Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Corbis

Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary, and Greek Lexicon (Rich, 1849)

COR'BIS. A basket of wicker-work, made in a pyramidical or conical shape (Varro, L. L. v. 139. Id. R. R. i. 22. 1. Isidor. Orig. xx. 9. Compare Arrian. Anab. v. 7. 8. πλέγμα ἐκ λύγου πυραμοειδές), and used for a variety of agricultural purposes, the particular application being generally marked by a characteristic epithet, as: —

1. Corbis messoria; a basket used for measuring corn in the ear, as opposed to the modius, in which it was measured after it had been threshed out (Cic. Sext. 38. Cato, R. R. 136.); or in which the ears of corn (spicas) were collected by the reaper, when each ear was nicked off from the top of the stalk by a serrated instrument (see the illustration and description s. Falx denticulata), instead of being cut with the straw. Varro, R. R. i. 50. 1. Propert. iv. 11. 28. Ov. Met. xiv. 643.

2. Corbis pabulatorius; a basket of the same character, which contained a certain measure of green food for cattle. Columell. vi. 3. 5. Id. xi. 2. 99.

3. Corbis constricta; a basket of similar character, employed as a muzzle for horses (Veget. Mulom. iii. 23. 2.), but here the reading is doubtful; Schneider has curcuma.

The example (Corbis/0.1) introduced above is copied from a fresco painting in the sepulchre of the Nasonian family on the Flaminian Way, near Rome, where it appears several times in the hands of figures engaged in rural occupations; and is given as a genuine specimen of the Roman corbis or corbula, on account of the uses to which it is there applied, its affinity in form to the descriptions cited at the head of this article, and because a basket of exactly the same shape and materials is now employed by the Neapolitan peasantry for similar purposes, and called by a diminutive of the same name, la corbella.

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  Corbis/0.1