COMMITTEE (from committé, an Anglo-Fr. past participle of commettre, Lat. committere, to entrust; the modern Fr. equivalent comité is derived from the Eng.), a person or body of persons to whom something is “committed” or entrusted. The term is used of a person or persons to whom the charge of the body (“committee of the person”) or of the property and business affairs (“committee of the estate”) of a lunatic is committed by the court (see [Insanity]). In this sense the English usage is to pronounce the word commi-ttee. The more common meaning of “committee” (pronounced commítt-y) is that of a body of persons elected or appointed to consider and deal with certain matters of business, specially or generally referred to it.
COMMODIANUS, a Christian Latin poet, who flourished about A.D. 250. The only ancient writers who mention him are Gennadius, presbyter of Massilia (end of 5th century), in his De scriptoribus ecclesiasticis, and Pope Gelasius in De libris recipiendis et non recipiendis, in which his works are classed as Apocryphi, probably on account of certain heterodox statements contained in them. Commodianus is supposed to have been an African. As he himself tells us, he was originally a heathen, but was converted to Christianity when advanced in years, and felt called upon to instruct the ignorant in the truth. He was the author of two extant Latin poems, Instructiones and Carmen apologeticum (first published in 1852 by J. B. Pitra in the Spicilegium Solesmense, from a MS. in the Middlehill collection, now at Cheltenham, supposed to have been brought from the monastery of Bobbio). The Instructiones consist of 80 poems, each of which is an acrostic (with the exception of 60, where the initial letters are in alphabetical order). The initials of 80, read backwards, give Commodianus Mendicus Christi. The Apologeticum, undoubtedly by Commodianus, although the name of the author (as well as the title) is absent from the MS., is free from the acrostic restriction. The first part of the Instructiones is addressed to the heathens and Jews, and ridicules the divinities of classical mythology; the second contains reflections on Antichrist, the end of the world, the Resurrection, and advice to Christians, penitents and the clergy. In the Apologeticum all mankind are exhorted to repent, in view of the approaching end of the world. The appearance of Antichrist, identified with Nero and the Man from the East, is expected at an early date. Although they display fiery dogmatic zeal, the poems cannot be considered quite orthodox. To the classical scholar the metre alone is of interest. Although they are professedly written in hexameters, the rules of quantity are sacrificed to accent. The first four lines of the Instructiones may be quoted by way of illustration:
| “Praefatio nostra viam erranti demonstrat, Respectumque bonum, cum venerit saeculi meta, Aeternum fieri, quod discredunt inscia corda: Ego similiter erravi tempore multo.” |
These versus politici (as they are called) show that the change was already passing over Latin which resulted in the formation of the Romance languages. The use of cases and genders, the construction of verbs and prepositions, and the verbal forms exhibit striking irregularities. The author, however, shows an acquaintance with Latin poets—Horace, Virgil, Lucretius.
The best edition of the text is by B. Dombart (Vienna, 1887), and a good account of the poems will be found in M. Manitius, Geschichte der christlich-lateinischen Poesie (1891), with bibliography, to which may be added G. Boissier, “Commodien,” in the Mélanges Renier (1887); H. Brewer, Kommodian von Gaza (Paderborn, 1906); L. Vernier, “La Versification latine populaire en Afrique,” in Revue de philologie, xv. (1891); and C. E. Freppel, Commodien, Arnobe, Lactance (1893). Teuffel-Schwabe, Hist. of Roman Literature (Eng. trans., 384), should also be consulted.
COMMODORE (a form of “commander”; in the 17th century the term “commandore” is used), a temporary rank in the British navy for an officer in command of a squadron. There are two kinds, one with and the other without a captain below him in his ship, the first holding the temporary rank, pay, &c., of a rear-admiral, the other that of captain. It is also given as a courtesy title to the senior officer of a squadron of more than three vessels. In the United States navy “commodore” was a courtesy title given to captains who had been in command of a squadron. In 1862 it was made a commissioned rank, but was abolished in 1899. The name is given to the president of a yacht club, as of the Royal Yacht Squadron, and to the senior captain of a fleet of merchant vessels.