Codrus, the seventeenth and last king of Athens, son of Melanthus. When the Heraclidæ made war against Athens, the oracle declared that the victory would be granted to that nation whose king was killed in battle. The Heraclidæ upon this gave strict orders to spare the life of Codrus; but the patriotic king disguised himself, and attacked one of the enemy, by whom he was killed. The Athenians obtained the victory, and Codrus was deservedly called the father of his country. He reigned 21 years, and was killed 1070 years before the christian era. To pay greater honour to his memory, the Athenians made a resolution that no man after Codrus should reign in Athens under the name of king, and therefore the government was put into the hands of perpetual archons. Paterculus, bk. 1, ch. 2.—Justin, bk. 2, chs. 6 & 7.—Pausanias, bk. 1, ch. 19; bk. 7, ch. 25.—Valerius Maximus, bk. 5, ch. 6.——A man who, with his brothers, killed Hegesias tyrant of Ephesus, &c. Polyænus, bk. 6, ch. 49.——A Latin poet contemporary with Virgil. Virgil, Eclogues, poem 7.——Another in the reign of Domitian, whose poverty became a proverb. Juvenal, satire 3, li. 203.
Cœcilus, a centurion. Cæsar, Civil War.
Cœla, a place in the bay of Eubœa. Livy, bk. 31, ch. 47.——A part of Attica. Strabo, bk. 10.
Cœlaletæ, a people of Thrace.
Cœlesyria and Cœlosyria, a country of Syria, between mount Libanus and Antilibanus, where the Orontes takes its rise. Its capital was Damascus.——Antiochus Cyzicenus gave his name to that part of Syria which he obtained as his share when he divided his father’s dominions with Grypus, B.C. 112. Dionysius Periegetes.
Cœlia, the wife of Sylla. Plutarch, Sulla. The Cœlian family, which was plebeian, but honoured with the consulship, was descended from Vibenna Cœles, an Etrurian, who came to settle at Rome in the age of Romulus.
Cœlius, a Roman, defended by Cicero.——Two brothers of Tarracina accused of having murdered their father in his bed. They were acquitted when it was proved that they were both asleep at the time of the murder. Valerius Maximus, bk. 8, ch. 1.—Plutarch, Cicero.——A general of Carbo.——An orator. Plutarch, Pompey.——A lieutenant of Antony’s.——Cursor, a Roman knight, in the age of Ticerius.——A man who, after spending his all in dissipation and luxury, became a public robber with his friend Birrhus. Horace, bk. 1, satire 4, li. 69.——A Roman historian, who flourished B.C. 121.——A hill of Rome. See: [Cælius].
Cœlus, or Urānus, an ancient deity, supposed to be the father of Saturn, Oceanus, Hyperion, &c. He was son of Terra, whom he afterwards married. The number of his children, according to some, amounted to 45. They were called Titans, and were so closely confined by their father, that they conspired against him, and were supported by their mother, who provided them with a scythe. Saturn armed himself with this scythe, and deprived his father of the organs of generation, as he was going to unite himself to Terra. From the blood which issued from the wound, sprang the giants, furies, and nymphs. The mutilated parts were thrown into the sea, and from them, and the foam which they occasioned, arose Venus the goddess of beauty. Hesiod, &c.
Cœnus, an officer of Alexander, son-in-law to Parmenio. He died of a distemper, in his return from India. Curtius, bk. 9, ch. 3.—Diodorus, bk. 17.
Cœrănus, a stoic philosopher. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 14, ch. 52.——A person slain by Ulysses. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 13, li. 157.——A Greek, charioteer to Merion. He was killed by Hector. Homer, Iliad, bk. 17, li. 610.