Chapter IV: Preface: To the Original Edition (3)

=Acroāthon=, or =Acrothoos=, a town on the top of mount Athos,
whose inhabitants lived to an uncommon old age. _Mela_, bk. 2,
ch. 2.――_Pliny_, bk. 8, ch. 10.

=Acroceraunium=, a promontory of Epirus, with mountains called
Acroceraunia, which project between the Ionian and Adriatic seas.
The word comes from ἀκρος, _high_, and κεραυνος, _thunder_; because,
on account of their great height, they were often struck with thunder.
_Lucretius_, bk. 6, li. 420.――_Pliny_, bk. 4, ch. 1. ――_Virgil_,
_Æneid_, bk. 3, li. 506.――_Strabo_, bk. 6.――_Horace_, bk. 1, ode 3,
li. 20.

=Acrocorinthus=, a lofty mountain on the isthmus of Corinth, taken
by Aratus, B.C. 243. There is a temple of Venus on the top, and
Corinth is built at the bottom. _Strabo_, bk. 8.――_Pausanias_, bk. 2,
ch. 4.――_Plutarch_, _Aratus_.――_Statius_, _Thebiad_, bk. 7, li. 106.

=Acron=, a king of Cenina, killed by Romulus in single combat, after
the rape of the Sabines. His spoils were dedicated to Jupiter
Feretrius. _Plutarch_, _Romulus_.――――A physician of Agrigentum,
B.C. 430, educated at Athens with Empedocles. He wrote physical
treatises in the Doric dialect, and cured the Athenians of a plague
by lighting a fire near the houses of the infected. _Pliny_, bk. 29,
ch. 1.――_Plutarch_, _De Iside et Osiride_.――――One of the friends of
Æneas, killed by Mezentius. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 10, li. 719.

=Acropātos=, one of Alexander’s officers, who obtained part of Media
after the king’s death. _Justin_, bk. 13, ch. 4.

=Acropŏlis=, the citadel of Athens, built on a rock, and accessible
only on one side. Minerva had a temple at the bottom. _Pausanias_,
_Atticus_.

=Acrotătus=, son of Cleomenes king of Sparta, died before his father,
leaving a son called Areus. _Pausanias_, bk. 1, ch. 13; bk. 3,
ch. 6.――――A son of Areus, who was greatly loved by Chelidonis wife
of Cleonymus. This amour displeased her husband, who called Pyrrhus
the Epirot to avenge his wrongs. When Sparta was besieged by Pyrrhus,
Acrotatus was seen bravely fighting in the middle of the enemy, and
commended by the multitude, who congratulated Chelidonis on being
mistress to such a warlike lover. _Plutarch_, _Pyrrhus_.

=Acrothoos.= _See:_ Acroathon.

=Acta=, or =Acte=, a country of Attica. This word signifies _shore_,
and is applied to Attica, as being near the sea. It is derived by
some writers from Actæus, a king, from whom the Athenians have been
called Actæi. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 1, li. 312.――_Virgil_,
_Eclogues_, poem 2, li. 23.

=Acta=, a place near mount Athos, on the Ægean sea. _Thucydides_,
bk. 4, ch. 109.

=Actæa=, one of the Nereides. _Hesiod_, _Theogony_, li. 250.――_Homer_,
_Iliad_, bk. 18, li. 41.――――A surname of Ceres.――――A daughter of
Danaus. _Apollodorus_, bk. 2, ch. 1.

=Actæon=, a famous huntsman, son of Aristæus and Autonoe daughter of
Cadmus, whence he is called _Autonoeius heros_. He saw Diana and
her attendant, bathing near Gargaphia, for which he was changed into
a stag, and devoured by his own dogs. _Pausanias_, bk. 9, ch. 2.
――_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 3, fable 3.――――A beautiful youth,
son of Melissus of Corinth, whom Archias, one of the Heraclidæ,
endeavoured to debauch and carry away. He was killed in the struggle
which in consequence of this happened between his father and
ravisher. Melissus complained of the insult, and drowned himself;
and soon after, the country being visited by a pestilence, Archias
was expelled. _Plutarch_, _Amatoriæ narrationes_.

=Actæus=, a powerful person who made himself master of a part of
Greece, which he called Attica. His daughter Agraulos married
Cecrops, whom the Athenians called their first king, though Actæus
reigned before him. _Pausanias_, bk. 1, chs. 2 & 14.――――The word is
of the same signification as _Atticus_, an inhabitant of Attica.

=Acte=, a mistress of Nero, descended from Attalus. _Suetonius_,
_Nero_, ch. 28.――――One of the Horæ. _Hyginus_, fable 183.

=Actia=, the mother of Augustus. As she slept in the temple of
Apollo, she dreamt that a dragon had lain with her. Nine months
after she brought forth, having previously dreamt that her bowels
were scattered all over the world. _Suetonius_, _Augustus_, ch. 94.
――――Games sacred to Apollo, in commemoration of the victory of
Augustus over Marcus Antony at Actium. They were celebrated every
third, sometimes fifth, year, with great pomp, and the Lacedæmonians
had the care of them. _Plutarch_, _Antonius_.――_Strabo_, bk. 7.――
_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 3, li. 280; bk. 8, li. 675.――――A sister of
Julius Cæsar. _Plutarch_, _Cicero_.

=Actis=, son of Sol, went from Greece into Egypt, where he taught
astrology, and founded Heliopolis. _Diodorus_, bk. 5.

=Actisănes=, a king of Æthiopia who conquered Egypt, and expelled king
Amasis. He was famous for his equity, and his severe punishment of
robbers, whose noses he cut off, and whom he banished to a desert
place, where they were in want of all aliment, and lived only upon
crows. _Diodorus_, bk. 1.

=Actium=, now _Azio_, a town and promontory of Epirus, famous for the
naval victory which Augustus obtained over Antony and Cleopatra, the
2nd of September, B.C. 31, in honour of which the conqueror built
there the town of Nicopolis, and instituted games. _See:_ Actia.
_Plutarch_, _Antonius_.――_Suetonius_, _Augustus_.――――A promontory of
Corcyra. _Cicero_, _Letters to Atticus_, bk. 7, ltr. 2.

=Actius=, a surname of Apollo, from Actium, where he had a temple.
_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 8, li. 704.――――A poet. _See:_ Accius.――――A
prince of the Volsci. _See:_ Accius.

=Actius Navius=, an augur, who cut a loadstone in two with a razor,
before Tarquin and the Roman people, to convince them of his skill
as an augur. _Florus_, bk. 1, ch. 5.――_Livy_, bk. 1, ch. 36.――――
Labeo. _See:_ Labeo.

=Actor=, a companion of Hercules in his expedition against the Amazons.
――――The father of Menœtius by Ægina, whence Patroclus is called
_Actorides_. _Ovid_, _Tristia_, bk. 1, poem 8.――――A man called also
Aruncus. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 12, li. 93.――――One of the friends
of Æneas. _Æneid_, bk. 9, li. 500.――――A son of Neptune by Agameda.
_Hyginus_, fable 14.――――A son of Deion and Diomede. _Apollodorus_,
bk. 1, ch. 9.――――The father of Eurytus, and brother of Augeas.
_Apollodorus_, bk. 2, ch. 7.――――A son of Acastus, one of the
Argonauts. _Hyginus_, fable 14.――――The father of Astyoche. _Homer_,
_Iliad_, bk. 2.――_Pausanias_, bk. 9, ch. 37.――――A king of Lemnos.
_Hyginus_, fable 102.

=Actorĭdes=, a patronymic given to Patroclus grandson of Actor. _Ovid_,
_Metamorphoses_, bk. 13, fable 1.――――Also to Erithus son of Actor.
_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 5, fable 3.――――Two brothers so fond of
each other, that in driving a chariot, one generally held the reins,
and the other the whip; whence they are represented with two heads,
four feet, and one body. Hercules conquered them. _Pindar._

=Actŏris=, a maid of Ulysses. _Homer_, _Odyssey_, bk. 23.

=Marcus Actorius Naso=, a Roman historian. _Suetonius_, _Julius_,
ch. 9.

=Caius Aculeo=, a Roman lawyer celebrated as much for the extent of his
understanding, as for his knowledge of law. He was uncle to Cicero.
_Cicero_, _On Oratory_, bk. 1, ch. 43.

=Acūphis=, an ambassador from India to Alexander. _Plutarch_,
_Alexander_.

=Acusilāus= and =Damagētus=, two brothers of Rhodes, conquerors at the
Olympic games. The Greeks strewed flowers upon Diagoras their father,
and called him happy in having such worthy sons. _Pausanias_, bk. 6,
ch. 7.

=Acusilāus=, an historian of Argos, often quoted by Josephus. He wrote
on genealogies, in a style simple and destitute of all ornament.
_Cicero_, _On Oratory_, bk. 2, ch. 29.――_Suidas._――――An Athenian who
taught rhetoric at Rome under Galba.

=M. Acutĭcus=, an ancient comic writer whose plays were known under
the names of Leones, Gemini, Anus, Bœotia, &c.

=Ada=, a sister of queen Artemisia, who married Hidricus. After her
husband’s death, she succeeded to the throne of Caria; but being
expelled by her younger brother, she retired to Alindæ, which she
delivered to Alexander after adopting him as her son. _Curtius_,
bk. 2, ch. 8.――_Strabo_, bk. 14.

=Adad=, a deity among the Assyrians, supposed to be the sun.

=Adæus=, a native of Mitylene, who wrote a Greek treatise on
statuaries. _Athenæus_, bk. 13.

=Adamantæa=, Jupiter’s nurse in Crete, who suspended him in his cradle
to a tree, that he might be found neither in the earth, the sea,
nor in heaven. To drown the infant’s cries, she had drums beat and
cymbals sounded around the tree. _Hyginus_, fable 139.

=Adămas=, a Trojan prince, killed by Merion. _Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 13,
li. 560.――――A youth who raised a rebellion on being emasculated by
Cotys king of Thrace. _Aristotle_, _Politics_, bk. 5, ch. 10.

=Adamastus=, a native of Ithaca, father of Achæmenides. _Virgil_,
_Æneid_, bk. 3, li. 614.

=Adaspii=, a people at the foot of mount Caucasus. _Justin_, bk. 12,
ch. 5.

=Addephagia=, a goddess of the Sicilians. _Ælian_, bk. 1, _Varia
Historia_, ch. 27.

=Addua=, now _Adda_, a river of Cisalpine Gaul, falling into the Po
near Cremona. _Pliny_, bk. 2, ch. 103.

=Adelphius=, a friend of Marcus Antoninus, whom he accompanied in
his expedition into Parthia, of which he wrote the history. _Strabo_,
bk. 11.

=Adēmon=, raised a sedition in Mauritania to avenge his master Ptolemy,
whom Caligula had put to death. _Suetonius_, _Caligula_, ch. 35.

=Ades=, or =Hades=, the god of hell among the Greeks, the same as the
Pluto of the Latins. The word is derived from _α_ and ειδειν [_non
videre_], because hell is deprived of light. It is often used for
hell itself by the ancient poets.

=Adgandestrius=, a prince of Gaul who sent to Rome for poison to
destroy Arminius, and was answered by the senate, that the Romans
fought their enemies openly, and never used perfidious measures.
_Tacitus_, _Annals_, bk. 2, ch. 88.

=Adherbal=, son of Micipsa, and grandson of Masinissa, was besieged at
Cirta, and put to death by Jugurtha, after vainly imploring the aid
of Rome, B.C. 112. _Sallust_, _Jugurthine War_.

=Adherbas=, the husband of Dido. _See:_ Sichæus.

=Adiante=, a daughter of Danaus. _Apollodorus_, bk. 2, ch. 11.

=Adiatōrix=, a governor of Galatia, who, to gain Antony’s favour,
slaughtered, in one night, all the inhabitants of the Roman colony
of Heraclea, in Pontus. He was taken at Actium, led in triumph by
Augustus, and strangled in prison. _Strabo_, bk. 12.

=Adimantus=, a commander of the Athenian fleet, taken by the Spartans.
All the men of the fleet were put to death, except Adimantus,
because he had opposed the designs of his countrymen, who intended
to mutilate all the Spartans. _Xenophon_, _Hellenica_. Pausanias
says, bk. 4, ch. 17; bk. 10, ch. 9, that the Spartans had bribed
him.――――A brother of Plato. _Laërtius_, bk. 3.――――A Corinthian
general who reproached Themistocles with his exile.――――A king struck
with thunder for saying that Jupiter deserved no sacrifices. _Ovid_,
_Ibis_, li. 337.

=Admēta=, a daughter of Eurystheus, was priestess of Juno’s temple at
Argos. She expressed a wish to possess the girdle of the queen of
the Amazons, and Hercules obtained it for her. _Apollodorus_, bk. 2,
ch. 23.――――One of the Oceanides. _Hesiod_, _Theogony_, li. 349.

=Admētus=, son of Pheres and Clymene, king of Pheræ in Thessaly,
married Theone daughter of Thestor, and, after her death, Alceste
daughter of Pelias. Apollo when banished from heaven, is said to
have tended his flocks for nine years, and to have obtained from the
Parcæ, that Admetus should never die, if another person laid down
his life for him; a proof of unbounded affection, which his wife
Alceste cheerfully exhibited by devoting herself voluntarily to
death. Admetus was one of the Argonauts, and was at the hunt of
the Calydonian boar. Pelias promised his daughter in marriage only
to him who could bring him a chariot drawn by a lion and a wild
boar; and Admetus effected this by the aid of Apollo, and obtained
Alceste’s hand. Some say that Hercules brought him back Alceste from
hell. _Seneca_, _Medeâ_.――_Hyginus_, fables 50, 51, & 243.――_Ovid_,
_Amores_, bk. 3.――_Apollodorus_, bk. 1, chs. 8 & 9, &c.――_Tibullus_,
bk. 2, poem 3.――_Pausanias_, bk. 5, ch. 17.――――A king of the
Molossi, to whom Themistocles fled for protection. _Cornelius Nepos_,
_Themistocles_, ch. 8.――――An officer of Alexander, killed at the
siege of Tyre. _Diodorus_, bk. 17.

=Adōnia=, festivals in honour of Adonis, first celebrated at Byblos
in Phœnicia. They lasted two days, the first of which was spent
in howlings and lamentations, the second in joyful clamours, as if
Adonis was returned to life. In some towns of Greece and Egypt they
lasted eight days; the one half of which was spent in lamentations,
and the other in rejoicings. Only women were admitted, and such as
did not appear were compelled to prostitute themselves for one day;
and the money obtained by this shameful custom was devoted to the
service of Adonis. The time of the celebration was supposed to be
very unlucky. The fleet of Nicias sailed from Athens to Sicily on
that day, whence many unfortunate omens were drawn. _Plutarch_,
_Nicias_.――_Ammianus_, bk. 22, ch. 9.

=Adōnis=, son of Cinyras by his daughter Myrrha [_See:_ Myrrha],
was the favourite of Venus. He was fond of hunting, and was often
cautioned by his mistress not to hunt wild beasts, for fear of being
killed in the attempt. This advice he slighted, and at last received
a mortal bite from a wild boar which he had wounded, and Venus,
after shedding many tears at his death, changed him into a flower
called anemone. Proserpine is said to have restored him to life, on
condition that he should spend six months with her, and the rest of
the year with Venus. This implies the alternate return of summer and
winter. Adonis is often taken for Osiris, because the festivals of
both were generally begun with mournful lamentations, and finished
with a revival of joy as if they were returning to life again.
Adonis had temples raised to his memory, and is said by some to
have been beloved by Apollo and Bacchus. _Apollodorus_, bk. 3,
ch. 14.――_Propertius_, bk. 2, poem 13, li. 53.――_Virgil_, _Eclogues_,
poem 10, li. 18.――_Bion_, _Adonis_.――_Hyginus_, fables 58, 164, 248,
&c.――_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 10, fable 10.――_Musæus_, _Hero &
Leander_.――_Pausanias_, bk. 2, ch. 20; bk. 9, ch. 41.――――A river of
Phœnicia, which falls into the Mediterranean, below Byblus.

=Adramyttium=, an Athenian colony on the sea coast of Mysia, near the
Caycus. _Strabo_, bk. 13.――_Thucydides_, bk. 5, ch. 1.

=Adrāna=, a river in Germany. _Tacitus_, _Annals_, bk. 1, ch. 56.

=Adrānum=, a town of Sicily, near Ætna, with a river of the same name.
The chief deity of the place was called Adranus, and his temple was
guarded by 1000 dogs. _Plutarch_, _Timoleon_.

=Adrasta=, one of the Oceanides who nursed Jupiter. _Hyginus_,
fable 182.

=Adrastia=, a fountain of Sicyon. _Pausanias_, bk. 2, ch. 15.――――A
mountain. _Plutarch_, _Lucullus_.――――A country near Troy called
after Adrastus, who built there a temple to Nemesis. Here Apollo had
an oracle. _Strabo_, bk. 13.――――A daughter of Jupiter and Necessity.
She is called by some Nemesis, and is the punisher of injustice.
The Egyptians placed her above the moon, whence she looked down upon
the actions of men. _Strabo_, bk. 13.――――A daughter of Melisseus,
to whom some attribute the nursing of Jupiter. She is the same as
Adrasta. _Apollodorus_, bk. 1, ch. 1.

=Adrastii Campi=, a plain near the Granicus, where Alexander first
defeated Darius. _Justin_, bk. 11, ch. 6.

=Adrastus=, son of Talaus and Lysimache, was king of Argos. Polynices,
being banished from Thebes by his brother Eteocles, fled to Argos,
where he married Argia daughter of Adrastus. The king assisted
his son-in-law, and marched against Thebes with an army headed by
seven of his most famous generals. All perished in the war except
Adrastus, who, with a few men saved from slaughter, fled to Athens,
and implored the aid of Theseus against the Thebans, who opposed
the burying of the Argives slain in battle. Theseus went to his
assistance, and was victorious. Adrastus, after a long reign, died
through grief, occasioned by the death of his son Ægialeus. A temple
was raised to his memory at Sicyon, where a solemn festival was
annually celebrated. _Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 5.――_Virgil_, _Æneid_,
bk. 6, li. 480.――_Apollodorus_, bk. 1, ch. 9; bk. 3, ch. 7.――
_Statius_, _Thebiad_, bks. 4 & 5.――_Hyginus_, fables 68, 69, & 70.
――_Pausanias_, bk. 1, ch. 39; bk. 8, ch. 25; bk. 10; ch. 90.――
_Herodotus_, bk. 5, ch. 67, &c.――――A peripatetic philosopher,
disciple to Aristotle. It is supposed that a copy of his treatise
on harmonics is preserved in the Vatican.――――A Phrygian prince, who
having inadvertently killed his brother, fled to Crœsus, where he
was humanely received, and entrusted with the care of his son Atys.
In hunting a wild boar, Adrastus slew the young prince, and in his
despair, killed himself on his grave. _Herodotus_, bk. 1, ch. 35,
&c.――――A Lydian, who assisted the Greeks against the Persians.
_Pausanias_, bk. 7, ch. 5.――――A soothsayer in the Trojan war, son
of Merops. _Homer_, _Iliad_, bks. 2 & 6.――The father of Eurydice,
who married Ilus the Trojan. _Apollodorus_, bk. 2, ch. 12.――――A king
of Sicyon, who reigned four years, B.C. 1215.――――A son of Hercules.
_Hyginus_, fable 242.

=Adria=, =Adriānum=, or =Adriatĭcum mare=, a sea lying between
Illyricum and Italy, now called the gulf of Venice, first made
known to the Greeks by the discoveries of the Phocæans. _Herodotus_,
bk. 1.――_Horace_, bk. 1, ode 33; bk. 3, odes 3 & 9.――_Catullus_,
poems 4, 6.

=Adrianopŏlis=, a town of Thrace on the Hebrus.――――Another in Ætolia,
――――in Pisidia,――――and Bithynia.

=Adriānus=, or =Hadrianus=, the 15th emperor of Rome. He is represented
as an active, learned, warlike, and austere general. He came to
Britain, where he built a wall between the modern towns of Carlisle
and Newcastle, 80 miles long, to protect the Britons from the
incursions of the Caledonians. He killed in battle 500,000 Jews who
had rebelled, and built a city on the ruins of Jerusalem, which he
called Ælia. His memory was so retentive, that he remembered every
incident of his life, and knew all the soldiers of his army by name.
He was the first emperor who wore a long beard, and this he did to
hide the warts on his face. His successors followed his example, not
through necessity but for ornament. Adrian went always bare-headed,
and in long marches generally travelled on foot. In the beginning
of his reign, he followed the virtues of his adopted father and
predecessor Trajan; he remitted all arrears due to his treasury for
16 years, and publicly burnt the account-books, that his word might
not be suspected. His peace with the Parthians proceeded from a wish
of punishing the other enemies of Rome, more than from the effects
of fear. The travels of Adrian were not for the display of imperial
pride, but to see whether justice was distributed impartially:
and public favour was courted by a condescending behaviour, and
the meaner familiarity of bathing with the common people. It is
said that he wished to enrol Christ among the gods of Rome; but
his apparent lenity towards the Christians was disproved, by the
erection of a statue to Jupiter on the spot where Jesus rose from
the dead, and one to Venus on mount Calvary. The weight of diseases
became intolerable. Adrian attempted to destroy himself; and when
prevented, he exclaimed, that the lives of others were in his hands,
but not his own. He wrote an account of his life, and published it
under the name of one of his domestics. He died of a dysentery at
Baiæ, July 10, A.D. 138, in the 72nd year of his age, after a reign
of 21 years. _Dio Cassius._――――An officer of Lucullus. _Plutarch_,
_Lucullus_.――――A rhetorician of Tyre in the age of Marcus Antoninus,
who wrote seven books of metamorphoses, besides other treatises now
lost.

=Adrimētum=, a town of Africa, on the Mediterranean, built by the
Phœnicians. _Sallust_, _Jugurthine War_.

=Aduataca=, a town of Belgic Gaul, now Tongres, on the Maese.

=Adŭla=, a mountain among the Rhætian Alps, near which the Rhine takes
its rise, now St. Gothard.

=Adulis=, a town of Upper Egypt.

=Adyrmachīdæ=, a maritime people of Africa, near Egypt. _Herodotus_,
bk. 4, ch. 168.

=Æa=, a huntress changed into an island of the same name by the gods,
to rescue her from the pursuit of her lover, the river Phasis. It
had a town called Æa, which was the capital of Colchis. _Flaccus_,
bk. 5, li. 420.――――A town of Thessaly,――――of Africa.――――A fountain
of Macedonia near Amydon.

=Æacēa=, games at Ægina, in honour of Æacus.

=Æacĭdas=, a king of Epirus, son of Neoptolemus and brother to
Olympias. He was expelled by his subjects for his continual wars
with Macedonia. He left a son, Pyrrhus, only two years old, whom
Chaucus king of Illyricum educated. _Pausanias_, bk. 1, ch. 11.

=Æacĭdes=, a patronymic of the descendants of Æacus, such as Achilles,
Peleus, Telamon, Pyrrhus, &c. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 1, li. 103, &c.

=Æăcus=, son of Jupiter by Ægina daughter of Asopus, was king of the
island of Œnopia, which he called by his mother’s name. A pestilence
having destroyed all his subjects, he entreated Jupiter to repeople
his kingdom; and according to his desire, all the ants which were in
an old oak were changed into men, and called by Æacus _myrmidons_,
from μυρμηξ, _an ant_. Æăcus married Endeis, by whom he had Telamon
and Peleus. He afterwards had Phocus by Psamathe, one of the Nereids.
He was a man of such integrity that the ancients have made him
one of the judges of hell, with Minos and Rhadamanthus. _Horace_,
bk. 2, ode 13; bk. 4, ode 8.――_Pausanias_, bk. 1, ch. 44; bk. 2,
ch. 29.――_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 7, fable 25; bk. 13, li. 25.
――_Propertius_, bk. 4, poem 12.――_Plutarch_, _de Consolatio ad
Apollonium_.――_Apollodorus_, bk. 3, ch. 12.――_Diodorus_, bk. 4.

=Ææ=, =Æa=, or =Ææa=, an island of Colchis, in the Phasis. _See:_ Æa.
_Apollonius_, bk. 3.

=Ææa=, a name given to Circe, because born at Ææ. _Virgil_, _Æneid_,
bk. 3, li. 386.

=Æantēum=, a city of Troas, where Ajax was buried. _Pliny_, bk. 5,
ch. 30.――――An island near the Thracian Chersonesus. _Pliny_, bk. 4,
ch. 12.

=Æantĭdes=, a tyrant of Lampsacus, intimate with Darius. He married
a daughter of Hippias tyrant of Athens. _Thucydides_, bk. 6, ch. 59.
――――One of the seven poets called Pleiades.

=Æantis=, an Athenian tribe. _Plutarch_, _Convivium Septem Sapientium_,
ch. 2.

=Æas=, a river of Epirus falling into the Ionian sea. In the
fable of Io, Ovid describes it as falling into the Peneus, and
meeting other rivers at Tempe. This some have supposed to be a
geographical mistake of the poet. _Lucan_, bk. 6, li. 361.――_Ovid_,
_Metamorphoses_, bk. 1, li. 580.

=Æātus=, son of Philip, and brother of Polyclea, was descended from
Hercules. An oracle having said that whoever of the two touched
the land after crossing the Achelous, should obtain the kingdom,
Polyclea pretended to be lame, and prevailed upon her brother to
carry her across on his shoulders. When they came near the opposite
side, Polyclea leaped ashore from her brother’s back, exclaiming
that the kingdom was her own. Æatus joined her in her exclamation,
and afterwards married her, and reigned conjointly with her. Their
son Thessalus gave his name to Thessaly. _Polyænus_, bk. 8.

=Æchmacŏras=, a son of Hercules by Phyllone daughter of Alcimedon.
When the father heard that his daughter had had a child, he exposed
her and the infant in the woods to wild beasts, where Hercules,
conducted by the noise of a magpie which imitated the cries of a
child, found and delivered them. _Pausanias_, bk. 8, ch. 12.

=Æchmis=, succeeded his father Polymnestor on the throne of Arcadia,
in the reign of Theopompus of Sparta. _Pausanias_, bk. 8, ch. 5.

=Ædepsum=, a town of Eubœa. _Pliny_, bk. 4, ch. 12.――_Strabo_, bk. 10.

=Ædessa=, or =Edessa=, a town near Pella. Caranus king of Macedonia
took it by following goats that sought shelter from the rain, and
called it from that circumstance (αἰγας, _capras_) Ægeas. It was the
burying place of the Macedonian kings; and an oracle had said, that
as long as the kings were buried there, so long would their kingdom
subsist. Alexander was buried in a different place; and on that
account some authors have said that the kingdom became extinct.
_Justin_, bk. 7, ch. 1.

=Ædicŭla Ridiculi=, a temple raised to the god of mirth, from the
following circumstance: after the battle of Cannæ, Hannibal marched
to Rome, whence he was driven back by the inclemency of the weather;
which caused so much joy in Rome, that the Romans raised a temple to
the god of mirth. This deity was worshipped at Sparta. _Plutarch_,
_Lycurgus_, _Agis_, & _Cleomenes_. Pausanias also mentions a θεος
γελωτος.

=Ædīles=, Roman magistrates, that had the care of all buildings, baths,
and aqueducts, and examined the weights and measures, that nothing
might be sold without its due value. There were three different
sorts: the Ædiles _Plebeii_, or _Minores_; the _Majores_ Ædiles, and
the Ædiles _Cereales_. The plebeian ediles were two, first created
with the tribunes; they presided over the more minute affairs of the
state, good order, and the reparation of the streets. They procured
all the provisions of the city, and executed the decrees of the
people. The Majores and Cereales had greater privileges, though they
at first shared in the labour of the plebeian ediles; they appeared
with more pomp, and were allowed to sit publicly in ivory chairs.
The office of an edile was honourable, and was always the primary
step to greater dignities in the republic. The ediles were chosen
from the plebeians for 127 years, till A.U.C. 338. _Varro_, _De
Lingua Latina_, bk. 4, ch. 14.――_Cicero_, _De Legibus_, bk. 3.

=Ædipsus=, a town in Eubœa, now Dipso, abounding in hot baths.

=Valerius Ædituus=, a Roman poet before the age of Cicero, successful
in amorous poetry and epigrams.

=Ædon=, daughter of Pandarus, married Zethus brother to Amphion,
by whom she had a son called Itylus. She was so jealous of her
sister Niobe, because she had more children than herself, that she
resolved to murder the elder, who was educated with Itylus. She by
mistake killed her own son, and was changed into a goldfinch as she
attempted to kill herself. _Homer_, _Odyssey_, bk. 19, li. 518.

=Ædui=, or =Hedui=, a powerful nation of Celtic Gaul, known for their
valour in the wars of Cæsar. When their country was invaded by this
celebrated general, they were at the head of a faction in opposition
to the Sequani and their partisans, and they had established their
superiority in frequent battles. To support their cause, however,
the Sequani obtained the assistance of Ariovistus king of Germany,
and soon defeated their opponents. The arrival of Cæsar changed the
face of affairs; the Ædui were restored to the sovereignty of the
country, and the artful Roman, by employing one faction against the
other, was enabled to conquer them all, though the insurrection of
Ambiorix, and that more powerfully supported by Vercingetorix, shook
for a while the dominion of Rome in Gaul, and checked the career of
the conqueror. _Cæsar_, _Gallic War_.

=Æēta=, or =Æētes=, king of Colchis, son of Sol and Perseis daughter
of Oceanus, was father of Medea, Absyrtus, and Chalciope, by Idya,
one of the Oceanides. He killed Phryxus son of Athamas, who had fled
to his court on a golden ram. This murder he committed to obtain
the fleece of the golden ram. The Argonauts came against Colchis,
and recovered the golden fleece by means of Medea, though it was
guarded by bulls that breathed fire, and by a venomous dragon. Their
expedition has been celebrated by all the ancient poets. _See:_
Jason, Medea, and Phryxus. _Apollodorus_, bk. 1, ch. 9.――_Ovid_,
_Metamorphoses_, bk. 7, fable 1, &c.――_Pausanias_, bk. 2, ch. 3.
――_Justin_, bk. 42, ch. 2.――_Flaccus_ & _Orpheus_, _Argonautica_.

=Æetias=, a patronymic given to Medea, as daughter of Æetes. _Ovid_,
_Metamorphoses_, bk. 7, li. 9.

=Æga=, an island of the Ægean sea, between Tenedos and Chios.

=Ægēas=, a town whose inhabitants are called Ægeates. _See:_ Ædessa.

=Ægæ=, a city of Macedonia, the same as Ædessa. Some writers make
them different, but Justin proves this to be erroneous, bk. 7,
ch. 1.――_Pliny_, bk. 4, ch. 10.――――A town of Eubœa, whence Neptune
is called Ægæus. _Strabo_, bk. 9.

=Ægææ=, a town and seaport of Cilicia. _Lucan_, bk. 3, li. 227.

=Ægæon=, one of Lycaon’s 50 sons. _Apollodorus_, bk. 3, ch. 8.――――The
son of Cœlus, or of Pontus and Terra, the same as Briareus. _See:_
Briareus. It is supposed that he was a notorious pirate, chiefly
residing at Æga, whence his name; and that the fable about his
100 hands arises from his having 100 men to manage his oars in his
piratical excursions. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 10, li. 565.――_Hesiod_,
_Theogony_, li. 149.――_Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 10, li. 404.――_Ovid_,
_Metamorphoses_, bk. 2, li. 10.

=Ægæum mare=, now Archipelago, part of the Mediterranean, dividing
Greece from Asia Minor. It is full of islands, some of which are
called Cyclades, others Sporades, &c. The word Ægæum is derived by
some from Ægæ, a town of Eubœa; or from the number of islands which
it contains, that appear above the sea, as αἰγες, goats; or from the
promontory Æga, or from Ægea, a queen of the Amazons; or from Ægeus,
who is supposed to have drowned himself there. _Pliny_, bk. 4,
ch. 11.――_Strabo_, bk. 7.

=Ægæus=, a surname of Neptune, from Ægæ in Eubœa. _Strabo_, bk. 9.
――――A river of Corcyra.――――A plain in Phocis.

=Ægaleos=, or =Ægaleum=, a mountain of Attica opposite Salamis, on
which Xerxes sat during the engagement of his fleet with the Grecian
ships in the adjacent sea. _Herodotus_, bk. 8, ch. 90.――_Thucydides_,
bk. 2, ch. 19.

=Ægan= [_Greek_ αἰγαν or αἰγαων], the Ægean sea. _Statius_, _Thebiad_,
bk. 5, li. 56.

=Ægas=, a place of Eubœa.――――Another near Daunia in Italy. _Polybius_,
bk. 3.

=Ægātes=, a promontory of Æolia.――――Three islands opposite Carthage,
called Aræ by _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 1, near which the Romans
under Catulus, in the first Punic war, defeated the Carthaginian
fleet under Hanno, 242 B.C. _Livy_, bk. 21, chs. 10 & 41; bk. 22,
ch. 54.――_Mela_, bk. 2, ch. 7.――_Silius Italicus_, bk. 1, li. 61.

=Ægēleon=, a town of Macedonia taken by king Attalus. _Livy_, bk. 31,
ch. 46.

=Ægēria.= _See:_ Egeria.

=Ægesta=, the daughter of Hippotes, and mother of Ægestus, called
Acestes. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 1, li. 554.――――An ancient town of
Sicily near mount Eryx, destroyed by Agathocles. It was sometimes
called Segesta and Acesta. _Diodorus_, bk. 10.

=Ægeus=, king of Athens, son of Pandion, being desirous of having
children, went to consult the oracle, and in his return, stopped
at the court of Pittheus king of Trœzene, who gave him his daughter
Æthra in marriage. He left her pregnant, and told her, that if she
had a son, to send him to Athens as soon as he could lift a stone
under which he had concealed his sword. By this sword he was to be
known to Ægeus, who did not wish to make any public discovery of
a son, for fear of his nephews, the Pallantides, who expected his
crown. Æthra became mother of Theseus, whom she accordingly sent to
Athens with his father’s sword. At the time, Ægeus lived with Medea
the divorced wife of Jason. When Theseus came to Athens, Medea
attempted to poison him; but he escaped, and upon showing Ægeus
the sword he wore, discovered himself to be his son. When Theseus
returned from Crete after the death of the Minotaur, he forgot,
agreeably to the engagement made with his father, to hoist up
white sails as a signal of his success: and Ægeus, at the sight of
black sails, concluding that his son was dead, threw himself from a
high rock into the sea; which, from him, as some suppose, has been
called the Ægean. Ægeus reigned 48 years, and died B.C. 1235. He is
supposed to have first introduced into Greece the worship of Venus
Urania, to render the goddess propitious to his wishes in having a
son. _See:_ Theseus, Minotaurus, and Medea. _Apollodorus_, bk. 1,
chs. 8, 9; bk. 3, ch. 15.――_Pausanias_, bk. 1, chs. 5, 22, 38; bk. 4,
ch. 2.――_Plutarch_, _Theseus_.――_Hyginus_, fables 37, 43, 79, & 173.

=Ægiăle=, one of Phaeton’s sisters changed into poplars, and their
tears into amber. They are called Heliades.――――A daughter of
Adrastus, by Amphitea daughter of Pronax. She married Diomedes, in
whose absence, during the Trojan war, she prostituted herself to
her servants, and chiefly to Cometes, whom the king had left master
of his house. At his return, Diomedes, being told of his wife’s
wantonness, went to settle in Daunia. Some say that Venus implanted
those vicious and lustful propensities in Ægiale, to revenge herself
on Diomedes, who had wounded her in the Trojan war. _Ovid_, _Ibis_,
li. 350.――_Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 5, li. 412.――_Apollodorus_, bk. 1,
ch. 9.――_Statius_, bk. 3, _Sylvæ_, poem 5, li. 48.

=Ægiălea=, an island near Peloponnesus, in the Cretan sea.――――Another
in the Ionian sea, near the Echinades. _Pliny_, bk. 4, ch. 12.――
_Herodotus_, bk. 4, ch. 107.――――The ancient name of Peloponnesus.
_Strabo_, bk. 12.――_Mela_, bk. 2, ch. 7.

=Ægialeus=, son of Adrastus by Amphitea or Demoanassa, was one of the
Epigoni, _i.e._ one of the sons of those generals who were killed in
the first Theban war. They went against the Thebans, who had refused
to give burial to their fathers, and were victorious. They all
returned home safe, except Ægialeus, who was killed. That expedition
is called the war of the Epigoni. _Pausanias_, bk. 1, chs. 43, 44;
bk. 2, ch. 20; bk. 9, ch. 5.――_Apollodorus_, bk. 1, ch. 9; bk. 3,
ch. 7.――――The same as Absyrtus brother to Medea. _Justin_, bk. 42,
ch. 3.――_Cicero_, _de Natura Deorum_, bk. 3.――_Diodorus_, bk. 4.

=Ægiălus=, son of Phoroneus, was entrusted with the kingdom of Achaia
by king Apis going to Egypt. Peloponnesus was called Ægialea from
him.――――A man who founded the kingdom of Sicyon, 2091 before the
christian era, and reigned 52 years.

=Ægialus=, a name given to part of Peloponnesus. _See:_ Achaia.
_Pausanias_, bk. 5, ch. 1; bk. 7, ch. 1.――――An inconsiderable town
of Pontus.――――A city of Asia Minor.――――A city of Thrace near the
river Strymon.――――A mountain of Galatia.――――Another in Æthiopia.

=Ægīdes=, a patronymic of Theseus. _Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 1, li. 265.

=Ægĭla=, a place in Laconia, where Aristomenes was taken prisoner by
a crowd of religious women whom he had attacked. _Pausanias_, bk. 4,
ch. 17.

=Ægilia=, an island between Crete and Peloponnesus.――――A place in
Eubœa. _Herodotus_, bk. 6, ch. 101.

=Ægimius=, an old man who lived, according to Anacreon, 200 years.
_Pliny_, bk. 7, ch. 48.――――A king of Doris, whom Hercules assisted
to conquer the Lapithæ. _Apollodorus_, bk. 2, ch. 7.

=Ægimōrus=, or =Ægimūrus=, an island near Libya, supposed by some to
be the same which Virgil mentions under the name of Aræ. _Pliny_,
bk. 5, ch. 7.

=Ægīna=, daughter of Asopus, had Æacus by Jupiter changed into a flame
of fire. She afterwards married Actor son of Myrmidon, by whom she
had some children, who conspired against their father. Some say that
she was changed by Jupiter into the island which bears her name.
_Pliny_, bk. 4, ch. 12.――_Strabo_, bk. 8.――_Mela_, bk. 2, ch. 7.――
_Apollodorus_, bk. 1, ch. 9; bk. 3, ch. 12.――_Pausanias_, bk. 2,
chs. 5 & 29.――――An island formerly called Œnopia, and now Engia, in
a part of the Ægean sea, called Saronicus Sinus, about 22 miles in
circumference. The inhabitants were once destroyed by a pestilence,
and the country was repeopled by ants changed into men by Jupiter,
at the prayer of king Æacus. They were once a very powerful nation
by sea, but they cowardly gave themselves up to Darius when he
demanded submission from all the Greeks. The Athenians under
Pericles made war against them; and after taking 70 of their ships
in a naval battle, they expelled them from Ægina. The fugitives
settled in Peloponnesus, and after the ruin of Athens by Lysander,
they returned to their country, but never after rose to their former
power or consequence. _Herodotus_, bks. 5, 6, & 7.――_Pausanias_,
bk. 2, ch. 29; bk. 8, ch. 44.――_Strabo_, bk. 8.――_Ælian_, _Varia
Historia_, bk. 12, ch. 10.

=Æginēta Paulus=, a physician born in Ægina. He flourished in the 3rd,
or, according to others, the 7th century, and first deserved to be
called man-midwife. He wrote _De Re Medicâ_, in seven books.

=Ægīnētes=, a king of Arcadia, in whose age Lycurgus instituted his
famous laws. _Pausanias_, bk. 1, ch. 5.

=Ægiŏchus=, a surname of Jupiter, from his being brought up by the
goat Amalthæa, and using her skin instead of a shield, in the war of
the Titans. _Diodorus_, bk. 5.

=Ægĭpan=, a name of Pan, because he had goat’s feet.

=Ægīra=, a town between Ætolia and Peloponnesus.――――A town of Achaia.
_Pausanias_, bk. 7, ch. 26.――_Herodotus_, bk. 1, ch. 145.

=Ægiroessa=, a town of Ætolia. _Herodotus_, bk. 1, ch. 149.

=Ægis=, the shield of Jupiter, ἀπο της αἰγος, _a goat’s skin_. This
was the goat Amalthæa, with whose skin he covered his shield. The
goat was placed among the constellations. Jupiter gave this shield
to Pallas, who placed upon it Medusa’s head, which turned into
stones all those who fixed their eyes upon it. _Virgil_, _Æneid_,
bk. 8, lis. 352 & 435.

=Ægisthus=, king of Argos, was son of Thyestes by his daughter Pelopea.
Thyestes being at variance with his brother Atreus, was told by
the oracle that his wrongs could be revenged only by a son born of
himself and his daughter. To avoid such an incest, Pelopea had been
consecrated to the service of Minerva by her father, who some time
after met her in a wood, and ravished her, without knowing who she
was. Pelopea kept the sword of her ravisher, and finding it to be
her father’s, exposed the child she had brought forth. The child
was preserved, and when grown up presented with the sword of his
mother’s ravisher. Pelopea soon after this melancholy adventure had
married her uncle Atreus, who received into his house her natural
son. As Thyestes had debauched the first wife of Atreus, Atreus sent
Ægisthus to put him to death; but Thyestes, knowing the assassin’s
sword, discovered that he was his own son, and fully to revenge his
wrongs, sent him back to murder Atreus. After this murder Thyestes
ascended the throne, and banished Agamemnon and Menelaus, the
sons, or as others say, the grandsons of Atreus. These children
fled to Polyphidus of Sicyon; but as he dreaded the power of
their persecutors, he permitted the protection of them to Œneus
king of Ætolia. By their marriage with the daughters of Tyndarus
king of Sparta, they were empowered to recover the kingdom of
Argos, to which Agamemnon succeeded, while Menelaus reigned in his
father-in-law’s place. Ægisthus had been reconciled to the sons of
Atreus; and when they went to the Trojan war, he was left guardian
of Agamemnon’s kingdom, and of his wife Clytemnestra. Ægisthus
fell in love with Clytemnestra, and lived with her. On Agamemnon’s
return, these two adulterers murdered him, and, by a public marriage,
strengthened themselves on the throne of Argos. Orestes, Agamemnon’s
son, would have shared his father’s fate, had not his sister Electra
privately sent him to his uncle Strophius king of Phocis, where he
contracted the most intimate friendship with his cousin Pylades.
Some time after, Orestes came to Mycenæ the residence of Ægisthus,
and resolved to punish the murderers of his father, in conjunction
with Electra, who lived in disguise in the tyrant’s family. To
effect this more effectually, Electra publicly declared that her
brother Orestes was dead; upon which Ægisthus and Clytemnestra went
to the temple of Apollo to return thanks to the god for his death.
Orestes, who had secretly concealed himself in the temple, attacked
them, and put them both to death, after a reign of seven years.
They were buried without the city walls. _See:_ Agamemnon, Thyestes,
Orestes, Clytemnestra, Pylades, and Electra. _Ovid_, _de Remedia
Amoris_, li. 161; _Tristia_, bk. 2, li. 396.――_Hyginus_, fables 87
& 88.――_Ælian_, _Varia Historia_, bk. 12, ch. 42.――_Pausanias_,
bk. 2, ch. 16, &c.――_Sophocles_, _Electra_.――_Aeschylus_ & _Seneca_,
_Agamemnon_.――_Homer_, _Odyssey_, bks. 3 & 11.――_Lactantius
[Placidus]_ on [Statius’] _Thebaid_, bk. 1, li. 684.――――Pompey used
to call Julius Cæsar, Ægisthus, on account of his adultery with
his wife Mutia, whom he repudiated after she had borne him three
children. _Suetonius_, _Julius Cæsar_, ch. 50.

=Ægĭtum=, a town of Æolia, on a mountain eight miles from the sea.
_Thucydides_. Bk. 3, ch. 97.

=Ægium=, a town on the Corinthian isthmus, where Jupiter was said to
have been fed by a goat, whence the name. _Strabo_, bk. 8.――_Livy_,
bk. 28, ch. 7.

=Ægle=, the youngest daughter of Æsculapius and Lampetie.――――A
nymph, daughter of Sol and Neæra. _Virgil_, _Eclogues_, poem 6, li.
20.――――A nymph, daughter of Panopeus, beloved by Theseus after he
had left Ariadne. _Plutarch_, _Theseus_.――――One of the Hesperides.
――――One of the Graces.――――A prostitute. _Martial_, bk. 1, ltr. 95.

=Ægles=, a Samian wrestler, born dumb. Seeing some unlawful measures
pursued in a contest, he broke the string which held his tongue,
through the desire of speaking, and ever after spoke with ease.
_Valerius Maximus_, bk. 1, ch. 8.

=Æglētes=, a surname of Apollo.

=Æglŏge=, a nurse of Nero. _Suetonius_, _Nero_, ch. 50.

=Ægobolus=, a surname of Bacchus at Potnia, in Bœotia.

=Ægocĕros=, or =Capricornus=, an animal into which Pan transformed
himself when flying before Typhon in the war with the giants.
Jupiter made him a constellation. _Lucretius_, bk. 1, li. 613.

=Ægon=, a shepherd. _Virgil_, _Eclogues_.――_Theocritus_, _Idylls_.
――――A promontory of Lemnos.――――A name of the Ægean sea. _Flaccus_,
bk. 1, li. 628.――――A boxer of Zacynthus, who dragged a large bull
by the heel from a mountain into the city. _Theocritus_, _Idylls_,
poem 4.

=Ægospotămos=, i.e. _the goat’s river_, a town in the Thracian
Chersonesus, with a river of the same name, where the Athenian fleet,
consisting of 180 ships, was defeated by Lysander, on the 13th Dec.,
B.C. 405, in the last year of the Peloponnesian war. _Mela_, bk. 2,
ch. 2.――_Pliny_, bk. 2, ch. 58.――_Pausanias_, bk. 3, chs. 8 & 11.

=Ægosāgæ=, an Asiatic nation under Attalus, with whom he conquered
Asia, and to whom he gave a settlement near the Hellespont.
_Polybius_, bk. 5.

=Ægus= and =Roscillus=, two brothers amongst the Allobroges, who
deserted from Cæsar to Pompey. _Cæsar_, _Civil War_, bk. 3, ch. 59.

=Ægūsa=, the middle island of the Ægates, near Sicily.

=Ægy=, a town near Sparta, destroyed because its inhabitants were
suspected by the Spartans of favouring the Arcadians. _Pausanias_,
bk. 3, ch. 2.

=Ægypānes=, a nation in the middle of Africa, whose body is human
above the waist, and that of a goat below. _Mela_, bk. 1, chs. 4 & 8.

=Ægypsus=, a town of the Getæ, near the Danube. _Ovid_, _ex Ponto_,
bk. 1, ltr. 8; bk. 4, ltr. 7.

=Ægypta=, a freedman of Cicero. _Letters to Atticus_, bk. 8.

=Ægyptii=, the inhabitants of Egypt. _See:_ Ægyptus.

=Ægyptium mare=, that part of the Mediterranean sea which is on the
coast of Egypt.

=Ægyptus=, son of Belus, and brother to Danaus, gave his 50 sons
in marriage to the 50 daughters of his brother. Danaus, who had
established himself at Argos, and was jealous of his brother, who,
by following him from Egypt into Greece, seemed envious of his
prosperity, obliged all his daughters to murder their husbands the
first night of their nuptials. This was executed; but Hypermnestra
alone spared her husband Lynceus. Even Ægyptus was killed by his
niece Polyxena. _See:_ Danaus, Danaides, Lynceus. Ægyptus was
king, after his father, of a part of Africa, which from him has
been called Ægyptus. _Hyginus_, fables 168, 170.――_Apollodorus_,
bk. 2, ch. 1.――_Ovid_, _Heroides_, poem 14.――_Pausanias_, bk. 7,
ch. 21.――――An extensive country of Africa, watered by the Nile,
bounded on the east by Arabia, and on the west by Libya. Its name
is derived from Ægyptus brother to Danaus. Its extent, according
to modern calculation, is 180 leagues from north to south, and
it measures 120 leagues on the shore of the Mediterranean; but
at the distance of 50 leagues from the sea, it diminishes so much
as scarce to measure seven or eight leagues between the mountains
on the east and west. It is divided into lower, which lies near
the Mediterranean, and upper, which is towards the south. Upper
Egypt was famous for the town of Thebes, but Lower Egypt was the
most peopled, and contained the Delta, a number of large islands,
which, from their form, have been called after the fourth letter
of the Greek alphabet. This country has been the mother of arts
and sciences. The greatest part of Lower Egypt has been formed by
the mud and sand carried down by the Nile. The Egyptians reckoned
themselves the most ancient nation in the universe [_See:_
Psammetichus], but some authors make them of Æthiopian origin. They
were remarkable for their superstition; they paid as much honour to
the cat, the crocodile, the bull, and even to onions, as to Isis.
Rain never or seldom falls in this country; the fertility of the
soil originates in the yearly inundations of the Nile, which rises
about 25 feet above the surface of the earth, and exhibits a large
plain of waters, in which are scattered here and there the towns and
villages, as the Cyclades in the Ægean sea. The air is not wholesome,
but the population is great, and the cattle very prolific. It is
said that Egypt once contained 20,000 cities, the most remarkable of
which were Thebes, Memphis, Alexandria, Pelusium, Coptos, Arsinoe,
&c. It was governed by kings who have immortalized themselves by
the pyramids they have raised and the canals they have opened. The
priests traced the existence of the country for many thousand years,
and fondly imagined that the gods were their first sovereigns, and
that their monarchy had lasted 11,340 years according to Herodotus.
According to the calculation of Constantine Manasses, the kingdom of
Egypt lasted 1663 years from its beginning under Misraim the son of
Ham, 2188 B.C., to the conquest of Cambyses, 525 B.C. Egypt revolted
afterwards from the Persian power, B.C. 414, and Amyrtæus then
became king. After him succeeded Psammetichus, whose reign began
408 B.C.: Nephereus, 396: Acoris, 389: Psammuthis, 376: Nepherites,
4 months, and Nectanebis, 375: Tachos, or Teos, 363: Nectanebus,
361. It was conquered by Ochus, 350 B. C.; and after the conquest
of Persia by Alexander, Ptolemy refounded the kingdom, and began to
reign 323 B.C.: Philadelphus, 284: Evergetes, 246: Philopater, 221:
Epiphanes, 204: Philomater, 180 and 169, conjointly with Evergetes
II. or Physcon, for six years: Evergetes II. 145: Lathurus Soter,
and his mother Cleopatra, 116: Alexander of Cyprus, and Cleopatra,
106: Lathurus Soter restored, 88: Cleopatra II. six months, with
Alexander II. 19 days, 81: Ptolemy, surnamed Alexander III. 80:
Dionysius, surnamed Auletes, 65: Dionysius II. with Cleopatra III.
51: Cleopatra III. with young Ptolemy, 46, and in 30 B.C. it was
reduced by Augustus into a Roman province. The history of Egypt,
therefore, can be divided into three epochas: the first beginning
with the foundation of the empire, to the conquest of Cambyses; the
second ends at the death of Alexander; and the third comprehends
the reign of the Ptolemies, and ends at the death of Cleopatra,
in the age of Augustus.――_Justin_, bk. 1.――_Hirtius_, _Alexandrine
War_, ch. 24.――_Macrobius_, _Somnium Scipionis_, bk. 1, chs. 19 &
21.――_Herodian_, bk. 4, ch. 9.――_Strabo_, bk. 17.――_Herodotus_, bks.
2, 3, & 7.――_Theocritus_, _Idylls_, poem 17, li. 79.――_Polybius_,
bk. 15.――_Diodorus_, bk. 1.――_Pliny_, bk. 5, ch. 1; bk. 14, ch. 7.――
_Marcellinus_, bk. 22, ch. 40.――_Justin_, bk. 1.――_Cornelius Nepos_,
_Pausanias_, bk. 3; _Iphicrates_; _Datames_, ch. 3.――_Curtius_,
bk. 4, ch. 1.――_Juvenal_, satire 15, li. 175.――_Pausanias_, bk. 1,
ch. 14.――_Plutarch_, _de Facie in Orbe Lunæ_; _de Iside et Osiride_;
_Ptolemy_, _Alexander_.――_Mela_, bk. 1, ch. 9.――_Apollodorus_, bk. 2,
chs. 1 & 5.――――A minister of Mausolus king of Caria. _Polyænus_,
bk. 6.――――The ancient name of the Nile. _Homer_, _Odyssey_, ♦bk. 14,
li. 258.――_Pausanias_, bk. 9, ch. 40.

♦ ‘ξ’ replaced with ‘bk. 14’

=Ægys.= _See:_ Ægy.

=Ægysthus.= _See:_ Ægisthus.

=Ælia=, the wife of Sylla. _Plutarch_, _Sulla_.――――The name of some
towns built or repaired by the emperor Adrian.

=Ælia lex=, enacted by Ælius Tubero the tribune, A.U.C. 559, to
send two colonies into the country of the Brutii. _Livy_, bk. 34,
ch. 53.――――Another A.U.C. 568, ordaining that, in public affairs,
the augurs should observe the appearance of the sky, and the
magistrates be empowered to postpone the business.――――Another called
Ælia Sexta, by _Ælius Sextus_, A.U.C. 756, which enacted, that all
slaves who bore any marks of punishment received from their masters,
or who had been imprisoned, should be set at liberty, but not rank
as Roman citizens.

=Ælia Petina=, of the family of Tubero, married Claudius Cæsar, by
whom she had a son. The emperor divorced her to marry Messalina.
_Suetonius_, _Claudius_, ch. 26.

=Æliānus Claudus=, a Roman sophist of Præneste, in the reign of Adrian.
He first taught rhetoric at Rome; but being disgusted with his
profession, he became author, and published treatises on animals in
17 books, on various history in 14 books, &c., in Greek, a language
which he preferred to Latin. In his writings he shows himself very
fond of the marvellous, and relates many stories which are often
devoid of elegance and purity of style; though Philostratus has
commended his language as superior to what could be expected from
a person who was neither born nor educated in Greece. Ælian died in
the 60th year of his age, A.D. 140. The best editions of his works
collected together are that of Conrad Gesner, folio, printed Tigurii,
1556, though now seldom to be met with, and that of Kuenius, 2 vols.,
8vo, Lipscomb, 1780. Some attribute the treatise on the tactics of
the Greeks to another Ælian.

=Ælius= and =Ælia=, a family in Rome, so poor that 16 lived in a small
house, and were maintained by the produce of a little field. Their
poverty continued till Paulus conquered Perseus king of Macedonia,
and gave his son-in-law Æl. Tubero five pounds of gold from the
booty. _Valerius Maximus_, bk. 4, ch. 4.

=Ælius Adriānus=, an African, grandfather to the emperor
Adrian.――――Gallus, a Roman knight, the first who invaded Arabia
Felix. He was very intimate with Strabo the geographer, and sailed
on the Nile with him to take a view of the country. _Pliny_, bk. 6,
ch. 28.――――Publius, one of the first questors chosen from the
plebeians at Rome. _Livy_, bk. 4, ch. 54.――――Quintus Ælius Pætus,
son of Sextus or Publius. As he sat in the senate house, a
woodpecker perched on his head; upon which a soothsayer exclaimed,
that if he preserved the bird, his house would flourish, and Rome
decay; and if he killed it, the contrary must happen. Hearing this,
Ælius, in the presence of the senate, bit off the head of the bird.
All the youths of his family were killed at Cannæ, and the Roman
arms were soon attended with success. _Valerius Maximus_, bk. 5,
ch. 6.――――Saturninus, a satirist, thrown down from the Tarpeian rock
for writing verses against Tiberius.――――Sejānus. _See:_ Sejanus.
――――Sextus Catus, censor with Marcus Cethegus. He separated the
senators from the people in the public spectacles. During his
consulship, the ambassadors of the Ætolians found him feasting in
earthen dishes, and offered him silver vessels, which he refused,
satisfied with the earthen cups, &c., which, for his virtues, he had
received from his father-in-law, Lucius Paulus, after the conquest
of Macedonia. _Pliny_, bk. 33, ch. 11.――_Cicero_, _On Oratory_,
bk. 1.――――Spartiānus, wrote the lives of the emperors Adrian,
Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius. He flourished A.D. 240.
――――Tubero, grandson of Lucius Paulus, was austere in his morals,
and a formidable enemy to the Gracchi. His grandson was accused
before Cæsar, and ably defended by Cicero. _Cicero_, _Letters to
Brutus_.――――Verus Cæsar, the name of Lucius Ceionius Commodus Verus,
after Adrian had adopted him. He was made pretor and consul by the
emperor, who was soon convinced of his incapacity in the discharge
of public duty. He killed himself by drinking an antidote; and
Antoninus, surnamed Pius, was adopted in his place. Ælius was father
to Antoninus Verus, whom Pius adopted.――――A physician mentioned by
Galen.――――Lucius Gallus, a lawyer, who wrote 12 books concerning the
signification of all law words.――――Sextus Pætus, a lawyer, consul at
Rome, A.U.C. 566. He is greatly commended by Cicero for his learning,
and called _cordatus homo_ by Ennius for his knowledge of law.
_Cicero_, _On Oratory_, bk. 1, ch. 48; _Brutus_, ch. 20.――――Stilo,
a native of Lanuvium, master to Marcus Terentius Varro, and author
of some treatises.――――Lamia. Lamia.

=Aello=, one of the Harpies (from ἑλουσα ἀλλο, _alienum tollens_,
or ἀελλα, _tempestas_). _Flaccus_, bk. 4, li. 450.――_Hesiod_,
_Theogony_, li. 267.――_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 13, li. 710.
――――_See:_ One of Actæon’s dogs. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 3,
li. 220.

=Ælurus= (_a cat_), a deity worshipped by the Egyptians; and after
death embalmed and buried in the city of Bubastis. _Herodotus_,
bk. 2, ch. 66, &c.――_Diodorus_, bk. 1.――_Cicero_, _de Natura Deorum_,
bk. 1.――_Aulus Gellius_, bk. 20, ch. 7.――_Plutarch_, _Pyrrhus_.

=Æmathion= and =Æmathia=. _See:_ Emathion.

=Æmilia lex=, was enacted by the dictator Æmilius, A.U.C. 309. It
ordained that the censorship, which was before quinquennial, should
be limited to one year and a half. _Livy_, bk. 9, ch. 33.――――Another
in the second consulship of Æmilius Mamercus, A.U.C. 391. It gave
power to the eldest pretor to drive a nail in the capitol on the
ides of September. _Livy_, bk. 7, ch. 3.――The driving of a nail
was a superstitious ceremony, by which the Romans supposed that a
pestilence could be stopped, or an impending calamity averted.

=Æmiliānus C. Julius=, a native of Mauritania, proclaimed emperor
after the death of Decius. He marched against Gallus and Valerian,
but was informed that they had been murdered by their own troops.
He soon after shared their fate.――――One of the thirty tyrants who
rebelled in the reign of Gallienus.

=Æmilius.= _See:_ Æmylius.

=Æmnestus=, tyrant of Enna, was deposed by Dionysius the elder.
_Diodorus_, bk. 14.

=Æmon.= _See:_ Hæmon.