Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Cento

Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary, and Greek Lexicon (Rich, 1849)

CENTO (κέντρων. Generally, any covering or garment composed of different scraps of cloth sewed together, like patch-work, which the ancients employed as clothing for their slaves (Cato, R. R. 59. Columell. i. 8. 9.), as counterpanes for beds (Macrob. Sat. i. 6.), or other common purposes; whence the same name was also given to a poem made up of verses or scraps collected from different authors, like the Cento Nuptialis of Ausonius.

2. Specially, a cloth of the same common description; used as a saddle-cloth under the saddle of a beast of burden, to prevent it from galling the back, as shown in the annexed example (Cento/2.1) from a painting at Herculaneum. Veget. Vet. ii. 59. 2.

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  Cento/2.1