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

CHARISIUS.
in their own language. (Senec. De Benef. i. 3;
comp. Diod. v. 73.)
The worship of the Charites was believed to
have been first introduced into Boeotia by Eteoclus or Eteocles, the son of Cephissus, in the valley
of that river. (Paus. ix. 35. ~ 1; Theocrit. xvi.
104; Pind. 01. xiv.) At Orchomenos and in the
island of Paros a festival, the xapti'a or Xapir7j'ia,
was celebrated to the Charites. (Eustath. ad
Itom. p. 1843; Apollod. iii. 15. ~ 7.) At Orchomenos they were worshipped from early times in
the form of rude stones, which were believed to
have fallen from heaven in the time of Eteocles.
(Pans. ix. 38. ~ 1; Strab. ix. p. 414.) Statues
of them are mentioned in various parts of Greece,
as at Sparta, on the road from Sparta to Amyclae,
in Crete, at Athens, Elis, Hermione, and others.
(Paus. i. 22. ~ 8, ii. 34. ~ 10, iii. 14. ~ 6, vi. 24.
~ 5.) They were often represented as the companions of other gods, such as Hera, Hermes, Eros,
Dionysus, Aphrodite, the Horae, and the Muses.
In the ancient statues of Apollo at Delos and
Delphi, the god carried the Charites on his hand.
In the early times the Charites were represented
dressed, but afterwards their figures were always
made naked, though even Pausanias (ix. 35. ~ 2)
did not know who had introduced the custom of
representing them naked. Specimens of both
dressed and naked representations of the Charites
are still extant. Their character is that of unsuspicious maidens in the full bloom of life, and they
usually embrace one another. Their attributes
differ according to the divinities upon whom they
attend; as the companions of Apollo they often
carry musical instruments, and as the companions
of Aphrodite they carry myrtles, roses, or dice, the
favourite game of youth. (Hirt, MIythol. Bilderb.
ii. p. 215, &c.) [L. S.]
CHAR'SIUS (Xaptfeos), a son of Lycaon, to
whom tradition ascribed the foundation of Charisiae in Arcadia. (Paus. viii. 3. ~ 1; Steph. Byz.
s. v.) [L. S.]
CHARISIUS (Xapimcos), a Greek orator and
a contemporary of Demosthenes, wrote orations for
others, in which he imitated the style of Lysias.
He was in his turn imitated by Hegesias. (Cic.
Brut. 83.) His orations, which were extant in the
time of Quintilian and Rutilius Lupus, must have
been of considerable merit, as we learn from the
former writer (x. i. ~ 70), that they were ascribed
by some to Menander. Rutilius Lupus (i. 10, ii. 6)
has given two extracts from them. (Comp. Ruhnken, ad Rutil. Lup. i. 10; Westermann, Gesch.
der Griech. Beredtsaikeit. ~ 54, n. 34.)
CHARI'SIUS, a presbyter of the church of the
Philadelphians in the fifth century. Shortly before the general council held at Ephesus, A. D. 431,
Antonius and James, presbyters of Constantinople,
and attached to the Nestorian party, came to Philadelphia with commendatory letters from Anastasius and Photius, and cunningly prevailed upon
several of the clergy and laity who had just renounced the errors of the Quartodecimani (Neander, Kirchengesch. ii. 2, p. 645), to subscribe
a prolix confession of faith tinctured with the
Nestorian errors. But Charisius boldly withstood
them, and therefore they proscribed him as a
heretic from the communion of the pious. When
the council assembled at Ephesus, Charisius accused
before the fathers that composed it Anastasius,
Photius, and James, exhibiting against them a

CHARISIUS. 687
book of indictment, and the confession which they
had imposed upon the deluded Philadelphians.
He also presented a brief confession of his own
faith, harmonizing with the Nicene creed, in order
that he might clear himself from the suspicion of
heresy. The time of his birth and death is unknown. He appears only in connexion with the
Ephesian council, A. D. 431.
The indictment which he presented to the
synod, his confession of faith, a copy of the exposition of the creed as corrupted by Anastasius and
Photius, the subscribings of those who were misled, and the decree of the council after hearing the
case, are given in Greek and Latin in the Sacrosancta Concilia, edited by Labbe and Cossart, vol.
iii. p. 673, &c., Paris, 1671, folio. See also
Cave's Hisloria Literaria, pp. 327, 328, ed. Loud.
1688, fol. [S. D.]
CHARISIUS, AURE'LIUS ARCA'DIUS,
a Roman jurist, one of the latest in time of those
whose works are cited in the Digest. Herennius
Modestinus, who was living in the reign of Gordianus III., is usually considered to be the last
jurist of the classical period of Roman jurisprudence. " Hic oracula jurisconsultorum obmutuere,"
says the celebrated Jac. Godefroi (3Manuale Juris,
i. 7), " sic ut ultimum JCtorum Modestinum
dicere vere liceat." For an interval of 80 or 90
years after Modestinus, no jurist appears whose
works are honoured with citation in the Digest,
unless Julius Aquila or Furius Anthianus belongs
to that interval. The only two who can be named
with certainty as posterior to Modestinus are
Charisius and Hermogenianus. Of these two, the
priority of date is probably, for several reasons, to
be assigned to the former. It may be here mentioned, that Hermogenianus occupies the last place
in the Florentine Index. Charisius cites Modestinus with applause (Dig. 50. tit. 4. s. 18. ~ 26),
but his date is mote closely to be collected from
Dig. 1. tit. 11. s. un. ~ 1, where he states that appeal from the sentences of the praefecti praetorio
has been abolished. Now, this appeal was abolished
by Constantine the Great, A. D. 331 (Cod. 7. tit.
62. s. 19), and, from the language of Charisius in
Dig. 1. tit. 11, it may be inferred, that Constantine
was alive at the time when that passage was
written. Charisius is sometimes (e. g. Dig. 22.
tit. 5. s. 1. pr.) cited in the Digest by the name
" Arcadius, qui et Charisius," and by Joannes
Lydus (de Magist. Pop. Rom. i. c. 14), he is
cited by the name Aurelius simply. The name
Charisius was not uncommon in the decline of the
empire, and, when it occurs on coins, it is usually
spelled Carisius, as if it were etymologically connected with Carus rather than Xdpis. The jurist,
according to Panziroli (de Clar. Jur. Interpp. pp.
13, 59), was the same with the Arcadius to whom
Carus, Carinus, and Numerianus directed a rescript, A. D. 283. (Cod. 9. tit. 11. s. 4.) There
is a constitution of Diocletianus and Maximianus,
addressed, A. D. 300-2, to Arcadius Chresimus.
(Cod. 2. tit. 3. s. 27.) Panziroli would here read
Charisius for Chresimus, and would also identify
our Charisius with the Carisius (Vat. M. S.; vulg.
lect. Charissimus), praeses of Syria, to whom was
addressed (A. D. 290) an earlier constitution of the
same emperors. (Cod. 9. tit. 41. s. 9.) These
identifications, however, though not absolutely
impossible, rest upon mere conjecture, and would
require the jurist to have lived to a very advanced