A dictionary of Greek and Roman . ), a general term includingboth Libra, a balance, and statera, a steelyard.(Non. Marc. p. 180.) Payments were originallymade by weighing, not by counting. Hence abalance (trutina) was preserved in the temple ofSaturn at Rome. (Varro, L. L. v. 183, ed. Miiller.)The balance was much more ancient than the steel-yard, which according to Isidore of Seville ( 24) was invented in Campania, and thereforecalled by way of distinction Trutina with this remark, steelyards havebeen found in great numbers among the ruins ofHercula


A dictionary of Greek and Roman . ), a general term includingboth Libra, a balance, and statera, a steelyard.(Non. Marc. p. 180.) Payments were originallymade by weighing, not by counting. Hence abalance (trutina) was preserved in the temple ofSaturn at Rome. (Varro, L. L. v. 183, ed. Miiller.)The balance was much more ancient than the steel-yard, which according to Isidore of Seville ( 24) was invented in Campania, and thereforecalled by way of distinction Trutina with this remark, steelyards havebeen found in great numbers among the ruins ofHerculaneum and Pompeii^ The construction ofsome of them is more elaborate and complicatedthan that of modern steelyards, and they are insome cases much ornamented. The annexed wood-cut represents a remarkably beautiful statera whichis preserved in the Museum of the Capitol at support is the trunk of a tree, round which aserpent is entwined. The equipoise is a head of. Minerva. Three other weights lie on the base ofthe stand, designed to be hung upon the hook whenoccasion required. (Mus. Capit. vol. ii. p. 213.) Vitruvius (x. 3. s. 8. § 4) explains the principleof the steelyard, and mentions the following con-stituent parts of it: the scale (lancula) dependingfrom the head (caput), near which is the point ofrevolution (centrum) and the handle (ansa). Onthe other side of the centre from the scale is thebeam (scapus) with the weight or equipoise (aequi-pondium), which is made to move along the points(perpuncta) expressing the weights of the differentobjects that are put into the scale. [J, Y.] TUBA (o-d\iTLy£), a bronze trumpet, distin-guished from the cornu by being straight while thelatter was curved: thus Ovid (Met. i. 98) Non tuba directi non aeris cornua flexi. (Compare Vegetius, iii. 5.) Facciolati in his Lexi-con (s. v. Tuba) is mistaken in supposing thatAulus Gellius (v. 8) and Macrobius (Sat. vi. 8),who copies him, intend to affirm that the


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Keywords: ., bookauthorsmithwilliam18131893, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840