was originally used as a market place, but was early monopolised for public purposes. There were, however, shops and stalls along the northern and southern sides, where an active trade was carried on. Here, in particular, the money-changers carried on their business. The Forum was divided into the COmltium with the Rostra or speaking platform, and the Forum proper, where the Romans habitually spent much of their morning transacting private or public business. (See comitium and rostrum.) Under the Empire a number of other fora sprang up in its neighbourhood, which were used for legal and other business. They were adorned with great magnificence, having a temple in their midst, and colonnades round them, which were open for ordinary traffic. There were thus Fora of Caesar, Augustus, Vespasian, Nerva, and Trajan, the last the largest and most splendid of all (see plan, p. 241). There were, besides, several fora for market business, as the Forum bdartum or cattle-market, pis-carlum or fish-market, h&llto’rluin, or vegetable-market, and so on. The word forum was also applied to any place which formed the local centre of commerce and jurisdiction : so that such local names as Forum lulll (now Frejus) were very common.
Freedmen. The emancipation of slaves was tolerably common, both among Greeks and Romans. The Greeks had no special legal form for the process, and consequently no legal differences in the status of freed-men. At Athens they took the position of resident aliens, and lay under certain obligations to their liberators as patrons. They could be called to legal account for any injury done to their patrons, and if condemned could be given back to them as slaves, or sold by the state. In the latter case the price was paid to their liberators.
Among the Romans emancipation (manu-missts) was a lucrative proceeding for the State, as a tax of 5 per cent, on the value of the slave was paid on his being set free. Emancipation was either formal or informal. (1) Of formal emancipation there were three kinds: (a) the manumissio vin-dicta, in which the owner appeared with the slave before an official with judicial authority, who in later times would gener-
