A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

674 CERSOBLEPTES.
Geschiichte der Ketzereien, vol. i.; Neander, Kirchengeschichlte, vol. i. part 2; Mosheim, Institut.
Hist. Christ. Major., and his Comment. de Rebus
Christianorn m ante Constant. M.; Schmidt, Cerintih
ein Judaisirender Christ, in his Bib. filr Kritik
zund Exegese des N. T. vol. i.; Paulus, Historia
Cerinthi, in his Introductionis in N. T. capita selectiora; Lardner, History of Heretics, Works, vol.
iv., 4to. edition.) [S. D.]
CEROESSA (Kepdoeffa), a daughter of Zeus by
lo, and born on the spot where Byzantium was
afterwards built. She was brought up by a nymph
of the place, and afterwards became the mother of
Byzas. (Steph. Byz. s. v. BdvraVTov.) From this
story it must be inferred, that Argos had some
share in founding the colony of Byzantium, which
is otherwise called a colony of Megara. (Miller,
Dor. i. 6. ~ 9.) [L. S.]
CERRETA'NUS, Q. AULIUS, twice consul
in the Samnite war, first in B. c. 323 with C. Sulpicius Longus, when he had the conduct of the
war in Apulia, and a second time in 319 with L.
Papirius Cursor, when he conquered the Ferentani
and received their city into surrender. (Liv. viii.
37; Diod. xviii. 26; Liv. ix. 15, 16; Diod. xviii.
58.) He was magister equitum to the dictator
Q. Fabius Maximus in 315, and fought a battle
against the Samnites without consulting the dictator, in which he was slain after killing the Samnite
general. (Liv. ix. 22.)
CERSOBLEPTES (Kepo-ogAErrms), was son of
Cotys, king of Thrace, on whose death in B. c. 358
he inherited the kingdom in conjunction with
Berisades and Amadocus, who were probably his
brothers. He was very young at the time, and
the whole management of his affairs was assumed
by the Euboean adventurer, Charidemus, who was
connected by marriage with the royal family, and
who bore the prominent part in the ensuing contests and negotiations with Athens for the possession of the Chersonesus, Cersobleptes appearing
throughout as a mere cipher. (Dem. c. Aristocr.
pp. 623, &c., 674, &c.) The peninsula seems to
have been finally ceded to the Athenians in B. c.
357, though they did not occupy it with their
settlers till 353 (Diod. xvi. 34); nor perhaps
is the language of Isocrates (de Pac. p. 163, d.
Lt 'ydap oYeoias {iPre Kep-ooAiEr7r', Kc. v. A.) so
decisive against this early date as it may appear
at first sight, and as Clinton (on B. c. 356) seems
to think it. (Comp. Thirlwall's Greece, vol. v. pp.
229, 244.) For some time after the cession of the
Chersonesus, Cersobleptes continued to court assiduously the favour of the Athenians, being perhaps
restrained from aggression by the fear of their
squadron in the Hellespont; but on the death of
Berisades, before 352, he conceived, or rather Charidemus conceived for him, the design of excluding
the children of the deceased prince from their inheritance, and obtaining possession of all the dominions of Cotys; and it was with a view to the
furtherance of this object that Charidemus obtained
from the Athenian people, through his party among
the orators, the singular decree in his favour for
which its mover Aristocrates was impeached, but
unsuccessfully, in the speech of Demosthenes yet
extant. (Dem. c. Aristocr. pp. 624, 625, 680.)
[CHARIDEMUS.] From a passing allusion in this
oration (p. 681), it appears that Cersobleptes had
been negotiating with Philip for a combined attackl
on the Chersonesus, which however came to nothing

CESTIUS.

in consequence of the refusal of Amadocus to allow
Philip a passage through his territory. But after
the passing of the decree above-mentioned, Philip
became the enemy of Cersobleptes, and in B. c. 352
made a successful expedition into Thrace, gained a
firm ascendancy in the country, and brought away
a son of Cersobleptes as a hostage. (Dem. Olynth.
i. p. 12 ad fin.; Isocr. Phil. p. 86, c.; Aesch. de
Fals. Leg. p. 38.) At the time of the peace between Athens and Philip in B. c. 346, we find
Cersobleptes again involved in hostilities with the
Macedonian king, who in fact was absent in Thrace
when the second Athenian embassy arrived at
Pella, and did not return to give them audience till
he had completely conquered Cersobleptes. (Dem.
de Fals. Leg. pp. 390, 391, de Cor. p. 235; Aesch.
de Fals. Leg. pp. 29, 40, &c.) In the course of the
next three years, Cersobleptes seems to have recovered strength sufficient to throw off the yoke,
and, according to Diodorus, persisted in his attacks
on the Greek cities on the Hellespont. Accordingly,
in B. c. 343, Philip again marched against him,
defeated him in several battles, and reduced him
to the condition of a tributary. (Diod. xvi. 71;
Ep. Phil. ad Ath. ap. Denm. pp. 160, 161; Dem.
de Chers. p. 105.) [E. E.]
CERVA'RIUS PRO'CULUS. [PROCULUS.]
CERVI'DIUS SCAE'VOLA. [SCAEVOLA.]
CERYX (KIpvy), an Attic hero, a son of
Hermes and Aglauros, from whom the priestly
family of the Ceryces at Athens derived their origin.
(Paus. i. 38. ~ 3.) [L. S.]
CESE'LLIUS BASSUS. [BAssUS, p. 472, b.]
CESTIA'NUS, a surname which occurs on several coins of the Plaetoria gens, but is not mentioned in any ancient writer. [PLAETORIUS.]
CE'STIUS. 1. Cicero mentions three persons
of this name, who perhaps are all the same: one
in the oration for Flaccus, B. c. 59 (c. 13), another
(C. Cestius) in a letter to Atticus, B. c. 51 (ad Alt.
v. 13), and a third (C. Cestius) as praetor in B. c.
44, who, he says, refused a province from Antony.
(Phil. iii. 10.) As the last belonged to the aristocratical party, it is probable that he is the same
Cestius who perished in the proscription, B. c. 43.
(Appian, B. C. iv. 26.)
2. CESTIUS, surnamed MACEDONICUS, on account of his having formerly served in Macedonia,
was a native of Perusia. When this town was
taken by Augustus in B. c. 41, he set fire to his
house, which occasioned the conflagration of the
whole city, and then stabbed himself and leaped
into the flames. (Appian, B. C. v. 49; Veil. Pat.
ii. 74.)
3. CESTIUS GALLUS. [GALLUS.]
4. CESTIUS PROCULUS, accused of repetundae,
but acquitted, A. D. 56. (Tac. Ann. xiii. 30.)
5. CESTIUS SEVERUS, an infamous informer
under Nero. (Tac. Hist. iv. 41.)
The name Cestius is chiefly remarkable on account of its connexion with two monuments at
Rome, the Pons Cestius and the Pyramid of Cestius, both of which are still remaining. This bridge,
which connects the island of the Tiber with the
Janiculum, is supposed by some writers to have
been built by the consul C. Cestius Gallus, in the
reign of Tiberius; but as it seems improbable that
a private person would have been allowed to give
his name to a public work under the empire, its
erection is generally referred to the time of the
republic. The Pyramid of Cestius, which was