Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Tabula

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Rich, Anthony (1849). The illustrated companion to the Latin dictionary, and Greek lexicon. p. vi. OCLC 894670115. https://archive.org/details/illustratedcompa00rich. 

TAB'ULA (πλάξ, σανίς, πίναξ). A plank or board; whence the following special applications: —

1. A bench, or form, made of boards (Hor. Sat. ii. 1. 86.), as in the annexed example (Tabula/1.1), from a painting of Pompeii.

2. A dice-board, or slab on which the dice were cast when playing a game of chance (Juv. i. 90. Senec. Tranq. 14.); and which, it is probable, was likewise used in mixed games of chance and skill, the dice which determined the nature of the move being cast upon a separate slab, and the move, as at backgammon, then made in the gaming-board (abacus) with the piece. The annexed example (Tabula/2.1) is from an original of marble in the museum of the Collegio Romano, which bears neither markings nor divisions upon it, to adapt it for use in a game of skill; but the inscription upon it, which runs thus  — "Give over when you are beaten, you don't know the game, give place to one who does," evidently expresses that its employment was connected in some manner with a game of skill, and not of mere chance, at which no kind of knowledge would be requisite.

3. Tabula latruncularia. A board or table upon which the ludus latrunculorum was played (Senec. Ep. 117.); a game which had a certain resemblance to our draughts. The annexed illustration (Tabula/3.1) shows the table and pieces, with two Egyptians at play; but the exact manner in which its surface was divided is not known, as no original has yet been discovered; and the representations afforded by works of art are only delineated in profile, like the one annexed, so that no details can be seen. But there is good reason to believe that the pieces were moved in parallel lines; consequently, that the board was not divided into squares, like our chess-board. Sometimes, however, the table was made double, one side being fitted for the ludus trunculorum, to other for the ludus duodecim scriptorum (Mart. xiv. 17.); and thus tabula also means a backgammon-board (Pet. Sat. 33. 2.), with divisions as described and illustrated s. ABACUS, 2.

4. A board or plank for a game played by the Roman boys during the Saturnalian festival, with walnuts (Ov. Nux. 77. Mart. v. 84.), and probably with balls, which the objects in the annexed illustration (Tabula/4.1) seem intended for. The game was played in the following manner. A number of nuts were disposed upon the ground at certain intervals from one another, in front of a plank supported underneath by a stone, or some other object, which caused it to rest in a slanting position. From the top of this a single nut was then let off by the player, which ran down the inclined plane, and captured all those it happened to strike against. The process is very clearly expressed by the annexed illustration, from a Roman bas-relief in the collection at Ince Blundell.

5. A board covered with wax or sand, which the Roman school-boys used for writing their exercises, or working their problems upon (Hor. Sat. i. 6. 74. Pet. Sat. 46. 3.), as exhibited by the annexed figure (Tabula/5.1), from a bas-relief in terra-cotta, representing a Roman youth with the bulla round his neck, his tablet on his knees, and his box of books (capsa) on the ground beside him. Hence the term tabula is also applied to any kind of writing; as, for example, an account-book, catalogue, advertisement, legal or testamentary document, marriage settlement, or anything inscribed upon a waxed tablet. Cic. Varro, Hor. Liv. Tac. Caes. Ov. Plin.

6. A picture painted upon panel, as contradistinct from one on canvas or in fresco. (Quint. vi. 1. 32. Cic. Verr. v. 55. Plin. H. N. xxxv. 37.) These were set in frames of marble or wood, and thus let into the wall (Plin. H. N. xxxv. 10.), whence the name tabula is sometimes used to designate a picture-frame. (Id. xxxv. 45.) The illustration (Tabula/6.1) exhibits a portrait upon the easel, and enclosed in a frame as described.

7. A votive tablet (Hor. Od. i. 5. 13.); as described s. TABELLA, 3.; the diminutive form being most frequent in this sense, and the most appropriate, as it expresses the mediocrity of size and execution peculiar to such productions.

8. A tablet used for voting at the Comitia and in courts of justice (Cic. Phil. ii. 8.), as described and illustrated s. TABELLA, 4.; the diminutive form in this sense being the more usual and appropriate.

9. The long parallel fold or plait which naturally forms from the shoulders to the skirts in a loose outside garment, such as the toga (Tertull. Pall. 1. and 5.); and which received the name from the resemblance it bears to that of a series of boards lapping over each other in a wooden building. See CONTABULATIO, and the illustration there introduced.

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  Tabula/1.1
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  Tabula/2.1
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  Tabula/3.1
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  Tabula/4.1
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  Tabula/5.1
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  Tabula/6.1