xford, 1901); Bethmann-Hollweg, _Der romische
Civilprozess_, ii. 53 ff. (Bonn, 1864); Pauly-Wissowa,
_Realencyclopadie_, iii. 1935 ff. (Wlassak). (A. M. Cl.)

FOOTNOTE:

[1] Mommsen (_Staatsrecht_, i^3. 275, n. 4, ii^3. 231, n. 1, 590 f.)
believed that the _Centumviri_ were instituted about 150 B.C.

CENTURION (Lat. _centurio_), in the ancient Roman army, an officer in
command of a _centuria_, originally a body of a hundred infantry, later
the sixtieth part of the normal legion. There were therefore in the
legion sixty centurions, who, though theoretically subordinate to the
six military tribunes, were the actual working officers of the legion.
For the most part the centurions were promoted from the ranks: they were
arranged in a complicated order of seniority; the senior centurion of
the legion (_primus pilus_) was an officer of very high importance.
Besides commanding the centuries of the legion, centurions were
"seconded" for various kinds of special service, e.g. for staff
employment, the command of auxiliaries. See further ROMAN ARMY.

CENTURIPE (formerly CENTORBI, anc. [Greek: Kentoripa] or _Centuripae_),
a town of Sicily, in the province of Catania, situated 2380 ft. above
sea-level in a commanding situation, 7 m. N. of the railway station of
Catenanuova-Centuripe, which is 28 m. W. from Catania. Pop. (1901)
11,311. Thucydides mentions it as a city of the Sicels. It became an
ally of the Athenians at the time of their expedition against Syracuse,
and maintained its independence almost uninterruptedly (though it fell
under the power of Agathocles) until the First Punic War. Cicero
describes it, perhaps with some exaggeration, as being far the largest
and richest city of Sicily, and as having a population of 10,000,
engaged in the cultivation of an extensive territory. It was granted
Latin rights before the rest of Sicily. It appears to have suffered much
in the war against Sextus Pompeius, and not to have regained its former
prosperity under the empire. Frederick II. entirely destroyed it in
1233, but it was soon rebuilt. Considerable remains of the ancient city
walls and of buildings, mostly of the Roman period, still exist, and
numerous antiquities, including some fine Hellenistic _terra-cottas_,
have been discovered in casual excavations.

See F. Ansaldi, _I Monumenti dell' antica Centuripi_ (Catania, 1851);
P. Orsi in _Atti del Congresso Internazionale di Scienze Storiche_