Ulpian Trajanus, the
subsequent
em-
peror.
peror.
Charles - 1867 - Classical Dictionary
.
p 152, ed.
Hckker.
)
--II. The preceptor of Chiron (Id. ). --III. The invent-
or of the ostracism {Id. ). --IV. A son of Jupiter and
Lamia. His beauty was so perfect, that, in the judg-
ment of Pan, he bore away the prize from every com-
petitor. Venus was so offended at this decision, that
she inspired Pan with a fruitless passion for the nymph
Echo, and also wrought a hideous change in his own
person {Id. ). --V. A son of Galatus, remarkable for
his light coloured, or, rather, whitish hair {Id. ). --VI.
The son of Pclcus, king of Phthiotis in Thessaly.
His mother's name appears to have been a matter of
some dispute among the ancient expounders of my-
thology {Schol. ad Apoll. Rhod. 1, 558), although the
more numerous authorities are in favour of Thetis,
one of the sea-deities. According to Lycophron {v.
178), Thetis became the mother of seven male chil-
dren by Pclcus, six of whom she threw into the fire,
because, as Tzetzes informs us in his scholia, they
were not of the same nature with herself, and the
treatment she had received was unworthy of her rank
as a goddess. The scholiast on Homer, however (II.
16, 37), states, that Thetis threw her children into the
fire in order to ascertain whether they were mortal or
not, the goddess supposing that the fire would consume
what was mortal in their natures, while she would
preserve what was immortal. The scholiast adds,
that six of her children perished by this harsh experi-
ment, and thafc she had, in like manner, thrown (he
seventh, afterward named Achilles, into the flames,
when Peleus, having beheld the deed, rescued his off-
spring from this perilous situation. Tzetzes (ubi su-
pra) assigns a different motive to Thetis in the case
of Achilles. He makes her to have been desirous of
conferring immortality upon him, and states that ti ith
this view she anointed him (Ixpttv) with ambrosia
during the day, and threw him into fire at evening.
Peleus, having discovered the goddess in the act of
consigning his child to the flames, cried out with
alarm, whereupon Thetis, abandoning the object she
had in view, left the court of Pclcus and rejoined the
nymphs of the ocean. Dictys Crctensis makes Peleus
to have rescued Achilles from the fire before any part
of his body had been injured but the heel. Tzetzes,
following the authority of Apollodorus, gives his first
name as Ligyron (Aiyvpav), but the account of Aga-
mestor, cited by the same scholiast, is more in ac-
cordance with the current tradition mentioned above.
Agamestor says, that the first name given to Achilles
was Pyrisous (Uvpioooc), i. e. , " saved from the fire. "
What has thus far been stated in relation to Achilles,
with the single exception of the names of his parents,
Peleus and Thetis, is directly at variance with the nu-
thority of Homer, and must therefore be regarded as
a mere posthomeric fable. The poet makes Achilles
say, that Thetis had no other child but himself: and
though a daughter of Peleus, named Polydora, is men-
tioned in a part of the Iliad (16, 175), she must have
been, according to the best commentators, only a half
sister of the hero. (Compare Hey ne, ad loe. ) Equally
at variance with the account given by the bard, is the
more popular fiction, that Thetis plunged her son into
the waters of the Styx, and by that immersion render-
ed the whole of his body invulnerable, except the heel
by which she held him. On this subject Homer is al-
together silent; and, indeed, such a protection from
danger would have derogated too much from the char-
? ? acter of his favourite hero. There are several passa-
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? ACHILLES.
ACHILLES.
of Priam by the reduction of the tributary cities of
Asia Minor. ^Vitri a. fleet of eleven vessels he rav-
aged the coasts of Mysia, made frequent discmbarca-
tions of his forces, and succeeded eventually in de-
stroying eleven cities, among which, according to
Strabo (584), were Hypoplacian Thebe, Lyrnessus,
and Pedasus, ami in laying waste the island of Lesbos.
(Compare Homer, II. 9, 328. ) Among the spoils of
Lyrnessus, Achilles obtained the beautiful Briseis,
while, at the taking of" Thebe, Ghryscis the daughter
of Chryscs, a priest of Apollo at Chrysa, became the
prize of Agamemnon. A pestilence shortly after ap-
peared in the Grecian camp, and Calchas, encouraged
by the proffered protection of Achilles, ventured to
attribute it to Agamemnon's detention of the daughter
of Chryses, whom her father had endeavoured to ran-
som, but in vain The monarch, although . deeply of-
fended, was compelled at last to surrender his captive,
but, as an act of retaliation, and to testify his resent-
ment, he deprived AcHillcs of Briseis. Hence arose
"the anger of the son of Pelcus," on which is based
the action of the Iliad. Achilles on his part withdrew
his forces from the contest, and neither prayers, nor
entreaties, nor direct offers of reconciliation, couched
in the most tempting and flattering terms (II. 9, 119,
*c<iq ), could induce him to return to the field. Among
other things the monarch promised him, if he would
forget the injurious treatment which he had received,
the hand of one of his daughters, and the sovereignty
of seven cities of tho Peloponnesus. (//. 9, l->>2 and
M9. ) The death of his friend Patroclus, however,
by the hand of Hector (7/. 16, 821, scqq. ), roused him
at length to action and revenge, and a reconciliation
having thereupon taken place between the two Grecian
leaders, Briseis was restored. (//. 19, 78, scqq. --Id.
246, scqq. } As the arm) of Achilles, having been
worn by Patroclus, had become the prize of Hector,
Vulcan, at the request of Thetis, fabricated a suit of
impenetrable armour for her son. (II. 18, 408, scqq. )
Arrayed in this, Achilles took the field, and after a
great slaughter of the Trojans, and a contest with the
god of the Scarnander, by whose waters he was nearly
overwhelmed, met Hector, chased him thrice around
the walls of Troy, and finally slew him by the aid of
Minerva (II. 22, 136. seqq ) According to Homer
(//. 24, 14. scqq ), Achilles dragged tho corpse of Hec-
tor, at his chariot-wheels, thrice round the tomb of
Patroclus and from the language of the poet, he
would appear to have done this for several days in
? ucces. sion Virgil, however, makes Achilles to have
dra<<cred 'he body of Hector twice round the walls of
Troy. In this it is probable that the Koman poet fol-
lowed one of the Cyclic, or else Tragic writers. (Hcync,
Ercttrs. 18, ad JEn. 1. ) Tho corpse of the Trojan
hero was at last yielded up to the tears and supplica-
tions of Priam, who had come for that purpose to the
tent of Achilles, and a truce was granted the Trojans
for the performance of the funeral obsequies. (//. 24,
593--Id. 669. ) Achilles did not long survive his il-
lustrious opponent. Some accounts make him to have
died the day after Hector was slain. The common
authorities, however, interpose the combats with Pen-
the-ilea and Mcmnon previous to his death. (Com-
pare Hcync, Excurs. 19, ad &n. 1. --Quint. Smyrn.
1, "I. scqq. ) According to the more received account,
as it is given by the scholiast on Lycophron (r. 269),
and also by Dietys Cretensis and Dares Phrygius,
? ? Achilles, having become enamoured of Polyxena, the
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? ACHILLES
ACI
him with the author of the " Introduction to the Phie-
noinena of Aratus" (rid. No. VIII). Achilles Tatius
is the author of a romance, entitled, T<1 Kara Aev-
KtTnrrfv Kai KXiroQuvra, " The loves of Lcucippe and
Ciitophon," as it is commonly translated. Some crit-
ics, such as Huet and Saumaise, have preferred it to
the work of Heliodorus; but Villoison, Coray, Wyt-
tenbach, Pussow, Villemain, and Schoell, restore the
pre-eminence to the latter. (Schoell, Hist. Lilt. Gr. ,
vol. vi. , p 233 --Foreign Quarterly Review, No 9, p
131. ) "The book," says Villemain, " is written under
an influence altogether pagan, and in constant allusion
to the voluptuous fables of mythology. " The remark
is perfectly correct. Pictures of the utmost licen-
tiousness, and traces of everything that is infamous in
ancient manners, arc seen throughout. Unchaste in
imagination, and coarse in sentiment, the author has
made his hero despise at once the laws of morality
and those of love. Ciitophon is a human body, unin-
formed by the human soul, but delivered up to all the
instincts of nature and the senses. He neither com-
mands respect by his courage nor affection by his
constancy Struggling, however, in the writer's mind,
some liner ideas may be seen wandering through the
gloom, and some pure and lofty aspirations contrasting
strangely with the chaos of animal instincts anil de-
sires. His Leucippe glides like a spirit among actors
of mere flesh and blood. Patient, high-minded, re-
signed, and firm, she endures adversity with grace;
preserving, throughout the helplessness and tempta-
tions of captivity, irreproachable purity, and constancy
unchangeable. The critics, while visiting with proper
severity the sins both of the author and the man, do
not refuse to render full justice to the merits of the
work. It possesses interest, variety, probability, and
simplicity. "The Romance of Achilles Tatius," says
Villemain, "purified as it should be, will appear one
of the most agreeable in the collection of the Greek
Romances, 'lhe adventures it relates present a preg-
nant variety ; the succession of incidents is rapid; its
wonders are natural; and its style, although some-
what affected, is not wanting in spirit and effect. "
Photius also, as rigorous in morals as a bishop should
be, praises warmly the elegance of the style, observ-
ing that the author's periods are precise, clear, and cu-
phonous. (Foreign Quarterly Review, No. 9, p. 131. )
Saumaise was of opinion, that Achilles Tatius liad
given to the world two several editions of his romance,
and that some of the manuscripts which remain be-
long to the first publication of the work, while others
supply us with the production in its revised state. Ja-
cobs, however, in the prolegomena to his edition, has
shown that tho variations in the manuscripts, which
gave rise to this opinion, are to be ascribed solely to
the negligence of copyists, as they occur only in those
words which have some resemblance to others, and in
which it was easy to err. Few works, moreover, were
as often copied as this of Achilles Tatius. The best
edition is that of Jacobs, 2 vols. 8vo, Lips. , 1821, in
which may be seen a very just, though unfavourable,
critique on the editions of Saumaise and Boden, the
former of which appeared in 1640, 12mo, Lugd. Bat. ,
and the latter in 1776, 8vo, Lips. A French version
of the work is given in the " Collection des Romans
Grccs, traduits en Francais; avec des notes, par MM.
Courier, Larchcr, el aulrcs Hellcnistcs," 14 vols
16mo, Paris, 1822-1828. -- VIII. Tatius, an astro-
? ? nomical writer, supposed to have lived in the first half
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? A CR
witti P. Corn. Scipio IVasica, A. U. C. 561, and the
ro^ueror of Antioehus at ThermopylnB. (Lin. 35,
. 4--Id. 36, 19. ) V. Glabrio M. , son of the precc-
dmz, a decemvir. He built a temple to Piety, in ful-
filment of a vow -which his father had made when
fitting against Antiochus. He erected also a gilded
statue (ttatnam. aura tarn) to his father, the first of the
kind ever seen at Rome. ( Vol. Max. 2,5. --Liv. 40,34.
Compare Haw, ad lac. ) VI. A consul, A. U. G. 684,
appointed to succeed Lucullus in the management
of the Muhradatic war. (Cic. in Verr. 7, 61. )--VII.
Aviola NUuuis. a lieutenant under Tiberius in Gaul,
A. D. 19, and afterward consul. He was roused from
a trance by the flames of the funeral pile, on which he
had been laid as a corpse, but could not be rescued.
(Pin 7, S3. --Vol. Ufa*. 1, 8. >-vni. Son of tnc
preceding, consul under Claudius, A. D. 54. --IX. A
consul with M.
Ulpian Trajanus, the subsequent em-
peror. He was induced to engage with wild beasts
in the arena, and, proving successful, was put to death
by I Kimitian. who was jealous of his strength.
Acntis, now the A. grt~, a river of Lucania, rising
near Abxllinum Marsicum, and falling into the Sinus
Tarentinus. Near its mouth stood Heraclea
AcijfDVNrs. Vid. Supplement.
Acts, a Sicilian shepherd, son of Faunus and the
nymph Sinuethis. He gained the affections of Gala-!
tea, but his rival Polyphemus, through jealousy, crush- j
ed him to death with a fragment of rock, which he
hurled upon him. Ac-is -was changed into a stream,'
which retained his name. According to Scrvius (ml.
Ytrg. Etlog. 9, 39) it was also called Acilius. Cluve-;
rius places it about two miles distant from the modern
Castcilo di Acci. Fazcllus, however, without much
reason, assigns the name of Acis to the Fiumc Frcdtlo,:
near Toormma. Sir Richard Hoare describes the
Acis of Cluverins as a limpid though small stream.
Th~ story of Acis is given byOvid(i>frf. 13, 750, scq. )
ACOETES. Vid. Supplement.
AcoMtjilTcs. Vid. Nicetas.
AcowrTcs, a youth of Cea, who, when he went to
Deloa to sacrifice to Diana, fell in love with Cydippe,
a beautiful virgin, and, being unable to obtain her, by
reason of his poverty, had recourse to a stratagem.
A sacred law obliged every one to fulfil whatever
promise they had made in the temple of the goddess;
and Acontius having procured an apple or quince,
wrote on it the following words: "I swear by Diana
I will wed Acontiua. " This he threw before her. The
nur-c took it up, and handed it to Cydippe, who read
alouil the inscription, and then threw the apple away'.
After some time, when Cydippe's father was about to;
give her in marriage to another, she was taken ill just
before the nuptial ceremony. Acontius thereupon has-
tened to Athens, and, the Delphic oracle having decla-
red that the illness of Cydippe was the punishment of
her perjury, the parties were united.
ACORIS. Vid. Supplement.
ACBA, I. a village on the Cimmerian Bosporus.
(StraJt. , p. 494. )--II. A promontory and town of Scyth-
t. Minor, now Ekerne or Cavarna.
Ac H RADIX A, one of the five divisions of Syracuse,
and deriving its name from the wild pear-trees with
which it once abounded (uxpw;, a mid pear-tree). It
is sometimes called the citadel of Syracuse, but in-
correctly, although a strongly fortified quarter. It was
very thickly inhabited, and contained many fine build-
ings, yielding only to Ortygia. (Laporlc Du. Theil,
? ? fJ Strab. . vol 2. ,"p- 358, not. 3, French traral. ) As
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? ACR
ACT
d, 3), that the inhabitants were supposed to live be-
yond the usual time allotted to man. (Compare Thu-
cyd. 4, 109. --Scylax. p. 36 -- Steph. Byz. s. v. 'Aduc.
--Strab. cpit. lib. 7, 331. )
Acroceracnia, or Acroceraunii Montes. Vid. Ce-
raunia.
Acrocorinthus, a high hill, overhanging the city of
Corinth, on which was erected a citadel, called also by
the same name. This situation was so important a
one as to be styled by Philip the fetters of Greece.
The fortress was surprised by Antigonus, but recover-
ed in a brilliant manner by Aratus. (Strab. 8, 380. --
Paus. 2, i--Plut. Vit. Aral. --Stat. Theb. 7, r. 106. )
*' The Acrocorinthus, or>> Acropolis of Corinth," ob-
serves Dodwell, "is one of the finest objects in
Greece, and, if properly garrisoned, would be a place
of great strength and importance. It abounds with
excellent water, is in most parts precipitous, and there
is only one spot from which it can be annoyed with ar-
tillery. This is a pointed rock, at a few hundred yards
to the southwest of it, from whence it was battered by
Mohammed II. Before the introduction of artillery,
it was deemed almost impregnable, and had never been
taken except by treachery or surprise. Owing to its
natural strength, a small number of men was deemed
sufficient to garrison it; and in the time of Aratus,
according to Plutarch, it was defended by 400 soldiers,
50 dogs, and as many keepers. It was surrounded
with a wall by Cleomenes. It shoots up majestically
from the plain to a considerable height, and forms a
conspicuous object at a great distance: it is clearly
seen from Athens, from which it is not less than forty-
four miles in a direct line. Strabo affirms that it is
3 1-2 stadia in perpendicular height, but that the ascent
to the top is 30 stadia by the road, the circuitous in-
flections of which render this no extravagant computa-
tion. The Acrocorinthus contains within its walls a
town and three mosques. Athemrus commends the
water in the Acrocorinthus as the most salubrious in
Greece. It was at this fount that Pegasus was drink-
ing when taken by Bellerophon. " (Dodwell, vol. 2,
p. 187. ) All modern travellers who have visited this
spdt, give a glowing description of the view obtained
from the ridge. Consult, in particular, Clarke's Trav-
els, vol. 6, p. 750.
Acros, I. a king of the Cffininenscs, whom Romu-
lus slew in battle, after the affair of the Sabine women.
His arms were dedicated to Jupiter Feretrius, and his
subjects were incorporated with the Roman people.
(Pint. Vit. Rom. ) Propertius styles him Cantnus
Acron, from the name of his city and people (4, 10, 7),
and also Herculcus (4, 10, 9), from the circumstance
of all the Sabine race tracing their descent from Her-
cules or Sancus. --II. A celebrated physician of Agri-
gentum in Sicily, contemporary with Empedocles
(Diog. Lacrt. 8, 65). Plutarch speaks of his having
been at Athens during the time of the great plague,
which occurred B. C. 430. He aided the Athenians
on that occasion, by causing large fires to be kindled
in their streets. (Ptut. Is. ct Os. 383. ) Acron is
generally regarded as the founder of the sect of Em-
pirics or Experimentalists (Pseud. Gal. Isag. 372).
As this school of medicine, however, had a much la-
ter date, it is probable that he was merely one of the
class of physicians called nepioicvrai, who did not
confine themselves to mere theory, but went round
and visited patients. His contempt for the mysterious
? ? charlatanism of Empedocles drew upon him the hatred
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? ACT
, according to Diodorus Siculus (5, 57), migrated
from Rhodes into Egypt, founded Heliopolis, and
Uii'ui the Egyptians astrology. The same writer
sine*, thai, the Greeks, having- lost by a deluge nearly
ill t'icu memorials of" previous events, became ignorant
oC their claim to the invention of the science in ques-
tion, and allowed the Egyptians to arrogate it tothem-
<<e! Tfes. "Wesseling considers this a mere fable, based
on the national vanity of the Greeks, who, it is well
known, inverted so many of" the ancient traditions, and
ia this case, for example, made that pass from Greece
into Egypt, which came in reality from Egypt to
Greece. " (We**, ad JDiod. Sic. I. c. )
AcnsI. vEs. according to Diodorus Siculus (1, 60),
a king of . Ethiopia, who conquered Egypt and de-
throneJ Aniasis. He was remarkable for his modera-
tion towards his new subjects, as well as for his jus-
tice and equity. All the robbers and malefactors, too,
were collected from every part of the kingdom, and,
taring had their noses cut off, were established in
Kninoco/ura, a city which, he had founded for the pur-
pose of receiving them. 'We must read, no doubt,
with Stephens and Wesseling, in the text of Diodorus,
'A? txtiHrt? instead of *A. [2. a<rt? , for the successor of
Aprics cannot here be meant. Who the Actisanes of
Dtodjrus was, appears to be undetermined. Accord-
ing to Wesseling (jad, loc. ), Strabo is the only other
writer that makes mention of him. (Strabo. 759. )
ACTIUM, originally the name of a small neck of
bad, called also -Veto (" AKTV/), at the entrance of the
Sinus Ambraeius, on ? which the inhabitants of Anacto-
TTSSI had erected a small temple in honour of Apollo.
On the outer side of this same promontory was a small
hvbrKir. the usual rendezvous of vessels which did not
wick to enter the bay. Scylax (p. 13) calls this har-
bour Act*. Thucydides, however, applies this name
to the temple itself. Polybius (4, 03) makes mention
of th? temple, under the appellation of Actium, and
ry-ifci of it as belonging to the Acamanians. Actium
Veeane famous, in a later age, for the decisive victory
which Augustus gained in this quarter over the fleet of
Marc Antony. From the accounts given of it by the
Romin ? writers, Actium appears to have been, about
like tim? of this battle, nothing more than a temple on
m height, with a small harbour below. The conqueror
teauuned the sacred edifice, and very probably a num-
ber of small buildings began after this to arise in the vi-
cinity of the temple. (S'raJ>. 325. --Sueton. Vil. Aug.
17. --Cic. ep. ad faun. . 16, 9. ) Hence Strabo (451)
? jnfies to it the epithet of xu>PLOV- I' never, however,
beeun? a regular city, although an inattentive reader
? Wild be likely to form this opinion from the language
of Mela (2, 3) and Pliny (4, 1). Both these writers,
however, in fact, confound it with Nicopolis. There
are no traces of the temple at the present day, but
Fbnquerille found some remains of the Hippodrome
? ad Stadium. More within the Sinus Amhraciiu
(Gmif of Aria) lies the small village of Azto. Hence
prakabiy, according to Mannert, originated the error
of J)"AnvilIe, who places Actium, in contradiction to
i/l ancient authorities, at some distance within the
i>>T ( Vid. Nicopolis, and compare Mannert, 8, 70.
--II. The preceptor of Chiron (Id. ). --III. The invent-
or of the ostracism {Id. ). --IV. A son of Jupiter and
Lamia. His beauty was so perfect, that, in the judg-
ment of Pan, he bore away the prize from every com-
petitor. Venus was so offended at this decision, that
she inspired Pan with a fruitless passion for the nymph
Echo, and also wrought a hideous change in his own
person {Id. ). --V. A son of Galatus, remarkable for
his light coloured, or, rather, whitish hair {Id. ). --VI.
The son of Pclcus, king of Phthiotis in Thessaly.
His mother's name appears to have been a matter of
some dispute among the ancient expounders of my-
thology {Schol. ad Apoll. Rhod. 1, 558), although the
more numerous authorities are in favour of Thetis,
one of the sea-deities. According to Lycophron {v.
178), Thetis became the mother of seven male chil-
dren by Pclcus, six of whom she threw into the fire,
because, as Tzetzes informs us in his scholia, they
were not of the same nature with herself, and the
treatment she had received was unworthy of her rank
as a goddess. The scholiast on Homer, however (II.
16, 37), states, that Thetis threw her children into the
fire in order to ascertain whether they were mortal or
not, the goddess supposing that the fire would consume
what was mortal in their natures, while she would
preserve what was immortal. The scholiast adds,
that six of her children perished by this harsh experi-
ment, and thafc she had, in like manner, thrown (he
seventh, afterward named Achilles, into the flames,
when Peleus, having beheld the deed, rescued his off-
spring from this perilous situation. Tzetzes (ubi su-
pra) assigns a different motive to Thetis in the case
of Achilles. He makes her to have been desirous of
conferring immortality upon him, and states that ti ith
this view she anointed him (Ixpttv) with ambrosia
during the day, and threw him into fire at evening.
Peleus, having discovered the goddess in the act of
consigning his child to the flames, cried out with
alarm, whereupon Thetis, abandoning the object she
had in view, left the court of Pclcus and rejoined the
nymphs of the ocean. Dictys Crctensis makes Peleus
to have rescued Achilles from the fire before any part
of his body had been injured but the heel. Tzetzes,
following the authority of Apollodorus, gives his first
name as Ligyron (Aiyvpav), but the account of Aga-
mestor, cited by the same scholiast, is more in ac-
cordance with the current tradition mentioned above.
Agamestor says, that the first name given to Achilles
was Pyrisous (Uvpioooc), i. e. , " saved from the fire. "
What has thus far been stated in relation to Achilles,
with the single exception of the names of his parents,
Peleus and Thetis, is directly at variance with the nu-
thority of Homer, and must therefore be regarded as
a mere posthomeric fable. The poet makes Achilles
say, that Thetis had no other child but himself: and
though a daughter of Peleus, named Polydora, is men-
tioned in a part of the Iliad (16, 175), she must have
been, according to the best commentators, only a half
sister of the hero. (Compare Hey ne, ad loe. ) Equally
at variance with the account given by the bard, is the
more popular fiction, that Thetis plunged her son into
the waters of the Styx, and by that immersion render-
ed the whole of his body invulnerable, except the heel
by which she held him. On this subject Homer is al-
together silent; and, indeed, such a protection from
danger would have derogated too much from the char-
? ? acter of his favourite hero. There are several passa-
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? ACHILLES.
ACHILLES.
of Priam by the reduction of the tributary cities of
Asia Minor. ^Vitri a. fleet of eleven vessels he rav-
aged the coasts of Mysia, made frequent discmbarca-
tions of his forces, and succeeded eventually in de-
stroying eleven cities, among which, according to
Strabo (584), were Hypoplacian Thebe, Lyrnessus,
and Pedasus, ami in laying waste the island of Lesbos.
(Compare Homer, II. 9, 328. ) Among the spoils of
Lyrnessus, Achilles obtained the beautiful Briseis,
while, at the taking of" Thebe, Ghryscis the daughter
of Chryscs, a priest of Apollo at Chrysa, became the
prize of Agamemnon. A pestilence shortly after ap-
peared in the Grecian camp, and Calchas, encouraged
by the proffered protection of Achilles, ventured to
attribute it to Agamemnon's detention of the daughter
of Chryses, whom her father had endeavoured to ran-
som, but in vain The monarch, although . deeply of-
fended, was compelled at last to surrender his captive,
but, as an act of retaliation, and to testify his resent-
ment, he deprived AcHillcs of Briseis. Hence arose
"the anger of the son of Pelcus," on which is based
the action of the Iliad. Achilles on his part withdrew
his forces from the contest, and neither prayers, nor
entreaties, nor direct offers of reconciliation, couched
in the most tempting and flattering terms (II. 9, 119,
*c<iq ), could induce him to return to the field. Among
other things the monarch promised him, if he would
forget the injurious treatment which he had received,
the hand of one of his daughters, and the sovereignty
of seven cities of tho Peloponnesus. (//. 9, l->>2 and
M9. ) The death of his friend Patroclus, however,
by the hand of Hector (7/. 16, 821, scqq. ), roused him
at length to action and revenge, and a reconciliation
having thereupon taken place between the two Grecian
leaders, Briseis was restored. (//. 19, 78, scqq. --Id.
246, scqq. } As the arm) of Achilles, having been
worn by Patroclus, had become the prize of Hector,
Vulcan, at the request of Thetis, fabricated a suit of
impenetrable armour for her son. (II. 18, 408, scqq. )
Arrayed in this, Achilles took the field, and after a
great slaughter of the Trojans, and a contest with the
god of the Scarnander, by whose waters he was nearly
overwhelmed, met Hector, chased him thrice around
the walls of Troy, and finally slew him by the aid of
Minerva (II. 22, 136. seqq ) According to Homer
(//. 24, 14. scqq ), Achilles dragged tho corpse of Hec-
tor, at his chariot-wheels, thrice round the tomb of
Patroclus and from the language of the poet, he
would appear to have done this for several days in
? ucces. sion Virgil, however, makes Achilles to have
dra<<cred 'he body of Hector twice round the walls of
Troy. In this it is probable that the Koman poet fol-
lowed one of the Cyclic, or else Tragic writers. (Hcync,
Ercttrs. 18, ad JEn. 1. ) Tho corpse of the Trojan
hero was at last yielded up to the tears and supplica-
tions of Priam, who had come for that purpose to the
tent of Achilles, and a truce was granted the Trojans
for the performance of the funeral obsequies. (//. 24,
593--Id. 669. ) Achilles did not long survive his il-
lustrious opponent. Some accounts make him to have
died the day after Hector was slain. The common
authorities, however, interpose the combats with Pen-
the-ilea and Mcmnon previous to his death. (Com-
pare Hcync, Excurs. 19, ad &n. 1. --Quint. Smyrn.
1, "I. scqq. ) According to the more received account,
as it is given by the scholiast on Lycophron (r. 269),
and also by Dietys Cretensis and Dares Phrygius,
? ? Achilles, having become enamoured of Polyxena, the
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? ACHILLES
ACI
him with the author of the " Introduction to the Phie-
noinena of Aratus" (rid. No. VIII). Achilles Tatius
is the author of a romance, entitled, T<1 Kara Aev-
KtTnrrfv Kai KXiroQuvra, " The loves of Lcucippe and
Ciitophon," as it is commonly translated. Some crit-
ics, such as Huet and Saumaise, have preferred it to
the work of Heliodorus; but Villoison, Coray, Wyt-
tenbach, Pussow, Villemain, and Schoell, restore the
pre-eminence to the latter. (Schoell, Hist. Lilt. Gr. ,
vol. vi. , p 233 --Foreign Quarterly Review, No 9, p
131. ) "The book," says Villemain, " is written under
an influence altogether pagan, and in constant allusion
to the voluptuous fables of mythology. " The remark
is perfectly correct. Pictures of the utmost licen-
tiousness, and traces of everything that is infamous in
ancient manners, arc seen throughout. Unchaste in
imagination, and coarse in sentiment, the author has
made his hero despise at once the laws of morality
and those of love. Ciitophon is a human body, unin-
formed by the human soul, but delivered up to all the
instincts of nature and the senses. He neither com-
mands respect by his courage nor affection by his
constancy Struggling, however, in the writer's mind,
some liner ideas may be seen wandering through the
gloom, and some pure and lofty aspirations contrasting
strangely with the chaos of animal instincts anil de-
sires. His Leucippe glides like a spirit among actors
of mere flesh and blood. Patient, high-minded, re-
signed, and firm, she endures adversity with grace;
preserving, throughout the helplessness and tempta-
tions of captivity, irreproachable purity, and constancy
unchangeable. The critics, while visiting with proper
severity the sins both of the author and the man, do
not refuse to render full justice to the merits of the
work. It possesses interest, variety, probability, and
simplicity. "The Romance of Achilles Tatius," says
Villemain, "purified as it should be, will appear one
of the most agreeable in the collection of the Greek
Romances, 'lhe adventures it relates present a preg-
nant variety ; the succession of incidents is rapid; its
wonders are natural; and its style, although some-
what affected, is not wanting in spirit and effect. "
Photius also, as rigorous in morals as a bishop should
be, praises warmly the elegance of the style, observ-
ing that the author's periods are precise, clear, and cu-
phonous. (Foreign Quarterly Review, No. 9, p. 131. )
Saumaise was of opinion, that Achilles Tatius liad
given to the world two several editions of his romance,
and that some of the manuscripts which remain be-
long to the first publication of the work, while others
supply us with the production in its revised state. Ja-
cobs, however, in the prolegomena to his edition, has
shown that tho variations in the manuscripts, which
gave rise to this opinion, are to be ascribed solely to
the negligence of copyists, as they occur only in those
words which have some resemblance to others, and in
which it was easy to err. Few works, moreover, were
as often copied as this of Achilles Tatius. The best
edition is that of Jacobs, 2 vols. 8vo, Lips. , 1821, in
which may be seen a very just, though unfavourable,
critique on the editions of Saumaise and Boden, the
former of which appeared in 1640, 12mo, Lugd. Bat. ,
and the latter in 1776, 8vo, Lips. A French version
of the work is given in the " Collection des Romans
Grccs, traduits en Francais; avec des notes, par MM.
Courier, Larchcr, el aulrcs Hellcnistcs," 14 vols
16mo, Paris, 1822-1828. -- VIII. Tatius, an astro-
? ? nomical writer, supposed to have lived in the first half
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? A CR
witti P. Corn. Scipio IVasica, A. U. C. 561, and the
ro^ueror of Antioehus at ThermopylnB. (Lin. 35,
. 4--Id. 36, 19. ) V. Glabrio M. , son of the precc-
dmz, a decemvir. He built a temple to Piety, in ful-
filment of a vow -which his father had made when
fitting against Antiochus. He erected also a gilded
statue (ttatnam. aura tarn) to his father, the first of the
kind ever seen at Rome. ( Vol. Max. 2,5. --Liv. 40,34.
Compare Haw, ad lac. ) VI. A consul, A. U. G. 684,
appointed to succeed Lucullus in the management
of the Muhradatic war. (Cic. in Verr. 7, 61. )--VII.
Aviola NUuuis. a lieutenant under Tiberius in Gaul,
A. D. 19, and afterward consul. He was roused from
a trance by the flames of the funeral pile, on which he
had been laid as a corpse, but could not be rescued.
(Pin 7, S3. --Vol. Ufa*. 1, 8. >-vni. Son of tnc
preceding, consul under Claudius, A. D. 54. --IX. A
consul with M.
Ulpian Trajanus, the subsequent em-
peror. He was induced to engage with wild beasts
in the arena, and, proving successful, was put to death
by I Kimitian. who was jealous of his strength.
Acntis, now the A. grt~, a river of Lucania, rising
near Abxllinum Marsicum, and falling into the Sinus
Tarentinus. Near its mouth stood Heraclea
AcijfDVNrs. Vid. Supplement.
Acts, a Sicilian shepherd, son of Faunus and the
nymph Sinuethis. He gained the affections of Gala-!
tea, but his rival Polyphemus, through jealousy, crush- j
ed him to death with a fragment of rock, which he
hurled upon him. Ac-is -was changed into a stream,'
which retained his name. According to Scrvius (ml.
Ytrg. Etlog. 9, 39) it was also called Acilius. Cluve-;
rius places it about two miles distant from the modern
Castcilo di Acci. Fazcllus, however, without much
reason, assigns the name of Acis to the Fiumc Frcdtlo,:
near Toormma. Sir Richard Hoare describes the
Acis of Cluverins as a limpid though small stream.
Th~ story of Acis is given byOvid(i>frf. 13, 750, scq. )
ACOETES. Vid. Supplement.
AcoMtjilTcs. Vid. Nicetas.
AcowrTcs, a youth of Cea, who, when he went to
Deloa to sacrifice to Diana, fell in love with Cydippe,
a beautiful virgin, and, being unable to obtain her, by
reason of his poverty, had recourse to a stratagem.
A sacred law obliged every one to fulfil whatever
promise they had made in the temple of the goddess;
and Acontius having procured an apple or quince,
wrote on it the following words: "I swear by Diana
I will wed Acontiua. " This he threw before her. The
nur-c took it up, and handed it to Cydippe, who read
alouil the inscription, and then threw the apple away'.
After some time, when Cydippe's father was about to;
give her in marriage to another, she was taken ill just
before the nuptial ceremony. Acontius thereupon has-
tened to Athens, and, the Delphic oracle having decla-
red that the illness of Cydippe was the punishment of
her perjury, the parties were united.
ACORIS. Vid. Supplement.
ACBA, I. a village on the Cimmerian Bosporus.
(StraJt. , p. 494. )--II. A promontory and town of Scyth-
t. Minor, now Ekerne or Cavarna.
Ac H RADIX A, one of the five divisions of Syracuse,
and deriving its name from the wild pear-trees with
which it once abounded (uxpw;, a mid pear-tree). It
is sometimes called the citadel of Syracuse, but in-
correctly, although a strongly fortified quarter. It was
very thickly inhabited, and contained many fine build-
ings, yielding only to Ortygia. (Laporlc Du. Theil,
? ? fJ Strab. . vol 2. ,"p- 358, not. 3, French traral. ) As
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? ACR
ACT
d, 3), that the inhabitants were supposed to live be-
yond the usual time allotted to man. (Compare Thu-
cyd. 4, 109. --Scylax. p. 36 -- Steph. Byz. s. v. 'Aduc.
--Strab. cpit. lib. 7, 331. )
Acroceracnia, or Acroceraunii Montes. Vid. Ce-
raunia.
Acrocorinthus, a high hill, overhanging the city of
Corinth, on which was erected a citadel, called also by
the same name. This situation was so important a
one as to be styled by Philip the fetters of Greece.
The fortress was surprised by Antigonus, but recover-
ed in a brilliant manner by Aratus. (Strab. 8, 380. --
Paus. 2, i--Plut. Vit. Aral. --Stat. Theb. 7, r. 106. )
*' The Acrocorinthus, or>> Acropolis of Corinth," ob-
serves Dodwell, "is one of the finest objects in
Greece, and, if properly garrisoned, would be a place
of great strength and importance. It abounds with
excellent water, is in most parts precipitous, and there
is only one spot from which it can be annoyed with ar-
tillery. This is a pointed rock, at a few hundred yards
to the southwest of it, from whence it was battered by
Mohammed II. Before the introduction of artillery,
it was deemed almost impregnable, and had never been
taken except by treachery or surprise. Owing to its
natural strength, a small number of men was deemed
sufficient to garrison it; and in the time of Aratus,
according to Plutarch, it was defended by 400 soldiers,
50 dogs, and as many keepers. It was surrounded
with a wall by Cleomenes. It shoots up majestically
from the plain to a considerable height, and forms a
conspicuous object at a great distance: it is clearly
seen from Athens, from which it is not less than forty-
four miles in a direct line. Strabo affirms that it is
3 1-2 stadia in perpendicular height, but that the ascent
to the top is 30 stadia by the road, the circuitous in-
flections of which render this no extravagant computa-
tion. The Acrocorinthus contains within its walls a
town and three mosques. Athemrus commends the
water in the Acrocorinthus as the most salubrious in
Greece. It was at this fount that Pegasus was drink-
ing when taken by Bellerophon. " (Dodwell, vol. 2,
p. 187. ) All modern travellers who have visited this
spdt, give a glowing description of the view obtained
from the ridge. Consult, in particular, Clarke's Trav-
els, vol. 6, p. 750.
Acros, I. a king of the Cffininenscs, whom Romu-
lus slew in battle, after the affair of the Sabine women.
His arms were dedicated to Jupiter Feretrius, and his
subjects were incorporated with the Roman people.
(Pint. Vit. Rom. ) Propertius styles him Cantnus
Acron, from the name of his city and people (4, 10, 7),
and also Herculcus (4, 10, 9), from the circumstance
of all the Sabine race tracing their descent from Her-
cules or Sancus. --II. A celebrated physician of Agri-
gentum in Sicily, contemporary with Empedocles
(Diog. Lacrt. 8, 65). Plutarch speaks of his having
been at Athens during the time of the great plague,
which occurred B. C. 430. He aided the Athenians
on that occasion, by causing large fires to be kindled
in their streets. (Ptut. Is. ct Os. 383. ) Acron is
generally regarded as the founder of the sect of Em-
pirics or Experimentalists (Pseud. Gal. Isag. 372).
As this school of medicine, however, had a much la-
ter date, it is probable that he was merely one of the
class of physicians called nepioicvrai, who did not
confine themselves to mere theory, but went round
and visited patients. His contempt for the mysterious
? ? charlatanism of Empedocles drew upon him the hatred
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? ACT
, according to Diodorus Siculus (5, 57), migrated
from Rhodes into Egypt, founded Heliopolis, and
Uii'ui the Egyptians astrology. The same writer
sine*, thai, the Greeks, having- lost by a deluge nearly
ill t'icu memorials of" previous events, became ignorant
oC their claim to the invention of the science in ques-
tion, and allowed the Egyptians to arrogate it tothem-
<<e! Tfes. "Wesseling considers this a mere fable, based
on the national vanity of the Greeks, who, it is well
known, inverted so many of" the ancient traditions, and
ia this case, for example, made that pass from Greece
into Egypt, which came in reality from Egypt to
Greece. " (We**, ad JDiod. Sic. I. c. )
AcnsI. vEs. according to Diodorus Siculus (1, 60),
a king of . Ethiopia, who conquered Egypt and de-
throneJ Aniasis. He was remarkable for his modera-
tion towards his new subjects, as well as for his jus-
tice and equity. All the robbers and malefactors, too,
were collected from every part of the kingdom, and,
taring had their noses cut off, were established in
Kninoco/ura, a city which, he had founded for the pur-
pose of receiving them. 'We must read, no doubt,
with Stephens and Wesseling, in the text of Diodorus,
'A? txtiHrt? instead of *A. [2. a<rt? , for the successor of
Aprics cannot here be meant. Who the Actisanes of
Dtodjrus was, appears to be undetermined. Accord-
ing to Wesseling (jad, loc. ), Strabo is the only other
writer that makes mention of him. (Strabo. 759. )
ACTIUM, originally the name of a small neck of
bad, called also -Veto (" AKTV/), at the entrance of the
Sinus Ambraeius, on ? which the inhabitants of Anacto-
TTSSI had erected a small temple in honour of Apollo.
On the outer side of this same promontory was a small
hvbrKir. the usual rendezvous of vessels which did not
wick to enter the bay. Scylax (p. 13) calls this har-
bour Act*. Thucydides, however, applies this name
to the temple itself. Polybius (4, 03) makes mention
of th? temple, under the appellation of Actium, and
ry-ifci of it as belonging to the Acamanians. Actium
Veeane famous, in a later age, for the decisive victory
which Augustus gained in this quarter over the fleet of
Marc Antony. From the accounts given of it by the
Romin ? writers, Actium appears to have been, about
like tim? of this battle, nothing more than a temple on
m height, with a small harbour below. The conqueror
teauuned the sacred edifice, and very probably a num-
ber of small buildings began after this to arise in the vi-
cinity of the temple. (S'raJ>. 325. --Sueton. Vil. Aug.
17. --Cic. ep. ad faun. . 16, 9. ) Hence Strabo (451)
? jnfies to it the epithet of xu>PLOV- I' never, however,
beeun? a regular city, although an inattentive reader
? Wild be likely to form this opinion from the language
of Mela (2, 3) and Pliny (4, 1). Both these writers,
however, in fact, confound it with Nicopolis. There
are no traces of the temple at the present day, but
Fbnquerille found some remains of the Hippodrome
? ad Stadium. More within the Sinus Amhraciiu
(Gmif of Aria) lies the small village of Azto. Hence
prakabiy, according to Mannert, originated the error
of J)"AnvilIe, who places Actium, in contradiction to
i/l ancient authorities, at some distance within the
i>>T ( Vid. Nicopolis, and compare Mannert, 8, 70.
