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MANSIO.
MANDRAE. [latruncull]
MANDYAS (jtiai/Suas). [lacerna.]
MANES. See Diet, of Greek and Rom. Biography and Mythology.
MANGONES. "[servus.]
MANICA, a sleeve. Besides the use of sleeves sewed to the tunic, which, when so manufactured, was called chiridota or manicata tunica (Curt. iii. 7. p. 12, ed. Zumpt), sleeves were also worn as a separate part of the dress, Palladius (de Re Rust. i. 43) mentions the propriety of providing ocreas manicasque de pellibus^ i. e. leggins and sleeves made of hides, as useful both to the huntsman and to the agricultural labourer. The Roman gladiators wore, together with greaves, a sleeve of an appropriate kind on the right arm and hand (Juv. vi. 255), as is exhibited in the woodcuts at p. 576.
These parts of dress are mentioned together even as early as the Homeric age (see Od. xxiv. 228, 229). In this passage the manicae (xeiptSes) seem to be mittens, worn on the hands to protect them from briars and thorns: and Eustathius, in his commentary on the passage, distinguishes between simple mittens,, such as our labourers use in hedging, and gloves, which he calls %6tpi5es Sa;c-ti>ao>tcu (p. 1960. init.).
Gloves with fingers (digitalia, Varro, de Re Rust. i. 55) were worn among the Romans for the performance of certain manual operations. Pliny the younger refers also to the use of manicae in winter to protect the hands from cold (Epist. iii. 5). Those used by the Persians were probably made of fur, perhaps resembling muffs : the Persians also wore gloves in winter (5ce/cTuA7]0pas, Xen. Cyrop. viii. 3. § 17). In an enumeration of the instruments of torture used in the fourth century of the Christian era we observe " the glove" (Synes. Epist. 58) ; but its construction or material is not described.
Handcuffs were called manicae. (Virg. Georg. iv. 439, Aen. ii. 146 ; Plant. A sin. ii. 2. 38, Capt. iii. 5. 1, Most. v. 1. 17 ; Non. Maroellus, s.v. Manicae.) [J. Y.]
MANIPULUS; MANIPULATES; MA-NIPULA’RH. [ExERCiTOs, p. 500, b.]
MANSIO (ffraQ(J.6s a post-station at the end of a day’s journej1′. The great roads, which were constructed first by the kings of Persia and afterwards by .the Romans, were provided, at intervals corresponding to the length of a day’s journey, with establishments of the same kind with the khans or caravanseras which are still found in the East. There were 111 such stations on the road from Sardes to Susa (Herod, v. 52, 53, vi. 118), theii average distance from one another being something less than 20 English miles. The khan, erected al the station for the accommodation of travellers, i called by Herodotus Kardv(ris and Karayooyr} To stop for the night was KaraXvew. (Xen. Anal. i. 8 ; Aelian, V. H. i. 32.) As the ancient roads made by the kings of Persia are still followed to a considerable extent (Heeren, Ideen^ vol. i. pt. ii. pp. 193—203, 713—720), so also there is reason to believe that the modern khan, which is a square building, enclosing a large open court, surrounded by balconies with a series of doors entering into plain unfurnished apartments, and having a fountain in the centre of the court, has been copied by uninterrupted custom from the Persic /caraAiV/ and that, whether on occasion of the arrival • armies or of caravans, they have always served to
MANSIO.
ifford a shelter during the night both to man and beast.
The Latin term mansio is derived from manere^ ignifying to pass the night at a place in travelling. On the great Roman roads the mansiones were at the same distance from one another as on those of the Persian empire. They were originally called castra, being probably mere places of encampment formed by making earthen entrenchments. In process of time they included, not only barracks and magazines of provisions (horrea) for the troops, but commodious buildings adapted for the reception of travellers of all ranks, and even of the emperor himself, if he should have occasion to visit them. At those stations the cisiarii kept gigs for hire and for conveying government despatches. [CisiUM ; essedum.] The mansio was under the superintendence of an officer called mansionarius.
Besides the post-stations at the end of each day’s journey, there were on the Roman military ways others at convenient intervals, which were
J i
used merely to change horses or to take refreshment, and which were called mutationes (a\ayal). There were four or five mutationes to one mansio. The Itinerarium a Durdigala Hierusalem usque, which is a road-book drawn up about the time of Constantine, mentions in order the mansiones from Bourdeaux to Jerusalem with the intervening mutationes, and other more considerable places, which are called either civitates^ vict, or castella. The number of leagues (leugae) or of miles between one place and another is also set down. [J. Y.]
MANTELE (%€tp^/.ta/cTpo^, xeipe/tytaye?oi/), a napkin. The circumstance, that forks were not invented in ancient times, gave occasion to the use of napkins at meals to wipe the fingers (Xen. Cyrop. i. 3. § 51) ; also when the meal was finished, and even before it commenced, an apparatus was carried round for washing the hands. A basin, called in Latin malluvium (Festus, s. v. and in Greek Xepz/n//, xepj/igoy, or x€tP^t/l7rTP°v9 was held under the hands to receive the water, which was poured upon them out of a ewer (urceolus). Thus Homer describes the practice, and according to the account of a recent traveller, it continues unchanged in the countries to which his description referred. (Fellow’s Journal, 1838,. p. 153.) The boy or slave who poured out the water, also held the napkin or towel for wiping the hands dry. The word mappa, said to be of Carthaginian origin (Quintil. i. 5. § 57),. denoted a smaller kind of napkin, or a handkerchief, which the guests carried with them to table. (Hor. Sat. ii. 4. 81, ii. 8. 63.) The mantele, as it was larger than the mappa^ was sometimes used as a table-cloth. (Martial, xii. 29, xiv. 138.)
The napkins thus used at table were commonly made of coarse unbleached linen (wjUoAtv^, Athen. ix. 79). Sometimes, however, they were of fine linen (eKTpfyi/xara Xa^irpa arivdovvty-r], Philoxenus, ap. Athen. ix. 77). Sometimes they were woollen with a soft and even nap (tonsis mantelia villis, Virg. Georg. iv. 377, Aen. i. 702). Those made of Asbestos must have been rare. The Romans in the time of the emperors used linen napkins embroidered or interwoven with gold (Lamprid. Helioaab. 27, AL Severus, 37,40), and the traveller already quoted informs us that this luxury still continues in the East. Napkins were also worn by women as a head-dress, in which case they. were of fine materials and gay colours. (Athen. ix..
