C E N
Censorial laiv, cenforia Ux 3 denotes a law pafied or enacted bytheccnfors Cic. Ep. i. ad Quint. Frat. 1. i.
Censorial man, homo cen for im, a perfon who has born the dig- nity, and ferved the office of cenfor. Cic. de Orat. 1. 2. c. 89.
Censorial note, virgnla cenforia, among the antient gramma- rians and critics, denoted a note or mark of reprobation, af- fixed to thofe paflages of a book or writing, which the critic difapproved or condemned. S^uintil. Inft. Orat. 1. 1. c. 2. Fab. Thcf. p. 524.
CENSUAL books, Ubri cenfuales, thofc wherein the census was taken down. Leg. 4. Cod. de Agric. & Cenfit. Fab. Thef. p. 526.
Censuai.es, in a fubftantive fenfe, denoted the clerks or pub- lic fcribes who wrote the cenfudl books. Fab, Thef. p. 5 z6. Pltifc. Lex. Ant. T. 1. p 394.
CENSUS (Cycl.) — • The cenfm among the old Romans was held, as is commonly thought, every five years; but this mull not betaken to be precifely true: on the contrary, Dr. Middle-ton hasfhewn, that both the cenfm and luftrum were for the moft part held irregularly and uncertainly, at very different and va- rious intervals of time. Middlcion of the Roman Senate, p. 107, feq. See Lustrum.
The cenfm was an excellent expedient for difcoverin^ the ftrength of the ftate : by it they learnt the number of the ci- tizens, how many were fit for war, and who for offices of other kinds -, how much each was able to pay of taxes to- wards the charge of the war. :
The cenfus, according to SaJmafius, was peculiar to the city of Rome. That in the provinces was properly called frofeflio and ttwoyjasyw. But this diftinction is not every where obferv- ed by the antients themfelves. Salmaf de Mod. Ufurar. In the provinces, the cenfm not only ferved to difcover the fubftance of each perfon, but where, and in what manner and proportion, tributes might be belt impofed.
Census was alfo ufed for the book or regifter wherein the pro- feffions of the people were entered.
In which fenfe, the cenfm was frequently cited and appealed to, as evidence in the courts of juftice Marcell, J. C. Leg. 10. de Probat. &. Prsefumpt. Fab. Thef, p. 575.
Census is alfo ufed to denote a man's whole fubftance or eftate.
Census fenator'tus, the patrimony of a fenator, which was li- mited to a certain value ; being at firft rated at eight hundred thoufand fefterces, but afterwards, under Auguftus, enlarged to twelve hundred thoufand. Suet, in Casfar. c, 41. Torrent. ad loc.
Census equefcr, the eftate or patrimony of a knight, rated at four hundred thoufand fefterces, which was required to qualify a perfon for that order, and without which no virtue or merit was available. Suet, in Casfar. c. 33. Plin. Hift. Nat. 1. 33. c. 1. Witnefs Horace,
Si quadringentis fcx feptem mi'dia defunt
Eji animus tibi, funt mores, & lingua, fidefque ;
Plebseris. Hor. I. 1. ep. T.
Census was alfo ufed for a perfon worth an hundred thoufand fefterces, or who was entered as fuch in the cenfual tables, on his own declaration. Ajcon. ad Verr. Ciceron, In which fenfe, cenfm amounts to the fame with clajf.cus, or a man of the firft clafs : tho' Gellius limits the eftate of thofe of this clafs to an hundred twenty-five thoufand affes a . By the Voconian law, no cenfm was allowed to give by his will above a fourth part of what he was worth to a woman b . — \*A. Gell No&. Att. I 7- c. 13. Fab. Thef. p. 525. b Cic. in Verr. 3. Kcnn. Rom. Ant. Not. P. 2. 1. 3. c. 34.]
Census was alfo ufed to denote a tax or tribute impofed on the fubjects of the empire. DuCange, Glofl*. Lat. T. r. p. 920.
Census agrorum was a' tax or impoft on lands and pofleffions.
Census capitis denoted a perfona! tax or tribute, impofed on perfons, and called alfo capitation. Bingh. Orig. Ecclef. 1. 5. c. 3. §. 2. See Capite cenfi.
Census do?ninicatus, in writers of the lower age, denotes a rent due to the lord.
Census duplicatus, a double rent or tax, paid by vafTals to their lord on extraordinary or urgent occafions ; as expeditions to the holy land, &c.
Census ecclejus Romanes, was an annual contribution, volunta- rily paid to the See of Rome by the feveral princes of Europe.
CbnsUS Jiccm, that paid in money. Du Cange, Gloffi Lat. T, 1. p 921, feq.
Census magijler, among the Romans. See Magister cenfm.
CENTAURS, (Cycl.) in mythology, a kind of fabulous mon- fters, half men, half horfes.
The poets feign that the centaurs were the fons of Ixion and a cloud. The reafon of this fancy is, that the caftle to which they retired was called NsfAij, which fignjfies cloud. Find. Pyth. Od. 2.
This fable is differently interpreted: fome will have the cen- taurs to have been a body of ihepherds and herdfmen, rich in cattle, who inhabited the mountains of Arcadia, and to whom is attributed the invention of bucolic poetry. .Pakephatus, in his book of incredibles, relates, that under the reign of Ixion, king of Thefialy, a herd of bulls on mount Thefialy run mad, and ravaged the whole country, rendering
C E N
the mountain inacceffible ; that fome young men who hai found the art of taming and mounting horfes, undertook to clear the mountain of thofe animals, which they purfuetl on horfeback, and {hot with arrows, and thence gained the ap- pellation of centaurs. This fuccefs rendering them infolent, they mfulted the Lapithie, a people of Thefialy ; and becaufe when attacked they fled with great rapidity, it was fuppofed they were half horfes and half men. PaUphat, de incred 1 i W ad Virg. Gcor. 1. 3. v. , , 5 . u,f 1. i. c. 13. Fab. inef. p.527. Trcv. Diet. Univ. T 1. p. '1550. The centaurs in reality were a tribe ofLapithse who inhabited the city Pelcthromum, adjoining to Mount Pelicn, and firft invented the art of breaking horfes, as is intimated by Virgil. Vtrg. Geor. 1. 3. v. 1 1 5.
Pliny allures us he faw a centaur, which had been fent out of Egypt to the emperor Claudius, preferved in honey. He adds, that the fame emperor mentioned another born in Theflalyj and which died the fame day '. St. Jerom, in his life of the hermit Paul, relates that St. Anthony had fecn a centaur ; but the father fufpefls, that it was rather fome illufion of the de- vil ■>._ [■ Plin. Hift. Nat. I. 7. c. 3. » Pojf. de Xdoial. 1. 1. C 15. Fab. Thef p. 528.]
Centaur, in aftronomy, is called by divers others names, Ty- phon, Pholos, Chiron, Pbyllyrides, Semhir, Mirlotaurus, Alheze and Afmeath. Schiller, in lieu of the centaur, reprefents Abra- ham and Ifaac.
The ftars in the centaur have been obferved by Dr. Halley » and *'. Noel >. Bayer reprefents it in his urancmctria, tab. K r. and Hevehus m h\s fnnamentutn fobiefianum, fig X x » i'Hevel. Prodrom. Aftron. p. 315 t IfuL Obferv, Math. &Phyf. p 50, feq. ' IVolf. Lex. Math. p. 328 J
CENTAUUIUM majus, great centaury, in botaoy, the name of a genus of plants, the charaders of which are thefe : the flow- er is of the flofculous kind, being compofed of a number of tubular flofcules, divided into feveral fegments at the ends- thefe all (land upon the embryo fruits, and are all contained in one common fcaly cup : the embryos finally ripen into feeds, which are winged with down. To this it is to be added, that all the plants of this genus are large, and in that obviouQy different from the jaceas.
The fpecies of great centaury enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, arethefc: 1. The great centaury, with the leaves divided into many fegments. 2. The great centaury, with undivided leaves. 3. The artichoak-leav'd great centaury. 4. The yellow- flowered alpine great centaury. 5. The African great centaury, with deeply divided leaves. 6. The degenerate African di- Vlded-Ieav'd centaury. 7. The purple-Eowered great centaury, with divided leaves. 8. The great centaury, with hoary ele- campane leaves. 9. The great centaury, with narrow elecam- pane leaves. 10. The pine headed low, hoary, great centaury.
11. The woolly mullein-leav'd alpine great centaury, with fcarce any ftalks. J2. The low, jagged-leav'd, woolly, Portu- gal great centaury. 13. The great Portugal centaury, with coronopus leaves. Tourn. Inft. p. 44.9.
Great centaury. The root and leaves of the plant are efteem- ed vulnerary and aftringent : they are given in infufion, in dyfentenes, profluvia of the menfes, and hemorrhages of all kinds. The common people alfo are very fond of the root in France, as a remedy for bruifes, and for difiblving coagu- lated blood. Schroder alfo gives it great praifes as a deobftru- ent : he tells us it is of excellent ufe in diftemperatures of the liver, and in obftruSions of the meferaic glands. He pre- fcribes the root in powder. Centaurium minus, /mall centaury, (See Centaury, Cycl.) in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the charaflers of which are thefe: the flower is of the infundibuliform kind, confiding of one leaf, and divided into feveral fegments at the edge : the piftil arifes from the cup, and perforates the lower part of the flower, and is afterward changed into a fruit of an oval or cylindric figure, which naturally feparates length- wife into two parts, and ufually contains a number of very fmall feeds.
The fpecies of 'fmall centaury, enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, are thefe : 1 . The common fmall centaun. 2. The lon^-ftalk'd fmall centaury The ftalks of this fometimes grow to 'two ells long. 3. '1 he white flowered fmall centaury. 4. The ferrugi- neous flowered fmall centaury. 5. The blue flowered fmall cen- taury. 6. The branched fmall centaur;, with a large, elegant and open purplifh-red flower. 7. The common-branched fmall centaury. 8. The long and narrow-leav'd fmall cen- taury, o. The fhort and narrow-leav'd fmall centaury. 10. The Ihorteft narrow-leav'd fmall centaury. 1 r . The creeping- Portugal fea narrow-leav'dyW/// centaury, with cluftered flowers!
12. The red-flowered (piked fmall centaury. 13. The broad bluifli green-leav'd, deep-red flowered, fpiked centaury. 14'. The white flowered, fpiked, fmall centaury. 1 ;. The fmalleft purple-flowered centaury. 1 1 . The fmall American fea centaury with large blue flowers. 17. The fmall African pink-leav'd centaury, with a bright red flower. 1 8. The perfoliate yej- low-flowered centaury. 19. The fiaaller perfoliate yellow cen- taury, with leaves like thofe of the yellow vctcln 20 The leaft perfoliate yellow centaury. 21. The trefoil perfoliate yellow centaury, zz. Theleaft yellowmarfh centaury. 23. The
perfoliate
