782 



BYZANTIUM CABAL. 



Christianity, Grecian and Roman art, in general, 

 differed but little, since both sprung from the ruins 

 of ancient art ; so, in painting, no striking difference 

 is to be observed between them. ' They became, 

 however, constantly more ;uul more distinct, in later 

 times, as Greece and Italy became more and more 

 separated. Short, thick bodies, stiff and forced atti- 

 tudes, exaggeration of the characteristic parts, in 

 particular ot the eyes, faces contracted above and 

 broad below, and marked with overcharged tints, 

 short thick hair, highly arched eyebrows, awkward 

 drapery, loaded witli unnatural folds, distinguish the 

 Creek pictures as far back as the fifth century. The 

 better paintings, which are found particularly in ma- 

 nuscripts, show a neat, accurate, and diligent execu- 

 tion. When art dec-lined in Italy, particularly in the 

 ninth century, painting was still cultivated by the 

 Greeks, who, driven from home by the disputes con- 

 cerning images, carried it into Italy and other coun- 

 tries, and adorned the churches there. Thus the 

 lower Greek or Byzantine school was the mother of 

 the old Italian school, and of the lower Rhenish, 

 which preceded the German. The relation of both 

 is seen in the similarity of the Italian pictures to those 

 of the lower Rhenish school. According to the com- 

 mon statement, several Grecian artists passed over 

 into Italy, in the beginning of' the twelfth century, 

 and adorned the churches of Florence and Venice 

 with their works. These were joined by the Italian 

 artists, who founded, in the thirteenth century, a 

 school of art and painting (see Italian .-///), which, 

 in its development, acquired a peculiar character, 

 distinguished by beauty both of conception and exe- 

 cution. The lower Rhenish school, however, which 

 is also called the school of Cologne, as it flourished 

 chiefly from the beginning of the fourteenth to the 

 beginning of the fifteenth century, in the city of 

 Cologne, appears to have retained still more closely 

 the Byzantine character than the Italian did, since 

 there are traces of it even in the later German 



school, exhibited in the symmetrical and pyramidal 

 grouping of the objects, in the close drapery, and in 

 the love of ornament and splendour, shown particu- 

 larly in the golden back grounds. The collection of 

 the brothers Boisseree (q. v.) contains the most ex- 

 cellent works of this school. John Van Eyck first 

 set the example of a more individual representation 

 of natural objects, in opposition to the general repre- 

 sentations of the lower Greek, and the ideal style of 

 the old Roman school. More exact accounts are 

 wanting of the historical connexion of the lower 

 Rhenish and of the old Italian school with the Byzan- 

 tine style of art. On the earlier times of the Byzan- 

 tine art, see Histoire de VArt par les MonUmens dcpuis 

 sa Decadence au I4me Siecle, jusyii'd soti Ilenouvelle- 

 ment au I6me ; Paris, 1810, folio. 



BYZANTIDM (from its original founder, Byzas), lying 

 on the Thracian Bosphorus, on a triangular promon - 

 tory, the present Constantinople, even in ancient times 

 a flourishing city, was at first a Megarian colony, and 

 was afterwards enlarged and embellished by the Mi- 

 lesians and other Greeks. Near it was a small bay 

 of the Propontis, called Keras, forming three har- 

 bours. The situation of B. was highly favourable to 

 trade, and gave it the command ot the commerce of 

 other nations in the Black sea, and the opportunity 

 of imposing tolls and duties. These circumstances 

 increased the resources of the city ; but it suffered 

 much from the attacks of the Thracians, Bithynians, 

 Gauls, and even the Greeks. It was severely treated 

 in the Peloponnesian war, but afterwards rose again, 

 and, under the emperors, was in the most flourishing 

 condition. From the time of Constantine, it was the 

 second city in the Roman empire, and the residence 

 of the emperor, who endeavoured to give it the 

 splendour of old Rome. It was, like Rome, divided 

 into fourteen districts; had an amphitheatre, a Roman 

 forum, a circus, and a multitude of splendid buildings 

 and statues, some of which had been brought from 

 Rome. See Constantinople, 



C ; the third letter of the alphabet in most of the 

 European dialects. " In English," says Ben Jonson, 

 " it might well have been spared, for it has no pecu- 

 liar sound." It has the simple power of k, before a, 

 o, u, and most of the consonants ; and the power of 

 s, before e, i, y. The Greeks had no c in their alpha- 

 bet, and they supplied the use of it in Roman words 

 by * or f, as the Romans often .indicated the kappa 

 and sigma, in Greek words, by a c. The earlier 

 Romans also used it in many words which were at a 

 later period written with a g; as, leciones for Icgiones. 

 This renders it probable that it was originally the 

 Greek gamma, as the form of the letters, in ancient 

 inscriptions, is very similar. The Roman g was in- 

 vented, according to Plutarch, by Spurius Carvilius. 

 Q and C are often interchanged on monuments ; thus 

 we find qvm for cvm, cotidie for quotidie. Its arith- 

 metical significations, and its principal uses in abbre- 

 viations, have been explained in the article Abbrevia- 

 tions (q. v.). On medals, it stands for many names 

 of persons, as Ccesar, Caius, Cassius, &c. ; of offices, 

 as, censor, consul ; of cities, as, Carthago, &c. ; also 

 for cues, civitas, colonia, cohors, clypeus, castra, crr- 

 censit. In the calendars and fasti, it denoted the 



days in which the comitia might be held. In trials, 

 the opinions of the judges were given by writing on 

 a little cube or die (tessera) the initial C, condemno, 

 A, absolvo, or N L, non liquet. For this reason, Ci- 

 cero (pro Mil. 6.) calls C, littera tristis, and A, littera 

 salutaris. 



C, in music; the name of that note in the natural 

 major mode, to which Guido applied the monosyllable 

 ut, but which has long since been relinquished by 

 the Italians for that of do, as softer and more vocal. 

 C sometimes, in Italian music, stands for canto, as 

 C 1. canto primo. It stands, likewise, when placed 

 at the clef, for common time, and, with a line run 

 through it perpendicularly, for cut time, or a quicker 

 kind of movement. 



CABAL; the English ministry under Charles II. 

 (q. v.), which consisted of five men famous for their 

 intrigues Clifford, Ashley, Buckingham, Arlington, 

 and Lauderdale, whose initial letters form this word. 

 (Burnet, Own Times, An. 1672.) Some think the 

 use of the word cabal, to-denote an intrigue, or a 

 body of intriguers, is derived from this circumstance. 

 " Never," says Hume (ch. 65), " was there a more 

 dangerous ministry in England, nor one more noted 



