C E R 
travel all over the world, and communicate his knowledge 
of agriculture to the rude inhabitants, who hitherto lived 
upon acorns and the roots of plants. Her beneficence to 
mankind made Ceres refpeCted. Sicily was fuppofed to be 
the favourite retreat of the goddefs, and Diodorus fays, 
that fie and her daughter made their firft appearance to 
mankind in Sicily, which Pluto received as a nuptial dowry 
from Jupiter when he married Proferpine. The Sicilians 
made a yearly facrifice to Ceres, every man according to 
his abilities; and the fountain of Cyane, through which 
Pluto opened himfelf a palfage with his trident, when car¬ 
rying aw'ay Proferpine, was publicly honoured with an of¬ 
fering of bulls, and the blood of the victims was died in the 
waters of the fountain. Befides thefe, other ceremonies 
were obferved in honour of the goddeffes who had fo pe¬ 
culiarly favoured theifiand. The commemoration of the 
rape was celebrated about the beginning of the harveft, and 
the fearch of Ceres at the time that corn is fown in the 
earth. The latter feftival continued fix fuccefive days: 
and during the celebration, the votaries of Ceres made ufe 
of fome free and wanton exprefiions, as that language had 
made the goddefs fmile while melancholy for the lofs of her 
daughter. Attica, which had been fo eminently diftin- 
guiflied by the goddefs, gratefully remembered her favours 
in the celebration of the Eleufinian mylteries. Ceres alfo 
performed the duties of a legiftator, and the Sicilians found 
the advantages of her falutary laws ; hence, her furname 
of Tliefmophora. She is the fame as the Ifis of the Egyp¬ 
tians, and her worfliip, it is faid, was firft brought into 
Greece by Erechtheus. She met with different adven¬ 
tures when flie travelled over the earth, and the impudence 
of Stellio was feverely punifhed. To avoid the importu¬ 
nities of Neptune, fhe changed herfelf into a mare ; but the 
god took advantage of her metamorphofis, and from their 
union arofe the horfe Arion. The birth of this monlter 
fo offended Ceres, that fire withdrew herfelf from the light 
of mankind ; and the earth would have perifhed for want 
of her afiiftance, had not Pan difcovered her in Arcadia, 
and given information of it to Jupiter. The Parcae were 
fent by the god to comfort her, and at their perfuafion fhe 
returned to Sicily, where her ftatues reprefented her veiled 
in black, with the head of a horfe, and holding a dove in 
one hand, and in the other a dolphin. In their facrifices, 
the ancients offered Ceres a pregnant fow, as that animal 
often injures and deftroys the productions of the earth. 
While the corn was yet in grafs, they offered her a ram, 
after the victim had been led three times round the field. 
Ceres was reprefented with a garland of ears of corn on her 
head, holdinginone hand alighted torch,and in theother 
a poppy, which was facred to her. She appears as a coun¬ 
try-woman mounted on the back of an ox, and carrying a 
bafket on her left arm, and holding a hoe; and fometimes 
the rides in a chariot drawn by winged dragons. She was 
fuppofed to be the fame as Rhea, Tellus, Cybele, Bona 
Dea, Berecynthia, &c. The Romans paid her great a- 
doration, and her feflivals were yearly celebrated by the 
Roman matrons in the month of April, during eight days. 
Thefe matrons abftained during feveral days from the ufe 
of wine and every carnal enjoyment. They always bore 
lighted torchesin commemoration of the goddefs ; and who¬ 
ever came to thefe feftivals without a previous initiation, 
was punifhed with death. Ceres is metaphorically called 
bread and corn, as the word Bacchus is fometimes ufed to 
iignify wine. Apollod. —Mr. Bryant, in his Analyfis of An¬ 
cient Mythology, defines the word Ceres originally to 
mean a lacred tower where a perpetual fire was preferved ; 
and, he fays, the rites of this benefaCtrefs and law-giver, 
this innocent and rural goddefs, were fo cruel, that fome of 
her temples were as much dreaded as thofe of Sylla and the 
Cyclops. The towers of Ceres were P'urtain , or wpufiVsia, 
fo called from the facred fires which were kept burning 
therein. The Greeks, through ignorance, interpreted this 
word 5 Tvpov rapeioy ; and rendered what was the temple of 
Cerus, a granary of corn , and thusCeres became the goddefs 
of corn. 
VOL. IV. No. j 7 < 5 . 
C E R 41 
CERESO'LO, a town of Italy, in the duchy of Mantua; 
thirteen miles north-weft of Mantua. 
CE'RET, a town of France, and principal place of a 
diftriCt, in the department of the Eaft Pyrenees, fituated at 
the foot of the Pyrenees, on the river Tech, over which is 
a bridge of one arch, fuppofed to be the higheft and boldeft 
in France : it contains about 1900 inhabitants. It was 
here that the commiffioners of France and Spain met, in 
1660, to fettle the bounds of the two kingdoms. A bat¬ 
tle was fought near this town between the French republi¬ 
can army, and the Spaniards, on the 1 ft ot May, 1794, 
in which the latter were defeated - , with the lofs of their 
camp, magazines, equipage, 200 pieces of cannon, and 
2000 prifoners. Five leagues fouth-weft ot Perpignan, 
Lat. 42. 28. N. long. 20. 25. E. of Ferro. 
CERE'TIA,/ in botany. See Hymen^a. 
CE'REUS, in botany. See Cactus. 
CERIGLIA'NO, or Cigliano, a town of Italy, in the 
kingdom of Naples, and province of Bafilicata s ten miles 
fouth of Tricarico. 
CERIGNO'LA, a town of Italy, in the kingdom of Na¬ 
ples, and province of Capitanata ; remarkable for a victory 
obtained here in 1503, by Gonfalvo over the duke of Ne¬ 
mours, who was (lain in the commencement of the battle : 
twenty miles fouth of Manfredonia. 
CERI'GO, an ifiand of the Grecian Archipelago, for¬ 
merly well known by the name of Cythera, feparated from 
Moreaby a narrow ftrait: it is dry and mountainous, and 
produces neither corn, wine, nor oil, fufficient for the 
inhabitants; yet fome of the vallies are fertile; fheep, 
hares, quails, turtles, and falcons, are abundant. It is 
about leven leagues in circumference, and ferves as a 
rendezvous for pirates. Lat. 36. 28. N. Ion. 40. 42. E. 
Ferro. 
CERI'GO, a town, fituated on the weftern coaft of the 
ifiand of Cerigo, defended by a cattle, fituated on a fliarp 
rock, furrounded by the fea ; with a fmall harbour: it is 
tbefea of a Greek bifiiop. Lat. 36. 26. N. Ion. 40. 42. 
E. Ferro. 
CERIGQT'TO, a fmall ifiand in the Grecian Archi¬ 
pelago, between Cerigo and Candia, about five miles in 
circumference, and uninhabited. It was anciently called 
JEgilia. Lat. 36. 2. N. Ion. 40. 59. E. Ferro. 
CERIL'LA, among printers, a mark fet under the letter 
c in French or Spanifh; as y, to denote it to be pronounc¬ 
ed as an s, or fs. 
CERIL'LY, a town of France, and principal place of a 
diftriCt, in the department of Allier; eleven miles fouth 
of Bourges, and feven weft of Moulins. 
CERFNES, a fea-port town of the ifland of Cyprus, de¬ 
fended by a caftle, whofe walls are fallen to decay. It is 
the fea of a bifhop, fuffragan of Nicofia. Lat. 35. 22. 
N. Ion. 51. 10. E. Ferro. 
CERIN'THE, /\ [jMjpo?, wax, or joipiov, a honeycomb.] 
Honeyyvort; in botany, a genus of the clafs pentandria, 
order monogynia, natural order of afperifoliae. The gene¬ 
ric characters are—Calyx : perianthium five-parted ; divi- 
lions oblong, equal, permanent. Corolla: monopetalous, 
bell-form. Tube fliort, thick. Border tube-bellied, ra¬ 
ther thicker than the tube ; mouth five-cleft; throat 
naked, pervious. Stamina: filaments five, fubulate, very 
ftiort. Anthers acute, ereCt. Piftillum: germ four- 
parted. Style filiform, length of the ftamens. Stigma 
obtufe. Pericarpium: none. Calyx unchanged. Seeds 
two, bony, glofiy, fubovate, outwardly gibbous, bilocular. 
.— Ejj'enUal Char after. Border of the corolla tube-bellied; 
throat pervious ; feeds two, bilocular. 
Species. 1. Cerinthe major, or great honey wort. Leaves 
Item clafping, corollas bluntifti fpreading. Stems eigh¬ 
teen inches high and more, round, fmooth, branching, and 
leafy. Leaves glaucous, becoming blue by age, fmooth, 
without prickles, but ciliated about the edge, dotted with 
white. Branches leafy, nodding ; with flowers among 
the leaves, hanging on long peduncles. The tube of the 
corolla is yellow, but the border is purple: the tootlilets 
' M 
