i.e. minores viginti quinque annis. While the tutor, the guardian of the pupillus, was said to be appointed for the care of the person, the curator took charge of the property. The term survives in Scots law for the guardian of one in the second stage of minority, i.e. below twenty-one, and above fourteen, if a male, and twelve, if a female. Under the Roman empire the title of curator was given to several officials who were in charge of departments of public administration, such as the curatores annonae, of the public supplies of corn and oil, or the curatores regionum, who were responsible for order in the fourteen regiones or districts into which the city of Rome was divided, and who protected the citizen from exaction in the collection of taxes; the curatores aquarum had the charge of the aqueducts. Many of these curatorships were instituted by Augustus. In modern usage “curator” is applied chiefly to the keeper of a museum, art collection, public gallery, &c., but in many universities to an official or member of a board having a general control over the university, or with the power of electing to professorships. In the university of Oxford “curators” are nominated to administer certain departments, such as the University Chest.
CURCI, CARLO MARIA (1810–1891), Italian theologian, was
born at Naples. He joined the Jesuits in 1826, and for some time
was devoted to educational work and the care of the poor and
prisoners. He became one of the first editors of the Jesuit organ,
the Civiltà Cattolica; but then came under the influence of
Gioberti, Rosmini and other advocates for reform. He wrote a
preface to Gioberti’s Primato (1843), but dissented from his
Prolegomena. After the events of 1870, Curci, at Florence,
delivered a course on Christian philosophy; and in 1874 began
to publish several Scriptural works. In his edition of the New
Testament (1879–1880) he makes some severe remarks on the
neglect of the study of Scripture amongst the Italian clergy.
In the meantime he began to attack the political action of the
Vatican, and in his Il Moderno Dissidio tra la Chiesa e l’Italia
(1878) he advocated an understanding between the church and
state. This was followed by La Nuova Italia ed i Vecchi Zelanti
(1881), another attack on the Vatican policy; and by his
Vaticano Regio (1883), in which he accuses the Vatican of
trafficking in holy things and declares that the taint of worldliness
came from the false principles accepted by the Curia. His
former work at Naples drew him also in the direction of Christian
Socialism. He was condemned at Rome, and in a letter to The
Times (10th of September 1884) declares that it was on account
of his disobedience to the decrees of the Roman Congregation:
“I am a dutiful son of the Church who hesitates to obey an
order of his mother because he does not see clear enough the maternal
authority in it.” He was cast out of the Society of Jesus and
suspended, and during this time Cardinal Manning put his purse
at Curci’s disposal. Finally he accepted the decrees against him
and retracted “all that he said contrary to the faith, morals and
discipline of the Church.” He passed the remainder of his life in
retirement at Florence, and, a few months before his death, was
readmitted to the Jesuit Society. He died on the 8th of June
1891.
(E. Tn.)
CUREL, FRANÇOIS, Vicomte de (1854– ), French
dramatist, was born at Metz on the 10th of June 1854. He was
educated at the École Centrale as a civil engineer, the family
wealth being derived from smelting works. He began his literary
career with two novels, L’Été des fruits secs (1885) and Le Sauvetage
du grand duc (1889). In 1891 three pieces were accepted by the
Théâtre Libre. The list of his plays includes L’Envers d’une
sainte (1892); Les Fossiles (1892), a picture of the prejudices
of the provincial nobility; L’Invitée (1893), the story of a mother
who returns to her children after twenty years’ separation;
L’Amour brode (1893), which was withdrawn by the author from
the Théâtre Français after the second representation; La
Figurante (1896); Le Repas du lion (1898), dealing with the
relations between capital and labour; La Fille sauvage (1902),
the history of the development of the religious idea; La Nouvelle
Idole (1899), dealing with the worship of science; and Le Coup
d’aile (1906).
See also Contemporary Review for August 1903.
CURÉLY, JEAN NICOLAS (1774–1827), French cavalry leader,
was the son of a poor peasant of Lorraine. Joining, in 1793, a
regiment of hussars, he served with great distinction as private
and as sous-officier in the Rhine campaigns from 1794 to 1800.
He was, however, still a non-commissioned officer of twelve
years’ service, when at Afflenz (12th of November 1805) he
attacked and defeated, with twenty-five men, a whole regiment
of Austrian cavalry. This brilliant feat of arms won him the
grade of sous-lieutenant, and the reputation of being one of the
men of the future. The next two campaigns of the Grande
Armée gained him two more promotions, and as a captain of
hussars he performed, in the campaign of Wagram, a feat of
even greater daring than the affair of Afflenz. Entrusted with
despatches for the viceroy of Italy, Curély, with forty troopers,
made his way through the Austrian lines, reconnoitred everywhere,
even in the very headquarters-camp of the archduke John,
and finally accomplished his mission in safety. This exploit,
only to be compared to the famous raids of the American Civil
War, and almost unparalleled in European war, gained him
the grade of chef d’escadrons, in which for some years he served
in the Peninsular War. Under Gouvion St Cyr he took part in
the Russian War of 1812, and in 1813 was promoted colonel.
In the campaign of France (1814) Curély, now general of brigade,
commanded a brigade of “improvised” cavalry, and succeeded
in infusing into this unpromising material some of his own
daring spirit. His regiments distinguished themselves in several
combats, especially at the battle of Arcis-sur-Aube. The
Restoration government looked with suspicion on the most
dashing cavalry leader of the younger generation, and in 1815
Curély, who during the Hundred Days had rallied to his old
leader, was placed on the retired list. Withdrawing to the little
estate of Jaulny (near Thiaucourt), which was his sole property,
he lived in mournful retirement, which was saddened still further
when in 1824 he was suddenly deprived of his rank. This last
blow hastened his death. Curély, had he arrived at high
command earlier, would have been ranked with Lasalle and
Montbrun, but his career, later than theirs in beginning, was
ended by the fall of Napoleon. His devoted friend, De Brack,
in his celebrated work Light Cavalry Outposts, considers Curély
incomparable as a leader of light cavalry, and the portrait of
Curély to be found in its pages is justly ranked as one of the
masterpieces of military literature. The general himself left
but a modest manuscript, which was left for a subsequent
generation to publish.
See also Thoumas, Le Général Curély: itinéraires d’un Cavalier léger, 1793–1815 (Paris, 1887).
CURES, a Sabine town between the left bank of the Tiber
and the Via Salaria, about 26 m. from Rome. According to the
legend, it was from Cures that Titus Tatius led to the Quirinal the
Sabine settlers, from whom, after their union with the settlers
on the Palatine, the whole Roman people took the name Quirites.
It was also renowned as the birthplace of Numa, and its importance
among the Sabines at an early period is indicated by the
fact that its territory is often called simply ager Sabinus. At
the beginning of the imperial period it is spoken of as an unimportant
place, but seems to have risen to greater prosperity
in the 2nd century. It appears as the seat of a bishop in the
5th century, but seems to have been destroyed by the Lombards
in A.D. 589. The site consists of a hill with two summits, round
the base of which runs the Fosso Corese: the western summit
was occupied by the necropolis, the eastern by the citadel, and
the lower ground between the two by the city itself. A temple,
the forum, the baths, &c., were excavated in 1874–1877.
See T. Ashby in Papers of the British School at Rome, iii. 34. (T. As.)
CURETES (Gr. Κούρητες and Κουρῆτες). (1) A legendary
people mentioned by Homer (Il. ix. 529 ff.) as taking part in
the quarrel over the Calydonian boar. They were identified in
antiquity as either Aetolians or Acarnanians (Strabo 462,
26), and were also represented by a stock in Chalcis in Euboea.
(2) In mythology (unconnected with the above), the attendants
of Rhea. The story went that they saved the infant Zeus from
his father Cronus in Crete by surrounding his cradle and with
