part D

'F outside the circle was equal to r; in other words, by a non-Euclidean construction he trisected the angle AOC, for it is readily seen that, since FD' = FO = OC, the angle FOB = (1/3)AOC.[14] This couplet of constructions is as important from the calculator's point of view as it is interesting geometrically. To compare it on this score with the fundamental proposition of Archimedes, the latter must be put into a form similar to Snell's. AMC being an arc of a circle (see fig. 11) whose centre is O, AC its chord, and HK the tangent drawn at the middle point of the arc and bounded by OA, OC produced, then, according to Archimedes, AMC < HK, but > AC. In modern trigonometrical notation the propositions to be compared stand as follows:--

2 tan ½[theta] > [theta] > 2sin ½ [theta] (Archimedes);

3 sin [theta] tan (1/3)[theta] + 2sin (1/3)[theta] > [theta] > --------------- (Snell). 2 + cos [theta]

It is readily shown that the latter gives the best approximation to [theta]; but, while the former requires for its application a knowledge of the trigonometrical ratios of only one angle (in other words, the ratios of the sides of only one right-angled triangle), the latter requires the same for two angles, [theta] and (1/3)[theta]. Grienberger, using Snell's method, calculated the ratio correct to 39 fractional places.[15] C. Huygens, in his _De Circuli Magnitudine Inventa_, 1654, proved the propositions of Snell, giving at the same time a number of other interesting theorems, for example, two inequalities which may be written as follows[16]--

4chd [theta] + sin [theta] 1 chd [theta] + --------------------------- · --- (chd [theta] - sin [theta]) > 2chd [theta] + 3sin [theta] 3

1 [theta] > chd [theta] + --- (chd [theta] - sin [theta]). 3 [Illustration: FIG. 11.]

[Illustration: FIG. 12.]

As might be expected, a fresh view of the matter was taken by René Descartes. The problem he set himself was the exact converse of that of Archimedes. A given straight line being viewed as equal in length to the circumference of a circle, he sought to find the diameter of the circle. His construction is as follows (see fig. 12). Take AB equal to one-fourth of the given line; on AB describe a square ABCD; join AC; in AC produced find, by a known process, a point C1 such that, when C1B1 is drawn perpendicular to AB produced and C1D1 perpendicular to BC produced, the rectangle BC1 will be equal to ¼ABCD; by the same process find a point C2 such that the rectangle B1C2 will be equal to ¼BC1; and so on _ad infinitum_. The diameter sought is the straight line from A to the limiting position of the series of B's, say the straight line AB[oo]. As in the case of the process of Archimedes, we may direct our attention either to the infinite series of geometrical operations or to the corresponding infinite series of arithmetical operations. Denoting the number of units in AB by ¼c, we can express BB1, B1B2, ... in terms of ¼c, and the identity AB[oo] = AB + BB1 + B1B2 + ... gives us at once an expression for the diameter in terms of the circumference by means of an infinite series.[17] The proof of the correctness of the construction is seen to be involved in the following theorem, which serves likewise to throw new light on the subject:--AB being any straight line whatever, and the above construction being made, then AB is the diameter of the circle circumscribed by the square ABCD (self-evident), AB1 is the diameter of the circle circumscribed by the regular 8-gon having the same perimeter as the square, AB2 is the diameter of the circle circumscribed by the regular 16-gon having the same perimeter as the square, and so on. Essentially, therefore, Descartes's process is that known later as the process of _isoperimeters_, and often attributed wholly to Schwab.[18]

In 1655 appeared the _Arithmetica Infinitorum_ of John Wallis, where numerous problems of quadrature are dealt with, the curves being now represented in Cartesian co-ordinates, and algebra playing an important part. In a very curious manner, by viewing the circle y = (1 - x²)^½ as a member of the series of curves y = (1 - x²)¹, y = (1 - x²)², &c., he was led to the proposition that four times the reciprocal of the ratio of the circumference to the diameter, i.e. 4/[pi], is equal to the infinite product

3 · 3 · 5 · 5 · 7 · 7 · 9 ... -----------------------------; 2 · 4 · 4 · 6 · 6 · 8 · 8 ...

and, the result having been communicated to Lord Brounker, the latter discovered the equally curious equivalent continued fraction

1² 3² 5² 7² 1 + --- --- --- --- ... 2 + 2 + 2 + 2

The work of Wallis had evidently an important influence on the next notable personality in the history of the subject, James Gregory, who lived during the period when the higher algebraic analysis was coming into power, and whose genius helped materially to develop it. He had, however, in a certain sense one eye fixed on the past and the other towards the future. His first contribution[19] was a variation of the method of Archimedes. The latter, as we know, calculated the perimeters of successive polygons, passing from one polygon to another of double the number of sides; in a similar manner Gregory calculated the areas. The general theorems which enabled him to do this, after a start had been made, are

_____ A2n = \/AnA'n (Snell's _Cyclom._),

2 An A'n 2 A'n A2n A'2n = ---------- or ----------- (Gregory), An + A'2n A'n + A2n

where An, A'n are the areas of the inscribed and the circumscribed regular n-gons respectively. He also gave approximate rectifications of circular arcs after the manner of Huygens; and, what is very notable, he made an ingenious and, according to J.E. Montucla, successful attempt to show that quadrature of the circle by a Euclidean construction was impossible.[20] Besides all this, however, and far beyond it in importance, was his use of infinite series. This merit he shares with his contemporaries N. Mercator, Sir I. Newton and G.W. Leibnitz, and the exact dates of discovery are a little uncertain. As far as the circle-squaring functions are concerned, it would seem that Gregory was the first (in 1670) to make known the series for the arc in terms of the tangent, the series for the tangent in terms of the arc, and the secant in terms of the arc; and in 1669 Newton showed to Isaac Barrow a little treatise in manuscript containing the series for the arc in terms of the sine, for the sine in terms of the arc, and for the cosine in terms of the arc. These discoveries formed an epoch in the history of mathematics generally, and had, of course, a marked influence on after investigations regarding circle-quadrature. Even among the mere computers the series

[theta] = tan - (1/3) tan^3 [theta] + (1/5) tan^5 [theta] - ...,

specially known as Gregory's series, has ever since been a necessity of their calling.

The calculator's work having now become easier and more mechanical, calculation went on apace. In 1699 Abraham Sharp, on the suggestion of Edmund Halley, took Gregory's series, and, putting tan [theta] = (1/3) sqrt(3), found the ratio equal to

__ / 1 1 1 \ \/12 ( 1 - ----- + ------ - ------ + ... ), \ 3 · 3 5 · 3² 7 · 3³ /

from which he calculated it correct to 71 fractional places.[21] About the same time John Machin calculated it correct to 100 places, and, what was of more importance, gave for the ratio the rapidly converging expression

16 / 1 1 1 \ -- ( ---- + ----- - ----- + ... ) - 5 \ 3·5² 5·5^4 7·5^6 /

4 / 1 1 \ --- ( 1 - ------ + ------- - ... ), 239 \ 3.239² 5.239^4 /

which long remained without explanation.[22] Fautet de Lagny, still using tan 30°, advanced to the 127th place.[23]

Leonhard Euler took up the subject several times during his life, effecting mainly improvements in the theory of the various series.[24] With him, apparently, began the usage of denoting by [pi] the ratio of the circumference to the diameter.[25]

The most important publication, however, on the subject in the 18th century was a paper by J.H. Lambert,[26] read before the Berlin Academy in 1761, in which he demonstrated the irrationality of [pi]. The general test of irrationality which he established is that, if

a1 a2 a2 -- -- -- ... b1 ± b2 ± b3 ±

be an interminate continued fraction, a1, a2, ..., b1, b2 ... be integers, a1/b1, a2/b2, ... be proper fractions, and the value of every one of the interminate continued fractions

a1 a2 -- , -- , ... be < 1, b1 ± ... b2 ± ...

then the given continued fraction represents an irrational quantity. If this be applied to the right-hand side of the identity

m m m² m² tan --- = --- ---- ---- ... n n - 3n - 5n

it follows that the tangent of every arc commensurable with the radius is irrational, so that, as a particular case, an arc of 45°, having its tangent rational, must be incommensurable with the radius; that is to say, [pi]/4 is an incommensurable number.[27]

This incontestable result had no effect, apparently, in repressing the [pi]-computers. G. von Vega in 1789, using series like Machin's, viz. Gregory's series and the identities

[pi]/4 = 5tan^{-1} (1/7) + 2tan^{-1} (3/79) (Euler, 1779), [pi]/4 = tan^{-1} (1/7) + 2tan^{-1} ( 1/3) (Hutton, 1776),

neither of which was nearly so advantageous as several found by Charles Hutton, calculated [pi] correct to 136 places.[28] This achievement was anticipated or outdone by an unknown calculator, whose manuscript was seen in the Radcliffe library, Oxford, by Baron von Zach towards the end of the century, and contained the ratio correct to 152 places. More astonishing still have been the deeds of the [pi]-computers of the 19th century. A condensed record compiled by J.W.L. Glaisher (_Messenger of Math._ ii. 122) is as follows:--

+-----+------------+-----------------+--------------------------------------------+ | | |No. of fr. digits| | |Date.| Computer. +--------+--------+ Place of Publication. | | | | calcd. |correct.| | +-----+------------+--------+--------+--------------------------------------------+ |1842 | Rutherford | 208 | 152 | _Trans. Roy. Soc._ (London, 1841), p. 283. | |1844 | Dase | 205 | 200 | _Crelle's Journ._. xxvii. 198. | |1847 | Clausen | 250 | 248 | _Astron. Nachr._ xxv. col. 207. | |1853 | Shanks | 318 | 318 | _Proc. Roy. Soc._ (London, 1853), 273. | |1853 | Rutherford | 440 | 440 | Ibid. | |1853 | Shanks | 530 | .. | Ibid. | |1853 | Shanks | 607 | .. | W. Shanks, _Rectification of the Circle_ | | | | | | (London, 1853). | |1853 | Richter | 333 | 330 | _Grunert's Archiv_, xxi. 119. | |1854 | Richter | 400 | 330 | Ibid. xxii. 473. | |1854 | Richter | 400 | 400 | Ibid. xxiii. 476. | |1854 | Richter | 500 | 500 | Ibid. xxv. 472. | |1873 | Shanks | 707 | .. | _Proc. Roy. Soc._ (London), xxi. | +-----+------------+--------+--------+--------------------------------------------+

By these computers Machin's identity, or identities analogous to it, e.g.

[pi]/4 = tan^{-1} (1/2) + tan^{-1} 1/5 + tan^{-1} 1/8 (Dase, 1844), [pi]/4 = 4tan^{-1} (1/5) - tan^{-1} 1/70 + tan^{-1} 1/99 (Rutherford),

and Gregory's series were employed.[29]

A much less wise class than the [pi]-computers of modern times are the pseudo-circle-squarers, or circle-squarers technically so called, that is to say, persons who, having obtained by illegitimate means a Euclidean construction for the quadrature or a finitely expressible value for [pi], insist on using faulty reasoning and defective mathematics to establish their assertions. Such persons have flourished at all times in the history of mathematics; but the interest attaching to them is more psychological than mathematical.[30]

It is of recent years that the most important advances in the theory of circle-quadrature have been made. In 1873 Charles Hermite proved that the base [eta] of the Napierian logarithms cannot be a root of a rational algebraical equation of any degree.[31] To prove the same proposition regarding [pi] is to prove that a Euclidean construction for circle-quadrature is impossible. For in such a construction every point of the figure is obtained by the intersection of two straight lines, a straight line and a circle, or two circles; and as this implies that, when a unit of length is introduced, numbers employed, and the problem transformed into one of algebraic geometry, the equations to be solved can only be of the first or second degree, it follows that the equation to which we must be finally led is a rational equation of even degree. Hermite[32] did not succeed in his attempt on [pi]; but in 1882 F. Lindemann, following exactly in Hermite's steps, accomplished the desired result.[33] (See also TRIGONOMETRY.)

REFERENCES.--Besides the various writings mentioned, see for the history of the subject F. Rudio, _Geschichte des Problems von der Quadratur des Zirkels_ (1892); M. Cantor, _Geschichte der Mathematik_ (1894-1901); Montucla, _Hist. des. math._ (6 vols., Paris, 1758, 2nd ed. 1799-1802); Murhard, _Bibliotheca Mathematica_, ii. 106-123 (Leipzig, 1798); Reuss, _Repertorium Comment._ vii. 42-44 (Göttingen, 1808). For a few approximate geometrical solutions, see Leybourn's _Math. Repository_, vi. 151-154; _Grunert's Archiv_, xii. 98, xlix. 3; _Nieuw Archief v. Wisk._ iv. 200-204. For experimental determinations of [pi], dependent on the theory of probability, see _Mess. of Math._ ii. 113, 119; _Casopis pro pïstováni math. a fys._ x. 272-275; _Analyst_, ix. 176. (T. MU.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Eisenlohr, _Ein math. Handbuch d. alten Ägypter, übers. u. erklärt_ (Leipzig, 1877); Rodet, _Bull. de la Soc. Math. de France_, vi. pp. 139-149.

[2] H. Hankel, _Zur Gesch. d. Math. im Alterthum_, &c., chap, v (Leipzig, 1874); M. Cantor, _Vorlesungen über Gesch. d. Math._ i. (Leipzig, 1880); Tannery, _Mém. de la Soc._, &c., _à Bordeaux_; Allman, in _Hermathena_.

[3] Tannery. _Bull. des sc. math._ [2], x. pp. 213-226.

[4] In modern trigonometrical notation, 1 + sec [theta]:tan [theta]::1:tan ½[theta].

[5] Tannery, "Sur la mesure du cercle d'Archimède," in _Mém.... Bordeaux_[2], iv. pp. 313-339; Menge, _Des Archimedes Kreismessung_ (Coblenz, 1874).

[6] De Morgan, in _Penny Cyclop_, xix. p. 186.

[7] Kern, _Aryabhattíyam_ (Leiden, 1874), trans. by Rodet (Paris,1879).

[8] De Morgan, art. "Quadrature of the Circle," in _English Cyclop._; Glaisher, _Mess. of Math._ ii. pp. 119-128, iii. pp. 27-46; de Haan, _Nieuw Archief v. Wisk._ i. pp. 70-86, 206-211.

[9] Vieta, _Opera math._ (Leiden, 1646); Marie, _Hist. des sciences math._ iii. 27 seq. (Paris, 1884).

[10] Klügel, _Math. Wörterb._ ii. 606, 607.

[11] Kästner, _Gesch. d. Math._ i. (Göttingen, 1796-1800).

[12] But see _Les Délices de Leide_ (Leiden, 1712); or de Haan, _Mess. of Math._ iii. 24-26.

[13] For minute and lengthy details regarding the quadrature of the circle in the Low Countries, see de Haan, "Bouwstoffen voor de geschiedenis, &c.," in _Versl. en Mededeel. der K. Akad. van Wetensch._ ix., x., xi., xii. (Amsterdam); also his "Notice sur quelques quadrateurs, &c.," in _Bull. di bibliogr. e di storia delle sci. mat. e fis._ vii. 99-144.

[14] It is thus manifest that by his first construction Snell gave an approximate solution of two great problems of antiquity.

[15] _Elementa trigonometrica_ (Rome, 1630); Glaisher, _Messenger of Math._ iii. 35 seq.

[16] See Kiessling's edition of the _De Circ. Magn. Inv._ (Flensburg, 1869); or Pirie's tract on _Geometrical Methods of Approx. to the Value of [pi]_ (London, 1877).

[17] See Euler, "Annotationes in locum quendam Cartesii," in _Nov. Comm. Acad. Petrop._ viii.

[18] Gergonne, _Annales de math._ vi.

[19] See _Vera Circuli et Hyperbolae Quadratura_ (Padua, 1667); and the _Appendicula_ to the same in his _Exercitationes geometricae_ (London, 1668).

[20] _Penny Cyclop._ xix. 187.

[21] See Sherwin's _Math. Tables_ (London, 1705), p. 59.

[22] See W. Jones, _Synopsis Palmariorum Matheseos_ (London, 1706); Maseres, _Scriptores Logarithmici_ (London, 1791-1796), iii. 159 seq.; Hutton, _Tracts_, i. 266.

[23] See _Hist. de l'Acad._ (Paris, 1719); 7 appears instead of 8 in the 113th place.

[24] _Comment. Acad. Petrop._ ix., xi.; _Nov. Comm. Ac. Pet._ xvi.; _Nova Acta Acad. Pet._ xi.

[25] _Introd. in Analysin Infin._ (Lausanne, 1748), chap. viii.

[26] _Mém. sur quelques propriétés remarquables des quantités transcendantes, circulaires, et logarithmiques._

[27] See Legendre, _Eléments de géométrie_ (Paris, 1794), note iv.; Schlömilch, _Handbuch d. algeb. Analysis_ (Jena, 1851), chap. xiii.

[28] _Nova Acta Petrop._ ix. 41; _Thesaurus Logarithm. Completus_, 633.

[29] On the calculations made before Shanks, see Lehmann, "Beitrag zur Berechnung der Zahl [pi]," in _Grunert's Archiv_, xxi. 121-174.

[30] See Montucla, _Hist. des rech. sur la quad. du cercle_ (Paris, 1754, 2nd ed. 1831); de Morgan, _Budget of Paradoxes_ (London, 1872).

[31] "Sur la fonction exponentielle," _Comples rendus_ (Paris), lxxvii. 18, 74, 226, 285.

[32] See _Crelle's Journal_, lxxvi. 342.

[33] See "Über die Zahl [pi]," in _Math. Ann._ xx. 213.

CIRCLEVILLE, a city and the county-seat of Pickaway county, Ohio, U.S.A., about 26 m. S. by E. of Columbus, on the Scioto river and the Ohio Canal. Pop. (1890) 6556; (1900) 6991 (551 negroes); (1910) 6744. It is served by the Cincinnati & Muskingum Valley (Pennsylvania lines) and the Norfolk & Western railways, and by the Scioto Valley electric line. Circleville is situated in a farming region, and its leading industries are the manufacture of straw boards and agricultural implements, and the canning of sweet corn and other produce. The city occupies the site of prehistoric earth-works, from one of which, built in the form of a circle, it derived its name. Circleville, first settled about 1806, was chosen as the county-seat in 1810. The court-house was built in the form of an octagon at the centre of the circle, and circular streets were laid out around it; but this arrangement proved to be inconvenient, the court-house was destroyed by fire in 1841, and at present no trace of the ancient landmarks remains. Circleville was incorporated as a village in 1814, and was chartered as a city in 1853.

CIRCUIT (Lat. _circuitus_, from _circum_, round, and _ire_, to go), the act of moving round; so circumference, or anything encircling or encircled. The word is particularly known as a law term, signifying the periodical progress of a legal tribunal for the purpose of carrying out the administration of the law in the several provinces of a country. It has long been applied to the journey or progress which the judges have been in the habit of making through the several counties of England, to hold courts and administer justice, where recourse could not be had to the king's court at Westminster (see ASSIZE).

In England, by sec. 23 of the Judicature Act 1875, power was conferred on the crown, by order in council, to make regulations respecting circuits, including the discontinuance of any circuit, and the formation of any new circuit, and the appointment of the place at which assizes are to be held on any circuit. Under this power an order of council, dated the 5th of February 1876, was made, whereby the circuit system was remodelled. A new circuit, called the North-Eastern circuit, was created, consisting of Newcastle and Durham taken out of the old Northern circuit, and York and Leeds taken out of the Midland circuit. Oakham, Leicester and Northampton, which had belonged to the Norfolk circuit, were added to the Midland. The Norfolk circuit and the Home circuit were abolished and a new South-Eastern circuit was created, consisting of Huntingdon, Cambridge, Ipswich, Norwich, Chelmsford, Hertford and Lewes, taken partly out of the old Norfolk circuit and

## partly out of the Home circuit. The counties of Kent and Surrey were

left out of the circuit system, the assizes for these counties being held by the judges remaining in London. Subsequently Maidstone and Guildford were united under the revived name of the Home circuit for the purpose of the summer and winter assizes, and the assizes in these towns were held by one of the judges of the Western circuit, who, after disposing of the business there, rejoined his colleague in Exeter. In 1899 this arrangement was abolished, and Maidstone and Guildford were added to the South-Eastern circuit. Other minor changes in the assize towns were made, which it is unnecessary to particularize. Birmingham first became a circuit town in the year 1884, and the work there became, by arrangement, the joint property of the Midland and Oxford circuits. There are alternative assize towns in the following counties, viz.:--On the Western circuit, Salisbury and Devizes for Wiltshire, and Wells and Taunton for Somerset; on the South-Eastern, Ipswich and Bury St Edmunds for Suffolk; on the North Wales circuit, Welshpool and Newtown for Montgomery; and on the South Wales circuit, Cardiff and Swansea for Glamorgan.

According to the arrangements in force in 1909 there are four assizes in each year. There are two principal assizes, viz. the winter assizes, beginning in January, and the summer assizes, beginning at the end of May. At these two assizes criminal and civil business is disposed of in all the circuits. There are two other assizes, viz. the autumn assizes and the Easter assizes. The autumn assizes are regulated by acts of 1876 and 1877 (Winter Assizes Acts 1876 and 1877), and orders of council made under the former act. They are held for the whole of England and Wales, but for the purpose of these assizes the work is to a large extent "grouped," so that not every county has a separate assize. For example, on the South-Eastern circuit Huntingdon is grouped with Cambridge; on the Midland, Rutland is grouped with Lincoln; on the Northern, Westmorland is grouped with Cumberland; and the North Wales and South Wales circuits are united, and no assizes are held at some of the smaller towns. At these assizes criminal business only is taken, except at Manchester, Liverpool, Swansea, Birmingham and Leeds. The Easter assizes are held in April and May on two circuits only, viz. at Manchester and Liverpool on the Northern and at Leeds on the North-Eastern. Both civil and criminal business is taken at Manchester and Liverpool, but criminal business only at Leeds.

Other changes were made, with a view to preventing the complete interruption of the London sittings in the common law division by the absence of the judges on circuit. The assizes were so arranged as to commence on different dates in the various circuits. For example, the summer assizes begin in the South-Eastern and Western circuits on the 29th of May; in the Northern circuit on the 28th of June; in the Midland and Oxford circuits on the 16th of June; in the North-Eastern circuit on the 6th of July; in the North Wales circuit on the 7th of July; and in the South Wales circuit on the 11th of July. Again, there has been a continuous development of what may be called the single-judge system. In the early days of the new order the members of the court of appeal and the judges of the chancery division shared the circuit work with the judges in the common law division. This did not prove to be a satisfactory arrangement. The assize work was not familiar and was uncongenial to the chancery judges, who had but little training or experience to fit them for it. Arrears increased in chancery, and the appeal court was shorn of much of its strength for a considerable part of the year. The practice was discontinued in or about the year 1884. The appeal and chancery judges were relieved of the duty of going on circuit, and an arrangement was made by the treasury for making an allowance for expenses of circuit to the common law judges, on whom the whole work of the assizes was thrown. In order to cope with the assize work, and at the same time keep the common law sittings going in London, an experiment, which had been previously tried by Lord Cairns and Lord Cross (then home secretary) and discontinued, was revived. Instead of two judges going together to each assize town, it was arranged that one judge should go by himself to certain selected places--practically, it may be said, to all except the more important provincial centres. The only places to which two judges now go are Exeter, Winchester, Bristol, Manchester, Liverpool, Nottingham, Stafford, Birmingham, Newcastle, Durham, York, Leeds, Chester, and Cardiff or Swansea.

It could scarcely be said that, even with the amendments introduced under orders in council, the circuit system was altogether satisfactory or that the last word had been pronounced on the subject. In the first report of the Judicature Commission, dated March 25th, 1869, p. 17 (_Parl. Papers_, 1868-1869), the majority report that "the necessity for holding assizes in every county without regard to the extent of the business to be transacted in such county leads, in our judgment, to a great waste of judicial strength and a great loss of time in going from one circuit town to another, and causes much unnecessary cost and inconvenience to those whose attendance is necessary or customary at the assizes." And in their second report, dated July 3rd, 1872 (_Parl. Papers_, 1872, vol. xx.), they dwell upon the advisability of grouping or a discontinuance of holding assizes "in several counties, for example, Rutland and Westmorland, where it is manifestly an idle waste of time and money to have assizes." It is thought that the grouping of counties which has been effected for the autumn assizes might be carried still further and applied to all the assizes; and that the system of holding the assizes alternately in one of two towns within a county might be extended to two towns in adjoining counties, for example, Gloucester and Worcester. The facility of railway communication renders this reform comparatively easy, and reforms in this direction have been approved by the judges, but ancient custom and local patriotism, interests, or susceptibility bar the way. The Assizes and Quarter Sessions Act 1908 contributed something to reform by dispensing with the obligation to hold assizes at a fixed date if there is no business to be transacted. Nor can it be said that the single-judge system has been altogether a success. When there is only one judge for both civil and criminal work, he properly takes the criminal business first. He can fix only approximately the time when he can hope to be free for the civil business. If the calendar is exceptionally heavy or one or more of the criminal cases prove to be unexpectedly long (as may easily happen), the civil business necessarily gets squeezed into the short residue of the allotted time. Suitors and their solicitors and witnesses are kept waiting for days, and after all perhaps it proves to be impossible for the judge to take the case, and a "remanet" is the result. It is the opinion of persons of experience that the result has undoubtedly been to drive to London much of the civil business which properly belongs to the provinces, and ought to be tried there, and thus at once to increase the burden on the judges and jurymen in London, and to increase the costs of the trial of the actions sent there. Some persons advocate the continuous sittings of the high court in certain centres, such as Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle, Birmingham and Bristol, or (in fact) a decentralization of the judicial system. There is already an excellent court for chancery cases for Lancashire in the county palatine court, presided over by the vice-chancellor, and with a local bar which has produced many men of great ability and even eminence. The Durham chancery court is also capable of development. Another suggestion has been made for continuous circuits throughout the legal year, so that a certain number of the judges, according to a rota, should be continuously in the provinces while the remaining judges did the London business. The value of this suggestion would depend on an estimate of the number of cases which might thus be tried in the country in relief of the London list. This estimate it would be difficult to make. The opinion has also been expressed that it is essential in any changes that may be made to retain the occasional administration by judges of the high court of criminal jurisdiction, both in populous centres and in remote places. It promotes a belief in the importance and dignity of justice and the care to be given to all matters affecting a citizen's life, liberty or character. It also does something, by the example set by judges in country districts, to check any tendency to undue severity of sentences in offences against property.

Counsel are not expected to practise on a circuit other than that to which they have attached themselves, unless they receive a special retainer. They are then said to "go special," and the fee in such a case is one hundred guineas for a king's counsel, and fifty guineas for a junior. It is customary to employ one member of the circuit on the side on which the counsel comes special. Certain rules have been drawn up by the Bar Committee for regulating the practice as to retainers on circuit. (1) A special retainer must be given for a particular assize (a circuit retainer will not, however, make it compulsory upon counsel retained to go the circuit, but will give the right to counsel's services should he attend the assize and the case be entered for trial); (2) if the venue is changed to another place on the same circuit, a fresh retainer is not required; (3) if the action is not tried at the assize for which the retainer is given, the retainer must be renewed for every subsequent assize until the action is disposed of, unless a brief has been delivered; (4) a retainer may be given for a future assize, without a retainer for an intervening assize, unless notice of trial is given for such intervening assize. There are also various regulations enforced by the discipline of the circuit bar mess.

In the United States the English circuit system still exists in some states, as in Massachusetts, where the judges sit in succession in the various counties of the state. The term _circuit courts_ applies distinctively in America to a certain class of inferior federal courts of the United States, exercising jurisdiction, concurrently with the state courts, in certain matters where the United States is a party to the litigation, or in cases of crime against the United States. The circuit courts act in nine judicial circuits, divided as follows: _1st circuit_, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island; _2nd circuit_, Connecticut, New York, Vermont; _3rd circuit_, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania; _4th circuit_, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia; _5th circuit_, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas; _6th circuit_, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee; _7th circuit_, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin; _8th circuit_, Arkansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming; _9th circuit_, Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, and Hawaii. A circuit court of appeals is made up of three judges of the circuit court, the judges of the district courts of the circuit, and the judge of the Supreme Court allotted to the circuit.

In Scotland the judges of the supreme criminal court, or high court of justiciary, form also three separate circuit courts, consisting of two judges each; and the country, with the exception of the Lothians, is divided into corresponding districts, called the Northern, Western and Southern circuits. On the Northern circuit, courts are held at Inverness, Perth, Dundee and Aberdeen; on the Western, at Glasgow, Stirling and Inveraray; and on the Southern, at Dumfries, Jedburgh and Ayr.

Ireland is divided into the North-East and the North-West circuits, and those of Leinster, Connaught and Munster.

CIRCULAR NOTE, a documentary request by a bank to its foreign correspondents to pay a specified sum of money to a named person. The person in whose favour a circular note is issued is furnished with a letter (containing the signature of an official of the bank and the person named) called a letter of indication, which is usually referred to in the circular note, and must be produced on presentation of the note. Circular notes are generally issued against a payment of cash to the amount of the notes, but the notes need not necessarily be cashed, but may be returned to the banker in exchange for the amount for which they were originally issued. A forged signature on a circular note conveys no right, and as it is the duty of the payer to see that payment is made to the proper person, he cannot recover the amount of a forged note from the banker who issued the note. (See also LETTER OF CREDIT.)

CIRCULUS IN PROBANDO (Lat. for "circle in proving"), in logic, a phrase used to describe a form of argument in which the very fact which one seeks to demonstrate is used as a premise, i.e. as part of the evidence on which the conclusion is based. This argument is one form of the fallacy known as _petitio principii_, "begging the question." It is most common in lengthy arguments, the complicated character of which enables the speaker to make his hearers forget the data from which he began. (See FALLACY.)

CIRCUMCISION (Lat. _circum_, round, and _caedere_, to cut), the cutting off of the foreskin. This surgical operation, which is commonly prescribed for purely medical reasons, is also an initiation or religious ceremony among Jews and Mahommedans, and is a widespread institution in many Semitic races. It remains, with Jews, a necessary preliminary to the admission of proselytes, except in some Reformed communities. The origin of the rite among the Jews is in Genesis (xvii.) placed in the age of Abraham, and at all events it must have been very ancient, for flint stones were used in the operation (Exodus iv. 25; Joshua v. 2). The narrative in Joshua implies that the custom was introduced by him, not that it had merely been in abeyance in the Wilderness. At Gilgal he "rolled away the reproach of the Egyptians" by circumcising the people. This obviously means that whereas the Egyptians practised circumcision the Jews in the land of the Pharaohs did not, and hence were regarded with contempt. It was an old theory (Herodotus ii. 36) that circumcision originated in Egypt; at all events it was practised in that country in ancient times (Ebers, _Egypten und die Bücher Mosis_, i. 278-284), and the same is true at the present day. But it is not generally thought probable that the Hebrews derived the rite directly from the Egyptians. As Driver puts it (_Genesis_, p. 190): "It is possible that, as Dillmann and Nowack suppose, the peoples of N. Africa and Asia who practised the rite adopted it from the Egyptians, but it appears in so many parts of the world that it must at any rate in these cases have originated independently." In another biblical narrative (Exodus iv. 25) Moses is subject to the divine anger because he had not made himself "a bridegroom of blood," that is, had not been circumcised before his marriage.

The rite of circumcision was practised by all the inhabitants of Palestine with the exception of the Philistines. It was an ancient custom among the Arabs, being presupposed in the Koran. The only important Semitic peoples who most probably did not follow the rite were the Babylonians and Assyrians (Sayce, _Babyl. and Assyrians_, p. 47). Modern investigations have brought to light many instances of the prevalence of circumcision in various parts of the world. These facts are collected by Andrée and Ploss, and go to prove that the rite is not only spread through the Mahommedan world (Turks, Persians, Arabs, &c.), but also is practised by the Christian Abyssinians and the Copts, as well as in central Australia and in America. In central Australia (Spencer and Gillen, pp. 212-386) circumcision with a stone knife must be undergone by every youth before he is reckoned a full member of the tribe or is permitted to enter on the married state. In other parts, too (e.g. Loango), no uncircumcised man may marry. Circumcision was known to the Aztecs (Bancroft, _Native Races_, vol. iii.), and is still practised by the Caribs of the Orinoco and the Tacunas of the Amazon. The method and period of the operation vary in important particulars. Among the Jews it is performed in infancy, when the male child is eight days old. The child is named at the same time, and the ceremony is elaborate. The child is carried in to the godfather (_sandek_, a hebraized form of the Gr. [Greek: sunteknos], "godfather," post-class.), who places the child on a cushion, which he holds on his knees throughout the ceremony. The operator (_mohel_) uses a steel knife, and pronounces various benedictions before and after the rite is performed (see S. Singer, _Authorized Daily Prayer Book_, pp. 304-307; an excellent account of the domestic festivities and spiritual joys associated with the ceremony among medieval and modern Jews may be read in S. Schechter's _Studies in Judaism_, first series, pp. 351 seq.). Some tribes in South America and elsewhere are said to perform the rite on the eighth day, like the Jews. The Mazequas do it between the first and second months. Among the Bedouins the rite is performed on children of three years, amid dances and the selection of brides (Doughty, _Arabia Deserta_, i. 340); among the Somalis the age is seven (Reinisch, _Somalisprache_, p. 110). But for the most part the tribes who perform the rite carry it out at the age of puberty. Many facts bearing on this point are given by B. Stade in _Zeitschrift für die alttest. Wissenschaft_, vi. (1886) pp. 132 seq.

The significance of the rite of circumcision has been much disputed. Some see in it a tribal badge. If this be the true origin of circumcision, it must go back to the time when men went about naked. Mutilations (tattooing, removal of teeth and so forth) were tribal marks, being partly sacrifices and partly means of recognition (see MUTILATION). Such initiatory rites were often frightful ordeals, in which the neophyte's courage was severely tested (Robertson Smith, _Religion of the Semites_, p. 310). Some regard circumcision as a substitute for far more serious rites, including even human sacrifice. Utilitarian explanations have also been suggested. Sir R. Burton (_Memoirs Anthrop. Soc._ i. 318) held that it was introduced to promote fertility, and the claims of cleanliness have been put forward (following Philo's example, see ed. Mangey, ii. 210). Most probably, however, circumcision (which in many tribes is performed on both sexes) was connected with marriage, and was a preparation for connubium. It was in Robertson Smith's words "originally a preliminary to marriage, and so a ceremony of introduction to the full prerogative of manhood," the transference to infancy among the Jews being a later change. On this view, the decisive Biblical reference would be the Exodus passage (iv. 25), in which Moses is represented as being in danger of his life because he had neglected the proper preliminary to marriage. In Genesis, on the other hand, circumcision is an external sign of God's covenant with Israel, and later Judaism now regards it in this symbolical sense. Barton (_Semitic Origins_, p. 100) declares that "the circumstances under which it is performed in Arabia point to the origin of circumcision as a sacrifice to the goddess of fertility, by which the child was placed under her protection and its reproductive powers consecrated to her service." But Barton admits that initiation to the connubium was the primitive origin of the rite.

As regards the non-ritual use of male circumcision, it may be added that in recent years the medical profession has been responsible for its considerable extension among other than Jewish children, the operation being recommended not merely in cases of malformation, but generally for reasons of health.

AUTHORITIES.--On the present diffusion of circumcision see H. Ploss, _Das Kind im Brauch und Sitte der Völker_, i. 342 seq., and his researches in _Deutsches Archiv für Geschichte der Medizin_, viii. 312-344; Andrée, "Die Beschneidung" in _Archiv für Anthropologie_, xiii. 76; and Spencer and Gillen, _Tribes of Central Australia_. The articles in the _Encyclopaedia Biblica_ and _Dictionary of the Bible_ contain useful bibliographies as well as historical accounts of the rite and its ceremonies, especially as concerns the Jews. The _Jewish Encyclopedia_ in particular gives an extensive list of books on the Jewish customs connected with circumcision, and the various articles in that work are full of valuable information (vol. iv. pp. 92-102). On the rite among the Arabs, see Wellhausen, _Reste arabischen Heidentums_, 154. (I. A.)

CIRCUMVALLATION, LINES OF (from Lat. _circum_, round, and _vallum_, a rampart), in fortification, a continuous circle of entrenchments surrounding a besieged place. "Lines of Contravallation" were similar works by which the besieger protected himself against the attack of a relieving army from any quarter. These continuous lines of circumvallation and contravallation were used only in the days of small armies and small fortresses, and both terms are now obsolete.

CIRCUS (Lat. _circus_, Gr. [Greek: kirkos] or [Greek: krikos], a ring or circle; probably "circus" and "ring" are of the same origin), a space, in the strict sense circular, but sometimes oval or even oblong, intended for the exhibition of races and athletic contests generally. The circus differs from the theatre inasmuch as the performance takes place in a central circular space, not on a stage at one end of the building.

1. _In Roman antiquities_ the circus was a building for the exhibition of horse and chariot races and other amusements. It consisted of tiers of seats running parallel with the sides of the course, and forming a crescent round one of the ends. The other end was straight and at right angles to the course, so that the plan of the whole had nearly the form of an ellipse cut in half at its vertical axis. Along the transverse axis ran a fence (_spina_) separating the return course from the starting one. The straight end had no seats, but was occupied by the stalls (_carceres_) where the chariots and horses were held in readiness. This end constituted also the front of the building with the main entrance. At each end of the course were three conical pillars (_metae_) to mark its limits.

The oldest building of this kind in Rome was the _Circus Maximus_, in the valley between the Palatine and Aventine hills, where, before the erection of any permanent structure, races appear to have been held beside the altar of the god Consus. The first building is assigned to Tarquin the younger, but for a long time little seems to have been done to complete its accommodation, since it is not till 329 B.C. that we hear of stalls being erected for the chariots and horses. It was not in fact till under the empire that the circus became a conspicuous public resort. Caesar enlarged it to some extent, and also made a canal 10 ft. broad between the lowest tier of seats (_podium_) and the course as a precaution for the spectators' safety when exhibitions of fighting with wild beasts, such as were afterwards confined to the amphitheatre, took place. When these exhibitions were removed, and the canal (_euripus_) was no longer necessary, Nero had it filled up. Augustus is said to have placed an obelisk on the _spina_ between the _metae_, and to have built a new _pulvinar_, or imperial box; but if this is taken in connexion with the fact that the circus had been partially destroyed by fire in 31 B.C., it may be supposed that besides this he had restored it altogether. Only the lower tiers of seats were of stone, the others being of wood, and this, from the liability to fire, may account for the frequent restorations to which the circus was subject; it would also explain the falling of the seats by which a crowd of people were killed in the time of Antoninus Pius. In the reign of Claudius, apparently after a fire, the _carceres_ of stone (tufa) were replaced by marble, and the _metae_ of wood by gilt bronze. Under Domitian, again, after a fire, the circus was rebuilt and the carceres increased to 12 instead of 8 as before. The work was finished by Trajan. See further for seating capacity, &c., ROME: _Archaeology_, § "Places of Amusement."

The circus was the only public spectacle at which men and women were not separated. The lower seats were reserved for persons of rank; there were also various state boxes, e.g. for the giver of the games and his friends (called _cubicula_ or _suggestus_). The principal object of attraction apart from the racing must have been the _spina_ or low wall which ran down the middle of the course, with its obelisks, images and ornamental shrines. On it also were seven figures of dolphins and seven oval objects, one of which was taken down at every round made in a race, so that spectators might see readily how the contest proceeded. The chariot race consisted of seven rounds of the course. The chariots started abreast, but in an oblique line, so that the outer chariot might be compensated for the wider circle it had to make at the other end. Such a race was called a _missus_, and as many as 24 of these would take place in a day. The competitors wore different colours, originally white and red (_albata_ and _russata_), to which green (_prasina_) and blue (_veneta_) were added. Domitian introduced two more colours, gold and purple (_purpureus et auratus pannus_), which probably fell into disuse after his death. To provide the horses and large staff of attendants it was necessary to apply to rich capitalists and owners of studs, and from this there grew up in time four select companies (_factiones_) of circus purveyors, which were identified with the four colours, and with which those who organized the races had to contract for the proper supply of horses and men. The drivers (_aurigae, agitatores_), who were mostly slaves, were sometimes held in high repute for their skill, although their calling was regarded with contempt. The horses most valued were those of Sicily, Spain and Cappadocia, and great care was taken in training them. Chariots with two horses (_bigae_) or four (_quadrigae_) were most common, but sometimes also they had three (_trigae_), and exceptionally more than four horses. Occasionally there was combined with the chariots a race of riders (_desultores_), each rider having two horses and leaping from one to the other during the race. At certain of the races the proceedings were opened by a _pompa_ or procession in which images of the gods and of the imperial family deified were conveyed in cars drawn by horses, mules or elephants, attended by the colleges of priests, and led by the presiding magistrate (in some cases by the emperor himself) seated in a chariot in the dress and with the insignia of a triumphator. The procession passed from the capitol along the forum, and on to the circus, where it was received by the people standing and clapping their hands. The presiding magistrate gave the signal for the races by throwing a white flag (_mappa_) on to the course.

Next in importance to the Circus Maximus in Rome was the _Circus Flaminius_, erected 221 B.C., in the censorship of C. Flaminius, from whom it may have taken its name; or the name may have been derived from Prata Flaminia, where it was situated, and where also were held plebeian meetings. The only games that are positively known to have been celebrated in this circus were the _Ludi Taurii_ and _Plebeii_. There is no mention of it after the 1st century. Its ruins were identified in the 16th century at S. Catarina dei Funari and the Palazzo Mattei.

A third circus in Rome was erected by Caligula in the gardens of Agrippina, and was known as the _Circus Neronis_, from the notoriety which it obtained through the Circensian pleasures of Nero. A fourth was constructed by Maxentius outside the Porta Appia near the tomb of Caecilia Metella, where its ruins are still, and now afford the only instance from which an idea of the ancient circi in Rome can be obtained. It was traced to Caracalla, till the discovery of an inscription in 1825 showed it to be the work of Maxentius. Old topographers speak of six circi, but two of these appear to be imaginary, the Circus Florae and the Circus Sallustii.

Circus races were held in connexion with the following public festivals, and generally on the last day of the festival, if it extended over more than one day:--(1) The _Consualia_, August 21st, December 15th; (2) _Equirria_, February 27th, March 14th; (3) _Ludi Romani_, September 4th-19th; (4) _Ludi Plebeii_, November 4th-17th; (5) _Cerialia_, April 12th-19th; (6) _Ludi Apollinares_, July 6th-13th; (7) _Ludi Megalenses_, April 4th-10th; (8) _Floralia_, April 28th-May 3rd.

In addition to Smith's _Dictionary of Antiquities_ (3rd ed., 1890), see articles in Daremberg and Saglio's _Dictionnaire des antiquités_, Pauly-Wissowa's _Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft_, iii. 2 (1899), and Marquardt, _Römische Staatsverwaltung_, iii. (2nd ed., 1885), p. 504. For existing remains see works quoted under ROME: _Archaeology_.

2. _The Modern Circus._--The "circus" in modern times is a form of popular entertainment which has little in common with the institution of classical Rome. It is frequently nomadic in character, the place of the permanent building known to the ancients as the circus being taken by a tent, which is carried from place to place and set up temporarily on any site procurable at country fairs or in provincial towns, and in which spectacular performances are given by a troupe employed by the proprietor. The centre of the tent forms an arena arranged as a horse-ring, strewn with tan or other soft substance, where the performances take place, the seats of the spectators being arranged in ascending tiers around the central space as in the Roman circus. The traditional type of exhibition in the modern travelling circus consists of feats of horsemanship, such as leaping through hoops from the back of a galloping horse, standing with one foot on each of two horses galloping side by side, turning somersaults from a springboard over a number of horses standing close together, or accomplishing acrobatic tricks on horseback. These performances, by male and female riders, are varied by the introduction of horses trained to perform tricks, and by drolleries on the part of the clown, whose place in the circus is as firmly established by tradition as in the pantomime.

The popularity of the circus in England may be traced to that kept by Philip Astley (d. 1814) in London at the end of the 18th century. Astley was followed by Ducrow, whose feats of horsemanship had much to do with establishing the traditions of the circus, which were perpetuated by Hengler's and Sanger's celebrated shows in a later generation. In America a circus-actor named Ricketts is said to have performed before George Washington in 1780, and in the first half of the 19th century the establishments of Purdy, Welch & Co., and of van Amburgh gave a wide popularity to the circus in the United States. All former circus-proprietors were, however, far surpassed in enterprise and resource by P.T. Barnum (q.v.), whose claim to be the possessor of "the greatest show on earth" was no exaggeration. The influence of Barnum, however, brought about a considerable change in the character of the modern circus. In arenas too large for speech to be easily audible, the traditional comic dialogue of the clown assumed a less prominent place than formerly, while the vastly increased wealth of stage properties relegated to the background the old-fashioned equestrian feats, which were replaced by more ambitious acrobatic performances, and by exhibitions of skill, strength and daring, requiring the employment of immense numbers of performers and often of complicated and expensive machinery. These tendencies are, as is natural, most marked in shows given in permanent buildings in large cities, such as the London Hippodrome, which was built as a combination of the circus, the menagerie and the variety theatre, where wild animals such as lions and elephants from time to time appeared in the ring, and where convulsions of nature such as floods, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions have been produced with an extraordinary wealth of realistic display. At the Hippodrome in Paris--unlike its London namesake, a circus of the true classical type in which the arena is entirely surrounded by the seats of the spectators--chariot races after the Roman model were held in the latter part of the 19th century, at which prizes of considerable value were given by the management.

CIRENCESTER (traditionally pronounced _Ciceter_), a market town in the Cirencester parliamentary division of Gloucestershire, England, on the river Churn, a tributary of the Thames, 93 m. W.N.W. of London. Pop. of urban district (1901) 7536. It is served by a branch of the Great Western railway, and there is also a station on the Midland and South-Western Junction railway. This is an ancient and prosperous market town of picturesque old houses clustering round a fine parish church, with a high embattled tower, and a remarkable south porch with parvise. The church is mainly Perpendicular, and among its numerous chapels that of St Catherine has a beautiful roof of fan-tracery in stone dated 1508. Of the abbey founded in 1117 by Henry I. there remain a Norman gateway and a few capitals. There are two good museums containing mosaics, inscriptions, carved and sculptured stones, and many smaller remains, for the town was the Roman _Corinium_ or _Durocornovium Dobunorum_. Little trace of Corinium, however, can be seen _in situ_, except the amphitheatre and some indications of the walls. To the west of the town is Cirencester House, the seat of Earl Bathurst. The first Lord Bathurst (1684-1775) devoted himself to beautifying the fine demesne of Oakley Park, which he planted and adorned with remarkable artificial ruins. This nobleman, who became baron in 1711 and earl in 1772, was a patron of art and literature no less than a statesman; and Pope, a frequent visitor here, was allowed to design the building known as Pope's Seat, in the park, commanding a splendid prospect of woods and avenues. Swift was another appreciative visitor. The house contains portraits by Lawrence, Gainsborough, Romney, Lely, Reynolds, Hoppner, Kneller and many others. A mile west of the town is the Royal Agricultural College, incorporated by charter in 1845. Its buildings include a chapel, a dining hall, a library, a lecture theatre, laboratories, classrooms, private studies and dormitories for the students, apartments for resident professors, and servants' offices; also a museum containing a collection of anatomical and pathological preparations, and mineralogical, botanical and geological specimens. The college farm comprises 500 acres, 450 of which are arable; and on it are the well-appointed farm-buildings and the veterinary hospital. Besides agriculture, the course of instruction at the college includes chemistry, natural and mechanical philosophy, natural history, mensuration, surveying and drawing, and other subjects of practical importance to the farmer, proficiency in which is tested by means of sessional examinations. The industries of Cirencester comprise various branches of agriculture. It has connexion by a branch canal with the Thames and Severn canal.

Corinium was a flourishing Romano-British town, at first perhaps a cavalry post, but afterwards, for the greater part of the Roman period, purely a civilian city. At Chedworth, 7 m. N.E., is one of the most noteworthy Roman villas in England. Cirencester (_Cirneceaster_, _Cyrenceaster_, _Cyringceaster_) is described in Domesday as ancient demesne of the crown. The manor was granted by William I. to William Fitzosbern; on reverting to the crown it was given in 1189, with the township, to the Augustinian abbey founded here by Henry I. The struggle of the townsmen to prove that Cirencester was a borough probably began in the same year, when they were amerced for a false presentment. Four inquisitions during the 13th century supported the abbot's claims, yet in 1343 the townsmen declared in a chancery bill of complaint that Cirencester was a borough distinct from the manor, belonging to the king but usurped by the abbot, who since 1308 had abated their court of provostry. Accordingly they produced a copy of a forged charter from Henry I. to the town; the court ignored this and the abbot obtained a new charter and a writ of _supersedeas_. For their success against the earls of Kent and Salisbury Henry IV. in 1403 gave the townsmen a gild merchant, although two inquisitions reiterated the abbot's rights. These were confirmed in 1408-1409 and 1413; in 1418 the charter was annulled, and in 1477 parliament declared that Cirencester was not corporate. After several unsuccessful attempts to re-establish the gild merchant, the government in 1592 was vested in the bailiff of the lord of the manor. Cirencester became a parliamentary borough in 1572, returning two members, but was deprived of representation in 1885. Besides the "new market" of Domesday Book the abbots obtained charters in 1215 and 1253 for fairs during the octaves of All Saints and St Thomas the Martyr. The wool trade gave these great importance; in 1341 there were ten wool merchants in Cirencester, and Leland speaks of the abbots' cloth-mill, while Camden calls it the greatest market for wool in England.

See _Transactions_ of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, vols. ii., ix., xviii.

CIRILLO, DOMENICO (1739-1799), Italian physician and patriot, was born at Grumo in the kingdom of Naples. Appointed while yet a young man to a botanical professorship, Cirillo went some years afterwards to England, where he was elected fellow of the Royal Society, and to France. On his return to Naples he was appointed successively to the chairs of practical and theoretical medicine. He wrote voluminously and well on scientific subjects and secured an extensive medical practice. On the French occupation of Naples and the proclamation of the Parthenopean republic (1799), Cirillo, after at first refusing to take part in the new government, consented to be chosen a representative of the people and became a member of the legislative commission, of which he was eventually elected president. On the abandonment of the republic by the French (June 1799), Cardinal Ruffo and the army of King Ferdinand IV. returned to Naples, and the Republicans withdrew, ill-armed and inadequately provisioned, to the forts. After a short siege they surrendered on honourable terms, life and liberty being guaranteed them by the signatures of Ruffo, of Foote, and of Micheroux. But the arrival of Nelson changed the complexion of affairs, and he refused to ratify the capitulation. Secure under the British flag, Ferdinand and his wife, Caroline of Austria, showed themselves eager for revenge, and Cirillo was involved with the other republicans in the vengeance of the royal family. He asked Lady Hamilton (wife of the British minister to Naples) to intercede on his behalf, but Nelson wrote in reference to the petition: "Domenico Cirillo, who had been the king's physician, might have been saved, but that he chose to play the fool and lie, denying that he had ever made any speeches against the government, and saying that he only took care of the poor in the hospitals" (_Nelson and the Neapolitan Jacobins_, Navy Records Society, 1903). He was condemned and hanged on the 29th of October 1799. Cirillo, whose favourite study was botany, and who was recognized as an entomologist by Linnaeus, left many books, in Latin and Italian, all of them treating of medical and scientific subjects, and all of little value now. Exception must, however, be made in favour of the _Virtù morali dell' Asino_, a pleasant philosophical pamphlet remarkable for its double charm of sense and style. He introduced many medical innovations into Naples, particularly inoculation for smallpox.

See C. Giglioli, _Naples in 1799_ (London, 1903); L. Conforti, _Napoli nel 1799_ (Naples, 1889); C. Tivaroni, _L' Italia durante il dominio francese_, vol. ii. pp. 179-204. Also under NAPLES; NELSON and FERDINAND IV. OF NAPLES.

CIRQUE (Lat. _circus_, ring), a French word used in physical geography to denote a semicircular crater-like amphitheatre at the head of a valley, or in the side of a glaciated mountain. The valley cirque is characteristic of calcareous districts. In the Chiltern Hills especially, and generally along the chalk escarpments, a flat-bottomed valley with an intermittent stream winds into the hill and ends suddenly in a cirque. There is an excellent example at Ivinghoe, Buckinghamshire, where it appears as though an enormous flat-bottomed scoop had been driven into the hillside and dragged outwards to the plain. In all cases it is found that the valley floor consists of hard or impervious rock above which lies a permeable or soluble stratum of considerable thickness. In the case of the chalk hills the upper strata are very porous, and the descending water with atmospheric and humous acids in solution has great solvent power. During the winter this upper layer becomes saturated and some of the water drains away along joints in the escarpment. An underground stream is thus developed carrying away a great deal of material in solution, and in consequence the ground above slowly collapses over the stream, while the cirque at the head, where the stream issues, gradually works backward and may pass completely through the hills, leaving a gap of which another drainage system may take possession. In the limestone country of the Cotteswold Hills, many small intermittent tributary streams are headed by cirques, and some of the longer dry valleys have springs issuing from beneath their lower ends, the dry valleys being collapsed areas above underground streams not yet revealed. In this case the pervious limestone is underlain by beds of impervious clay. There are many of these in the Jura Mountains. The Cirque de St Sulpice is a fine example where the impervious bed is a marly clay.

The origin of the glacial cirque is entirely different and is said by W.D. Johnson (_Journal of Geology_, xii. No. 7, 1904) to be due to basal sapping and erosion under the _bergschrund_ of the glacier. In this he is supported by G.K. Gilbert in the same journal, who produces some remarkable examples from the Sierra Nevada in California, where the mountain fragments have been left behind "like a sheet of dough upon a board after the biscuit tin has done its work"; so that above the head of the glaciers "the rock detail is rugged and splintered but its general effect is that of a great symmetrical arc." Descending one of the bergschrunds of Mt. Lyell to a depth of 150 ft., Johnson found a rock floor cumbered with ice and blocks of rock and the rock face a literally vertical cliff "much riven, its fracture planes outlining sharp angular masses in all stages of displacement and dislodgment." Judging from these facts, he interprets the deep valleys with cirques at their head in formerly glaciated regions where at the head there is a "reversed grade" of slope, as due to ice-erosion at valley-heads where scour is impossible at the sides of the mountain but strongest under the glacier head where the ice is deepest. The opponents of ice-erosion nevertheless recognize the very frequent occurrence of glacial cirques often containing small lakes such as that under Cader Idris in Wales, or at the head of Little Timber Creek, Montana, and numerous examples in Alpine districts.

CIRTA (mod. _Constantine_, q.v.), an ancient city of Numidia, in Africa, in the country of the Massyli. It was regarded by the Romans as the strongest position in Numidia, and was made by them the converging point of all their great military roads in that country. By the early emperors it was allowed to fall into decay, but was afterwards restored by Constantine, from whom it took its modern name.

CISSEY, ERNEST LOUIS OCTAVE COURTOT DE (1810-1882), French general, was born at Paris on the 23rd of September 1810, and after passing through St Cyr, entered the army in 1832, becoming captain in 1839. He saw

## active service in Algeria, and became _chef d'escadron_ in 1849 and

lieutenant-colonel in 1850. He took part as a colonel in the Crimean War, and after the battle of Inkerman received the rank of general of brigade. In 1863 he was promoted general of division. When the Franco-German War broke out in 1870, de Cissey was given a divisional command in the Army of the Rhine, and he was included in the surrender of Bazaine's army at Metz. He was released from captivity only at the end of the war, and on his return was at once appointed by the Versailles government to a command in the army engaged in the suppression of the Commune, a task in the execution of which he displayed great rigour. From July 1871 de Cissey sat as a deputy, and he had already become minister of war. He occupied this post several times during the critical period of the reorganization of the French army. In 1880, whilst holding the command of the XI. corps at Nantes, he was accused of having relations with a certain Baroness Kaula, who was said to be a spy in the pay of Germany, and he was in consequence relieved from duty. An inquiry subsequently held resulted in de Cissey's favour (1881). He died on the 15th of June 1882 at Paris.

CISSOID (from the Gr. [Greek: kissos], ivy, and [Greek: eidos], form), a curve invented by the Greek mathematician Diocles about 180 B.C., for the purpose of constructing two mean proportionals between two given lines, and in order to solve the problem of duplicating the cube. It was further investigated by John Wallis, Christiaan Huygens (who determined the length of any arc in 1657), and Pierre de Fermat (who evaluated the area between the curve and its asymptote in 1661). It is constructed in the following manner. Let APB be a semicircle, BT the tangent at B, and APT a line cutting the circle in P and BT at T; take a point Q on AT so that AQ always equals PT; then the locus of Q is the cissoid. Sir Isaac Newton devised the following mechanical construction. Take a rod LMN bent at right angles at M, such that MN = AB; let the leg LM always pass through a fixed point O on AB produced such that OA = CA, where C is the middle point of AB, and cause N to travel along the line perpendicular to AB at C; then the midpoint of MN traces the cissoid. The curve is symmetrical about the axis of x, and consists of two infinite branches asymptotic to the line BT and forming a cusp at the origin. The cartesian equation, when A is the origin and AB = 2a, is y²(2a - x) = x³; the polar equation is r = 2a sin [theta] tan [theta]. The cissoid is the first positive pedal of the parabola y² + 8ax = 0 for the vertex, and the inverse of the parabola y² = 8ax, the vertex being the centre of inversion, and the semi-latus rectum the constant of inversion. The area between the curve and its asymptote is 3[pi]a², i.e. three times the area of the generating circle.

The term cissoid has been given in modern times to curves generated in similar manner from other figures than the circle, and the form described above is distinguished as the cissoid of Diocles.

[Illustration]

A _cissoid angle_ is the angle included between the concave sides of two intersecting curves; the convex sides include the _sistroid angle_.

See John Wallis, _Collected Works_, vol. i.; T.H. Eagles, _Plane Curves_ (1885).

CIS-SUTLEJ STATES, the southern portion of the Punjab, India. The name, now obsolete, came into use in 1809, when the Sikh chiefs south of the Sutlej passed under British protection, and was generally applied to the country south of the Sutlej and north of the Delhi territory, bounded on the E. by the Himalayas, and on the W. by Sirsa district. Before 1846 the greater part of this territory was independent, the chiefs being subject merely to control from a political officer stationed at Umballa, and styled the agent of the governor-general for the Cis-Sutlej states. After the first Sikh War the full administration of the territory became vested in this officer. In 1849 occurred the annexation of the Punjab, when the Cis-Sutlej states commissionership, comprising the districts of Umballa, Ferozepore, Ludhiana, Thanesar and Simla, was incorporated with the new province. The name continued to be applied to this division until 1862, when, owing to Ferozepore having been transferred to the Lahore, and a part of Thanesar to the Delhi division, it ceased to be appropriate. Since then, the tract remaining has been known as the Umballa division. Patiala, Jind and Nabha were appointed a separate political agency in 1901. Excluding Bahawalpur, for which there is no political agent, and Chamba, the other states are grouped under the commissioners of Jullunder and Delhi, and the superintendent of the Simla hill states.

CIST (Gr. [Greek: kistê], Lat. _cista_, a box; cf. Ger. _Kiste_, Welsh _kistvaen_, stone-coffin, and also the other Eng. form "chest"), in Greek archaeology, a wicker-work receptacle used in the Eleusinian and other mysteries to carry the sacred vessels; also, in the archaeology of prehistoric man, a coffin formed of flat stones placed edgeways with another flat stone for a cover. The word is also used for a sepulchral chamber cut in the rock (see COFFIN).

"Cistern," the common term for a water-tank, is a derivation of the same word (Lat. _cisterna_; cf. "cave" and "cavern").

CISTERCIANS, otherwise GREY or WHITE MONKS (from the colour of the habit, over which is worn a black scapular or apron). In 1098 St Robert, born of a noble family in Champagne, at first a Benedictine monk, and then abbot of certain hermits settled at Molesme near Châtillon, being dissatisfied with the manner of life and observance there, migrated with twenty of the monks to a swampy place called Cîteaux in the diocese of Châlons, not far from Dijon. Count Odo of Burgundy here built them a monastery, and they began to live a life of strict observance according to the letter of St Benedict's rule. In the following year Robert was compelled by papal authority to return to Molesme, and Alberic succeeded him as abbot of Cîteaux and held the office till his death in 1109, when the Englishman St Stephen Harding became abbot, until 1134. For some years the new institute seemed little likely to prosper; few novices came, and in the first years of Stephen's abbacy it seemed doomed to failure. In 1112, however, St Bernard and thirty others offered themselves to the monastery, and a rapid and wonderful development at once set in. The next three years witnessed the foundation of the four great "daughter-houses of Cîteaux"--La Ferté, Pontigny, Clairvaux and Morimond. At Stephen's death there were over 30 Cistercian houses; at Bernard's (1154) over 280; and by the end of the century over 500; and the Cistercian influence in the Church more than kept pace with this material expansion, so that St Bernard saw one of his monks ascend the papal chair as Eugenius III.

The keynote of Cistercian life was a return to a literal observance of St Benedict's rule--how literal may be seen from the controversy between St Bernard and Peter the Venerable, abbot of Cluny (see Maitland, _Dark Ages_, § xxii.). The Cistercians rejected alike all mitigations and all developments, and tried to reproduce the life exactly as it had been in St Benedict's time, indeed in various points they went beyond it in austerity. The most striking feature in the reform was the return to manual labour, and especially to field-work, which became a special characteristic of Cistercian life. In order to make time for this work they cut away the accretions to the divine office which had been steadily growing during three centuries, and in Cluny and the other Black Monk monasteries had come to exceed greatly in length the regular canonical office: one only of these accretions did they retain, the daily recitation of the Office of the Dead (Edm. Bishop, _Origin of the Primer_, Early English Text Society, original series, 109, p. xxx.).

It was as agriculturists and horse and cattle breeders that, after the first blush of their success and before a century had passed, the Cistercians exercised their chief influence on the progress of civilization in the later middle ages: they were the great farmers of those days, and many of the improvements in the various farming operations were introduced and propagated by them; it is from this point of view that the importance of their extension in northern Europe is to be estimated. The Cistercians at the beginning renounced all sources of income arising from benefices, tithes, tolls and rents, and depended for their income wholly on the land. This developed an organized system for selling their farm produce, cattle and horses, and notably contributed to the commercial progress of the countries of western Europe. Thus by the middle of the 13th century the export of wool by the English Cistercians had become a feature in the commerce of the country. Farming operations on so extensive a scale could not be carried out by the monks alone, whose choir and religious duties took up a considerable portion of their time; and so from the beginning the system of lay brothers was introduced on a large scale. The lay brothers were recruited from the peasantry and were simple uneducated men, whose function consisted in carrying out the various field-works and plying all sorts of useful trades; they formed a body of men who lived alongside of the choir monks, but separate from them, not taking part in the canonical office, but having their own fixed round of prayer and religious exercises. A lay brother was never ordained, and never held any office of superiority. It was by this system of lay brothers that the Cistercians were able to play their distinctive part in the progress of European civilization. But it often happened that the number of lay brothers became excessive and out of proportion to the resources of the monasteries, there being sometimes as many as 200, or even 300, in a single abbey. On the other hand, at any rate in some countries, the system of lay brothers in course of time worked itself out; thus in England by the close of the 14th century it had shrunk to relatively small proportions, and in the 15th century the régime of the English Cistercian houses tended to approximate more and more to that of the Black Monks.

The Cistercian polity calls for special mention. Its lines were adumbrated by Alberic, but it received its final form at a meeting of the abbots in the time of Stephen Harding, when was drawn up the _Carta Caritatis_ (Migne, _Patrol. Lat._ clxvi. 1377), a document which arranged the relations between the various houses of the Cistercian order, and exercised a great influence also upon the future course of western monachism. From one point of view, it may be regarded as a compromise between the primitive Benedictine system, whereby each abbey was autonomous and isolated, and the complete centralization of Cluny, whereby the abbot of Cluny was the only true superior in the body. Cîteaux, on the one hand, maintained the independent organic life of the houses--each abbey had its own abbot, elected by its own monks; its own community, belonging to itself and not to the order in general; its own property and finances administered by itself, without interference from outside. On the other hand, all the abbeys were subjected to the general chapter, which met yearly at Cîteaux, and consisted of the abbots only; the abbot of Cîteaux was the president of the chapter and of the order, and the visitor of each and every house, with a predominant influence and the power of enforcing everywhere exact conformity to Cîteaux in all details of the exterior life--observance, chant, customs. The principle was that Cîteaux should always be the model to which all the other houses had to conform. In case of any divergence of view at the chapter, the side taken by the abbot of Cîteaux was always to prevail (see F.A. Gasquet, _Sketch of Monastic Constitutional History_, pp. xxxv-xxxviii, prefixed to English trans, of Montalembert's _Monks of the West_, ed. 1895).

By the end of the 12th century the Cistercian houses numbered 500; in the 13th a hundred more were added; and in the 15th, when the order attained its greatest extension, there were close on 750 houses: the larger figures sometimes given are now recognized as apocryphal. Nearly half of the houses had been founded, directly or indirectly, from Clairvaux, so great was St Bernard's influence and prestige: indeed he has come almost to be regarded as the founder of the Cistercians, who have often been called Bernardines. The order was spread all over western Europe,--chiefly in France, but also in Germany, England, Scotland, Ireland, Sweden, Poland, Hungary, Italy and Sicily, Spain and Portugal,--where some of the houses, as Alcobaça, were of almost incredible magnificence. In England the first foundation was Furness (1127), and many of the most beautiful monastic buildings of the country, beautiful in themselves and beautiful in their sites, were Cistercian,--as Tintern, Rievaulx, Byland, Fountains. A hundred were established in England in the next hundred years, and then only one more up to the Dissolution (for list, see table and map in F.A. Gasquet's _English Monastic Life_, or _Catholic Dictionary_, art. "Cistercians").

For a hundred years, till the first quarter of the 13th century, the Cistercians supplanted Cluny as the most powerful order and the chief religious influence in western Europe. But then in turn their influence began to wane, chiefly, no doubt, because of the rise of the mendicant orders, who ministered more directly to the needs and ideas of the new age. But some of the reasons of Cistercian decline were internal. In the first place, there was the permanent difficulty of maintaining in its first fervour a body embracing hundreds of monasteries and thousands of monks, spread all over Europe; and as the Cistercian very _raison d'être_ consisted in its being a "reform," a return to primitive monachism, with its field-work and severe simplicity, any failures to live up to the ideal proposed worked more disastrously among Cistercians than among mere Benedictines, who were intended to live a life of self-denial, but not of great austerity. Relaxations were gradually introduced in regard to diet and to simplicity of life, and also in regard to the sources of income, rents and tolls being admitted and benefices incorporated, as was done among the Benedictines; the farming operations tended to produce a commercial spirit; wealth and splendour invaded many of the monasteries, and the choir monks abandoned field-work.

The later history of the Cistercians is largely one of attempted revivals and reforms. The general chapter for long battled bravely against the invasion of relaxations and abuses. In 1335 Benedict XII., himself a Cistercian, promulgated a series of regulations to restore the primitive spirit of the order, and in the 15th century various popes endeavoured to promote reforms. All these efforts at a reform of the great body of the order proved unavailing; but local reforms, producing various semi-independent offshoots and congregations, were successfully carried out in many parts in the course of the 15th and 16th centuries. In the 17th another great effort at a general reform was made, promoted by the pope and the king of France; the general chapter elected Richelieu (commendatory) abbot of Cîteaux, thinking he would protect them from the threatened reform. In this they were disappointed, for he threw himself wholly on the side of reform. So great, however, was the resistance, and so serious the disturbances that ensued, that the attempt to reform Cîteaux itself and the general body of the houses had again to be abandoned, and only local projects of reform could be carried out. In 1598 had arisen the reformed congregation of the Feuillants, which spread widely in France and Italy, in the latter country under the name of "Improved Bernardines." The French congregation of Sept-Fontaines (1654) also deserves mention. In 1663 de Rancé reformed La Trappe (see TRAPPISTS).

The Reformation, the ecclesiastical policy of Joseph II., the French Revolution, and the revolutions of the 19th century, almost wholly destroyed the Cistercians; but some survived, and since the beginning of the last half of the 19th century there has been a considerable recovery. They are at present divided into three bodies: (1) the Common Observance, with about 30 monasteries and 800 choir monks, the large majority being in Austria-Hungary; they represent the main body of the order and follow a mitigated rule of life; they do not carry on field-work, but have large secondary schools, and are in manner of life little different from fairly observant Benedictine Black monks; of late years, however, signs are not wanting of a tendency towards a return to older ideas; (2) the Middle Observance, embracing some dozen monasteries and about 150 choir monks; (3) the Strict Observance, or Trappists (q.v.), with nearly 60 monasteries, about 1600 choir monks and 2000 lay brothers.

In all there are about 100 Cistercian monasteries and about 4700 monks, including lay brothers. There have always been a large number of Cistercian nuns; the first nunnery was founded at Tart in the diocese of Langres, 1125; at the period of their widest extension there are said to have been 900 nunneries, and the communities were very large. The nuns were devoted to contemplation and also did field-work. In Spain and France certain Cistercian abbesses had extraordinary privileges. Numerous reforms took place among the nuns. The best known of all Cistercian convents was probably Port-Royal (q.v.), reformed by Angélique Arnaud, and associated with the story of the Jansenist controversy. After all the troubles of the 19th century there still exist 100 Cistercian nunneries with 3000 nuns, choir and lay; of these, 15 nunneries with 900 nuns are Trappist.

Accounts of the beginnings of the Cistercians and of the primitive life and spirit will be found in the lives of St Bernard, the best whereof is that of Abbé E. Vacandard (1895); also in the Life of St Stephen Harding, in the _English Saints_. See also Henry Collins (one of the Oxford Movement, who became a Cistercian), _Spirit and Mission of the Cistercian Order_ (1866). The facts are related in Helyot, _Hist. des ordres religieux_ (1792), v. cc. 33-46, vi cc. 1, 2. Useful sketches, with references to the literature, are supplied in Herzog, _Realencyklopädie_ (ed. 3), art. "Cistercienser"; Wetzer und Welte, _Kirchenlexikon_ (ed. 2), art. "Cistercienserorden"; Max Heimbucher, _Orden und Kongregationen_ (1896), i. §§ 33, 34. Prof. Brewer's discriminating, yet on the whole sympathetic, Preface to vol. iv. of the Works of Giraldus Cambrensis (Rolls Series of _Chronicles and Memorials_) is very instructive. Denis Murphy's _Triumphalia Monasterii S. Crucis_ (1891) contains a general sketch, with a

## particular account of the Irish Cistercians. (E. C. B.)

CITATION (Lat. _citare_, to cite), in law, a summons to appear, more

## particularly applied in England to process in the probate and divorce

division of the high court. In the ecclesiastical courts, citation was a method of commencing a probate suit, answering to a writ of summons at common law, and it is now in English probate practice an instrument issuing from the principal probate registry, chiefly used when a person, having the superior right to take a grant, delays or declines to do so, and another having an inferior right desires to obtain a grant; the party having the prior right is cited to appear and either to renounce the grant or show cause why it should not be decreed to the citator. In divorce practice, when a petitioner has filed his petition and affidavit, he extracts a citation, i.e. a command drawn in the name of the sovereign and signed by one of the registrars of the court, calling upon the alleged offender to appear and make answer to the petition. In Scots law, citation is used in the sense of a writ of summons. The word in its more general literary sense means the act of quoting, or the referring to an authority in support of an argument.

CÎTEAUX, a village of eastern France, in the department of Côte d'Or, 16 m. S.S.E. of Dijon by road. It is celebrated for the great abbey founded by Robert, abbot of Molesme, in 1098, which became the headquarters of the Cistercian order. The buildings which remain date chiefly from the 18th century and are of little interest. The church, destroyed in 1792, used to contain the tombs of the earlier dukes of Burgundy.

CITHAERON, now called from its pine forests Elatea, a famous mountain range (4626 ft.) in the south of Boeotia, separating that state from Megaris and Attica. It was famous in Greek mythology, and is frequently mentioned by the great poets, especially by Sophocles. It was on Cithaeron that Aetaeon was changed into a stag, that Pentheus was torn to pieces by the Bacchantes whose orgies he had been watching, and that the infant Oedipus was exposed. This mountain, too, was the scene of the mystic rites of Dionysus, and the festival of the Daedala in honour of Hera. The carriage-road from Athens to Thebes crosses the range by a picturesque defile (the pass of Dryoscephalae, "Oak-heads"), which was at one time guarded on the Attic side by a strong fortress, the ruins of which are known as Ghyphto-kastro ("Gipsy Castle"). Plataea is situated on the north slope of the mountain, and the strategy of the battle of 479 B.C. was considerably affected by the fact that it was necessary for the Greeks to keep their communications open by the passes (see PLATAEA). The best known of these is that of Dryoscephalae, which must then, as now, have been the direct route from Athens to Thebes. Two other passes, farther to the west, were crossed by the roads from Plataea to Athens and to Megara respectively. (E. GR.)

CITHARA (Assyrian _chetarah_; Gr. [Greek: kithara]; Lat. _cithara_; perhaps Heb. _kinura, kinnor_), one of the most ancient stringed instruments, traced back to 1700 B.C. among the Semitic races, in Egypt, Assyria, Asia Minor, Greece and the Roman empire, whence the use of it spread over Europe. The main feature of the Greek _kithara_, its shallow sound-chest, being the most important part of it, is also that in which developments are most noticeable; its contour varied considerably during the many musical ages, but the characteristic in respect of which it fore-shadowed the precursors of the violin family, and by which they were distinguished from other contemporary stringed instruments of the middle ages, was preserved throughout in all European descendants bearing derived names. This characteristic box sound-chest (fig. 1) consisted of two resonating tables, either flat or delicately arched, connected by ribs or sides of equal width. The cithara may be regarded as an attempt by a more skilful craftsman or race to improve upon the lyre (q.v.), while retaining some of its features. The construction of the cithara can fortunately be accurately studied from two actual specimens found in Egypt and preserved in the museums of Berlin and Leiden. The Leiden cithara (fig. 2), which forms part of the d'Anastasy Collection in the Museum of Antiquities, is in a very good state of preservation. The sound-chest, in the form of an irregular square (17 cm. X 17 cm.), is hollowed out of a solid block of wood from the base, which is open; the little bar, seen through the open base and measuring 2½ cm. (1 in.), is also of the same piece of wood. The arms, one short and one long, are solid and are fixed to the body by means of wooden pins; they are glued as well for greater strength. W. Pleyte, through whose courtesy the sketch was revised and corrected, states that there are no indications on the instrument of any kind of bridge or attachment for strings except the little half-hoop of iron wire which passes through the base from back to front. To this the strings were probably attached, and the little bar performed the double duty of sound-post and support for strengthening the tail-piece and enabling it to resist the tension of the strings. The oblique transverse bar, rendered necessary by the increasing length of the strings, was characteristic of the Egyptian cithara,[1] whereas the Asiatic and Greek instruments were generally constructed with horizontal bars resting on arms of equal length, the pitch of the strings being varied by thickness and tension, instead of by length. (For the Berlin cithara see LYRE.)

[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Nero Citharoedus (_Mus. Pio-Clementino_), showing back of a Roman Cithara.]

[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Ancient Egyptian Cithara from Thebes. Museum of Antiquities, Leiden.]

The number of strings with which the cithara was strung varied from 4 to 19 or 20 at different times; they were added less for the purpose of increasing the compass in the modern sense than to enable the performer to play in the different modes of the Greek musical system. Terpander is credited with having increased the number of strings to seven; Euclid, quoting him as his authority, states that "loving no more the tetrachordal chant, we will sing aloud new hymns to a seven-toned phorminx."

What has been said of the scale of the lyre applies also to the cithara, and need therefore not be repeated here. The strings were vibrated by means of the fingers or plectrum ([Greek: plêktron], from [Greek: plêssein], to strike; Lat. _plectrum_, from _plango_, I strike). Twanging with the fingers for strings of gut, hemp or silk was undoubtedly the more artistic method, since the player was able to command various shades of expression which are impossible with a rigid plectrum.[2] Loudness of accent and great brilliancy of tone, however, can only be obtained by the use of the plectrum.

Quotations from the classics abound to show what was the practice of the Greeks and Romans in this respect. The plectrum was held in the right hand, with elbow outstretched and palm bent inwards, and the strings were plucked with the straightened fingers of the left hand.[3] Both methods were used with intention according to the dictates of art for the sake of the variation in tone colour obtainable thereby.[4]

The strings of the cithara were either knotted round the transverse tuning bar itself (_zugon_) or to rings threaded over the bar, which enabled the performer to increase or decrease the tension by shifting the knots or rings; or else they were wound round pegs,[5] knobs[6] or pins[7] fixed to the zugon. The other end of the strings was secured to a tail-piece after passing over a flat bridge, or the two were combined in the curious high box tail-piece which acted as a bridge. Plutarch[8] states that this contrivance was added to the cithara in the days of Cepion, pupil of Terpander. These boxes were hinged in order to allow the lid to be opened for the purpose of securing the strings to some contrivance concealed therein. It is a curious fact that no sculptured cithara provided with this box tail-piece is represented with strings, and in many cases there could never have been any, for the hand and arm[9] are visible across the space that would be filled by the strings, which are always carved in a solid block.

[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Apollo Citharoedus, showing Cithara with box tail-pieces.]

Like the lyre the cithara was made in many sizes, conditioned by the pitch and the use to which the instrument was to be put. These instruments may have been distinguished by different names; the _pectis_, for instance, is declared by Sappho (22nd fragment) to have been small and shrill; the _phorminx_, on the other hand, seems to have been identical with the cithara.[10]

The Greek _kithara_ was the instrument of the professional singer or citharoedus ([Greek: kitharôdos]) and of the instrumentalist or citharista ([Greek: kitharistês]), and thus served the double purpose of (1) accompanying the voice--a use placed by the Greeks far above mere instrumental music--in epic recitations and rhapsodies, in odes and lyric songs; and (2) of accompanying the dance; it was also used for playing solos at the national games, at receptions and banquets and at trials of skill. The costume of the citharoedus and citharista was rich and recognized as being distinctive; it varied but little throughout the ages, as may be deduced from a comparison of representations of the citharoedus on a coin and on a Greek vase of the best period (fig. 4). The costume consisted of a _palla_ or long tunic with sleeves embroidered with gold and girt high above the waist, falling in graceful folds to the feet. This _palla_ must not be confounded with the mantle of the same name worn by women. Over one shoulder, or hanging down the back, was the purple _chlamys_ or cloak, and on his brow a golden wreath of laurels. All the citharoedi bear instruments of the type here described as the cithara, and never one of the lyre type. The records of the citharoedi extend over more than thirteen centuries and fall into two natural divisions: (1) The mythological period, approximately from the 13th century B.C. to the first Olympiad, 776 B.C.; and (2) the historical period to the days of Ptolemy, A.D. 161. One of the very few authentic Greek odes extant is a Pythian ode by Pindar, in which the phorminx of Apollo is mentioned; the solo is followed by a chorus of citharoedi. The scope of the solemn games and processions, called _Panathenaea_, held every four years in honour of the goddess Athena, which originally consisted principally of athletic sports and horse and chariot races, was extended under Peisistratus (c. 540 B.C.), and the celebration made to include contests of singers and instrumentalists, recitations of portions of the _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_, such as are represented on the frieze of the Parthenon (in the Elgin Room at the British Museum) and later on friezes by Pheidias. It was at the same period that the first contests for solo-playing on the cithara ([Greek: kitharistus]) and for solo _aulos_-playing were instituted at the 8th Pythian Games.[11] One of the principal items at these contests for aulos and cithara was the _Nomos Pythikos_, descriptive of the victory of Apollo over the python and of the defeat of the monster.[12]

[Illustration: FIG. 4.--Cithara or Phorminx, from a vase in the British Museum.]

The Pythian Games survived the classic Greek period and were continued under Roman sway until about A.D. 394. Not only were these games held at Delphi, but smaller contests, called Pythia, modelled on the great Pythian, were instituted in various provinces of the empire, and more especially in Asia Minor. The games lasted for several days, the first being devoted to music. To the games at Delphi came musicians from all parts of the civilized world; and the Spaniards, at the beginning of our era, had attained to such a marvellous proficiency in playing the cithara, an instrument which they had learnt to know from the Phoenician colonists before the conquest by the Romans, that some of their citharoedi easily carried off the honours at the musical contests. The consul Metellus was so charmed with the music of the Spanish competitors that he sent some to Rome for the festivals, where the impression created was so great that the Spanish citharoedi obtained a permanent footing in Rome. Aulus Gellius (_Noct. Att._) describes an incident at a banquet which corroborates this statement.

The degeneration of music as an art among the Romans, and its gradual degradation by association with the sensual amusements of corrupt Rome, nearly brought about its extinction at the end of the 4th century, when the condemnation of the Church closed the theatres, and the great national games came to an end. Instrumental music was banished from civil life and from religious rites, and thenceforth the slender threads which connect the musical instruments of Greeks and Romans with those of the middle ages must be sought among the unconverted barbarians of northern and western Europe, who kept alive the traditions taught them by conquerors and colonists; but as civilization was in its infancy with them the instruments sent out from their workshops must have been crude and primitive. Asia, the cradle of the cithara, also became its foster-mother; it was among the Greeks of Asia Minor that the several steps in the transition from cithara into guitar[13] (q.v.) took place.

[Illustration: FIG. 5.--Asiatic Cithara in transition (or rotta). From a fresco at Beni-Hasan (c. 1700 B.C.).]

[Illustration: FIG. 6.--Roman Cithara in transition, of the Lycian Apollo (Rome Mus. Capit.).]

The first of these steps produced the rotta (q.v.), by the construction of body, arms and transverse bar in one piece. The Semitic races used the rotta at a very remote period (1700 B.C.), as we know from a fresco at Beni-Hasan, dating from the reign of Senwosri II., which depicts a procession of strangers bringing tribute; among them is a bearded musician of Semitic type bearing a rotta which he holds horizontally in front of him in the Assyrian manner, and quite unlike the Greeks, who always played the lyre and cithara in an upright position. A unique specimen of this rectangular rotta was found in an Alamannic tomb of the 5th or 6th century at Oberflacht in the Black Forest. The instrument was clasped in the arms of an armed knight; it is now preserved in the Völker Museum in Berlin. This old German rotta is an exact counterpart of instruments pictured in illuminated MSS. of the 8th century, and is derived from the cithara with rectangular body, while from the cithara with a body having the curve of the lower half of the violin was produced a rotta with the outline of the body of the guitar. Both types were common in Europe until the 14th century, some played with a bow, others twanged by the fingers, and bearing indifferently both names, cithara and rotta. The addition of a finger-board, stretching like a short neck from body to transverse bar, leaving on each side of the finger-board space for the hand to pass through in order to stop the strings, produced the crwth or crowd (q.v.), and brought about the reduction in the number of the strings to three or four. The conversion of the rotta into the guitar (q.v.) was an easy transition effected by the addition of a long neck to a body derived from the oval rotta. When the bow was applied the result was the guitar or troubadour fiddle. At first the instrument called _cithara_ in the Latin versions of the Psalms was glossed _citran, citre_ in Anglo-Saxon, but in the 11th century the same instrument was rendered _hearpan_, and in French and English _harpe_ or _harp_, and our modern versions have retained this translation. The _cittern_ (q.v.), a later descendant of the cithara, although preserving the characteristic features of the cithara, the shallow sound-chest with ribs, adopted the pear-shaped outline of the Eastern instruments of the lute tribe. (K.S.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] A drawing of an Egyptian cithara, similar to the Leiden specimen, may be seen in Champollion, _Monuments de l'Égypte et de la Nubie_, ii. pl. 175.

[2] See Plutarch, _Apophthegm. Lacon._

[3] Philostratus the Elder, _Imagines_, No. 10, "Amphion," and Philostratus the Younger, _Imagines_, No. 7, "Orpheus," p. 403.

[4] Tibullus, _Eleg._ iii. 4. 39.

[5] _Le Antichità de Ercolano_, vol. iii. p. 5.

[6] _Idem_, vol. iv. p. 201.

[7] Thomas Hope, _Costumes of the Ancients_, vol. ii. p. 193; also Edward Buhle, _Die musikalischen Instrumente in den Miniaturen des frühen Mittelalters_ (Leipzig, 1903), frontispiece.

[8] See _De Musica_, ch. vi.

[9] See Visconti, _Museo Clementino_, pl. 22, Erato's cithara, and in the same work that of Apollo Citharoedus (fig. 3 above).

[10] See _Od._ i. 153, 155; _Il._ xviii. 569-570. In Homer the form is always [Greek: kitharis].

[11] See Pausanias x. 7, § 4 et seq.

[12] For a description of the _Nomos Pythikos_ in its relation to Greek music see Kathleen Schlesinger, "Researches into the Origin of the Organs of the Ancients," _Intern. Mus. Ges._ Sbd. ii. (1901), 2, p. 177, and Strabo ix. p. 421.

[13] For a discussion of this question see Kathleen Schlesinger, _The Instruments of the Orchestra_,