Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Cisium

Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary, and Greek Lexicon (Rich, 1849)

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CIS'IUM. A light two-wheeled chaise or gig (Non. s. v. p. 86.), employed by the Romans as a public and private conveyance, when rapidity of transit was required. (Cic. Phil. ii. 31. Id. Rosc. Am. 7. Virg. Catal. viii. 3.) It carried two persons, the driver and another, was open in front, and furnished with shafts, to which one, or sometimes two, outriggers (Auson. Ep. viii. 6. cisio trijugi), were occasionally added, as is still the practice in the Neapolitan calessin. Most of these particulars are shown in the example (Cisium/1.1), copied from a bas-relief on the monument at Igel; but which is incorrectly given in the English edition of Wyttenbach's Treves, where the outrigger is omitted.

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