CORIOLANTJ8, CH.SUS MABCIU8. 



CORMONTAINdNE, LOUIS DE. 



The mort eelebralod of this name mi the Cavalier* RARTOLOMBO 

 COMOLAXO, who ii likewise nid to bar* been tli ion of Crlitoforo, 

 bat the statement in tbii owe is (till more doubtful than in that of 

 Oi.mb.lU.ta, for the rarlieat dat on hit work* ii that of 1627, 

 twenty-seven years after th* doth of hit reputed father, who muit 

 bar* been of cooaiderabl* aft when he Hied, be wai employed by 

 Vanri in 156S, BartoloeMO was mada Cavalier* di Loreto by Pope 

 Urban VIII., for tome print* after Qoido, which he presented to hia 

 holiness : from thii armt be always wrote Eques after hia name upon 

 hi* prints. He was one of the best of the Italian wood-engravers, and 

 baa executed some very eflVctive prinU in oh iaroeouro. after Quido and 

 the Canon ; tome with three and come with two block*. The ' Fall 

 of the Oianta.' afUr Ouido, 1633. U one of hii principal work. ; it in 

 in four sheet*, which together measure 32 inches high by 23 incbm 

 broad. The latest date to which bU signature is found i 16(7. Hi- 

 dauchtcr, Trea Maria, pointed and engraved some few work*. 



(Dopp*lmayr, //uforucAc .Voc*rcA/, <tc.; Gandellini, A'ofiji'e Ittoricke 

 *yf /*to?tialori, eVe. ; Bartecb, Peintre Oraveur; Brulliot, Diction- 

 Mir* dtt iftooarammr, 



CORIOLA'XUS, CN^EDS MA'RCIUS, the hero of an ancient 

 Roman legend, belonging to the Utter half of the third century of the 

 city. Dionvsius calls him Caiui ; but Dion and mort of the manu- 

 script* of Livy are in favour of Cna-us, (Niebuhr, ' Hut. of Rome,' 

 vol. ii. p. 234, Ens. Tran-1 ) The surname Coriolanua WM supposed, 

 in later time*, to have been derived from liia conqneit of Corioli ; but 

 it probably ro*e in the same way u a multitude of other Roman sur- 

 name*, inch aa Sabinni, Aunmcus. Viscelliu, &ix, which only indicate 

 the origin of the home* which bore them. A similar connection 

 might no doubt bo aatiafactorily traced in many more ca*es if the 

 name* of the towns remained to ju-tify our conclusions. (Niebuhr, 

 vL ii. p. 242.) The ttory of Coriolunus, as given by the Roman 

 hiftoriant, is *> completely poetical in its form, and so rhi'torical in 

 in detail*, that Niebuhr (p. 242) U of opinion that alino.-t the whole 

 of it mart be excluded from history. The tale however runs as 

 Mom: 



CorioUnui wi in the Roman camp when the consul Cominius was 

 laying atege to CoriolL The besieged making a vigorous sally, suc- 

 ceeded in driving back the Romans to their camp ; but Coriolanus 

 immediately nllied them, rushed through the gites, and took tho 

 place. Meantime the Antilles bad come to relieve the town, and were 

 on the point of engaging with the consul's army, when Coriolanus 

 commenced the battle, and soon completely defeated them. From 

 this time he was greatly admired for hia warlike abilities, but his 

 haughty demeanour gave considerable offence to the commonalty. 

 Not long afterwards bis implacable anger was excited by being refused 

 tile consulship ; and when, on occasion of a severe famine in the city, 

 corn wat at last brought from Sicily (some purchased and some given 

 by a Greek prince), and a debate arose whether it should be given 

 gratis or sold to the pleba, Coriolanus strenuously advised that it 

 should be (old. The people iu their fury would have torn him to 

 pieeea bad not the tribunes summoned him to take his trial. He was 

 banished by a majority of the tribes, and retired to Antium, the chief 

 town of the Volsci, where the king, Attius Tullus, received him with 

 gnat hospitality. Coriolanus promised the Volsci his aid in their war 

 against Rome, and they forthwith granted him the highest civil 

 honours, and appointed him their general. He attacked and took 

 many towns; among others Circii, Satricum, Longula, and I-svinium. 

 At last be directed bis march to Rome itself, and pitched bis camp 

 only a few mile* from the city, where he dictated the terms at which 

 the Roman* might prchae a cessation of hostilities. Among other 

 thing* be d manded that the land taken from the Volsci should be 

 restored, that the colonies settled there should be recalled, and that 

 the whole people should be received as allies and citizens with equal 

 righto; and that all thoee who bad enlisted themaelvn under hii 

 banners should bo recalled, as well as himself. Coriolanus allowed 

 thtm two terms, one of thirty and the other of three days, for making 

 up their minds. After thirty days had expired, a deputation of four 

 leading senator* came before his tribunal, but were repulsed with 

 threats if they should again offer anything but unreserved submission. 

 On the second day, the whole body of priests and augurs came in 

 their official garb and implored him, but in vain. On the third and 

 last day which he bad allowed them he intended to lead his army 

 against the city, but snothcr expedient was tried, and succeeded. The 

 bleat matrons of the city, led by Veturia, the mother of Coriolanua, 

 and bis wife Volumnia, who held her little children by the band, came 

 to hk teat. Their lamentations at last prevailed on his almost un- 

 bending resolution ; sod, addressing bis mother, he said with a flood 

 of tear., "Take then thy country instead of roe, since this U thy 

 choice.' The embassy departed ; and, dismissing hii forces, he 

 returned and lived among the Volsci to a great age. According to 

 another account, be was murdered by some of the VoUci, who were 

 indignant at hie withdtawiog from the attack. 



After hn death however the Roman women were mourning for him 

 as they bad done for aome former heroes. The public gratitude for 

 the patriotic Berries*) of Volumnia were acknowledged by a temple, 

 which WM erected to Female Fortune. Shakipere has founded his 

 play of 'Coriolanns' on certain part* of the legend. 

 (Dionymos Hslinernaseenria, viii ; Plutarch, Life of 



Livins, it 83-40; Florus, i. 11; Niebuhr, 7/ut of Home, voL ii. 

 pp. 234-243.) 



CORMENIN, LOUIS MARIE. DE LA HAIE, VICOMTE PR, a 

 celebrated French political writer, was born at Paris, January 6, 17S8. 

 The eon and grandson of officers of high rank in the public service, 

 M. de Cormenin rec-ived a careful training for public life, though as 

 the colleges were closed during much of his youth, his education was 

 necesnarily a private one. The law was bis professional study, and 

 at the age of twenty-two he was appointed by Napoleon I. auditor, 

 or secretary, of the council of state; and during his continuance at 

 tho council was charged with the drawing up of some of its most 

 elaborate report*. In 1 828 he was elected deputy, and for some twenty 

 years he continued to be re-elected, on several occasions more than one 

 and sometimes as many as four departments contending Tor the honour 

 of being represented by him. Very soon after his taking his stand 

 aa a public man, U. de Cormenin began to exercise a marked influence 

 upon public affairs. Hi great knowledge of jurisprudence, his intimate 

 acquaintance with administrative matters, his clear logical method, 

 and admirable style of writing at well aa speaking, gave him immense 

 power ; and the frequency and decision with which h placed his views 

 before the public by means of pamphlet* always a favourite class of 

 works with Parisians, and indeed with educated Frenchmen generally 

 greatly helped to maintain him prominently before the public eye. 

 In fact, asM. de Lyden observes (' Nouv. Biog. Gen.,' art. 'Cormenin'), 

 " H. de Cormenin ia as much the pamphleteer of the reign of Louis 

 Philippe, as Sicyes was of the Revolution and Paul Louis Courier of 

 the Restoration, with the difference that Courier is somewhat more 

 cau-tic and M. de Cormenin more logical." After thu first year or two 

 of the reign of Louis Philippe, M. de Cormeuin became the most Miter 

 opponent of the policy of the Citizen King ; and the effect of his 

 trenchant pamphlets was sometimes very remarkable. One upon 

 'Apanages' is said not only to have led to the withdrawal of the 

 projected law, but to the resignntion of the Mol<5 ministry : it was 

 entitled ' Un Mot sur la Liste Civile,' and rapidly ran through twenty- 

 five edition*. Ilia pamphlets against the encroachments upon religious 

 liberty also had a great success : the first, ' Oui et Non' (1845), excited 

 a remarkable turmoil, and called forth numerous answers, besides a 

 demand from a portion of his constituents for a retractation. Ho 

 replied by a second pamphlet of a still more biting character, ' Feu ! 

 Feu !' of which 60,000 copies were quickly sold. Another, wlii.-li 

 excited much public attention, was his ' Ordre du Jour sur la Cor- 

 ruption fil ctorale,' which forcibly exposed that sham' le-s evil After 

 the revolution of 1848, being elected by four departments to tho 

 Chamber, M. de Cormenin diligently set himself to the task of 

 remodelling the constitution, and was named president of the com- 

 mission appointed for that purpose. In this commission he strongly 

 urged the adoption of universal suffrage, and the maintenance of tho 

 legion of honour : but he soon resigned his presidency. He continued 

 actively employed during the next two years promoting in the legis- 

 lative assembly, in committees, and by pamphlets, his views on various 

 social subjects, as the condition of the working classex, education. Ac. ; 

 and he also published two pamphlets ' Sur 1'Inde'pendance de 1'Italie.' 

 Aft r the coup d c5tat M. de Cormenin was appointed a member of the 

 council of state reconstituted by Napoleon 111. 



Besides his numerous pamphlets, of which it may fairly be said 

 that they were directed to no party end, but to tho furtherance of 

 administrative reform and social progress, M. de Cormenin is the 

 author of a most important work on the administrative law of France, 

 ' Droit Administratif,' in 2 vols. Svo, of which a fifth edition was 

 published some years back ; and he has written a remarkably interest- 

 ing series of sketches of the public life of the leading French orators 

 from Mirabeau to Ledru Hollin, entitled ' Le Livres des Orateurs,' 2 

 vols. Svo, of which the seventeenth edition was published in 1854. It 

 is by these two works that bis literary rank will be determined, and 

 the place will be a high one. He is a man of extensive knowledge, 

 great reasoning power, keen wit ; and these he gets forth in a style of 

 admirable force and clearness. M. de Cormenin received his title of 

 vicomte from Louis XVII I. 



CORMONTA1NONK, LOUIS DE, born about 1696, was a French 

 engineer, who distinguished himself both by the services which he 

 performed in the field and by the improvements which be made in 

 the art of fortification. He was present as an engineer at the sieges 

 of Landau and Fribourg in 1713; and three years afterwords be 

 addressed a Memoir on Fortification to M. le Pelletier de Souzi, who 

 at that time held the rank of Intendant Go'nc'ral des Fortifications de 

 France. In 1734 he was appointed by the Comte, afterwards the 

 Mirvch al Due de Bcllisle, to direct the siege of Traerbach ; and when 

 tbo division which performed that service rejoined the main army 

 be accompanied it ; the siege of Philisbourg being then undertaken 

 Cormontaingne was employed to superintend the operations ; and it is 

 said that his ouooessful attacks on two of the works were the imme- 

 diate cause that the place was surrendered. 



In the year 1744 be conducted, in Flanders, the sieges of Menin, 

 Yprm, La Knoque, and Fnrnes; and, in Germany, that of Fribourg: 

 at thi last siege, though the casualties among the engineers wei 

 great, the operations were conducted under the directions of Cormon- 

 taingne with the utmost regularity; and it is stated, as an example. 

 of the precision with which he formed his plans, that all the operations 



