CICUTA, si-kina, a genus of poisonous unbelliferous plants commonly known as water hemlock or cowbane, the species natives of North America. The plants are a dangerous poison, said to be fatal to cattle that eat them. Persons are known to have died from eating the roots which are white and fleshy. The com mon hemlock, Conium maculatum, a poisonous umbellifer, has a stem from two to four feet high, hollow, striated and spotted with purple; leaves large, much divided and fetid when bruised; and with unilateral partial involucres, marks by which the common hemlock is readily distinguished from the water-hemlock, and from other plants of the Apriacecr. It is indig enous in Europe, and is extensively used in medicine, being given internally as a sedative, and applied externally. to sores, ulcers, etc., in the form of a poultice or ointment. It may be the koneion (hemlock) of the Greeks, which Socrates and others condemned to death were required to drink. The Latin cicuta was the true hemlock. ' See HEMLOCK.
CID, El, al thid, or el sid, the popular name of a Spanish national hero, Rodrigo (or Ruy) Diaz: b. Bivar about 1040; d. 1099. Legend and tradition have somewhat obscured the character of the historical Cid, but the main facts of his life are well established by Spanish and Arabic records. He first appears in national history when Sancho, the eldest son of Ferdinand I, and king of Castile, was at war with his brother, Alfonso; at this time he was already known as the Campeadon (the cham pion), a name which he won probably by van quishing in single combat the champion of San cho of Navarre. In the war with Alfonso, Sancho was victorious, and this success was owing to the Cid, to whom he had given the command of his forces. Alfonso was taken prisoner, and it remained only to overcome the obstinate resistance of Zamora, where Sancho's sister, Utraca, ruled. Before the walls of this city Sancho was assassinated, and Alfonso was called to the throne. It is asserted—but the historical evidence here is not complete — that before recognizing Alfonso's authority the Cas tilian nobles required of him an oath that he had no part in his brother's murder, and that it was the Cid who administered this oath, in 1073. Whatever the facts, Alfonso must have thought it wise to conciliate the good-will of the Castilian grandees until at least his own position became secure, as he gave his cousin Jimena (or Ximena), daughter of the Count of Ovideo, to the Cid in marriage. The marriage
contract, dated 1074, is preserved at Burgos. Later the king, taking advantage of a pretext that the Cid had attacked the Moors without obtaining the royal consent, banished him (1081). Old wrongs which the king still re membered probably furnished the real motive. Then begun that career of of fortune,* which, idealized by tradition, has made the Cid the perfect cavalier of Spain. He first offered his services to the Christian Count of Barce lona, and, when refused by him, to the Moorish king of Saragossa, who accepted the offer. The Cid remained in Saragossa till 1088, fighting against Moors and Christians alike, and rising to unusual distinction and power. In 1088 the attention of Mostain, the king of Saragossa, was drawn to the city of Valencia, then under the protection of King Alfonso. The Almoravi des, a new Moslem sect from northern Africa. defeated Alfonso in battle, and caused him to withdraw his protection from Valencia, and the governor of the city appealed to Saragossa for help. The Cid was sent to the aid of the city in command of an expedition which proved suc cessful, and he established himself in Valencian territory. As the recognized protector of the lawful king, in reality, the suzerain of Valencia, he received a generous tribute; but it is clear that he had already resolved, when opportunity offered, to secure the city for himself. Mean while he skilfully held off, now by force, now by ruse, all other competitors, Christian and Moslem alike; including among these King Alfonso, whose territories he once wasted with fire and sword. As head of an independent army, he made successful forays in all direc tions; despoiling, levying tribute, garrisoning strongholds and strengthening his position in every way, and in 1094 finally became master of Valencia itself. He successfully held the city till 1099, when the troops he had sent against the Almoravides were utterly routed, few escap ing, and he already enfeebled in health, died, it is said, of grief and shame. His widow held Valencia for two years longer. He left two daughters, one of whom married the Count of Barcelona, and the other the Infante of Navarre.