A Smaller Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities

by William Smith

CLĒTĒRES or CLĒTORES (κλητῆρες, κλῆτορες), summoners, were at Athens not official persons, but merely witnesses to the prosecutor that he had served the defendant with a notice of the action brought against him, and the day upon which it would be requisite for him to appear before the proper magistrate.

CLĪBĂNĀRĬI. [[Cataphracti].]

CLĬENS is said to contain the same element as the verb cluere, to “hear” or “obey,” and may be accordingly compared with the German word höriger, “a dependant,” from hören, “to hear.” In the earliest times of the Roman state we find a class of persons called clientes, who must not be confounded with the plebeians, from whom they were distinct. The clients were not slaves: they had property of their own and freedom, and appear to have had votes in the comitia centuriata, but they did not possess the full rights of Roman citizens; and the peculiarity of their condition consisted in every client being in a state of dependence upon or subjection to some patrician, who was called his patronus, and to whom he owed certain rights and duties. The patronus, on the other hand, likewise incurred certain obligations towards his client. This relationship between patronus and cliens was expressed by the word clientela, which also expressed the whole body of a man’s clients. The relative rights and duties of the patrons and the clients were, according to Dionysius, as follows:—The patron was the legal adviser of the cliens; he was the client’s guardian and protector, as he was the guardian and protector of his own children; he maintained the client’s suit when he was wronged, and defended him when another complained of being wronged by him: in a word, the patron was the guardian of the client’s interests, both private and public. The client contributed to the marriage portion of the patron’s daughter, if the patron was poor; and to his ransom, or that of his children, if they were taken prisoners; he paid the costs and damages of a suit which the patron lost, and of any penalty in which he was condemned; he bore a part of the patron’s expenses incurred by his discharging public duties, or filling the honourable places in the state. Neither party could accuse the other, or bear testimony against the other, or give his vote against the other. This relationship between patron and client subsisted for many generations, and resembled in all respects the relationship by blood. The relation of a master to his liberated slave (libertus) was expressed by the word patronus, and the libertus was the cliens of his patronus. Distinguished Romans were also the protectors of states and cities, which were in a certain relation of subjection or dependence to Rome. In the time of Cicero we also find patronus in the sense of adviser, advocate, or defender, opposed to cliens in the sense of the person defended or the consultor,—a use of the word which must be referred to the original character of the patronus.

CLĬENTĒLA. [[Cliens].]

CLĬPĔUS (ἀσπίς), the large shield worn by the Greeks and Romans, which was originally of a circular form, and is said to have been first used by Proetus and Acrisius of Argos, and therefore is called clipeus Argolicus, and likened to the sun. But the clipeus is often represented in Roman sculpture of an oblong oval, which makes the distinction between the common buckler and that of Argos. The outer rim was termed ἄντυξ by the Greeks; and in the centre was a projection called ὀμφάλος or umbo, which served as a sort of weapon by itself, or caused the missiles of the enemy to glance off from the shield. In the Homeric times, the Greeks merely used a leather strap (τελαμών) to support the shield, but subsequently a handle (ὄχανον or ὀχάνη). The usual form of the clipeus is exhibited in the figure of the Greek warrior on [p. 41]. When the census was instituted by Servius Tullius at Rome, the first class only used the clipeus, and the second were armed with the scutum [[Scutum]]; but after the Roman soldiery received pay, the clipeus was discontinued altogether for the scutum.

CLĪTELLAE, a pair of panniers, and therefore only used in the plural number.

CLŎĀCA, a sewer, a drain. Rome was intersected by numerous sewers, some of which were of an immense size: the most celebrated of them was the cloaca maxima, the construction of which is ascribed to Tarquinius Priscus. It was formed by three tiers of arches, one within the other, the innermost of which is a semicircular vault of 14 feet in diameter. The manner of its construction is shown in the preceding cut. Under the republic, the administration of the sewers was entrusted to the censors: but under the empire, particular officers were appointed for that purpose, called cloacarum curatores, who employed condemned criminals in cleansing and repairing them.

Cloaca Maxima at Rome.

CŌA VESTIS, the Coan robe, was a transparent dress, chiefly worn by women of loose reputation. It has been supposed to have been made of silk, because in Cos silk was spun and woven at a very early period.