Читать книгу A Smaller Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities - William Smith - Страница 14

Оглавление

Cestus. (Fabretti, de Col. Traj., p. 261.)

CETRA, or CAETRA, a target, i.e. a small round shield, made of the hide of a quadruped. It formed part of the defensive armour of the Osci, and of the people of Spain, Mauritania, and Britain, and seems to have been much the same as the target of the Scotch Highlanders. The Romans do not appear to have used the cetra; but we find mention of cetratae cohortes levied in the provinces. Livy compares it to the pelta of the Greeks and Macedonians, which was also a small light shield.

CHALCĬOĒCĬA (χαλκιοίκια), an annual festival, with sacrifices, held at Sparta in honour of Athena, surnamed Chalcioecus (Χαλκίοικος), i.e. the goddess of the brazen-house. Young men marched on the occasion in full armour to the temple of the goddess; and the ephors, although not entering the temple, but remaining within its sacred precincts, were obliged to take part in the sacrifice.

CHALCUS (χαλκοῦς), a denomination of Greek copper-money. Bronze or copper (χαλκός) was very little used by the Greeks for money till after the time of Alexander the Great. The χαλκία πονηρὰ at Athens issued in B.C. 406 were a peculiar exception; and they were soon afterwards called in, and the silver currency restored. It is not improbable, however, that the copper coin called χαλκοῦς was in circulation in Athens still earlier. The smallest silver coin at Athens was the quarter-obol, and the χαλκοῦς was the half of that, or the eighth of an obol. Its value was somewhat more than 3-4ths of a farthing. The χαλκοῦς in later times was divided into lepta, of which it contained seven. In later times the obol was coined of copper as well as silver.

CHĂRISTĬA (from χαρίζομαι, to grant a favour or pardon), a solemn feast among the Romans, to which none but relations and members of the same family were invited, in order that any quarrel or disagreement which had arisen amongst them might be made up. The day of celebration was the 19th of February.

CHEIRŎNŎMĬA (χειρονομία), a mimetic movement of the hands, which formed a part of the art of dancing among the Greeks and Romans. In gymnastics it was applied to the movements of the hands in pugilistic combat.

CHEIRŎTŎNĬA (χειροτονία). In the Athenian assemblies two modes of voting were practised, the one by pebbles (ψηφίζεσθαι), the other by a show of hands (χειροτονεῖν). The latter was employed in the election of those magistrates who were chosen in the public assemblies, and who were hence called χειροτονητοί, in voting upon laws, and in some kinds of trials on matters which concerned the people. We frequently find, however, the word ψηφίζεσθαι used where the votes were really given by show of hands. The manner of voting by a show of hands was as follows:—The herald said: “Whoever thinks that Meidias is guilty, let him lift up his hand.” Then those who thought so stretched forth their hands. Then the herald said again: “Whoever thinks that Meidias is not guilty, let him lift up his hand;” and those who were of this opinion stretched forth their hands. The number of hands was counted each time by the herald; and the president, upon the herald’s report, declared on which side the majority voted. It is important to understand clearly the compounds of this word. A vote condemning an accused person is καταχειροτονία: one acquitting him, ἀποχειροτονία; ἐπιχειροτονεῖν is to confirm by a majority of votes: ἐπιχειροτονία τῶν νομῶν was a revision of the laws, which took place at the beginning of every year: ἐπιχειροτονία τῶν ἀρχῶν was a vote taken in the first assembly of each prytany on the conduct of the magistrates; in these cases, those who voted for the confirmation of the law, or for the continuance in office of the magistrate, were said ἐπιχειροτονεῖν, those on the other side ἀποχειροτονεῖν: διαχειροτονία is a vote for one of two alternatives: ἀντιχειροτονεῖν, to vote against a proposition. The compounds of ψηφίζεσθαι have similar meanings.

CHĪRŎGRĂPHUM (χειρόγραφον), meant first, as its derivation implies, a hand-writing or autograph. In this its simple sense, χείρ in Greek and manus in Latin are often substituted for it. From this meaning was easily derived that of a signature to a will or other instrument, especially a note of hand given by a debtor to his creditor.

CHITON (χιτών). [Tunica.]

CHLAENA (χλαῖνα). [Pallium.]


Chlamys. (The Figure on the left from a Painting on a Vase; that on the right from the Brit. Mus.)

CHLĂMỸS (χλαμύς, dim. χλαμύδιον), a scarf, denoted an article of the amictus, or outer raiment of the Greeks. It was for the most part woollen; and it differed from the himation (ἱμάτιον), or cloak, the usual amictus of the male sex, in being smaller, finer, and oblong instead of square, its length being generally about twice its breadth. The scarf does not appear to have been much worn by children. It was generally assumed on reaching adolescence, and was worn by the ephebi from about seventeen to twenty years of age, and hence was called χλαμὺς ἐφηβηική. It was also worn by the military, especially of high rank, over their body armour, and by hunters and travellers, more particularly on horseback. The usual mode of wearing the scarf was to pass one of its shorter sides round the neck, and to fasten it by means of a brooch (fibula), either over the breast (cut, Hasta), in which case it hung down the back, or over the right shoulder, so as to cover the left arm (cut, Causia). In the following cut it is worn again in another way. The aptitude of the scarf to be turned in every possible form around the body, made it useful even for defence. The hunter used to wrap his chlamys about his left arm when pursuing wild animals, and preparing to fight with them. The annexed woodcut exhibits a figure of Neptune armed with the trident in his right hand, and having a chlamys to protect the left. When Diana goes to the chase, as she does not require her scarf for purposes of defence, she draws it from behind over her shoulders, and twists it round her waist so that the belt of her quiver passes across it. (See woodcut.) Among the Romans the scarf came more into use under the emperors. Caligula wore one enriched with gold. Severus, when he was in the country or on an expedition, wore a scarf dyed with the coccus.


Chlamys. (Neptune from a Coin, and Diana from a Statue in the Vatican.)

CHOENIX (χοῖνιξ), a Greek measure of capacity, the size of which is differently given; it was probably of different sizes in the several states. Some writers make it equal to three cotylae (nearly 1½ pints English); others to four cotylae (nearly 2 pints English); others again make it eight cotylae (nearly 4 pints English).

CHŎRĒGUS (χορηγός), a person who had to bear the expenses of the choregia (χορηγία), one of the regularly recurring state burthens (ἐγκύκλιοι λειτουργίαι) at Athens. The choregus was appointed by his tribe, though we are not informed according to what order. The same person might serve as choregus for two tribes at once; and after B.C. 412 a decree was passed allowing two persons to unite and undertake a choregia together. The duties of the choregia consisted in providing the choruses for tragedies and comedies, the lyric choruses of men and boys, the pyrrhicists, the cyclic choruses, and the choruses of flute-players for the different religious festivals at Athens. When a poet intended to bring out a play, he had to get a chorus assigned him by the archon [Chorus], who nominated a choregus to fulfil the requisite duties. He had first to collect his chorus, and then to procure a teacher (χοροδιδάσκαλος), whom he paid for instructing the choreutae. The chorus were generally maintained, during the period of their instruction, at the expense of the choregus. The choregus who exhibited the best musical or theatrical entertainment received as a prize a tripod, which he had the expense of consecrating, and sometimes he had also to build the monument on which it was placed. There was a whole street at Athens formed by the line of these tripod-temples, and called “The Street of the Tripods.”

CHŎRUS (χορός) probably signified originally a company of dancers dancing in a ring. In later times, a choric performance always implies the singing or musical recitation of a poetical composition, accompanied by appropriate dancing and gesticulation, or at least by a measured march. In all the Dorian states, especially among the Spartans, choral performances were cultivated with great assiduity. Various causes contributed to this, as, for example, their universal employment in the worship of Apollo, the fact that they were not confined to the men, but that women also took part in them, and that many of the dances had a gymnastic character given them, and were employed as a mode of training to martial exercises. [Saltatio.] Hence Doric lyric poetry became almost exclusively choral, which was not the case with the other great school of Greek lyric poetry, the Aeolian; so that the Doric dialect came to be looked upon as the appropriate dialect for choral compositions, and Doric forms were retained by the Athenians even in the choral compositions which were interwoven with their dramas. The instrument commonly used in connection with the Doric choral poetry was the cithara. A great impetus was given to choral poetry by its application to the dithyramb. This ancient Bacchanalian performance seems to have been a hymn sung by one or more of an irregular band of revellers, to the music of the flute. Arion, a contemporary of Periander, was the first who gave a regular choral form to the dithyramb. This chorus, which ordinarily consisted of fifty men or youths, danced in a ring round the altar of Dionysus. Hence such choruses were termed cyclic (κύκλιοι χοροί). With the introduction of a regular choral character, Arion also substituted the cithara for the flute. It was from the dithyramb that the Attic tragedy was developed. For details see Tragoedia. From the time of Sophocles onwards the regular number of the chorus in a tragedy was 15; but it is impossible to arrive at any definite conclusion with regard to the number of the chorus in the early dramas of Aeschylus. The fact that the number of the dithyrambic chorus was 50, and that the mythological number of the Oceanides and Danaides was the same, tempts one to suppose that the chorus in the Prometheus and the Supplices consisted of 50. Most writers, however, agree in thinking that such a number was too large to have been employed. The later chorus of 15 was arranged in a quadrangular form (τετράγωνος). It entered the theatre by the passage to the right of the spectators. [Theatrum.] Its entrance was termed πάροδος; its leaving the stage in the course of the play μετάστασις; its re-entrance ἐπιπάροδος; its exit ἄφοδος. As it entered in three lines, with the spectators on its left, the stage on its right, the middle choreutes of the left row (τρίτος ἀριστέρου) was the Coryphaeus or Hegemon, who in early times at least was not unfrequently the choregus himself. Of course the positions first taken up by the choreutae were only retained till they commenced their evolutions. To guide them in these, lines were marked upon the boards with which the orchestra was floored. The flute as well as the cithara was used as an accompaniment to the choric songs. The dance of the tragic chorus was called ἐμμέλεια.—The ordinary number of the chorus in a comedy was 24. Like the tragic chorus it was arranged in a quadrangular form, and entered the orchestra from opposite sides, according as it was supposed to come from the city or from the country. It consisted sometimes half of male and half of female choreutae. The dance of the comic chorus was the κόρδαξ. In the Satyric drama the chorus consisted of Satyrs: its number is quite uncertain. Its dance was called σίκιννις. When a poet intended to bring forward a play, he had to apply for a chorus (χορὸν αἰτεῖν) to the archons, to the king archon if the play was to be brought forward at the Lenaea, to the archon eponymus if at the great Dionysia. If the play were thought to deserve it, he received a chorus (χορὸν λαμβάνειν), the expenses of which were borne by a choregus. [Choregus.] The poet then either trained (διδάσκειν) the chorus himself, or entrusted that business to a professed chorus trainer (χοροδιδάσκαλος), who usually had an assistant (ὑποδιδάσκαλος). For training the chorus in its evolutions there was also an ὀρχηστοδιδάσκαλος.

CHOUS, or CHOEUS (χοῦς or χοεῦς), was equal to the Roman congius, and contained six ξέσται, or sextarii (nearly six pints English). It seems that there was also a smaller measure of the same name, containing two sextarii (nearly two pints English).

CHRŎNOLŎGĬA (χρονολογία), chronology. The Greeks reckoned their years generally according to their magistrates, in the early times according to the years of the reign of their kings, and afterwards according to their annual magistrates. At Athens the year was called by the name of one of the nine archons, who from this circumstance was called ἄρχων ἐπώνυμος, or the archon par excellence; and at Sparta the years were called after one of the five ephors, who for this reason was likewise termed ἐπώνυμος. In Argos time was counted according to the years of the high priestess of Hera, who held her office for life (ἡρεσίς); and the inhabitants of Elis probably reckoned according to the Olympic games, which were celebrated every fifth year during the first full moon which followed after the summer solstice. Thus there was no era which was used by all the Greeks in common for the ordinary purposes of life.—Timaeus, who flourished about B.C. 260, was the first historian who counted the years by Olympiads, each of which contained four years. The beginning of the Olympiads is commonly fixed in the year 3938 of the Julian period, or in B.C. 776. If we want to reduce any given Olympiad to years before Christ, e.g. Ol. 87, we take the number of the Olympiads actually elapsed, that is, 86, multiply it by 4, and deduct the number obtained from 776, so that the first year of the 87th Ol. will be the same as the year 432 B.C. If the number of Olympiads amounts to more than 776 years, that is, if the Olympiad falls after the birth of Christ, the process is the same as before, but from the sum obtained by multiplying the Olympiads by 4, we must deduct the number 776, and what remains is the number of the years after Christ. As the Olympic games were celebrated 293 times, we have 293 Olympic cycles, that is, 1172 years, 776 of which fall before, and 396 after Christ.—Some writers also adopted the Trojan era, the fall of Troy being placed by Eratosthenes and those who adopted this era, in the year B.C. 1184. After the time of Alexander the Great, several other eras were introduced in the kingdoms that arose out of his empire. The first was the Philippic era, sometimes also called the era of Alexander or the era of Edessa; it began on the 12th of November B.C. 324, the date of the accession of Philip Arrhidaeus. The second was the era of the Seleucidae, beginning on the 1st of October B.C. 312, the date of the victory of Seleucus Nicator at Gaza, and of his re-conquest of Babylonia. This era was used very extensively in the East. The Chaldaean era differed from it only by six months, beginning in the spring of B.C. 311. Lastly, the eras of Antioch, of which there were three, but the one most commonly used began in November B.C. 49.—The Romans during the time of the republic reckoned their years by the names of the consuls, which were registered in the Fasti. Along with this era there existed another, used only by the historians. It reckoned the years from the foundation of the city (ab urbe condita); but the year of the foundation of the city was a question of uncertainty among the Romans themselves. M. Terentius Varro placed it on the 21st of April in the third year of the 6th Olympiad, that is, B.C. 753; and this is the era most commonly used. To find out the year B.C. corresponding to the year A.U.C., subtract the year A.U.C. from 754; thus 605 A.U.C. = 149 B.C. To find out the year A.D. corresponding to the year A.U.C., subtract 753 from the year A.U.C.; thus 767 A.U.C. = 14 A.D.

CHRȲSENDĔTA, costly dishes used by the Romans at their entertainments, apparently made of silver, with golden ornaments.

CIDĂRIS. [Tiara.]

CINCTUS GABĪNUS. [Toga.]

CINGŬLUM. [Zona.]

CĬNĔRĀRĬUS. [Calamistrum.]

CĬNĔRES. [Funus.]

CĬNĬFLO. [Calamistrum.]

CIPPUS, a low column, sometimes round, but more frequently rectangular. Cippi were used for various purposes; the decrees of the senate were sometimes inscribed upon them; and with distances engraved upon them, they also served as mile-stones. They were, however, more frequently employed as sepulchral monuments. It was also usual to place at one corner of the burying-ground a cippus, on which the extent of the burying-ground was marked, towards the road (in fronte), and backwards to the fields (in agrum).


Cippus, in the Vatican.

CIRCENSES LŪDI. [Circus.]

CIRCĬTŌRES, or CIRCŬĬTŌRES. [Castra.]


Ground Plan of the Circus.

CIRCUS. When Tarquinius Priscus had taken the town of Apiolae from the Latins, he commemorated his success by an exhibition of races and pugilistic contests in the Murcian valley, between the Palatine and Aventine hills, around which a number of temporary platforms were erected by the patres and equites, called spectacula, fori, or foruli, from their resemblance to the deck of a ship; each one raising a stage for himself, upon which he stood to view the games. This course, with its surrounding scaffoldings, was termed circus; either because the spectators stood round to see the shows, or because the procession and races went round in a circuit. Previously, however, to the death of Tarquin, a permanent building was constructed for the purpose, with regular tiers of seats in the form of a theatre. To this the name of Circus Maximus was subsequently given, as a distinction from the Flaminian and other similar buildings, which it surpassed in extent and splendour; and hence it is often spoken of as the Circus, without any distinguishing epithet. Of the Circus Maximus scarcely a vestige now remains; but this loss is fortunately supplied by the remains of a small circus on the Via Appia, the ground-plan of which is in a state of considerable preservation: it is represented in the annexed cut, and may be taken as a model of all others. Around the double lines (A, A) were arranged the seats (gradus, sedilia, subsellia), as in a theatre, termed collectively the cavea; the lowest of which were separated from the ground by a podium, and the whole divided longitudinally by praecinctiones, and diagonally into cunei, with their vomitoria attached to each. [Amphitheatrum.] Towards the extremity of the upper branch of the cavea, the general outline is broken by an outwork (B), which was probably the pulvinar, or station for the emperor, as it is placed in the best situation for seeing both the commencement and end of the course, and in the most prominent part of the circus. In the opposite branch is observed another interruption to the uniform line of seats (C), betokening also, from its construction, a place of distinction; which might have been assigned to the person at whose expense the games were given (editor spectaculorum). In the centre of the area was a low wall (D) running lengthways down the course, which, from its resemblance to the position of the dorsal bone in the human frame, was termed spina. At each extremity of the spina were placed, upon a base (E, E), three wooden cylinders, of a conical shape, like cypress trees, which were called metae—the goals. Their situation is distinctly seen in the cut on p. 89. The most remarkable objects upon the spina were two columns (F) supporting seven conical balls, which, from their resemblance to eggs, were called ova. Their use was to enable the spectators to count the number of rounds which had been run; and they were seven in number, because seven was the number of the circuits made in each race. As each round was run, one of the ova was either put up or taken down. An egg was adopted for this purpose, in honour of Castor and Pollux. At the other extremity of the spina were two similar columns (G), sustaining dolphins, termed delphinae, or delphinarum columnae, which do not appear to have been intended to be removed, but only placed there as corresponding ornaments to the ova; and the figure of the dolphin was selected in honour of Neptune. These figures are also seen in the cut on p. 89. At the extremity of the circus in which the two horns of the cavea terminate, were placed the stalls for the horses and chariots (H, H), commonly called carceres, but more anciently the whole line of building at this end of the circus was termed oppidum: hence in the circus, of which the plan is given above, we find two towers (I, I) at each end of the carceres. The number of carceres is supposed to have been usually twelve, as in this plan.


Carceres opening of the Gates. (From a marble at Velletri.)


Carceres, with Gates open. (Marble in British Museum.)

They were vaults, closed in front by gates of open wood-work (cancelli), which were opened simultaneously upon the signal being given, by removing a rope attached to pilasters of the kind called Hermae, placed for that purpose between each stall, upon which the gates were immediately thrown open by a number of men, as represented in the preceding woodcut. The cut below represents a set of four carceres, with their Hermae, and cancelli open, as left after the chariots had started; in which the gates are made to open inwards. The preceding account and woodcuts will be sufficient to explain the meaning of the various words by which the carceres were designated in poetical language, namely, claustra, crypta, fauces, ostia, fores carceris, repagula, limina equorum. There were five entrances to the circus; one (L) in the centre of the carceres, called porta pompae, because it was the one through which the Circensian procession entered, and the others at M, M, N, and O. At the entrance of the course, exactly in the direction of the line (J, K), were two small pedestals (hermuli) on each side of the podium, to which was attached a chalked rope (alba linea), for the purpose of making the start fair, precisely as is practised at Rome for the horse-races during Carnival. Thus, when the doors of the carceres were thrown open, if any of the horses rushed out before the others, they were brought up by this rope until the whole were fairly abreast, when it was loosened from one side, and all poured into the course at once. This line was also called calx, and creta. The metae served only to regulate the turnings of the course, the alba linea answered to the starting and winning post of modern days.—From this description the Circus Maximus differed little, except in size and magnificence of embellishment. The numbers which the Circus Maximus was capable of containing are computed at 150,000 by Dionysius, 260,000 by Pliny, and 385,000 by P. Victor, all of which are probably correct, but have reference to different periods of its history. Its length, in the time of Julius Caesar, was three stadia, the width one, and the depth of the buildings occupied half a stadium. When the Circus Maximus was permanently formed by Tarquinius Priscus, each of the thirty curiae had a particular place assigned to it; but as no provision was made for the plebeians in this circus, it is supposed that the Circus Flaminius was designed for the games of the commonalty, who in early times chose their tribunes there, on the Flaminian field. However, in the latter days of the republic, these invidious distinctions were lost, and all classes sat promiscuously in the circus. The seats were then marked off at intervals by a line or groove drawn across them (linea), so that the space included between two lines afforded sitting room for a certain number of spectators. Under the empire, however, the senators and equites were separated from the common people. The seat of the emperor (pulvinar or cubiculum) was most likely in the same situation in the Circus Maximus as in the one above described.—The Circensian games (Ludi Circenses) were first instituted by Romulus, according to the legends, when he wished to attract the Sabine population to Rome, for the purpose of furnishing his own people with wives, and were celebrated in honour of the god Consus, or Neptunus Equestris, from whom they were styled Consuales. But after the construction of the Circus Maximus they were called indiscriminately Circenses, Romani, or Magni. They embraced six kinds of games:—I. Cursus; II. Ludus Trojae; III. Pugna Equestris; IV. Certamen Gymnicum; V. Venatio; VI. Naumachia. The two last were not peculiar to the circus, but were exhibited also in the amphitheatre, or in buildings appropriated for them. The games commenced with a grand procession (Pompa Circensis), in which all those who were about to exhibit in the circus, as well as persons of distinction, bore a part. The statues of the gods formed the most conspicuous feature in the show, which were paraded upon wooden platforms, called fercula and thensae. The former were borne upon the shoulders, as the statues of saints are carried in modern processions; the latter were drawn along upon wheels.—I. Cursus, the races. The carriage usually employed in the circus was drawn by two or four horses (bigae, quadrigae). [Currus.] The usual number of chariots which started for each race was four. The drivers (aurigae, agitatores) were also divided into four companies, each distinguished by a different colour, to represent the four seasons of the year, and called a factio: thus factio prasina, the green, represented the spring; factio russata, red, the summer; factio veneta, azure, the autumn; and factio alba or albata, white, the winter. Originally there were but two factions, albata and russata, and consequently only two chariots started at each race. The driver stood in his car within the reins, which went round his back. This enabled him to throw all his weight against the horses, by leaning backwards; but it greatly enhanced his danger in case of an upset. To avoid this peril, a sort of knife or bill-hook was carried at the waist, for the purpose of cutting the reins in a case of emergency. When all was ready, the doors of the carceres were flung open, and the chariots were formed abreast of the alba linea by men called moratores from their duty; the signal for the start was then given by the person who presided at the games, sometimes by sound of trumpet, or more usually by letting fall a napkin; whence the Circensian games are called spectacula mappae. The alba linea was then cast off, and the race commenced, the extent of which was seven times round the spina, keeping it always on the left. A course of seven circuits was termed unus missus, and twenty-five was the number of races run in each day, the last of which was called missus aerarius, because in early times the expense of it was defrayed by a collection of money (aes) made amongst the people. The victor descended from his car at the conclusion of the race, and ascended the spina, where he received his reward (bravium, from the Greek βραβεῖον), which consisted in a considerable sum of money.


Chariot Race in the Circus. (Florentine Gem.)

The horse-racing followed the same rules as the chariots. The enthusiasm of the Romans for these races exceeded all bounds. Lists of the horses (libella), with their names and colours, and those of the drivers, were handed about, and heavy bets made upon each faction; and sometimes the contests between two parties broke out into open violence and bloody quarrels, until at last the disputes which originated in the circus had nearly lost the Emperor Justinian his crown.—II. Ludus Trojae, a sort of sham-fight, said to have been invented by Aeneas, performed by young men of rank on horseback, and often exhibited by the emperors.—III. Pugna equestris et pedestris, a representation of a battle, upon which occasions a camp was formed in the circus.—IV. Certamen Gymnicum. See Athletae, and the references to the articles there given.—V. [Venatio.]—VI. [Naumachia.]


Cisium. (From monument at Igel, near Treves.)

CĬSĬUM, a light open carriage with two wheels, adapted to carry two persons rapidly from place to place. The cisia were quickly drawn by mules. Cicero mentions the case of a messenger who travelled 56 miles in 10 hours in such vehicles, which were kept for hire at the stations along the great roads; a proof that the ancients considered six Roman miles per hour as an extraordinary speed.


Cista. (From a Painting on a Vase.)


CISTA (κίστη). (1) A small box or chest, in which anything might be placed, but more particularly applied to the small boxes which were carried in procession in the festivals of Demeter and Dionysus. These boxes, which were always kept closed in the public processions, contained sacred things connected with the worship of these deities. In the representations of Dionysiac processions on ancient vases women carrying cistae are frequently introduced.—(2) The ballot-box, into which those who voted in the comitia and in the courts of justice cast their tabellae. It is represented in the annexed cut, and should not be confounded with the situla or sitella, into which sortes or lots were thrown. [Situla.]

CISTŎPHŎRUS (κιστοφόρος), a silver coin, which is supposed to belong to Rhodes, and which was in general circulation in Asia Minor at the time of the conquest of that country by the Romans. It took its name from the device upon it, which was either the sacred chest (cista) of Bacchus, or more probably a flower called κιστός. Its value is extremely uncertain: some writers suppose it to have been worth in our money about 7¼d.

CĬTHĂRA. [Lyra.]

CĪVIS. [Civitas.]

CĪVĬTAS, citizenship. (1) Greek (πολιτεία). Aristotle defines a citizen (πολίτης) to be one who is a partner in the legislative and judicial power (μέτοχος κρίσεως καὶ ἀρχῆς). No definition will equally apply to all the different states of Greece, or to any single state at different times; the above seems to comprehend more or less properly all those whom the common use of language entitled to the name. A state in the heroic ages was the government of a prince; the citizens were his subjects, and derived all their privileges, civil as well as religious, from their nobles and princes. The shadows of a council and assembly were already in existence, but their business was to obey. Upon the whole the notion of citizenship in the heroic ages only existed so far as the condition of aliens or of domestic slaves was its negative. The rise of a dominant class gradually overthrew the monarchies of ancient Greece. Of such a class, the chief characteristics were good birth and the hereditary transmission of privileges, the possession of land, and the performance of military service. To these characters the names gamori (γάμοροι), knights (ἱππεῖς), eupatridae (εὐπατρίδαι), &c. severally correspond. Strictly speaking, these were the only citizens; yet the lower class were quite distinct from bondmen or slaves. It commonly happened that the nobility occupied the fortified towns, while the demus (δῆμος) lived in the country and followed agricultural pursuits: whenever the latter were gathered within the walls, and became seamen or handicraftsmen, the difference of ranks was soon lost, and wealth made the only standard. The quarrels of the nobility among themselves, and the admixture of population arising from immigrations, all tended to raise the lower orders from their political subjection. It must be remembered, too, that the possession of domestic slaves, if it placed them in no new relation to the governing body, at any rate gave them leisure to attend to the higher duties of a citizen, and thus served to increase their political efficiency. During the convulsions which followed the heroic ages, naturalisation was readily granted to all who desired it; as the value of citizenship increased, it was, of course, more sparingly bestowed. The ties of hospitality descended from the prince to the state, and the friendly relations of the Homeric heroes were exchanged for the προξενίαι of a later period. In political intercourse, the importance of these last soon began to be felt, and the Proxenus at Athens, in after times, obtained rights only inferior to actual citizenship. [Hospitium.] The isopolite relation existed, however, on a much more extended scale. Sometimes particular privileges were granted: as ἐπιγαμία, the right of intermarriage; ἔγκτησις, the right of acquiring landed property; ἀτέλεια, immunity from taxation, especially ἀτέλεια μετοικίου, from the tax imposed on resident aliens. All these privileges were included under the general term ἰσοτέλεια, or ἰσοπολίτεια, and the class who obtained them were called ἰσοτελεῖς. They bore the same burthens with the citizens, and could plead in the courts or transact business with the people, without the intervention of a προστάτης, or patron. Respecting the division of the Athenian citizens into tribes, phratriae and demes, see the articles Tribus and Demus.—If we would picture to ourselves the true notion which the Greeks embodied in the word polis (πόλις), we must lay aside all modern ideas respecting the nature and object of a state. With us practically, if not in theory, the essential object of a state hardly embraces more than the protection of life and property. The Greeks, on the other hand, had the most vivid conception of the state as a whole, every part of which was to co-operate to some great end to which all other duties were considered as subordinate. Thus the aim of democracy was said to be liberty; wealth, of oligarchy; and education, of aristocracy. In all governments the endeavour was to draw the social union as close as possible, and it seems to have been with this view that Aristotle laid down a principle which answered well enough to the accidental circumstances of the Grecian states, that a polis must be of a certain size. This unity of purpose was nowhere so fully carried out as in the government of Sparta. The design of Spartan institutions was evidently to unite the governing body among themselves against the superior numbers of the subject population. The division of lands, the syssitia, the education of their youth, all tended to this great object. [Helotes; Perioeci.] In legal rights all Spartans were equal: but there were yet several gradations, which, when once formed, retained their hold on the aristocratic feelings of the people. First, there was the dignity of the Heraclide families; and, connected with this, a certain pre-eminence of the Hyllean tribe. Another distinction was that between the Homoioi (ὅμοιοι) and Hypomeiones (ὑπομείονες), which, in later times, appears to have been considerable. The latter term probably comprehended those citizens who, from degeneracy of manners or other causes, had undergone some kind of civil degradation. To these the Homoioi were opposed, although it is not certain in what the precise difference consisted. All the Spartan citizens were included in the three tribes, Hylleans, Dymanes or Dymanatae, and Pamphilians, each of which was divided into ten obes or phratries. The citizens of Sparta, as of most oligarchical states, were landowners, although this does not seem to have been looked upon as an essential of citizenship.—(2) Roman. Civitas means the whole body of cives, or members, of any given state, and the word is frequently used by the Roman writers to express the rights of a Roman citizen, as distinguished from those of other persons not Roman citizens, as in the phrases, dare civitatem, donare civitate, usurpare civitatem. Some members of a political community (cives) may have more political rights than others; and this was the case at Rome under the republic, in which we find a distinction made between two great classes of Roman citizens, one that had, and another that had not, a share in the sovereign power (optimo jure, non optimo jure cives). That which peculiarly distinguished the higher class, or the optimo jure cives, was the right to vote in a tribe (jus suffragiorum), and the capacity of enjoying magistracy (jus honorum). The inferior class, or the non optimo jure cives, did not possess the above rights, which the Romans called jus publicum, but they only had the jus privatum, which comprehended the jus connubii and jus commercii, and those who had not these had no citizenship.—Under the empire we find the free persons who were within the political limits of the Roman state divided into three great classes. The same division probably existed in an early period of the Roman state, and certainly existed in the time of Cicero. These classes were, Cives, Latini, and Peregrini. Civis is he who possesses the complete rights of a Roman citizen. Peregrinus was incapable of exercising the rights of commercium and connubium, which were the characteristic rights of a Roman citizen; but he had a capacity for making all kinds of contracts which were allowable by the jus gentium. The Latinus was in an intermediate state; he had not the connubium, and consequently he had not the patria potestas nor rights of agnatio; but he had the commercium or the right of acquiring quiritarian ownership, and he had also a capacity for all acts incident to quiritarian ownership, as the power of making a will in Roman form, and of becoming heres under a will. The rights of a Roman citizen were acquired in several ways, but most commonly by a person being born of parents who were Roman citizens. A slave might obtain the civitas by manumission (vindicta), by the census, and by a testamentum, if there was no legal impediment; but it depended on circumstances whether he became a civis Romanus, a Latinus, or in the number of the peregrini dediticii. [Manumissio.] The civitas could be conferred on a foreigner by a lex, as in the case of Archias, who was a civis of Heraclea, a civitas which had a foedus with Rome, and who claimed the civitas Romana under the provisions of a lex of Silvanus and Carbo, B.C. 89. By the provisions of this lex, the person who chose to take the benefit of it was required, within sixty days after the passing of the lex, to signify to the praetor his wish and consent to accept the civitas (profiteri). This lex was intended to give the civitas, under certain limitations, to foreigners who were citizens of foederate states (foederatis civitatibus adscripti). [Foederatae Civitates.] Thus the great mass of the Italians obtained the civitas, and the privileges of the former civitates foederatae were extended to the provinces, first to part of Gaul, and then to Sicily, under the name of Jus Latii or Latinitas. This Latinitas gave a man the right of acquiring the Roman citizenship by having exercised a magistratus in his own civitas; a privilege which belonged to the foederatae civitates of Italy before they obtained the Roman civitas.

CLĀRĬGĀTĬO. [Fetiales.]

CLASSĬCUM. [Cornu.]

CLĀVUS ANNĀLIS. In the early ages of Rome, when letters were yet scarcely in use, the Romans kept a reckoning of their years by driving a nail (clavus), on the ides of each September, into the side walls of the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, which ceremony was performed by the consul or a dictator.

CLĀVUS GŬBERNĀCŬLI. [Navis.]

CLĀVUS LĀTUS, CLĀVUS ANGUSTUS. The clavus, as an article of dress, seems to have been a purple band worn upon the tunic and toga, and was of two fashions, one broad and the other narrow, denominated respectively clavus latus and clavus angustus. The former was a single broad band of purple, extending perpendicularly from the neck down the centre of the tunic; the latter probably consisted of two narrow purple slips, running parallel to each from the top to the bottom of the tunic, one from each shoulder. The latus clavus was a distinctive badge of the senatorian order; and hence it is used to signify the senatorial dignity, and laticlavius, the person who enjoys it. The angustus clavus was the decoration of the equestrian order; but the right of wearing the latus clavus was also given to the children of equestrians, at least in the time of Augustus, as a prelude to entering the senate-house. This, however, was a matter of personal indulgence, and was granted only to persons of very ancient family and corresponding wealth, and then by special favour of the emperor. In such cases the latus clavus was assumed with the toga virilis, and worn until the age arrived at which the young equestrian was admissible into the senate, when it was relinquished and the angustus clavis resumed, if a disinclination on his part, or any other circumstances, prevented him from entering the senate, as was the case with Ovid. But it seems that the latus clavus could be again resumed if the same individual subsequently wished to become a senator, and hence a fickle character is designated as one who is always changing his clavus. The latus clavus is said to have been introduced at Rome by Tullus Hostilius, and to have been adopted by him after his conquest of the Etruscans; nor does it appear to have been confined to any particular class during the earlier periods, but to have been worn by all ranks promiscuously. It was laid aside in public mourning.

CLEPSȲDRA. [Horologium.]

CLĒRŪCHI (κληροῦχοι), the name of Athenian citizens who occupied conquered lands; their possession was called cleruchia (κληρουχία). The Athenian Cleruchi differed from the ἄποικοι or ordinary colonists. The only object of the earlier colonies was to relieve surplus population, or to provide a home for those whom internal quarrels had exiled from their country. Most usually they originated in private enterprise, and became independent of, and lost their interest in, the parent state. On the other hand, it was essential to the very notion of a cleruchia that it should be a public enterprise, and should always retain a connection more or less intimate with Athens herself. The connection with the parent state subsisted in all degrees. Sometimes, as in the case of Lesbos, the holders of land did not reside upon their estates, but let them to the original inhabitants, while themselves remained at Athens. The condition of these cleruchi did not differ from that of Athenian citizens who had estates in Attica. All their political rights they not only retained, but exercised as Athenians. Another case was where the cleruchi resided on their estates, and either with or without the old inhabitants, formed a new community. These still retained the rights of Athenian citizens, which distance only precluded them from exercising: they used the Athenian courts; and if they or their children wished to return to Athens, naturally and of course they regained the exercise of their former privileges. Sometimes, however, the connection might gradually dissolve, and the cleruchi sink into the condition of mere allies, or separate wholly from the mother country. It was to Pericles that Athens was chiefly indebted for the extension and permanence of her colonial settlements. His principal object was to provide for the redundancies of population, and raise the poorer citizens to a fortune becoming the dignity of Athenian citizens. It was of this class of persons that the settlers were chiefly composed; the state provided them with arms, and defrayed the expenses of their journey. The Cleruchiae were lost by the battle of Aegospotami, but partially restored on the revival of Athenian power.

CLĒTĒRES or CLĒTORES (κλητῆρες, κλῆτορες), summoners, were at Athens not official persons, but merely witnesses to the prosecutor that he had served the defendant with a notice of the action brought against him, and the day upon which it would be requisite for him to appear before the proper magistrate.

CLĪBĂNĀRĬI. [Cataphracti.]

CLĬENS is said to contain the same element as the verb cluere, to “hear” or “obey,” and may be accordingly compared with the German word höriger, “a dependant,” from hören, “to hear.” In the earliest times of the Roman state we find a class of persons called clientes, who must not be confounded with the plebeians, from whom they were distinct. The clients were not slaves: they had property of their own and freedom, and appear to have had votes in the comitia centuriata, but they did not possess the full rights of Roman citizens; and the peculiarity of their condition consisted in every client being in a state of dependence upon or subjection to some patrician, who was called his patronus, and to whom he owed certain rights and duties. The patronus, on the other hand, likewise incurred certain obligations towards his client. This relationship between patronus and cliens was expressed by the word clientela, which also expressed the whole body of a man’s clients. The relative rights and duties of the patrons and the clients were, according to Dionysius, as follows:—The patron was the legal adviser of the cliens; he was the client’s guardian and protector, as he was the guardian and protector of his own children; he maintained the client’s suit when he was wronged, and defended him when another complained of being wronged by him: in a word, the patron was the guardian of the client’s interests, both private and public. The client contributed to the marriage portion of the patron’s daughter, if the patron was poor; and to his ransom, or that of his children, if they were taken prisoners; he paid the costs and damages of a suit which the patron lost, and of any penalty in which he was condemned; he bore a part of the patron’s expenses incurred by his discharging public duties, or filling the honourable places in the state. Neither party could accuse the other, or bear testimony against the other, or give his vote against the other. This relationship between patron and client subsisted for many generations, and resembled in all respects the relationship by blood. The relation of a master to his liberated slave (libertus) was expressed by the word patronus, and the libertus was the cliens of his patronus. Distinguished Romans were also the protectors of states and cities, which were in a certain relation of subjection or dependence to Rome. In the time of Cicero we also find patronus in the sense of adviser, advocate, or defender, opposed to cliens in the sense of the person defended or the consultor,—a use of the word which must be referred to the original character of the patronus.

CLĬENTĒLA. [Cliens.]

CLĬPĔUS (ἀσπίς), the large shield worn by the Greeks and Romans, which was originally of a circular form, and is said to have been first used by Proetus and Acrisius of Argos, and therefore is called clipeus Argolicus, and likened to the sun. But the clipeus is often represented in Roman sculpture of an oblong oval, which makes the distinction between the common buckler and that of Argos. The outer rim was termed ἄντυξ by the Greeks; and in the centre was a projection called ὀμφάλος or umbo, which served as a sort of weapon by itself, or caused the missiles of the enemy to glance off from the shield. In the Homeric times, the Greeks merely used a leather strap (τελαμών) to support the shield, but subsequently a handle (ὄχανον or ὀχάνη). The usual form of the clipeus is exhibited in the figure of the Greek warrior on p. 41. When the census was instituted by Servius Tullius at Rome, the first class only used the clipeus, and the second were armed with the scutum [Scutum]; but after the Roman soldiery received pay, the clipeus was discontinued altogether for the scutum.

CLĪTELLAE, a pair of panniers, and therefore only used in the plural number.

CLŎĀCA, a sewer, a drain. Rome was intersected by numerous sewers, some of which were of an immense size: the most celebrated of them was the cloaca maxima, the construction of which is ascribed to Tarquinius Priscus. It was formed by three tiers of arches, one within the other, the innermost of which is a semicircular vault of 14 feet in diameter. The manner of its construction is shown in the preceding cut. Under the republic, the administration of the sewers was entrusted to the censors: but under the empire, particular officers were appointed for that purpose, called cloacarum curatores, who employed condemned criminals in cleansing and repairing them.

A Smaller Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities

Подняться наверх