Cicero's translation is lost, with
the exception of some fragments.
the exception of some fragments.
Charles - 1867 - Classical Dictionary
)
AqcTxm. I. a town of Cisalpine Gaul, south of Mu-
tina, oiModena. ( PUn. , 3,15. ) It is placed by Clu-
yerius at the modern Actfuo. no. --II. A city of Latium,
on the Latin Way. a little beyond the place where the
load crosses the JLiris and Melfis. It is now Aquino.
Both Strabo (337) and SUius Italius (8, 404) describe
it as a large city. Aquinum was the birthplace of Ju-
lenil. as that poet bimaelf informs us. (,'? >'. ;/. . 3,318. )
Here also was born the Emperor Pescenniug Niger,
and in modern times the celebrated Thomas Aquinas.
The place was. famous for its purple dye. (Herat. ,
Ef, 10, 26. )
AQtiTiNiA, a country of Gaul between the Garum-
naor Garonne, and the Pyrenees. As it was less than
either of the other two divisions of Gaul, Augustus ex-
tended it to the Ligeris or Loire. (Vid. Gallia. ) The
Aquilani, according to Strabo (190), differed from the
Gallic race both in physical constitution and in lan-
guage. They resembled, he tells us, the Iberians ra-
ther than the Gauls. According to Csesar, the Aqui-
tini. besides a peculiar idiom of their own, had also
peculiar institutions. Now. historical facts inform us
that these institutions bore, for the most part, the Ibe-
rian character; that the natiolfel attire was Iberian;
that there were the strongest ties of amity and alliance
between the Aquitariie and Iberian tribes. Wo find,
then, an accordance between historical proofs ami those
deduced from an examination of languages, to warrant
the belief that the Aquitani were of Iberian extraction.
(Consult Thierry, Hist, de* Gaul. , vol. 1, p. xxiii. , In-
trod. --Id. , vol. 2, p. 11, teqq. )
Am LBODCKINSIS, an altar erected to Augustus,
at the confluence of the Arar and Rhone, near the city
of Lutjdunom or Li/ons, by Hixty Gallic communities.
It was reared after the tumult excited in Gaul by the
proclaiming of the census had been quelled by Drusus.
{Lit-, Epit. , 137. -- Strab. , 192. ) The spot became
famous under Caligula for the literary contests which
took place there. A crowd of orators and poets flock-
ed to the scene from the remotest quarters of the em-
pire, notwithstanding the severity of the regulations
which are said to have prevailed here. The vanquish-
ed were compelled to bestow rewards upon the victors,
and compose pieces in their praise; while those whose
productions showed least talent were obliged to efface
? ? their own writings with a sponge or with the tongue,
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:05 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ARA
ARA
Yemen and a part of the desert of Arabia lived in
cities, and practised agriculture: they had commerce
also with the East Indies, Persia, Syria, and Abys-
sinia. The rest of the population then, as now, led a
wandering life in the deserts. --The religion of the Ara-
bians, in the time of their ignorance (as they call the
period before Mohammed), was, in general, adoration
of the heavenly bodies, or Sabaism; varying much,
however, in the different tribes, each of whom select-
ed a different constellation as the highest object of
worship. --For a thousand years the Arabians manful-
ly defended the freedom, faith, and manners of their
fathers against all the attacks of the Eastern conquer-
ors, protected by deserts and seas, as well as by their
own arms. Neither the Babylonian and Assyrian, nor
the Egyptian and Persian kings, could bring them un-
der their yoke. At last they wero overcome by Alex-
ander the Great; but immediately after his death,
they took advantage of the disunion of his generals and
successors to recover their independence. At this
period the northern provinces of the country were bold
enough to extend their dominion beyond the limits of
Arabia. The Arabian Nomades, especially in winter,
made deep inroads into the fertile Irak or Chaldea.
They finally conquered a portion of it, which is hence
still railed Irak Araby. Thence the tribe of Hareth
advanced into Syria, and settled in the country of Gas-
san, whence they received the appellation of Gassan-
ides. Three centuries after Alexander, the Romans
approached these limits. The divided Arabians Could
not resist the Roman arms everywhere successfully;
their country, however, was not completely reduced to
a province; the northern princes, at least, maintain-
ing a virtual independence of the emperors. The old
Homeyrites in Yemen, against whom an unsuccessful
war was carried on in the time of Augustus, preserved
their liberty. Their chief city, Saba, was destroyed
by a flood. With the weakness of the Roman gov-
ernment, the struggle for absolute independence in-
creased, which a union of all the Arabian tribes would
have easily gained; but, weakened and scattered as
they were, they spent several centuries in this contest,
during which the mountainous country of the interior
(Nedschid) became the theatre of those chivalrous
deeds so often sung by Arabian poets, till a man of
extraordinary energy united them by communicating
to them his own ardour, and union was followed by
augmented force. --Christianity early found many ad-
herents here, and there were even several bishops who
acknowledged as their metropolis Bosro in Palestine,
on the borders of Arabia. Yet the original worship
of the stars could not be entirely abolished. The for-
mer opposition of the Arabians to the despotism of
Rome drew to them a multitude of heretics, who had
been persecuted in the orthodox empire of the East,
especially the Monophysites and the Nestorians, who
were scattered through all the East; and the religious
enthusiasm of those exiles rekindled the flame of op-
position. The Jews also, after the destruction of Je-
rusalem, became very numerous in this country, and
made many proselytes, particularly in Yemen. The
last king of the Homeyrites (Hamjarites) was of the
Jewish faith, and his persecutions of the Christians,
A. D. 502, involved him in a war with the King of ^Ethi-
opia, which cost him his life and his throne. To the
indifference excited by so great a variety of sects is to
be referred the quick success of Mohammed in es-
? ? tablishing a new religion. He raised the Arabians to
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:05 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? AR? ARATUS.
b-fore and after the time of Alexander. Through this
country, moreover, lay the nearest and safest route to
India Syburtius, the Greek governor after Alexan-
der's death, cultivated friendly relations with the Indian
monarch Sarjdrocottug, and Megasthenes was often
sent by him to the court of the latter. (Arrian, 5, 6. )
The ancient Arachosia answers to the modern Aro-
khage. (Mannert, 5, pt. 2, p. 76. )
A<<achOt. b and Arachoti, the inhabitants of Ara-
chosia. (Vtd. Arachosia. ) They are styled Atvox-
Aatvoi, from their linen attire. {Dwnys. Pcneg. ,
1096. --Compare Eustath. , ad loc. --Aman, 3, 23. )
Arachotus, I. or Arachosia, the chief city of Ara-
chosia, called also Cophe (KupjJ), and said to have
been built by Semiramis. It did not lie, as some re-
mark, on the river Arachotus, but a considerable dis-
tance east of it, on a road leading in a northern direction
towards the modern Candahar. (Manncrt, 5, pt. 2, p.
80)--II. A river of Arachosia, rising in the hills
northeast of the modern Gazni, and losing itself in a
marsh about four miles to the south of Candahar. Its
modem name, according to Wahl, is Naodah. D'An-
ville, however, makes it Kare. (Isid, Charac. ap.
Geogr. Gr. Min. , vol 2, p. 8. --Plin. , 6, 23. )
Auchthos, AnySTHi-8, or Arkthon, a riverof Epi- ' _
ros, flowing from that. part of the chain of Pindus which ' the heavenly bodies, their names, movements, &c
belonged to the ancient Tymphs;i, and running by The materials for this production he is said to have
Ambracia into the Ambracian Gulf. Lycophron (>>. principally derived from the works of Eudoxus of Cni-
409). who calls it Aratlius ("Anatdoc), speaks of it as dus, who wrote two treatises on the celestial bodies
the boundary of Greece on this side. Ambracia, | and phenomena, one entitled 'Evonrpov, or " the Mir-
therefore, being always accounted a city of Greece ror," and the other Qaivoutva. (Buhle, Ac Aral.
Proper, must have stood on its left bank. We cannot, j Scrip/. Comment. , p. 466. ) What other writers he
therefore, admit, with Pouquevillc, that this city occu- followed besides Eudoxus, cannot now be ascertained,
pied the site of Rcfrous, since that ruined fortress is j Salmasius, indeed, insists that he did not follow Eu-
situated on the right bank of the Luro river, which doxus at all, but Phainus or Meton (Salm. ad Solin. ,
Ar^e Phil<enorum. Vid. Philami.
Arab, a very slow, smooth-running river of Gaul.
It rises near Mons Vogesus, and, after a southern
course, falls into the Rhodanus at Lugdunum. (Cms. ,
B. G. , 1, 12. --Plin. , 3, 4. ) Ammianus Marcellinus,
who flourished towards the close of the fourth century
of our era, first calls the Arar by the name of Saucona,
speaking of this latter as a common appellation on the
part of the inhabitants in that quarter, "Ararim, quern
Sauconam appellant" (15, 11). Gregory of Tours, at
a later period, styles it Saugona; and from this comes
the modern French appellation Saone. (Compare Le-
mairc, Index Geogr. , ad Cas. Comm. , p. 190. )
Aratea, a festival celebrated at Sicyon, upon the
birthday of Aratus, and in memory of that distinguish-
ed patriot. (Plut. , Vxl. Aral. , 63. )
Aratus, I. a Greek poet, born at Soli (Pompeiopo-
lis) in Cilicia. He flourished about 270 B. C. , was
a favourite of Ptolemy Philadelphus, and a firm friend
to Antigonus Gonatas, son of Demetrius Poliorcetes.
He was also a contemporary of Theocritus, who makes
mention of him in the sixth and seventh Idyls, and
was on very friendly terms with him. At the instance
of Antigonus, Aratus composed an astronomical poem,
entitled Qaivoueva, "Appearances," and treating of
that writer considers to be the Arachthus. That the
Araehthus is a considerable stream, may be inferred
from Livy, who relates (43, 21) that Perseus, king of
Macedon, was detained on its banks by high floods, on
his way to Acarnania. [Cramer's Ancient Greece,
vol. I, p. 151, seqq. )
Aracy. vthus, I. a chain of mountains in ^Etolia,
runningin a southeasterly direction from the Achelous
? ? to the Evenus. Its present name is Mount Zigos.
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:05 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ARATUS.
opagus (Acts, 17, 28), a circumstance which entitled
the poet to great favour among the fathers of the
church, although it is evident that the Apostle makes
no allusion to his poetic merit. M. Delambrc re-
marks, in speaking of Aratui, that he has "transmitted
to us almost all that Greece at that time knew of the
heavens, or, at least, all that could be put into verse.
The perusal of Autolycus or Euclid gives more infor-
mation on the subject to him who wishes to become
an astronomer. Their notions are more precise and
more geometrical. The principal merit of Aratus is
the description he has left us of the constellations;
and yet, even with this description to aid us, one
would be much puzzled to construct a celestial chart
or globe. " (Delambrc, Histoirc dc I'Astronomte An
cicnnc, vol. l,p. 74. )--The two poems of Aratus were
thrice translated into Latin verse, first by Cicero, sec-
ondly by Gcrmanicus, of the line of the Ctesars, and
thirdly by Avicnus.
Cicero's translation is lost, with
the exception of some fragments. The translation, or,
rather, imitation of the Phenomena by Germanicus,
and his commencement of the Diosemea, as well as
the version of Avicnus, remain to us. Virgil, also, in
his Georgics, is under many obligations to our poet.
Although Aratus has been accused of possessing but
a slight acquaintance with the subject on which he
treats, still a number of mathematicians united them-
selves with the grammarians in commenting on his
work. Many of these commentaries are lost: we still
have, however, four remaining; one by Hipparchus of
Nicffia, another by Achilles Tatius; the other two arc
anonymous, for those are in error who attribute one of
them to Eratosthenes. Aratus wrote many other
works, which have not come down to us. They treat-
ed of physical, astronomical, grammatical, critical,
and poetic themes, and a list of them is given by one
of his editors, Buhlc (vol. 2, p. 455, scqi/. )--The best
editions of this poet are, that of Buhle, Lips. , 1793-
1801, 2 vols. 8vo, and that of Matthias, Franco/. ,
1817-1818. We have also a German version by J.
H. Voss, Hcidclb. , 1824, published with the Greek
text and illustrations. --II. A celebrated Grecian pa-
triot, born at Sicyon, B. C. 273. When he was but
seven years of age, his father Clinias, who held the
government of Sicyon, was assassinated by Abantidas,
who succeeded in making himself absolute. Aratus
took refuge in Argos, where he was concealed by the
friends of the family, and where he devoted himself
with great success to physical exercises, gaining
the prize in the five exercises of the pentathlum.
After some revolutions and changes of rulers at Sicy-
on, the government came into the hands of Nicocles,
when Aratus, then hardly twenty years of age, formed
the project of freeing his country, and, having assem-
bled some exiles, surprised the city of Sicyon. The
tyrant having fled, Aratus gave liberty to his fellow-
citizens, and induced them to join the Achtean league,
still as yet feeble, and only in the twenty-fourth year
of its existence. The return of the exiles, however,
occasioned much trouble at Sicyon; those who had
purchased their property refused to restore it, and Ara-
tusdvas compelled to have recourse to Ptolemy Phil-
adelphus, to whom he had rendered some services,
and who gave him 150 talents, with which he indem-
nified the new possessors, and restored their property
to his fellow-exiles. Being chosen, for the second
time, Prator of the Acha? ans, 244 B. C. , he seized by
surprise on the citadel of Corinth, which Antigonus
? ? had guarded with great care as one of the key s of the
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:05 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ARC
river cf Upper Asia, mentioned by Herodotus (1,202),
and supposed by the most recent inquirers into this
subject to be the same with the modern Volga.
(Bttekr, ad Herod. , I. e. --Compare the remarks of the
same editor, in the note to the Index Rerum, vol. 4,
P- 454, seqq. ) The name Araxes appears to have
been originally an appellative term for A river, in the
earlier language of the East, and hence we find it ap-
plied to several streams in ancient Oriental geography.
(Compire Heeren, Idecn, vol. 1, p. 55. -- Hitter, Erd-
kande, vol. 2, p. 658 )
ArbIces, a Median officer, who conspired with
Belesis, the most distinguished member of the Chal-
dsn sacerdotal college, against Sardanapalus, king of
Assyria. After several reverses, he finally succeeded
in his object, defeated Sardanapalus near Nineveh,
took this city, and reigned in it for the space of twen-
ty-eight years. "With him commenced a dynasty of
eight kings, of whom A? padas or Astyages was the
last. The empire which Arbaces founded was a fed-
erative one, composed of several sovereignties which
had arisen from the ruins of the Assyrian monarchy.
The kingly power, though hereditary, was not abso-
lute, the monarch not having the power to change any
of the laws enacted by the confederate princes. Chro-
nologists are not agreed as to the period of the revolt
of Arbaces. Most place it under or about the archon-
ship of Ariphron, the 9th perpetual archon of Athens;
but they differ again about the precise period of this
archonship, some assigning it to 917 B. C. , others to
833 B. C. (Diod. Sic, 2, 24. -- Veil. Palerc. , 1, 6. --
Justin, 1, 1. --fetao. , Doetr. Temp. , I. 9. )
Akbel-1, a city of Assyria, in the province of Adi-
abene, east of Ninus, near the Zabatus, or Zab. On
the opposite side of this river, near Isbil, was fought
the decisive battle of Arbcla, between Alexander and
Darius, October 2, B. C. 331. The field of battle was
the plain of Gaugamela. The latter, however, being
. an obscure place, this conflict was named after Arbcla.
{Sirabo. 399. Diod. Sic, 17, 53--Arrian, 3, 6. )
Aebusccla, an actress on the Roman stage, who,
being hissed, on one occasion, by the lower orders of
toe people, observed, with great spirit, that she-cared
nothing for the rabble, as long as she pleased the more
enlightened part of her audience among the equestrian
ranks. iHorat. , Scrm. , 1,10, 77. )
Arcadia, a country in the centre of the Peloponne-
sus, and, next to Laconia, the largest of its six prov-
inces. It was a mountainous region, and contained
the sources of most of the considerable rivers which
flow into the seas surrounding the Peloponnesus.
From its elevated situation, and the broken face of
the country, intersected by small streams, it had a cold
and foggy climate during some seasons; in the plain
of Argos. only one day's journey from the centre of
Arcadia, the sun shines and the violets bloom, while
? now is on the hills of Arcadia, and in the plain of
Mantinea and Tegea. The most fertile part was to-
wards the south, where the country sloped off, and
contained many fruitful vales and numerous streams.
This account of the land may serve in some degree to
explain the character which the Arcadians had among
the ancient Greeks: some of those who now occupy
this district seem to be as rude as many of the former
possessors. Their country is better adapted to pas-
turage than cultivation, and the Arcadians, who were
scarcely a genuine Greek race, continued their pastoral
habits and retained their rude manners amid their na-
? ? tive mountains. To their pastoral mode of life may
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:05 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ARC
cuted the virtuous Chrysostom, patriarch of Constan-
tinople. Arcadius was in succession the tool of all
these designing individuals. He saw, with equal in-
difference, Alaric ravaging his territories, his subjects
groaning under oppression, the succours brought him
by Stilicho, general of Honorius, rendered of no avail
by the perfidy of his own ministers, the best citizens
falling by his proscriptions, and, finally, Arianism des-
olating the religion which Chrysostom in vain attempt-
ed to defend. Such was the reign of this prince,
which lasted for fourteen years. He died A. D. 408,
at the age of thirty-one. Nature had given him an
exterior corresponding to his character; a small, ill-
made, disagreeable person, an air of imbecility, a lazy
enunciation, everything, in fact, announcing the weak-
est and most cowardly of emperors. He had by his
wife Eudoxia a son named Theodosius, who succeed-
ed him as the second of that name. (Socrat. , Hist.
Eeelcs. , 5. --Catfiod. , Chron. , &c. )
1 ARCAS, a son of Jupiter and Callisto. (Vid. Cal-
listo. ) The fabulous legend relative to him and his
mother is given by the ancient writers with great dif-
ference in the circumstances. According to the most
common account, Jupiter changed Callisto into a bear,
to screen her from the jealousy of Juno, and Areas
her son was separated from her and reared among
men. When grown up, he chanced to meet his moth-
er in the woods, in her transformed state, and \vas on
the point of slaughtering her, but Jupiter interfered,
and translated both the parent and son to the skies.
Areas, previously to this, had succeeded Nyctimus in
the government of Arcadia, the land receiving this
name first from him. He was the friend of Triptole-
mus, who taught him agriculture, which he introduced
among his subjects. He also showed them how to
manufacture wool, an art which he had learned from
Aristoeus. (Apollod. , 3/8. --Ot>. , Met. , 2, 401, scqq. )
ARCE, a city of Phoenicia, north of Tripolis, and
south of Antaradus. It was the birthplace of Alexan-
der Severus, the Roman emperor. (Lamprid. , Vit.
Alex. , c. 5. --Plin. , 5, 18. ) The name is sometimes
given as Arc<<e. (Socrat. , Hist. Eecles. , 7, 36. )
ARCESILAUS, I. son of Battus, king of Cyrene, was
driven from his kingdom in a sedition, and died B. C.
675. The second of that name died B. C. 550.
(Polyan. , 8, 41. --Herodot. , 4, 159. )--II. A philoso-
pher, bom at Pitane, in . Hulls, and the founder of
what was termed the Middle Academy. The period
of his birth is usually given as 316 B. C. , while ac-
cording to Apollodorus, as cited by Diogenes Laertius
(4, 45), he flourished about B. C. 299. If these num-
bers are accurate, he must have had an early reputa-
tion, as he would at the latter date have been only
seventeen years of age. There is therefore some er-
ror here in the remark of Apollodorus. (Clinton's
fasti Hcllcnici, vol. 1, p. 179, and 367, not. ) Arccs-
ilaus at first applied himself to rhetoric, but subse-
quently passed to the study of philosophy, in which
he had for teachers, first Thcophrastus, then Crantor
the Academician, and probably also Polemo. (Diog.
Latrt. , 4, 24, 29. -- Ctc. . Acad. , 1, 9. ) The state-
ment of Numenius (ap. Eus. , Pr. En. , 14, 5), that
Arcesilaus was the disciple of Polemo at the same
time with Zeno, appears to be ill-grounded, and to in-
volve great chronological difficulties. It is very prob-
ably a mere fiction, designed to suggest some outward
motive for the controversial relation of the Porch and
the-Academy. --Besides the instructors above named,
? ? Arcesilaus is also said to have diligently attended the
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:05 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ARC
10 that splendour and luxury which the prevailing
rieirs of morality allowed and sanctioned. His
dooba, therefore, as to the possibility of arriving at a
knowledge of the truth, may probably have had no
higher source than a high idea of science, derived
periapt from his study of Plato's works, and compared
? ilh which all human thought may have appeared at
best bat a probable conjecture. --Arcesilaus continued
to Boorish as late as the 134th Olympiad, B. C. 244.
(Katm'i Ptuti UeUcnici, vol. 1, p. 179.
AqcTxm. I. a town of Cisalpine Gaul, south of Mu-
tina, oiModena. ( PUn. , 3,15. ) It is placed by Clu-
yerius at the modern Actfuo. no. --II. A city of Latium,
on the Latin Way. a little beyond the place where the
load crosses the JLiris and Melfis. It is now Aquino.
Both Strabo (337) and SUius Italius (8, 404) describe
it as a large city. Aquinum was the birthplace of Ju-
lenil. as that poet bimaelf informs us. (,'? >'. ;/. . 3,318. )
Here also was born the Emperor Pescenniug Niger,
and in modern times the celebrated Thomas Aquinas.
The place was. famous for its purple dye. (Herat. ,
Ef, 10, 26. )
AQtiTiNiA, a country of Gaul between the Garum-
naor Garonne, and the Pyrenees. As it was less than
either of the other two divisions of Gaul, Augustus ex-
tended it to the Ligeris or Loire. (Vid. Gallia. ) The
Aquilani, according to Strabo (190), differed from the
Gallic race both in physical constitution and in lan-
guage. They resembled, he tells us, the Iberians ra-
ther than the Gauls. According to Csesar, the Aqui-
tini. besides a peculiar idiom of their own, had also
peculiar institutions. Now. historical facts inform us
that these institutions bore, for the most part, the Ibe-
rian character; that the natiolfel attire was Iberian;
that there were the strongest ties of amity and alliance
between the Aquitariie and Iberian tribes. Wo find,
then, an accordance between historical proofs ami those
deduced from an examination of languages, to warrant
the belief that the Aquitani were of Iberian extraction.
(Consult Thierry, Hist, de* Gaul. , vol. 1, p. xxiii. , In-
trod. --Id. , vol. 2, p. 11, teqq. )
Am LBODCKINSIS, an altar erected to Augustus,
at the confluence of the Arar and Rhone, near the city
of Lutjdunom or Li/ons, by Hixty Gallic communities.
It was reared after the tumult excited in Gaul by the
proclaiming of the census had been quelled by Drusus.
{Lit-, Epit. , 137. -- Strab. , 192. ) The spot became
famous under Caligula for the literary contests which
took place there. A crowd of orators and poets flock-
ed to the scene from the remotest quarters of the em-
pire, notwithstanding the severity of the regulations
which are said to have prevailed here. The vanquish-
ed were compelled to bestow rewards upon the victors,
and compose pieces in their praise; while those whose
productions showed least talent were obliged to efface
? ? their own writings with a sponge or with the tongue,
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:05 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ARA
ARA
Yemen and a part of the desert of Arabia lived in
cities, and practised agriculture: they had commerce
also with the East Indies, Persia, Syria, and Abys-
sinia. The rest of the population then, as now, led a
wandering life in the deserts. --The religion of the Ara-
bians, in the time of their ignorance (as they call the
period before Mohammed), was, in general, adoration
of the heavenly bodies, or Sabaism; varying much,
however, in the different tribes, each of whom select-
ed a different constellation as the highest object of
worship. --For a thousand years the Arabians manful-
ly defended the freedom, faith, and manners of their
fathers against all the attacks of the Eastern conquer-
ors, protected by deserts and seas, as well as by their
own arms. Neither the Babylonian and Assyrian, nor
the Egyptian and Persian kings, could bring them un-
der their yoke. At last they wero overcome by Alex-
ander the Great; but immediately after his death,
they took advantage of the disunion of his generals and
successors to recover their independence. At this
period the northern provinces of the country were bold
enough to extend their dominion beyond the limits of
Arabia. The Arabian Nomades, especially in winter,
made deep inroads into the fertile Irak or Chaldea.
They finally conquered a portion of it, which is hence
still railed Irak Araby. Thence the tribe of Hareth
advanced into Syria, and settled in the country of Gas-
san, whence they received the appellation of Gassan-
ides. Three centuries after Alexander, the Romans
approached these limits. The divided Arabians Could
not resist the Roman arms everywhere successfully;
their country, however, was not completely reduced to
a province; the northern princes, at least, maintain-
ing a virtual independence of the emperors. The old
Homeyrites in Yemen, against whom an unsuccessful
war was carried on in the time of Augustus, preserved
their liberty. Their chief city, Saba, was destroyed
by a flood. With the weakness of the Roman gov-
ernment, the struggle for absolute independence in-
creased, which a union of all the Arabian tribes would
have easily gained; but, weakened and scattered as
they were, they spent several centuries in this contest,
during which the mountainous country of the interior
(Nedschid) became the theatre of those chivalrous
deeds so often sung by Arabian poets, till a man of
extraordinary energy united them by communicating
to them his own ardour, and union was followed by
augmented force. --Christianity early found many ad-
herents here, and there were even several bishops who
acknowledged as their metropolis Bosro in Palestine,
on the borders of Arabia. Yet the original worship
of the stars could not be entirely abolished. The for-
mer opposition of the Arabians to the despotism of
Rome drew to them a multitude of heretics, who had
been persecuted in the orthodox empire of the East,
especially the Monophysites and the Nestorians, who
were scattered through all the East; and the religious
enthusiasm of those exiles rekindled the flame of op-
position. The Jews also, after the destruction of Je-
rusalem, became very numerous in this country, and
made many proselytes, particularly in Yemen. The
last king of the Homeyrites (Hamjarites) was of the
Jewish faith, and his persecutions of the Christians,
A. D. 502, involved him in a war with the King of ^Ethi-
opia, which cost him his life and his throne. To the
indifference excited by so great a variety of sects is to
be referred the quick success of Mohammed in es-
? ? tablishing a new religion. He raised the Arabians to
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:05 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? AR? ARATUS.
b-fore and after the time of Alexander. Through this
country, moreover, lay the nearest and safest route to
India Syburtius, the Greek governor after Alexan-
der's death, cultivated friendly relations with the Indian
monarch Sarjdrocottug, and Megasthenes was often
sent by him to the court of the latter. (Arrian, 5, 6. )
The ancient Arachosia answers to the modern Aro-
khage. (Mannert, 5, pt. 2, p. 76. )
A<<achOt. b and Arachoti, the inhabitants of Ara-
chosia. (Vtd. Arachosia. ) They are styled Atvox-
Aatvoi, from their linen attire. {Dwnys. Pcneg. ,
1096. --Compare Eustath. , ad loc. --Aman, 3, 23. )
Arachotus, I. or Arachosia, the chief city of Ara-
chosia, called also Cophe (KupjJ), and said to have
been built by Semiramis. It did not lie, as some re-
mark, on the river Arachotus, but a considerable dis-
tance east of it, on a road leading in a northern direction
towards the modern Candahar. (Manncrt, 5, pt. 2, p.
80)--II. A river of Arachosia, rising in the hills
northeast of the modern Gazni, and losing itself in a
marsh about four miles to the south of Candahar. Its
modem name, according to Wahl, is Naodah. D'An-
ville, however, makes it Kare. (Isid, Charac. ap.
Geogr. Gr. Min. , vol 2, p. 8. --Plin. , 6, 23. )
Auchthos, AnySTHi-8, or Arkthon, a riverof Epi- ' _
ros, flowing from that. part of the chain of Pindus which ' the heavenly bodies, their names, movements, &c
belonged to the ancient Tymphs;i, and running by The materials for this production he is said to have
Ambracia into the Ambracian Gulf. Lycophron (>>. principally derived from the works of Eudoxus of Cni-
409). who calls it Aratlius ("Anatdoc), speaks of it as dus, who wrote two treatises on the celestial bodies
the boundary of Greece on this side. Ambracia, | and phenomena, one entitled 'Evonrpov, or " the Mir-
therefore, being always accounted a city of Greece ror," and the other Qaivoutva. (Buhle, Ac Aral.
Proper, must have stood on its left bank. We cannot, j Scrip/. Comment. , p. 466. ) What other writers he
therefore, admit, with Pouquevillc, that this city occu- followed besides Eudoxus, cannot now be ascertained,
pied the site of Rcfrous, since that ruined fortress is j Salmasius, indeed, insists that he did not follow Eu-
situated on the right bank of the Luro river, which doxus at all, but Phainus or Meton (Salm. ad Solin. ,
Ar^e Phil<enorum. Vid. Philami.
Arab, a very slow, smooth-running river of Gaul.
It rises near Mons Vogesus, and, after a southern
course, falls into the Rhodanus at Lugdunum. (Cms. ,
B. G. , 1, 12. --Plin. , 3, 4. ) Ammianus Marcellinus,
who flourished towards the close of the fourth century
of our era, first calls the Arar by the name of Saucona,
speaking of this latter as a common appellation on the
part of the inhabitants in that quarter, "Ararim, quern
Sauconam appellant" (15, 11). Gregory of Tours, at
a later period, styles it Saugona; and from this comes
the modern French appellation Saone. (Compare Le-
mairc, Index Geogr. , ad Cas. Comm. , p. 190. )
Aratea, a festival celebrated at Sicyon, upon the
birthday of Aratus, and in memory of that distinguish-
ed patriot. (Plut. , Vxl. Aral. , 63. )
Aratus, I. a Greek poet, born at Soli (Pompeiopo-
lis) in Cilicia. He flourished about 270 B. C. , was
a favourite of Ptolemy Philadelphus, and a firm friend
to Antigonus Gonatas, son of Demetrius Poliorcetes.
He was also a contemporary of Theocritus, who makes
mention of him in the sixth and seventh Idyls, and
was on very friendly terms with him. At the instance
of Antigonus, Aratus composed an astronomical poem,
entitled Qaivoueva, "Appearances," and treating of
that writer considers to be the Arachthus. That the
Araehthus is a considerable stream, may be inferred
from Livy, who relates (43, 21) that Perseus, king of
Macedon, was detained on its banks by high floods, on
his way to Acarnania. [Cramer's Ancient Greece,
vol. I, p. 151, seqq. )
Aracy. vthus, I. a chain of mountains in ^Etolia,
runningin a southeasterly direction from the Achelous
? ? to the Evenus. Its present name is Mount Zigos.
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:05 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ARATUS.
opagus (Acts, 17, 28), a circumstance which entitled
the poet to great favour among the fathers of the
church, although it is evident that the Apostle makes
no allusion to his poetic merit. M. Delambrc re-
marks, in speaking of Aratui, that he has "transmitted
to us almost all that Greece at that time knew of the
heavens, or, at least, all that could be put into verse.
The perusal of Autolycus or Euclid gives more infor-
mation on the subject to him who wishes to become
an astronomer. Their notions are more precise and
more geometrical. The principal merit of Aratus is
the description he has left us of the constellations;
and yet, even with this description to aid us, one
would be much puzzled to construct a celestial chart
or globe. " (Delambrc, Histoirc dc I'Astronomte An
cicnnc, vol. l,p. 74. )--The two poems of Aratus were
thrice translated into Latin verse, first by Cicero, sec-
ondly by Gcrmanicus, of the line of the Ctesars, and
thirdly by Avicnus.
Cicero's translation is lost, with
the exception of some fragments. The translation, or,
rather, imitation of the Phenomena by Germanicus,
and his commencement of the Diosemea, as well as
the version of Avicnus, remain to us. Virgil, also, in
his Georgics, is under many obligations to our poet.
Although Aratus has been accused of possessing but
a slight acquaintance with the subject on which he
treats, still a number of mathematicians united them-
selves with the grammarians in commenting on his
work. Many of these commentaries are lost: we still
have, however, four remaining; one by Hipparchus of
Nicffia, another by Achilles Tatius; the other two arc
anonymous, for those are in error who attribute one of
them to Eratosthenes. Aratus wrote many other
works, which have not come down to us. They treat-
ed of physical, astronomical, grammatical, critical,
and poetic themes, and a list of them is given by one
of his editors, Buhlc (vol. 2, p. 455, scqi/. )--The best
editions of this poet are, that of Buhle, Lips. , 1793-
1801, 2 vols. 8vo, and that of Matthias, Franco/. ,
1817-1818. We have also a German version by J.
H. Voss, Hcidclb. , 1824, published with the Greek
text and illustrations. --II. A celebrated Grecian pa-
triot, born at Sicyon, B. C. 273. When he was but
seven years of age, his father Clinias, who held the
government of Sicyon, was assassinated by Abantidas,
who succeeded in making himself absolute. Aratus
took refuge in Argos, where he was concealed by the
friends of the family, and where he devoted himself
with great success to physical exercises, gaining
the prize in the five exercises of the pentathlum.
After some revolutions and changes of rulers at Sicy-
on, the government came into the hands of Nicocles,
when Aratus, then hardly twenty years of age, formed
the project of freeing his country, and, having assem-
bled some exiles, surprised the city of Sicyon. The
tyrant having fled, Aratus gave liberty to his fellow-
citizens, and induced them to join the Achtean league,
still as yet feeble, and only in the twenty-fourth year
of its existence. The return of the exiles, however,
occasioned much trouble at Sicyon; those who had
purchased their property refused to restore it, and Ara-
tusdvas compelled to have recourse to Ptolemy Phil-
adelphus, to whom he had rendered some services,
and who gave him 150 talents, with which he indem-
nified the new possessors, and restored their property
to his fellow-exiles. Being chosen, for the second
time, Prator of the Acha? ans, 244 B. C. , he seized by
surprise on the citadel of Corinth, which Antigonus
? ? had guarded with great care as one of the key s of the
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:05 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ARC
river cf Upper Asia, mentioned by Herodotus (1,202),
and supposed by the most recent inquirers into this
subject to be the same with the modern Volga.
(Bttekr, ad Herod. , I. e. --Compare the remarks of the
same editor, in the note to the Index Rerum, vol. 4,
P- 454, seqq. ) The name Araxes appears to have
been originally an appellative term for A river, in the
earlier language of the East, and hence we find it ap-
plied to several streams in ancient Oriental geography.
(Compire Heeren, Idecn, vol. 1, p. 55. -- Hitter, Erd-
kande, vol. 2, p. 658 )
ArbIces, a Median officer, who conspired with
Belesis, the most distinguished member of the Chal-
dsn sacerdotal college, against Sardanapalus, king of
Assyria. After several reverses, he finally succeeded
in his object, defeated Sardanapalus near Nineveh,
took this city, and reigned in it for the space of twen-
ty-eight years. "With him commenced a dynasty of
eight kings, of whom A? padas or Astyages was the
last. The empire which Arbaces founded was a fed-
erative one, composed of several sovereignties which
had arisen from the ruins of the Assyrian monarchy.
The kingly power, though hereditary, was not abso-
lute, the monarch not having the power to change any
of the laws enacted by the confederate princes. Chro-
nologists are not agreed as to the period of the revolt
of Arbaces. Most place it under or about the archon-
ship of Ariphron, the 9th perpetual archon of Athens;
but they differ again about the precise period of this
archonship, some assigning it to 917 B. C. , others to
833 B. C. (Diod. Sic, 2, 24. -- Veil. Palerc. , 1, 6. --
Justin, 1, 1. --fetao. , Doetr. Temp. , I. 9. )
Akbel-1, a city of Assyria, in the province of Adi-
abene, east of Ninus, near the Zabatus, or Zab. On
the opposite side of this river, near Isbil, was fought
the decisive battle of Arbcla, between Alexander and
Darius, October 2, B. C. 331. The field of battle was
the plain of Gaugamela. The latter, however, being
. an obscure place, this conflict was named after Arbcla.
{Sirabo. 399. Diod. Sic, 17, 53--Arrian, 3, 6. )
Aebusccla, an actress on the Roman stage, who,
being hissed, on one occasion, by the lower orders of
toe people, observed, with great spirit, that she-cared
nothing for the rabble, as long as she pleased the more
enlightened part of her audience among the equestrian
ranks. iHorat. , Scrm. , 1,10, 77. )
Arcadia, a country in the centre of the Peloponne-
sus, and, next to Laconia, the largest of its six prov-
inces. It was a mountainous region, and contained
the sources of most of the considerable rivers which
flow into the seas surrounding the Peloponnesus.
From its elevated situation, and the broken face of
the country, intersected by small streams, it had a cold
and foggy climate during some seasons; in the plain
of Argos. only one day's journey from the centre of
Arcadia, the sun shines and the violets bloom, while
? now is on the hills of Arcadia, and in the plain of
Mantinea and Tegea. The most fertile part was to-
wards the south, where the country sloped off, and
contained many fruitful vales and numerous streams.
This account of the land may serve in some degree to
explain the character which the Arcadians had among
the ancient Greeks: some of those who now occupy
this district seem to be as rude as many of the former
possessors. Their country is better adapted to pas-
turage than cultivation, and the Arcadians, who were
scarcely a genuine Greek race, continued their pastoral
habits and retained their rude manners amid their na-
? ? tive mountains. To their pastoral mode of life may
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:05 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ARC
cuted the virtuous Chrysostom, patriarch of Constan-
tinople. Arcadius was in succession the tool of all
these designing individuals. He saw, with equal in-
difference, Alaric ravaging his territories, his subjects
groaning under oppression, the succours brought him
by Stilicho, general of Honorius, rendered of no avail
by the perfidy of his own ministers, the best citizens
falling by his proscriptions, and, finally, Arianism des-
olating the religion which Chrysostom in vain attempt-
ed to defend. Such was the reign of this prince,
which lasted for fourteen years. He died A. D. 408,
at the age of thirty-one. Nature had given him an
exterior corresponding to his character; a small, ill-
made, disagreeable person, an air of imbecility, a lazy
enunciation, everything, in fact, announcing the weak-
est and most cowardly of emperors. He had by his
wife Eudoxia a son named Theodosius, who succeed-
ed him as the second of that name. (Socrat. , Hist.
Eeelcs. , 5. --Catfiod. , Chron. , &c. )
1 ARCAS, a son of Jupiter and Callisto. (Vid. Cal-
listo. ) The fabulous legend relative to him and his
mother is given by the ancient writers with great dif-
ference in the circumstances. According to the most
common account, Jupiter changed Callisto into a bear,
to screen her from the jealousy of Juno, and Areas
her son was separated from her and reared among
men. When grown up, he chanced to meet his moth-
er in the woods, in her transformed state, and \vas on
the point of slaughtering her, but Jupiter interfered,
and translated both the parent and son to the skies.
Areas, previously to this, had succeeded Nyctimus in
the government of Arcadia, the land receiving this
name first from him. He was the friend of Triptole-
mus, who taught him agriculture, which he introduced
among his subjects. He also showed them how to
manufacture wool, an art which he had learned from
Aristoeus. (Apollod. , 3/8. --Ot>. , Met. , 2, 401, scqq. )
ARCE, a city of Phoenicia, north of Tripolis, and
south of Antaradus. It was the birthplace of Alexan-
der Severus, the Roman emperor. (Lamprid. , Vit.
Alex. , c. 5. --Plin. , 5, 18. ) The name is sometimes
given as Arc<<e. (Socrat. , Hist. Eecles. , 7, 36. )
ARCESILAUS, I. son of Battus, king of Cyrene, was
driven from his kingdom in a sedition, and died B. C.
675. The second of that name died B. C. 550.
(Polyan. , 8, 41. --Herodot. , 4, 159. )--II. A philoso-
pher, bom at Pitane, in . Hulls, and the founder of
what was termed the Middle Academy. The period
of his birth is usually given as 316 B. C. , while ac-
cording to Apollodorus, as cited by Diogenes Laertius
(4, 45), he flourished about B. C. 299. If these num-
bers are accurate, he must have had an early reputa-
tion, as he would at the latter date have been only
seventeen years of age. There is therefore some er-
ror here in the remark of Apollodorus. (Clinton's
fasti Hcllcnici, vol. 1, p. 179, and 367, not. ) Arccs-
ilaus at first applied himself to rhetoric, but subse-
quently passed to the study of philosophy, in which
he had for teachers, first Thcophrastus, then Crantor
the Academician, and probably also Polemo. (Diog.
Latrt. , 4, 24, 29. -- Ctc. . Acad. , 1, 9. ) The state-
ment of Numenius (ap. Eus. , Pr. En. , 14, 5), that
Arcesilaus was the disciple of Polemo at the same
time with Zeno, appears to be ill-grounded, and to in-
volve great chronological difficulties. It is very prob-
ably a mere fiction, designed to suggest some outward
motive for the controversial relation of the Porch and
the-Academy. --Besides the instructors above named,
? ? Arcesilaus is also said to have diligently attended the
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:05 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ARC
10 that splendour and luxury which the prevailing
rieirs of morality allowed and sanctioned. His
dooba, therefore, as to the possibility of arriving at a
knowledge of the truth, may probably have had no
higher source than a high idea of science, derived
periapt from his study of Plato's works, and compared
? ilh which all human thought may have appeared at
best bat a probable conjecture. --Arcesilaus continued
to Boorish as late as the 134th Olympiad, B. C. 244.
(Katm'i Ptuti UeUcnici, vol. 1, p. 179.
