A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

CAPANEUS.
parently a Greek historian, who seems to have
been a contemporary of Julius Caesar; for it is on
the authority of Canusius that Plutarch (Caes. 22)
relates, that when the senate decreed a supplication
on account of the successful proceedings of Caesar
in Gaul, B. c. 55, Cato declared that Caesar ought
to be delivered up to the barbarians, to atone for
his violation of the laws of nations. [L. S.]
P. CANU'TIUS, or CANNU'TIUS, was born
in the same year as Cicero, B. c. 106, and is described by the latter as the most eloquent orator
out of the senatorial order. After the death of P.
SSulpicius Rufus, who was one of the most celebrated orators of his time, and who left no orations
behind him, P. Canutius composed some and published them under the name of Sulpicius. Canutius is frequently mentioned in Cicero's oration for
Cluentius as having been engaged in the prosecution of several of the parties connected with that
disgraceful affair. (Cic. Brut. 56, pro Cluent. 10,
18, 21, 27.)
TI. CANU'TIUS or CANNU'TIUS, tribune
of the plebs in the year that Caesar was assassinated, B. c. 44, was a violent opponent of Antony.
When Octavianus drew near to Rome towards
the end of October, Canutius went out of the city
to meet him, in order to learn his intentions; and
upon Octavianus declaring against Antony, Canutius conducted him into the city, and spoke to the
people on his behalf. Shortly afterwards, Octavianus went into Etruria and Antony returned to
Rome; and when the latter summoned the senate
on the Capitol on the 28th of November, in order
to declare Octavianus an enemy of the state, he
would not allow Canutius and two of his other
colleagues to approach the Capitol, lest they should
put their veto upon the decree of the senate.
After the departure of Antony from Rome to prosecute the war against Dec. Brutus in Cisalpine
Gaul, Canutius had full scope for indulging his
hostility to Antony, and constantly attacked him
in the most furious manner (continuae rabie lacerabat, Vell. Pat. ii. 64). Upon the establishment
of the triumvirate in the following year, B. c. 43,
Canutius is said by Velleius Paterculus (1. c.) to
have been included in the proscription and put to
death; but this is a mistake, for he was engaged
in the Perusinian war, B. c. 40. As Octavianus
had deserted the senatorial party, Canutius became
one of his enemies, and accordingly joined Fulvia
and L. Antonius in their attempt to crush him
in B. c. 40; but falling into his hands on the capture of Perusia, Canutius was put to death by his
orders. (Appian, B. C. iii. 41; Dion Cass. xlv.
6, 12; Cic. ad Fanm. xii. 3, 23, Philipp. iii. 9;
Appian, B. C. v. 49; Dion Cass. xlviii. 14.)
The C. Canutius, whom Suetonius (de Clar.
Rhet. 4) mentions, is in all probability the same as
this Ti. Canutius. Whether the Canutius spoken
of in the Dialogue " De Oratoribus" (c. 21) is the
same as either P. or Ti. Canutius, or a different
person altogether, is quite uncertain.
CA'PANEUS (Kawravew's), a son of Hipponous
and Astynome or Laodice, the daughter of Iphis.
(Hygin. Fab. 70; Schol. ad Eurip. Phoen. 181;
ad Pind. Nem. ix. 30.) He was married to Euadne
or laneira, who is also called a daughter of Iphis,
and by whom he became the father of Sthenelus.
(Schol. ad Pind. 01. vi. 46; Apollod. iii. 10. ~ 8.)
JIe was one of the seven heroes who marched from
Argos against Thebes, where he had his station at

CAPELLA. 597
the Ogygian or Electrian gate. (Apollod. iii. 6. ~ 6;
Aeschyl. Sept. c. Theb. 423; Paus. ix. 8. ~ 3.)
During the siege of Thebes, he was presumptuous
enough to say, that even the fire of Zeus should
not prevent his scaling the walls of the city; but
when he was ascending the ladder, Zeus struck
him with a flash of lightning. (Comp. Eurip. Phoen.
1172, &c.; comp. Soph. Antig. 133; Apollod. iii. 6.
~7; Ov. Met. ix. 404.) While his body was burning,
his wife Euadne leaped into the flames and destroyed herself. (Apollod. iii. 7. ~ 1; Eurip. Suppl.
983, &c.; Philostr. Icon. ii. 31; Ov. Ars Am. iii.
21; Hygin. Fab. 243.) Capaneus is one of those
heroes whom Asclepius was believed to have called
back into life. (Apollod. iii. 10. ~ 3.) At Delphi
there was a statue of Capaneus dedicated by the
Argives. (Paus. x. 10. ~ 2.) [L. S.]
CAPELIA'NUS. [GORDIANUS.]
CAPELLA, a Roman elegiac poet named by
Ovid, concerning whom we know nothing. (Ovid,
Ep. ex Pont. iv. 16. 36.) [W. R.]
CAPELLA, ANTI'STIUS, the preceptor of
the emperor Commodus. (Lamprid. c. 1.) [W.R.]
CAPELLA, MARTIA'NUS MINEUS FELIX, is generally believed to have flourished towards the close of the fifth century of our era,
although different critics have fixed upon different
epochs, and some, in opposition to all internal evidence, would place him as high as the reigns of
Maximinus and the Gordians. In MSS. he is
frequently styled Afer Carthaginiensis; and since,
when speaking of himself, he employs the expression "Beata alumnum urbs Elissae quem videt," it
seems certain that the city of Dido was the place
of his education, if not of his birth also. The assertions, that he rose to the dignity of proconsul,
and composed his book at Rome when far advanced
in life, rest entirely upon a few ambiguous and
probably corrupt words, which admit of a very different interpretation. (Lib. ix. ~ 999.) Indeed,
we know nothing whatever of his personal history,
but an ancient biography is said to exist in that
portion of Barth's Adversaria which has never yet
been published. (Fabric. Bibl. Lat. iii. c. 17.)
The great work of Capella is composed in a medley of prose and various kinds of verse, after the fashion of the Satyra Menippea of Varro and the Satyricon of Petronius Arbiter; while, along with these,
it probably suggested the form into which Boethius
has thrown his Consolatio Philosophiae. It is a
voluminous compilation, forming a sort of encyclopaedia of the polite learning of the middle ages,
and is divided into nine books. The first two,
which may be regarded as a mystical introduction
to the rest, consist of an elaborate and complicated
allegory, entitled the Nuptials of Philology and
Mercury, while in the remaining seven are expounded the principles of the seven liberal arts,
which once were believed to embrace the whole
circle of philosophy and science. Thus, the third
book treats of Grammar; the fourth of Dialectics,
divided into Metaphysics and Logic; the fifth of
Rhetoric; the sixth of Geometry, consisting chiefly
of an abstract of Geography, to which are appended
a few simple propositions on lines, surfaces, and solids; the seventh of Arithmetic, devoted in a great
measure to the properties of numbers; the eighth of
Astronomy; and the last of Music, including Poetry.
We find here an immense mass of learning, but
the materials are ill-selected, ill-arranged, and
ill-digested; though from amidst much that is dull