Cliff. (See Clef.)
Clipeolum. Dimin. of Clipeus (q.v.).
Fig. 169. Clipeus.
Clipeus and Clipeum, R. (akin to καλύπτω, to cover or conceal). A large broad shield of circular shape and concave on the inside. It was of great weight, and formed part of the special equipment of the cavalry. The original clipeus Argolicus was circular, and often likened to the sun: in Roman sculpture it is often oval. The outer rim was termed antyx; the boss in the centre, omphalos, or umbo; a leather strap for the arm, telamon. It was replaced, subsequently, by the Scutum (q.v.). Fig. [169] is an ornamented bronze clipeus, thought to be Gaulish. This term also serves to denote (1) a shield of metal or marble which was employed as an ornament (Fig. [170] represents an ornamental shield, such as was placed on the frieze of a building, and especially in the metopes of the Doric entablature); and (2) an apparatus employed in the laconicum (q.v.) to regulate the temperature. In the illustration to Caldarium a slave may be seen pulling the chains of the clipeus.
Fig. 170. Ornamental Clipeus.
Fig. 171. Cloaca Maxima at Rome.
Cloaca, R. (from cluo, i. e. the cleanser). A subterranean sewer or canal constructed of masonry. The Cloaca Maxima, or Main Sewer of Rome, was constructed by the elder Tarquin to drain a marsh lying at the foot of the Palatine and Capitoline Hills. Fig. [171] represents one of its mouths. It was formed of three tiers of arches, the innermost being fourteen feet in diameter.