Cypress Branch and Cone.
very small imbricated leaves, which remain on the trees five or six years. Du Hamel states that he has observed on the bark of young cypresses small parti- cles of a substance resembling gum tragacunth, and that he has seen bees taking great pains to detach these particles, probably to supply some of the matter required for forming their combs. This cypress is a native of the Grecian Archipelago, particularly of Candia (the ancient Crete) and Cyprus, and also of Asia Minor, Syria, and Persia. It may be seen on the coast of Pidestine, as well as in the interior, as the Mohammedans plant it in their cemeteries. That it is found on the mountains of Syria is evident from the quotations by Celsius {Hierobot, i, 188), from Cyril of Alexandria (m Esaiam, p. 848), Jerome (Comment, in Eos, xiv, 6), and others. See Cedab. The wood of the cypress is hard, fragrant, and of a remarkably fine close grain, very durable, and of a beautiful reddish hue, which Pliny says it never loses (Hist, Nat. xvi, 88). As to the opinion respecting the durability of the cypress-wood entertained by the ancients, it may be sufficient to adduce the authority of Pliny, who says that "the statue of Jupiter, in the Capitol, which was formed of cypress, had existed above 600 years without showing the slightest symptom of decay, and that the doors of the temple of Diana at Ephesus, which were also of cypress, and were 400 years old, had the appearance of being quite new." This wood was used for a variety of purposes, as for wine-presses, poles, rafters, and joists, and was an especial &vorite for funereal grounds. Horace sayv (Carm. ii, 14, 28) that whatever was thought worthy of being handed down to remote posterity was preserved in cj'press or cedar wood ; and Virgil refers to it in similar terms (Geary, ii, 442 ; ^n. v, 64).— Kitto, s. v. (See Pemy Cyclopcedia, s. v. Cupressus.) See Botany.
CYPRIAN
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Cyp'rian (Kvirfuoc), a Cypriot or inhabitant (2 Bfacc iv, 29) of the island of Cypnis (q. v.).
Cyprian Mannsoxipt (Codex Cyprius, so called from its place of discovery), nsoally designated as K of the Gospels, one of the important uncial MSS. 6f the N. T., con- taining the fonr Gospels com- plete, was brought into the Colbert collection fh>m Cy- prus in 1673, and is now in the Royal or Imperial Libra- ry at Paris, where It is No. 63. It is an oblong quarto, _ written in a single column of
r ^> "^m T about twenty-one lines on \ ^^ / ^C9i g each page, in large upright ^^ ^^ » and compressed characters, *(^^ ^^ *• somewhat irregular. A sin- ^:^r* % a^^ point of interpunction of- ten standing where the sense does not require it, seems to indicate that it was copied 8 ^^jfrom a text arranged in crri- g'S xoi- The subscriptions, rir- ^ Xoi, Ammonian sections, and indices of the Ki^&Kaia of the last three Gospels, are believ- ed to be the work of a later hand; the Eusebian canons are absent. The breathings and accents are by the first ^Z hand, but often incorrectly l* « placed. The writing, etc., may "i S be taken as proof that the MS. g) !< is not older than the middle of S ^ the ninth century. Wetstein S -9* used readings from it for his ^ N. T. , and Scholz also collated it, but not accurately. This has been done more thorough- ly by Tischendorf and Tre- gelles. The MS. yields many valuable readings. — Scriven- er, Introduc. p. 101 sq. ; Tre- gelles, in Home's Introduc. iv, 201 sq. See Mandscbiptb,
BiBLICAU
Cyprian, Thascids Cae- oiLius, a bishop and martyr, was bom in North Africa, probably in Carthage, about the beginning of the third cen- tury. His father was wealthy, and one of the principal sena- tors of Carthage. His noble parentage instued him a good education, by which his natural endowments, which were of a high order, were duly developed, both intellec- tually and morally, according to the heathen type of training. The representation he gives, after his con- version to Christianity, of his earlier immoral life, is generally regarded as an exaggeration springing fh>m humility, and the legend to the effect that he had giv- en himself to the practice of sorcery is not accredited. His life, while he still stood in heathenism, is very much burled in obscurity, even as to the precise time and place of his birth. His biographer, the deacon Pontius, regarded all this as unworthy of mention *' in view of that spiritual greatness'* which characterized his subsequent life. It seems, however, that he was an eamest student, and that, having enjoyed all the advantages fUmished in his time, he excelled in the study of oratory and eloquence, and devoted himself to the teaching of law and rhetoric in hb native city, where he was greatly admired, became wealthy, and