of his time. At the best, however, he was “hardly more than an ordinary leader of mercenaries” (A. Holm). He openly boasted of his profligacy, was exceedingly avaricious, and his bad faith became proverbial.
Diod. Sic. xv. 75, 95, xvi. 7, 21, 22, 85-88; Plutarch, Phocion, 14; Theopompus, ap. Athenaeum, xii. p. 532; A. Schäfer, Demosthenes und seine Zeit (1885); A. Holm, History of Greece (Eng. trans., 1896), vol. iii.
CHARES, of Lindus in Rhodes, a noted sculptor, who fashioned for the Rhodians a colossal bronze statue of the sun-god, the cost of which was defrayed by selling the warlike engines left behind by Demetrius Poliorcetes, when he abandoned the siege of the city in 303 B.C. (Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxxiv. 41). The colossus was seventy cubits (105 ft.) in height; and its fingers were larger than many statues. The notion that the legs were planted apart, so that ships could sail between them, is absurd. The statue was thrown down by an earthquake after 56 years; but the remains lay for ages on the spot.
CHARES, of Mytilene, a Greek belonging to the suite of Alexander the Great. He was appointed court-marshal or introducer of strangers to the king, an office borrowed from the Persian court. He wrote a history of Alexander in ten books, dealing mainly with the private life of the king. The fragments are chiefly preserved in Athenaeus.
See Scriptores Rerum Alexandri (pp. 114–120) in the Didot edition of Arrian.
CHARGE (through the Fr. from the Late Lat. carricare, to load in a carrus or wagon; cf. “cargo”), a load; from this, its primary meaning, also seen in the word “charger,” a large dish, come the uses of the word for the powder and shot to load a firearm, the accumulation of electricity in a battery, the necessary quantity of dynamite or other explosive in blasting, and a device borne on an escutcheon in heraldry. “Charge” can thus mean a burden, and so a care or duty laid upon one, as in “to be in charge” of another. With a transference to that which lays such a duty on another, “charge” is used of the instructions given by a judge to a jury, or by a bishop to the clergy of his diocese. In the special sense of a pecuniary burden the word is used of the price of goods, of an encumbrance on property, and of the expenses of running a business. Further uses of the word are of the violent, rushing attack of cavalry, or of a bull or elephant, or football player; hence “charger” is a horse ridden in a charge, or more loosely a horse ridden by an officer, whether of infantry or cavalry.
CHARGÉ D’AFFAIRES (Fr. for “in charge of business”), the title of two classes of diplomatic agents, (1) Chargés d’affaires (ministres chargés d’affaires), who were placed by the règlement of the congress of Vienna in the 4th class of diplomatic agents, are heads of permanent missions accredited to countries to which, for some reason, it is not possible or not desirable to send agents of a higher rank. They are distinguished from these latter by the fact that their credentials are addressed by the minister for foreign affairs of the state which they are to represent to the minister for foreign affairs of the receiving state. Though still occasionally accredited, ministers of this class are now rare. They have precedence over the other class of chargés d’affaires. (2) Chargés d’affaires per interim, or chargés des affaires, are those who are presented as such, either verbally or in writing, by heads of missions of the first, second or third rank to the minister for foreign affairs of the state to which they are accredited, when they leave their post temporarily, or pending the arrival of their successor. It is usual to appoint a counsellor or secretary of legation chargé d’affaires. Some governments are accustomed to give the title of minister to such chargés d’affaires, which ranks them with the other heads of legation. Essentially chargés d’affaires do not differ from ambassadors, envoys or ministers resident. They represent their nation, and enjoy the same privileges and immunities as other diplomatic agents (see Diplomacy).
CHARGING ORDER, in English law, an order obtained from a court or judge by a judgment creditor under the Judgment Acts 1838 and 1840, by which the property of the judgment debtor in any stocks or funds stands charged with the payment of the amount for which judgment shall have been recovered, with interest. A charging order can only be obtained in respect of an ascertained sum, but this would include a sum ordered to be paid at a future date. An order can be made on stock standing in the name of a trustee in trust for the judgment debtor, or on cash in court to the credit of the judgment debtor, but not on stock held by a debtor as a trustee. The application for a charging order is usually made by motion to a divisional court, though it may be made to a judge. The effect of the order is not that of a contract to pay the debt, but merely of an instrument of charge on the shares, signed by the debtor. An interval of six months must elapse before any proceedings are taken to enforce the charge, but, it necessary, a stop order on the fund and the dividends payable by the debtor can be obtained by the creditor to protect his interest A solicitor employed to prosecute any suit, matter or proceeding in any court, is entitled, on declaration of the court, to a charge for his costs upon the property recovered or preserved in such suit or proceeding. (See Rules of the Supreme Court, o. xlix.)
CHARIBERT (d. 567), king of the Franks, was the son of Clotaire I. On Clotaire’s death in 561 his estates were divided between his sons, Charibert receiving Paris as his capital, together with Rouen, Tours, Poitiers, Limoges, Bordeaux and Toulouse. Besides his wife, Ingoberga, he had unions with Merofleda, a wool-carder’s daughter, and Theodogilda, the daughter of a neatherd. He was one of the most dissolute of the Merovingian kings, his early death in 567 being brought on by his excesses.
(C. Pf.)
CHARIDEMUS, of Oreus in Euboea, Greek mercenary leader. About 367 B.C. he fought under the Athenian general Iphicrates against Amphipolis. Being ordered by Iphicrates to take the Amphipolitan hostages to Athens, he allowed them to return to their own people, and joined Cotys, king of Thrace, against Athens. Soon afterwards he fell into the hands of the Athenians and accepted the offer of Timotheus to re-enter their service. Having been dismissed by Timotheus (362) he joined the revolted satraps Memnon and Mentor in Asia, but soon lost their confidence, and was obliged to seek the protection of the Athenians. Finding, however, that he had nothing to fear from the Persians, he again joined Cotys, on whose murder he was appointed guardian to his youthful son Cersobleptes. In 357, on the arrival of Chares with considerable forces, the Chersonese was restored to Athens. The supporters of Charidemus represented this as due to his efforts, and, in spite of the opposition of Demosthenes, he was honoured with a golden crown and the franchise of the city. It was further resolved that his person should be inviolable. In 351 he commanded the Athenian forces in the Chersonese against Philip II. of Macedon, and in 349 he superseded Chares as commander in the Olynthian War. He achieved little success, but made himself detested by his insolence and profligacy, and was in turn replaced by Chares. After Chaeroneia the war party would have entrusted Charidemus[1] with the command against Philip, but the peace party secured the appointment of Phocion. He was one of those whose surrender was demanded by Alexander after the destruction of Thebes, but escaped with banishment. He fled to Darius III., who received him with distinction. But, having expressed his dissatisfaction with the preparations made by the king just before the battle of Issus (333), he was put to death.
See Diod. Sic. xvii. 30; Plutarch, Phocion, 16, 17; Arrian, Anabasis, i. 10; Quintus Curtius iii. 2; Demosthenes, Contra Aristocratem; A. Schäfer, Demosthenes und seine Zeit (1885).
CHARING CROSS, the locality about the west end of the Strand and the north end of Whitehall, on the south-east side of Trafalgar Square, London, England. It falls within the bounds of the city of Westminster. Here Edward I. erected the last of the series of crosses to the memory of his queen, Eleanor (d. 1290). It stood near the present entrance to Charing
- ↑ According to some authorities, this is a second Charidemus, the first disappearing from history after being superseded by Chares in the Olynthian war.
