These wicked centaurs are the antithesis of the knight and the horseman. Instead of mastering or taming their instincts, these centaurs are ruled by them. They symbolize violent lust, adultery, brutality, vengefulness, heretics, and the Devil. They represent the struggle within each heart between good and evil, moderation and excess, passion and propriety, forgiveness and retaliation, belief and unbelief, god and beast. The same verse used to associate lust with horses was used to connect centaurs with this sin.
Female centaurs represent the seductress, the lush, or the woman who is unbecomingly curious.
Chiron was like the above centaurs in appearance only. His father was Cronus, the Titan and his mother was an Oceanid or ocean nymph. He was a famous physician and teacher, skilled in the hunt, music, and prophecy. Taught by Apollo and Diana, Chiron went on to tutor Aesculapius, Jason, Hercules, and Achilles. During the Battle of the Lapithae and the Centaurs, Chiron fought for the Lapithae and was accidentally wounded by one of Hercules' poisoned arrows.