Cerinthus

“ The ancients were too fond of a horse to consider the union of his nature with man's as forming a very degraded compound, and accordingly the Centaur is the only one of the fancied monsters of antiquity to which any good traits are assigned. The Centaurs were admitted to the companionship of man, and at the marriage of Pirithous with Hippodamia they were among the guests. At the feast Eurytion, one of the Centaurs, becoming intoxicated with the wine, attempted to offer violence to the bride ”

“ As for Chiron the Centaur, he became a constellation in heaven, where he is still to be seen. He was the teacher of nearly all the heroes and demi-gods: and after his death there seems to have been an end of them. There have been plenty of brave men since; but not like Castor and Pollux, Perseus, Theseus, and Hercules. Nor, since that fatal day, does one hear of the Centaurs any more. Thus did one passing fit of causeless anger, instantly repented of, destroy these wisest and most valiant creatures, and deprive the whole world of more than it has ever regained during thousands of years. ”

“ Such also are the Centaurs, men down to the waist and the remainder horses. They are a noble race of monsters. One of them, as you know, was able, guided by the light of reason alone, to direct his steps towards eternal blessedness, and you sometimes see his heroic bosom prancing on the clouds. Chiron, the Centaur, deserved for his works on the earth to share the abode of the blessed; he it was who gave Achilles his education; and that young hero, when he left the Centaur’s hands, lived for two years, dressed as a young girl, among the daughters of King Lycomedes. ”

“ He supposes Hippodamia to have been a Centauress, married to the prince of the Lapithæ, and thus accounts for the Centaurs having been at the wedding. Mr. Keightley, in his ‘Mythology of Ancient Greece and Italy,’ remarks that ‘it is certainly not a little strange that a rude mountain race like the Centaurs should be viewed as horsemen; and the legend which ascribes the perfecting of the art of horsemanship to the Lapithæ, is unquestionably the more probable one. The name Centaur, which so much resembles the Greek verb κεντέω, ‘to spur,’ we fancy gave origin to the fiction. ”

“ Nothing is more striking in this assemblage of fossil testacea than the great proportion of species referable to the genus Cerithium (see p. 245) . There occur no less than 137 species of this genus in the Paris basin, and almost all of them in the calcaire grossier. Most of the living Cerithia inhabit the sea near the mouths of rivers, where the waters are brackish; so that their abundance in the marine strata now under consideration is in harmony with the hypothesis that the Paris basin formed a gulf into which several rivers flowed. ”

“ Though growing commonly in dry pastures, in woods, and on chalky cliffs, yet the Centaury cannot be reared in a garden. Of old its tribe was called "Chironia," after Chiron, the Greek Centaur, well skilled in herbal physic; and most probably the name of our English plant was thus originated. But the Germans call the Centaury Tausendgulden kraut—"the herb of a thousand florins,"—either because of its medicinal value, or as a corruption of Centum aureum, "a hundred golden sovereigns." Centaury has become popularly reduced in Worcestershire to Centre of the Sun. ”

“ Cerdic, the founder of the monarchy, and his son, Kenric, fought many successful, and some unsuccessful, battles against the natives; and the martial spirit, common to all the Saxons, was, by means of these hostilities, carried to the greatest height, among this tribe. Ceaulin, who was the son and successor of Kenric, and who began his reign in 560, was still more ambitious and enterprising than his predecessors, and by waging continual war against the Britons, he added a great part of the counties of Devon and Somerset to his other dominions. ”

“ I could not avoid smiling sometimes when I observed the obsequiousness of those around me, for I continued, as I may say, in sheer idleness my work at M. de Sérigny's.
Cernay, whom I sometimes met, concealed his envy under the semblance of the most exaggerated admiration. "You are a very able man," he said; "you should have, and you will have, all kinds of success. You are now a statesman, intimate with ministers and ambassadors. The king even takes notice of you; you are considered, my good fellow, and you can have all you wish for, for you have such tact! ”

“ But in wondrous wise Saint Kiaranus used to sit and read beside the quern-stone, and the quern-stone used to turn swiftly of itself, without the hand of man, and to grind corn before all the folk. For the angels of God were grinding for Saint Kyaranus, unseen of men. And after no long time a certain man of the province of Mumenia, that is, of the people of the Desi, who was called Hiernanus, stirred up by divine favour, came with two most excellent vessels, like unto the vessel of that king, of the same sort and the same use, and gifted them in alms to Saint Kiaranus. ”

“ The Centaur, rearing up against his antagonist, tries in vain to pull away the left hand of the Lapith, which, in Carrey's drawing, he grasps. The head of the Centaur is a cast from the original at Athens. From the shoulders of the Centaur hangs a small chlamys; the folds fly behind, and show the violence and swiftness of the action. The head of the Lapith is a cast 137 from the original, which is now in the Louvre. Carrey's drawing gives the missing parts of the legs of this group. ”

“ The Grecian Centaurs, half men, half horses, like their Indian brethren the Gandharvas, understood the properties of herbs, and cultivated them; but, as a rule, they never willingly divulged to mankind their knowledge of the secrets of the vegetable world. Nevertheless, the Centaur Chiron instructed Æsculapius, Achilles, Æneas, and other heroes in the polite arts. Chiron had a panacea of his own, which is named after him Chironia Centaurium, or Gentiana Centaurium; and, as a vulnerary, the Ampelos Chironia of Pliny, or Tamus communis. ”

“ V Everybody had heard of Periander, king of Corinth. Some had heard of his great learning, and others had heard of his selfishness and cruelty.
Strangers admired him for his wisdom. His own people despised him for his wickedness.
When he heard that some men had come to Corinth with a very costly golden tripod, he had them brought before him.
"I have heard all about that tripod," he said, "and I know why you are carrying it from one place to another. Do you expect to find any man in Corinth who deserves so rich a gift?"
"We hope that you are the man," said the messengers. ”

“ One of the old Greek gold staters has a man driving a chariot in which the horse has a human head; while the man is urging the horse with the sacred three-branched rod, each branch of which terminates in a trefoil. The centaur has a yet unallotted place in the symbolism of the sun-myth. Classic mythology says Chiron the centaur was the teacher of Apollo in music, medicine, and hunting, and centaurs are mostly sagittarii or archers, whose arrows, like those of Apollo, are the sunbeams. ”

“ And now let me see my son; for it is not often I shall see him upon earth: famous he will be, but short-lived, and die in the flower of youth.’
So Tiphys the helmsman steered them to the shore under the crags of Pelion; and they went up through the dark pine-forests towards the Centaur’s cave.
And they came into the misty hall, beneath the snow-crowned crag; and saw the great Centaur lying, with his huge limbs spread upon the rock; and beside him stood Achilles, the child whom no steel could wound, and played upon his harp right sweetly, while Cheiron watched and smiled. ”

“ Chiron, whom the poets represent as a Hippo-Centaur, has the form of a man in an engraving of him in Gronov. Thes. Gr. Ant. 1. y.y.y.y. from an ancient MS. of Dioscorides. Some, from a passage in Lucian, thought his feet only were like those of a horse. Centaurs were consecrated to Apollo, as may be seen in many medals, especially those of Gallienus. Pliny, N. H, vii. c. 3, asserts that he saw a centaur preserved in honey, brought from Egypt to Rome, for Claudius Caesar. Some beautiful engravings of male and female centaurs may be seen in the Antiquities of Herculaneum. ”

“ Was it by way of attracting attention to himself, that he liked to be surrounded with extraordinary acolytes, or had his reputation as a fashionable man reached beyond the shores of the Ganges and Nile? I can't say why, but the fact was so. "Will you stay and take tea with me?" said, therefore, M. de Cernay. "Leaving aside my renegade, you will meet one of the most eccentric and clever men that I know of, and one of the silliest and most ridiculous: the first one is Lord Falmouth, the other is M. du Pluvier." ”

“ The Centaurs, who probably symbolise mountain torrents or other forces of nature, appear (mostly on early vases) in combat with Herakles, either in troops or in single combat, as in the stories of Nessos, Dexamenos, and Eurytion [1470] ; or, again, in the scenes so often celebrated in the sculptured friezes and metopes of Greek temples, where they contend with Theseus and Peirithoös, [1471] or with the Thessalian Lapiths. [1472] Among the latter a common episode is the death of Kaineus, whom the Centaurs buried in the earth, showering rocks upon him. ”

“ They were alone. Not a creature—neither horse nor man—had followed them. With the exception of a few birds not a living thing could they see.
"Why, wherever be they?" exclaimed Green.
"Where? Where are they?" echoed Cyril.
There was no answer. Where, indeed, were their pursuers? Had the earth swallowed them?
"Something must have made the new-comers fear to attack them after all," said Green. "They must have been as afraid of the others as t'others was of them! ”

“ Still, they were often depicted, and the two examples of a male and female Centaur, from a fresco at Pompeii, are charmingly drawn. It will be seen that both are attended by Bacchantes bearing thyrses—a delicate allusion to their love of wine; for it was owing to this weakness that their famous battle with the Lapithæ took place. The Centaurs were invited to the marriage of Hippodamia with Pirithous, and, after the manner of cow-boys “up town,” they got intoxicated, were very rude, and even offered violence to the women present. ”

“ Cyrene was built at the summit of a slope which falls steeply to the sea but gently inland, melting southward into steppe at the limit of vision, and for miles and miles is dotted with fragments of grey ruin. The Bedawis say that it is six camel-hours from one end to another of “Grené,” as the name “Kyrene” has been softened in their mouths. No site of antiquity so well suggests how a large city of our own day will seem when at last deserted by man. ”

“ My eyes suddenly fastened upon a hideous stone figure, the trunk of a woman resting upon a gem-incrusted pedestal.
"That is the form of the beauteous Alpha Centauri, who reigned during the petrified age," the guide informed me. "It is very pathetic, and marks petrification a failure. The lower portion of the body has crumpled away; the pedestal contains the powder. Before long what remains will be dust, then the pedestal will be sealed."
"Why so much splendor for the Great Family if all Centaurians are equal?" ”

“ In a more peaceful aspect appear the aged Centaurs, Pholos and Cheiron, especially in the stories of Herakles and Achilles, [1474] both of whom are brought to the latter for their youthful education. [1475] As the friend of Peleus Cheiron often assists at his capture of Thetis. [1476] Centaurs, especially Pholos, are sometimes represented returning from the chase, [1477] or as single decorative figures [1478] ; in one case they fight with cocks. [1479] Nike in one or two instances is drawn in her chariot by male or female Centaurs [1480] ”

“ Kenrick, terrible as the tempest, young as the snake of the valley, strong as the mountain of the slain; his armour shining like the stars in the dark night, when the moon is veiled in sable, and the blasting winds howl over the wide plain; his shield like the black rock, prepared himself for war.
Ceolwolf of the high mountain, who viewed the first rays of the morning star, swift as the flying deer, strong as the young oak, fierce as an evening wolf, drew his sword; glittering like the blue vapours in the valley of Horso; terrible as the red lightning, bursting from the dark-brown clouds ”

“ The genus Cerianthus appears to be widely distributed. C. membranaceus is the common species in the Mediterranean Sea, but a smaller species has been described from Naples under the name C. oligopodus by Cerfontaine. C. americanus occurs on the eastern coasts of North America. The British and North European species is C. lloydii, but another species, C. vogti, has been found at a depth of 498 fathoms in the North Sea. C. nobilis is a gigantic species supposed to be about 1 foot in length when complete, from Torres Straits. ”

“ I. An account given us of this Cornelius, who and what he was, who was the first-born of the Gentiles to Christ. We are here told that he was a great man and a good man—two characters that seldom meet, but here they did; and where they do meet they put a lustre upon each other: goodness makes greatness truly valuable, and greatness makes goodness much more serviceable. 1. Cornelius was an officer of the army, v. 1. He was at present quartered in Cesarea, a strong city, lately re-edified and fortified by Herod the Great, and called Cesarea in honour of Augustus Cæsar. ”

“ Sub-Fam. 1. Cervinae.—The genus Cervus comprises rather over twenty existing species, which, except the Wapiti (C. canadensis) , are exclusively Old World in distribution. The principal features of variation in the genus, in accordance with which it has been divided up into sub-genera, are (1) palmated (Fallow Deer, Dama) or non-palmated antlers; (2) adults spotted with white at all ages and seasons (Axis) , or in summer only (Pseudaxis) , or not at all; (3) spotted or unspotted young; (4) existence or absence of rudimentary canines in the upper jaw. ”