AMUSSIS
AMUSSIS a level used by masons to test the evenness of a
surface (Varr. ap. Non. 1.28 Festus, s. v.). But Sisenna (ap. Charis. 2, p.
178, Putsch.) defines it as a raddled surface used to prove whether work was
perpendicular-tabula
rubricata quae demittitur exominandi
operis gratia, an rectum opus surgat. And Auson.
(
Idyll. 16.10) appears to denote by
amussis a sort of
norma, testing
whether an angle made by two surfaces was a right angle. It appears from
Vitruvius (
1.6.6) that it was different from
the
regula (straight rule) and from the
libella (plumb-line or square), and that it
was used for obtaining a truer surface, whether horizontal or perpendicular,
than those two instruments together would give. The amussis gives rise to
the adverbs
amussim, adamussim, examussim, also to
amussitatus, in a metaphorical sense, meaning
with perfect regularity and exactness (Varr.
R. R. 2.1.26;
Gel. 20.1.34; Plaut.
Amph.
2.2, 213,
Mil. 3.1, 38).
[
J.H.F]
