Cratylus
is one of the interlocutors
in the dialogue of Plato called after his name.
in the dialogue of Plato called after his name.
Charles - 1867 - Classical Dictionary
a chain of mountains running along
the coast of I. ycia. It rises precipitously from the
sea, and, from the number of detached summits which
it offers to the spectator in that direction, it has not
unaptly been called by the Turks Ycdi Bouroun, or
the Seven Cape*. Strabo, however, assigns to it eight
summits. (Strab , 665. ) This same writer also pla-
ces in the range of Cragus the famed Chimsera, (Viii.
Chimera. ) Scylax calls Cragus, however, a promon-
tory, and makes it the separation of Lycia and Carja
? o. 39--Compare Plin. , 6, 28). --II. A town of Ly-
cia, in the vicinity of the mountain-ranges of the same
name. (Strab. , 665. ) The authority of Strabo is
confirmed by coins. ( Sestini, p. 92. -- Cramer's Asia
Minor, vol. 2, 245, seqq. )
C<<>>N. ii, a surname of the Athenians, from their
King Cranaus. ( Vid. Cranaus. )
Cbanaus, the successor of Cecrops on the throne
of Attica. He married Pedias, and the offspring of
their union was Atthis. (Consult remarks under the
article Cecrops. )
CranIi, a town of Cephallenia, situate, according
to Strabo, in the same gulf with Pale. (Strai , 456.
--Tkiuyd, 2, 34. --Lie. , 38, 28. ) The Athenians
established the Messenians here, upon the abandon-
ment of Pylos by the latter, when that fortress was re-
stored to the Lacedaemonians. (Thucyd. , 5, 35. ) Dr.
Holland says, " this city stood on an eminence at the
upper end of the bay of Argostoli; and its walls may
yet be traced nearly in their whole circumference,"
which he conceives to be nearly two miles. The
structure is that usually called Cyclopian. (Vol. 1, p.
55-DoiuxU, vol. 1, p. 75. )
Ckinos and Crannon, a city of Thessaly, on the
river Onchestus, southeast of Pharsalus. Near it was
a fountain, the water of which warmed wine when
? ? mixed with it, and the heat remained for two or three
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? CRASSUS.
CRASSUS.
signs, he exerted, on this occasion, the utmost effort of
bis genius and strength; but he returned home with a
pleuritic fever, of which he died seven days after.
This oration of Crassus, followed, as it was, by his
almost immediate death, made a deep impression on
his countrymen; who, long afterward, were wont to re-
pair to the senate-house for the purpose of viewing the
spot where he had last stood, and where he fell, as it may
be said, in defence of the privileges of his order. (Dun-
iop's Rom. Li:. , vci. 2, p. 315, seqq. )--II. Marcus,
was prater A. U. C. 648. (Cic. , dt Fin. , 5, 30. ) He
was surnamed by his friends Agelastus (' Ayi/. aaro;),
because, according to Pliny (7, 19), he never laughed
during the whole course of his life; or because, ac-
cording to Lucilius, he laughed but once. (Cic, dc
Fin. , 6, 30. )--IH. Marcus Licinius, surnamed the
Rich, grandson of the preceding, 'and the most opu-
lent Roman of his day, was of a patrician family, and
the son of a man of consular rank. His father and
brother perished by the proscriptions of Marius and
Cicma while he was still quite young, and, to avoid a
similar fate, he took refuge in Spain until the death of
Cinna, when he returned to Italy and served under
Sylla. Crassus proved very serviceable to this com-
mander in the decisive battle that was fought near
Rome; but afterward, making the most unjust and ra-
pacious use of Sylla's proscriptions, that leader, ac-
cording to Plutarch, gave him up, and never employed
him again in any public affair. The glory which was
then beginning to attend upon Pompey, thot'gh still
young and only a simple member of the equestrian
order, excited the jealousy of Crassus, and, despairing
of rising to an equality with him in warlike operations,
he betook himself to public affairs at home, and, by
paying court to the people, defending the impeached,
lending money, and aiding those who were candidates
fir office, he attained to an . nfluence almost equal
to that which Pompey naa acquired by his military
ichicvements. It was it the bar, in particular, that
Crarius rendered himself extremely popular. He
was not, it would seem, a very eloquent speaker, yet
ay care and application he eventually exceeded those
whom nature had more highly favoured. When Pom-
pey, and Caesar, and Cicero declined speaking in be-
half of any individual, he often arose, and advocated
the cause of the accused. Besides this promptness to
aid the unfortunate, his courteous and conciliating de-
portment acquired for him many friends, and made him
very popular with the lower orders. There was not a
Roman, however humble, whom he did not salute, or
whose salutation he did not return by name. The
great defect, however, in the character of Crassus,
was his inordinate fondness for wealth; and, although
he could not strictly be called an avaricious man, since
he is said to have lent money to his friends without
demanding interest, yet he allowed the love of riches
to exercise a paramount sway over his actions, and it
proved at last the cause of his unhappy end. Plutarch
informs us, that his estate at first did not exceed three
hundred talents, but that afterward it amounted to the
enormous sum of seven thousand or. c hundred talents
(nearly 87,500,000). The means by which he at-
tained to this are enumerated by the same writer, and
ionic of them are singular enough. Observing, says
Plutarch, how liable the city was to fires, he made it
his business to buy houses that were on fire and others
that joined upon tnem; and he commonly got them at
? ? a low price, on account of the fear and distress of the
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? CRA
C RA
*mp! e of ITiciapoiis. In toe spring the Roman com-
under took the field, on the frontiers of Syria, with
icven legions, four thousand horse, and an equal num-
oer of light or irregular troops. With this force he
again passed the Euphrates, when he was joined by
an Arabian chief, whom Plutarch calls Ariamncs, but
who is elsewhere named Acbarus or Abgarus; and in
this barbarian, owing to his knowledge of the coun-
try, and his warm and frequent expressions of attach-
ment to the Romans, Crassus unfortunately placed the
almost confidence. The result may easily be fore-
seen. Crassus intended to have followed the course
of the Euphrates till he should reach the point whete
it approaches nearest to Seleucia and Ctesiphon, the
capital of the Parthian empire; but, being dissua-
ded from this by bis crafty guide, and directing his
march across the plains, he was led at last into a sandy
desert, where his army was attacked by the Parthian
forces under Sun na An unequal conflict ensued.
The son of Crassus, sent with a detachment of Gallic
horse to repel the Parthian cavalry, lost his life after
the most heroic exertions; and his loss was first made
known to his father by the barbarians carrying his head
on a spear. Crassus himself, not long after, being
compelled by his own troops to meet Surena in a con-
ference, was treacherously slain by the barbarians, and
bis head and right hand sent to the Parthian king,
Orodes. The whole loss of the Romans in this dis-
astrous campaign was 20,000 killed and 10,000 taken
prisoners. (I'Tut. , Vit. Crass. --Dio Cast. , 40, 13,
staq. --Appian, Bell. Parth. )
t. 'mTEK. or Sinus Crater, the ancient name of the
Gulf of Naples, given to it from its resembling the
mouth of a large bowl or mixer (kootiJo. ) It is about
twelve miles in diameter.
Ckaterus, one of Alexander's generals, distinguish-
ed for both literary and warlike acquirements. He
was held in high esteem by Alexander, whose confi-
dence he obtained by the frankness of his character;
and the monarch used to say, "Hephses'ion loves
Alexander, but Craterus the king. " After the death
of Alexander, he was associated with Antipater, in the
care of the hereditary states. He afterward crossed
uver into Asia along with Antipater, in order to con-
tend against Eumencs, but was defeated by the latter,
>>nd lost bis life in the bade. (Sep. , Vit. Eum. , 2. --
. In si in. 13, 6, &C. )
Crates, I. a philosopher of Bceotia, son of Ascon-
dus, and disciple of Diogenos the Cynic, B. C. 324.
He is considered as the most distinguished philosopher
at the Cynic sect, after Diogenes. In his natural tem-
per, however, he differed from his master, and, instead
o( being morose and gloomy, was cheerful and face-
tious. Hence he obtained access to many families of
the most wealthy Athenians, and became so highly es-
teemed, that he frequently acted as an arbiter of dis-
putes and quarrels among relations. He was hon-
ourably descended, and inherited large estates; but
when he turned his attention to philosophy, he sold
:rjem, and distributed the money among the poorer
. - ? tizens. He adopted all the singularities of the Cynic
sect. His wife Hipparchia, who was rich and of a
good family, and had many suiters, preferred Crates to
every other, and, when her parents opposed her incli-
nations, so determined was her passion that she
threatened to put an end lo her life. Crates, at the
request of her parents, represented to Hipparchia
? ? every circumstance in his condition and manner of
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? cut
C RE
dramatist had a complete triumph. (Argum. Nub. )
He was first; while hia humbled antagonist was van-
quished also t* Ameipsias with the KoVvoc, though the
play of Aristophanes was his favourite Ne^CTuii. Not-
withslanding his notorious intemperance, Cratinus lived
to an extreme old age, dying B. C. 422, in his nincty-
reventh year. (Lucian, Macrob. , 25. ) Aristophanes
alludes to the excesses of Cratinus in a passage of the
Equites (v. 626, nqq-)- In the Pax (v. 700, seqq. ),
he hum>rously ascribes the jcvial old poet's death to
a shoc'i: on seeing a cask of wine staved and lost.
Cratinus himself made no scruple of acknowledging
nis failinc: ("Ort 6i QiXowoc 6 Kparlvoc icai avroc
cv rp llvrivy Aeytt erae>uc. --Schol. in Pae. , 703).
Horace, also, opens one of his epistles (1, 19) with a
inaxmi of the comedian's, in due accordance with his
practice. The titles of thirty-eight of the comedies
of Cratinus have been collected by Meursius, Kcenig,
<<fcc. His style was bold and animated (Persius, 1,
123), and, like his younger brethren, Eupolis and Aris-
tophanes, he fearlessly and unsparingly directed hia
satire against the iniquitous public officer and the
profligate of private life. (Herat. , Sat. , 1, 4, I,seqq. )
Nor yet arc we to suppose, that the comedies of Cra-
tinus and his contemporaries contained nothing beyond
broad jest or coarse invective and lampoon. They
were, on the contrary, marked by elegance of cxpres-
sien and purity of language; elevated sometimes into
philosophical dignity by the sentiments which they
declared, and graced with many a passage of beautiful
idea and high poetry: so that Quintilian deems the
Old Comedy, after Homer, the most fitting and bene-
ficial object of a young pleader's study. {Quint. ,
10, 1. --Theatre of the Greeks. 2d ed. , p. 166, seqq. )
Cratippus, a peripatetic philosopher of Mytilene,
who. among others, taught Cicero's son at Athens.
He first became acquainted with Cicero at Ephesus,
whither he had gone for the purpose of paying his re-
spects to him. Afterward, being aided by the orator,
he obtained from Caesar the rights of Roman citizen-
ship. On coming to Athens, he wes requested by the
Areopagus to settle there, and become an instmcter of
youth in the tenets of philosophy, a request with which
he complied. He wrote on divination and on the in-
terpretation of dreams. {Cie. , Off. , 1,1. --Id. ,de Vie. ,
I, 3. -- Id. , Ep. ad Fam. , 12, 16. )
CitiTvi. us, a Greek philosopher, and disciple of
Heraclitus. According to Aristotle (Melaph. , 1, 6),
Plato attended his lectures in his youth. Diogenes
I. oertius, however (3: 8), says that this was after the
death of Socrates.
Cratylus is one of the interlocutors
in the dialogue of Plato called after his name. (Com-
pare SMcicrmachcr's Introduction to the Cratylus,
Dobson's transl. , p. 245. )
Cii. u'AM. in. 'E, a nation who occupied at one period
a part of the Cirrhasan plain. They are described by Ma-
chines (in Ctes. , p. 405) as very impious, and as hav-
ing plundered some of the offerings of Delphi. They
were exterminated by the Amphictyons. The name
is erroneously given by some aa Acragallidte, and they
are thought by Wolf, who adopts this lection, to have
oeen a remnant of the army of Brennus. (Consult
Taylor, ad Aisch. , I. c. )
Oremkra. a small river of Tuscany, running between
V'eii and Rome, and celebrated for the daring but unfor-
tunate enterprise of the gallant Fahii. (Om'rf, Fast. , 2,
193, seqq. ) Tho Cremera is now called la Valca, a
? ? rivulet which rises in the neighbourhood of Baccano,
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? CUE
(Efiiilu,'1 MI epic poem commemorative of the ex-
i lulls of Hercules. According to an ancient tradition,
Uoracr himself was the author of this piece, and gave
? t to Creophylus as a return for the hospitable recep-
inn which he had received under his roof. (Strata,
638. ) In an epigram of Callimachus, however, Cre-
yfta\*u is named as the real author. (Strab. , I. c. )
It vns among the descendants of Creophylus that Ly
jurpis found, according to Plutarch (Vit. Lycurg. , 4),
lie Iliad and Odyssey. (Seholl, Hist. Lit. Gr. , vol.
I, p. 166. )
CRMMIONTES, a son of Aristomachus, who, with
his brothers Tcuienos and Aristodemus, conquered the
Peloponnesus. This was the famous conquest achiev-
ed by the Heraclidaj. (Vid. Aristodemus and Hcracli-
d<<. )
CKKSTUXE, I. or Creston, a city of Thrace, the cap-
ital probably of toe district of Crestonia. Dionysius
of Htlicarnassus, and most of the commentators and
tnnslaiors of Herodotus, confound this city with Gor-
ton* in Umbria. (Compare Muller, Etrvsker, vol. 1,
p. 95. --Larcker, Hist, d'fferodote. --Table Gcogr. ,
lol. 8, p. 149. ) Herodotus speaks of Crestone as sit-
uate beyond the Tyrrhenians, and inhabited by Pelas-
gi (1, 67), speaking a different language from their
neighbours. Rennet thinks that the reading Tyrrhe-
nian! it a mistake, and that Therma-mis should be
substituted for it, as Thcrma, afterward Thessalonica,
agrees with the situation mentioned by the historian.
(Geography of Herodot. , p. 45. ) If, however, the text
be correct as it stands, it shows that there was once
a nation called Tyrrhenians in Thrace. This is also
confirmed by Thucydides (4, 109. -- Compare the
elaborate note of Larcher, ad Htrodot. , I. c. )--II. A
district of Thrace, to the north of Anthcrmus and
Bolbe, chiefly occupied by a remnant of Pelasgi.
(Herodot. , 1, 57. ) We are informed by Herodotus,
. tit the river Ethedorns took its rise in this territory;
and also that the camels of the Persian army were here
attacked by lions, which are only to be found in Eu-
rope, as he remarks, between the Nestns, a river of
Thnee, and the Achclous (7, 124, and 187). Thu-
cydides also mentions the Crestonians as a peculiar
nee, part of whom had fixed themselves near Mount
Athos (4, 109). The district of Crestone is now
known by the name of Caradagh. (Cramer's Anc.
Greta, vol. 1, p. 240. )
CHITA, one of the largest islands of the Mediterra-
nean Sea, at the couth of all the Cyclades. Its name
ii derived by some from the Curetes, who are said to
have been its first inhabitants; by others, from the
nymph Crete, daughter of Hesperus; and by others,
from Ores, a son of Jupiter, and the nymph hta:a
(Step\. Byt. , i. v. KptJT1-) I' '* a'80 designated
among the poets and mythological writers by the sev-
eral appellations of JEiia, Doliche, Idxa, and Telchin-
ia- (Piimj, 4, 12. --Steph. Byz. , s. v. '\tpia. ) Ac-
cording to Herodotus, this great island remained in
the possession of various barbarous nations till the time
of Minos, son of Europa, who, having expelled his
brother Sarpedon, became the sole sovereign of the
country (1, 173. --Compare Hoeck, Kreta, vol. 1, p.
141). These early inhabitants are generally supposed
to be the Elcocretes < Homer, who clearly distin-
guishes them from the Urecian colonists subsequently
willed there. (CM. , 19, 172. ) Strabo observes that
the Eteocretes were considered as indigenous; and
|JJ>>. that Staphylus, an ancient writer on the subject
? ? if Crete, placed them in the southern side of the isl-
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? CRETA.
CRI
In me time of Polybius the Cretans had much degener-
ated Irom their ancient character, for he charges them
lepeatedly with the grossest immorality and the moat
Itateful vices. (Polyb. , i, 47. --Jtf. ibid. , 53. --id. , 6,
46. ) We know also with what severity they are re-
proved by St. Paul, in the words of one of their own
poets, Epimenides (Ep. Tit. , 1, 12), KpT/rec an Reve-
re, koxu \yqpia, yaoripec apyai. --The Romans did
nj: interfere with the affairs of Crete before the war
with Antiochus, when Q. Faluns Labeo crossed over
. nto the island from- Asia Minor, under pretence of
claiming certain Roman captives who were detained
there. (Lin. , 37, (50. ) Several years after, the island
was invaded by a Roman army commanded by M. An-
tonius, under the pretence that the Cretans had se-
cretly favoured the cause of Milhradates; but Florus
more candidly avows, that the deaire of conquest was
the real motive which led to this attack (3, 7. --Com-
pare Lit. , Epit. , 97). The enterprise, however, having
tailed, the subjugation of the island was not, effect-
ed till some years later, by Metellus, who, from his
success, obtained the agnomen of Creticus. (Lie,
Epit. , 99. --Appmn, Excerpt, de Rtb. Cret. --Ftor. , 3,
7. ) It then became annexed to the Roman empire,
and formed, together with Cyrenaica, one of its nu-
merous provinces, being governed by the same pro-
consul. (Oio Cassias, 53, 12. --- Strabo, 1198. ) --
Crete forms an irregular parallelogram, of which the
western side faces Sicily, while the eastern looks to-
wards Egypt; on the north it is washed by the Mare
Creticum, and on the south by the Libyan Sea, which
intervenes between the island and the opposite coast
of Cvrenc. The whole circumference of Crete was
estimated at 4100 stadia by Artemidorus; but Sosi-
crates, who wrote a very accurate description of it, did
not compute the periphery at less than 5000 stadia,
tlieronymus also, in reckoning the length alone at 2000
stadia, must have exceeded the number given by Ar-
temidorus. (Slrabo, 474. ) According to Pliny, the
extent of Crete from east to west is about 270 miles,
and it is nearly 539 in circuit. In breadth it nowhere
exceeds 50 miles. Strabo observes, that the interior
is very mountainous and woody, and intersected with
fertile valleys. Mount Ida, which surpasses all the
ether summits in elevation, rises in the centre of the
island; its base occupies a circumference of nearly
600 stadia. To the west it is connected with another
chain, called the white mountains (Ktvua opt/), and to
the east its prolongation forms the ridge anciently
known by the name of Dicte. {Slrabo, 475, 478. )
The island contains no lakes, and the rivers are mostly
mountain-torrents, which are dry during the summer
season. --It has been remarked by several ancient wri-
? ,ers, that Homer in one passage ascribes to Crete 100
cities II. , 2, 649), and in another only 90 ((hi, 19,
174), a variation which has been accounted for on the
supposition, that ten of the Cretan cities were found-
? d posterior to the siege of Troy; but, notwithatand-
. ng this explanation, which Strabo adopts from Epho-
rus, it seems rather improbable, that the poet should
have paid less attention to historical accuracy in the
Iliad than in the Odyssey, where it was not so much
required. The difficulty may be solved by assum-
ing, what has every appearance of being true, that
the Odyssey was not the composition of Homer, but
the work of a later age. Others affirmed, that during
the siege of Troy the ten deficient cities had been
? ? destroyed by the enemies of Idomeneus. {Slrabo,
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? OR
Byi. , *. v. --Lycopkr , 911. )--III. Tne god of the rive:
Crimisus in Sicily. ---He. became, by a Trojan female,
the father of Act-sic* or iEgestea. (Kid. ^Egestes,
and compare Sere. , ad Virg. , Mn. , 1, 650. )
Crisfinus, I. a native of Alexandres in Egypt, of
mtan, if not servile, origin. According to the scholi-
ast on Juvenal (1, 26), he was at first a paper-vender
(jraproiruXfc), bat became afterward a great favourite
with Domitian, and was raised to equestrian rank.
He was a man of infamous morals. (Schol. , in cod.
Sckurz. , ad Jin. , I. c. --SchoU, Ob*. , 5, 36. )--II. A
ridiculous philosopher and poet in the time of Horace,
and noted for garrulity. According to the scholiast
[ad Horn. , Scrm. , 1, 1, 120), he wrote some verses
on the Stoic philosophy, and, on account of hia ver-
boseness and loquacity, received the appellation of
aprroAoyoc. (Compare Daring, ad Horat. , I. c.
the coast of I. ycia. It rises precipitously from the
sea, and, from the number of detached summits which
it offers to the spectator in that direction, it has not
unaptly been called by the Turks Ycdi Bouroun, or
the Seven Cape*. Strabo, however, assigns to it eight
summits. (Strab , 665. ) This same writer also pla-
ces in the range of Cragus the famed Chimsera, (Viii.
Chimera. ) Scylax calls Cragus, however, a promon-
tory, and makes it the separation of Lycia and Carja
? o. 39--Compare Plin. , 6, 28). --II. A town of Ly-
cia, in the vicinity of the mountain-ranges of the same
name. (Strab. , 665. ) The authority of Strabo is
confirmed by coins. ( Sestini, p. 92. -- Cramer's Asia
Minor, vol. 2, 245, seqq. )
C<<>>N. ii, a surname of the Athenians, from their
King Cranaus. ( Vid. Cranaus. )
Cbanaus, the successor of Cecrops on the throne
of Attica. He married Pedias, and the offspring of
their union was Atthis. (Consult remarks under the
article Cecrops. )
CranIi, a town of Cephallenia, situate, according
to Strabo, in the same gulf with Pale. (Strai , 456.
--Tkiuyd, 2, 34. --Lie. , 38, 28. ) The Athenians
established the Messenians here, upon the abandon-
ment of Pylos by the latter, when that fortress was re-
stored to the Lacedaemonians. (Thucyd. , 5, 35. ) Dr.
Holland says, " this city stood on an eminence at the
upper end of the bay of Argostoli; and its walls may
yet be traced nearly in their whole circumference,"
which he conceives to be nearly two miles. The
structure is that usually called Cyclopian. (Vol. 1, p.
55-DoiuxU, vol. 1, p. 75. )
Ckinos and Crannon, a city of Thessaly, on the
river Onchestus, southeast of Pharsalus. Near it was
a fountain, the water of which warmed wine when
? ? mixed with it, and the heat remained for two or three
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? CRASSUS.
CRASSUS.
signs, he exerted, on this occasion, the utmost effort of
bis genius and strength; but he returned home with a
pleuritic fever, of which he died seven days after.
This oration of Crassus, followed, as it was, by his
almost immediate death, made a deep impression on
his countrymen; who, long afterward, were wont to re-
pair to the senate-house for the purpose of viewing the
spot where he had last stood, and where he fell, as it may
be said, in defence of the privileges of his order. (Dun-
iop's Rom. Li:. , vci. 2, p. 315, seqq. )--II. Marcus,
was prater A. U. C. 648. (Cic. , dt Fin. , 5, 30. ) He
was surnamed by his friends Agelastus (' Ayi/. aaro;),
because, according to Pliny (7, 19), he never laughed
during the whole course of his life; or because, ac-
cording to Lucilius, he laughed but once. (Cic, dc
Fin. , 6, 30. )--IH. Marcus Licinius, surnamed the
Rich, grandson of the preceding, 'and the most opu-
lent Roman of his day, was of a patrician family, and
the son of a man of consular rank. His father and
brother perished by the proscriptions of Marius and
Cicma while he was still quite young, and, to avoid a
similar fate, he took refuge in Spain until the death of
Cinna, when he returned to Italy and served under
Sylla. Crassus proved very serviceable to this com-
mander in the decisive battle that was fought near
Rome; but afterward, making the most unjust and ra-
pacious use of Sylla's proscriptions, that leader, ac-
cording to Plutarch, gave him up, and never employed
him again in any public affair. The glory which was
then beginning to attend upon Pompey, thot'gh still
young and only a simple member of the equestrian
order, excited the jealousy of Crassus, and, despairing
of rising to an equality with him in warlike operations,
he betook himself to public affairs at home, and, by
paying court to the people, defending the impeached,
lending money, and aiding those who were candidates
fir office, he attained to an . nfluence almost equal
to that which Pompey naa acquired by his military
ichicvements. It was it the bar, in particular, that
Crarius rendered himself extremely popular. He
was not, it would seem, a very eloquent speaker, yet
ay care and application he eventually exceeded those
whom nature had more highly favoured. When Pom-
pey, and Caesar, and Cicero declined speaking in be-
half of any individual, he often arose, and advocated
the cause of the accused. Besides this promptness to
aid the unfortunate, his courteous and conciliating de-
portment acquired for him many friends, and made him
very popular with the lower orders. There was not a
Roman, however humble, whom he did not salute, or
whose salutation he did not return by name. The
great defect, however, in the character of Crassus,
was his inordinate fondness for wealth; and, although
he could not strictly be called an avaricious man, since
he is said to have lent money to his friends without
demanding interest, yet he allowed the love of riches
to exercise a paramount sway over his actions, and it
proved at last the cause of his unhappy end. Plutarch
informs us, that his estate at first did not exceed three
hundred talents, but that afterward it amounted to the
enormous sum of seven thousand or. c hundred talents
(nearly 87,500,000). The means by which he at-
tained to this are enumerated by the same writer, and
ionic of them are singular enough. Observing, says
Plutarch, how liable the city was to fires, he made it
his business to buy houses that were on fire and others
that joined upon tnem; and he commonly got them at
? ? a low price, on account of the fear and distress of the
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? CRA
C RA
*mp! e of ITiciapoiis. In toe spring the Roman com-
under took the field, on the frontiers of Syria, with
icven legions, four thousand horse, and an equal num-
oer of light or irregular troops. With this force he
again passed the Euphrates, when he was joined by
an Arabian chief, whom Plutarch calls Ariamncs, but
who is elsewhere named Acbarus or Abgarus; and in
this barbarian, owing to his knowledge of the coun-
try, and his warm and frequent expressions of attach-
ment to the Romans, Crassus unfortunately placed the
almost confidence. The result may easily be fore-
seen. Crassus intended to have followed the course
of the Euphrates till he should reach the point whete
it approaches nearest to Seleucia and Ctesiphon, the
capital of the Parthian empire; but, being dissua-
ded from this by bis crafty guide, and directing his
march across the plains, he was led at last into a sandy
desert, where his army was attacked by the Parthian
forces under Sun na An unequal conflict ensued.
The son of Crassus, sent with a detachment of Gallic
horse to repel the Parthian cavalry, lost his life after
the most heroic exertions; and his loss was first made
known to his father by the barbarians carrying his head
on a spear. Crassus himself, not long after, being
compelled by his own troops to meet Surena in a con-
ference, was treacherously slain by the barbarians, and
bis head and right hand sent to the Parthian king,
Orodes. The whole loss of the Romans in this dis-
astrous campaign was 20,000 killed and 10,000 taken
prisoners. (I'Tut. , Vit. Crass. --Dio Cast. , 40, 13,
staq. --Appian, Bell. Parth. )
t. 'mTEK. or Sinus Crater, the ancient name of the
Gulf of Naples, given to it from its resembling the
mouth of a large bowl or mixer (kootiJo. ) It is about
twelve miles in diameter.
Ckaterus, one of Alexander's generals, distinguish-
ed for both literary and warlike acquirements. He
was held in high esteem by Alexander, whose confi-
dence he obtained by the frankness of his character;
and the monarch used to say, "Hephses'ion loves
Alexander, but Craterus the king. " After the death
of Alexander, he was associated with Antipater, in the
care of the hereditary states. He afterward crossed
uver into Asia along with Antipater, in order to con-
tend against Eumencs, but was defeated by the latter,
>>nd lost bis life in the bade. (Sep. , Vit. Eum. , 2. --
. In si in. 13, 6, &C. )
Crates, I. a philosopher of Bceotia, son of Ascon-
dus, and disciple of Diogenos the Cynic, B. C. 324.
He is considered as the most distinguished philosopher
at the Cynic sect, after Diogenes. In his natural tem-
per, however, he differed from his master, and, instead
o( being morose and gloomy, was cheerful and face-
tious. Hence he obtained access to many families of
the most wealthy Athenians, and became so highly es-
teemed, that he frequently acted as an arbiter of dis-
putes and quarrels among relations. He was hon-
ourably descended, and inherited large estates; but
when he turned his attention to philosophy, he sold
:rjem, and distributed the money among the poorer
. - ? tizens. He adopted all the singularities of the Cynic
sect. His wife Hipparchia, who was rich and of a
good family, and had many suiters, preferred Crates to
every other, and, when her parents opposed her incli-
nations, so determined was her passion that she
threatened to put an end lo her life. Crates, at the
request of her parents, represented to Hipparchia
? ? every circumstance in his condition and manner of
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? cut
C RE
dramatist had a complete triumph. (Argum. Nub. )
He was first; while hia humbled antagonist was van-
quished also t* Ameipsias with the KoVvoc, though the
play of Aristophanes was his favourite Ne^CTuii. Not-
withslanding his notorious intemperance, Cratinus lived
to an extreme old age, dying B. C. 422, in his nincty-
reventh year. (Lucian, Macrob. , 25. ) Aristophanes
alludes to the excesses of Cratinus in a passage of the
Equites (v. 626, nqq-)- In the Pax (v. 700, seqq. ),
he hum>rously ascribes the jcvial old poet's death to
a shoc'i: on seeing a cask of wine staved and lost.
Cratinus himself made no scruple of acknowledging
nis failinc: ("Ort 6i QiXowoc 6 Kparlvoc icai avroc
cv rp llvrivy Aeytt erae>uc. --Schol. in Pae. , 703).
Horace, also, opens one of his epistles (1, 19) with a
inaxmi of the comedian's, in due accordance with his
practice. The titles of thirty-eight of the comedies
of Cratinus have been collected by Meursius, Kcenig,
<<fcc. His style was bold and animated (Persius, 1,
123), and, like his younger brethren, Eupolis and Aris-
tophanes, he fearlessly and unsparingly directed hia
satire against the iniquitous public officer and the
profligate of private life. (Herat. , Sat. , 1, 4, I,seqq. )
Nor yet arc we to suppose, that the comedies of Cra-
tinus and his contemporaries contained nothing beyond
broad jest or coarse invective and lampoon. They
were, on the contrary, marked by elegance of cxpres-
sien and purity of language; elevated sometimes into
philosophical dignity by the sentiments which they
declared, and graced with many a passage of beautiful
idea and high poetry: so that Quintilian deems the
Old Comedy, after Homer, the most fitting and bene-
ficial object of a young pleader's study. {Quint. ,
10, 1. --Theatre of the Greeks. 2d ed. , p. 166, seqq. )
Cratippus, a peripatetic philosopher of Mytilene,
who. among others, taught Cicero's son at Athens.
He first became acquainted with Cicero at Ephesus,
whither he had gone for the purpose of paying his re-
spects to him. Afterward, being aided by the orator,
he obtained from Caesar the rights of Roman citizen-
ship. On coming to Athens, he wes requested by the
Areopagus to settle there, and become an instmcter of
youth in the tenets of philosophy, a request with which
he complied. He wrote on divination and on the in-
terpretation of dreams. {Cie. , Off. , 1,1. --Id. ,de Vie. ,
I, 3. -- Id. , Ep. ad Fam. , 12, 16. )
CitiTvi. us, a Greek philosopher, and disciple of
Heraclitus. According to Aristotle (Melaph. , 1, 6),
Plato attended his lectures in his youth. Diogenes
I. oertius, however (3: 8), says that this was after the
death of Socrates.
Cratylus is one of the interlocutors
in the dialogue of Plato called after his name. (Com-
pare SMcicrmachcr's Introduction to the Cratylus,
Dobson's transl. , p. 245. )
Cii. u'AM. in. 'E, a nation who occupied at one period
a part of the Cirrhasan plain. They are described by Ma-
chines (in Ctes. , p. 405) as very impious, and as hav-
ing plundered some of the offerings of Delphi. They
were exterminated by the Amphictyons. The name
is erroneously given by some aa Acragallidte, and they
are thought by Wolf, who adopts this lection, to have
oeen a remnant of the army of Brennus. (Consult
Taylor, ad Aisch. , I. c. )
Oremkra. a small river of Tuscany, running between
V'eii and Rome, and celebrated for the daring but unfor-
tunate enterprise of the gallant Fahii. (Om'rf, Fast. , 2,
193, seqq. ) Tho Cremera is now called la Valca, a
? ? rivulet which rises in the neighbourhood of Baccano,
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? CUE
(Efiiilu,'1 MI epic poem commemorative of the ex-
i lulls of Hercules. According to an ancient tradition,
Uoracr himself was the author of this piece, and gave
? t to Creophylus as a return for the hospitable recep-
inn which he had received under his roof. (Strata,
638. ) In an epigram of Callimachus, however, Cre-
yfta\*u is named as the real author. (Strab. , I. c. )
It vns among the descendants of Creophylus that Ly
jurpis found, according to Plutarch (Vit. Lycurg. , 4),
lie Iliad and Odyssey. (Seholl, Hist. Lit. Gr. , vol.
I, p. 166. )
CRMMIONTES, a son of Aristomachus, who, with
his brothers Tcuienos and Aristodemus, conquered the
Peloponnesus. This was the famous conquest achiev-
ed by the Heraclidaj. (Vid. Aristodemus and Hcracli-
d<<. )
CKKSTUXE, I. or Creston, a city of Thrace, the cap-
ital probably of toe district of Crestonia. Dionysius
of Htlicarnassus, and most of the commentators and
tnnslaiors of Herodotus, confound this city with Gor-
ton* in Umbria. (Compare Muller, Etrvsker, vol. 1,
p. 95. --Larcker, Hist, d'fferodote. --Table Gcogr. ,
lol. 8, p. 149. ) Herodotus speaks of Crestone as sit-
uate beyond the Tyrrhenians, and inhabited by Pelas-
gi (1, 67), speaking a different language from their
neighbours. Rennet thinks that the reading Tyrrhe-
nian! it a mistake, and that Therma-mis should be
substituted for it, as Thcrma, afterward Thessalonica,
agrees with the situation mentioned by the historian.
(Geography of Herodot. , p. 45. ) If, however, the text
be correct as it stands, it shows that there was once
a nation called Tyrrhenians in Thrace. This is also
confirmed by Thucydides (4, 109. -- Compare the
elaborate note of Larcher, ad Htrodot. , I. c. )--II. A
district of Thrace, to the north of Anthcrmus and
Bolbe, chiefly occupied by a remnant of Pelasgi.
(Herodot. , 1, 57. ) We are informed by Herodotus,
. tit the river Ethedorns took its rise in this territory;
and also that the camels of the Persian army were here
attacked by lions, which are only to be found in Eu-
rope, as he remarks, between the Nestns, a river of
Thnee, and the Achclous (7, 124, and 187). Thu-
cydides also mentions the Crestonians as a peculiar
nee, part of whom had fixed themselves near Mount
Athos (4, 109). The district of Crestone is now
known by the name of Caradagh. (Cramer's Anc.
Greta, vol. 1, p. 240. )
CHITA, one of the largest islands of the Mediterra-
nean Sea, at the couth of all the Cyclades. Its name
ii derived by some from the Curetes, who are said to
have been its first inhabitants; by others, from the
nymph Crete, daughter of Hesperus; and by others,
from Ores, a son of Jupiter, and the nymph hta:a
(Step\. Byt. , i. v. KptJT1-) I' '* a'80 designated
among the poets and mythological writers by the sev-
eral appellations of JEiia, Doliche, Idxa, and Telchin-
ia- (Piimj, 4, 12. --Steph. Byz. , s. v. '\tpia. ) Ac-
cording to Herodotus, this great island remained in
the possession of various barbarous nations till the time
of Minos, son of Europa, who, having expelled his
brother Sarpedon, became the sole sovereign of the
country (1, 173. --Compare Hoeck, Kreta, vol. 1, p.
141). These early inhabitants are generally supposed
to be the Elcocretes < Homer, who clearly distin-
guishes them from the Urecian colonists subsequently
willed there. (CM. , 19, 172. ) Strabo observes that
the Eteocretes were considered as indigenous; and
|JJ>>. that Staphylus, an ancient writer on the subject
? ? if Crete, placed them in the southern side of the isl-
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? CRETA.
CRI
In me time of Polybius the Cretans had much degener-
ated Irom their ancient character, for he charges them
lepeatedly with the grossest immorality and the moat
Itateful vices. (Polyb. , i, 47. --Jtf. ibid. , 53. --id. , 6,
46. ) We know also with what severity they are re-
proved by St. Paul, in the words of one of their own
poets, Epimenides (Ep. Tit. , 1, 12), KpT/rec an Reve-
re, koxu \yqpia, yaoripec apyai. --The Romans did
nj: interfere with the affairs of Crete before the war
with Antiochus, when Q. Faluns Labeo crossed over
. nto the island from- Asia Minor, under pretence of
claiming certain Roman captives who were detained
there. (Lin. , 37, (50. ) Several years after, the island
was invaded by a Roman army commanded by M. An-
tonius, under the pretence that the Cretans had se-
cretly favoured the cause of Milhradates; but Florus
more candidly avows, that the deaire of conquest was
the real motive which led to this attack (3, 7. --Com-
pare Lit. , Epit. , 97). The enterprise, however, having
tailed, the subjugation of the island was not, effect-
ed till some years later, by Metellus, who, from his
success, obtained the agnomen of Creticus. (Lie,
Epit. , 99. --Appmn, Excerpt, de Rtb. Cret. --Ftor. , 3,
7. ) It then became annexed to the Roman empire,
and formed, together with Cyrenaica, one of its nu-
merous provinces, being governed by the same pro-
consul. (Oio Cassias, 53, 12. --- Strabo, 1198. ) --
Crete forms an irregular parallelogram, of which the
western side faces Sicily, while the eastern looks to-
wards Egypt; on the north it is washed by the Mare
Creticum, and on the south by the Libyan Sea, which
intervenes between the island and the opposite coast
of Cvrenc. The whole circumference of Crete was
estimated at 4100 stadia by Artemidorus; but Sosi-
crates, who wrote a very accurate description of it, did
not compute the periphery at less than 5000 stadia,
tlieronymus also, in reckoning the length alone at 2000
stadia, must have exceeded the number given by Ar-
temidorus. (Slrabo, 474. ) According to Pliny, the
extent of Crete from east to west is about 270 miles,
and it is nearly 539 in circuit. In breadth it nowhere
exceeds 50 miles. Strabo observes, that the interior
is very mountainous and woody, and intersected with
fertile valleys. Mount Ida, which surpasses all the
ether summits in elevation, rises in the centre of the
island; its base occupies a circumference of nearly
600 stadia. To the west it is connected with another
chain, called the white mountains (Ktvua opt/), and to
the east its prolongation forms the ridge anciently
known by the name of Dicte. {Slrabo, 475, 478. )
The island contains no lakes, and the rivers are mostly
mountain-torrents, which are dry during the summer
season. --It has been remarked by several ancient wri-
? ,ers, that Homer in one passage ascribes to Crete 100
cities II. , 2, 649), and in another only 90 ((hi, 19,
174), a variation which has been accounted for on the
supposition, that ten of the Cretan cities were found-
? d posterior to the siege of Troy; but, notwithatand-
. ng this explanation, which Strabo adopts from Epho-
rus, it seems rather improbable, that the poet should
have paid less attention to historical accuracy in the
Iliad than in the Odyssey, where it was not so much
required. The difficulty may be solved by assum-
ing, what has every appearance of being true, that
the Odyssey was not the composition of Homer, but
the work of a later age. Others affirmed, that during
the siege of Troy the ten deficient cities had been
? ? destroyed by the enemies of Idomeneus. {Slrabo,
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? OR
Byi. , *. v. --Lycopkr , 911. )--III. Tne god of the rive:
Crimisus in Sicily. ---He. became, by a Trojan female,
the father of Act-sic* or iEgestea. (Kid. ^Egestes,
and compare Sere. , ad Virg. , Mn. , 1, 650. )
Crisfinus, I. a native of Alexandres in Egypt, of
mtan, if not servile, origin. According to the scholi-
ast on Juvenal (1, 26), he was at first a paper-vender
(jraproiruXfc), bat became afterward a great favourite
with Domitian, and was raised to equestrian rank.
He was a man of infamous morals. (Schol. , in cod.
Sckurz. , ad Jin. , I. c. --SchoU, Ob*. , 5, 36. )--II. A
ridiculous philosopher and poet in the time of Horace,
and noted for garrulity. According to the scholiast
[ad Horn. , Scrm. , 1, 1, 120), he wrote some verses
on the Stoic philosophy, and, on account of hia ver-
boseness and loquacity, received the appellation of
aprroAoyoc. (Compare Daring, ad Horat. , I. c.
