Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Capistrum

Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary, and Greek Lexicon (Rich, 1849)

CAPIS'TRUM (φορβειά). A halter or head-stall for horses, asses, or oxen. (Varro, R. R. ii. 6. 4. Ov. Met. x. 125.) The example (Capistrum/1.1) is from the Column of Trajan.

2. A nose piece, with spikes sticking out from it, to prevent the young of animals from sucking after they had been weaned, such as is commonly used with calves at the present day. Virg. Georg. iii. 399.

3. A ligature employed in training vines, for fastening them to the uprights or cross bars of a trellis. Columell. iv. 20. 3.

4. A rope employed for suspending the end of the press beam (prelum) in a wine or oil press. Cato, R. R. xii.

5. A broad leather band or cheek-piece, with an opening for the mouth, worn by pipers, like a halter, round the head and face, in order to compress the lips and cheeks when blowing their instruments, which enabled them to produce a fuller, firmer, and more even tone, as shown by the annexed illustration (Capistrum/5.1), from a bas-relief at Rome. It does not appear to have been always used, for pipers are as often represented in works of art without such an appendage as with it; nor does the Latin name occur in any of their classical writers, though the Greek one is well authenticated. Aristoph. Vesp. 582. Soph. Tr. 753.

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  Capistrum/1.1
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  Capistrum/5.1