When a
person threw the tali, he often invoked either a god or his
mistress.
Dice were also made of ivory, bone, or some close-grained wood,
especially privet ligustris tesseris utilissima, Plin. H. N.).
They were numbered as at present.
Arsacides, King of the Parthians, presented Demetrius Nicator,
among other presents, with golden dice--it is said, in contempt
for his frivolous propensity to play--in exprobationem puerilis
levitatis.'[58]
[58] Justini Hist., lib. xxxviii. 9. 9.
Dice are also mentioned in the New Testament, where occurs the
word cubeia (Eph. iv. 14), ('the only word for "gambling" used in
the Bible'), a word in very common use, among Paul's kith and
kin, for 'cube,' 'dice,' 'dicery,' and it occurs frequently in
the Talmud and Midrash. The Mishna declares unfit either as
'judge or witness,' 'a cubea-player, a usurer, a pigeon-flier
(betting-man), a vendor of illegal (seventh-year) produce, and a
slave.' A mitigating clause--proposed by one of the weightiest
legal authorities, to the effect that the gambler and his kin
should only be disqualified 'if they have but that one
profession'--is distinctly negatived by the majority, and the
rule remains absolute.
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