A Point of Law (34 page)

Tarpeian Rock
A cliff beneath the Capitol from which traitors were hurled. It was named for the Roman maiden Tarpeia who, according to legend, betrayed the Capitol to the Sabines.

Toga
The outer robe of the Roman citizen. It was white for the upper class, darker for the poor and for people in mourning. The
toga candidus
was a specially whitened (with chalk) toga worn when standing for office. The
toga praetexta
bordered with a purple stripe, was worn by curule magistrates, by state priests when perforrming their functions, and by boys prior to manhood. The
toga trabea
, a striped robe, was worn by augurs and some orders of the priesthood. The
toga picta
, purple and embroidered with golden stars, was worn by a general when celebrating a triumph, also by a magistrate when giving public games.

Trans-Tiber
A newer district on the left or western bank of the Tiber. It lay beyond the old city walls.

Triclinium
A dining room.

Triumph
A ceremony in which a victorious general was rendered semidivine honors for a day. It began with a magnificent procession displaying the loot and captives of the campaign and culminated with
a banquet for the Senate in the Temple of Jupiter, special protector of Rome.

Ultimate Decree of the Senate
(Senatus Consultum Ultimum)
A decree that overrode all other legislation, taken only in times of emergency. Usually it meant that the Senate was naming a dictator, but it might involve other extralegal activity, as when the consul Cicero ordered the arrest and execution of senators to crush the Catilinarian conspiracy.

Vestal Virgins
Virgin priestesses, chaste like the goddess Vesta, six of them served for thirty years, any violation of the vow of chastity was punished by burial alive. Vesta’s shrine was the most sacred object of Roman religion.