(eques), among the Romans, a person of the second degree of nobility, following immediately that of the senators.

Part of the ceremony whereby this honour was conferred, was the giving of an horse; for each had an horse at the public charge, and received the stipend of a horseman to serve in the wars.

When the knights were taken in among the senators, they resigned the privilege of having an horse kept for them at the charge of the public; then it became necessary, in order to be a knight, that they should have a certain revenue, that their poverty might not disgrace the order; and when they failed of the prescribed revenue, they were expunged out of the list of knights, and thrust down among the Plebeians. Ten thousand crowns is computed to have been the revenue required.

The knights at length grew so very powerful, that they became a balance between the power of the senate and people; they neglected the exercises of war, and betook themselves principally to civil employments in Rome.

or Cnacht (Germ.), in feudal history, was originally an appellation or title given by the ancient Germans to their youth after being admitted to the privilege of bearing arms. The passion for arms among the Germanic states, as described by Dr Stuart*, was carried to extremity. It was amidst scenes of death and peril that the young were educated: it was by valour and feats of prowess that the ambitious signalized their manhood. All the honours they knew were allotted to the brave. The sword opened the path to glory. It was in the field that the ingenious and the noble flattered most their pride, and acquired an ascendancy. The strength of their bodies, and the vigour of their counsels, surrounded them with warriors, and lifted them to command.

But, among these nations, when the individual felt the call of valour, and wished to try his strength against an enemy, he could not of his own authority take the lance and the javelin. The admission of their youth to the privilege of bearing arms, was a matter of too much importance to be left to chance or their own choice. A form was invented by which they were advanced to that honour.

The council of the district, or of the canton to which the candidate belonged, was assembled. His age and his qualifications were inquired into; and, if he was deemed worthy of being admitted to the privileges of a soldier, a chieftain, his father, or one of his kindred, adorned him with the shield and the lance. In consequence of this solemnity, he prepared to distinguish himself; his mind opened to the cares of the public; and the domestic concerns, or the offices of the family from which he had sprung, were no longer the objects of his attention. To this ceremony, so simple and so interesting, the institution of knighthood is indebted for its rise.