Chapter VI: The 19th Century (9)

In physics Epicurus founded upon Democritus, and his chief object was to abolish the dualism between mind and matter which is so essential a point in the systems of Plato and Aristotle. All that exists, says Epicurus, is corporeal ([Greek: to pan esti soma]); the intangible is non-existent, or empty space. If a thing exists it must be felt, and to be felt it must exert resistance. But not all things are intangible which our senses are not subtle enough to detect. We must indeed accept our feelings; but we must also believe much which is not directly testified by sensation, if only it serves to explain phenomena and does not contravene our sensations. The fundamental postulates of Epicureanism are atoms and the void ([Greek: atoma kai kenon]). Space is infinite, and there is an illimitable multitude of indestructible, indivisible and absolutely compact atoms in perpetual motion in this illimitable space. These atoms, differing only in size, figure and weight, are perpetually moving with equal velocities, but at a rate far surpassing our conceptions; as they move, they are for ever giving rise to new worlds; and these worlds are perpetually tending towards dissolution, and towards a fresh series of creations. This universe of ours is only one section out of the innumerable worlds in infinite space; other worlds may present systems very different from that of our own. The soul of man is only a finer species of body, spread throughout the whole aggregation which we term his bodily frame. Like a warm breath, it pervades the human structure and works with it; nor could it act as it does in perception unless it were corporeal. The various processes of sense, notably vision, are explained on the principles of materialism. From the surfaces of all objects there are continually flowing thin filmy images exactly copying the solid body whence they originate; and these images by direct impact on the organism produce (we need not care to ask how) the phenomena of vision. Epicurus in this way explains vision by substituting for the apparent action of a body at a distance a direct contact of image and organ. But without following the explanation into the details in which it revels, it may be enough to say that the whole hypothesis is but an attempt to exclude the occult conception of action at a distance, and substitute a familiar phenomenon.

_The Gods._--This aspect of the Epicurean physics becomes clearer when we look at his mode of rendering particular phenomena intelligible. His purpose is to eliminate the common idea of divine interference. That there are gods Epicurus never dreams of denying. But these gods have not on their shoulders the burden of upholding and governing the world. They are themselves the products of the order of nature--a higher species than humanity, but not the rulers of man, neither the makers nor the upholders of the world. Man should worship them, but his worship is the reverence due to the ideals of perfect blessedness; it ought not to be inspired either by hope or by fear. To prevent all reference of the more potent phenomena of nature to divine action Epicurus rationalizes the processes of the cosmos. He imagines all possible plans or hypotheses, not actually contradicted by our experience of familiar events, which will represent in an intelligible way the processes of astronomy and meteorology. When two or more modes of accounting for a phenomena are equally admissible as not directly contradicted by known phenomena, it seems to Epicurus almost a return to the old mythological habit of mind when a savant asserts that the real cause is one and only one. "Thunder," he says, "may be explained in many other ways; only let us have no myths of divine action. To assign only a single cause for these phenomena, when the facts familiar to us suggest several, is insane, and is just the absurd conduct to be expected from people who dabble in the vanities of astronomy." We need not be too curious to inquire how these celestial phenomena actually do come about; we can learn how they might have been produced, and to go further is to trench on ground beyond the limits of human knowledge.

Thus, if Epicurus objects to the doctrine of mythology, he objects no less to the doctrine of an inevitable fate, a necessary order of things unchangeable and supreme over the human will. The Stoic doctrine of Fatalism seemed to Epicurus no less deadly a foe of man's true welfare than popular superstition. Even in the movement of the atoms he introduces a sudden change of direction, which is supposed to render their aggregation easier, and to break the even law of destiny. So, in the sphere of human action, Epicurus would allow of no absolutely controlling necessity. In fact, it is only when we assume for man this independence of the gods and of fatality that the Epicurean theory of life becomes possible. It assumes that man can, like the gods, withdraw himself out of reach of all external influences, and thus, as a sage, "live like a god among men, seeing that the man is in no wise like a mortal creature who lives in undying blessedness." And this present life is the only one. With one consent Epicureanism preaches that the death of the body is the end of everything for man, and hence the other world has lost all its terrors as well as all its hopes.

The attitude of Epicurus in this whole matter is antagonistic to science. The idea of a systematic enchainment of phenomena, in which each is conditioned by every other, and none can be taken in isolation and explained apart from the rest, was foreign to his mind. So little was the scientific conception of the solar system familiar to Epicurus that he could reproach the astronomers, because their account of an eclipse represented things otherwise than as they appear to the senses, and could declare that the sun and stars were just as large as they seemed to us.

_Ethics._--The moral philosophy of Epicurus is a qualified hedonism, the heir of the Cyrenaic doctrine that pleasure is the good thing in life. Neither sect, it may be added, advocated sensuality pure and unfeigned--the Epicurean least of all. By pleasure Epicurus meant both more and less than the Cyrenaics. To the Cyrenaics pleasure was of moments; to Epicurus it extended as a habit of mind through life. To the Cyrenaics pleasure was something active and positive; to Epicurus it was rather negative--tranquillity more than vigorous enjoyment. The test of true pleasure, according to Epicurus, is the removal and absorption of all that gives pain; it implies freedom from pain of body and from trouble of mind. The happiness of the Epicurean was, it might almost seem, a grave and solemn pleasure--a quiet unobtrusive ease of heart, but not exuberance and excitement. The sage of Epicureanism is a rational and reflective seeker for happiness, who balances the claims of each pleasure against the evils that may possibly ensue, and treads the path of enjoyment cautiously. Prudence is, therefore, the only real guide to happiness; it is thus the chief excellence, and the foundation of all the virtues. It is, in fact, says Epicurus--in language which contrasts strongly with that of Aristotle on the same topic--"a more precious power than philosophy." The reason or intellect is introduced to balance possible pleasures and pains, and to construct a scheme in which pleasures are the materials of a happy life. Feeling, which Epicurus declared to be the means of determining what is good, is subordinated to a reason which adjudicates between competing pleasures with the view of securing tranquillity of mind and body. "We cannot live pleasantly without living wisely and nobly and righteously." Virtue is at least a means of happiness, though apart from that it is no good in itself, any more than mere sensual enjoyments, which are good only because they may sometimes serve to secure health of body and tranquillity of mind. (See further ETHICS.)

_The Epicurean School._--Even in the lifetime of Epicurus we hear of the vast numbers of his friends, not merely in Greece, but in Asia and Egypt. The crowds of Epicureans were a standing enigma to the adherents of less popular sects. Cicero pondered over the fact; Arcesilaus explained the secession to the Epicurean camp, compared with the fact that no Epicurean was ever known to have abandoned his school, by saying that, though it was possible for a man to be turned into a eunuch, no eunuch could ever become a man. But the phenomenon was not obscure. The doctrine has many truths, and is attractive to many in virtue of its simplicity and its immediate relation to life. The dogmas of Epicurus became to his followers a creed embodying the truths on which salvation depended; and they passed on from one generation to another with scarcely a change or addition. The immediate disciples of Epicurus have been already mentioned, with the exception of Colotes of Lampsacus, a great favourite of Epicurus, who wrote a work arguing "that it was impossible even to live according to the doctrines of the other philosophers." In the 2nd and 1st centuries B.C. Apollodorus, nicknamed [Greek: kepotyrannos] ("Lord of the Garden"), and Zeno of Sidon (who describes Socrates as "the Attic buffoon": Cic. _De nat. deor._ i, 21, 33, 34) taught at Athens. About 150 B.C. Epicureanism established itself at Rome. Beginning with C. Amafinius or Amafanius (Cic. _Acad._ i. 2, _Tusc._ iv. 3), we find the names of Phaedrus (who became scholarch at Athens c. 70 B.C.) and Philodemus (originally of Gadara in Palestine) as distinguished Epicureans in the time of Cicero. But the greatest of its Roman names was Lucretius, whose _De rerum natura_ embodies the main teaching of Epicurus with great exactness, and with a beauty which the subject seemed scarcely to allow. Lucretius is a proof, if any were needed, that Epicureanism is compatible with nobility of soul. In the 1st century of the Christian era, the nature of the time, with its active political struggles, naturally called Stoicism more into the foreground, yet Seneca, though nominally a Stoic, draws nearly all his suavity and much of his paternal wisdom from the writings of Epicurus. The position of Epicureanism as a recognized school in the 2nd century is best seen in the fact that it was one of the four schools (the others were the Stoic, Platonist, and Peripatetic) which were placed on a footing of equal endowment when Marcus Aurelius founded chairs of philosophy at Athens. The evidence of Diogenes proves that it still subsisted as a school a century later, but its spirit lasted longer than its formal organization as a school. A great deal of the best of the Renaissance was founded on Epicureanism, and in more recent times a great number of prominent thinkers have been Epicureans in a greater or less degree. Among these may be mentioned Pierre Gassendi, who revived and codified the doctrine in the 17th century; Moliere, the comte de Gramont, Rousseau, Fontenelle and Voltaire. All those whose ethical theory is in any degree hedonistic are to some extent the intellectual descendants of Epicurus (see HEDONISM).

_Works._--Epicurus was a voluminous writer ([Greek: polygraphotatos], Diog. Laert. x. 26)--the author, it is said, of about 300 works. He had a style and vocabulary of his own. His chief aim in writing was plainness and intelligibility, but his want of order and logical precision thwarted his purpose. He pretended to have read little, and to be the original architect of his own system, and the claim was no doubt on the whole true. But he had read Democritus, and, it is said, Anaxagoras and Archelaus. His works, we learn, were full of repetition, and critics speak of vulgarities of language and faults of style. None the less his writings were committed to memory and remained the text-books of Epicureanism to the last. His chief work was a treatise on nature ([Greek: Peri physeos]), in thirty-seven books, of which fragments from about nine books have been found in the rolls discovered at Herculaneum, along with considerable treatises by several of his followers, and most notably Philodemus. An epitome of his doctrine is contained in three letters preserved by Diogenes.

AUTHORITIES.--The chief ancient accounts of Epicurus are in the tenth
book of Diogenes Laertius, in Lucretius, and in several treatises of
Cicero and Plutarch. Gassendi, in his _De vita, moribus, et doctrina
Epicuri_ (Lyons, 1647), and his _Syntagma philosophiae Epicuri_,
systematized the doctrine. The _Volumina Herculanensia_ (1st and 2nd
series) contain fragments of treatises by Epicurus and members of his
school. See also H. Usener, _Epicurea_ (Leipzig, 1887) and _Epicuri
recogniti specimen_ (Bonn, 1880); _Epicuri physica et meteorologica_
(ed. J.G. Schneider, Leipzig, 1813); Th. Gomperz in his _Herkulanische
Studien_, and in contributions to the Vienna Academy
(_Monatsberichte_), has tried to evolve from the fragments more
approximation to modern empiricism than they seem to contain. For
criticism see W. Wallace, _Epicureanism_ (London, 1880), and
_Epicurus; A Lecture_ (London, 1896); G. Trezza, _Epicuro e
l'Epicureismo_ (Florence, 1877; ed. Milan, 1885); E. Zeller,
_Philosophy of the Stoics, Epicureans and Sceptics_ (Eng. trans. O.J.
Reichel, 1870; ed. 1880); Sir James Mackintosh, _On the Progress of
Ethical Philosophy_ (4th ed.); J. Watson, _Hedonistic Theories_
(Glasgow, 1895); J. Kreibig, _Epicurus_ (Vienna, 1886); A.
Goedeckemeyer, _Epikurs Verhaltnis zu Demokrit in der Naturphil._
(Strassburg, 1897); Paul von Gizycki, _Uber das Leben und die
Moralphilos. des Epikur (Halle, 1879), and Einleitende Bemerkungen zu
einer Untersuchung uber den Werth der Naturphilos. des Epikur_
(Berlin, 1884); P. Cassel, _Epikur der Philosoph_ (Berlin, 1892); M.
Guyau, _La Morale d'Epicure et ses rapports avec les doctrines
contemporaines_ (Paris, 1878; revised and enlarged, 1881); F. Picavet,
_De Epicuro novae religionis sectatore_ (Paris, 1889); H. Sidgwick,
_History of Ethics_ (5th ed., 1902). (W. W.; X.)

EPICYCLE (Gr. [Greek: epi], upon, and [Greek: kyklos], circle), in ancient astronomy, a small circle the centre of which describes a larger one. It was especially used to represent geometrically the periodic apparent retrograde motion of the outer planets, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, which we now know to be due to the annual revolution of the earth around the sun, but which in the Ptolemaic astronomy were taken to be real.

EPICYCLOID, the curve traced out by a point on the circumference of a circle rolling externally on another circle. If the moving circle rolls internally on the fixed circle, a point on the circumference describes a "hypocycloid" (from [Greek: hypo], under). The locus of any other carried point is an "epitrochoid" when the circle rolls externally, and a "hypotrochoid" when the circle rolls internally. The epicycloid was so named by Ole Romer in 1674, who also demonstrated that cog-wheels having epicycloidal teeth revolved with minimum friction (see MECHANICS: _Applied_); this was also proved by Girard Desargues, Philippe de la Hire and Charles Stephen Louis Camus. Epicycloids also received attention at the hands of Edmund Halley, Sir Isaac Newton and others; spherical epicycloids, in which the moving circle is inclined at a constant angle to the plane of the fixed circle, were studied by the Bernoullis, Pierre Louis M. de Maupertuis, Francois Nicole, Alexis Claude Clairault and others.

In the annexed figure, there are shown various examples of the curves
named above, when the radii of the rolling and fixed circles are in
the ratio of 1 to 3. Since the circumference of a circle is
proportional to its radius, it follows that if the ratio of the radii
be commensurable, the curve will consist of a finite number of cusps,
and ultimately return into itself. In the particular case when the
radii are in the ratio of 1 to 3 the epicycloid (curve a) will
consist of three cusps external to the circle and placed at equal
distances along its circumference. Similarly, the corresponding
epitrochoids will exhibit three loops or nodes (curve b), or assume
the form shown in the curve c. It is interesting to compare the
forms of these curves with the three forms of the cycloid (q.v.). The
hypocycloid derived from the same circles is shown as curve d, and
is seen to consist of three cusps arranged internally to the fixed
circle; the corresponding hypotrochoid consists of a three-foil and is
shown in curve e. The epicycloid shown is termed the "three-cusped
epicycloid" or the "epicycloid of Cremona."

The cartesian equation to the epicycloid assumes the form
_____
x = (a + b) cos[theta] - b cos(a + b / b)[theta],
_____
y = (a + b) sin[theta] - b sin(a + b / b)[theta],

when the centre of the fixed circle is the origin, and the axis of x
passes through the initial point of the curve (i.e. the original
position of the moving point on the fixed circle), a and b being the
radii of the fixed and rolling circles, and [theta] the angle through
which the line joining the centres of the two circles has passed. It
may be shown that if the distance of the carried point from the centre
of the rolling circle be mb, the equation to the epitrochoid is
_____
x = (a + b) cos[theta] - mb cos(a + b / b)[theta],
_____
y = (a + b) sin[theta] - mb sin(a + b / b)[theta].

The equations to the hypocycloid and its corresponding trochoidal
curves are derived from the two preceding equations by changing the
sign of b. Leonhard Euler (_Acta Petrop._ 1784) showed that the same
hypocycloid can be generated by circles having radii of 1/2(a [+-] b)
rolling on a circle of radius a; and also that the hypocycloid formed
when the radius of the rolling circle is greater than that of the
fixed circle is the same as the epicycloid formed by the rolling of a
circle whose radius is the difference of the original radii. These
propositions may be derived from the formulae given above, or proved
directly by purely geometrical methods.

The tangential polar equation to the epicycloid, as given above, is
______
p = (a + 2b) sin(a / a + 2b)[psi], while the intrinsic equation is
______
s = 4(b/a)(a + b) cos(a / a + 2b)[psi] and the pedal equation is
_____
r^2 = a^2 + (4b.a + b)p^2 / (a + 2b)^2. Therefore any epicycloid or
hypocycloid may be represented by the equations p = A sin B[psi] or p
= A cos B[psi], s = A sin B[psi] or s = A cos B[psi], or r^2 = A +
Bp^2, the constants A and B being readily determined by the above
considerations.

If the radius of the rolling circle be one-half of the fixed circle,
the hypocycloid becomes a diameter of this circle; this may be
confirmed from the equation to the hypocycloid. If the ratio of the
radii be as 1 to 4, we obtain the four-cusped hypocycloid, which has
the simple cartesian equation x^(2/3) + y^(2/3) = a^(2/3). This curve
is the envelope of a line of constant length, which moves so that its
extremities are always on two fixed lines at right angles to each
other, i.e. of the line x/[alpha] + y/[beta] = 1, with the condition
[alpha]^2 + [beta]^2 = 1/a, a constant. The epicycloid when the radii
of the circles are equal is the cardioid (q.v.), and the corresponding
trochoidal curves are limacons (q.v.). Epicycloids are also examples
of certain caustics (q.v.).

For the methods of determining the formulae and results stated above
see J. Edwards, _Differential Calculus_, and for geometrical
constructions see T.H. Eagles, _Plane Curves_.

EPIDAURUS, the name of two ancient cities of southern Greece.

1. A maritime city situated on the eastern coast of Argolis, sometimes distinguished as [Greek: he hiera Epidauros], or Epidaurus the Holy. It stood on a small rocky peninsula with a natural harbour on the northern side and an open but serviceable bay on the southern; and from this position acquired the epithet of [Greek: distomos], or the two-mouthed. Its narrow but fertile territory consisted of a plain shut in on all sides except towards the sea by considerable elevations, among which the most remarkable were Mount Arachnaeon and Titthion. The conterminous states were Corinth, Argos, Troezen and Hermione. Its proximity to Athens and the islands of the Saronic gulf, the commercial advantages of its position, and the fame of its temple of Asclepius combined to make Epidaurus a place of no small importance. Its origin was ascribed to a Carian colony, whose memory was possibly preserved in Epicarus, the earlier name of the city; it was afterwards occupied by Ionians, and appears to have incorporated a body of Phlegyans from Thessaly. The Ionians in turn succumbed to the Dorians of Argos, who, according to the legend, were led by Deiphontes; and from that time the city continued to preserve its Dorian character. It not only colonized the neighbouring islands, and founded the city of Aegina, by which it was ultimately outstripped in wealth and power, but also took part with the people of Argos and Troezen in their settlements in the south of Asia Minor. The monarchical government introduced by Deiphontes gave way to an oligarchy, and the oligarchy degenerated into a despotism. When Procles the tyrant was carried captive by Periander of Corinth, the oligarchy was restored, and the people of Epidaurus continued ever afterwards close allies of the Spartan power. The governing body consisted of 180 members, chosen from certain influential families, and the executive was entrusted to a select committee of _artynae_ (from [Greek: artynein], to manage). The rural population, who had no share in the affairs of the city, were called [Greek: konipodes] ("dusty-feet"). Among the objects of interest described by Pausanias as extant in Epidaurus are the image of Athena Cissaea in the Acropolis, the temple of Dionysus and Artemis, a shrine of Aphrodite, statues of Asclepius and his wife Epione, and a temple of Hera. The site of the last is identified with the chapel of St Nicolas; a few portions of the outer walls of the city can be traced; and the name Epidaurus is still preserved by the little village of Nea-Epidavros, or Pidhavro.

The _Hieron_ (sacred precinct) of Asclepius, which lies inland about 8 m. from the town of Epidaurus, has been thoroughly excavated by the Greek Archaeological Society since the year 1881, under the direction of M. Kavvadias. In addition to the sacred precinct, with its temples and other buildings, the theatre and stadium have been cleared; and several other extensive buildings, including baths, gymnasia, and a hospital for invalids, have also been found. The sacred road from Epidaurus, which is flanked by tombs, approaches the precinct through a gateway or propylaea. The chief buildings are grouped together, and include temples of Asclepius and Artemis, the Tholos, and the Abaton, or portico where the patients slept. In addition to remains of architecture and sculpture, some of them of high merit, there have been found many inscriptions, throwing light on the cures attributed to the god. The chief buildings outside the sacred precinct are the theatre and the stadium.

The temple of Asclepius, which contained the gold and ivory statue by Thrasymedes of Paros, had six columns at the ends and eleven at the sides; it was raised on stages and approached by a ramp at the eastern front. An inscription has been found recording the contracts for building this temple; it dates from about 460 B.C. The sculptor Timotheus--one of those who collaborated in the Mausoleum--is mentioned as undertaking to make the acroteria that stood on the ends of the pediments, and also models for the sculpture that filled one of them. Some of this sculpture has been found; the acroteria are Nereids mounted on sea-horses, and one pediment contained a battle of Greeks and Amazons. The great altar lay to the south of the temple, and a little to the east of it are what appear to be the remains of an earlier altar, built into the corner of a large square edifice of Roman date, perhaps a house of the priests. Just to the south of this are the foundations of a small temple of Artemis. The Tholos lay to the south-west of the temple of Asclepius; it must, when perfect, have been one of the most beautiful buildings in Greece; the exquisite carving of its mouldings is only equalled by that of the Erechtheum at Athens. It consisted of a circular chamber, surrounded on the outside by a Doric colonnade, and on the inside by a Corinthian one. The architect was Polyclitus, probably to be identified with the younger sculptor of that name. In the inscription recording the contracts for its building it is called the Thymele; and this name may give the clue to its purpose; it was probably the idealized architectural representative of a primitive pit of sacrifice, such as may still be seen in the Asclepianum at Athens. The foundations now visible present a very curious appearance, consisting of a series of concentric walls. Those in the middle are thin, having only the pavement of the cella to support, and are provided with doors and partitions that make a sort of subterranean labyrinth. There is no evidence for the statement sometimes made that there was a well or spring below the Tholos. North of the Tholos is the long portico described in inscriptions as the Abaton; it is on two different levels, and the lower or western portion of it had two storeys, of which the upper one was on a level with the ground in the eastern portion. Here the invalids used to sleep when consulting the god, and the inscriptions found here record not only the method of consulting the god, but the manner of his cures. Some of the inscriptions are contemporary dedications; but those which give us most information are long lists of cases, evidently compiled by the priests from the dedications in the sanctuary, or from tradition. There is no reason to doubt that most of the records have at least a basis of fact, for the cases are in accord with well-attested phenomena of a similar nature at the present day; but there are others, such as the miraculous mending of a broken vase, which suggest either invention or trickery.

In early times, though there is considerable variety in the cases treated and the methods of cure, there are certain characteristics common to the majority of the cases. The patient consulting the god sleeps in the Abaton, sees certain visions, and, as a result, comes forth cured the next morning. Sometimes there seem to be surgical cases, like that of a man who had a spear-head extracted from his jaw, and found it laid in his hands when he awoke in the morning, and there are many examples resembling those known at the present day at Lourdes or Tenos, where hysterical or other similar affections are cured by the influence of imagination or sudden emotion. It is, however, difficult to make any scientific use of the records, owing to the indiscriminate manner in which genuine and apocryphal cases are mingled, and circumstantial details are added. We learn the practice of later times from some dedicated inscriptions. Apparently the old faith-healing had lost its efficacy, and the priests substituted for it elaborate prescriptions as to diet, baths and regimen which must have made Epidaurus and its visitors resemble their counterparts in a modern spa. At this time there were extensive buildings provided for the accommodation of invalids, some of which have been discovered and partially cleared; one was built by Antoninus Pius. They were in the form of great courtyards surrounded by colonnades and chambers.

Between the precinct and the theatre was a large gymnasium, which was
in later times converted to other purposes, a small odeum being built
in the middle of it. In a valley just to the south-west of the
precinct is the stadium, of which the seats and goal are well
preserved. There is a gutter round the level space of the stadium,
with basins at intervals for the use of spectators or competitors, and
a post at every hundred feet of the course, thus dividing it into six
portions. The goal, which is well preserved at the upper end, is
similar to that at Olympia; it consists of a sill of stone sunk level
with the ground, with parallel grooves for the feet of the runners at
starting, and sockets to hold the posts that separated the spaces
assigned to the various competitors, and served as guides to them in
running. For these were substituted later a set of stone columns
resembling those in the proscenium of a theatre. There was doubtless a
similar sill at the lower end for the start of the stadium, this upper
one being intended for the start of the diaulos and longer races.

The theatre still deserves the praise given it by Pausanias as the
most beautiful in Greece. The auditorium is in remarkable
preservation, almost every seat being still _in situ_, except a few
where the supporting walls have given way on the wings. The whole plan
is drawn from three centres, the outer portion of the curves being
arcs of a larger circle than the one used for the central portion; the
complete circle of the orchestra is marked by a sill of white
limestone, and greatly enhances the effect of the whole. There are
benches with backs not only in the bottom row, but also above and
below the diazoma. The acoustic properties of the theatre are
extraordinarily good, a speaker in the orchestra being heard
throughout the auditorium without raising his voice. The stage
buildings are not preserved much above their foundations, and show
signs of later repairs; but their general character can be clearly
seen. They consist of a long rectangular building, with a proscenium
or column front which almost forms a tangent to the circle of the
orchestra; at the middle and at either end of this proscenium are
doors leading into the orchestra, those at the end set in projecting
wings; the top of the proscenium is approached by a ramp, of which the
lower part is still preserved, running parallel to the parodi, but
sloping up as they slope down. The proscenium was originally about 14
ft. high and 12 ft. broad; so corresponding approximately to the Greek
stage as described by Vitruvius. M. Kavvadias, who excavated the
theatre, believes that the proscenium is contemporary with the rest of
the theatre, which, like the Tholos, was built by Polyclitus (the
younger); but Professor W. Dorpfeld maintains that it is a later
addition. In any case, the theatre at Epidaurus ranks as the most
typical of Greek theatres, both from the simplicity of its plan and
the beauty of its proportions.

See Pausanias i. 29; _Expedition de la Moree_, ii.; Curtius,
_Peloponnesus_, ii.; _Transactions of Roy. Soc. of Lit._, 2nd series,
vol. ii.; Weclawski, _De rebus Epidauriorum_ (Posen, 1854).

The excavations at the Hieron have been recorded as they went on in
the [Greek: Praktika] of the Greek Archaeological Society, especially
for 1881-1884 and 1889, and also in the [Greek: Ephemeris
Archaiologike], especially for 1883 and 1885; see also Kavvadias, Les
_Fouilles d'Epidaure_ and [Greek: To Hieron tou Asklepiou en Epidauro
kai he therapeia ton asthenon]; Defrasse and Lechat, _Epidaure_. A
museum was completed in 1910.

2. A city of Peloponnesus on the east coast of Laconia, distinguished by the epithet of Limera (either "The Well-havened" or "The Hungry"). It was founded by the people of Epidaurus the Holy, and its principal temples were those of Asclepius and Aphrodite. It was abandoned during the middle ages; its inhabitants took possession of the promontory of Minoa, turned it into an island, and built and fortified thereon the city of Monembasia, which became the most flourishing of all the towns in the Morea, and gave its name to the well-known Malmsey or Malvasia wine. The ruins of Epidaurus are to be seen at the place now called Palaea Monemvasia.

A third Epidaurus was situated in Illyricum, on the site of the present Ragusa Vecchia; but it is not mentioned till the time of the civil wars of Pompey and Caesar, and has no special interest. (E. Gr.)

EPIDIORITE, in petrology, a typical member of a family of rocks consisting essentially of hornblende and felspar, often with epidote, garnet, sphene, biotite, or quartz, and having usually a foliated structure. The term is to some extent synonymous with "amphibolite" and "hornblende-schist." These rocks are metamorphic, and though having a mineral constitution somewhat similar to that of diorite, they have been produced really from rocks of more basic character, such as diabase, dolerite and gabbro. They occur principally among the schists, slates and gneisses of such districts as the Scottish Highlands, the north-west of Ireland, Brittany, the Harz, the Alps, and the crystalline ranges of eastern N. America. Their hornblende in microscopic section is usually dark green, rarely brownish; their felspar may be clear and recrystallized, but more frequently is converted into a turbid aggregate of epidote, zoisite, quartz, sericite and albite. In the less complete stages of alteration, ophitic structure may persist, and the original augite of the rock may not have been entirely replaced by hornblende. Pink or brownish garnets are common and may be an inch or two in diameter. The iron oxides, originally ilmenite, are usually altered to sphene. Biotite, if present, is brown; epidote is yellow or colourless; rutile, apatite and quartz all occur with some frequency. The essential minerals, hornblende and felspar, rarely show crystalline outlines, and this is generally true also of the others. The rocks may be fine grained, so that their constituents are hardly visible to the unaided eye; or may show crystals of hornblende an inch in length. Their prevalent colour is dark green and they weather with brown surfaces. In many parts of the world epidiorites and the quartz veins which sometimes occur in them have proved to be auriferous. As they are tough, hard rocks, when fresh, they are well suited for use as road-mending stones. (J. S. F.)

EPIDOSITE, in petrology, a typical member of a family of metamorphic rocks composed mainly of epidote and quartz. In colour they are pale yellow or greenish yellow, and they are hard and somewhat brittle. They may occur in more than one way and are derived from several kinds of rock. Some have been epidotic grits and sandstones; others are limestones which have undergone contact-alteration; probably the majority, however, are allied to epidiorite and amphibolite, and are local modifications of rocks which were primarily basic intrusions or lavas. The sedimentary epidosites occur with mica-schists, sheared grits and granulitic gneisses; they often show, on minute examination, the remains of clastic structures. The epidosites derived from limestones may contain a great variety of minerals such as calcite, augite, garnet, scapolite, &c., but their source may usually be inferred from their close association with calc-silicate rocks in the field. The third group of epidosites may form bands, veins, or irregular streaks and nodules in masses of epidiorite and hornblende-schist. In microscopic section they are often merely a granular mosaic of quartz and epidote with some iron oxides and chlorite, but in other cases they retain much of the structure of the original rock though there has been a complete replacement of the former minerals by new ones. Epidosites when streaked and variegated have been cut and polished as ornamental stones. They are translucent and hard, and hence serve for brooch stones, and the simpler kinds of jewelry. These rocks occasionally carry gold in visible yellow specks. (J. S. F.)

EPIDOTE, a mineral species consisting of basic calcium, aluminium and iron orthosilicate, Ca2(AlOH)(Al, Fe)2(SiO4)3, crystallizing in the monoclinic system. Well-developed crystals are of frequent occurrence: they are commonly prismatic in habit, the direction of elongation being perpendicular to the single plane of symmetry. The faces lettered M, T and r in the figure are often deeply striated in the same direction: M is a direction of perfect cleavage, and T of imperfect cleavage: crystals are often twinned on the face T. Many of the characters of the mineral vary with the amount of iron present (Fe2O3, 5-17%), for instance, the colour, the optical constants, and the specific gravity (3.3-3.5). The hardness is 6-1/2. The colour is green, grey, brown or nearly black, but usually a characteristic shade of yellowish-green or pistachio-green. The pleochroism is strong, the pleochroic colours being usually green, yellow and brown. The names thallite (from [Greek: thallos], "a young shoot") and pistacite (from [Greek: pistakia], "pistachio nut") have reference to the colour. The name epidote is one of R.J. Hauy's crystallographic names, and is derived from [Greek: epidosis], "increase," because the base of the primitive prism has one side longer than the other. Several other names (achmatite, bucklandite, escherite, puschkinite, &c.) have been applied to this species. Withamite is a carmine-red to straw-yellow, strongly pleochroic variety from Glencoe in Scotland. Fouqueite and clinozoisite are white or pale rose-red varieties containing very little iron, thus having the same chemical composition as the orthorhombic mineral zoisite (q.v.).

Epidote is an abundant rock-forming mineral, but one of secondary origin. It occurs in crystalline limestones and schistose rocks of metamorphic origin; and is also a product of weathering of various minerals (felspars, micas, pyroxenes, amphiboles, garnets, &c.) composing igneous rocks. A rock composed of quartz and epidote is known as epidosite. Well-developed crystals are found at many localities, of which the following may be specially mentioned: Knappenwand, near the Gross-Venediger in the Untersulzbachthal in Salzburg, as magnificent, dark green crystals of long prismatic habit in cavities in epidote-schist, with asbestos, adularia, calcite, and apatite; the Ala valley and Traversella in Piedmont; Arendal in Norway (arendalite); Le Bourg d'Oisans in Dauphine (oisanite and delphinite); Haddam in Connecticut; Prince of Wales Island in Alaska, here as large, dark green, tabular crystals with copper ores in metamorphosed limestone.

The perfectly transparent, dark green crystals from the Knappenwand and from Brazil have occasionally been cut as gem-stones.

Belonging to the same isomorphous group with epidote are the species piedmontite and allanite, which may be described as manganese and cerium epidotes respectively.

Piedmontite has the composition Ca2(AlOH)(Fe, Mn)2(SiO4)3; it occurs as small, reddish-black, monoclinic crystals in the manganese mines at San Marcel, near Ivrea in Piedmont, and in crystalline schists at several places in Japan. The purple colour of the Egyptian _porfido rosso antico_ is due to the presence of this mineral.

Allanite has the same general formula R2"(R'"OH)R2'"(SiO4)3, where R" represents calcium and ferrous iron, and R'" aluminium, ferric iron and metals of the cerium group. In external appearance it differs widely from epidote, being black or dark brown in colour, pitchy in lustre, and opaque in the mass; further, there is little or no cleavage, and well-developed crystals are rarely met with. The crystallographic and optical characters are similar to those of epidote; the pleochroism is strong with reddish-, yellowish-, and greenish-brown colours. Although not a common mineral, allanite is of fairly wide distribution as a primary accessory constituent of many crystalline rocks, e.g. gneiss, granite, syenite, rhyolite, andesite, &c. It was first found in the granite of east Greenland and described by Thomas Allan in 1808, after whom the species was named. Allanite is a mineral readily altered by hydration, becoming optically isotropic and amorphous: for this reason several varieties have been distinguished, and many different names applied. Orthite, from [Greek: orthos], "straight," was the name given by J.J. Berzelius in 1818 to a hydrated form found as slender prismatic crystals, sometimes a foot in length, at Finbo, near Falun in Sweden. (L. J. S.)

EPIGONI ("descendants"), in Greek legend, the sons of the seven heroes who fought against Thebes (see ADRASTUS). Ten years later, to avenge their fathers, the Epigoni undertook a second expedition, which was completely successful. Thebes was forced to surrender and razed to the ground. In early times the war of the Epigoni was a favourite subject of epic poetry. The term is also applied to the descendants of the Diadochi, the successors of Alexander the Great.

EPIGONION (Gr. [Greek: epigoneion]), an ancient stringed instrument mentioned in Athenaeus 183 C, probably a psaltery. The epigonion was invented, or at least introduced into Greece, by Epigonus, a Greek musician of Ambracia in Epirus, who was admitted to citizenship at Sicyon as a recognition of his great musical ability and of his having been the first to pluck the strings with his fingers, instead of using the plectrum.[1] The instrument, which Epigonus named after himself, had forty strings.[2] It was undoubtedly a kind of harp or psaltery, since in an instrument of so many strings some must have been of different lengths, for tension and thickness only could hardly have produced forty different sounds, or even twenty, supposing that they were arranged in pairs of unisons. Strings of varying lengths require a frame like that of the harp, or of the Egyptian cithara which had one of the arms supporting the cross bar or zugon shorter than the other,[3] or else strings stretched over harp-shaped bridges on a sound-board in the case of a psaltery. Juba II., king of Mauretania, who reigned from 30 B.C., said (ap. Athen. l.c.) that Epigonus brought the instrument from Alexandria and played upon it with the fingers of both hands, not only using it as an accompaniment to the voice, but introducing chromatic passages, and a chorus of other stringed instruments, probably citharas, to accompany the voice. Epigonus was also a skilled citharist and played with his bare hands without plectrum.[4] Unfortunately we have no record of when Epigonus lived. Vincenzo Galilei[5] has given us a description of the epigonion accompanied by an illustration, representing his conception of the ancient instrument, an upright psaltery with the outline of the clavicytherium (but no keyboard). (K. S.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Michael Praetorius, _Syntagma musicum_, tom. 1, c. 13, p. 380:
Salomon van Til, _Sing-Dicht und Spiel-Kunst_, p. 95.

[2] Pollux, _Onomasticon_, lib. iv. cap. 9, 59.

[3] For an illustration, see Kathleen Schlesinger, _Orchestral
Instruments_, part ii. "Precursors of the Violin Family," fig. 165,
p. 219.

[4] Athenaeus, iv. p. 183 d. and xiv. p. 638 a.

[5] _Dialogo della musica antica e moderna_, ed. 1602, p. 40.

EPIGRAM, properly speaking, anything that is inscribed. Nothing could be more hopeless, however, than an attempt to discover or devise a definition wide enough to include the vast multitude of little poems which at one time or other have been honoured with the title of epigram, and precise enough to exclude all others. Without taking account of its evident misapplications, we find that the name has been given--first, in strict accordance with its Greek etymology, to any actual inscription on monument, statue or building; secondly, to verses never intended for such a purpose, but assuming for artistic reasons the epigraphical form; thirdly, to verses expressing with something of the terseness of an inscription a striking or beautiful thought; and fourthly, by unwarrantable restriction, to a little poem ending in a "point," especially of the satirical kind. The last of these has obtained considerable popularity from the well-known lines--

"The qualities rare in a bee that we meet
In an epigram never should fail;
The body should always be little and sweet,
And a sting should be left in its tail"--

which represent the older Latin of some unknown writer--

"Omne epigramma sit instar apis: sit aculeus illi;
Sint sua mella; sit et corporis exigui."

Attempts not a few of a more elaborate kind have been made to state the essential element of the epigram, and to classify existing specimens; but, as every lover of epigrams must feel, most of them have been attended with very partial success. Scaliger, in the third book of his _Poetics_, gives a fivefold division, which displays a certain ingenuity in the nomenclature but is very superficial: the first class takes its name from _mel_, or honey, and consists of adulatory specimens; the second from _fel_, or gall; the third from _acetum_, or vinegar; and the fourth from _sal_, or salt; while the fifth is styled the condensed, or multiplex. This classification is adopted by Nicolaus Mercerius in his _De conscribendo epigrammate_ (Paris, 1653); but he supplemented it by another of much more scientific value, based on the figures of the ancient rhetoricians. Lessing, in the preface to his own epigrams, gives an interesting treatment of the theory, his principal doctrine being practically the same as that of several of his less eminent predecessors, that there ought to be two parts more or less clearly distinguished,--the first awakening the reader's attention in the same way as an actual monument might do, and the other satisfying his curiosity in some unexpected manner. An attempt was made by Herder to increase the comprehensiveness and precision of the theory; but as he himself confesses, his classification is rather vague--the expository, the paradigmatic, the pictorial, the impassioned, the artfully turned, the illusory, and the swift. After all, if the arrangement according to authorship be rejected, the simplest and most satisfactory is according to subjects. The epigram is one of the most catholic of literary forms, and lends itself to the expression of almost any feeling or thought. It may be an elegy, a satire, or a love-poem in miniature, an embodiment of the wisdom of the ages, a bon-mot set off with a couple of rhymes.

"I cannot tell thee who lies buried here;
No man that knew him followed by his bier;
The winds and waves conveyed him to this shore,
Then ask the winds and waves to tell thee more."

ANONYMOUS.

"Wherefore should I vainly try
To teach thee what my love will be
In after years, when thou and I
Have both grown old in company,
If words are vain to tell thee how,
Mary, I do love thee now?"

ANONYMOUS.

"O Bruscus, cease our aching ears to vex,
With thy loud railing at the softer sex;
No accusation worse than this could be,
That once a woman did give birth to thee."

ACILIUS.

"Treason doth never prosper. What's the reason?
For if it prospers none dare call it treason."

HARRINGTON.

"Ward has no heart they say, but I deny it;
He has a heart, and gets his speeches by it."

ROGERS.

From its very brevity there is no small danger of the epigram passing into childish triviality: the paltriest pun, a senseless anagram, is considered stuff enough and to spare. For proof of this there is unfortunately no need to look far; but perhaps the reader could not find a better collection ready to his hand than the second twenty-five of the _Epigrammatum centuriae_ of Samuel Erichius; by the time he reaches No. 11 of the 47th century, he will be quite ready to grant the appropriateness of the identity maintained between the German _Seele_, or soul, and the German _Esel_, or ass.

Of the epigram as cultivated by the Greeks an account is given in the article ANTHOLOGY, discussing those wonderful collections which bid fair to remain the richest of their kind. The delicacy and simplicity of so much of what has been preserved is perhaps their most striking feature; and one cannot but be surprised at the number of poets proved capable of such work. In Latin literature, on the other hand, the epigrammatists whose work has been preserved are comparatively few, and though several of them, as Catullus and Martial, are men of high literary genius, too much of what they have left behind is vitiated by brutality and obscenity. On the subsequent history of the epigram, indeed, Martial has exercised an influence as baneful as it is extensive, and he may fairly be counted the far-off progenitor of a host of scurrilous verses. Nearly all the learned Latinists of the 16th and 17th centuries may claim admittance into the list of epigrammatists,--Bembo and Scaliger, Buchanan and More, Stroza and Sannazaro. Melanchthon, who succeeded in combining so much of Pagan culture with his Reformation Christianity, has left us some graceful specimens, but his editor, Joannes Major Joachimus, has so little idea of what an epigram is, that he includes in his collection some translations from the Psalms. The Latin epigrams of Etienne Pasquier were among the most admirable which the Renaissance produced in France. John Owen, or, as he Latinized his name, Johannes Audoenus, a Cambro-Briton, attained quite an unusual celebrity in this department, and is regularly distinguished as Owen the Epigrammatist. The tradition of the Latin epigram has been kept alive in England by such men as Porson, Vincent Bourne and Walter Savage Landor. Happily there is now little danger of any too personal epigrammatist suffering the fate of Niccolo Franco, who paid the forfeit of his life for having launched his venomous Latin against Pius V., though he may still incur the milder penalty of having his name inserted in the _Index Expurgatorius_, and find, like John Owen, that he consequently has lost an inheritance.

In English literature proper there is no writer like Martial in Latin or Logau in German, whose fame is entirely due to his epigrams; but several even of those whose names can perish never have not disdained this diminutive form. The designation epigram, however, is used by earlier English writers with excessive laxity, and given or withheld without apparent reason. The epigrams of Robert Crowley (1550) and of Henry Parrot (1613) are worthless so far as form goes. John Weever's collection (1599) is of interest mainly because of its allusion to Shakespeare. Ben Jonson furnishes a number of noble examples in his _Underwoods_; and one or two of Spenser's little poems and a great many of Herrick's are properly classed as epigrams. Cowley, Waller, Dryden, Prior, Parnell, Swift, Addison, Johnson, Goldsmith and Young have all been at times successful in their epigrammatical attempts; but perhaps none of them has proved himself so much "to the manner born" as Pope, whose name indeed is almost identified with the epigrammatical spirit in English literature. Few English modern poets have followed in his footsteps, and though nearly all might plead guilty to an epigram or two, there is no one who has a distinct reputation as an epigrammatist. Such a reputation might certainly have been Landor's, had he not chosen to write the best of his minor poems in Latin, and thus made his readers nearly as select as his language.

The French are undoubtedly the most successful cultivators of the "salt" and the "vinegar" epigram; and from the 16th century downwards many of their principal authors have earned no small celebrity in this department. The epigram was introduced into French literature by Mellin de St Gelais and Clement Marot. It is enough to mention the names of Boileau, J.B. Rousseau, Lebrun, Voltaire, Marmontel, Piron, Rulhiere, and M.J. Chenier. In spite of Rapin's dictum that a man ought to be content if he succeeded in writing one really good epigram, those of Lebrun alone number upwards of 600, and a very fair proportion of them would doubtless pass muster even with Rapin himself. If Piron was never anything better, "pas meme academicien," he appears at any rate in Grimm's phrase to have been "une machine a saillies, a epigrammes, et a bons mots." Perhaps more than anywhere else the epigram has been recognized in France as a regular weapon in literary and political contests, and it might not be altogether a hopeless task to compile an epigrammatical history from the Revolution to the present time.

While any fair collection of German epigrams will furnish examples that for keenness of wit would be quite in place in a French anthology, the Teutonic tendency to the moral and didactic has given rise to a class but sparingly represented in French. The very name of _Sinngedichte_ bears witness to this peculiarity, which is exemplified equally by the rude _priameln_ or _proeameln_, of the 13th and 14th centuries and the polished lines of Goethe and Schiller. Logau published his _Deutsche Sinngetichte Drey Tausend_ in 1654, and Wernicke no fewer than six volumes of _Ueberschriften oder Epigrammata_ in 1697; Kastner's _Sinngedichte_ appeared in 1782, and Haug and Weissen's _Epigrammatische Anthologie_ in 1804. Kleist, Opitz, Gleim, Hagedorn, Klopstock and A.W. Schlegel all possess some reputation as epigrammatists; Lessing is _facile princeps_ in the satirical style; and Herder has the honour of having enriched his language with much of what is best from Oriental and classical sources.

It is often by no means easy to trace the history of even a single epigram, and the investigator soon learns to be cautious of congratulating himself on the attainment of a genuine original. The same point, refurbished and fitted anew to its tiny shaft, has been shot again and again by laughing cupids or fierce-eyed furies in many a frolic and many a fray. During the period when the epigram was the favourite form in Germany, Gervinus tells us how the works, not only of the Greek and Roman writers, but of Neo-Latinists, Spaniards, Dutchmen, Frenchmen, Englishmen and Poles were ransacked and plundered; and the same process of pillage has gone on in a more or less modified degree in other times and countries. Very noticeable often are the modifications of tone and expression occasioned by national and individual characteristics; the simplicity of the prototype may become common-place in the imitation, the sublime be distorted into the grotesque, the pathetic degenerate into the absurdly sentimental; or on the other hand, an unpromising _motif_ may be happily developed into unexpected beauty. A good illustration of the variety with which the same epigram may be translated and travestied is afforded by a little volume published in Edinburgh in 1808, under the title of _Lucubrations on the Epigram--_