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ARC I AS GRAPHE.
Antlg. 295), as aes is in Latin. At Rome, on the contrary, silver was not coined till b. c. 269, before which period Greek silver was in circulation at Rome ; and the principal silver coin of the Romans, the denarius^ was borrowed from the Greek drachma. For further details respecting silver money, see nummus, denarius, drachma.
From a very early period, silver was used also in works of art. Its employment for ornamenting arms, so often referred to by Homer, belongs to this head. The use of it for mere purposes of luxury and ostentation, as in plate, seems to have become generally prevalent about the close of the Peloponnesian wars (Athen. vi. p. 229, f.), but much more so from the time of Alexander, after which it becomes so common as hardly to need any proof or illustration,—more common indeed than with us. (Cic. in Verr. iv. 21.) The Romans distinguished between plain and chased silver vessels by calling the former puna or lewa (Plin. Ep. iii. 1 ; Juv. ix. 141, xiv. 62 ; Mart. iv. 38), and the latter caelata, aspera, or toreumata. [CAE-
LATURA ; TOREUTICE.]
The chief ancient authorities respecting silver, as well as gold, are the 3d^ 4thv and 5th books of Strabo, the 5th of Diodorus, especially cc. 27 and 36, and the 33d of Pliny, from c. 6. s. 31 ; of mo dern works the most important are BockVs Public Economy of Athens, Bk. i. cc. 1—3, with the sup plementary Dissertation on the Silver Mines of /iffMr/o?z, and Jacob’s History of the Precious Me tals. [P. S.J
ARGIAS GRAPHE (apyias ypaQfy, that is, an action for idleness. Vagrants and idlers were not tolerated at Athens from very early times, and every person was obliged to be able to state by what means he supported himself. (Herod, ii. 377; Diod. i. 77.) According to some (Pint. Sol. 37, Pollux, viii. 42), even Draco had enacted laws against idleness, while, according to others, Soion, in his legislation, borrowed these laws from the Egyptians, and others again state that Peisis-tratus was the first who introduced them at Athens,. (Plut. Sol. 31.) In accordance with this law, which is called apyias j/d//.os, all poor people were obliged to signify that they were carrying on some honourable business by which they gained their livelihood (]>em. c. Eubul. p. 1308 ; Isocrat. Areo-pag. 17 ; Dionys. xx. 2) ; and if a person by his idleness injured his family, an action might be brought against him before the archon eponymus not only by a member of his family, but by any one who- chose to do so. (Lexic. Segiter. p. 310.) At the time when the Areiopagus was still in the full possession of its powers, the archon seems to have laid the charge before the court of the Areiopagus. If the action was brought against a person for the first time, a fine might be inflicted- on him, and if he was found guilty a second or third time, he might be punished with ari/jiia. (Pollux, viii. 42.) Draco had ordained atimia as the penalty even for the first conviction of idleness. (Plut., Poll. II. cc.) This law was modified by Solon, who inflicted atimia only when a person was convicted a third time, and it is doubtful as to whether in later times the atimia was inflicted at all for idleness. As the Areiopagus was entrusted with the general superintendence of the moral conduct of citizens, it is probable that it might interfere in cases of apyia, even when no one came forward to bring an action against a person guilty of
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ARIES.
it, (Val. Max. ii. 6 ; Plainer, Process, ii. p. 150, &c.; Meier und Schoemann, Att. Proc. pp. 193, 298, &c. ; Bockh, Pull. Econ. p. 475, 2d edit.) According to Aelian (V. H. iv. 1), a similar law existed also at Sardes. [L. S«]
ARGURIOU DIKE (apyvpiov 5//o?), a civil suit of the class irpds riva, and within the juris diction of the tlvesmothetae, to compel the defend ant to pay monies in his possession, or for which he was liable, to the plaintiff. This action is casually alluded to in two speeches of Demos thenes (in Boeot. p. 1002, in Olympiodor. p. 1179), and is treated of at large in the speech against Callippus. [J. S. M.]
ARGYRASPIDES> (kpyvp&ffvties), a division of the Macedonian army of Alexander the Great, who were so called because they carried shields covered with silver plates. They were picked men, and were commanded by Nicanor, the son oi Parmenion, and were held ia high honour by Alexander. After the death of Alexander they followed Eu-menes,. but afterwards they deserted to Antigomis, and delivered Eumenes up to him. Antigorius, however, soon broke up the corps, finding it too turbulent to manage. (Diod. xvii. 57, 58, 59, x.viii. 63, xix. 12, 41, 43, 48 ; Justin. xii. 7 ; Curtius,.iv. 13 § 27 ; Plutarch, Eumen. 13,&c.; Droysen, Naclifolg. Alex. passim.) The Greek kings of Syria seem to have had a corps of the same name in their army: Livy mentions them as the royal cohort in the army of Antiochus the Great. (Liv. xxxvii. 40; Polyb. v. 79.) The Emperor Alexander Severus, among other things in which he imitated Alexander the Great, had in his army bodies of men who were called argyroaspides and chrysoaspides. (Lamprid. Alex.. Sev. 50.) [P. S.J
ARGYROCOPEION (tyyvpoK<meiw the place whei’e money was coined, the mint, at Athens. It appears to have been in or adjoining to the chapel (ripyov) of a hero named Stephanephorus, in which were kept the standard weights for the coins, just as at Rome in, the sanctuary of Juno Moneta. [moneta.] (Pollux, vii. 103; Har- pocrat.; Suid.,; Bockh,, Corp..Inscr. vol. i. p. 164, and the explanation of that inscription in his Public Economy of Athens^ p. 144,. 2nd ed.; comp. talentbm.) , [P. S.]
ARIADNEIA (aptaSj/em), festivals solemnized in the island of Naxos in honour of Ariadne, who, according to on- tradition, had died here a natural death, and was honoured with sacrifices, accom panied by rejoicing and merriment. (Pint. Thes. 20.) Another festival of the same name was c.lebrated in honour of Ajiadne in Cyprus, which, was said to have been instituted by Theseus in commemoration of her death in* the month of Gor- piaeiis. The Amathus:ans called the grove in which the grave of Ariadne was shown, that of Aphrodite-Ariadne. This is the account given by Plutarch (Thes. 20) from Paeon, an Amathusian writer. (Comp. C. F. Hermann, Lehrb. des Gottes- diensfl. Alterthum&r^ §65. n. 12.) [L. S.]
ARIES (/cpios), the battering-ram, was used to shake, perforate, and batter down the Avails of besieged cities. It consisted of a large beam, made of the trunk of a tree^ especially of a fir or an ash. To one end was fastened a mass of bronze or iron (KetyaX’f], eju£oAi7, Trporo^), which, resembled in its form the head of a ram. The upper figure in, the annexed woodcut is taken from the bas-reliefs on the column of Trajan at Rome,, It shows
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