Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/822

Rh 804 CLIMACUS. ■with Matricetas of Methymna and Phaeinus of Athens, and says that Meton was taught by Pha- einus. If, therefore, Callistratus was contemporary with the latter, which however is not clear, he must have lived before 01. 87. Pliny (//. N. ii. 8) says, that Anaximander discovered the obliquity of the ecliptic in 01. 58, and that Cleostratus after- Avards introduced the division of the Zodiac into signs, beginning with Aries and Sagittarius. It seems, therefore, that he lived some time between B. c. 548 and 432. Hyginus {Poet. Astr. ii. 13) says, that Cleostratus first pointed out the two stars in Auriga called Haedi. ( Virg. Aen. ix. 668.) On the Octaeteris, see Geminus, Elem. Astr. c. 6. (Petav. Uranolog. p. 37.) (Ideler, Technische Clironologie^ vol. i. p. 305; Schaubach, Gesdi. d. Gr. Astron. p. 196 ; Petavius, Ductr. Temp, ii. 2 ; Fabric. liibl. Grace, vol. ii. p. 8-2.) [W. F. D.] CLEO'XENUS (KAeo'lfros), was joint-author with one Deraocleitus of a somewhat cumbrous «3'stem of telegraphing, which Polybius explains (x. 45-47) with the remark, that it had been con- siderably improved by himself. See Suidas, s. v. Ke6^fvos Koi. Ar}fi6K(iTOs iypapav Trepl itvpawv, where Tttpawv was the erroneous reading of the old editions. [E. E.] CLEPSINA, the name of a patrician family of the Genucia gens. 1. C. Genucius Clepsrv'a, consul in b. c. 276 with Q. Fabius Maximus Gurges, in which year Rome was visited by a grievous pestilence (Oros. iv. 2), and a second time in 270 with Cn. Cornelius Blasio. (Fasti.) 2. L. Genucius Clei'SINa, probably brother of the preceding, was consul in B.c.271 Avith C. Quinc- tius Claudus. He was sent to subdue the C-ampanian legion, which under Decius Jubellius had revolted from the Romans and made itself master of Rhe- gium. After a long siege, Clepsina took the town; he straightway put to death all the loose vagabonds and robbers whom he found among the soldiers, but sent the remains of the legion (probably a few above 300, though the numbers vaiy in the differ- ent authorities) to Rome for trial, w"here they were scourged and beheaded. (Oros. iv. 3 ; Dionys. xx. 7 in Mai's Excerpta ; Appian, Samn. 9 ; Polyb. i. 7; Liv. Epit. 15; Zonar. viii. 6; Vah Max. ii. 7. § 15 ; Frontin. Strateg. iv. 1. § 38.) Orosius and Dionysius are the only writers who mention the name of the consul, with the exception of Appian, who calls him by mistake Fabricius ; and even the two former do not entirely agree. Orosius calls the consul Genucius simph-, and places the capture of Rhegiura in the year after that of Tarentum, by which L. Genucius would seem to be intended ; while Dionysius, on the other hand, names him C. Genucius, and would thus appear to attribute the capture of the city to the consul of the following 3'ear (b. c. 270). [No. 1.] CLETA. [Charis.] CLl'MACUS, JOANNES ('Io^oWt/s d KX.'/io- Kos), surnaraed the Learned (d ^KoAaariKos), a Greek writer who lived in the sixth century of the Christian aera, whose original name was Joannes, and who was called Climacus on account of a work written by him, which was entitled KKifia^. He took orders, and although the learned education which he had received seemed to have destined him for a life among scholars, he lived during forty years with monks of the most rude and illi- CLOACINA. terate description, till he was chosen abbot of the convent on Mount Sinai, where he died at the age of one hundred, or thereabouts, on the 30th of March. The year of his death is uncertain, but it was probably in the beginning of the seventh century, (a. d. 606?) The life of Climacus, written by a Greek monk of the name of Daniel, is contained in " Bibliotheca Patrura Maxima," in the " Acta Saactorum," ad 30 diem Martii, in the editions of the works of Climacus, and in '' Johan- nis Climaci, Johannis Damasceni, et Johannis Eleemosynarii Vitae," &c., ed. Johannes Vicartius, Jesuita, Toumai, 1664, 4to. Two works of Cli- macus, who was a fertile writer on religious sub- jects, have been printed, viz. : — 1. " Scala Para- disi" (KKl/jLo^), addressed to John, abbot of the monastery of Raithu, which is divided into thirty chapters, and treats on the means of attaining the highest possible degree of religious perfection. A Latin tmnslation of this work by Ambrosius, a Camaldulensian monk, was published at Venice, 1531, ibid. 1569, Cologne, 1583, ibid. 1593, with an exposition of Dionysius, a Carthusian friar ; ibid. 1601, 8vo. The Greek text, with a Latin translation and the Scholia of Elias, arclibishop of Creta, was published together with the work of Climacus cited below, by ^latthaeus Raderus, Paris, 1633, fol. It is also contained, together with the previously mentioned Scholia of Elias, in the different Bibliothecae Patrum. In some MSS. this work has the title ITAo/fes Uvev^iuTiKat, or Spiritual Tables. 2. " Liber ad Pastorem," of which a Latin translation was published by the Ambrosius mentioned above, and was reprinted several times; the Greek text with a Latin ver- sion was published, together with the " Scala Paradisi" and the Scholia of the archbishop Elias, by Raderus mentioned above, Paris, 1633, fol. Both these works of Climacus were translated into modem Greek and published by Maximus Margu- nius, bishop of Cerigo, Venice, 1590. (Fabric. JiiU. Grace, ix. p. 522, &c. ; Cave, Hist. Lit. vol. i. p. 421, ad an. 564; Hamberger, Zuverl'dssige Nacltrichlen von gelehrten M'druiernj vol. iii. p. 467.) [W. P.] CLOACI'NA or CLUACI'NA, a surname of Venus, under which she is mentioned at Rome in very early times. (Liv. iii. 48.) The explanation given hy Lactantius {de Fals. Uelig. i. 20), that the name was derived from the great sewer {Cloaca maxima), where the image of the goddess was said to have been found in the time of king Tatius, is merely one of the unfortunate etymological specu- lations which we frequently meet with in the an- cients. There is no doubt that Pliny (//. A'^. xv. 36) is right in saying that the name is derived from the ancient verb cloare or cluere, to wash, clean, or purity. This meaning is also alluded to in the tradition about the origin and worsliip of Venus Cloacina, for it is said that, when Tatius and Romulus were arrayed against each other on account of the rape of the Sabine women, and wlien the women prevented the two belligerents from bloodshed, both armies purified themselves with sacred myrtle-branches on the spot which was afterwards occupied by the temple of Venus Cloacina. The supposition of some modern writers, that Cloacina has reference to the purity of love, is nothing but an attempt to intrude a modern notion upon the ancients, to whom it was quite foreign. (Hartung, Die Relig. d. Rom. ii. p. 249.) [L. S.]