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S72 CUBITUS.
their masters to death, as was the case during and after the earthquake in Laconia, it assumed the barbarous and atrocious character which we have described above. (Compare Plut. Lye. 28, sub fin.} If the crypteia had taken place annually, and at a fixed time., we should, indeed, have reason, with Miiller, to wonder why the helots, who in many- districts lived entirely alone, and were united by despair for the sake of common protection, did not every year kindle a most bloody and determined war throughout the whole of Laconia ; but Plutarch, the only authority on which this supposition can rest, does not say that the crypteia took place every year, but 5ta xpoyou, i. e. " at intervals," or occasionally. (Hermann, ad Viger. p. 856.) The difficulties which Mliller finds in what he calls the common account of the crypteia, are thus, in our opinion, removed, and it is no longer necessary to seek their solution in the description given by Plato (De Leg. i. p. 633, vi. p. 763), who pro posed for his Cretan colony a similar institution under the name of crypteia. From the known partiality of Plato for Spartan institutions, and his inclination to represent them in a favourable light, it will be admitted that, on a subject like this, his evidence will be of little weight. And when he adopted the name crypteia for his institution, it by no means follows that he intended to make it in every respect similar to that of Sparta ; a partial resemblance was sufficient to transfer the name of the Spartan institution to that which he proposed to establish ; and it is sufficiently clear, from his own words, that his attention was more particu larly directed to the advantages which young sol diers might derive from such hardships as the KpvTTToi had to undergo. But even Plato’s colony would not have been of a -very humane character, as his KpvTTToi were to go out in arms and make free use of the slaves. f L. S.]
CRYPTOPO RTICUS. [crypta.]
CUBICULARII, were slaves who had the care of the sleeping and dwelling rooms. Faithful slaves were always selected for this office, as they had, to a certain extent, the care of their master’s person. When Julius Caesar was taken by the pirates, he dismissed all his other slaves and attendants, only retaining with him a physician and two cubicularii. (Suet. C’aes. 4 ) It was the duty of the cubicularii to introduce visitors to their master (Cic. ad Att. vi. 2. § 5, in Verr. iii. 4) ; for which purpose they appear to have usually remained in an ante-room (Suet. Tib. 21, Dom* 16). -Under the later emperors, the cubicularii belonging to the palace were calledpraepositi sacro cubiculo, and were persons of high rank. (Cod. 12, tit. 5.)
CUBICULTTM, usually means a sleeping and dwelling room in a Roman house [DoMus], but is also applied to the pavilion or tent in which the Roman emperors were accustomed to witness the public games. (Suet. Ner. 12 ; Plin. Paneg. 51.) It appears to have been so called, because the emperors were accustomed to recline in the cubicula, instead of sitting, as was anciently the practice, in a sella curulis. (Ernesti, ad Suet. I. c.)
CUBITUS (^nxvs^ a measure of length used by the Greeks, Romans, and other nations, was originally the length of the human arm from the elbow to the wrist, or to the tip of the forefinger ; the latter was its signification among the Greeks and Romans. It was equal to a foot and a half ; and therefore the Roman cubit was a little less, and
CUDO.
the Greek cubit a little more, than a foot and a half English. The cubit was divided by the Greeks into 2 spans ((nrtQa^ai), 6 hand-breadths (TraAcurrrcu), and 24 finger breadths (Sa/cruAoz), and by the Romans into li feet, 6 breadths (palmi), and 24 thumb-breadths (pollices). (Wurm, De Pond. Mens. &c. ; Hussey, On Ancient Weights, &c., see the Tables.) Respecting the Egyptian and other cubits, see Bockh, Metrol. Untersuch. p. 211. [P.S.]
CUBUS, a vessel, the sides of which were formed by six equal squares (including the top), each square having each of its sides a foot long. The solid contents of the cube were equal to the amphora. (Rhem. Fann. De Ponl, &c. v. 59— 62 ; metretes). In Greek kv@os is the equiva lent of the Latin tessera. [P. S.]
CUCULLUS, a cowl. As the cowl was intended to be used in the open air, and to be drawn over the head to protect it from the injuries of the weather, instead of a hat or cap, it was attached only to garments of the coarsest kind. Its form is seen attached to the dress of the shepherd in the annexed woodcut, which is taken from a gem in the Florentine cabinet, and represents a Roman shepherd looking at the she-wolf with Romulus and Remus. The cucullus was also used by per-
sons in the higher circles of society, when they wished to go abroad without being known. (Juv. vi. 330.) The use of the cowl, and also of the cape [BiRRUs], which served the same purpose, was allowed to slaves by a law in the Codex Theo- dosianus. (Vossius, Etym. Ling. Lat. s. v. Birr us.} Cowls were imported into Italy from Saintes in France (Santomco cucullo, Juv. viii. 145 ; Schol. in loc.}, and from the country of the Bardaei in Illyria. (Jul. Cap. Pertinax, 8.) Those from the latter locality were probably of a peculiar fashion, which gave origin to the term Bardocucullus. Liburnici cuculli are mentioned by Martial (xiv. 139.) [J. Y.]
CUDO or CUDON, a skull-cap, made of leather or of the rough shaggy fur of any wild animal (Sil. Ital. viii. 495, xvi. 59), such as were worn by the velites of the Roman armies (Polyb. vi. 20), a.nd apparently synonymous with galerus (Virg. Aen. vii. 688) or galericulus. (Frontin. Strategem. iv. 7. § 29.) In the sculptures on the Column of Trajan, some of the Roman soldiers are represented with the skin of a wild beast drawn over the head, in such a manner that the face appears between the upper and lower jaws of the animal, while the rest of the skin falls down behind over the back and shoulders, as described by Virgil (Aen. vii. 666). This, however, was an extra defence (Polyb. I. c.), and must not be taken for the cudot which was the cap itself; that is, a particular
