Frequent reference is made in Greek and Roman literature to the lynx, and from such descriptions as are given of it there is little doubt that the caracal, and not the more northerly species now known as the lynx, was referred to. In South Africa, where the caracal abounds, its hide is made
by the Kaffres into skin cloaks, known as karosses.CARACALLA, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (188–219 A.D.), a Roman emperor, son of the Emperor Septimius Severus, was born at Lyons in 188. His original name, Bassianus, has been entirely dropped in favour, either of the nickname Caracalla (taken from the long hooded tunic which he wore, and introduced into the army), or of the imperial title of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, which he received at the time when his father declared himself the adopted son of M. Aurelius. Dion Cassius regularly calls him Tarantus, from his resemblance to a certain coarse and bloodthirsty gladiator. The heartless cruelty of his dis position was early displayed in an attempt to assassinate his father; and when, on his father's death, he mounted the throne (211) as colleague of his brother Geta, he did not shrink from murdering him in the presence of his mother, to seize the supreme power, nor from making himself secure by butchering 20,000 persons whom he suspected. It is said that he was, however, unable to rid himself of remorse, and that it was the torment of conscience which drove him to spend the rest of his life in the maddest acts of destruction and bloodshed. He visited Gaul, Germany, France, Egypt, and various parts of Asia, plundering everywhere, and committing the most atrocious crimes. In Alexandria he took vengeance for the sarcasms of the people by a general massacre; and he laid Mesopotamia waste because Artabanus, the Parthian king, refused to give him his daughter in marriage. In 217 he was killed at the instigation of Macrinus, who succeeded him. See Roman History.
CARACAS, a large city of South America, capital of the United States of Venezuela and of the federal district, is situated on the declivity of a mountain 2880 feet above the level of the sea, 16 miles south -south-east of La Guayra, its port on the Caribbean Sea, in 10 30 N. lat., 67 4 W. long. Population in 1873, 48,897. The city is finely-situated, and has a temperate and healthy though variable climate. The mean temperature of the year is about 72 Fahr., being in the hot season 75, and in the cold season GG. The thermometer, however, sometimes rises to 84 or 85, and at other times descends as low as 51 or 52. Rain is abundant during ths months of April, May, and June, but not so incessant as in other tropical countries ; the rest of the year is rather dry. The city is much subject to earth quakes, from which it has frequently suffered ; in that of 1812, 12,000 persons are said to have perished. Caracas is separated from the sea-coast, and from its port of Guayra by the high ridge of the Cerro de Avila, and lies on the western skirt of the plain of Chacao, which has a steep slope from north-north-west to south-south-east. The Guayra, a tributary of the River Tuy, which falls into the ocean thirty-six miles east of Cape Codera, flows past the southern side of the city, and is joined by the streams called the Anauco, Catuche, and Caroata passing through the town from the north. Two miles east the great double-peaked mountain known as the Silla de Caracas rises to 8600 feet. The Calvario hill, west of the city, was the scene of a battle between the Spaniards and patriots in June 1821. The town is well and regularly built ; the streets are wide and well paved, crossing each other at right angles. There are several squares, of which the Plaza Mayor, or great square, is the most worthy of notice. Its east side is principally occupied by the cathedral, the south by the college, and the west by the public prison. This square is a great market for provisions, fruit, and other articles, and contains a sort of inner square in which are ranges of shops. A reservoir in the ravine of the Catuche to the north furnishes the city with water, which is supplied to the inhabitants by public fountains as well as in pipes. The chief public building is the cathedral, which is 250 feet in length by 75 in breadth, and is supported by twenty-four pillars, without beauty or proportion. It contains the tomb of Bolivar. The university of Caracas, which, with the House of Assembly, the National Library (of 10,000 volumes), and a church, forms one block of the town, was originally a convent of Carmelite friars, and has faculties of divinity, chemistry, and medicine. The Municipal Hall, close to the Grand Plaza, is a plain building, one of the oldest in Caracas. There are several parish churches, three monasteries for friars, two nunneries, three hospitals (one of which is for lepers alone), and a theatre. The city is very inacces sible from the north, in which direction three rough mountain tracks unite it with La Guayra. A railroad is projected to unite Caracas and its port. A railway to the eastward from the city was partly constructed at one time, but was not completed. Caracas was founded by Diego Losada in 1567.
celebrated Italian painters, were born at Bologna in 1555, 1558, and 1560 respectively. Lodovico, the eldest, son of a butcher, was cousin to the two younger, Agostino and Annibale, sons of a tailor, and had nearly finished his professional studies before the others had begun their education. From being a reputed dunce while studying under Tintoretto in Venice, he gradually rose, by an attentive observation of nature and a careful examination of the works of the great masters preserved at Bologna, Venice.. Florence, and Parma, to measure himself with the teachers of his day, and ultimately projected the opening of a rival school in his native place. Finding himself unable to accomplish his design without assistance, he sent for his two cousins, and induced them to abandon their handicrafts (Agostino being a goldsmith, and Annibale a tailor) for the profession of painting. Agostino he first placed under the care of Fontana, retaining Annibale in his own studio ; but he afterwards sent both to Venice and Parma, to copy the works of Titian, Tintoretto, and Correggio, on which his own taste had been formed. On their return, the three relatives, assisted by an eminent anatomist, Anthony de la Tour, opened, in 1589, an academy of painting under the name of the Incamminati (or, as we might paraphrase it, the Right Road), provided with numerous casts, books, and bassi-rilievi, which Lodovico had collected in his travels. From the affability and kind ness of the Caracci, and their zeal for the scientific edu cation of the students, their academy rose rapidly in popular estimation, and soon every other school of art in Bologna was deserted and closed. They continued together till, at the invitation of Cardinal Farnese, Annibale and Agostino went to Rome in 1 600 to paint the gallery of the cardinal s palace. The superior praises awarded to Agcstino inflamed the jealousy of Annibale, already kindled by the brilliant reception given by the pupils of the Incamminati to Agostino s still highly celebrated picture of the Communion of St Jerome, and the latter was dis missed to Parma to paint the great saloon of the Casino. Here he died in 1601, when on the eve of finishing his renowned painting of Celestial, Terrestrial, and Venal Love. Annibale continued to work alone at the Farnese gallery till the designs were completed; but, disappointed at the miserable remuneration offered by the cardinal, he retired to Naples, where an unsuccessful contest for a great work in the church of the Jesuits threw him into a fever, of which he died in 1609. Lodovico always remained at
his academy in Bologna (excepting for a short visit to his