Cassan´dra, daughter of Priam and Hecuba, was passionately loved by Apollo, who promised to grant her whatever she might require, and she obtained from him the power of seeing into futurity. Some say she received the gift of prophecy, with her brother Helenus, by being placed when young one night in the temple of Apollo, where serpents were found wreathed round their bodies and licking their ears, which gave them a knowledge of futurity. She was allotted to Agamemnon in the division of the spoils of Troy, and was slain by Clytemnestra, Agamemnon’s wife.
Cas´sius C. A celebrated Roman who became famous by being first quæstor to Crassus in his expedition against Parthia. He married Junia, the sister of Brutus, and joined Brutus in the conspiracy formed to assassinate Cæsar, after which he returned to Philippi with Brutus, and commanded one wing of the army in the famous battle fought there. On the defeat of his forces he ordered one of his freedmen to kill him, and he perished by the sword which had inflicted a wound on Cæsar. He was called by Brutus “the last of all the Romans.”
Casta´lius Fons, or Casta´lia. A fountain of Parnassus sacred to the Muses.
Castor and Pollux were twin brothers, sons of Jupiter and Leda. Mercury carried them to Pallena, where they were educated. As soon as they arrived at manhood they embarked with Jason in quest of the Golden Fleece. In this expedition they evinced great courage. Pollux defeated and slew Amycus in the combat of the Cestus, and was afterwards considered to be the god and patron of boxing and wrestling. Castor distinguished himself in the management of horses.
Catili´na, L. Ser´gius, a celebrated Roman, descended from a noble family. When he had squandered his fortune he secretly meditated the ruin of his country, and conspired with many Romans as dissolute as himself to extirpate the senate, plunder the treasuries, and set Rome on fire. This plot, known as the Catiline conspiracy, was unsuccessful. The history of it is written by Sallust. Catiline was killed in battle B.C. 63.
Ca´to, Mar´cus, was great-grandson of the censor Cato. The early virtues that appeared in his childhood seemed to promise that he would become a great man. He was austere in his morals and a strict follower of the tenets of the Stoics. His fondness for candor was so great that his veracity became proverbial. In the Catilinian conspiracy he supported Cicero, and was the chief cause of the capital punishment which was inflicted on some of the conspirators. He stabbed himself after reading Plato’s treatise on the immortality of the soul, B.C. 46, in the fifty-ninth year of his age.
Catul´lus C., or Q. Vale´rius. A poet of Verona whose compositions are the offspring of a luxuriant imagination. He was acquainted with the most distinguished people of his age. He directed his satire against Cæsar, whose only revenge was to invite him to a sumptuous banquet.
Cel´sus, a physician in the age of Tiberius, who wrote eight books on medicine, besides treatises on agriculture, rhetoric, and military affairs.
Centau´ri. A people of Thessaly, half men and half horses. They were the offspring of Centaurus and Stilbia.
Centum´viri. The members of a court of justice at Rome. Though originally 105 in number, they were known as Centumvirs, and this name they retained when they were increased to 180.