of light operatic music. In Italy it is surpassed by Rossini's Barbieri alone. After the lapse of more than eighty years it evinces its vitality at theatres and concert halls wherever the whole opera or detached pieces are heard. Its humour is founded on human nature itself, and is therefore independent of local and temporal conditions. 1793 Cimarosa returned to Naples where The Secret Marriage and other works were received with great applause. Amongst the works belonging to his last stay in Naples, the charming opera Le Astuzie Feminili may be mentioned. This period of his life is said to have been embittered by the intrigues of envious and hostile persons, amongst whom one is sorry to meet with Paesiello his old rival. During the occupation of Naples by the troops of the French Republic, Cimarosa joined the liberal party, and on the return of the Bourbons, was like many of his political friends condemned to death. By the intercession of influential admirers his sentence was commuted into banishment, and the composer left Naples with the intention of returning to St Petersburg. But his health was broken, and after much suffering he died at Venice in 1801 of inflammation of the intestines. The nature of his disease led to the rumour of his having been poisoned by his enemies, which, however, a formal inquest proved to be unfounded. He worked till the last moment of his life, and one of his operas, Artemizia, remained unfinished at his death.(f. h.)
CIMBRI, or Cimbrians (Greek, Κίμβροι), an ancient nation of unknown affinity, which was one of the most formidable enemies of the Roman power, and has proved one of the most difficult subjects for the historical investigator. About 113 B.C., in company with the Teutones, they defeated the consul Papirius Carbo near Noreia in Styria; and in 109 B.C. they routed another army under the consul Silanus. By the latter success they opened their way to Gallia Narbonensis; and in 105 B.C. they began to threaten the Roman territory itself. They were joined by the Gauls from all quarters; and the Roman army sent against them under Cæpio and Manlius was almost exterminated. Only ten men with two generals are said to have escaped; and, in accordance with a vow which they had made before the battle, the conquerors destroyed all the spoil. The gold and silver they flung into the Rhone; they drowned the horses, and put all the prisoners to death. The Romans were thrown into consternation; but a new army was raised with all expedition, and the command was bestowed on Marius, who at that time enjoyed a high reputation on account of his victories in Africa. The Cimbri were approaching over the eastern Alps, and the Teutones and the other allies over the western. He first attacked and defeated the latter division at Aquæ Sextiæ, and then returned to face the Cimbri, who had meanwhile seen the backs of the soldiers of Catullus and Sylla. The vast host attacked the Romans with the utmost fury in the Campi Raudii near Vercellæ (101 B.C.); but, unaccustomed to the heats of Italy, they soon began to yield and were easily overcome. They had put it out of their own power to fly; for, that they might the better keep their ranks, they had, like true barbarians, tied themselves together. It is said that 120,000 were killed on the field of battle and 60,000 were taken prisoners. The people of the Italian districts known as the Sette Communi in Vicenza and the Tredeci Communi in Verona have a belief that they are descended from the remnants of the Cimbrian army, but it is much more probable that they are the posterity of German settlers introduced by the bishops of Trent. Be this at it may, it is certain that after the victory of Marius the Cimbri were no longer of much importance as antagonists of Rome.
Two great questions have claimed the attention of the historian in regard to this people; but to neither of them has anything like a definite answer been obtained. The first has to do with their local habitation, and the second with their ethnographical connection. Cæsar, Sallust, Cicero, and Diodorus Siculus seem to have regarded them as Gauls, and assign them a position within the Gallic area; whereas Strabo, Velleius Paterculus, and Tacitus treat them as Germans and locate them beyond the Rhine. The modern district of Jutland was familiarly known as the Cimbric Chersonese, and mention is made in the Mon. Ancyranum of an embassy from the Cimbrians of that peninsula to Augustus. Beyond this our ancient authorities do not carry us, and modern discussion has done little but maintain a continual oscillation of opinion. That they were closely connected with the Teutones is evident, and that the Teutones at least were Germanic was for a time regarded as certain; but more elaborate investigation shows that even this is open to dispute, and can afford no support as an argument. The ancient identification of the people with the Cimmerii and the modern identification with the Cymry are well-nigh exploded, and probably owe their origin to mere similarity of names.
See Cellarius De Cimbris et Teutonibus; Joh. von Müller, Bellum Cimbricum, 1776; Schiern, De Cimbrorum Origine et Migrationibus, 1842; Latham, Appendix to edition of the Germania of Tacitus; and a paper read by Canon Rawlinson before the Anthropological Institute, May 1876.
CIMMERII, or Cimmerians, a nomadic people of antiquity who dwelt near the Palus Mæotis or Sea of Azoff, in the Tauric Chersonese or Crimea, and in the Asiatic Sarmatia or the country of the lower Volga. They are said to have desolated Asia Minor prior to the time of Homer; and in their second invasion they penetrated as far westward as Æolis and Ionia, captured Sardis the capital of Lydia in the reign of Ardys, and continued in possession till they were driven out of Asia by Alyattes, the grandson of that sovereign. The fears of the lonians are commemorated in the elegiac fragments of Callinus.
The name Cimmerii is also given to a mythical people, represented by Homer as inhabiting a remote region of mist and darkness, but localized by later writers near Lake Avernus, or in the Tauric Chersonesus, or in Spain. Their country was fabled to be so gloomy, that the expression "Cimmerian darkness" became proverbial; and Homer, according to Plutarch, drew his images of hell and Pluto from the dismal region they inhabited.
CIMON, an Athenian statesman, was the son of Miltiades. His father died in disgrace, leaving the fine which had been imposed on him unpaid. After a time it was paid by Cimon, who, according to one account, also took his place in prison. Distinguished by military ability, by a gentle and agreeable temper, and by the most open-handed liberality, Cimon gradually rose to the front rank among his contemporaries. His victorious attacks on the Persians, his ostracism, his request for leave to fight at Tanagra, and his recall on the motion of his rival Pericles are matters of history. (See Greece.) He died while besieging Citium, 449 B.C.
