ACTUS, a Roman measure of length, also called _actus quadratus_, was equal to half a jugerum, or 14,400 square Roman feet. The _actus minimus_, or _simplex_, was 120 feet long, and four broad, and therefore equal to 480 square Roman feet. Actus was also used to signify a bridle-way. ĂCUS (βελόνη, βελονίς, ῥαφίς), a needle, a pin. Pins were made not only of metal, but also of wood, bone, and ivory. They were used for the same purposes as with us, and also in dressing the hair. The mode of platting the hair, and then fastening it with a pin or needle, is shown in the annexed figure of a female head. This fashion has been continued to our own times by the females of Italy. [Illustration: Acus. (Montfaucon, Ant. Exp., Suppl., iii. 8.)] ADDICTI. [NEXI.] ADFĪNES. [AFFINES.] ADLECTI, or ALLECTI, those persons under the empire who were admitted to the privileges and honours of the praetorship, quaestorship, aedileship, and other public offices, without having any duties to perform. The senators called _adlecti_ seem to have been the same as the conscripti. ADLŎCŪTĬO. [ALLOCUTIO.] ADMISSĬŌNĀLES, chamberlains at the imperial court, who introduced persons into the presence of the emperor. They were divided into four classes; the chief officer of each class was called _proximus admissionum_; and the proximi were under the _magister admissionum_. Their duty was called _officium admissionis_. They were usually freedmen. ĂDŎLESCENS, was applied in the Roman law to a person from the end of his twelfth or fourteenth to the end of his twenty-fifth year, during which period a person was also called _adultus_. The word adolescens, however, is frequently used in a less strict sense in the Latin writers in referring to a person much older than the above-mentioned age. ĂDŌNĬA (ἀδώνια), a festival celebrated in honour of Aphrodite and Adonis in most of the Grecian cities. It lasted two days, and was celebrated by women exclusively. On the first day they brought into the streets statues of Adonis, which were laid out as corpses; and they observed all the rites customary at funerals, beating themselves and uttering lamentations. The second day was spent in merriment and feasting; because Adonis was allowed to return to life, and spend half the year with Aphrodite.