

CAPITANATA CAPITULARY. 



41 



ought to be subjected to the public scrutiny, go that 

 it may be known that all the law requires, and no 

 more, has been done. If punishments were inflicted 

 in private, it could never be known whether they 

 were justly and properly inflicted upon the persons 

 condemned; or whether, indeed, innocent persons 

 might not become the victims. 



In England, the court before which the trial is 

 had declares the sentence, and directs the execution 

 of it ; and its warrant is a sufficient authority to the 

 proper officer to execute it. In the courts of the 

 United States, there is a like authority ; but in the 

 laws of many of the states, there is a provision that 

 the execution shall not take place except by a war- 

 rant from the governor, or other executive authority. 

 In cases of murder and other atrocious crimes, the 

 punishment in England is usually inflicted at a very 

 short interval after the sentence. In America, there 

 is usually allowed a very considerable interval, vary- 

 ing from one month to six months. In England and 

 America, there lies no appeal from the verdict of a 

 jury and the sentence of a court, in capital cases. In 

 France, there may be a review of it in the court of 

 cassation (q. v.). In Germany, there is, in criminal 

 as in civil cases, a right of appeal ; hence, hi that 

 country, few innocent persons have suffered capitally 

 since the 16th century; and in England and Ameri- 

 ca, the very fact that the verdict and sentence are 

 final, produces great caution and deliberation in the 

 administration of criminal justice, and a strong lean- 

 ing towards the prisoner on trial. Capital punish- 

 ment cannot be inflicted, by the general humanity of 

 the laws of modern nations, upon persons who are 

 insane or who are pregnant, until the latter are deli- 

 vered and the former become sane. It is said that 

 Frederick the Great required all judgments of his 

 courts, condemning persons to death, to be written 

 on blue paper ; thus he was constantly reminded of 

 them as they lay on his table among other papers, 

 from which they were readily distinguished. He 

 usually took a long time to consider such cases, and 

 thus set an excellent example to sovereigns of their 

 duty. 



CAPITANATA ; a province of Naples, bounded 

 N. and E. by the Adriatic, S. by the country of Bari 

 and Basilicata, and W. by the Molise. This was 

 the ancient Apulia Daunica. The whole country is 

 a vast plaii^ and the soil generally sandy, with few 

 trees, and scarcely any springs or rivers of fresh 

 water ; yet the land produces a great deal of corn, 

 and feeds a great number of cattle. Salt is made 

 along the coast. The Gargano is the only moun- 

 tain : on its sides are plantations of oranges. The 

 coasts are defended by twenty-two towers. The 

 principal towns are Lucera, Foggia, St Severe, and 

 Volturara. Population, 254,809. Square miles, 

 3289. Manfredonia is the principal seaport. Capi- 

 tanata forms what is generally called the spur of 

 Italy. 



C APITANI, C APATANS ; the hereditary chief- 

 tains who have taken possession of the district of 

 Maina, the mountainous country of the ancient Mes- 

 senia. They exercised, under the Turkish govern- 

 ment, an arbitrary jurisdiction, without any kind of 

 responsibility. With the bey, whom they chose from 

 among themselves, they formed a kind of great 

 council. The bey took care that the haratsch, or 

 poll-tax, was paid to the Turks, and was the agent 

 in all dealings with the pacha. Generally the capi- 

 tani were robber chieftains, who lived retired in 

 rocky fastnesses, and defied the Turks and their 

 neighbours. They united only if resistance against 

 the Turks became necessary. At other times, they 

 lived at war amongst themselves. From this wild i 

 oligarchy most of the generals of the modern Greeks 



have sprung up ; their C'olocotroni, Odysseus, Nike- 

 tas (called Turkophagus) and others. The palikaris, 

 or the Greek warriors, also called klephtes (i. e., 

 robbers), followed the orders of the capitani as long 

 as they had confidence in them, and met with good 

 success. The French colonel Voutier has given us 

 interesting information concerning them. 



CAPITE CENSI were the Roman citizens, of the 

 lowest class, who possessed no property. They had 

 this name because they were counted by their heads, 

 not by their property, in the divisions of the centu- 

 ries. 



CAPITOL, now Campidoglio; the citadel of an- 

 cient Rome, standing on the Capitoline hill, the 

 smallest of the seven nills of Rome, anciently called 

 the Saturnine and the Tarpeian rock. It was begun 

 A. C. 614, by Tarquinius Priscus, but not completed 

 till after the expulsion of the kings. At the time of 

 the civil commotions under Sylla it was burned down, 

 and rebuilt by the senate. It again suffered the 

 same fate twice, and was restored by Vespasian and 

 Domitian. The latter caused it to be built with great 

 splendour, and instituted there the Capitoline games. 

 Pionysius says the temple, with the exterior pillars, 

 was 200 feet long and 185 broad. The whole build- 

 ing consisted of three temples, which were dedicated 

 to Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, and separated from 

 one another by walls. In the wide portico, trium- 

 phal banquets were given to the people. The sta- 

 tue of Jupiter, in the capitol, represented him sitting 

 on a throne of ivory and gold, and consisted in the 

 earliest times of clay painted red. Under Trajan, it 

 was formed of gold. The roof of the temple was 

 made of bronze : it was gilded by Quintus Catulus. 

 The doors were of the same metal. Splendour and 

 expense were lavished upon the whole edifice. The 

 gilding alone cost 12,000 talents (above 2,000,000), 

 for which reason the Romans called it the golden 

 capitol. On the pediment stood a chariot, drawn by 

 four horses, at fi^st of clay, and afterwards of gilded 

 brass. The temple itself contained an immense 

 quantity of the most magnificent presents. The 

 most important state papers, and particularly the 

 Sibylline books were preserved in it. The present 

 capitol (Campidoglio), standing near, and partly on, 

 the site of the old one, is a modern edifice, after 

 the design of Michael Angelo. The principal en- 

 trance to it commands a most splendid prospect: 

 but the buildings, as connoiseurs tell us, are among 

 Michael Angelo's inferior works. The modern 

 capitol consists of three buildings (in the principal 

 one resides the senator of Rome), which do not, 

 however, cover the whole Capitoline mount. On 

 the ruins of the former temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, 

 of which some pillars are still to be found, a Fran- 

 ciscan church is now erected. The present capitol 

 is one of the most interesting spots in Rome. From 

 the summit of the middle building, the spectator has 

 a splendid view of one of the most remarkable re- 

 gions in the world the Campagna up to the moun- 

 tains. The museums contain some of the finest 

 collections of statues and paintings. The stairs 

 leading up to the equestrian statue of Marcus Aure- 

 lius are beautiful. Everything contributes to render 

 the capitol venerable and interesting. The name of 

 capitol is also given to the edifice in Washington, 

 where congress assembles. Some of the states of 

 North America also call their state-houses capitals. 



CAPITULARY. The word capitulary is generic, 

 and denotes every kind of literary composition 

 divided into chapters. Laws of this description 

 were promulgated by Childebert, Clothaire, Carlo- 

 man, and Pepin, kings of France ; but no sovereign 

 seems to have put forth so many of them as uie 

 emperor Charlemagne, who appears to have wished 



