CAELĀTŪRA (τορευτική), a branch of the fine arts, under which all sorts of ornamental work in metal, except actual statues, appear to be included. The principal processes, which these words were used to designate, seem to have been of three kinds: hammering metal plates into moulds or dies, so as to bring out a raised pattern; engraving the surface of metals with a sharp tool; and working a pattern of one metal upon or into the surface of another: in short, the various processes which we describe by the words _chasing_, _damascening_, &c. The objects on which the _caelator_ exercised his art were chiefly weapons and armour--especially shields, chariots, tripods, and other votive offerings, quoits, candelabra, thrones, curule chairs, mirrors, goblets, dishes, and all kinds of gold and silver plate. The ornamental work with which the chaser decorated such objects consisted either of simple running patterns, chiefly in imitation of plants and flowers, or of animals, or of mythological subjects, and, for armour, of battles. The mythological subjects were reserved for the works of the greatest masters of the art: they were generally executed in very high relief (_anaglypha_). In the finest works, the ornamental pattern was frequently distinct from the vessel, to which it was either fastened permanently, or so that it could be removed at pleasure, the vessel being of silver, and the ornaments of gold, _crustae aut emblemata_. The art of ornamental metal-work was in an advanced stage of progress among the Greeks of the heroic period, as we see from numerous passages of Homer: but its origin, in the high artistic sense, is to be ascribed to Phidias, and its complete development to Polycletus. In the last age of the Roman Republic, the prevailing wealth and luxury, and the presence of Greek artists at Rome, combined to bring the art more than ever into requisition. After this period it suddenly fell into disuse. CAELĬBĀTUS. [AES UXORIUM; LEX JULIA ET PAPIA POPPAEA.] CAERĬTUM TĂBŬLAE. [AERARII.] CAESAR, a title of the Roman emperors, was originally a family name of the Julia gens; it was assumed by Octavianus as the adopted son of the great dictator, C. Julius Caesar, and was by him handed down to his adopted son Tiberius. It continued to be used by Caligula, Claudius, and Nero, as members either by adoption or female descent of Caesar’s family; but although the family became extinct with Nero, succeeding emperors still retained the name as part of their titles, and it was the practice to prefix it to their own names, as for instance, _Imperator Caesar Domitianus Augustus_. When Hadrian adopted Aelius Varus, he allowed the latter to take the title of Caesar; and from this time, though the title of _Augustus_ continued to be confined to the reigning emperor, that of _Caesar_ was also granted to the second person in the state and the heir presumptive to the throne. [AUGUSTUS.]