COLLATIA

collatia, an ancient town of latium, 10 m. e. by n. of rome by the via collatina. it appears in the legendary history of rome as captured by tarquinius priscus. livy tells us it was taken from the sabines, while virgil speaks of it as a latin colony. in the time of cicero it had lost all importance; strabo names it as a mere village, in private hands, while for pliny it was one of the lost cities of latium. the site is undoubtedly to be sought on the hill now occupied by the large medieval fortified farmhouse of lunghezza, immediately to the south of the anio, which occupies the site of the citadel joined by a narrow neck to the tableland to the south-east on which the city stood: this is protected by wide valleys on each side, and is isolated at the south-east end by a deep narrow valley enlarged by cutting. no remains are to be seen, but the site is admirably adapted for an ancient settlement. the road may be traced leading to the south end of this tableland, being identical with the modern road to lunghezza for the middle part of its course only. the current indentification with castellaccio, 2 m. to the south-east, is untenable. see t. ashby in _papers of the british school at rome_, i. 138 seq., iii. 201. (t. as.) collation (lat. _collatio_, from _conferre_, to bring together or compare), the bringing together of things for the special purpose of comparison, and thus, particularly, the critical examination of the texts of documents or mss. and the result of such comparison. the word is also a term in printing and bookbinding for the register of the "signatures," the number of quires and leaves in each quire of a book or ms. in roman and scots law "collation" answers to the english law term "hotch-pot" (q.v.). from another meaning of the latin word, a consultation or conference, and so a treatise or homily, comes the title of a work of johannes cassianus (q.v.), the _conferences of the fathers_ (_collationes patrum_). readings from this and similar works were customary in monasteries; by the _regula_ of st benedict it is ordered that on rising from supper there should be read _collationes_, passages from the lives of the fathers and other edifying works; the word is then applied to the discussions arising from such readings. on fast days it was usual in monasteries to have a very light meal after the _collatio_, and hence the meal itself came to be called "collation," a meaning which survives in the modern use of the word for any light or quickly prepared repast. colle, charles (1709-1783), french dramatist and song-writer, the son of a notary, was born at paris in 1709. he was early interested in the rhymes of jean heguanier, then the most famous maker of couplets in paris. from a notary's office colle was transferred to that of m. de neulan, the receiver-general of finance, and remained there for nearly twenty years. when about seventeen, however, he made the acquaintance of alexis piron, and afterwards, through gallet (d. 1757), of panard. the example of these three masters of the vaudeville, while determining his vocation, made him diffident; and for some time he composed nothing but _amphigouris_--verses whose merit was measured by their unintelligibility. the friendship of the younger crebillon, however, diverted him from this by-way of art, and the establishment in 1729 of the famous "caveau" gave him a field for the display of his fine talent for popular song. in 1739 the society of the caveau, which numbered among its members helvetius, charles duclos, pierre joseph bernard, called gentil-bernard, jean philippe rameau, alexis piron, and the two crebillons, was dissolved, and was not reconstituted till twenty years afterwards. his first and his best comedy, _la verite dans le vin_, appeared in 1747. meanwhile, the regent orleans, who was an excellent comic actor, particularly in representations of low life, and had been looking out for an author to write suitable parts for him, made colle his reader. it was for the duke and his associates that colle composed the greater part of his _theatre de societe_. in 1763 colle produced at the theatre francais _dupuis et desronais_, a successful sentimental comedy, which was followed in 1771 by _la veuve_, which was a complete failure. in 1774 appeared _la partie de chasse de henri quatre_ (partly taken from dodsley's _king and the miller of mansfield_), colle's last and best play. from 1748 to 1772, besides these and a multitude of songs, colle was writing his _journal_, a curious collection of literary and personal strictures on his boon companions as well as on their enemies, on piron as on voltaire, on la harpe as on corneille. colle died on the 3rd of november 1783. his lyrics are frank and jovial, though often licentious. the subjects are love and wine; occasionally, however, as in the famous lyric (1756) on the capture of port mahon, for which the author received a pension of 600 livres, the note of patriotism is struck with no unskilful hand, while in many others colle shows himself possessed of considerable epigrammatic force. see also h. bonhomme's edition (1868) of his _journal et memoires_ (1748-1772); grimm's _correspondance_; and c. a. sainte-beuve, _nouveaux lundis_, vol. vii.