If the permission should be granted to him in an assembly of the senate, consisting of not less than one hundred members, he might solemnise the Bacchic sacra; but no more than five persons were to be present at the celebration; there should be no common fund, and no master of the sacra or priest. A brazen table containing this important document was discovered near Bari, in southern Italy, in the year 1640, and is at present in the imperial Museum of Vienna. While the _Bacchanalia_ were thus suppressed, another more simple and innocent festival of Bacchus, the _Liberalia_ (from _Liber_, or _Liber Pater_, a name of Bacchus), continued to be celebrated at Rome every year on the 16th of March. Priests and aged priestesses, adorned with garlands of ivy, carried through the city wine, honey, cakes, and sweetmeats, together with an altar with a handle (_ansata ara_), in the middle of which there was a small fire-pan (_foculus_), in which from time to time sacrifices were burnt. On this day Roman youths who had attained their sixteenth year received the _toga virilis_. DĬŎSCŪRĬA (διοσκούρια), festivals celebrated in various parts of Greece in honour of the Dioscuri (Castor and Pollux). Their worship was very generally adopted in Greece, especially in the Doric and Achaean states; but little is known of the manner in which their festivals were celebrated. At Athens the festival was called Anaceia. DĬŌTA, a vessel having two ears (ὦτα) or handles, used for holding wine. It appears to have been much the same as the amphora. [AMPHORA.] DIPHTHĔRA (διφθέρα), a kind of cloak made of the skins of animals, and worn by herdsmen and country people. It had a covering for the head (ἐπικράνον), in which respect it would correspond to the Roman _cucullus_. DIPLŌMA, a writ or public document, which conferred upon a person any right or privilege. During the republic, it was granted by the consuls and senate; and under the empire, by the emperor and the magistrates whom he authorised to do so. It consisted of two leaves, whence it derived its name. DIPTỸCHA (δίπτυχα), two writing tablets, which could be folded together. They were commonly made of wood and covered over with wax. DĬRĬBĬTŌRES. [COMITIA.] DISCUS (δίσκος), a circular plate of stone, or metal, made for throwing to a distance as an exercise of strength and dexterity. It was one of the principal gymnastic exercises of the ancients, being included in the _Pentathlum_. [Illustration: Discobolus. (Osterley, Denk. der alt Kunst, vol. 1. No. 139)] DISPENSĀTOR. [CALCULATOR.] DITHỸRAMBUS. [CHORUS.] DĪVERSŌRĬUM. [CAUPONA.]