CLAUDIANUS CLAVIGF.RO. 



263 



veiled to Naples to study with the artist. His genius 

 now unfolded itself with such rapidity, that he was 

 soon considered one of the first landscape painters of 

 his time ; particularly after he had studied, in Lom- 

 bardy, the paintings of Giorgione and Titian, where- 

 by his colouring and chiaro scuro were greatly im- 

 proved. After making a journey into his native 

 country, he settled, in 1627, in Rome, where his 

 works were greatly sought for, so that he was enabl- 

 ed to live much at his ease, until 1682, when he died 

 of the gout. The principal galleries of Italy, France, 

 England, Spain, and Germany are adorned with his 

 productions. His best work, and the one on which 

 he himself set the greatest value, is the painting of a 

 small wood belonging to the villa Madama (in Rome). 

 Clement XI. offered to purchase it for as many pieces 

 of gold as would cover its surface ; but the artist 

 would not part with it, since he used it as a study. 

 Claude possessed the greatest power of invention, by 

 which he gave an inexhaustible variety to his paint- 

 ings, united with an ardent and persevering study of 

 nature. The truth with which he portrays the effect 

 of the sun in every part of the day, soft breezes play- 

 ing through the tops of the trees, and all the delicate 

 beauties of nature, is surprising ; and no artist but 

 Caspar Dughet comes near him in this particular. 

 But all his rivals fell far short of equalling the dewy 

 humidity which he threw over dark, sliadowy places. 

 His figures are poor, and he used to say " I sell my 

 landscapes, and give my figures into the bargain." 

 In a great part of his paintings, the figures are the 

 work of Lauri and Francesco Allegrini. Claude most 

 frequently chooses agreeable views without fixing li- 

 mits, in which the eye loses itself. He often intro- 

 duces grand architectural structures, and makes his 

 landscapes the scenes of mythological and historical 

 events. As other artists frequently gave his name 

 to their own productions, he made drawings of all 

 his paintings and called the books in which they were 

 contained Libri di verita. Such a collection contain- 

 ing 200 drawings, belongs to the duke of Devon- 

 shire ; another, of 130 drawings to lord Holland. 



CLAUDIANUS, CLAUDIUS, a Latin poet, a native 

 of Alexandria lived under the emperor Theodosius 

 and his sons, and was an experienced warrior, as 

 well as a writer of merit. His poems gained him 

 such renown, that, at the desire of the senate, the em- 

 perors Arcadius and Honorius erected a statue to 

 his honour in the forum ofTrajan, with the inscrip- 

 tion, that he combined the genius of Virgil and of 

 Homer. Besides several panegyrical poems on 

 Honorius, Stilicho, and others, we possess two of his 

 epic poems, the Rape of Proserpine, and an unfinish- 

 ed Gigantomachia, eclogues, epigrams, and occasion- 

 al poems. He exhibits a brilliant fancy, rich colour- 

 ing, great variety and precision in his descriptions, 

 but he is often deficient in taste and gracefulness of 

 thought. The best editions of his works are those of 

 Gessner, Leipsic, 1759, and of Burmann, Amsterdam, 

 1760, 4to. 



CLAUDIUS (TIBERIUS) DRUSUS CAESAR, a Roman 

 emperor, the youngest son of the elder Claudius 

 Drusus Nero and Antonia the younger, the daughter 

 of Augustus's sister, born at Lyons, grew up without 

 any education, for the most part among slaves and 

 women, and was an object of ridicule and scorn at 

 court. He lived as an unimportant private man, and 

 occupied himself with literature. Among other 

 works, he wrote a Roman history, embracing the 

 period from the death of Caesar to his own time in 43 

 volumes, and also his own life. After the murder of 

 Caligula, the body guard, who were ransacking the 

 palace, discovered him secreted in a corner, dragged 

 iiim out, and proclaimed him emperor (41 A. D.). 

 The senate, who had ai-termined on the restoration 



of the republic were forced to confirm the appoint- 

 ment. Claudius, suddenly transferred from retire- 

 ment and oppression to uncontrolled power, distin- 

 guished the beginning of his reign by some praise- 

 worthy acts; he recalled the exiles, and restored 

 their estates to them ; embellished Rome, and erect- 

 ed several large buildings for the public good. He 

 made Mauritania a Roman province ; Tiis armies 

 fought successfully against the Germans, and kept 

 possession of several strong places in Britain. But 

 he sunk into debauchery and voluptuousness ; and 

 his wives, particularly the infamous Messalina (q. v.), 

 together with his freedmen, administered the govern- 

 ment, sold offices and places of honour, and commit- 

 ted the greatest atrocities unpunished. He died of 

 poison administered by his second wife, Agrippina 

 (mother of Nero), at the age of sixty-three, A. D. 54. 

 His deification was the cause of Seneca's pasquinade 

 entitled Apokolokynthosis. 



CLAUDIUS, MATTHIAS (called Asmus or the 

 ffandsbeck Messenger), a German poet, whose prose 

 and poetry bear a peculiar stamp of humour, frank- 

 ness, and cordiality, was born, in 1741, at Reinfeld, 

 in Holstein near Lubeck. In 1775, he made a col- 

 lection of his compositions which had appeared in 

 the Wandsbeck Messenger, and other periodicals, 

 with the addition of some which had not been print- 

 ed, and gave the collection the title Asmus omnia sua 

 secum portans , or Complete Works of the fVansbeck 

 Messenger (complete till 1812, in 8 vols.). He wrote 

 on a great variety of subjects. All his works are of 

 a popular character. They are written in a natural, 

 intelligible, and often humorous style, and support the 

 cause of good morals, benevolence, patriotism, and 

 piety, while they attack folly and vice with the wea- 

 pons of ridicule and scorn. Many of his songs have 

 been set to music by the first composers, and have 

 become a part of the national melodies. In the lat- 

 ter part of his life, he became a convert to religious 

 mysticism, and died at Hamburg, Jan. 21, 1815, af- 

 ter having filled several public offices. 



CLAUSENBURG, or COLOSVAR ; a town in 

 Transylvania, capital of the land of the Hungarians 

 and of a county of the same name, on the Samos ; 145 

 miles N. N. E. Belgrade. 225 E. S. E. Vienna ; Ion. 

 23<> 35' E. ; lat. 46 44' N. ; population, 18,210 ; 

 number of houses, 1200. It became the seat of go- 

 vernment of Transylvania about 1790. It is situated 

 in a romantic valley, surrounded on all sides by lofty 

 mountains, and has a handsome public square, seve- 

 ral elegant streets, fine gardens, and public walks. 

 It contains five Catholic churches, two Calvinist, one 

 Lutheran, one Unitarian, two hospitals, a Catholic 

 college, containing, in 1814, 232 students ; a Reform- 

 ed college with 636 students ; and a Unitarian col- 

 lege with 206 students. 



CLAUSEWITZ, CHARLES VON, Prussian major- 

 general, director of the general military school at 

 Berlin, born, June 1, 1780, at Burg, entered the 

 military service in 1792, and took part in the cam- 

 paigns of 1793 and 1794. He was also active in the 

 war against Napoleon, in the service of Russia and 

 Prussia, and has distinguished himself by his Ueber- 

 sichtdes Feldzugs von 1813 (Survey of the Campaign 

 of 1813). 



CLAVICHORD. See Clarichord. 



CLAVICIMBALUM ; the name originally given 

 to the harpsichord. 



CLAVI-CYLINDER. See CMadni. 



CLAVIGERO, FRANCESCO SAVERIO ; a Spanish 

 historian, who was a native of Vera Cruz, in Mexico. 

 He was educated as an ecclesiastic, and resided 

 nearly forty years in the provinces of New Spain, 

 where he acquired the languages of the Mexicans 

 and other indigenous nations, collected many of thei* 



