Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

CESTUS. CETRA. 2- 69
vllether it be a certain thing that he demands, or thin pieces, and joined in an ancient manner; they:a certain sum of money (Gaius, iv. 45, 47). The were tied under the hollow or palm of the hand,
iintentio is incerta when the claim is not of a de- leaving the fingers uncovered. The athletae in
finite thing or something, but is expressed by the the palaestrae at Olympia used the CtXyeXat in
words quidquid, &c. (Gaius, iv. 47, 136, 137.) practising for the public games (iLc/'T@rwv T7wv
If the intentio is incerta, the condemnatio must 1paXatcw'r'pwv, Palus. vi. 23. ~ 3); but in the games
be incerta. If the intentio was certa, the con- themselves, they ured those which gave the sedemnatio might be either certa or incerta (Gaius, verest blows.
iv. 50, 51). In the compilations of Justinian, The cestus, used in later times in the public
where the expressions incerti actio, incerta actio, games, was, as has been already remarked, a most
incertum judicium occur, they specially apply to formidable weapon. It was frequently covered
the actio praescriptis verbis, which contained an with knots and nails, and loaded with lead and
incerta intentio and condeminatio. (ACTIO; Sa- iron; whence Virgil (Aen. v. 405), in speaking of
vigny, SIsten, &c. vol. v. p. 74.) [G. L.] it, says,
CERU'CHI. [NAVs.]Ingenta eptem
KERUX (Ktcpuv). [CADvCEUS; FETIALIS.] TC bnmentba n r ptea
CE'SSIO BONO'RUM. [BONORUM CESSIO.] Tega boum pllmbo insuto ferroque rigebnt.
CE'SSIO IN JURE. [IN JUaE CrSSiO.] Statins (Theb. vi. 732) also speaks of nilqrsmtia
CESTRUM. [PICTURA, No. 6.] pltmbo tegmina. Such weapons in the hands of a,
CESTUS. 1. The thongs or bands of leather, trained boxer, must have frequently occasioned
which were tied round the hands of boxers, in death. The uip'PcKES were, il fact, sometimes
order to render their blows more powerful. These called yvtoTrdpot, or " limb-breakers." Figures
bands of leather, which were called inVgTres, or with the cestus frequently occur in ancient monuiEdvTESr T Tc'rKO f, in Greek, were also frequently ments. They were of various forms, as appears
tied round the armn as high as the elbow, as is by the following specimens, taken from ancient
shown in the following statue of a boxer, the onments, which drwings are given by
original of which is in the Louvre at Paris. (See Fabretti (De Colunln. T'rcj. p. 261).
Clarac, Muesse d, Sculpt. Anlt. et M][od. vol. iii. pl.
327. n. 2042.)
/ V/l2. CESTUS also signified a band or tie of any
kind (Varr. De Re Re Rust. i. 8); but the term wa,
more particularly applied to the zone or girdle of
Venus, on which was represented every thing
that could awaken love. (II. xiv. ~214; Val. Flacc.
vi. 470.) When Juno wished to win the affections of Jupiter, she borrowed this cestus from
Venus (Ii. 1. c.); and Venus herself employed
it to captivate Mars. (Mart. vi. 13, xiv. 206,
207.)
( CETRA, or CAETRA (Kcaerpea, Ilesych.), a
('4, target, i. e. a small round shield, made of the hide
of a quadruped. (Isid. Orig. xviii. 12; Q. Curt.
iii. 4.) It was also worn by the people of Spain
(cetratae Hlispaniae cohortes, Caes. B. C. i. 39, 48)
The cestus was used by boxers from the earliest and Mauritania. By the latter people it was
times. When Epcius and Euryalus, in the Iliad sometimes made from the skin of the elephant.
(xxiii. 684), prepare themselves for boxing, they (Strab. xvii. p. 828.) From these accounts, mnd
put on their hands thongs made of ox-hide (uadv- from the distinct assertion of Tacitus (Ayric. 36),ras euT[r7Trovs 3ohbs aypadolo); but it should be that it was used by the Britons, we may with conrecollected, that the cestus in heroic times appears fidence identify the cetra with the target of the
to have consisted merely of thongs of leather, and Scottish Highlanders, of which many specimens of
differed materially from the frightful weapons, considerable antiquity are still in existence. It is
loaded with lead and iron, which were used in seen " covering the left arms" (comp. Virg. Aen.
later times.; The different kinds of cestus were vii. 732) of the two accompanying figures, which
called by the Greeks in later times utsAetXat, are copied from a MS. of Prudentins, probably
ctre7paL Bo3efat, oqapal, and,uLptxlKes: of which written in this country, and as early as the ninth
the tzuetXXaL gave the softest blows, and the century. (Cod. Cotton. Cleop. c. 8.)
tOf,,uWKes the most severe. The uLeWtiXal, which It does not appear that the Romans ever wore
were the most ancient, are described by Pausanias the cetra. But Livy compares it to the pclla of
(viii. 40. ~ 3) as made of raw ox-hide cut into the Greeks and Macedonians, which was also a