[1] As a geographical term, Carnatic is not now applied to the
district north of Pennar.
[2] The Pallavas are supposed by some authorities to be identical
with the Pahlavas (Parthians of Persia), who, with the Sakas and
Yayanas, settled in western India about A.D. 100. Mr Vincent Smith,
however, who in the 1st edition (1904) of his _Early History of
India_ maintained this view, says in the 2nd edition (1908, p. 423)
that "recent research does not support this hypothesis," and that "it
seems more likely that the Pallavas were a tribe, clan or caste which
was formed in the northern part of the existing Madras Presidency."
The evidence points to their having been a race distinct from the
Tamils.
CARNATION (_Dianthus Caryophyllus_, natural order Caryophyllaceae), a
garden flower, a native of southern Europe, but occasionally found in an
apparently wild state in England. It has long been held in high
estimation for the beauty and the delightful fragrance of its blossoms.
The varieties are numerous, and are ranged under three groups, called
_bizarres, flakes_ and _picotees._ The last, from their distinctness of
character, are now generally looked upon as if they were a different
plant, whereas they are, in truth, but a seminal development from the
carnation itself, their number and variety being entirely owing to the
assiduous endeavours of the modern florist to vary and to improve them.
The true carnations, as distinguished from picotees, are those which
have the colours arranged in longitudinal stripes or bars of variable
width on each petal, the ground colour being white. The _bizarres_ are
those in which stripes of two distinct colours occur on the white
ground, and it is on the purity of the white ground and the clearness
and evenness of the striping that the technical merit of each variety
rests. There are scarlet bizarres marked with scarlet and maroon,
crimson bizarres marked with crimson and purple, and pink and purple
bizarres marked with those two colours. The _flakes_ have stripes of
only one colour on the white ground; purple flakes are striped with
purple, scarlet flakes with scarlet, and rose flakes with rose colour.
The _selfs_, those showing one colour only, as white, yellow, crimson,
purple, &c., are commonly called _cloves_.
The _picotee_ has the petals laced instead of striped with a distinct
colour; the subgroups are red-edged, purple-edged, rose-edged and
scarlet-edged, all having white grounds; each group divides into two
sections, the heavy-edged and the light-edged. In the heavy-edged the
colour appears to be laid on in little touches, passing from the edge
inwards, but so closely that they coalesce into one line of colour from
1/12 to 1/16 of an inch broad, and more or less feathered on the inner
edge, the less feathered the better; the light-edged display only a fine
edge, or "wire" edge, of colour on the white ground. Yellow picotees are
a group of great beauty, but deficient in correct marking.
During the decade 1898-1908 a new American race of carnations became
very popular with British growers. As the plants flower chiefly during
the winter--from October till the end of March--they are known as
"winter flowering" or "perpetual"; they are remarkable for the charming
delicacy and colouring of the blossoms and for the length of the
flower-stalks. This enables them to be used with great effect during the
dullest months of the year for all kinds of floral decorations. These
varieties are propagated by layers or cuttings or "pipings."
"Marguerite" carnations are lovely annuals remarkable for their
beautifully fringed blossoms. They are easily raised from seeds every
year, and should be treated like half-hardy annuals.
What trade growers call "jacks" are seedling carnations with single
flowers of no great value or beauty. Thousands of these are raised every
year for supplying "grass" (as the foliage is called) to put with
choicer varieties. Costermongers take advantage of the ordinary
householders' ignorance of plants by selling "jacks" as choice varieties
at a high price.
Carnations are usually propagated by "layering" the non-flowering shoots
about the second or third week in July, in the open air; but almost at
any period when proper shoots can be obtained under glass. Cuttings or
"pipings" are also inserted in rich but very gritty soil in cold frames,
or in beds with gentle bottom heat in greenhouses. The rooted layers may
be removed and potted or planted out towards the end of September, or
early in October, the choice sorts being potted in rather small pots and
kept in a cold frame during winter, when damp is dangerous.
New varieties can only be obtained from carefully saved seeds, or when a
"sport" is produced--_i.e._ when a shoot with a flower differing
entirely in colour from that of the parent plant appears unexpectedly.
"Malmaison" carnations arose in this way, and are largely cultivated in
greenhouses.
The soil for carnations and picotees should be a good turfy loam, free
from wireworm, and as fibry as it can be obtained; to four parts of this
add one part of rotten manure and one of leaf-mould, with sufficient
sharp sand to keep it loose. A moderate addition of old lime rubbish
will also be an advantage. This should be laid up in a dry place, and
frequently turned over so as to be in a free friable condition for use
towards the end of February or early in March.
Carnations are subject to several diseases, the worst being the "rust"
(_Uromyces Caryophilinus_), "leaf-spot" and maggot. The first two are
checked or prevented by spraying the plants with sulphide of potassium
(1 oz. to 10 gallons of water), taking care to avoid the painted
woodwork; while the only way to deal with the carnation maggot is to
pierce the centre of attacked plants with a needle, and to destroy the
eggs whenever they are observed.
Descriptive lists of the best varieties may be had from all the leading
nurserymen.
CARNEA, one of the great national festivals of Sparta, held in honour of
Apollo Carneus. Whether Carneus (or Carnus) was originally an old
Peloponnesian divinity subsequently identified with Apollo, or merely
an "emanation" from him, is uncertain; but there seems no reason to
doubt that Carneus means "the god of flocks and herds" (Hesychius, s.v.
[Greek: Karnos]), in a wider sense, of the harvest and the vintage. The
chief centre of his worship was Sparta, where the Carnea took place
every year from the 7th to the 15th of the month Carneus (=Metageitnion,
August). During this period all military operations were suspended. The
Carnea appears to have been at once agrarian, military and piacular in
character. In the last aspect it is supposed to commemorate the death of
Carnus, an Acarnanian seer and favourite of Apollo, who, being suspected
of espionage, was slain by one of the Heraclidae during the passage of
the Dorians from Naupactus to Peloponnesus. By way of punishment, Apollo
visited the army with a pestilence, which only ceased after the
institution of the Carnea. The tradition is probably intended to explain
the sacrifice of an animal (perhaps a later substitute for a human
being) as the representative of the god.
The agrarian and military sides of the festival are clearly
distinguished. (1) Five unmarried youths ([Greek: Karneatai]) were
chosen by lot from each [tribe] for four years, to superintend the
proceedings, the officiating priest being called [Greek: agaetaes]
("leader"). A man decked with garlands (possibly the priest himself)
started running, pursued by a band of young men called [Greek:
stathulodromoi] ("running with bunches of grapes in their hands"); if he
was caught, it was a guarantee of good fortune to the city; if not, the
reverse. (2) In the second part of the festival nine tents were set up
in the country, in each of which nine citizens, representing the
phratries (or _obae_), feasted together in honour of the god (for huts
or booths extemporized as shelters compare the Jewish feast of
Tabernacles; and see W. Warde Fowler in _Classical Review_, March 1908,
on the country festival in Tibullus ii. 1). According to Demetrius of
Scepsis (in Athenaeus iv. 141), the Carnea was an imitation of life in
camp, and everything was done in accordance with the command of a
herald. In regard to the sacrifice, which doubtless formed part of the
ceremonial, all that is known is that a ram was sacrificed at Thurii.
Other indications point to the festival having assumed a military
character at an early date, as might have been expected among the
warlike Dorians, although some scholars deny this. The general meaning
of the agrarian ceremony is clear, and has numerous parallels in north
European harvest-customs, in which an animal (or man disguised as an
animal) was pursued by the reapers, the animal if caught being usually
killed; in any case, both the man and the animal represent the
vegetation spirit. E.H. Binney in _Classical Review_ (March 1905)
suggests that the story of Alcestis was performed at the Carnea (to
which it may have become attached with the name of Apollo) as a
vegetation drama, and "embodied a Death and Resurrection ceremony."
The great importance attached to the festival and its month is shown in
several instances. It was responsible for the delay which prevented the
Spartans from assisting the Athenians at the battle of Marathon
(Herodotus vi. 106), and for the despatch of a small advance guard under
Leonidas to hold Thermopylae instead of the main army (Herodotus vii.
206). Again, when Epidaurus was attacked in 419 by Argos, the movements
of the Spartans under Agis against the latter were interrupted until the
end of the month, while the Argives (on whom, as Dorians, the custom was
equally binding), by manipulating the calendar, avoided the necessity of
suspending operations (see Grote, _Hist, of Greece_, ch. 56; Thucydides
v. 54).
See S. Wide, _Lakonische Kulte_ (1893), and article "Karneios" in
Roscher's _Lexikon_; L. Couve in Daremberg and Saglio's _Dictionnaire
des antiquites;_ W. Mannhardt, _Mythologische Forschungen_ (1883), p.
170, and _Wald- und Feldkulte_ (2nd ed., 1905), ii. 254; L.R. Farnell,
_Cults of the Greek States_, iv. (1907); G. Schomann, _Griechische
Altertumer_ (ed. J.H. Lipsius, 1902); J.G. Frazer on Pausanias, iii.
13, 3; H. Usener in _Rheinisches Museum_, liii. (1898), p. 377; J.
Vurtheim in _Mnemosyne_, xxxi. (1903), p. 234.
CARNEADES (214-129 B.C.), Greek philosopher, founder of the Third or New
Academy, was born at Cyrene. Little is known of his life. He learned
dialectics under Diogenes the Stoic, and under Hegesinus, the third
leader, of the Academy in descent from Arcesilaus. The chief objects of
his study, however, were the works of Chrysippus, opposition to whose
views is the mainspring of his philosophy. "If Chrysippus had not been,"
he is reported to have said, "I had not been either." In 155, together
with Diogenes the Stoic and Critolaus the Peripatetic, he was sent on an
embassy to Rome to justify certain depredations committed by the
Athenians in the territory of Oropus. On this occasion he delivered two
speeches on successive days, one in favour of justice, the other against
it. His powerful reasoning excited among the Roman youth an enthusiasm
for philosophical speculations, and the elder Cato insisted on Carneades
and his companions being dismissed from the city.
Carneades, practically a 5th-century sophist, is the most important of
the ancient sceptics. Negatively, his philosophy is a polemic against
the Stoic theory of knowledge in all its aspects. All our sensations are
relative, and acquaint us, not with things as they are, but only with
the impressions that things produce upon us. Experience, he says,
clearly shows that there is no true impression. There is no notion that
may not deceive us; it is impossible to distinguish between false and
true impressions; therefore the Stoic [Greek: phantasia katalaeptikae]
(see STOICS) must be given up. There is no criterion of truth. Carneades
also assailed Stoic theology and physics. In answer to the doctrine of
final cause, of design in nature, he points to those things which cause
destruction and danger to man, to the evil committed by men endowed with
reason, to the miserable condition of humanity, and to the misfortunes
that assail the good man. There is, he concludes, no evidence for the
doctrine of a divine superintending providence. Even if there were
orderly connexion of parts in the universe, this may have resulted quite
naturally. No proof can be advanced to show that this world is anything
but the product of natural forces. Carneades further attacked the very
idea of God. He points out the contradiction between the attributes of
infinity and individuality. Like Aristotle, he insists that virtue,
being relative, cannot be ascribed to God. Not even intelligence can be
an attribute of the divine Being. Nor can he be conceived of as
corporeal or incorporeal. If corporeal, he must be simple or compound;
if a simple and elementary substance, he is incapable of life and
thought; if compound, he contains in himself the elements of
dissolution. If incorporeal, he can neither act nor feel. In fact,
nothing whatever can be asserted with certainty in regard to God. The
general line of argument followed by Carneades anticipates much in
modern thought.
The positive side of his teaching resembles in all essentials that of
Arcesilaus (q.v.). Knowledge being impossible, a wise man should
practise [Greek: epochae] (suspension of judgment). He will not even be
sure that he can be sure of nothing. Ideas or notions are never true,
but only probable; nevertheless, there are degrees of probability, and
hence degrees of belief, leading to action. According to Carneades, an
impression may be probable in itself; probable and uncontradicted
([Greek: aperispastos], lit. "not pulled aside," not distracted by
synchronous sensations, but shown to be in harmony with them) when
compared with others; probable, uncontradicted, and thoroughly
investigated and confirmed. In the first degree there is a strong
persuasion of the propriety of the impression made; the second and third
degrees are produced by comparisons of the impression with others
associated with it, and an analysis of itself. His views on the _summum
bonum_ are not clearly known even to his disciple and successor
Clitomachus. He seems to have held that virtue consisted in the
direction of activity towards the satisfaction of the natural impulses.
Carneades left no written works; his opinions seem to have been
systematized by Clitomachus.
See A. Geffers, _De Arcesilae Successoribus_ (1845); C. Gouraud, _De
Carneadis Vita et Placitis_ (1848); V. Brochard, _Les Sceptiques
grecs_ (1887); C. Martha, "Le Philosophe Carneade a Rome," in _Revue
des deux mondes_, xxix. (1878), and the histories of philosophy; also
ACADEMY, GREEK.