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On this page: De Dolo Malo Actio – Dolabra – Dolichos – Dolium – Dolo – Dolus Malus – Domestici – Domicilium

420.

DOLABRA.

reconciling them, and it agrees in substance with the supposition of Schomann, " that among the Athenians, no one period was appointed for enrol­ ment, provided that it was not done "before the attainment of the 18th, nor after the completion of the 20th year." (Schomann, De Comitiis, pp. 75, 241, &c.) [R.W.]

. DODRANS. [As.]

DOLABRA, dim. DOLABELLA (ff^ix-n, dim. (TyutA.io*’), a chisel, a celt, was used for a variety of purposes in ancient as in modern times. They were frequently emploj’ed in making entrenchments and in destroying fortifications (Liv. ix. 37, xxi. 11 ; Curt. ix. 5 ; Tacit. Hist. iii. 20) ; and hence they are often found in ancient earth-works and en­campments. They abound in our public mu-B2ums, being known under the equivalent name of tt celts" to antiquaries, who, however, generally #se the word without understanding its true sense. (See Jamieson’s Etym. Diet. s. v, Celt) Celtes is an old Latin word for a chisel, probably derived from coe/o, to . engrave. Thus the phrase celte sctilpantur in silice occurs in the vulgate version of Job (xix. 24), and malleolo et celte literatus silex in an inscription found at Pola. (Gruter, p. 329.) These articles are for the most part of bronze, more rarely of hard stone. The sizes and forms which they present, are as various as the uses to which they were applied. The annexed woodcut is designed to show a few of the most remark­able varieties. Fig. 1 is from a celt found, with several others, at Karnbre in Cornwall. (Borlase, Ant. of Cornwall, iii. 13.) Its length was six inches without the haft, which was no doubt of wood, and fixed directly into the socket at the top. It must have been a very effective implement for removing the stones in the wall of a city or fortifi­cation, after they had been first shattered and loosened in some degree by the battering-ram. The ear, or loop, which is seen in this and many other celts, would be useful to suspend them from the soldier’s girdle, and may also have had a cord or chain attached to it to assist in drawing back the celt whenever it became too firmly wedged be­tween the stones of the wall which it was intended to destroy. Figs 2 and 3 are from Sir W. Hamil­ton’s collection in the British Museum. These chisels seem best adapted for the use of the car­penter. The celt (fig. 4) which was found in Furness, co. Lancaster (Archaeologia, v. p. 106), instead of being shaped to receive, or to be in­serted into a handle, like the three preceding, is made thick, smooth, and round in the middle, so as to be conveniently manipulated without a handle. It is 9 inches long, and weighs 2 Ib. 5 oz. Its sharp edge is like that of a common hatchet, and may have been used for polishing timber. On

the other hand, figs. 5, 6, 7, exactly resemble the knife now. used by leather-cutters, and there-

12 3 45 6

DOMICILIUM.

fore illustrate the account given by Julius Pollux, who reckons this same tool, the tr^iATj, among the epyaAela tov aKvroTo^ov. This instrument was also used for cutting paper, and probably in the same manner (cr/xiAa xapror^os, sicila, Philox. Gloss,).

The following woodcut shows a small bronze celt, fixed into a handle of stag’s horn, and there­fore exemplifies one of the modes of attaching the metal to its haft. It was evidently adapted for very fine work, and is strongly contrasted with the above-figured celt from Cornwall. It was found in an ancient tomb in Wiltshire. (Sir R. C. Hoare’s Anc. Wilts. South, pp. 182, 203.) The two other figures in this woodcut represent the knife used in sacrifices, as it is often exhibited on cameos and bas-reliefs, being the scena, sacena, or dolabra pontificalis, mentioned by Festus (s. v. See-no) ; and the securis dolabrata, or hatchet fur­nished with a chisel (Pallad. De Re Rust. i. 43) as. sculptured on a funereal monument. [J. Y.]

DOLICHOS (8<JAixo.O. [stadium.]

DOLIUM. [ViNUM.]

DOLO (SJAcoy). 1. A secret poniard or dagger contained in a case, used by the Italians. It was inserted in the handles of whips (Dig. 9. tit. 2. s. 52 ; Serv. ad Virg. Aen. vii. 664), and also in walking-sticks, thus corresponding to our sword-stick. It was a weapon of the latter kind that Tib. Gracchus carried (Plut. Tib. Graccli. 10 ; comp. Hesych. s. v. A6wi/es).

2. A small top-sail. [NAvis.]

DE DOLO MALO ACTIO. [CuLPA.]

DOLUS MALUS. [culpa.]

DOMESTICI. [PRAETORIAN!.]

DOMICILIUM. This word signifies a man’s regular place of abode. It was used in the Lex Plautia Papiria in such a manner, that when that lex was enacted, b. c. 89, the word domicilium must have had a fixed meaning: " Si qui foederatis civitatibus adscripti fuissent, si turn cum lex ferebatur in Italia domicilium habuissent, et si sexaginta diebus apud praetorem essent professi." (Cicero, Pro Arclda, c. 4.) This further appears from another passage in the same chapter: " At domicilium Romae non habuit: is qui tot annis ante _civitatem .datam sedem omnium re.rum.ac