a statue of Jupiter carved out of cypress is stated by Pliny to have existed 600 years without showing signs of decay. The cypress doors of the ancient St Peter’s at Rome, when removed by Eugenius IV., were about 1100 years old, but nevertheless in a state of perfect preservation. Laws were engraved on cypress by the ancients, and objects of value were preserved in receptacles made of it; thus Horace speaks of poems levi servanda cupresso.
The cypress, which grows no more when once cut down, was regarded as a symbol of the dead, and perhaps for that reason was sacred to Pluto; its branches were placed by the Greeks and Romans on the funeral pyres and in the houses of their departed friends. Its supposed ill-boding nature is alluded to in Shakespeare’s Henry VI., where Suffolk desires for his enemies “their sweetest shade, a grove of cypress trees.” The cypress was the tree into which Cyparissus, a beautiful youth beloved by Apollo, was transformed, that he might grieve to all time (Ovid, Met. x. 3). In Turkish cemeteries the cypress—
| “Dark tree, still sad when others’ grief is fled, The only constant mourner o’er the dead”— |
is the most striking feature, the rule being to plant one for each interment. The tree grows straight, or nearly so, and has a gloomy and forbidding, but wonderfully stately aspect. With advancing age its foliage becomes of a dark, almost black hue. William Gilpin calls the cypress an architectural tree: “No Italian scene,” says he, “is perfect without its tall spiral form, appearing as if it were but a part of the picturesquely disposed edifices which rise from the middle ground against the distant landscape.” The cypress of Somma, in Lombardy, is believed to have been in existence in the time of Julius Caesar; it is about 121 ft. in height, and 23 ft. in circumference. Napoleon, in making the road over the Simplon, deviated from the straight line in order to leave it standing. The cypress, as the olive, is found everywhere in the dry hollows and high eastern slopes of Corfu, of the scenery of which it is characteristic. As an ornamental tree in Britain the cypress is useful to break the outline formed by round-headed low shrubs and trees. The berosh, or beroth, of the Hebrew Scriptures, translated “fir” in the authorized version, in 1 Kings v. 8 and vi. 15, 2 Chron. ii. 8 and many other passages, is supposed to signify the cypress.
The common or tall variety of C. sempervirens is known as C. fastigiata; the other variety, C. horizontalis, which is little planted in England, is distinguished by its horizontally spreading branches, and its likeness to the cedar. The species C. torulosa of North India, so called from its twisted bark, attains an altitude of 150 ft.; its branches are erect or ascending, and grow so as to form a perfect cone. In the Kulu and Ladakh country the tree is sacred to the deities of the elements. It has been introduced into England, but does not thrive where the winter is severe. The wood, which in Indian temples is burnt as incense, is yellowish-red, close-grained, tough, hard, readily worked, durable, and equal in quality to that of the deodar. Another species, C. lusitanica or glauca, the “cedar of Goa,” is a handsome tree, 50 ft. in height when full-grown, with spreading branches drooping at their extremities; it has been much planted in Portugal, especially in the neighbourhood of Cintra. Its origin is doubtful. It was well established in Portugal before the middle of the 17th century, and has since been cultivated generally in the south of Europe, but is nowhere believed to be indigenous. The name “cedar of Goa” is misleading, as no cypress is found wild anywhere near Goa. It was cultivated in England in the 17th century, and the name C. lusitanica was given by Philip Miller, the curator of the Chelsea Physick garden, in 1768, in reference to its supposed Portuguese origin. Experience has shown this cypress to be too tender for British climate generally, though good specimens are to be found in the milder climate of the south and west of England and in Ireland.
The species G. Lawsoniana, the Port Orford cedar, a native of south Oregon and north California, where it attains a height of 100 ft., was introduced into Scotland in 1854; it is much grown for ornamental purposes in Britain, a large number of varieties of garden origin being distinguished by differences in habit and by colour of foliage. Other Californian cypresses are C. macrocarpa, the Monterey cypress, which is 60 ft. high when mature, with a habit suggesting that of cedar of Lebanon, and C. Joveniana and C. Macnabiana, smaller trees generally from 20 to 30 ft. in height. C. funebris is a native of the north of China, where it is planted near pagodas. C. nootkaensis, the Nootka Sound cypress or Alaska cedar, was introduced into Britain in 1850. It is a hardy species, reaching a height of from 80 to 100 ft. Several varieties are distinguished by habit and colour of foliage. C. obtusa, a native of Japan, is a tall tree reaching 100 ft. in height, and widely planted by the Japanese for its timber, which is one of the best for interior construction. It is also cultivated by them as a decorative plant, in many forms, including dwarf forms not exceeding a foot in height.
The “deciduous cypress,” “swamp cypress” or “bald cypress,” Taxodium distichum, is another member of the order Coniferae (tribe Taxodineae), a native of the southern United States and Mexico. It is a lofty tree reaching a height of 170 ft. or more, with a massive trunk 10 to 15 ft. or more in diameter, growing in or near water or on low-lying land which is subject to periodical flooding. The lower part of the trunk bears huge buttresses, each of which ends in a long branching far-spreading root, from the branches of which spring the peculiar knees which rise above the level of the water. The knees are of a soft spongy texture and act as breathing organs, supplying the roots with air, which they would otherwise be unable to obtain when submerged. The stout horizontally spreading branches give a cedar-like appearance; the foliage is light and feathery; the leaves and the slender shoots which bear them fall in the autumn. The cones, about the size of a small walnut, bear spirally arranged imbricated scales which subtend the three-angled winged seeds. The wood is light, soft, straight-grained and easily worked; it is very durable in contact with the soil, and is used for railway-ties, posts, fencing and for construction. The deciduous cypress was one of the first American trees introduced into England; it is described by John Parkinson in his Herbal of 1640. It thrives only near water or where the soil is permanently moist.
CYPRIAN, SAINT [Caecilius Cyprianus, called Thascius] (c. 200–258), bishop of Carthage, one of the most illustrious in
the early history of the church, and one of the most notable of
its early martyrs, was born about the year 200, probably at
Carthage. He was of patrician family, wealthy, highly educated,
and for some time occupied as a teacher of rhetoric at Carthage.
Of an enthusiastic temperament, accomplished in classical literature,
he seems while a pagan to have courted discussion with
the converts to Christianity. Confident in his own powers, he
entered ardently into what was no doubt the great question
of the time at Carthage as elsewhere. He sought to vanquish,
but was himself vanquished by, the new religious force which
was making such rapid inroads on the decaying paganism of
the Roman empire. Caecilianus (or Caecilius), a presbyter of
Carthage, is supposed to have been the instrument of his conversion,
which seems to have taken place about 246.
Cyprian carried all his natural enthusiasm and brilliant powers into his new profession. He devoted his wealth to the relief of the poor and other pious uses; and so, according to his deacon Pontius, who wrote a diffuse and vague account of his “life and passion,” “realized two benefits: the contempt of the world’s ambition, and the observance of that mercy which God has preferred to sacrifice.” The result of his charity and activity as a Christian convert was his unanimous call by the Christian people to the head of the church in Carthage, at the end of 248 or beginning of 249. The time was one of fierce persecution directed against the Christians, and the bishop of Carthage became a prominent object of attack. During the persecution of Decius (250–251) Cyprian was exposed to imminent danger, and was compelled for a time to seek safety in retreat. Under Gallus, the successor of Decius, the persecution was relaxed, and Cyprian returned to Carthage. Here he held several councils for the discussion of the affairs of the church, especially for grave questions as to the rebaptism of heretics, and the readmission into the church of the lapsi, or those who had fallen
