CIVIC CROWN, Corona Civica, a garland of oak leaves given by the ancient Romans to the soldier who had saved the life of a citizen in battle. The civic crown was accounted the next in honour to the Corona Obsidionalis, or that presented by a beleaguered army to the general who had effected their liberation. Plutarch, in his life of Coriolanus, accounts for the preference given to the oak as the material for civic crowns; namely, that the oak was sacred to Jupiter, the guardian of the city. Pliny, in speaking of the honour and privileges conferred on him who had merited this crown, observes, that he who had once obtained it might wear it always. When he appeared at the public spectacles, the senate and people rose up; and on these occasions a place next the senate was reserved for him. He was freed from all public burdens, as were also his father and his grandfather by the father's side. He was also to be regarded in the light of a parent by the person whose life he had preserved.