Cimmĕrii, a people near the Palus Mœotis, who invaded Asia Minor, and seized upon the kingdom of Cyaxeres. After they had been masters of the country for 28 years, they were driven back by Alyattes king of Lydia. Herodotus, bk. 1, ch. 6, &c.; bk. 4, ch. 1, &c.——Another nation on the western coast of Italy, generally imagined to have lived in caves near the sea-shore of Campania, and there, in concealing themselves from the light of the sun, to have made their retreat the receptacle of their plunder. In consequence of this manner of living, the country which they inhabited was supposed to be so gloomy, that, to mention a great obscurity, the expression of Cimmerian darkness has proverbially been used. Homer, according to Plutarch, drew his images of hell and Pluto from this gloomy and dismal country, where also Virgil and Ovid have placed the Styx, the Phlegethon, and all the dreadful abodes of the infernal regions. Homer, Odyssey, bk. 13.—Virgil, Æneid bk. 6.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 11, li. 592, &c.—Strabo, bk. 5.
Cimmĕris, a town of Troas, formerly called Edonis. Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 30.
Cimmĕrium, now Crim, a town of Taurica Chersonesus, whose inhabitants are called Cimmerii. Mela, bk. 1, ch. 19.
Cimōlis and Cinolis, a town of Paphlagonia.
Cimōlus, now Argentiera, an island in the Cretan sea, producing chalk and fuller’s earth. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 7, li. 463.—Pliny, bk. 35, ch. 16.
Cimon, an Athenian, son of Miltiades and Hegisipyle, famous for his debaucheries in his youth, and his reformation of his morals when arrived to years of discretion. When his father died, he was imprisoned, because unable to pay the fine levied upon him by the Athenians; but he was released from confinement by his sister and wife Elpinice. See: [Elpinice]. He behaved with great courage at the battle of Salamis, and rendered himself popular by his munificence and valour. He defeated the Persian fleet, and took 200 ships, and totally routed their land army, the very same day. The money that he obtained by his victories was not applied to his own private use; but with it he fortified and embellished the city. He some time after lost all his popularity, and was banished by the Athenians, who declared war against the Lacedæmonians. He was recalled from his exile, and at his return he made a reconciliation between Lacedæmon and his countrymen. He was afterwards appointed to carry on the war against Persia in Egypt, and Cyprus, with a fleet of 200 ships; and on the coast of Asia he gave battle to the enemy, and totally ruined their fleet. He died as he was besieging the town of Citium in Cyprus, B.C. 449, in the 51st year of his age. He may be called the last of the Greeks, whose spirit and boldness defeated the armies of the barbarians. He was such an inveterate enemy to the Persian power, that he formed a plan of totally destroying it; and in his wars he had so reduced the Persians, that they promised, in a treaty, not to pass the Chelidonian islands with their fleet, or to approach within a day’s journey of the Grecian seas. The munificence of Cimon has been highly extolled by his biographers, and he has been deservedly praised for leaving his gardens open to the public. Thucydides, bk. 1, chs. 100 & 112.—Justin, bk. 2, ch. 13.—Diodorus, bk. 11.—Plutarch & Cornelius Nepos, Lives.——An Athenian, father of Miltiades. Herodotus, bk. 6, ch. 34.——A Roman, supported in prison by the milk of his daughter.——An Athenian, who wrote an account of the war of the Amazons against his country.
Cinæthon, an ancient poet of Lacedæmon, &c. See: [Cinethon].
Cinaradas, one of the descendants of Cinyras, who presided over the ceremonies of Venus at Paphos. Tacitus, Histories, bk. 2, ch. 3.
Cincia lex, was enacted by Marcus Cincius tribune of the people, A.U.C. 549. By it no man was permitted to take any money as a gift or a fee in judging a cause. Livy, bk. 34, ch. 4.
Lucius Quinctius Cincinnātus, a celebrated Roman, who was informed, as he ploughed his field, that the senate had chosen him dictator. Upon this he left his ploughed land with regret, and repaired to the field of battle, where his countrymen were closely besieged by the Volsci and Æqui. He conquered the enemy and returned to Rome in triumph; and 16 days after his appointment he laid down his office, and retired back to plough his fields. In his 80th year he was again summoned against Præneste as dictator, and after a successful campaign, he resigned the absolute power he had enjoyed only 21 days, nobly disregarding the rewards that were offered him by the senate. He flourished about 460 years before Christ. Livy, bk. 3, ch. 26.—Florus, bk. 1, ch. 11.—Cicero, de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum, bk. 4.—Pliny, bk. 18, ch. 3.