from the symbols of civic communion, or from “the marks of a pure society, which the criminal would defile by his further use of them.” Subsequently (probably at the time of the Gracchi) it became a recognized legal penalty, practically equivalent to “exile,” taking the place of capital punishment. The criminal was permitted to withdraw from the city after sentence was pronounced; but in order that this withdrawal might as far as possible bear the character of a punishment, his departure was sanctioned by a decree of the people which declared his exile permanent. Authorities are not agreed whether this exile by interdiction entailed loss of civitas; according to some this did not ensue until (as in earlier times) the criminal had assumed the citizenship of the state in which he had taken refuge and thereby lost his rights as a citizen of Rome, while others hold that it was not until the time of Tiberius (A.D. 23) that capitis deminutio media became the direct consequence of trial and conviction. Interdictio was the punishment for treason, murder, arson and other serious offences which came under the cognizance of the quaestiones perpetuae (permanent judicial commissions for certain offences); confiscation of property was only inflicted in extreme cases.
Under the Empire interdictio gradually fell into disuse and a new form of banishment, introduced by Augustus, called deportatio, generally in insulam, took its place. For some time the two probably existed side by side. Deportatio consisted in transportation for life to an island (or some place prescribed on the mainland, not of Italy), accompanied by loss of civitas and all civil rights, and confiscation of property. The most dreaded places of exile were the islands of Gyarus, Sardinia, an oasis in the desert (quasi in insulam) of Libya; Crete, Cyprus and Rhodes were considered more tolerable. Large bodies of persons were also transported in this manner; thus Tiberius sent 4000 freedmen to Sardinia for Jewish or Egyptian superstitious practices. Deportatio was originally inflicted upon political criminals, but in course of time became more particularly a means of removing those whose wealth and popularity rendered them objects of suspicion. It was also a punishment for the following offences: adultery, murder, poisoning, forgery, embezzlement, sacrilege and certain cases of immorality.
Relegatio was a milder form of deportatio. It either excluded the person banished from one specified district only, with permission to choose a residence elsewhere, or the place of exile was fixed. Relegatio could be either temporary or for life, but it did not in either case carry with it loss of civitas or property, nor was the exile under military surveillance, as in the case of deportatio. Thus, Ovid, when in exile at Tomi, says (Tristia, v. ii): “he (i.e. the emperor) has not deprived me of life, nor of wealth, nor of the rights of a citizen ... he has simply ordered me to leave my home.” He calls himself relegatus, not exsul.
In later writers the word exsilium is used in the sense of all its three forms—aquae et ignis interdictio, deportatio and relegatio.
In England the first enactment legalizing banishment dates from the reign of Elizabeth (39 Eliz. c. 4), which gave power to banish from the realm “such rogues as are dangerous to the inferior people.” A statute of Charles II. (18 Car. II. c. 3) gave power to execute or to transport to America for life the mosstroopers of Cumberland and Northumberland. Banishment or transportation for criminal offences was regulated by an act of 1824 (5 Geo. IV. s. 84) and finally abolished by the Penal Servitude Acts 1853 and 1857 (see further Deportation). The word exile has sometimes, though wrongly, been applied to the sending away from a country of those who are not natives of it, but who may be temporary or even permanent residents in it (see Alien; Expatriation; Expulsion).
Bibliography.—J. J. Thonissen, Le Droit pénal de la république athénienne (Brussels, 1875); G. F. Schömann, Griechische Altertümer (4th ed., 1897), p. 46; T. Mommsen, Rönmisches Strafrecht (1899), pp. 68, 964, and Römisches Staatsrecht (1887), iii. p. 48; L. M. Hartmann, De exilio apud Rumanos (Berlin, 1887); F. von Holtzendorff-Vietmansdorf, Die Deportationsstrafe im römischen Alterthum (Leipzig, 1859); articles in Smith’s Dict. of Greek and Roman Antiquities (3rd ed., 1890) and Daremberg and Saglio’s Dict. des antiquités (C. Lécrivain and G. Humbert).
EXILI, an Italian chemist and poisoner in the 17th century.
His real name was probably Nicolo Egidi or Eggidio. Few
authentic details of his life exist. Tradition, however, credits him
with having been originally the salaried poisoner at Rome of
Olympia Maidalchina, the mistress of Pope Innocent X. Subsequently
he became a gentleman in waiting to Queen Christina
of Sweden, whose taste for chemistry may have influenced this
appointment. In 1663 his presence in France aroused the
suspicions of the French government, and he was imprisoned in
the Bastille. Here he is said to have made the acquaintance
of Godin de Sainte-Croix, the lover of the marquise de Brinvilliers
(q.v.). After three months’ imprisonment, powerful
influences secured Exili’s release, and he left France for England.
In 1681 he was again in Italy, where he married the countess
Fantaguzzi, second cousin of Duke Francis of Modena.
EXMOOR FOREST, a high moorland in Somersetshire and
Devonshire, England. The uplands of this district are bounded
by the low alluvial plain of Sedgemoor on the east, by the lower
basin of the Exe on the south, by the basin of the Taw (in part)
on the west, and by the Bristol Channel on the north. The area
thus defined, however, includes not only Exmoor but the Brendon
and Quantock Hills east of it. Excluding these, the total area in
the district lying at an elevation exceeding 1000 ft. is about
120 sq. m. The geological formation is Devonian. The ancient
forest had an area of about 20,000 acres, and was enclosed in
1815. Large tracts are still uncultivated; and the wild red
deer and native Exmoor pony are characteristic of the district.
The highest point is Dunkery Beacon in the east (1707 ft.), but
Span Head in the south-west is 1618 ft., and a height of 1500 ft.
is exceeded at several points. The Exe, Barle, Lyn and other
streams, traversing deep picturesque valleys except in their
uppermost courses, are in favour with trout fishermen. The few
villages, such as Exford, Withypool and Simonsbath, with
Lynton and Lynmouth on the coast, afford centres for tourists
and sportsmen. Exmoor is noted for its stag hunting. The
district has a further fame through Richard Blackmore’s novel,
Lorna Doone.
EXMOUTH, EDWARD PELLEW, 1st Viscount (1757–1833),
English admiral, was descended from a family which came
originally from Normandy, but had for many centuries been
settled in the west of Cornwall. He was born at Dover, on the
19th of April 1757. At the age of thirteen he entered the navy,
and even then his smartness and activity, his feats of daring, and
his spirit of resolute independence awakened remark, and pointed
him out as one specially fitted to distinguish himself in his profession.
He had, however, no opportunity of active service till
1776, when, at the battle of Lake Champlain, his gallantry,
promptitude and skill, not only saved the “Carleton”—whose
command had devolved upon him during the progress of the
battle—from imminent danger, but enabled her to take a
prominent part in sinking two of the enemy’s ships. For his
services on this occasion he obtained a lieutenant’s commission,
and the command of the schooner in which he had so bravely
done his duty. The following year, in command of a brigade of
seamen, he shared in the hardships and perils of the American
campaign of General Burgoyne. In 1782, in command of the
“Pelican,” he attacked three French privateers inside the
Île de Batz, and compelled them to run themselves on shore—a
feat for which he was rewarded by the rank of post-captain.
On the outbreak of the French War in 1793, he was appointed to
the “Nymphe,” a frigate of 36 guns; and, notwithstanding
that for the sake of expedition she was manned chiefly by
Cornish miners, he captured, after a desperate conflict, the
French frigate “La Cléopâtre,” a vessel of equal strength. For
this act he obtained the honour of knighthood. In 1794 he
received the command of the “Arethusa” (38), and in a fight
with the French frigate squadron off the Île de Batz he compelled
the “Pomona” (44) to surrender. The same year the
western squadron was increased and its command divided, the
second squadron being given to Sir Edward Pellew in the “Indefatigable”
(44). While in command of this squadron he, on
several occasions, performed acts of great personal daring;
