=Bru´tus, Mar´cus Ju´nius=, the destroyer of Cæsar, conspired with many of
the most illustrious citizens of Rome, against Cæsar, and stabbed him in
Pompey's Basilica. The tumult following the murder was great, but the
conspirators fled to the Capitol, and by proclaiming freedom and liberty
to the populace, for the time established tranquillity. Antony, however,
soon obtained the popular ear, and the murderers were obliged to leave
Rome. Brutus retired into Greece, where he gained many friends. He was
soon pursued by Antony, who was accompanied by the young Octavius. The
famous battle of Philippi followed, in which Brutus and his friend
Cassius, who commanded the left wing of the army, were totally defeated.
Brutus fell on his own sword, B.C. 42, and was honored with a
magnificent funeral by Antony. Plutarch relates that Cæsar's ghost
appeared to Brutus in his tent before the battle of Philippi, warning
him of his approaching fall.
=Buceph´alus.= A horse of Alexander's, so frequently named by writers that
the term has become proverbial. Alexander was the only person that could
mount him, and he always knelt down for his master to bestride him.
=Ca´cus.= A famous robber, son of Vulcan and Medusa, represented as a
three-headed monster vomiting flames. He resided in Italy, and the
avenues of his cave were covered with human bones. When Hercules
returned from the conquest of Geryon, Cacus stole some of his cows,
which Hercules discovering, he strangled Cacus.
=Cad´mus=, son of Agenor, king of Phoenicia, and Telephassa, or Agriope,
was ordered by his father to go in quest of his sister Europa, whom
Jupiter had carried away. His search proving fruitless, he consulted the
oracle of Apollo, and was told to build a city where he saw a heifer
stop in the grass, and call the country around Boeotia. He found the
heifer, as indicated by the oracle. Requiring water, he sent his
companions to fetch some from a neighboring grove. The water was guarded
by a dragon, who devoured those who were sent for it, and Cadmus, tired
of waiting, went himself to the place. He attacked the dragon and killed
it, sowing its teeth in the ground, on which a number of armed men rose
out of the earth. Cadmus threw a stone amongst them, and they at once
began fighting, and all were killed except five, who assisted him in
building the city. Cadmus introduced the use of letters in Greece--the
alphabet, as introduced by him, consisting of sixteen letters.
=Cadu´ceus.= A rod entwined at one end with two serpents. It was the
attribute of Mercury, and was given to him by Apollo in exchange for the
lyre.
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