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CINO DA PISTOIA (1270-1336), Italian poet and jurist, whose full name
was GUITTONCINO DE' SINIBALDI, was born in Pistoia, of a noble family.
He studied law at Bologna under Dinus Muggelanus (Dino de Rossonis: d.
1303) and Franciscus Accursius, and in 1307 is understood to have been
assessor of civil causes in his native city. In that year, however,
Pistoia was disturbed by the Guelph and Ghibelline feud. The
Ghibellines, who had for some time been the stronger party, being
worsted by the Guelphs, Cino, a prominent member of the former faction,
had to quit his office and the city of his birth. Pitecchio, a
stronghold on the frontiers of Lombardy, was yet in the hands of Filippo
Vergiolesi, chief of the Pistoian Ghibellines; Selvaggia, his daughter,
was beloved by Cino (who was probably already the husband of Margherita
degli Unghi); and to Pitecchio did the lawyer-poet betake himself. It is
uncertain how long he remained at the fortress; it is certain, however,
that he was not with the Vergiolesi at the time of Selvaggia's death,
which happened three years afterwards (1310), at the Monte della
Sambuca, in the Apennines, whither the Ghibellines had been compelled to
shift their camp. He visited his mistress's grave on his way to Rome,
after some time spent in travel in France and elsewhere, and to this
visit is owing his finest sonnet. At Rome Cino held office under Louis
of Savoy, sent thither by the Ghibelline leader Henry of Luxemburg, who
was crowned emperor of the Romans in 1312. In 1313, however, the emperor
died, and the Ghibellines lost their last hope. Cino appears to have
thrown up his party, and to have returned to Pistoia. Thereafter he
devoted himself to law and letters. After filling several high judicial
offices, a doctor of civil law of Bologna in his forty-fourth year, he
lectured and taught from the professor's chair at the universities of
Treviso, Siena, Florence and Perugia in succession; his reputation and
success were great, his judicial experience enabling him to travel out
of the routine of the schools. In literature he continued in some sort
the tradition of Dante during the interval dividing that great poet from
his successor Petrarch. The latter, besides celebrating Cino in an
obituary sonnet, has coupled him and his Selvaggia with Dante and
Beatrice in the fourth _capitolo_ of his _Trionfi d' Amore_.
Cino, the master of Bartolus, and of Joannes Andreae the celebrated
canonist, was long famed as a jurist. His commentary on the statutes of
Pistoia, written within two years, is said to have great merit; while
that on the code (_Lectura Cino Pistoia super codice_, Pavia, 1483;
Lyons, 1526) is considered by Savigny to exhibit more practical
intelligence and more originality of thought than are found in any
commentary on Roman law since the time of Accursius. As a poet he also
distinguished himself greatly. He was the friend and correspondent of
Dante's later years, and possibly of his earlier also, and was
certainly, with Guido Cavalcanti and Durante da Maiano, one of those who
replied to the famous sonnet _A ciascun' alma presa e gentil core_ of
the _Vita Nuova_. In the treatise _De Vulgari Eloquio_ Dante refers to
him as one of "those who have most sweetly and subtly written poems in
modern Italian," but his works, printed at Rome in 1559, do not
altogether justify the praise. Strained and rhetorical as many of his
outcries are, however, Cino is not without moments of true passion and
fine natural eloquence. Of these qualities the sonnet in memory of
Selvaggia, _Io fui in sull' alto e in sul beato monte_, and the canzone
to Dante, _Avegnache di omaggio piu per tempo_, are interesting
examples.
The text-book for English readers is D.G. Rossetti's _Early Italian
Poets_, wherein will be found not only a memoir of Cino da Pistoia,
but also some admirably translated specimens of his verse--the whole
wrought into significant connexion with that friendship of Cino's
which is perhaps the most interesting fact about him. See also Ciampi,
_Vita e poesie di messer Cino da Pistoia_ (Pisa, 1813).
CINQ-MARS, HENRI COIFFIER RUZE D'EFFIAT, MARQUIS DE (1620-1642), French
courtier, was the second son of Antoine Coiffier Ruze, marquis d'Effiat,
marshal of France (1581-1632), and was introduced to the court of Louis
XIII. by Richelieu, who had been a friend of his father and who hoped he
would counteract the influence of the queen's favourite Mlle. de
Hautefort. Owing to his handsome appearance and agreeable manners he
soon became a favourite of the king, and was made successively master of
the wardrobe and master of the horse. After distinguishing himself at
the siege of Arras in 1640, Cinq-Mars wished for a high military
command, but Richelieu opposed his pretensions and the favourite talked
rashly about overthrowing the minister. He was probably connected with
the abortive rising of the count of Soissons in 1641; however that may
be, in the following year he formed a conspiracy with the duke of
Bouillon and others to overthrow Richelieu. This plot was under the
nominal leadership of the king's brother Gaston of Orleans. The plans of
the conspirators were aided by the illness of Richelieu and his absence
from the king, and at the siege of Narbonne Cinq-Mars almost induced
Louis to agree to banish his minister. Richelieu, however, recovered,
became acquainted with the attempt of Cinq-Mars to obtain assistance
from Spain, and laid the proofs of his treason before the king, who
ordered his arrest. Cinq-Mars was brought to trial, admitted his guilt,
and was condemned to death. He was executed at Lyons on the 12th of
September 1642. It is possible that Cinq-Mars was urged to engage in
this conspiracy by his affection for Louise Marie de Gonzaga
(1612-1667), afterwards queen of Poland, who was a prominent figure at
the court of Louis XIII.; and this tradition forms part of the plot of
Alfred de Vigny's novel _Cinq-Mars_.
See Le P. Griffet, _Histoire de Louis XIII_; A. Bazin, _Histoire de
Louis XIII_ (1846); L. D'Astarac de Frontrailles, _Relations des
choses particulieres de la cour pendant la faveur de M. de Cinq-Mars_.
CINQUE CENTO (Italian for five hundred; short for 1500), in
architecture, the style which became prevalent in Italy in the century
following 1500, now usually called "16th-century work." It was the
result of the revival of classic architecture known as Renaissance, but
the change had commenced already a century earlier, in the works of
Ghiberti and Donatello in sculpture, and of Brunelleschi and Alberti in
architecture.
CINQUE PORTS, the name of an ancient jurisdiction in the south of
England, which is still maintained with considerable modifications and
diminished authority. As the name implies, the ports originally
constituting the body were only five in number--Hastings, Romney, Hythe,
Dover and Sandwich; but to these were afterwards added the "ancient
towns" of Winchelsea and Rye with the same privileges, and a good many
other places, both corporate and non-corporate, which, with the title of
limb or member, held a subordinate position. To Hastings were attached
the corporate members of Pevensey and Seaford, and the non-corporate
members of Bulvarhythe, Petit Iham (Yham or Higham), Hydney, Bekesbourn,
Northeye and Grenche or Grange; to Romney, Lydd, and Old Romney,
Dengemarsh, Orwaldstone, and Bromehill or Promehill; to Dover,
Folkestone and Faversham, and Margate, St John's, Goresend (now
Birchington), Birchington Wood (now Woodchurch), St Peter's, Kingsdown
and Ringwould; to Sandwich, Fordwich and Deal, and Walmer, Ramsgate,
Reculver, Stonor (Estanor), Sarre (or Serre) and Brightlingsea (in
Essex). To Rye was attached the corporate member of Tenterden, and to a
Hythe the non-corporate member of West Hythe. The jurisdiction thus
extends along the coast from Seaford in Sussex to Birchington near
Margate in Kent; and it also includes a number of inland districts, at a
considerable distance from the ports with which they are connected. The
non-incorporated members are within the municipal jurisdiction of the
ports to which they are attached; but the corporate members are as free
within their own liberties as the individual ports themselves.
The incorporation of the Cinque Ports had its origin in the necessity
for some means of defence along the southern seaboard of England, and in
the lack of any regular navy. Up to the reign of Henry VII. they had to
furnish the crown with nearly all the ships and men that were needful
for the state; and for a long time after they were required to give
large assistance to the permanent fleet. The oldest charter now on
record is one belonging to the 6th year of Edward I.; and it refers to
previous documents of the time of Edward the Confessor and William the
Conqueror. In return for their services the ports enjoyed extensive
privileges. From the Conquest or even earlier they had, besides various
lesser rights--(1) exemption from tax and tallage; (2) soc and sac, or
full cognizance of all criminal and civil cases within their liberties;
(3) tol and team, or the right of receiving toll and the right of
compelling the person in whose hands stolen property was found to name
the person from whom he received it; (4) blodwit and fledwit, or the
right to punish shedders of blood and those who were seized in an
attempt to escape from justice; (5) pillory and tumbrel; (6)
infangentheof and outfangentheof, or power to imprison and execute
felons; (7) mundbryce (the breaking into or violation of a man's _mund_
or property in order to erect banks or dikes as a defence against the
sea); (8) waives and strays, or the right to appropriate lost property
or cattle not claimed within a year and a day; (9) the right to seize
all flotsam, jetsam, or ligan, or, in other words, whatever of value was
cast ashore by the sea; (10) the privilege of being a gild with power to
impose taxes for the common weal; and (11) the right of assembling in
portmote or parliament at Shepway or Shepway Cross, a few miles west of
Hythe (but afterwards at Dover), the parliament being empowered to make
by-laws for the Cinque Ports, to regulate the Yarmouth fishery, to hear
appeals from the local courts, and to give decision in all cases of
treason, sedition, illegal coining or concealment of treasure trove. The
ordinary business of the ports was conducted in two courts known
respectively as the court of brotherhood and the court of brotherhood
and guestling,--the former being composed of the mayors of the seven
principal towns and a number of jurats and freemen from each, and the
latter including in addition the mayors, bailiffs and other
representatives of the corporate members. The court of brotherhood was
formerly called the brotheryeeld, brodall or brodhull; and the name
guestling seems to owe its origin to the fact that the officials of the
"members" were at first in the position of invited guests.
The highest office in connexion with the Cinque Ports is that of the
lord warden, who also acts as governor of Dover Castle, and has a
maritime jurisdiction (_vide infra_) as admiral of the ports. His power
was formerly of great extent, but he has now practically no important
duty to exercise except that of chairman of the Dover harbour board. The
emoluments of the office are confined to certain insignificant admiralty
droits. The patronage attached to the office consists of the right to
appoint the judge of the Cinque Ports admiralty court, the registrar of
the Cinque Ports and the marshal of the court; the right of appointing
salvage commissioners at each Cinque Port and the appointment of a
deputy to act as chairman of the Dover harbour board in the absence of
the lord warden. Walmer Castle was for long the official residence of
the lord warden, but has, since the resignation of Lord Curzon in 1903,
ceased to be so used, and those portions of it which are of historic
interest are now open to the public. George, prince of Wales (lord
warden, 1903-1907), was the first lord warden of royal blood since the
office was held by George, prince of Denmark, consort of Queen Anne.
_Admiralty Jurisdiction._--The court of admiralty for the Cinque Ports
exercises a co-ordinate but not exclusive admiralty jurisdiction over
persons and things found within the territory of the Cinque Ports. The
limits of its jurisdiction were declared at an inquisition taken at the
court of admiralty, held by the seaside at Dover in 1682, to extend from
Shore Beacon in Essex to Redcliff, near Seaford, in Sussex; and with
regard to salvage, they comprise all the sea between Seaford in Sussex
to a point five miles off Cape Grisnez on the coast of France, and the
coast of Essex. An older inquisition of 1526 is given by R.G. Marsden in
his _Select Pleas of the Court of Admiralty_, II. xxx. The court is an
ancient one. The judge sits as the official and commissary of the lord
warden, just as the judge of the high court of admiralty sat as the
official and commissary of the lord high admiral. And, as the office of
lord warden is more ancient than the office of lord high admiral (_The
Lord Warden_ v. _King in his office of Admiralty_, 1831, 2 Hagg. Admy.
Rep. 438), it is probable that the Cinque Ports court is the more
ancient of the two.
The jurisdiction of the court has been, except in one matter of mere
antiquarian curiosity, unaffected by statute. It exercises only,
therefore, such jurisdiction as the high court of admiralty exercised,
apart from restraining statutes of 1389 and 1391 and enabling statutes
of 1840 and 1861. Cases of collision have been tried in it (the "Vivid,"
1 _Asp. Maritime Law Cases_, 601). But salvage cases (the "Clarisse,"
_Swabey_, 129; the "Marie," _Law. Rep. 7 P.D._ 203) are the principal
cases now tried. It has no prize jurisdiction. The one case in which
jurisdiction has been given to it by statute is to enforce forfeitures
under the statute of 1538.
Dr (afterwards the Right Hon. Robert Joseph) Phillimore succeeded his
father as judge of the court from 1855 to 1875, being succeeded by Mr
Arthur Cohen, K.C. As Sir R. Phillimore was also the last judge of the
high court of admiralty, from 1867 (the date of his appointment to the
high court) to 1875, the two offices were, probably for the first time
in history, held by the same person. Dr Phillimore's patent had a grant
of the "place or office of judge official and commissary of the court of
admiralty of the Cinque Ports, and their members and appurtenances, and
to be assistant to my lieutenant of Dover castle in all such affairs and
business concerning the said court of admiralty wherein yourself and
assistance shall be requisite and necessary." Of old the court sat
sometimes at Sandwich, sometimes at other ports. But the regular place
for the sitting of the court has for a long time been, and still is, the
aisle of St James's church, Dover. For convenience the judge often sits
at the royal courts of justice. The office of marshal in the high court
is represented in this court by a serjeant, who also bears a silver oar.
There is a registrar, as in the high court. The appeal is to the king in
council, and is heard by the judicial committee of the privy council.
The court can hear appeals from the Cinque Ports salvage commissioners,
such appeals being final (Cinque Ports Act 1821). Actions may be
transferred to it, and appeals made to it, from the county courts in all
cases, arising within the jurisdiction of the Cinque Ports as defined by
that act. At the solemn installation of the lord warden the judge as the
next principal officer installs him.
The Cinque Ports from the earliest times claimed to be exempt from the
jurisdiction of the admiral of England. Their early charters do not,
like those of Bristol and other seaports, express this exemption in
terms. It seems to have been derived from the general words of the
charters which preserve their liberties and privileges.
The lord warden's claim to prize was raised in, but not finally decided
by, the high court of admiralty in the "Ooster Ems," 1 _C. Rob._ 284,
1783.
See S. Jeake, _Charters of the Cinque Ports_ (1728); Boys, _Sandwich
and Cinque Ports_; Knocker, _Grand Court of Shepway_ (1862); M,
Burrows, _Cinque Ports_ (1895); F.M. Hueffer, _Cinque Ports_ (1900);
_Indices of the Great White and Black Books of the Cinque Ports_
(1905).
CINTRA, a town of central Portugal, in the district of Lisbon, formerly
included in the province of Estramadura; 17 m. W.N.W. of Lisbon by the
Lisbon-Cacem-Cintra railway, and 6 m. N. by E. of Cape da Roca, the
westernmost promontory of the European mainland. Pop. (1900) 5914.
Cintra is magnificently situated on the northern slope of the Serra da
Cintra, a rugged mountain mass, largely overgrown with pines,
eucalyptus, cork and other forest trees, above which the principal
summits rise in a succession of bare and jagged grey peaks; the highest
being Cruz Alta (1772 ft.), marked by an ancient stone cross, and
commanding a wonderful view southward over Lisbon and the Tagus estuary,
and north-westward over the Atlantic and the plateau of Mafra. Few
European towns possess equal advantages of position and climate; and
every educated Portuguese is familiar with the verses in which the
beauty of Cintra is celebrated by Byron in _Childe Harold_ (1812), and
by Camoens in the national epic _Os Lusiadas_ (1572). One of the highest
points of the Serra is surmounted by the Palacio da Pena, a fantastic
imitation of a medieval fortress, built on the site of a Hieronymite
convent by the prince consort Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg (d. 1885); while
an adjacent part of the range is occupied by the Castello des Mouros, an
extensive Moorish fortification, containing a small ruined mosque and a
very curious set of ancient cisterns. The lower slopes of the Serra are
covered with the gardens and villas of the wealthier inhabitants of
Lisbon, who migrate hither in spring and stay until late autumn.
In the town itself the most conspicuous building is a 14th-15th-century
royal palace, partly Moorish, partly debased Gothic in style, and
remarkable for the two immense conical chimneys which rise like towers
in the midst. The 18th-century Palacio de Seteaes, built in the French
style then popular in Portugal, is said to derive its name ("Seven
_Ahs_") from a sevenfold echo; here, on the 22nd of August 1808, was
signed the convention of Cintra, by which the British and Portuguese
allowed the French army to evacuate the kingdom without molestation.
Beside the road which leads for 31/2 m. W. to the village of Collares,
celebrated for its wine, is the Penha Verde, an interesting country
house and chapel, founded by Joao de Castro (1500-1548), fourth viceroy
of the Indies. De Castro also founded the convent of Santa Cruz, better
known as the Convento de Cortica or Cork convent, which stands at the
western extremity of the Serra, and owes its name to the cork panels
which formerly lined its walls. Beyond the Penha Verde, on the Collares
road, are the palace and park of Montserrate. The palace was originally
built by William Beckford, the novelist and traveller (1761-1844), and
was purchased in 1856 by Sir Francis Cook, an Englishman who afterwards
obtained the Portuguese title viscount of Montserrate. The palace, which
contains a valuable library, is built of pure white stone, in Moorish
style; its walls are elaborately sculptured. The park, with its tropical
luxuriance of vegetation and its variety of lake, forest and mountain
scenery, is by far the finest example of landscape gardening in the
Iberian Peninsula, and probably among the finest in the world. Its
high-lying lawns, which overlook the Atlantic, are as perfect as any in
England, and there is one ravine containing a whole wood of giant
tree-ferns from New Zealand. Other rare plants have been systematically
collected and brought to Montserrate from all parts of the world by Sir
Francis Cook, and afterwards by his successor, Sir Frederick Cook, the
second viscount. The Praia das Macas, or "beach of apples," in the
centre of a rich fruit-bearing valley, is a favourite sea-bathing
station, connected with Cintra by an extension of the electric tramway
which runs through the town.
CIPHER, or CYPHER (from Arab, _[.s]ifr_, void), the symbol 0, nought, or
zero; and so a name for symbolic or secret writing (see CRYPTOGRAPHY),
or even for shorthand (q.v.), and also in elementary education for doing
simple sums ("ciphering").
CIPPUS (Lat. for a "post" or "stake"), in architecture, a low pedestal,
either round or rectangular, set up by the Romans for various purposes
such as military or mile stones, boundary posts, &c. The inscriptions on
some in the British Museum show that they were occasionally funeral
memorials.
CIPRIANI, GIOVANNI BATTISTA (1727-1785), Italian painter and engraver,
Pistoiese by descent, was born in Florence in 1727. His first lessons
were given him by an Englishman, Ignatius Heckford or Hugford, and under
his second master, Antonio Domenico Gabbiani, he became a very clever
draughtsman. He was in Rome from 1750 to 1753, where he became
acquainted with Sir William Chambers, the architect, and Joseph Wilton,
the sculptor, whom he accompanied to England in August 1755. He had
already painted two pictures for the abbey of San Michele in Pelago,
Pistoia, which had brought him reputation, and on his arrival in England
he was patronized by Lord Tilney, the duke of Richmond and other
noblemen. His acquaintance with Sir William Chambers no doubt helped him
on, for when Chambers designed the Albany in London for Lord Holland,
Cipriani painted a ceiling for him. He also painted part of a ceiling in
Buckingham Palace, and a room with poetical subjects at Standlynch in
Wiltshire. Some of his best and most permanent work was, however, done
at Somerset House, built by his friend Chambers, upon which he lavished
infinite pains. He not only prepared the decorations for the interior of
the north block, but, says Joseph Baretti in his _Guide through the
Royal Academy_ (1780), "the whole of the carvings in the various fronts
of Somerset Place--excepting Bacon's bronze figures--were carved from
finished drawings made by Cipriani." These designs include the five
masks forming the keystones to the arches on the courtyard side of the
vestibule, and the two above the doors leading into the wings of the
north block, all of which are believed to have been carved by Nollekens.
The grotesque groups flanking the main doorways on three sides of the
quadrangle and the central doorway on the terrace appear also to have
been designed by Cipriani. The apartments in Sir William Chambers's
stately palace that were assigned to the Royal Academy, into which it
moved in 1780, owed much to Cipriani's graceful, if mannered, pencil.
The central panel of the library ceiling was painted by Sir Joshua
Reynolds, but the four compartments in the coves, representing Allegory,
Fable, Nature and History, were Cipriani's. These paintings still remain
at Somerset House, together with the emblematic painted ceiling, also
his work, of what was once the library of the Royal Society. It was
natural that Cipriani should thus devote himself to adorning the
apartments of the academy, since he was an original member (1768) of
that body, for which he designed the diploma so well engraved by
Bartolozzi. In recognition of his services in this respect the members
presented him in 1769 with a silver cup with a commemorative
inscription. He was much employed by the publishers, for whom he made
drawings in pen and ink, sometimes coloured. His friend Bartolozzi
engraved most of them. Drawings by him are in both the British Museum
and Victoria and Albert Museum. His best autograph engravings are "The
Death of Cleopatra," after Benvenuto Cellini; "The Descent of the Holy
Ghost," after Gabbiani; and portraits for Hollis's memoirs, 1780. He
painted allegorical designs for George III.'s state coach--which is
still in use--in 1782, and repaired Verrio's paintings at Windsor and
Rubens's ceiling in the Banqueting House at Whitehall. If his pictures
were often weak, his decorative treatment of children was usually
exceedingly happy. Some of his most pleasing work was that which,
directly or indirectly, he executed for the decoration of furniture. He
designed many groups of nymphs and _amorini_ and medallion subjects to
form the centre of Pergolesi's bands of ornament, and they were
continually reproduced upon the elegant satin-wood furniture which was
growing popular in his later days and by the end of the 18th century
became a rage. Sometimes these designs were inlaid in marqueterie, but
most frequently they were painted upon the satin-wood by other hands
with delightful effect, since in the whole range of English furniture
there is nothing more enchanting than really good finished satin-wood
pieces. There can be little doubt that some of the beautiful furniture
designed by the Adams was actually painted by Cipriani himself. He also
occasionally designed handles for drawers and doors. Cipriani died at
Hammersmith in 1785 and was buried at Chelsea, where Bartolozzi erected
a monument to his memory. He had married an English lady, by whom he had
two sons.
CIRCAR, an Indian term applied to the component parts of a _subah_ or
province, each of which is administered by a deputy-governor. In English
it is principally employed in the name of the NORTHERN CIRCARS, used to
designate a now obsolete division of the Madras presidency, which
consisted of a narrow slip of territory lying along the western side of
the Bay of Bengal from 15 deg. 40' to 20 deg. 17' N. lat. These Northern
Circars were five in number, Chicacole, Rajahmundry, Ellore, Kondapalli
and Guntur, and their total area was about 30,000 sq. m.
The district corresponds in the main to the modern districts of Kistna,
Godavari, Vizagapatam, Ganjam and a part of Nellore. It was first
invaded by the Mahommedans in 1471; in 1541 they conquered Kondapalli,
and nine years later they extended their conquests over all Guntur and
the districts of Masulipatam. But the invaders appear to have acquired
only an imperfect possession of the country, as it was again wrested
from the Hindu princes of Orissa about the year 1571, during the reign
of Ibrahim, of the Kutb Shahi dynasty of Hyderabad or Golconda. In 1687
the Circars were added, along with the empire of Hyderabad, to the
extensive empire of Aurangzeb. Salabat Jang, the son of the nizam ul
mulk Asaf Jah, who was indebted for his elevation to the throne to the
French East India Company, granted them in return for their services the
district of Kondavid or Guntur, and soon afterwards the other Circars.
In 1759, by the conquest of the fortress of Masulipatam, the dominion of
the maritime provinces on both sides, from the river Gundlakamma to the
Chilka lake, was necessarily transferred from the French to the British.
But the latter left them under the administration of the nizam, with the
exception of the town and fortress of Masulipatam, which were retained
by the English East India Company. In 1765 Lord Clive obtained from the
Mogul emperor Shah Alam a grant of the five Circars. Hereupon the fort
of Kondapalli was seized by the British, and on the 12th of November
1766 a treaty of alliance was signed with Nizam Ali by which the
Company, in return for the grant of the Circars, undertook to maintain
troops for the nizam's assistance. By a second treaty, signed on the 1st
of March 1768, the nizam acknowledged the validity of Shah Alam's grant
and resigned the Circars to the Company, receiving as a mark of
friendship an annuity of L50,000. Guntur, as the personal estate of the
nizam's brother Basalat Jang, was excepted during his lifetime under
both treaties. He died in 1782, but it was not till 1788 that Guntur
came under British administration. Finally, in 1823, the claims of the
nizam over the Northern Circars were bought outright by the Company, and
they became a British possession.
CIRCASSIA, a name formerly given to the north-western portion of the
Caucasus, including the district between the mountain range and the
Black Sea, and extending to the north of the central range as far as the
river Kuban. Its physical features are described in the article on the
Russian province of KUBAN, with which it approximately coincides. The
present article is confined to a consideration of the ethnographical
relations and characteristics of the people, their history being treated
under CAUCASIA.
The Cherkesses or Circassians, who gave their name to this region, of
which they were until lately the sole inhabitants, are a peculiar race,
differing from the other tribes of the Caucasus in origin and language.
They designate themselves by the name of Adigheb, that of Cherkesses
being a term of Russian origin. By their long-continued struggles with
the power of Russia, during a period of nearly forty years, they
attracted the attention of the other nations of Europe in a high degree,
and were at the same time an object of interest to the student of the
history of civilization, from the strange mixture which their customs
exhibited of chivalrous sentiment with savage customs. For this reason
it may be still worth while to give a brief summary of their national
characteristics and manners, though these must now be regarded as in
great measure things of the past.
In the patriarchal simplicity of their manners, the mental qualities
with which they were endowed, the beauty of form and regularity of
feature by which they were distinguished, they surpassed most of the
other tribes of the Caucasus. At the same time they were remarkable for
their warlike and intrepid character, their independence, their
hospitality to strangers, and that love of country which they manifested
in their determined resistance to an almost overwhelming power during
the period of a long and desolating war. The government under which they
lived was a peculiar form of the feudal system. The free Circassians
were divided into three distinct ranks, the princes or _pshi_, the
nobles or _uork_ (Tatar _usden_), and the peasants or _hokotl_. Like the
inhabitants of the other regions of the Caucasus, they were also divided
into numerous families, tribes or clans, some of which were very
powerful, and carried on war against each other with great animosity.
The slaves, of whom a large proportion were prisoners of war, were
generally employed in the cultivation of the soil, or in the domestic
service of some of the principal chiefs.
The will of the people was acknowledged as the supreme source of
authority; and every free Circassian had a right to express his opinion
in those assemblies of his tribe in which the questions of peace and
war, almost the only subjects which engaged their attention, were
brought under deliberation. The princes and nobles, the leaders of the
people in war and their rulers in peace, were only the administrators of
a power which was delegated to them. As they had no written laws, the
administration of justice was regulated solely by custom and tradition,
and in those tribes professing Mahommedanism by the precepts of the
Koran. The most aged and respected inhabitants of the various _auls_ or
villages frequently sat in judgment, and their decisions were received
without a murmur by the contending parties. The Circassian princes and
nobles were professedly Mahommedans; but in their religious services
many of the ceremonies of their former heathen and Christian worship
were still preserved. A great part of the people had remained faithful
to the worship of their ancient gods--Shible, the god of thunder, of war
and of justice; Tleps, the god of fire; and Seosseres, the god of water
and of winds. Although the Circassians are said to have possessed minds
capable of the highest cultivation, the arts and sciences, with the
exception of poetry and music, were completely neglected. They possessed
no written language. The wisdom of their sages, the knowledge they had
acquired, and the memory of their warlike deeds were preserved in
verses, which were repeated from mouth to mouth and descended from
father to son.
The education of the young Circassian was confined to riding, fencing,
shooting, hunting, and such exercises as were calculated to strengthen
his frame and prepare him for a life of active warfare. The only
intellectual duty of the _atalik_ or instructor, with whom the young men
lived until they had completed their education, was that of teaching
them to express their thoughts shortly, quickly and appropriately. One
of their marriage ceremonies was very strange. The young man who had
been approved by the parents, and had paid the stipulated price in
money, horses, oxen, or sheep for his bride, was expected to come with
his friends fully armed, and to carry her off by force from her father's
house. Every free Circassian had unlimited right over the lives of his
wife and children. Although polygamy was allowed by the laws of the
Koran, the custom of the country forbade it, and the Circassians were
generally faithful to the marriage bond. The respect for superior age
was carried to such an extent that the young brother used to rise from
his seat when the elder entered an apartment, and was silent when he
spoke. Like all the other inhabitants of the Caucasus, the Circassians
were distinguished for two very opposite qualities--the most generous
hospitality and implacable vindictiveness. Hospitality to the stranger
was considered one of the most sacred duties. Whatever were his rank in
life, all the members of the family rose to receive him on his entrance,
and conduct him to the principal seat in the apartment. The host was
considered responsible with his own life for the security of his guest,
upon whom, even although his deadliest enemy, he would inflict no injury
while under the protection of his roof. The chief who had received a
stranger was also bound to grant him an escort of horse to conduct him
in safety on his journey, and confide him to the protection of those
nobles with whom he might be on friendly terms. The law of vengeance was
no less binding on the Circassian. The individual who had slain any
member of a family was pursued with implacable vengeance by the
relatives, until his crime was expiated by death. The murderer might,
indeed, secure his safety by the payment of a certain sum of money, or
by carrying off from the house of his enemy a newly-born child, bringing
it up as his own, and restoring it when its education was finished. In
either case, the family of the slain individual might discontinue the
pursuit of vengeance without any stain upon its honour. The man closely
followed by his enemy, who, on reaching the dwelling of a woman, had
merely touched her hand, was safe from all other pursuit so long as he
remained under the protection of her roof. The opinions of the
Circassians regarding theft resembled those of the ancient Spartans. The
commission of the crime was not considered so disgraceful as its
discovery; and the punishment of being compelled publicly to restore the
stolen property to its original possessor, amid the derision of his
tribe, was much dreaded by the Circassian who would glory in a
successful theft. The greatest stain upon the Circassian character was
the custom of selling their children, the Circassian father being always
willing to part with his daughters, many of whom were bought by Turkish
merchants for the harems of Eastern monarchs. But no degradation was
implied in this transaction, and the young women themselves were
generally willing partners in it. Herds of cattle and sheep constituted
the chief riches of the inhabitants. The princes and nobles, from whom
the members of the various tribes held the land which they cultivated,
were the proprietors of the soil. The Circassians carried on little or
no commerce, and the state of perpetual warfare in which they lived
prevented them from cultivating any of the arts of peace.
CIRCE (Gr. [Greek: Kirke]), in Greek legend, a famous sorceress, the
daughter of Helios and the ocean nymph Perse. Having murdered her
husband, the prince of Colchis, she was expelled by her subjects and
placed by her father on the solitary island of Aeaea on the coast of
Italy. She was able by means of drugs and incantations to change human
beings into the forms of wolves or lions, and with these beings her
palace was surrounded. Here she was found by Odysseus and his
companions; the latter she changed into swine, but the hero, protected
by the herb _moly_ (q.v.), which he had received from Hermes, not only
forced her to restore them to their original shape, but also gained her
love. For a year he relinquished himself to her endearments, and when he
determined to leave, she instructed him how to sail to the land of
shades which lay on the verge of the ocean stream, in order to learn his
fate from the prophet Teiresias. Upon his return she also gave him
directions for avoiding the dangers of the journey home (Homer,
_Odyssey_, x.-xii.; Hyginus, _Fab._ 125). The Roman poets associated her
with the most ancient traditions of Latium, and assigned her a home on
the promontory of Circei (Virgil, _Aeneid_, vii. 10). The metamorphoses
of Scylla and of Picus, king of the Ausonians, by Circe, are narrated in
Ovid (_Metamorphoses_, xiv.).
_The Myth of Kirke_, by R. Brown (1883), in which Circe is explained
as a moon-goddess of Babylonian origin, contains an exhaustive summary
of facts, although many of the author's speculations may be proved
untenable (review by H. Bradley in _Academy_, January 19, 1884); see
also J.E. Harrison, _Myths of the Odyssey_ (1882); C. Seeliger in W.H.
Roscher's _Lexikon der Mythologie_.
CIRCEIUS MONS (mod. _Monte Circeo_), an isolated promontory on the S.W.
coast of Italy, about 80 m. S.E. of Rome. It is a ridge of limestone
about 31/2 m. long by 1 m. wide at the base, running from E. to W. and
surrounded by the sea on all sides except the N. The land to the N. of
it is 53 ft. above sea-level, while the summit of the promontory is 1775
ft. The origin of the name is uncertain: it has naturally been connected
with the legend of Circe, and Victor Berard (in _Les Pheniciens et
l'Odyssee_, ii. 261 seq.) maintains in support of the identification
that [Greek: Ahiaie], the Greek name for the island of Circe, is a
faithful transliteration of a Semitic name, meaning "island of the
hawk," of which [Greek: nesos Kirkes] is the translation. The difficulty
has been raised, especially by geologists, that the promontory ceased to
be an island at a period considerably before the time of Homer; but
Procopius very truly remarked that the promontory has all the appearance
of an island until one is actually upon it. Upon the E. end of the ridge
of the promontory are the remains of an enceinte, forming roughly a
rectangle of about 200 by 100 yds. of very fine polygonal work, on the
outside, the blocks being very carefully cut and jointed and right
angles being intentionally avoided. The wall stands almost entirely
free, as at Arpinum--polygonal walls in Italy are as a rule embanking
walls--and increases considerably in thickness as it descends. The
blocks of the inner face are much less carefully worked both here and at
Arpinum. It seems to have been an acropolis, and contains no traces of
buildings, except for a subterranean cistern, circular, with a beehive
roof of converging blocks. The modern village of S. Felice Circeo seems
to occupy the site of the ancient town, the citadel of which stood on
the mountain top, for its medieval walls rest upon ancient walls of
Cyclopean work of less careful construction than those of the citadel,
and enclosing an area of 200 by 150 yds.
Circei was founded as a Roman colony at an early date--according to some
authorities in the time of Tarquinius Superbus, but more probably about
390 B.C. The existence of a previous population, however, is very likely
indicated by the revolt of Circei in the middle of the 4th century B.C.,
so that it is doubtful whether the walls described are to be attributed
to the Romans or the earlier Volscian inhabitants. At the end of the
republic, however, or at latest at the beginning of the imperial period,
the city of Circei was no longer at the E. end of the promontory, but on
the E. shores of the Lago di Paola (a lagoon--now a considerable
fishery--separated from the sea by a line of sandhills and connected
with it by a channel of Roman date: Strabo speaks of it as a small
harbour) one mile N. of the W. end of the promontory. Here are the
remains of a Roman town, belonging to the 1st and 2nd centuries,
extending over an area of some 600 by 500 yards, and consisting of fine
buildings along the lagoons, including a large open _piscina_ or basin,
surrounded by a double portico, while farther inland are several very
large and well-preserved water-reservoirs, supplied by an aqueduct of
which traces may still be seen. An inscription speaks of an
amphitheatre, of which no remains are visible. The transference of the
city did not, however, mean the abandonment of the E. end of the
promontory, on which stand the remains of several very large villas. An
inscription, indeed, cut in the rock near S. Felice, speaks of this part
of the _promunturium Veneris_ (the only case of the use of this name) as
belonging to the city of Circei. On the S. and N. sides of the
promontory there are comparatively few buildings, while, at the W. end
there is a sheer precipice to the sea. The town only acquired municipal
rights after the Social War, and was a place of little importance,
except as a seaside resort. For its villas Cicero compares it with
Antium, and probably both Tiberius and Domitian possessed residences
there. The beetroot and oysters of Circei had a certain reputation. The
view from the highest summit of the promontory (which is occupied by
ruins of a platform attributed with great probability to a temple of
Venus or Circe) is of remarkable beauty; the whole mountain is covered
with fragrant shrubs. From any point in the Pomptine Marshes or on the
coast-line of Latium the Circeian promontory dominates the landscape in
the most remarkable way.
See T. Ashby, "Monte Circeo," in _Melanges de l'ecole francaise de
Rome_, XXV. (1905) 157 seq. (T. As.)
CIRCLE (from the Lat. _circulus_, the diminutive of _circus_, a ring;
the cognate Gr. word is [Greek: kirkos], generally used in the form
[Greek: krikos]), a plane curve definable as the locus of a point which
moves so that its distance from a fixed point is constant.
The form of a circle is familiar to all; and we proceed to define
certain lines, points, &c., which constantly occur in studying its
geometry. The fixed point in the preceding definition is termed the
"centre" (C in fig. 1); the constant distance, e.g. CG, the "radius."
The curve itself is sometimes termed the "circumference." Any line
through the centre and terminated at both extremities by the curve, e.g.
AB, is a "diameter"; any other line similarly terminated, e.g. EF, a
"chord." Any line drawn from an external point to cut the circle in two
points, e.g. DEF, is termed a "secant"; if it touches the circle, e.g.
DG, it is a "tangent." Any portion of the circumference terminated by
two points, e.g. AD (fig. 2), is termed an "arc"; and the plane figure
enclosed by a chord and arc, e.g. ABD, is termed a "segment"; if the
chord be a diameter, the segment is termed a "semicircle." The figure
included by two radii and an arc is a "sector," e.g. ECF (fig. 2).
"Concentric circles" are, as the name obviously shows, circles having
the same centre; the figure enclosed by the circumferences of two
concentric circles is an "annulus" (fig. 3), and of two non-concentric
circles a "lune," the shaded portions in fig. 4; the clear figure is
sometimes termed a "lens."
[Illustration: FIG. 1]
[Illustration: FIG. 2]
[Illustration: FIG. 3]
[Illustration: FIG. 4]
The circle was undoubtedly known to the early civilizations, its
simplicity specially recommending it as an object for study. Euclid
defines it (Book I. def. 15) as a "plane figure enclosed by one line,
all the straight lines drawn to which from one point within the figure
are equal to one another." In the succeeding three definitions the
centre, diameter and the semicircle are defined, while the third
postulate of the same book demands the possibility of describing a
circle for every "centre" and "distance." Having employed the circle for
the construction and demonstration of several propositions in Books I.
and II. Euclid devotes his third book entirely to theorems and problems
relating to the circle, and certain lines and angles, which he defines
in introducing the propositions. The fourth book deals with the circle
in its relations to inscribed and circumscribed triangles,
quadrilaterals and regular polygons. Reference should be made to the
article GEOMETRY: _Euclidean_, for a detailed summary of the Euclidean
treatment, and the elementary properties of the circle.
_Analytical Geometry of the Circle._
Cartesian co-ordinates.
In the article GEOMETRY: _Analytical_, it is shown that the general
equation to a circle in rectangular Cartesian co-ordinates is
x^2+y^2+2gx+2fy+c=0, i.e. in the general equation of the second degree
the co-efficients of x^2 and y^2 are equal, and of xy zero. The
co-ordinates of its centre are -g/c, -f/c; and its radius is
(g^2+f^2-c)^1/2. The equations to the chord, tangent and normal are
readily derived by the ordinary methods.