130 



CESTUS CEVENNES. 



by the existing authorities, to write an Essay on 

 Studies. Iu this, lie made suggestions for the im- 

 provement of education. In 1807 appeared his poem 

 called Pronea (Providence), in praise of his benefac- 

 tor, Napoleon. In spite of his advanced age, he 

 subsequently occupied himself with an edition of all 

 his works, which he had commenced in 1800 but 

 his death, in 1808, prevented the completion of this 

 enterprise. Cesarotti was a man of great talents 

 and genius. His prose is animated am powerful, 

 but he indulges too much in innovations, particularly 

 Gallicisms; and cannot, therefore, compete with 

 such writers as Machiavelli, Galileo, &c. The 

 translation of Osstan is considered his best poetical 

 production, and Alfieri praises its beautiful versifica- 

 tion. A complete edition of Cesarotti's works was 

 published by his friend and successor, Giuseppe Bar- 

 bieri (Pisa, 1805 et seq., thirty vols.). 



CESTUS (Gr. IT,-) ; a girdle worn by Venus, 

 endowed with the power of exciting love towards 

 the wearer. The following is Pope's translation of 

 Homer's description of it : 



I a it was every art and every charm 

 To win the wisest, and the coldext warm 

 Fond love, the gentle vow, the gay desire, 

 The kind deceit, the still-reviving fire, 

 Persuasive speech, and mure persuasive sighs, 

 Silence that spoke, and eloquence of eyes. 

 Forceilini says, Fingunt poetce, intextas habere cupi- 

 tiitates, voluptates, delicias, illecebras, suspiria, desidc- 

 ria, risv-s, jocos, blanda verba, gaudia, jitrgia, et 

 hujusmodi, quibus amatorum vita constat. This 

 beautiful fiction has been happily imitated by Tasso, 

 in his description of the girdle of Armida. 

 CETO. See Phorcus. 



CETTE (lat. 43 24' N. ; Ion. 3 47' E.) ; u. town 

 with 7000 inhabitants, in what was formerly Lan- 

 guedoc, now in the department of the Herault, upon 

 a peninsula, between the Mediterranean and lake 

 Thau, into which the great canal of Languedoc 

 enters. The port, which is safe, and has been very 

 much deepened, is guarded by the fort St Pierre and 

 St Louis. Cette is the principal place of export for 

 the productions of Languedoc. Its commerce in 

 woollen, cotton, and silk goods, leather, wine, salt, 

 oil, verdigris, soda, pilchards, tobacco, soap, &c., is 

 considerable. It has, likewise, some sugar refineries 

 and silk manufactories, and a school for navigation. 

 In the neighbouring lagoons, 600,000 cwt. salt are 

 made annually. 



CEUTA (anciently Septa); a city on the African 

 coast of the Mediterranean, in the kingdom of Fez, 

 upon a peninsula opposite Gibraltar, with 7400 in- 

 habitants. It is the seat of a bishop. It has a strong 

 fort. The harbour is bad. The Portuguese pos- 

 sessed themselves of this city in 1415. With Portu- 

 gal, it was included, in 1570, in the Spanish monar- 

 chy, by Philip II., and remained under the Spanish 

 government after the revolution of 1640. In the 

 peace of 1668, Portugal ceded it to Spain. Ceuta 

 is one of those Spanish presidios, which are used only 

 for commerce, and as places of transportation for 

 exiles or criminals. Lat. 35 48' N. ; Ion. 5 11' W. 

 CEVA, THOMAS, born at Milan, in 1648. Lessing 

 says, that this Italian Jesuit, who died in 1737, was 

 as great a mathematician as poet ; and truly a poet, 

 not merely a rhymer, as appears from his Latin poem, 

 the Puer Jesus, which he considered as a comic epo- 

 pee, rather than as a true epic poem. He published 

 several excellent mathematical works ; for instance, 

 one on the division of angles, and Opuscula Mathe- 

 juatica (Milan, 1699). He also wrote several biogra- 

 phies ; as that of the Italian poet Lemene, with judi- 

 cious remarks upon poetry. . 



CEVENNES, or SEVENNES ; a chain of moun- 

 tains in the south of France, considered by some a 



branch of the Alps; by others, of the Pyrenees. 

 They are connected with both, and extend also to 

 Auvergne. In the highest regions of these moun- 

 tains, hardly any vegetation is to be perceived. The 

 highest summits are the Puy de Dome, 4960 feet 

 high; the Cantal, 5964 feet, and two other eleva- 

 tions, above 6000 feet liigh. The lower range, 

 which is called the Garigues, produces almost no- 

 thing. The central mountains are more fertile, and 

 are intersected by pleasant valleys. The chestnut 

 woods, the cultivation of silk, and various sorts of 

 fruit, employ and support a large population. The 

 highest part of the mountains servt-s j>rin< -ipidly for 

 pasturing sheep. Several kinds of metals are found 

 here. These mountains have been distinguished as 

 the theatre of a bloody civil war. 



Ever since the thirteenth century, religious sects 

 had been springing up in the Cevennes, which, irri- 

 tated by the abuses of the Roman clergy, laboured 

 to restore the Cliristian religion to its primitive 

 purity. Traces of them at a very early period are 

 found in this southern extremity of France, under 

 the name of the Poor men of Lyons, the Albigenses, 

 and the IValdenses. The crusades directed against 

 them by the popes and the inquisitorial tribunals iiad, 

 their enemies imagined, the effect of annihilating 

 them ; but great multitudes, in feet, still survived ; 

 and, when the Protestant religion extended itself in 

 Switzerland, and particularly in Geneva, it would 

 naturally find adherents, in this part of France, whom 

 all the persecutions, down to the time of Henry IV., 

 were insufficient to extirpate. From that time they 

 were protected by the edict of Nantes. But, when 

 Louis XIV. formed the insane resolution of repealing 

 this act, in 1685, and bringing all his subjects, by force 

 or persuasion, within the pale of the Catholic church, 

 the quiet of the poor but happy people of the Ce- 

 vennes was broken in upon, and a series of persecu- 

 tions commenced, hardly distinguishable from those 

 which the early Christians experienced from the Ro- 

 man government, except that now the persecutors 

 themselves were Christians. The peace of Ryswick, 

 in 1697, afforded Louis XIV. leisure to pursue, in 

 earnest, this work of extermination. Dragoons were 

 sent out to second the preaching of the monks, and 

 the tax-gatherers were instructed to exact a rigorous 

 payment of taxes from all who were suspected of 

 Protestantism. Children were torn from their parents 

 to be educated in the Catholic faith, men who fre- 

 quented houses of prayer were sent to the galleys, 

 women were thrown into prison, and preachers were 

 hanged. These measures, reducing the people to 

 despair, brought on combined resistance and a vio- 

 lent war. Prophets arose, and prophetesses, who 

 foretold the victory of the country people. Who- 

 ever fell into the hands of the dragoons was mas- 

 sacred, and every officer or soldier of Louis, who was 

 taken prisoner suffered the same fete. The peasants 

 attacked their tormentors, the tax-collectors, in the 

 night, with no other dress than a shirt, to escape de- 

 tection. (See Camisards). The murder of the abbot 

 Chaila, in 1703, who commanded the dragonades, as 

 the attempts to produce conversion by the aid of 

 dragoons were called, was the signal, it appears, for 

 a most desperate contest. The forces of Louis were 

 incapable of bringing it to a conclusion, as the crags 

 of the mountains offered numerous places of refuge 

 to the Protestants, and his troops were every mo- 

 ment in danger of being cut off, or of perishing by 

 hunger and cold. The enthusiasts grew more fear- 

 less every day. Several leaders arose among them, 

 and Cavalier, at the age of twenty years (with whom 

 Voltaire became personally acquainted), highly dis- 

 tinguished himself. Louis XIV. was now placed in 

 a very critical situation, because the war of the Span. 



