SPO´RTULA
SPO´RTULA the diminutive from
sporta=
σπυρίς, a wicker
basket. In the days of Roman freedom clients were in the habit of testifying
respect for their patron by thronging his atrium at an early hour, and
escorting him to places of public resort when he went abroad. As an
acknowledgment of these courtesies some of the number were usually invited
to partake of the evening meal. After the extinction of liberty the presence
of such guests, who had now lost all political importance, was soon regarded
as an irksome restraint, while at the same time many of the noble and
wealthy were unwilling to sacrifice the pompous display of a numerous body
of retainers. Hence the practice was introduced under the Empire (probably
as early as the time of Nero) of bestowing on each client, when he presented
himself for his morning visit, a certain portion of food as a substitute and
compensation for the occasional invitation to a regular dinner (
cena recta); and this dole, being carried off in a
little basket provided for the purpose, received the name of
sportula. Hence also it is termed by Greek writers
on Roman affairs
δεῖπνον ἀπὸ σπυρίδος,
which however must not be confounded with the
δεῖπνον
ἀπὸ σπυρίδος of earlier authors, which was a sort of
picnic. [
CENA Vol. I. p. 393 a.]
For the sake of convenience, it soon became common to give an equivalent in
money, the sum established by general usage being a hundred quadrantes
(
Juv. 1.120; Martial,
10.70,
75). Martial indeed often
speaks of this as a shabby pittance (
centum miselli
quadrantes, 3.7; compare 1.60, 3.14, 10.74), which, however,
he did not scorn himself to accept (10.75), but at the same time does not
fail to sneer at an upstart who endeavoured to distinguish himself by a
largess to a greater amount on his birthday (10.26). About the year 87 the
practice of inviting clients to the
cena recta
appears to have been revived under the influence of Domitian (cf. Martial,
book 3.7, 14, 60, &c.); but the change was disliked both by patrons
and by clients: and a return was generally made to the money dole. The
donation in money, however, did not entirely supersede the sportula given in
kind, for we find in Juvenal at a somewhat later date a lively description
of a great man's vestibule crowded with dependents, each attended by a slave
bearing a portable kitchen to receive the viands and keep them hot while
they were carried home (3.249). If the sketches of the satirist are not too
highly coloured, we must conclude that in his time great numbers of the
lower orders derived their whole sustenance and the funds for ordinary
expenditure exclusively from this source, while even the highborn did not
scruple to increase their incomes by taking advantage of the ostentatious
profusion of the rich and vain (
Juv. 1.95). It
is, however, a natural conjecture of Friedländer's, that the small
sums of money (less than a shilling a head) so received were regarded by the
wealthier as merely formal presents, given by them in turn to their
dependents. The custom of rich men receiving such gifts is not mentioned
before the death of Domitian. A regular roll was kept at each mansion of the
persons, male and female, entitled to receive the allowance; the names were
called over in order, the individuals were required to appear in person, and
the almoner was ever on his guard to frustrate the roguery of false
pretenders (Juv.
l.c.), whence the proverb quoted by
Tertullian (
c. Marcion, 3.16),
sportulam
furunculues captat. The morning, as we have
[p. 2.693]seen above (
Juv. 1.128), was the
usual period for these distributions, but they were sometimes made in the
afternoon (Martial,
10.70).
Nero, perhaps imitating the custom of private persons, ordained that, instead
of a place at the public banquets (
publicae
cenae) given to the people on certain high solemnities, the poorer
citizens should receive a portion of meat, afterwards commuted for a sum of
money; but this unpopular regulation was repealed by Domitian (
Suet. Nero 16,
Dom. 7; Martial,
8.50).
When the Emperor Claudius on one occasion resolved unexpectedly to entertain
the populace with some games which were to last for a short time only, he
styled the exhibition a
sportula (
Suet. Cl. 21), and in the age of the younger
Pliny the word was commonly employed to signify a gratuity, gift, or
emolument of any description (
Plin. Ep.
2.14,
10.118).
(Compare a dissertation on the Sportula by Buttmann in the
Kritische
Bibliothek for 1821; see also Becker-GölI,
Gallus, 2.204 ff.; Marquardt,
Privatalt. i.2 207-212;
Friedländer,
Sittengesch. 1.438-442.)
[
W.R] [
A.S.W]
