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. Dantê 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.