CEPH’ALUS (in Greek, Kephalos).  One day, overcome with heat, Cephalus threw himself on the grass, and cried aloud, “Come, gentle Aura, and this heat allay!” The words were told to his young wife Procris, who, supposing Aura to be some rival, became furiously jealous.  Resolved to discover her rival, she stole next day to a covert, and soon saw her husband come and throw himself on the bank, crying aloud, “Come, gentle Zephyr; come, Aura, come, this heat allay!” Her mistake was evident, and she was abont to throw herself into the arms of her husband, when the young man, aroused by the rustling, shot an arrow into the covert, supposing some wild beast was about to spring on him.  Procris was shot, told her tale, and died.—­Ovid, Art of Love, iii.

(Cephalus loves Procris, i.e. “the sun kisses the dew.”  Procris is killed by Cephalus, i.e. “the dew is destroyed by the rays of the sun.”)

CERAS’TES (3 syl.), the horned snake. (Greek, keras, “a horn.”) Milton uses the word in Paradise Lost, x. 525 (1665).

CERBERUS, a dog with three heads, which keeps guard in hell.  Dante places it in the third circle.

  Cerberus, cruel monster, fierce and strange,
  Through his wide threefold throat barks as a dog ... 
  His eyes glare crimson, black his unctuous beard,
  His belly large, and clawed the hands with which
  He tears the spirits, flays them, and their limbs
  Piecemeal disparts.

Dante, Hell, vi. (1300, Cary’s translation).

CER’DON, the boldest of the rabble leaders in the encounter with
Hu’dibras at the bear-baiting.  The original of this character was
Hewson, a one-eyed cobbler and preacher, who was also a colonel in the
Rump army.—­S.  Butler, Hudibras, i. 2 (1663).

CERES (2 syl.), the Fruits of Harvest personified.  In classic mythology Ceres means “Mother Earth,” the protectress of fruits.

Ceres, the planet, is so called because it was discovered from the observatory of Palermo, and Ceres is the tutelar goddess of Sicily.

CER’IMON, a physician of Ephesus, who restored to animation Thaisa, the wife of Per’icles, prince of Tyre, supposed to be dead.—­Shakespeare, Pericles Prince of Tyre (1608).

CHAB’OT (Philippe de), admiral of France, governor of Bourgoyne and Normandy under Francois I. Montmorency and the cardinal de Lorraine, out of jealousy, accused him of malversation.  His faithful servant Allegre was put to the rack to force evidence against the accused, and Chabot was sent to prison because he was unable to pay the fine levied upon him.  His innocence, however, was established by the confession of his enemies, and he was released; but disgrace had made so deep an impression on his mind that he sickened and died.  This is the subject of a tragedy entitled The Tragedy of Philip Chabot, etc., by George Chapman and James Shirley.