Cenis (MONT Francesco Cenci a noble)
MONT Francesco Cenci, a noble and wealthy Roman, who, according to the common story, after his second marriage, behaved toward the children of his first marriage in the most shocking manner, procured the assassination of two of his sons, on their return from Spain, and debauched his youngest daughter ughter Beatrice. She failed in an appeal for protection to the Pope, and planned and executed the murder of her father. She was beheaded in 1599 and the Cenci estates confiscated. She is the alleged subject of an admired painting by Guido, and is the heroine of one of Shelley's most powerful plays. Recent researches have deprived the story of most of its romantic elements, and have shown Beatrice to be a very commonplace criminal, whatever the evil deeds of her father may have been. Her stepmother and brother, who were equally guilty with her, were also executed. The portrait by Guido is now believed not to represent her at all.
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Cenis (MONT se-ne' a mountain)
MONT (se-ne'), a mountain belonging to the Graian Alps, between Savoy and Piedmont, 11,755 feet high. It is famous for the winding road constructed by Napoleon I., which leads over it from France to Italy, and for an immense railway tunnel, which, after nearly 14 years' labor, was finished in 1871. The tunnel does not actually pass through the mountain, but through the Col de Fréjus, about 15 miles to the S. W., where it was found possible to construct it at a lower level. The Mont Cenis Pass is 6,765 feet above the level of the sea, whereas the elevation of the entrance to the tunnel on the side of Savoy is only 3,801 feet, and that on the side of Piedmont 4,246 feet. The total length of the tunnel is 42,145 feet, or nearly 8 miles. The total cost amounted to about $15,000,000, which was borne partly by the French and Italian governments and partly by the Northern Railway Co. of Italy. The tunnel superseded a grip rail way which was constructed over the mountain by Mr. Fell, an English engineer, 1864-1868.
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Cenotaph
an empty monument, that is, one raised to a person buried elsewhere.
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Cenozoic
a geological term applied to the latest of the three divisions into which strata have been arranged, with reference to the age of the fossils they include. The Cenozoic system embraces the tertiary and post-tertiary systems of British geologists, exhibiting recent forms of life, life, in contra-distinction to the Mesozoic, exhibiting intermediate, and the Palæozoic, ancient and extinct, forms. It corresponds nearly with what has been called the age of mammals.
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Censer
sen'ser, a cup in which incense is burned. The censer is usually suspended by chains and carried in the hand. It is swung to and fro to create a draft and to spread the odor of the incense. Censers of one sort or another prevailed among the Hebrews, the Greeks, and the Romans. They are now wafted before the altars of the Greek Church and of the Church of Rome, and are used, to some extent, by the Church of England.
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Censor
a public official whose permission must be obtained to issue a newspaper, book, or other printed matter. During the Middle Ages officials of the church, particularly the bishops, acted as censors of manuscripts. Even with the Reformation the practice was not at once abandoned in Protestant countries. The censorship was not abolished in England until 1693. At the present time a mild censorship is maintained in Germany. A very rigorous oversight is kept up in Russia. Otherwise freedom of the press prevails throughout Europe and in all civilized countries. Libel, treason, and other objectionable matters are, of course, forbidden by law. The term is derived from an old Roman office. The Roman censors were charged at first with the duties of our present assessors. By degrees they were empowered to direct people's customs and morals. They prescribed what ought to be worn and what ought not to be worn, and were even able to expel a senator from his seat for wrong-doing.
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Censorinus
Author of an extant treatise entitled De Die Natali, which treats of the generation of man, of his natal hour, of the influence of the stars and genii upon his career, and discusses the various methods employed for the division and calculation of time.
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Cent
or CENTIME (san-tēm), the name of a small coin in various countries, so called as being equal to a 100th part of some other coin. In the United States and in Canada the cent is the 100th part of a dollar. In France the centime is the 100th part of a franc. Similar coins are the centavo of Chili, and the centesimo of Italy, Peru, etc. Cents or centimes, and their equivalents, are written simply as decimals of the unit of value.
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Centaur
a mythical creature, half man, half horse, said to have sprung from the union of Ixion and a Cloud; the most celebrated was Chiron. They inhabited Thessaly, and were also called Hippocentaurs. The myth probably arose from some herdsman on horseback, who, being seen by individuals unacquainted with the uses of the horse, was supposed to form, together with his steed, one integral body. It is also the name of a constellation in the Southern Hemisphere.
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Centaurs
sen'tors, in Greek mythology, rude, savage monsters, half man and half horse. They were reputed to be descendants of Ixion and a Cloud. It is quite possible that the myth may have been derived from a race of gigantic men inhabiting the mountains and forests of Thessaly. Their chief occupation, it is supposed, was that of hunting. Being horsemen, their raids and quarrels with neighboring tribes were conducted on horseback. This may have given rise to the myth current in Pindar's time of savage hairy beings, half horse and half man. In support of this theory, it may be said that the Aztecs of Mexico were much astonished by the appearance of Cortez's cavalry. Until they saw the men dismount, they thought that horse and rider constituted a two-headed animal. The Centaurs were admitted to social intercourse by the Greeks. At one time they were invited to a marriage, but, becoming intoxicated, they were rude to the bride, and a pitched battle followed. The conflict between the Centaurs and the Greeks is a favorite subject with sculptors and poets of antiquity. Chiron was the most noted of the Centaurs. He was instructed by Apollo and Diana in the mysteries of medicine and music and in the art of prophecy. The Centaurs are represented in art as having the body and legs of a horse. The neck and head of the horse are replaced by the body of a man from the waist upward. See Chiron
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