File:A dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities.. (1849) (14779690762).jpg

Identifier: dictionaryofgree00smit_0 (find matches)
Title: A dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities..
Year: 1849 (1840s)
Authors: Smith, William, 1813-1893
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Publisher: Boston
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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. IrishAcad. vol. xviii.; Antiq. pp. 181—184), varying insize and weight, but almost always of the form ex-hibited in the annexed woodcut, which representsa torquis found in Brecknockshire, and now pre-served in the British Museum. The same wood-cut contains a section of this torquis of the size ofthe original. It shows, as Mr. Petrie observes con-cerning some found in the county of Meath, fourequidistant radiations from a common centre. Thetorquis in the British Museum is four feet and ahalf in length. Its hooks correspond well to thefollowing description of the fall of a Celtic warrior: Torquis ab incisa decidit unca gula.1 (Propert.iv. 10. 44.) A torquis, which instead of beingbent into a circular form was turned into a spiral,became a bracelet, as is shown in the lowest figureof the woodcut to Armilla. A torquis contrivedto answer this purpose, is called torquis brachialis.(Vopisc. Aurel. 7.) Such bracelets and torquesare often found together, having been worn by thesame people.
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The head in the preceding woodcut is that of aPersian warrior in the mosaic of the battle of Issus,mentioned in p. 431. It illustrates the mode ofwearing the torquis, which in this instance ter- TRAGOEDIA. minates in two serpents1 heads instead of hooks. Itwas by taking this collar from a Gallic warrior thatT. Manlius obtained the cognomen of Torquatus.(Cic. de Fin. ii. 22, de Of. iii. 31 ; Gellius, ix. 13;Non. Marc. pp. 227, 228, ed. Merceri.) Torques, whether in the form of collars or brace-lets, no doubt formed a considerable part of thewealth of those who wore them. Hence theywere an important portion of the spoil, when anyCeltic or Oriental army was conquered, and theywere among the rewards of valour bestowed afteran engagement upon those who had most distin-guished themselves. (Juv. xvi. 60 ; Plin. H. N.xxxiii. 2. s. 10 ; Sidon. Apollin. Carm. xxiii. 424.)The monuments erected to commemorate Romansoldiers and to enumerate the honours which theyhad obtained, often mention the num

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