A dictionary of Greek and Roman . ard had perpendicular wooden di-visions, the space on the right hand being intendedfor units, the next space for tens, the next forhundreds, and so on. Thus was constructed the ABACUS. a§, £<p* ov \l/ri<pi£ov<nv, the abacus on whichthey calculate, i. e. reckon by the use of stones(\pri<poi, calculi). (Comp. Pol. v. 26.) The figurefollowing represents the probable form and appear-ance of such an abacus. The reader will observe,that stone after stone might be put into the right-hand partition until they amounted to 10, when itwoul
A dictionary of Greek and Roman . ard had perpendicular wooden di-visions, the space on the right hand being intendedfor units, the next space for tens, the next forhundreds, and so on. Thus was constructed the ABACUS. a§, £<p* ov \l/ri<pi£ov<nv, the abacus on whichthey calculate, i. e. reckon by the use of stones(\pri<poi, calculi). (Comp. Pol. v. 26.) The figurefollowing represents the probable form and appear-ance of such an abacus. The reader will observe,that stone after stone might be put into the right-hand partition until they amounted to 10, when itwould be necessary to take them all out as repre-sented in the figure, and instead of them to putone stone into the next partition. The stones inthis division might in like manner amount to 10,thus representing 10 x 10 = 100, when it would benecessary to take out the 10, and instead of themto put one stone into the third partition, and so this principle the stones in the abacus, as de-lineated in the figure, woidd be equivalent to359, 5. A board adapted for playing with dice orcounters, resembling a draught-board or back-gammon-board. (Caryst. op. Ath. x. p. 435, d ;Suet. Ner. 22 ; Macrob. Sat. i. 5.) The Greeks hada tradition ascribing this contrivance to Palamedes,hence they called it the abacus of Palamedes.(Tb Ua\]deLou a§, Eustath. in Od. i. 107.)[Latrunculi.] 6. A table or sideboard, chiefly used for thedisplay {eocponere) of gold and silver cups. Thetops of such tables were sometimes made of silver,but more usually of marble, and appear in somecases to have had numerous cells or partitions be-neath, in which the plate was likewise placed. Theuse of abaci was first introduced at Rome from AsiaMinor after the victories of Cn. Manlius Vulso,b. c. 187, and their introduction was regarded asone of the marks of the growing luxury of the age. ABORTIO. ACCEPTILATIO. (Cic. Verr. iv. 16, Tusc. v. 21 ; Liv. xxxix. 6 ;Plin. xxxvii. 6 ; Petron. 73 ; Sid. Ap
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