one root. There are many varieties of the cucumber in Egypt and Arabia, which are not so liable to disagree with the digestive functions as those of this country; and this is probably owing to the mellowing effects of the sun's rays, which no heating contrivance of human invention can achieve. In Asia, and especially in Egypt, cucumbers when in season are eaten by all classes to an extent scarcely credible in this country. They are remembered among the refreshing and delightful repasts which the Israelites enjoyed in Egypt when they became tired of the manna, Numb. xi. 5. In the scene of desolation described by the prophet Isaiah, i. 8, the "daughter of Zion" is said to be "as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers." This vegetable, like melons, is seldom protected by enclosures in the East, but cultivated in large open fields exposed to the depredations of men or beasts. To prevent this a small artificial mound is raised when requisite, and a frail hut or booth is constructed on it, sufficient for one person, who in this confined solitude constantly watches the ripening crop. CUMMIN, kům ́-min, an annual plant of the umbelliferous family, Isa. xxviii. 25, 27. It grows wild in Syria and Egypt, and was cultivated in the most ancient times on account of its agreeable aromatic fruit, which possesses stimulating and carminative properties. It closely resembles the coriander and the caraway in structure, and its seeds when ripe are suspended by very delicate threads easily removed. Cummin grows about a foot high, and is very little branched; its flowers are white or reddish, and its fruit is contracted at the side. It was in high repute in our Saviour's time, and tithe of it was paid by the scribes and Pharisees, Matt. xxiii. 23. It was introduced to Britain from Egypt toward the close of the 16th century; and it is now extensively cultivated, for the same purposes as coriander and caraway, in Malta, Sicily, Holland, Germany, and some other European countries. The plant is figured in the following cut. CURSE, kůrse, penal evil or judicial condemna tion, Gen. xxvii. 12, Gal. iii. 10. In the former sense, it is contrasted to happiness; in the latter, to inaccusableness. Christ became a curse for us, bore both the misery and the imputation of our guilt, in order to redeem us, Gal. iii. 13. To curse is the opposite of to bless. When God does it, he righteously condemns to punishment; when men do it, they capriciously denounce evil or imprecate. CUSH, kush, the eldest son of Ham, and father of Nimrod, Gen. x. 8. CUSH, kush, a people or region named from Cush, the eldest son of Ham. In the Vulgate and Septuagint, and by various interpreters, ancient and modern, Cush is very generally rendered Ethiopia. The land of Cush was properly that district of Arabia in which the sons of Cush first settled; but it is often taken largely for a great tract of country, comprehending much more than the proper territory of the Cushites, extending east as far as the Tigris, and having for its western boundary the Nile. Josephus says that Cush was the father of the Ethiopians, who in his time were styled Cusheans, not only by themselves, but by all the inhabitants of Asia. Others conjecture that Cush located in that part of Persia still called Chusistan or Khuzistan, or the land of Chus, whence his posterity might have passed into other countries. It appears from the scriptures that a part of Arabia near the Red sea was anciently named Cush; that Cushan and Midian are frequently mentioned as dwelling together in tents; and that in other places the Arabians are spoken of as bordering on the Cushites, who cannot therefore be viewed as the Ethiopians. Bruce informs us that the Abyssinians have a tradition, which is equally received by Jews and Christians, that immediately after the deluge Cush passed with his family through the low country of Egypt, and proceeded to the high lands which border the mountainous district of Abyssinia, where they settled, and their descendants built the city of Axum in the days of Abraham. It is impossible to decide on a subject the most of which is mere conjecture. It appears that there were four countries named Cush in the scriptures, and inhabited by Cushites, who by frequent removals dwelt widely separate from each other.-1. Cush in the vicinity of the river Indus. This is said to have been the original Ethiopia in the East. Strabo says that the Ethiopians are a twofold people, who lie extended in a long tract from the rising to the setting of the sun. The Syriac version of 2 Chron. xvi. 8, reads Indians for Ethiopians, and both the Syriac and Chaldee in Isa. xi. 11, and Zeph. iii. 10, read India for Cush.-2. There was a Cush in Assyria, west of the Caspian. St. Jerome mentions that St. Andrew preached the gospel to that people, whom he calls Ethiopians or Cushites.-3. Cush in Arabia Petræa, bordering on Egypt.-4. Ethiopia, south of Egypt, in Africa, is designated by the name of Cush. The reader will find more particulars concerning the Cushites in various parts of the present work. CUSHI, ku'-shi, the person who brought the tidings of the defeat of Absalom to David, 2 Sam. xviii. 21. Also the father of Shelemiah, Jer. xxxvi. 14. Also the father of the prophet Zephaniah, Zeph. i. 1. CUTHAH, kủth ́-a, a district whence the king of Syria transferred men to Samaria in room of the Israelites, 2 Kings xvii. 24. It is supposed to have been situated in the centre of Persia. CYMBALS, sim'-bals, two convex plates of brass used as musical instruments. They were struck | against each other, and produced a pleasant shrill sound, 1 Chron. xvi. 5, 1 Cor. xiii. 1. | conquered by Richard Coeur de Lion of England, but it was attached to the Turkish empire by Selim II. in 1570. We are told by a recent traveller that Cyprus would require at least a population of one million to cultivate it as well as the excellency of the soil requires; but the population has been reduced by the tyranny of the government to between 60,000 and 70,000, of whom 15,000 are Greeks. It contains only two towns which deserve the name, the others being almost deserted. If the ancients extolled the fertility of this island, their accounts have not been contradicted by the moderns. Dr. Clarke, however, avers that the climate is insalubrious, and that the fevers of Cyprus, unlike those caught upon other shores of the Mediterranean, rarely intermit, and are almost always malignant. "This island," he says, "that had so highly excited, amply gratified our curiosity by its most interesting antiquities, although there is nothing in its present state pleasing to the eye. Instead of a beautiful and fertile land, covered with groves of fruit and fine woods, once rendering it the paradise of the Levant, there is scarcely upon earth a more wretched spot than it now exhibits. Few words may forcibly describe it-agriculture neglected, inhabitants oppressed, population destroyed, pestiferous air, contagion, poverty, indo CYPRESS, si'-press, an evergreen timber tree of the coniferous tribe. It is a native of Candia, Italy, | Spain, and Portugal; it also abounds in the Levant, and is there regarded as both a very common and a very valuable timber tree; and it was introduced to Britain about the middle of the sixteenth century, and is here in great favour as an ornamental small tree, particularly in cemeteries. It usually grows to a height of about fifty or sixty feet in its native regions, though only of about 20 or 25 feet in Britain, and it lives to a great age. It grows quite erect, and has an obeliskal or oblongly conical outline, and a dark-green, sombre, and somewhat grotesque foliage. Its timber has a brownish-red colour and an agreeable sweetish fragrance, and makes an exceed-lence, desolation. Its antiquities alone render it ingly durable resistance to all kinds of causes of decay. The cypress is mentioned only once in the English scriptures, in Isa. xliv. 14; and the word there translated "cypress" seems really to designate some other tree; but the cypress is thought by good judges to be denoted by a Hebrew word which occurs in 2 Sam. vi. 5, 1 Kings v. 8, 2 Chron. ii. 8, and sixteen other passages, and is there translated fir or fir-tree. CYPRUS, si'-průs, a large island in the Mediter- | ranean, south of Cilicia and west of Syria, supposed to have been detached from the continent by a convulsion of nature, although the opinion of modern times is that it has been always an island. Its greatest length is stated to be seventy leagues from east to west, its breadth from north to south thirty, and its circumference about one hundred and eighty. Its inhabitants were Phoenicians, Greek colonists from Arcadia, Attica, and the isle of Salamis, and Ethiopians transplanted to it by Amasis of Egypt, who conquered it to obtain possession of its ship timber. It is said to have contained nine kingdoms, but its ancient geography is involved in greater uncertainty than is common with the countries and islands of the Mediterranean. The wealth of the island attracted the Romans, and Augustus made Cyprus a Roman province, dividing it into four parts, in which condition it was in the apostolic times. It subsequently fell to the emperors of the East, from whom it was conquered by the Saracens, who lost it also; and its native rulers were for some time afterwards dependent on princes of Egypt. It was again worthy of resort." The most beautiful flowers grow wild in Cyprus, hyacinths, anemonies, ranuncu luses, and the single and double narcissus; but it is generally admitted that its agriculture is neglected, and an unwholesome atmosphere infects some districts, caused probably by the stagnant water. "Imperfectly as it is cultivated," says another traveller, "it abounds in every production of nature, and bears great quantities of corn, figs, olives, oranges, lemons, dates, and indeed of every fruit seen in these climates; it nourishes great numbers of goats, sheep, pigs, and oxen, of which latter it has at times exported supplies to Malta." The scriptural allusions to this island are very limited. Barnabas, the companion of St. Paul, was born in Cyprus; and we are told that his real name was Joses, and that he was a Levite, Acts iv. 36. It is farther alleged that in his native island he suffered martyrdom. A few years after the martyrdom of St. Stephen, the gospel was preached in "Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch;" but the inspired writer informs us that it was preached "unto the Jews only; and the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord," Acts xi. 19, 20, 21. When St. Paul and Barnabas were at Antioch, they were chosen from among "the prophets and teachers" in that city to "go to the Gentiles;" and the two apostles, after being consecrated, Acts xiii. 3, went first to the city of Seleucia, built by Seleucus, north-west of Antioch on the Mediterranean, from which they sailed to Cyprus. When they arrived at Salamis, a town founded by Teucer, the son of Telamon, afterwards called Censtantia, from its restorer the emperor Constantine, and still called Costanza, they preached in the Jewish synagogue, and afterwards proceeded "through the isle" to Paphos, on its western side, founded by the Phoenicians, and celebrated for the worship of Venus, the ruins of which are still to be seen. Here Sergius Paulus, the Roman deputy, was converted to the Christian faith; and Bar-jesus, a Jew, who endeavoured to "turn away the deputy," was smitten with blindness "for a season," Acts xiii. 6-12. The two apostles soon afterwards left Cyprus, and proceeded to Perga in Pamphylia. In the "sharp contention" which took place between St. Paul and Barnabas, and which caused their separation, the latter proceeded to his native island, while the former "went through Syria and Cilicia confirming the churches," Acts xv. 39, 41. St. Paul subsequently twice passed the island, in his voyages to Jerusalem, Acts xxi. 3, and to Rome, Acts xxvii. 4, but he did not land. From the above notices it will at once be seen that Cyprus was one of the early scenes of apostolical labour. CYRENE, sè-ré ́-nè, a celebrated city of Libya in Africa, and the capital of the ancient Cyrenaica, originally peopled by a Greek colony, and on account of its five cities frequently designated Pentapolis. This city was once so powerful, that it competed for the pre-eminence with Carthage; its citizens from their Grecian origin were wont to call themselves Spartans. The foundation of Cyrene dates as far back as B.C. 628, and received its name from Cyrene, the mother of Aristæus, chief of the colonists. This city was the birth-place of Callimachus the poet, Eratosthenes the historian, Carneades the sophist, and Aristippus the founder of the licentious sect of philosophers known by the name of Cyrenaics. Numbers of Jews were at Cyrene before the Christian era, the descendants, according to Josephus, of a colony of captive Jews settled there by Ptolemy Lagus; and one of them, who happened to be at Jerusalem on the eventful day of our Saviour's crucifixion, is immortalized by name in the evangelical history, Matt. xxvii. 32. It was the custom to compel the person to carry the cross on which he was to be impaled, which shows that it could not be the huge piece of wood represented in modern paintings; and our Saviour carried that on which he was to suffer for the whole world until, sinking under fatigue, a "man of Cyrene, Simon by name," who was a spectator of the proceedings, was * compelled to bear his cross." He is described as having "come out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus," who were known as Christians of great repute in the apostolic church. The writer of the Acts of the Apostles informs us that Cyrenean Jews were present in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost; some of them took part with their Alexandrian brethren in disputing about the proto 66 martyr St. Stephen, Acts vi. 9; and certain Christian Jews of Cyprus and Cyrene, who had fled from the persecution of their intolerant brethren, were among the first preachers of the gospel to the Greeks at Antioch, Acts xi. 20, one of whom was named Lucius, Acts xiii. 1 The city continued to flourish under the Romans; but in the fifth century it became a mass of ruins in the reign of Theodosius the younger, and its wealth and honours were transferred to the episcopal city of Ptolemais. The Saracens completed the work of destruction, and for centuries not only the city, but the once populous and fertile district of which it was the ornament, has been lost to civilization, commerce, and almost even to geographical knowledge. During three parts of the year Cyrene is tenanted by wild animals of the desert, and during the fourth part the wandering Bedouins pitch their tents on the low grounds in its neighbourhood. This city was built on a range of hills rising eight hundred feet above a fine sweep of table land, forming the summit of a lower chain, to which it descended by a series of terraces; and its total elevation is computed to have been about eighteen hundred feet above the level of the sea, commanding a view over rocks and woods and the distant ocean, of almost unrivalled magniticence. It is now called Cairoon, or Corune. 66 CYRENIUS, sè-ré'-nè-ůs, a Roman governor of Syria, Luke ii. 1, 2. His Latin name was Publius Sulpicius Quirinus. He was made prefect of the province when the emperor Augustus united Judea and Smyrna to Syria in A. D. 12. Cyrenius, otherwise Quirinus, confiscated the property of Archelaus, and took the census referred to by St. Luke to apportion the tribute among the people, when there went a decree from Cæsar Augustus that all the world should be taxed," namely, that all persons in the Roman empire, proudly called "the world," should have their names and conditions of life registered according to their families. This measure of the Roman government excited great discontent among the Jews, which all the exertions of the then high priest Joazar could not allay. Judas the Gaulanite of Gamalis, or the Galileau (for Josephus gives him both of these designations), and one Sadduc, a Sadducee, represented this census of the people, the valuation of their property, and the payment of tribute, as the most shameful slavery, and contrary to the Mosaic law, which, they alleged, acknowledged God as their only sovereign. By their misrepresentations of the law in this particular they soon raised a party, and excited great commotions. About the period noticed by the evangelist they appear to have been suppressed; but their adherents mustered in considerable force, who subsequently contributed much to the disturbances of the nation, and to their last rebellion against the Romans. When Quirinus completed the census he removed the high priest Joazar, who had incurred the displeasure of the people, and promoted Ananus, called |