344 



COMINES COMMERCE. 



tich, or, of a person, er ist ein gemuthlicher mensch. 

 '\ lie American, in praise of a person, says, " He is an 

 enterprising man." An increasing and thriving com- 

 imiiiiiy is his ideal. The Frenchman, to express 

 great aversion, says, Je m'ennuie. The Italian dolce 

 far niente (sweet idling) is very characteristic of the 

 disposition of tlie nation. Not only nations, but al- 

 so ages, liavc dieir peculiar expressions, wluch are 

 hihly iiiierestinsj. 



COMINKS, I'muppK DE (seigneur d'Argenton), 

 a celebrated historian of his own times, was born, 

 I 1 1.>, at the castle of Comines, near Menin, in Flan- 

 <ler>. and passed his youth at the court of the dukes 

 of Uurgundy, Philip tlie Good, and Cliarles tlie Bold. 

 He enjoyed the confidence of the latter, and contri- 

 buted essentially to his reconciliation with Lonis XI. 

 He conducteil other negotiations with equal sagacity, 

 and, in 1472, entered the service of Louis XI., pro- 

 Iwibly on account of the rash and violent character 

 of Charles, and induced by the promises of Louis, 

 who loaded him with marks of favour. After 

 tlie death of diaries the Bold, Louis took possession 

 of tlie duchy of Burgundy, sent Comines there, and, 

 soon after, appointed him ambassador to Florence, 

 where, during his year's residence, the conspiracy of 

 the Pazai broke out and failed. Comines displayed, 

 on this occasion, tlie greatest activity in the cause of 

 the Medici. He was then sent by Louis to Savoy, 

 for the purpose of seizing the young duke Philibert, 

 and of placing him entirely under the guardianship of 

 the king his uncle. In 1483, Louis XI. died. Under 

 the following reign, Comines did not enjoy the same 

 favour. Under the regency, he was made a member 

 of the council, and took part with the princes in their 

 plots against tlie mild and wise government of Anne 

 de Beaujeu. He was involved in all the intrigues of 

 the duke of Orleans, and was intimately connected 

 with the old constable Jean de Bourbon. A con- 

 spiracy in which he was engaged, having been dis- 

 covered, he was confined eight months in an iron 

 cage at Loches. He was afterwards tried before the 

 parliament in 1488, and pronounced guilty of having 

 an understanding with several rebels, and of other 

 crimes. By tlie sentence passed upon him, which 

 seems not to have been executed, he was exiled for 

 ten years to one of his estates, and the fourth part of 

 his fortune was confiscated. Charles VIII. employed 

 him in several negotiations in Italy ; but this monarch 

 was too wavering and imprudent ; the advice of Co- 

 mines was little regarded, and he received no re- 

 ward but reproaches and dissatisfaction. Under 

 Louis XII., he seems not to have taken an active 

 part in affairs. He died at Argenton, 1509. His 

 Memoirs (most complete edition, London, 1747, 4 

 vols. 4to) are valuable contributions to the history 

 of the time. He relates, in them, the events which 

 occurred during his life, and in most of which he had 

 an active share, with great veracity, in lively, natur- 

 al language, and displays everywhere a correct judg- 

 ment, acute observation, and a profound knowledge 

 of men and things. His memory is revived in the 

 romance of " Quintin Durward." 



COMITIA, with the Romans; the assemblies of 

 the people, in which the public business was transac- 

 ted, and measures taken in conformity with the will 

 of the majority. They existed even under the kings. 

 In the time of the republic, they were convoked t>y 

 the consuls ; in their absence, often by the dictator, 

 the tribunes, and, in extraordinary cases, even by the 

 pontifex maximus. Their chief objects were, the 

 choice of persons to fill the highest offices, legislation, 

 the making of war and peace, and the punishment of 

 crimes against the state. For the first purpose, they 

 were assembled in the Campus Marthas : for the others, 

 in the forum, capital, or the comitium. The emper- 



ors retained these assemblies for the sake of appear- 

 ance, but used them only as instruments for the accom- 

 plishment of their purposes. From the division of the 

 Roman people into centuries, curia? , and tribes, tlie 

 comitia were distinguished into tiiecomitm re/it uriata, 

 curiata, and tributa. The most important were the 

 comitia centitriuta, in which the people voted by cen- 

 turies. They could be held only on certain days. 

 Seventeen days before, per trinundinitin, t lie people 

 were called together by an edict. On tlie day of tlie 

 comitia itself, the presiding magistrate, with an augur, 

 went into a tent before the city, in order to observe 

 the auspices. If the augur declared them unexcep- 

 tionable, the comitia was held ; if not, it was post- 

 poned to another day. Before sunrise and after sun- 

 set, no business was transacted in tin comitia. The 

 presiding magistrate, on his curule chair, opened die 

 assembly by a prayer, which he repeated after the 

 words of the augur. Then the subject of deliberation 

 was communicated to the people, who afterwards se- 

 parated into tribes and centuries. In earlier times, 

 first the equites, then the centuries of the first class, 

 &c., were called upon to vote. In latter times, lots 

 were cast for tlie order of voting. The opinion of 

 the century which first voted was usually followed by 

 all the rest. In the earliest times, every century voted 

 verbally ; in later times, by tablets. What was con- 

 cluded, in each century, by the majority, was proclaim- 

 ed, by the herald, as the vote of this century. The co- 

 mitia was interrupted if any one in the assembly was 

 attacked by a fit of epilepsy (which was called, for 

 this reason, morbus comitialis), or if a tribune of the 

 people pronounced his veto, and under some other 

 circumstances. 



COMMA. See Punctuation. 



COMMANDERY, or COMMANDR.Y, among 

 several orders of knights, denotes a certain district, 

 under the control of a member of the order, who re- 

 ceived a part of the income thence arising, for his 

 own use, and accounted for the rest. There are 

 strict and regular commanderies, obtained by merit 

 or in order, and others are, of grace auid favour, be- 

 stowed by the jgrand master. There are also com- 

 manderies for the religious, in the orders of St Ber- 

 nard and St Anthony. 



COMMELIN, ISAAC, born 1598, hi Amsterdam, 

 was a historian, among whose works, the history and 

 description of Amsterdam is still much valued. He 

 died in 1676, at Amsterdam. 



COMMELIN, JEROME, of Douay, a learned prin- 

 ter in Heidelberg, who died in 1598, was distinguish 

 ed by his excellent editions of Greek and Latin clas- 

 sics. His emblem is a figure of Truth, and, on many 

 editions, the words Ex Officina Sanct. Andreana. 



COMMELIN, JOHN and CASPER, uncle and ne- 

 phew ; learned botanists in Amsterdam. The former 

 died in 1692, his nephew in 1751. 



COMMENCEMENT. In Cambridge, it signifies 

 the day when masters of arts and doctors complete 

 then- degrees. In the colleges of the United States, 

 this term denotes the day when the students com- 

 mence bachelors of arts. 



COMMENSURABLE ; among geometricians, an 

 appellation given to such quantities or magnitudes as 

 can be measured by one and the same common mea- 

 sure. Commensurable numbers, whether integers or 

 fractions, are such as can be measured or divided by 

 some other number, without any remainder ; such 

 are twelve and eighteen, as being measured by six or 

 three. 



COMMERCE OF THE WORLD. This embraces 

 the whole subject of the traffic and intercourse of na- 

 tions, and shows how mutual wants, occasioning the 

 exchange of natural riches for the creations ot art, 

 unite savage nations with civilized, and spread 



