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CERCOPES*
ii. 48—50, 65.) He may have been a descen dant of the preceding, but on this point we have no information. [P. S.]
CERCO, the name of a family of the plebeian Lutatia gens.
1. Q. lutatius C. p. C. n. cerco, consul with A. Manlius Torquatus Atticus, b. c. 241, in which year the first Punic war was brought to a close by the victory of C. Lutatius Catulus at the Aegates. Cerco is called by Zonaras (viii. 17) the brother of Catulus, which statement is confirmed by the Capitoline Fasti, in which both are described as C. f. G. n. Zonaras also says, that Cerco was sent into Sicily to regulate the affairs of the island in conjunction with his brother Catulus. After peace had been concluded with Carthage, the Fa-lisci or people of Falerii, for some reason which is unknown, rose against the Romans: both consuls were sent against them, and the war was finished by the conquest of the infatuated people within six days. Half of their domain land was taken from them and their town destroyed. For this success, Cerco as well as his colleague obtained a triumph. (Liv. xxx. 44, Epit. 19; Eutrop. ii. 28 ; Oros. iv. 11 ; Polyb. i. 65 ; Zonar. viii. 18.) Cerco was censor in 236 with L. Cornelius Len-tulus, and died in this magistracy. (Fast. Capit.)
2. cn. lutatius cerco, one of the five ambassadors sent to Alexandria, b. c. 173. (Liv. xlii. 6.)
The annexed coin of the Lutatia gens contains on the obverse the name cerco with the head of Pallas, and on the reverse Q. lutati, with a ship enclosed within a wreath made of oak-leaves.
The reverse probably refers to the victory of C. Lutatius Catulus, which wTould of course be regarded by the Cercones as well as the Catuli as conferring honour upon their gens. (Eckhel, v. p. 240.)
CERCOPES (Ke'p/cwTres), droll and thievish gnomes who play a part in the story of Heracles. Their number is commonly stated to have been two, but their names are not the same in all accounts,—either Olus and Eurybatus, Sillus and Triballus, Passalus and Aclemon, Andulus and Atlantus, or Candulus and Atlas. (Suidas, s. vv.; Schol. ad Lucian. Alex. 4; Tzetz. Cliil. v. 75.) Diodorus (iv. 31), however, speaks of a greater number of Cercopes. They are called sons of Theia, the daughter of Oceanus ; they annoyed and robbed Heracles in his sleep, but they were taken prisoners by him, and either given to Omphale, or killed, or set free again. (Tzetz. ad Lycopli. 91.) The place in which they seem to have made their first appearance, was Thermopylae (Herod, vii. 216), but the comic poem Kepffoyyres, which bore the name of Homer, probably placed them at Oe-chalia in Euboea, whereas others transferred them to Lydia (Suid. s. v. Eupugaros), or the islands called Pithecusae, which derived their name from the Cercopes who were changed into monkeys by Ztfus for having cunningly deceived him. (Ov. Met. xiv. 90, &c.; Pomp. Mela, ii. 7 ; compare M'tiller, Dvr. ii. 12. § 10 ; Hlillmann, De Cyclop, et Cercop.
1824 •, Rigler, De' Iler&de et Cercopv, Cokume, 1825, £c. 4to.) [L. S.]
CERCOPS (Kep/conJ/). 1. One of the oldest Orphic poets, called a Pythagorean by Clemens of Alexandria (Strom. i. p. 333, ed. Paris, 1629) and Cicero (de Nat. Deor. i. 38), was said by Epigenes of Alexandria to have been the author of an Orphic epic poem entitled " the Descent to Hades (?) zls AiSov KardSaffts^ which seems to have been extant in the Alexandrine period. (Clem. Alex. L c.) Others attribute this work to Prodicus of Samos, or Herodicus of Perinthus, or Orpheus of Camarina. (Suidas, s. v. 'Optyevs.)
Epigenes also assigns to Cercops (Clem. Alex. I. c.) the Orphic fepos Atfyos which was ascribed by some to Theognetus of Thessaly, and was a poem in twenty-four books. (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. i. pp. 161, &c., 172; Bode, Gescli. der Episch. DicJitkunst der Hellenen^ p. 125, &c.)
2. Of Miletus, the contemporary and rival of Hesiod, is said by some to have been the author of an epic poem called "Aegimius," which is also ascribed to Hesiod. (Diog. Lae'rt. ii. 46 ; Athen. xi. p. 503 ; Apollod. ii. 1. § 3; comp. aegimius, p. 26, a.)
CERCYON (KepKiW), a son of Poseidon by a daughter of Amphictyon, and accordingly a half-brother of Triptolemus. (Paus. i. 14. § 1.) Others call him a son of Hephaestus. (Hygin. Fab. 38.) He came from Arcadia, and dwelt at Eleusis in Attica. (Plut. Tkes. 11; Ov. Met. vii. 439.) He is notorious in ancient story for his cruelty towards his daughter Alope [alope] and all who refused to fight with him, but he was in the end conquered and slain by Theseus. (Paus. i. 39. § 3.) Another personage of the same name is mentioned by Pausanias. (viii. 5. § 3 ; comp. agamedes.) [L.S.]
[P. S.]
S. CEREA'LIS, a Roman general, commanded the fifth legion in the Jewish war, under Titus. (a. d. 70.) He slew a number of Samaritans on mount Gerizim; overran Idumaea, and took He-bron; made an unsuccessful night attack on the temple, and was present at the council of war held by Titus immediately before the taking of Jerusalem. (Joseph. B. J. iii. 7. § 32, iv. 9. § 9, vi. 2.
5, 6; c. 4. § 3.)
CEREALIS or CERIA'LIS, ANI'C'IUS, was
consul designatus in a. d. 65, and proposed in the senate, after the detection of Piso's conspiracy, that a temple should be built to Nero as quickly as possible at the public expense. (Tac. Ann. xv. 74.) In the following year, he, in common with several other noble Romans, fell under Nero's suspicions, was condemned, and anticipated his fate by putting himself to death. He was but little pitied, for it was remembered that he had betrayed the conspiracy of Lepidus and Lentulus. (a. d. 39.) The alleged ground of his condemnation was a mention of him as an enemy to the emperor in a paper left by Mella, who had been condemned a little before; but the paper was generally believed to be a forgery. (Tac. Ann. xvi. 17.) [P. S.] '.
CEREALIS, CI'VICA, a Roman senator who, while proconsul of Asia, was put to death by Do- mitian, shortly before A. d. 90. (Suet. Dom. 10 ; Tac. Agric. 42.) [P. S.]
CEREALIS, JU'LIUS, a Roman poet, contemporary with Pliny the Younger and Martial, by both of whom he is addressed as an intimate friend. He wrote a poem on the war of the giants. (Plin. Epist. ii. 19; Martial, Epig. xi. 52.) [P.S.]
