Clanis, a centaur killed by Theseus. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 12, li. 379.
Clanius, or Clanis, a river of Campania. Virgil, Georgics, bk. 2, li. 225.——Of Etruria, now Chiana. Silius Italicus, bk. 8, li. 454.—Tacitus, Annals, bk. 1, ch. 79.
Clarus, or Claros, a town of Iona, famous for an oracle of Apollo. It was built by Manto daughter of Tiresias, who fled from Thebes, after it had been destroyed by the Epigoni. She was so afflicted with her misfortunes, that a lake was formed with her tears, where she first founded the oracle. Apollo was from thence surnamed Clarius. Strabo, bk. 14.—Pausanias, bk. 7, ch. 3.—Mela, bk. 1, ch. 7.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 1, li. 516.——An island of the Ægean, between Tenedos and Scios. Thucydides, bk. 3, ch. 33.——One of the companions of Æneas. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 10, li. 126.
Clastidium, now Schiatezzo, a town of Liguria. Strabo, bk. 5.—Livy, bk. 32, ch. 29.——A village of Gaul. Plutarch, Marcellus.
Claudia, a patrician family at Rome, descended from Clausus, a king of the Sabines. It gave birth to many illustrious patriots in the republic; and it was particularly recorded that there were not less than 28 of that family who were invested with the consulship, five with the office of dictator, and seven with that of censor, besides the honour of six triumphs. Suetonius, Tiberius, ch. 1.
Claudia, a vestal virgin accused of incontinence. To show her innocence, she offered to remove a ship which had brought the image of Vesta to Rome, and had stuck in one of the shallow places of the river. This had already baffled the efforts of a number of men; and Claudia, after addressing her prayers to the goddess, untied her girdle, and with it easily dragged after her the ship to shore, and by this action was honourably acquitted. Valerius Maximus, bk. 5, ch. 4.—Propertius, bk. 4, poem 12, li. 52.—Silius Italicus, bk. 17, li. 34.—Ovid, Fasti, bk. 4, li. 315; ex Ponto, bk. 1, ltr. 2, li. 144.——A step-daughter of Marcus Antony, whom Augustus married. He dismissed her undefiled, immediately after the contract of marriage, on account of a sudden quarrel with her mother Fulvia. Suetonius, Augustus, ch. 62.——The wife of the poet Statius. Statius, bk. 3, Sylvæ, poem 5.——A daughter of Appius Claudius, betrothed to Tiberias Gracchus.——The wife of Metellus Celer, sister to Publius Clodius and to Appius Claudius.——An inconsiderable town of Noricum. Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 14.——A Roman road, which led from the Milvian bridge to the Flaminian way. Ovid, bk. 1, ex Ponto, poem 8, li. 44.——A tribe which received its name from Appius Claudius, who came to settle at Rome with a large body of attendants. Livy, bk. 2, ch. 16.—Dionysius of Halicarnassus, bk. 5.——Quinta, a daughter of Appius Cæcus, whose statue in the vestibulum of Cybele’s temple was unhurt when that edifice was reduced to ashes. Valerius Maximus, bk. 1, ch. 8.—Tacitus, Annals, bk. 4, ch. 64.——Pulchra, a cousin of Agrippina, accused of adultery and criminal designs against Tiberius. She was condemned. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 4, ch. 52.——Antonia, a daughter of the emperor Claudius, married Cnaeus Pompey, whom Messalina caused to be put to death. Her second husband, Sylla Faustus, by whom she had a son, was called Nero, and she shared his fate, when she refused to marry his murderer.
Claudia lex, de comitiis, was enacted by Marcus Claudius Marcellus, A.U.C. 702. It ordained, that at public elections of magistrates, no notice should be taken of the votes of such as were absent.——Another, de usurâ, which forbade people to lend money to minors on condition of payment after the decease of their parents.——Another, de negotiatione, by Quintus Claudius the tribune, A.U.C. 535. It forbade any senator, or father of a senator, to have any vessel containing above 300 amphoræ, for fear of their engaging themselves in commercial schemes. The same law also forbade the same thing to the scribes and the attendants of the questors, as it was naturally supposed that people who had any commercial connections could not be faithful to their trust, nor promote the interest of the state.——Another, A.U.C. 576, to permit the allies to return to their respective cities, after their names were enrolled. Livy, bk. 41, ch. 9.——Another, to take away the freedom of the city of Rome from the colonists, which Cæsar had carried to Novicomum. Suetonius, Julius, ch. 28.
Claudiæ aquæ, the first water brought to Rome by means of an aqueduct of 11 miles, erected by the censor Appius Claudius, A.U.C. 441. Eutropius, bk. 2, ch. 4.—Livy, bk. 9, ch. 29.
Claudiānus, a celebrated poet, born at Alexandria in Egypt, in the age of Honorius and Arcadius, who seems to possess all the majesty of Virgil, without being a slave to the corrupt style which prevailed in his age. Scaliger observes that he has supplied the poverty of his matter by the purity of his language, the happiness of his expressions, and the melody of his numbers. As he was the favourite of Stilicho, he removed from the court when his patron was disgraced, and passed the rest of his life in retirement and learned ease. His poems of Rufinus and Eutropius seem to be the best of his compositions. The best editions of his works are those of Burman, 4to, 2 vols., Amsterdam, 1760, and that of Gesner, 2 vols., 8vo, Lipscomb, 1758.
Claudiopŏlis, a town of Cappadocia. Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 24.