[210] WEDDING WITH OFFERING OF CORN. The oldest form of the marriage ceremony was the _Confarreatio_, so-called from the offerings of grain (far). By this form the wife entirely lost her independence. Her property passed into her husband’s possession, and she could neither acquire anything for herself, nor transact any legal business. The desire for emancipation, here jestingly uttered by Lucilia, was in reality very widely diffused throughout Rome at the time of our story, and the form of the _Confarreatio_ was therefore constantly becoming rarer. [211] CITRUS-WOOD. The citrus (_tuja cupressoides_) a beautiful tree growing on the sides of the Atlas, furnished costly tops for tables, for which the most extravagant prices were paid, as the trunks rarely attained the requisite degree of thickness. Pliny (_Hist. Nat._ XIII, 15) mentions slabs almost four feet in diameter, and six inches thick. Cicero gave a million sesterces for a citrus-wood table. Seneca is said to have owned five hundred of them. The slab rested on a single base of skilfully-carved ivory, from which they received the name of _monopodia_ (a single foot). [212] STOLA. The over-garment worn by women (_stola_) was trimmed around the bottom with a border (_instita_) that often lengthened into a train. [213] METAL MIRROR. At the time of our story mirrors made of a mixture of gold, silver and copper were preferred. [214] WHO HIRE FLATTERERS TO PRAISE THEM. See _Quintillian_, XI, 3, 131; Juv. _Sat._ XIII, 29-31, Plin. _Ep._ II, 14, 4. [215] THE CENTUMVIRATE. A body of judges whose function it was to decide in civil cases, more particularly in suits concerning inheritance. The Decemvirate presided over them. [216] LIVED ON THE CORN GIVEN AWAY BY THE STATE. The number of Roman paupers, who lived almost exclusively by this means, far surpassed those who need support in civilized countries at the present time. [217] THE ARCH OF TITUS. The triumphal arch of Titus, at the southeastern corner of the Forum Romanum, designed for the commemoration of the victory over the Jews, A.D. 81, is still standing at the present day. It bears the inscription: “_Senatus populusque Romanus divo Tito divi Vespasiani filio Vespasiano Augusto_.” Some of its bas-reliefs are admirably preserved. [218] META SUDANS. One of the Metae (the obelisks at the upper and lower ends of the circus) resembling a fountain, not far from the Flavian amphitheatre. Part of the sub-structure still remains.