Mendīcus
(
πτωχός). A beggar. Beggars abounded in ancient times, but
were less numerous, apparently, in Greece than in Italy, where the beggar's trade was, in
ancient as in modern times, a recognized profession. The bridges over the Tiber were favourite
resorts for mendicants (
Juv.iv. 116; xiv. 134), as also the
vicinity of the theatres and the temples (Orelli,
Inscr. 4097), and the great
viae in the neighbourhood of Rome. Children were trained up as beggars,
and were often mutilated to excite compassion, after the manner of the
comprachicos of later days (
Controv. 33). Blind beggars were led by a
dog (
Mart.xiv. 81), as shown in the accompanying illustration
from a painting found at Herculaneum and given by Rich. The
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Roman Beggar. (Herculaneum.)
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priests of Cybelé were a sort of mendicant order, and lived on the alms
of the charitable (
Hor. Sat. i. 2, 2).