Chapter Central Sun to Chair of C by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Central Sun to Chair

Central Sun That body or point about which our whole system revolves. Mädler believed that point to be eta in Taurus.

Centre In the Legislative Assembly The Centre were the friends of order. In the Fenian rebellion, 1866, the chief movers were called Head Centres, and their subordinates Centres.

Centre of Gravity That point on which a body acted on by gravity is balanced in all positions.

Centumviri A court under whose jurisdiction the Romans placed all matters pertaining to testaments and inheritances.

Centurion A Roman officer who had the command of 100 men. His badge was a vine-rod. (Latin, centum, a hundred.)

Century White John White, the Nonconformist lawyer. So called from his chief publication, The First Century of Scandalous, Malignant Priests, made and admitted into Benefices by the Prelates, etc. (1590- 1645).

Cephalus and Procris Made familiar to us by an allusion to them in the play of Pyramus and Thisbê, where they are miscalled Shafalus and Procrus. Cephalus was the husband of Procris, who, out of jealousy, deserted him. Cephalus went in search of her, and rested a while under a tree. Procris, knowing of his whereabouts, crept through some bushes to ascertain if a rival was with him. Cephalus heard the noise, and thinking it to be made by some wild beast, hurled his javelin into the bushes and slew Procris. When the unhappy man discovered what he had done, he slew himself in anguish of spirit with the same javelin.

“Pyramus: Not Shafalus to Procrus was so true.
Thisbe: As Shafalus to Procrus, I to you.”
Shakespeare: Midsummer Night's Dream. v. 1.

Cepheus (2 syl.). One of the northern constellations, which takes its name from Cepheus, King of Ethiopia, husband of Cassiopeia and father of Andromeda.

Cepola Devices of Cépola. Quips of law are so called from Bartholomew Cépola whose law-quirks for prolonging lawsuits have been frequently reprinted.

Cequiel (3 syl.). A spirit who transported Torralba from Valladolid' to Rome and back again in an hour and a half. (Pellicer.)

Ceraunium The opal. So called by the ancients from a notion that it was a thunder-stone. (Latin, ceraunium; Greek, keraunios.)

Cerberus A grim, watchful keeper, house-porter, guardian, etc. Cerberus, according to Roman mythology, is the three-headed dog that keeps the entrance of the infernal regions. Herculës dragged the monster to earth, and then let him go again. (See Sop .)
    Orpheus (2 syl.) lulled Cerberus to sleep with his lyre; and the Sibyl who conducted Æneas through the Inferno, also threw the dog into a profound sleep with a cake seasoned with poppies and honey.
   The origin of the fable of Cerberus is from the custom of the ancient Egyptians of guarding graves with dogs.
    The exquisite cameo by Dioscoridês, in the possession of the King of Prussia, and the painting of Hercules and Cerberus, in the Farnésé Gallery of Rome, are of world-wide renown.

Cerdonians A sect of heretics, established by Cerdon of Syria, who lived in the time of Pope Hyginus, and maintained most of the errors of the Manichees.

Ceremonious (The). Peter IV. of Aragon. (1319, 1336-1387.)

Ceremony When the Romans fled before Brennus, one Albinus, who was carrying his wife and children in a cart to a place of safety, overtook at Janiculum the Vestal virgins bending under their load, took them up and conveyed them to Cærë, in Etruria. Here they remained, and continued to perform their sacred rites, which were consequently called “Cære-monia.” (Livy, v.)
    Scaliger says the word comes from cerus=sanctus.