Cerberus, the triple-headed dog, which kept the gates of hell.

A grisly dog, implacable,

Holds watch before the gates: a stratagem
Is his, malicious: them who enter there,
With tail and bended ears he fawning soothes;
But suffers not that they with backward step
Repass: whoe'er would issue from the gates
Of Pluto strong, and stern Proserpina,

For them with marking eye he lurks; on them
Springs from his couch, and pitiless devours.

Clio, the muse who presided over history.

HESIOD.

Castalides, a name of the muses, from the fountain Castalia, at the foot of Parnassus.

Cyclops, the workmen of Vulcan; their principal forges were beneath mount Etna.

The Cyclops brethren, arrogant of heart,
Undaunted Arges, Brontes, Steropes;

Who forged the lightning shaft, and gave to Jove
His thunder: they were like unto the gods,

Save that a single ball of sight was fixed

In their mid-forehead. Cyclops was their name,

From that round eye-ball in their brow infixed;

And strength, and force, and manual craft were theirs.

HESIOD.

Casseopeia, the wife of Cepheus, and mother of Andromeda; she was

made the southern constellation Casseopeia.

Chimera, a monster, destroyed by Bellerophon.

A mingled monster of no mortal kind;
Behind a dragon's fiery tail was spread;
A goat's rough body bore a lion's head;
Her pitchy nostrils flaky flames expire;
Her gaping throat emits infernal fire.

HOMER.

Cecropia, the ancient name of Athens, from its founder Cecrops.

Chios, an island in the Ægean sea, famed for its wine.
Chloris, a name for Flora.

Chronos, the Greek name of Saturn.

Cyclades, some of the fairest islands of the Archipelago, surrounding
Delos as a circle; they are about fifty in number.

By Naxos, famed for vintage, make our way;
Then green Donysa pass; and sail in sight
Of Paros isle, with marble quarries white.
We pass the scattered isles of Cyclades,

That, scarce distinguished, seem to stud the seas.

VIRGIL.

Chaos, the rude and shapeless mass of matter, extending through illimitable space, and which, according to Hesiod, pre-existed the formation of the world.

A drear and ghastly wilderness, abhorred

E'en by the gods; a vast vacuity:

Might none the space of one slow circling year
Touch the firm soil, that portal entered once;
But him the whirls of vexing hurricanes
Toss to and fro. E'en by immortals loathed
This prodigy of horror. There too stand
The mansions drear of gloomy night, o'erspread
With blackening vapours: and before the doors
Atlas, upholding heaven, his forehead rears,
And indefatigable hands. There night
And day, near passing, mutual greeting still
Exchange, alternate as they glide athwart
The brazen threshold vast. This enters, that
Forth issues; nor the two can one abode
At once constrain.

HESIOD.

Clotho, the youngest of the three Parcæ, or Fates; she presided over the entrance into life, of which she spun the thread: she is represented crowned with seven stars, arrayed in a variegated robe, and holding a distaff in her hand.

Clytea, a daughter of Oceanus and Tethys; she was beloved by Apollo,

and, after his desertion of her, was metamorphosed into a sun-flower, which still evinces its adoration of the deity, by constantly bending towards him.

Cocytus, a river of Epirus; from its unwholesome water, and the doleful meaning of its name, it is generally classed with the rivers of hell. Colchis, a country of Asia, situated near the Euxine sea; it is memorable

for the expedition of the Argonauts in search of the golden fleece. Colossus, a brazen image of Apollo, as Phœbus, erected by the Rhodians;

it was 70 cubits, or 105 feet, in height, and was considered one of the wonders of the world.

Corcyra, an island in the Ionian sea, famed for the shipwreck of Ulysses; it has successively borne the names of Dupane, Scheria, and Phæacia, and is now called Corfu.

Cottus, Briareus, and Gyges, three giant sons of Cœlus and Terra.

Giant brethren, whom, from forth th' abyss

Of darkness under earth, deliverer Jove

Sent up to light: grim forms and strong, with force
Gigantic: arms of hundred-handed gripe

Burst from their shoulders: fifty heads up sprang,
Cresting their muscular limbs.

HESIOD.

Corybantes, priests of Cybele, entrusted with the nurture of Jupiter. Caduceus, the rod which Apollo presented to Mercury, in exchange for his lyre; it was entwined with serpents, and had two wings; with this symbol Mercury conducted the souls of the dead to the nearer shores of Styx.

Creta, a large island lying southward of the Cyclades; once famed for its hundred cities. It is now called Candia.

Cyprus, a large island in the Mediterranean, which, according to Pliny, once joined the continent; it was peculiarly sacred to Venus, who had two temples there.

Cyprus, to love's ambrosial goddess dear,
For ever grateful smoke the altars there:
Indulgent still she hears the Paphian vows,

And loves the favourite seas from whence she rose.

LUCAN.

Creusa, a daughter of Priam and Hecuba; she married Æneas, and was the mother of Ascanius.

Cycnus, a son of Sthenelus; he was so fondly attached to his relation

Phaeton, and lamented him so acutely, that the gods in compassion changed him into a swan.

Cycnus loved unhappy Phæton,

And sung his loss in poplar groves alone,
Beneath the sister shades, to sooth his grief,
Heaven heard his song, and hastened his relief;
And changed to snowy plumes his hoary hair,
And winged his flight to chant aloft in air.

VIRGIL.

Dryades, the daughters of Nereus and Doris; they presided over woods. Daphne, a nymph beloved by Apollo, and changed into a laurel, which was thence sacred to him.

I espouse thee for my tree:

Be thou the prize of honour and renown;
The deathless poet and the poem crown.
Thou shalt the Roman festivals adorn,
And, after poets, be by victors worn.

The grateful tree was pleased with what he said,
And shook the shady honours of her head.

Discordia, the goddess of contention.

OVID.

Delos, the island where Apollo was born, and had a famous oracle: some writers assert that Asteria was transformed into this island.

Dodona, a Grecian city, remarkable for containing an oracle sacred to
Jupiter, said to have been founded by Deucalion.

Bleak Dodona's vocal hill,
Whose groves the Selli, race austere, surround,
Their feet unwashed, their slumbers on the ground;
Who hear, from rustling oaks, Jove's dark decrees,
And catch the fates, low-whispered in the breeze.

Demo, the Cumæan Sybil.

HOMER.

Delphi, a town near mount Parnassus, where Apollo had a celebrated oracle: the fumes which issued from the cave, over which the temple sacred to Apollo was erected, intoxicated those who inhaled them. Deucalion, a son of Prometheus, and king of Thessaly, who with his wife Pyrrha being saved from the general deluge, restored the human race, by casting behind them stones, in compliance with the injunctions of the oracle of Themis.

They two were human kind,-
The mountain nymphs, and Themis they adore,
And from her oracles relief implore.

The most upright of mortal men was he,
The most sincere and holy woman she.

OVID.

Dido, a daughter of Belus, king of Tyre; she was the foundress of Carthage. According to Virgil, she destroyed herself in despair when Æneas forsook her.

Dione, the mother of Venus.

Dis, a name of Pluto.

Dirce, a woman who was changed into a fountain near Thebes, for her cruelty to Antiope.

Bætia, robbed of silver Dirce, mourns.