Page:EB1911 - Volume 11.djvu/398

 Aelia Augusta) and an aqueduct. After the 3rd century Gabii practically disappears from history, though its bishops continue to be mentioned in ecclesiastical documents till the close of the 9th. The primitive city occupied the eastern bank of the lake, the citadel being now marked by the ruins of the medieval fortress of Castiglione, while the Roman town extended farther to the south. The most conspicuous relic of the latter is a ruined temple, generally attributed to Juno, which had six columns in the front and six on each side. The plan is interesting, but the style of architecture was apparently mixed. To the east of the temple lay the Forum, where excavations were made by Gavin Hamilton in 1792. All the objects found were placed in the Villa Borghese, but many of them were carried off to Paris by Napoleon, and still remain in the Louvre. The statues and busts are especially numerous and interesting; besides the deities Venus, Diana, Nemesis, &c., they comprise Agrippa, Tiberius, Germanicus, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Trajan and Plotina, Hadrian and Sabina, M. Aurelius, Septimius Severus, Geta, Gordianus Pius and others. The inscriptions relate mainly to local and municipal matters.

GABINIUS, AULUS, Roman statesman and general, and supporter of Pompey, a prominent figure in the later days of the Roman republic. In 67, when tribune of the people, he brought forward the famous law (Lex Gabinia) conferring upon Pompey the command in the war against the Mediterranean pirates, with extensive powers which gave him absolute control over that sea and the coasts for 50 m. inland. By two other measures of Gabinius loans of money to foreign ambassadors in Rome were made non-actionable (as a check on the corruption of the senate) and the senate was ordered to give audience to foreign envoys on certain fixed days (1st of Feb.–1st of March). In 61 Gabinius, then praetor, endeavoured to win the public favour by providing games on a scale of unusual splendour, and in 58 managed to secure the consulship, not without suspicion of bribery. During his term of office he aided Publius Clodius in bringing about the exile of Cicero. In 57 Gabinius went as proconsul to Syria. On his arrival he reinstated Hyrcanus in the high-priesthood at Jerusalem, suppressed revolts, introduced important changes in the government of Judaea, and rebuilt several towns. During his absence in Egypt, whither he had been sent by Pompey, without the consent of the senate, to restore Ptolemy Auletes to his kingdom, Syria had been devastated by robbers, and Alexander, son of Aristobulus, had again taken up arms with the object of depriving Hyrcanus of the high-priesthood. With some difficulty Gabinius restored order and in 54 handed over the province to his successor, M. Licinius Crassus. The knights, who as farmers of the taxes had suffered heavy losses during the disturbances in Syria, were greatly embittered against Gabinius, and, when he appeared in the senate to give an account of his governorship, he was brought to trial on three counts, all involving a capital offence. On the charge of majestas (high treason) incurred by having left his province for Egypt without the consent of the senate and in defiance of the Sibylline books, he was acquitted; it is said that the judges were bribed, and even Cicero, who had recently attacked Gabinius with the utmost virulence, was persuaded by Pompey to say as little as he could in his evidence to damage his former enemy. On the second charge, that of repetundae (extortion during the administration of his province), with especial reference to the 10,000 talents paid by Ptolemy for his restoration, he was found guilty, in spite of evidence offered on his behalf by Pompey and witnesses from Alexandria and the eloquence of Cicero, who had been induced to plead his cause. Nothing but Cicero's wish to do a favour to Pompey could have induced him to take up what must have been a distasteful task; indeed, it is hinted that the half-heartedness of the defence materially contributed to Gabinius's condemnation. The third charge, that of ambitus (illegalities committed during his canvass for the consulship) was consequently dropped; Gabinius went into exile, and his property was confiscated. After the outbreak of the civil war, he was recalled by Caesar in 49, and entered his service, but took no active part against his old patron Pompey. After the battle of Pharsalus, he was commissioned to transport some recently levied troops to Illyricum. On his way thither by land, he was attacked by the Dalmatians and with difficulty made his way to Salonae (Dalmatia). Here he bravely defended himself against the attacks of the Pompeian commander, Marcus Octavius, but in a few months died of illness (48 or the beginning of 47).

GABION (a French word derived through Ital. gabbione, gabbia, from Lat. cavea, a cage), a cylindrical basket without top or bottom, used in revetting fortifications and for numerous other purposes of military engineering. The gabion is filled with earth when in position. The ordinary brushwood gabion in the British service has a diameter of 2 ft. and a height of 2 ft. 9 in. There are several forms of gabion in use, the best known being the Willesden paper band gabion and the Jones iron or steel band gabion.

 GABLE; in architecture, the upper portion of a wall from the level of the eaves or gutter to the ridge of the roof. The word is a southern English form of the Scottish gāvel, or of an O. Fr. word gable or jable, both ultimately derived from O. Norwegian gaff. In other Teutonic languages, similar words, such as Ger. Gabel and Dutch gaffel, mean " fork," cf. Lat. gabalus, gallows, which is Teutonic in origin; " gable " is represented by such forms as Ger. Giebel and Dutch gevel. According to the New English Dictionary the primary meaning of all these words is probably "top " or " head," cf. Gr. κεφαλή, and refers to the forking timbers at the end of a roof. The gable corresponds to the pediment in classic buildings where the roof was of low pitch. If the roof is carried across on the top of the wall so that the purlins project beyond its face, they are masked or hidden by a " barge board," but as a rule the roof butts up against the back of the wall which is raised so as to form a parapet. In the middle ages the gable end was invariably parallel to the roof and was crowned by coping stones properly weathered on both sides to throw off the rain. In the 16th century in England variety was given to the outline of the gable by a series of alternating semi-circular and ogee curves. In Holland, Belgium and Scotland a succession of steps was employed, which in the latter country are known as crow gables or corbie steps. In Germany and the Netherlands in the 17th and 18th centuries the step gables assume very elaborate forms of an extremely rococo character, and they are sometimes of immense size, with windows in two or three storeys. Designs of a similar rococo character are foundin England, but only in crestings such as those which surmount the towers of Wollaton and the gatehouse of Hardwick Hail.

Gabled Towers, in architecture, are those towers which are finished with gables instead of parapets, as at Sompting, Sussex. Many of the German Romanesque towers are gabled.

 GABLER, GEORG ANDREAS (1786–1853), German Hegelian philosopher, son of J. P. Gabler (below), was born on the 30th of July 1786, at Altdorf in Bavaria. In 1804 he accompanied his father to Jena, where he completed his studies in philosophy and law, and became an enthusiastic disciple of Hegel. After holding various educational appointments, he was in 1821 appointed rector of the Bayreuth gymnasium, and in 1830 general superintendent of schools. In 1835 he succeeded Hegel in the Berlin chair. He died at Teplitz on the 13th of September 1853. His works include ''Lehrbuch d. philos. Propädeutik (1st vol., Erlangen, 1827), a popular exposition of the Hegelian system; De verae philosophiae erga religionem Christianam pietate (Berlin, 1836), and Die Hegelische Philosophie'' (lb., 1843), a defence of the Hegelian philosophy against Trendelenburg.