For this purpose she
persuaded
the women to parch
the seed-corn unknown to their husbands.
the seed-corn unknown to their husbands.
Charles - 1867 - Classical Dictionary
, Hist.
, 5, 20.
--Compare Manner/,
Gtogr, vol. 2. p. 242. )
AREOPI. O! T. S, the judges of the Areopagus, a scat
of justice on a small eminence at Athens. (Vid. Are-
opagus. ) The time in which this celebrated seat of
justice was instituted is unknown. Some suppose that
Cecrops, the founder of Athens, first established it,
while others give the credit of it to Cranaus, and others
to Solon. The constitution and form under which it
appears in history, is certainly not more ancient than
the time of Solon, though he undoubtedly appears to
have availed himself of the sanctity already attached
to the name and place, to ensure to it that influence
and inviolability which were essential to the attain-
ment of its chief object, the maintenance of the laws.
Its original right of judging all cases of homicide con-
tinued, though evidently the least important part of its
duties, since, when Ephialtes had deprived it of all but
that, the Areopagus was thought to be annihilated.
(D-mostli. ade. Aristocr. , p. 642. -- Lex. Rhel. , ap-
pended to Parson's Photius, p. 585, ed. Lips. -- Hcr-
fi&nn't Potit. Anttif , p. 215, not. 6. ) It was not re-
stored to its dignity of guardian of the laws till the
fill of the thirty tyrants. Its office as such was, in
principle, directly opposed to an absolute democracy,
and must have appeared the more formidable to the
partisans of that form, from the indefinite and arbitrary
nature of the merely moral power on which its authority
was founded, and which rendered it impracticable
clearly to define the extent of its influence. In later
times it was found particularly active as a censorship
of morals, and in several respects may be viewed as a
superior court of police, taking cognizance of luxury
and morals, the superintendence of public buildings
and public health, and. in particular, making it its bu-
siness to direct public attention to men who might en-
danger the state, though its own power to inflict pun-
ishment in such cases was very limited. (Hermann,
i c. ) The Areopagus, when originally constituted,
was, as has already been remarked, merely a criminal
tribunal. Solon, guided by motives which cannot now
be easily explained, rendered it superior to the Ephetfe,
another court instituted by Draco, and greatly enlarged
? ? ks jurisdiction. --The number of judges composingthis
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? AKE
ARG
are so truly valuable as to make us deplore the loss we
have sustained by the mutilations they have sutlcred.
His language is in the highest degree retined, and his
descriptions are uncommonly graphic and accurate.
For example, what picture could be truer to life than
the one which he has drawn of a patient in the last
stage of consumption ! and what description was ever
more poetically elegant than that which he gives us of
the symptoms attending the collapse in ardent fever 1
-- Considering that most probably he was prior to
Galen, the correctness of his physical views cannot but
excite our admiration. Thus, in his account of Paral-
ysis, he alludes to the distinction between the Nerves
of Sensation and those of Muscular motion, which
doctrine is treated of at great length by Galen, in his
work De Usu Partium (irepl Xpeiaf tuv fa ivBpCmov
oufiari fiopiuv). He enumerates indigestion among
the exciting causes of palsy, which seems to be an
anticipation of a late pretended discovery, that paralysis
of the limbs is sometimes to be referred to derange-
ment of the stomach and bowels. --In speaking of epi-
lepsy, he makes mention of the use of copper, which
medicine has been tried of late years in this complaint
with manifest advantage. --No other ancient writer
that we arc acquainted with gives us so correct an ac-
count of ulcers on the throat and tonsils. His descrip-
tion of the various phenomena of mania is very inter-
esting, and contains the singular case of a joiner, who
was in his right senses while employed at his profession
at work, but no sooner left the seat of his employment
than he became mad. He gives an interesting ac-
count of jaundice, which he attributes, probably with
correctness, to a variety of causes, but more especially
to obstruction of the ducts, which convey the bile to
the intestinal canal. He makes no mention, indeed,
of gall-stones, nor are they mentioned, as we know, by
any ancient writer; only Nonnius recommends Lithon-
triptics for the cure of the disease, which might seem
to imply that he was acquainted with the existence of
these concretions. --Areteus was fond of administering
hellebore, and concludes his work with a glowing
eulogy on the properties of this medicine. The best
editions of Aretteus are, that of Wigan, Oxon. , 1723,
folio, and that of Boerhave, Lvgd. Bat. , 1731, folio.
This latter one, in fact, is superior to the former, since
it contains all that is given in Wigan's edition, together
with the commentary of Petit, and the notes and em-
endations of Trillcr. The edition of Arctams given
in Kuhn's collection of the Greek medical writers, has
not proved very satisfactory in a critical point of view.
(Picrer, Annal. Aug. , p. 1041. --Hoffmann, Lex. Bibl. ,
vol. 1, p. 248. )
Arete, a daughter of the philosopher Aristippus.
. /Elian, however, contrary to the common account,
makes her his sister. (Hist. An. , 3, 40. ) Aristippus
taught her the doctrines of his school, and she in her
turn became the instructress of her own son, the
younger Aristippus, who, on this account, received the
surname of Metrodidactua (Mi/Tpooioa/croc). Her at-
tainments in philosophy were highly celebrated. (Ana-
toclcs, ap. Euaeb. , Pr<zp. Ev. , 14,18. --Diog. Laert. , 2,
86. --Casaub. , ad Diog. , I. c. )
Arethusa, I. a nymph of Elis, daughter ofOccan-
us, and one of Diana's attendants. As she returned
one day from hunting, she canie to the clear stream of
the Alpheus, and, enticed by its beauty, entered into
its waters to drive away the heat and fatigue. She
? ? heard a murmur in the stream, and, terrified, sprang
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? ARG
AR G
human being ever reached its summit; and, indeed,
he wu positively informed that this was quite impos-
sible. It was covered for some miles below the pe ik
with snow, which was said to bo eight or ten feet in
depth in the month of October, when he was at Ores-
area. {Journey through Asia. Minor, &c, p. 94, note. )
Arq. iTHiiMits, or Arganthonius, a king of Gadcs,
who. according to one account (Herod. , 1, 163. --Cic. ,
de Sencet. , 19), lived 120 years, and reigned 80 years
of this number. Pliny (7, 48) gives 150 years as the
period of his existence; and Silius Italicus (3, 39H),
by poetic license, 300 years.
AitGBs, a son of Coslus and Terra, who had only
one eye in his forehead. (Vid. Cyclopes. )
Af:. E--. a son of Perdiccas, king of Macedonia,
who obtained the kingdom when Amyntas, father of
Philip, was driven out for a Beason by the Illvrians
(from 393 B. C. to 390). On the death of Perdiccas,
B. C. 360, he endeavoured, but in vain, to remount the
throne. (Justin, 7, 1. )
Asoi (plnr. mase. ). Vid. Argos.
ArgTa, I. daughter of Adrastus, married Polynices,
whom she loved with uncommon tenderness. When
he was lulled in the Theban war, and Creon had for-
bidden any one to perform his funeral obsequies, Ar-
gia, in conjunction with Antigone, disobeyed the man-
date, and placed the corpse of Polynices on the fune-
ral pile. Antigone was seized by the guards who hail
been stationed near the dead body, but Argia escaped.
Vid. Antigone. (Hy/gin. , Fa*,'69 and 72. ) -- II. A
country of Peloponnesus, called also Argolis, of which
Argos was the capital. III. The wifo of Inachus, and
Bother of Io. (Hygin. , Fab. , 145 )
Aboilstcm, a street at Rome, which led from the
Vieus Tuscus to the Forum Olitoriuin and Tiber.
The origin of the name is uncertain. Some accounts
derived it from Argus, a guest of Lvandcr's (vid. Ar-
gils V. ), who was said to have been interred there;
others from the abundance of argilla, or clay, found in
the vicinity. ( Varro, L. L. , 4, 32. ) This street ap-
pears to have been chiefly tenanted by booksellers
(Martial, Ep. , 1, 4. Id. , 1, 118), and afso by tailors.
(Martial, Ep. , 2, 17. ) Cicero informs us (Ep. ad
Alt. , 1, 14), that his brother Quintus hail a house in the
? urn. (Cramer's Ancient Italy, vol. 1, p. 545. )
Abgili's, the nrst town on the coast of Disaltia in
Thrace, beyond Bromiscus and the outlet of the Lake
Bolbe. It was founded by a colony from Andros, ac-
cording to Thucydides (4, 102) Herodotus (7, 115)
says it was the first town which Xerxes entered after
crossing the Strymon. The Argilians espoused the
cause of Brasidas on his arrival in Thrace, and were
very instrumental in securing his conquest of Am-
phipolis (Thucyd. , 4, 103. )
Asgiscs. *, small islands below Lesbos, and lying
off the promontory of Cana or Coloni in . tolls. They
were rendered famous for the victory gained near them
by the Athenian fleet under Conon, over that of the
LaceJsmonians, in the 26th year of the Peloponnesian
war, B. C. 406. Of these three islands, the largest
had a-town called Arginusa. They are formed of a
while, argillaceous soil, and from that circumstance
look their names (dpyivoeic, shining white, feminine
Apyr. -oeao-a. contracted upytvovaa. --Compare the re-
marks of Heunnger, ad Cic. , de Off. , 1, 24, 9).
AbcTpho! *tes, a surname given to Mercury, be-
cause he ktlled the hundred-eyed Argns, by order of
? ? Jupiter. Cowper. in his version of Homer, renders
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? ARGONAUTS.
ARGONAUTS.
ler of Cadmus, who bore him two sons, Learchus and
Meliccrta. Ino, feeling the usual jealousy of a step-
mother, resolved to destroy the children of Nephele.
For this purpose she persuaded the women to parch
the seed-corn unknown to their husbands. They did
as she desired, and the lands consequently yielded no
crop. Athamas sent to Delphi to consult the oracle,
in what way the threatening famine might be averted.
Ino persuaded the messenger to say that Apollo di-
rected Phrixus to be sacrificed to Jupiter. Com-
pelled by his people, Athamas reluctantly placed his
son before the altar; but Nephele snatched away both
* her son and her daughter, and gave them a gold-floored
ram she had obtained from Mercury, which carried
them through the air over sea and land. They pro-
ceeded safely till they came to the sea between Siga;-
um and the Chersonese, into which Helle fell, and it
was named from her Hellespontus (Hcllc's Sea)
Phrixus went on to Colchis to /Eetes, the son of He-
lios, who received him kindly, and gave him in mar-
riage his daughter Chalciope. He there sacrificed his
ram to Jupiter Phyxius, and gave the golden fleece
to . Eetes, who nailed it to an oak in the grove of Mars.
It \. \ thus that we find this legend related by Apollodo-
rus (1, 9, 1). There are, however, many variations in
the talc. Thus it is said that Ino was Athamas's first
wife, and that he put her away by the direction of
Juno, and married Nephele, who left him after she
had borne two children, on finding that he still retained
an attachment for Ino. When the response of the
oracle came to Athamas, he sent for Phrixus out of
the country, desiring him to come, and to bring the
finest sheep in the flock for a sacrifice. The ram then
spoke with a human voice to Phrixus, warning him
of his danger, and offering to carry him and his sister
to a place of safety. The ram, it was added, died at
Colchis, (l'hiloatepharms, ap. Schol. ad 11. , 7, 8G. --
Compare, for another account, Hygin. , Poet. Astron. ,
2,20. ) Other statements again are given by the tragic
poets, it being well known that they allowed them-
selves great liberties in the treatment of the ancient
myths. (Compare Hygin. , Fab. , 4. --Nonnus, 9, 247,
seqq. ) Some time after this event, when Jason, the son
of -Eson, demanded of his uncle Pclias the crown which
he usurped (till. Pelias, Jason, . . Eson), Pelias said that
he would restore it to him, provided he brought him
the golden fleece from Colchis. Jason undertook the
expedition, and when the Argo was ready (vid. Argo),
consulted the oracle, which directed him to invite the
greatest heroes of the day to share in the dangers and
glories of the voyage. The call was immediately re-
sponded to, and numerous sons of gods hastened to
embark with him. From the Peloponnesus came Her-
? ulcs, Castor and Pollux, sons of Jupiter; Pcleus and
Telamon, grandsons of that god, also came with The-
seus; Erginos and Ancreus, sons of Neptune', Augeas,
son of Helius, Zotes and Calais, sons of Boreas. There
were likewise LynceuB, and Idas, and Meleagrus, La-
ertcs, Periclymenus, Nauplius, Iphiclus. Iphitus, Ad-
mctus, Acastus, Butes, Polyphemus, Atalanta, and
many others. Idmon, the seer, the son of Apollo,
came from Argos; Mopsus, also a prophet from Thes-
saly, and Orpheus, the son of the muse Calliope. The
steersman was Tiphys, son of Agnius, from Siphre in
Bosotia. The entire number was fifty. (Apollod. . 1,
9, 16. -- Heyne, ad loc. -- Burmann, Praf. ad Vol.
Flacc, 11, vol. I, p. clxxiii. ) When the heroes were
? ? all assembled, Mopsus took auguries, and the omens
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? ARGONAUTS.
which Cadmus sowed at Thebes. AH this was to be
performed in one day. Medea, who was an enchant-
ress gave him a salve to rub his body, shield, and
? pear. The virtue of this salve would last an entire
day, and protect alike against fire and steel. She far-
ther told him that, when he had sown the teeth, a crop
of armed men would spring up, and prepare to attack
him. Among these she desired him to fling stones,
and, while they were fighting with one another about
them, each imagining that the other had thrown these,
to fall on and Blay them. The hero followed the ad-
vice of the princess: he entered the sacred grove of
Mars, yoked the bulls, ploughed the land, and slaugh-
tered the armed crop which it produced. But dSetcs
refused to give the fleece, and meditated burning the
Argo and slaying her crew. Medea, anticipating him,
led Jason by night to the golden fleece: with her drugs
she cast to sleep the serpent which guarded it; and
then, taking her little brother Absyrtus out of his bed,
she embarked with him in the Argo, and the vessel set
tail while it was yet night. (Pherecydes, ap. Schol.
U Apoil. /JA-, 4, 223. --Another account is given un-
der the article Absyrtus. ) . Betes, on discovering the
treachery and flight of his daughter, got on shipboard
and pursued the fugitives. Medea, seeing him gain
on them, cut her brother to pieces, and scattered his
limbs on the stream; an event that was afterward trans-
ferred to the north side of the Euxine, where the town
of Tomi (rouoi, cuttings) was said to have derived its
name from it. 'A. pollod. , 1, 9, 24. --Ovid, Trill. , 3,
9. ) While . 'Eetes was engaged in collecting the limbs
of his son, the Argo escaped. He then despatched a
nnmber of his subjects in pursuit of the Argo, threat-
ening, if they ditfenot bring back his daughter, to inflict
on them the punishment designed for her. At length
the Argo entered the western sea, and came to the
Island of Circe. The belief for a long time prevailed,
that there was a communication between the Palas
Meotis and the Oceanus or earth-encompassing stream.
This communication the old poets made to be a narrow
passage or strait, but later writers the river Tanais.
The writer of the Orphic Argonautics makes the Ar-
gonauts pass up the Phasis into the Palus Mffiotis,
thence into the main Oceanus, and thence directing
their course to the west, to come to the British Isles
and the Atlantic, and to reach at last the Columns of
Hercules. Circe performed the usual rites of purifi-
cation to remove the blood-guilt of the death of Ab-
jvrtus, and the heroes then departed. Ere long they
came to the Isle of the Sirens, charmed by whose en-
chanting strains they were about to land on that fatal
shore, when Orpheus struck his lyre, and with its tones
overpowered their voices. Wind and wave urged on
the Ar,ro, and all escaped but Butes, who flung him-
self into the sea to swim to the Flowery Isle. Venus,
to save him, took him and set him to dwell at Lilyboj-
om. The Argonauts now passed Scylla and Charyb-
dis. and also the Wandering Kocks; over these they
beheld flame and smoke ascending, but Thetis and her
sister Nereids guided them through by the command
of Juno. Passing Thrinakia, the Isle of the Sun, they
came to the island of the Phieacians. Some of the
Colehians who were in pursuit of the Argonauts, ar-
riving here, found the Argo, and requested Alcinous
to m Medea up to them. He assented, provided she
had not been actually married to Jason. His wife
\rete hearing this, lost no time in joining the lovers
in wedlock; and the Colehians. then fearing to return,
? ? settled in the island Sailing thence, the Argo was
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? ARGONAUTS.
ARG
the fleece, and the sleepless dragon which watched
over it, into their commander Draco: but yet not more
satisfactory; for it explains a casual, immaterial cir-
cumstance, while it leaves the essential point in the
legend wholly untouched. The epithet golden, to
which it relates, is merely poetical and ornamental,
and signified nothing more, as to the nature of the
fleece, than the epithets white or purple, which were
also applied to it by early poets, (tichoi. ad ApoU.
Rh. , 4, 177. ) According to the original and genuine
tradition, the fleece was a sacred relic, and its impor-
tance arose out of its connexion with the tragical story
of Phrixus, the main feature of which is the human
sacrifice which the gods had required from the house
of Athamas. This legend was not a mere poetic fic-
tion, but was grounded on a peculiar form of religion,
which prevailed in that part of Greece from which the
Argonauts are said to have set out on their expedi- j
tion, and which remained in vigour even down to the
Persian wars. Herodotus informs us, that when
Xerxes, on his march to Grfecc, had come to Alus, a
town of the Thessalian Achaia, situate near the Gulf
of Pajasa:, in a tract sometimes called the Athaman-
tian i>'ain, his guides described to him the rites be-
longing to the temple of the Laphystian Jupiter, an
epithet equivalent to that mnle>>uliicli Phrixus is said
to have sacrificed the ram to the same deity, as the
god who had favoured his escape. (Zrir <t>r? iof. --
Midler, Orchomenus, p. 164. ) The eldest among the
descendants of Phrixus was forbidden to enter the
council-house at Alus, though their ancestor Athamas
was the founder of the city. If the head of the family
was detected on the forbiuden ground, he was led in
solemn procession, covered with garlands, like an or-
dinary victim, and sacrificed. Many of the devoted
race were said to have quitted their country to avoid
this danger, and to have fallen into the snare when
they returned after a long absence. The origin as-
signed to this rite was, that, after the escape of Phrix-
us, the Achesins had been on the point of sacrificing
Athamas himself to appease the anger of the gods;
but that he was rescued by the timely interference of
Cytissorus, son of Phrixus, who had returned from the
Colchian JEa, the land of his father's exile; hence
the curse, unfulfilled, was transmitted for ever to the
posterity of Phrixus. This story, strange as it may
sound, not only rests on unquestionable authority, but
might be confirmed by parallel instances of Greek su-
perstition; and it scarcely leaves room to doubt that
it was from this religious belief of the people, among
whom the Argonautic legend sprang up, that it de-
rived its peculiar character; and that the expedition,
so far as it was the adventure of the golden fleece,
was equally unconnected with piracy, commerce, and
discovery. It closely resembled one of the romantic
enterprises celebrated in the poetry of the middle
ages, the object of which was imaginary, and the di-
rection uncertain. And so Pindar represents it as un-
dertaken for the purpose of bringing back, with the
golden fleece, the soul of Phrixus, which could not
rest in the foreign land to which it had been banished.
--But the tradition must also have had an historical
foundation in some real voyages and adventures, with-
out which it would scarcely have arisen at all, or be-
come so generally credited. The voyage of the Argo-
nauts must no doubt be regarded, like the expedition
of the Tyrian Hercules, as representing a succession
? ? of enterprises, which may have been the employment
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? ARGOS.
attested by Herodotus (1, I). The walls of the city
were constructed of massive blocks of stone, a mode
of building which was generally attributed to the
Cyclopes (Euripides, Troad, 1087. -- Id. , Hercules
Far, 15), but which evidently shows the Pelasgie
origin of the place. It was also protected by two
citadels, situated on towering rocks, and surrounded
by fortifications equally strong. The principal one
was named Larissa. (Strabo, 370. -- Livy, 34, 25. )
In the time of Strabo, Argos was inferior only to
Sparta in extent and population, and from the de-
scription of Pausanias, it is evident that, when he vis-
ited this celebrated town, it was adorned with many
sumptuous buildings and noble works of art. Argos
produced some of the first sculptors of Greece, among
whom were Ageladas, the master of Phidias, and
Poivcfefus, who surpassed all the artists of antiquity
in correctness of design. Music also was highly cul-
tivated in this city; and, as early as the reign of Da-
rius, the Arrives, according to Herodotus, were ac-
counted the first musicians of the age. (Hcrodot. , 3,
131. )--Argos, if we follow the common tradition, was
{bunded by Inachus, B. C. 1856. On the arrival of
Danaus, who is said to have come from Egypt, the in-
habitants changed their ancient appellation of Pelasgi
to that of Danai. (Eunp. , Arclicl, frag. 2. --Com-
pare Strabo, 371. ) At that time the whole of what
was afterward called Argolis acknowledged the au-
thority of one sovereign; but, after the lapse of two
generations, a division took place, by which Argos and
its territory were allotted to Acrisius, the lineal de-
scendant of Danaus, while Tiryns and the maritime
country became the inheritance of his brother Prcetus.
A third kingdom was subsequently established by Per-
seus, son of the former, ^vho founded Mycence; but
these were all finally reunited in the person of At-
rriis. son of Pelops; who, having been left regent by
his nephew Eurystheus. during his expedition against
the Heraclidre, naturally assumed the sovereign power
ifter his death. Atreus thus acquired, in right of the
houses of Pelops and Perseus, which he represented,
possession of nearly the whole of Peloponnesus, which
ample territory he transmitted to his son Agamemnon,
who is called by Homer sovereign of all Argos and the
islands. (II. , 2, 107. --Compare Thucyd. , 1, 9. --
Strabo, 372. ) After the death of Agamemnon the
crown descended to Orestes, and subsequently to his
son Tisamenes, who was forced to evacuate the throne
by the invasion of the Dorians and Hcraclidm eighty
years after the siege of Troy. (Pausan. , 2, 18. ) Te-
menus, the lineal descendant of Hercules, now became
the founder of a new dynasty; but the Argivcs, hav-
ing acquired a taste for liberty, curtailed so much the
power of their sovereigns as to leave them but the
name and semblance of kings: at length, having de-
posed Meltas. the last of the Temenic dynasty, they
changed the constitution into a republican govern-
ment. (Pausan. , 2. 19) As regards the inward or-
ganization of this government, we only know, that in
Argos, a senate, a college of eighty men, and magis-
trates, stood at the head. In the time of the Achiean
league the first officer of the state appears to have
been elected by the people. (Lie. , 32, 25. ) The
Arrives, after the establishment of their republican
form of government, were engaged in frequent hostil-
ities with the Spartans, each people claiming the pos-
session of the small district of Cynuria. In the reign
of Cleomenes, king of Sparta, the Argives met with a
? ? total defeat, and Argos itself was only saved from the
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? ARGOS.
AUG
slaves or vassals, called yv/iv? /Tec. (Aristot. , Rep. , 5,
2, 8. --Pollux, 3, 83. ) The number of the first class
might amount to 16,000, being nearly equal to that of
the Athenian citizens. (Lys. , ap. Dion. Hal. , p.
Gtogr, vol. 2. p. 242. )
AREOPI. O! T. S, the judges of the Areopagus, a scat
of justice on a small eminence at Athens. (Vid. Are-
opagus. ) The time in which this celebrated seat of
justice was instituted is unknown. Some suppose that
Cecrops, the founder of Athens, first established it,
while others give the credit of it to Cranaus, and others
to Solon. The constitution and form under which it
appears in history, is certainly not more ancient than
the time of Solon, though he undoubtedly appears to
have availed himself of the sanctity already attached
to the name and place, to ensure to it that influence
and inviolability which were essential to the attain-
ment of its chief object, the maintenance of the laws.
Its original right of judging all cases of homicide con-
tinued, though evidently the least important part of its
duties, since, when Ephialtes had deprived it of all but
that, the Areopagus was thought to be annihilated.
(D-mostli. ade. Aristocr. , p. 642. -- Lex. Rhel. , ap-
pended to Parson's Photius, p. 585, ed. Lips. -- Hcr-
fi&nn't Potit. Anttif , p. 215, not. 6. ) It was not re-
stored to its dignity of guardian of the laws till the
fill of the thirty tyrants. Its office as such was, in
principle, directly opposed to an absolute democracy,
and must have appeared the more formidable to the
partisans of that form, from the indefinite and arbitrary
nature of the merely moral power on which its authority
was founded, and which rendered it impracticable
clearly to define the extent of its influence. In later
times it was found particularly active as a censorship
of morals, and in several respects may be viewed as a
superior court of police, taking cognizance of luxury
and morals, the superintendence of public buildings
and public health, and. in particular, making it its bu-
siness to direct public attention to men who might en-
danger the state, though its own power to inflict pun-
ishment in such cases was very limited. (Hermann,
i c. ) The Areopagus, when originally constituted,
was, as has already been remarked, merely a criminal
tribunal. Solon, guided by motives which cannot now
be easily explained, rendered it superior to the Ephetfe,
another court instituted by Draco, and greatly enlarged
? ? ks jurisdiction. --The number of judges composingthis
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? AKE
ARG
are so truly valuable as to make us deplore the loss we
have sustained by the mutilations they have sutlcred.
His language is in the highest degree retined, and his
descriptions are uncommonly graphic and accurate.
For example, what picture could be truer to life than
the one which he has drawn of a patient in the last
stage of consumption ! and what description was ever
more poetically elegant than that which he gives us of
the symptoms attending the collapse in ardent fever 1
-- Considering that most probably he was prior to
Galen, the correctness of his physical views cannot but
excite our admiration. Thus, in his account of Paral-
ysis, he alludes to the distinction between the Nerves
of Sensation and those of Muscular motion, which
doctrine is treated of at great length by Galen, in his
work De Usu Partium (irepl Xpeiaf tuv fa ivBpCmov
oufiari fiopiuv). He enumerates indigestion among
the exciting causes of palsy, which seems to be an
anticipation of a late pretended discovery, that paralysis
of the limbs is sometimes to be referred to derange-
ment of the stomach and bowels. --In speaking of epi-
lepsy, he makes mention of the use of copper, which
medicine has been tried of late years in this complaint
with manifest advantage. --No other ancient writer
that we arc acquainted with gives us so correct an ac-
count of ulcers on the throat and tonsils. His descrip-
tion of the various phenomena of mania is very inter-
esting, and contains the singular case of a joiner, who
was in his right senses while employed at his profession
at work, but no sooner left the seat of his employment
than he became mad. He gives an interesting ac-
count of jaundice, which he attributes, probably with
correctness, to a variety of causes, but more especially
to obstruction of the ducts, which convey the bile to
the intestinal canal. He makes no mention, indeed,
of gall-stones, nor are they mentioned, as we know, by
any ancient writer; only Nonnius recommends Lithon-
triptics for the cure of the disease, which might seem
to imply that he was acquainted with the existence of
these concretions. --Areteus was fond of administering
hellebore, and concludes his work with a glowing
eulogy on the properties of this medicine. The best
editions of Aretteus are, that of Wigan, Oxon. , 1723,
folio, and that of Boerhave, Lvgd. Bat. , 1731, folio.
This latter one, in fact, is superior to the former, since
it contains all that is given in Wigan's edition, together
with the commentary of Petit, and the notes and em-
endations of Trillcr. The edition of Arctams given
in Kuhn's collection of the Greek medical writers, has
not proved very satisfactory in a critical point of view.
(Picrer, Annal. Aug. , p. 1041. --Hoffmann, Lex. Bibl. ,
vol. 1, p. 248. )
Arete, a daughter of the philosopher Aristippus.
. /Elian, however, contrary to the common account,
makes her his sister. (Hist. An. , 3, 40. ) Aristippus
taught her the doctrines of his school, and she in her
turn became the instructress of her own son, the
younger Aristippus, who, on this account, received the
surname of Metrodidactua (Mi/Tpooioa/croc). Her at-
tainments in philosophy were highly celebrated. (Ana-
toclcs, ap. Euaeb. , Pr<zp. Ev. , 14,18. --Diog. Laert. , 2,
86. --Casaub. , ad Diog. , I. c. )
Arethusa, I. a nymph of Elis, daughter ofOccan-
us, and one of Diana's attendants. As she returned
one day from hunting, she canie to the clear stream of
the Alpheus, and, enticed by its beauty, entered into
its waters to drive away the heat and fatigue. She
? ? heard a murmur in the stream, and, terrified, sprang
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? ARG
AR G
human being ever reached its summit; and, indeed,
he wu positively informed that this was quite impos-
sible. It was covered for some miles below the pe ik
with snow, which was said to bo eight or ten feet in
depth in the month of October, when he was at Ores-
area. {Journey through Asia. Minor, &c, p. 94, note. )
Arq. iTHiiMits, or Arganthonius, a king of Gadcs,
who. according to one account (Herod. , 1, 163. --Cic. ,
de Sencet. , 19), lived 120 years, and reigned 80 years
of this number. Pliny (7, 48) gives 150 years as the
period of his existence; and Silius Italicus (3, 39H),
by poetic license, 300 years.
AitGBs, a son of Coslus and Terra, who had only
one eye in his forehead. (Vid. Cyclopes. )
Af:. E--. a son of Perdiccas, king of Macedonia,
who obtained the kingdom when Amyntas, father of
Philip, was driven out for a Beason by the Illvrians
(from 393 B. C. to 390). On the death of Perdiccas,
B. C. 360, he endeavoured, but in vain, to remount the
throne. (Justin, 7, 1. )
Asoi (plnr. mase. ). Vid. Argos.
ArgTa, I. daughter of Adrastus, married Polynices,
whom she loved with uncommon tenderness. When
he was lulled in the Theban war, and Creon had for-
bidden any one to perform his funeral obsequies, Ar-
gia, in conjunction with Antigone, disobeyed the man-
date, and placed the corpse of Polynices on the fune-
ral pile. Antigone was seized by the guards who hail
been stationed near the dead body, but Argia escaped.
Vid. Antigone. (Hy/gin. , Fa*,'69 and 72. ) -- II. A
country of Peloponnesus, called also Argolis, of which
Argos was the capital. III. The wifo of Inachus, and
Bother of Io. (Hygin. , Fab. , 145 )
Aboilstcm, a street at Rome, which led from the
Vieus Tuscus to the Forum Olitoriuin and Tiber.
The origin of the name is uncertain. Some accounts
derived it from Argus, a guest of Lvandcr's (vid. Ar-
gils V. ), who was said to have been interred there;
others from the abundance of argilla, or clay, found in
the vicinity. ( Varro, L. L. , 4, 32. ) This street ap-
pears to have been chiefly tenanted by booksellers
(Martial, Ep. , 1, 4. Id. , 1, 118), and afso by tailors.
(Martial, Ep. , 2, 17. ) Cicero informs us (Ep. ad
Alt. , 1, 14), that his brother Quintus hail a house in the
? urn. (Cramer's Ancient Italy, vol. 1, p. 545. )
Abgili's, the nrst town on the coast of Disaltia in
Thrace, beyond Bromiscus and the outlet of the Lake
Bolbe. It was founded by a colony from Andros, ac-
cording to Thucydides (4, 102) Herodotus (7, 115)
says it was the first town which Xerxes entered after
crossing the Strymon. The Argilians espoused the
cause of Brasidas on his arrival in Thrace, and were
very instrumental in securing his conquest of Am-
phipolis (Thucyd. , 4, 103. )
Asgiscs. *, small islands below Lesbos, and lying
off the promontory of Cana or Coloni in . tolls. They
were rendered famous for the victory gained near them
by the Athenian fleet under Conon, over that of the
LaceJsmonians, in the 26th year of the Peloponnesian
war, B. C. 406. Of these three islands, the largest
had a-town called Arginusa. They are formed of a
while, argillaceous soil, and from that circumstance
look their names (dpyivoeic, shining white, feminine
Apyr. -oeao-a. contracted upytvovaa. --Compare the re-
marks of Heunnger, ad Cic. , de Off. , 1, 24, 9).
AbcTpho! *tes, a surname given to Mercury, be-
cause he ktlled the hundred-eyed Argns, by order of
? ? Jupiter. Cowper. in his version of Homer, renders
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? ARGONAUTS.
ARGONAUTS.
ler of Cadmus, who bore him two sons, Learchus and
Meliccrta. Ino, feeling the usual jealousy of a step-
mother, resolved to destroy the children of Nephele.
For this purpose she persuaded the women to parch
the seed-corn unknown to their husbands. They did
as she desired, and the lands consequently yielded no
crop. Athamas sent to Delphi to consult the oracle,
in what way the threatening famine might be averted.
Ino persuaded the messenger to say that Apollo di-
rected Phrixus to be sacrificed to Jupiter. Com-
pelled by his people, Athamas reluctantly placed his
son before the altar; but Nephele snatched away both
* her son and her daughter, and gave them a gold-floored
ram she had obtained from Mercury, which carried
them through the air over sea and land. They pro-
ceeded safely till they came to the sea between Siga;-
um and the Chersonese, into which Helle fell, and it
was named from her Hellespontus (Hcllc's Sea)
Phrixus went on to Colchis to /Eetes, the son of He-
lios, who received him kindly, and gave him in mar-
riage his daughter Chalciope. He there sacrificed his
ram to Jupiter Phyxius, and gave the golden fleece
to . Eetes, who nailed it to an oak in the grove of Mars.
It \. \ thus that we find this legend related by Apollodo-
rus (1, 9, 1). There are, however, many variations in
the talc. Thus it is said that Ino was Athamas's first
wife, and that he put her away by the direction of
Juno, and married Nephele, who left him after she
had borne two children, on finding that he still retained
an attachment for Ino. When the response of the
oracle came to Athamas, he sent for Phrixus out of
the country, desiring him to come, and to bring the
finest sheep in the flock for a sacrifice. The ram then
spoke with a human voice to Phrixus, warning him
of his danger, and offering to carry him and his sister
to a place of safety. The ram, it was added, died at
Colchis, (l'hiloatepharms, ap. Schol. ad 11. , 7, 8G. --
Compare, for another account, Hygin. , Poet. Astron. ,
2,20. ) Other statements again are given by the tragic
poets, it being well known that they allowed them-
selves great liberties in the treatment of the ancient
myths. (Compare Hygin. , Fab. , 4. --Nonnus, 9, 247,
seqq. ) Some time after this event, when Jason, the son
of -Eson, demanded of his uncle Pclias the crown which
he usurped (till. Pelias, Jason, . . Eson), Pelias said that
he would restore it to him, provided he brought him
the golden fleece from Colchis. Jason undertook the
expedition, and when the Argo was ready (vid. Argo),
consulted the oracle, which directed him to invite the
greatest heroes of the day to share in the dangers and
glories of the voyage. The call was immediately re-
sponded to, and numerous sons of gods hastened to
embark with him. From the Peloponnesus came Her-
? ulcs, Castor and Pollux, sons of Jupiter; Pcleus and
Telamon, grandsons of that god, also came with The-
seus; Erginos and Ancreus, sons of Neptune', Augeas,
son of Helius, Zotes and Calais, sons of Boreas. There
were likewise LynceuB, and Idas, and Meleagrus, La-
ertcs, Periclymenus, Nauplius, Iphiclus. Iphitus, Ad-
mctus, Acastus, Butes, Polyphemus, Atalanta, and
many others. Idmon, the seer, the son of Apollo,
came from Argos; Mopsus, also a prophet from Thes-
saly, and Orpheus, the son of the muse Calliope. The
steersman was Tiphys, son of Agnius, from Siphre in
Bosotia. The entire number was fifty. (Apollod. . 1,
9, 16. -- Heyne, ad loc. -- Burmann, Praf. ad Vol.
Flacc, 11, vol. I, p. clxxiii. ) When the heroes were
? ? all assembled, Mopsus took auguries, and the omens
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? ARGONAUTS.
which Cadmus sowed at Thebes. AH this was to be
performed in one day. Medea, who was an enchant-
ress gave him a salve to rub his body, shield, and
? pear. The virtue of this salve would last an entire
day, and protect alike against fire and steel. She far-
ther told him that, when he had sown the teeth, a crop
of armed men would spring up, and prepare to attack
him. Among these she desired him to fling stones,
and, while they were fighting with one another about
them, each imagining that the other had thrown these,
to fall on and Blay them. The hero followed the ad-
vice of the princess: he entered the sacred grove of
Mars, yoked the bulls, ploughed the land, and slaugh-
tered the armed crop which it produced. But dSetcs
refused to give the fleece, and meditated burning the
Argo and slaying her crew. Medea, anticipating him,
led Jason by night to the golden fleece: with her drugs
she cast to sleep the serpent which guarded it; and
then, taking her little brother Absyrtus out of his bed,
she embarked with him in the Argo, and the vessel set
tail while it was yet night. (Pherecydes, ap. Schol.
U Apoil. /JA-, 4, 223. --Another account is given un-
der the article Absyrtus. ) . Betes, on discovering the
treachery and flight of his daughter, got on shipboard
and pursued the fugitives. Medea, seeing him gain
on them, cut her brother to pieces, and scattered his
limbs on the stream; an event that was afterward trans-
ferred to the north side of the Euxine, where the town
of Tomi (rouoi, cuttings) was said to have derived its
name from it. 'A. pollod. , 1, 9, 24. --Ovid, Trill. , 3,
9. ) While . 'Eetes was engaged in collecting the limbs
of his son, the Argo escaped. He then despatched a
nnmber of his subjects in pursuit of the Argo, threat-
ening, if they ditfenot bring back his daughter, to inflict
on them the punishment designed for her. At length
the Argo entered the western sea, and came to the
Island of Circe. The belief for a long time prevailed,
that there was a communication between the Palas
Meotis and the Oceanus or earth-encompassing stream.
This communication the old poets made to be a narrow
passage or strait, but later writers the river Tanais.
The writer of the Orphic Argonautics makes the Ar-
gonauts pass up the Phasis into the Palus Mffiotis,
thence into the main Oceanus, and thence directing
their course to the west, to come to the British Isles
and the Atlantic, and to reach at last the Columns of
Hercules. Circe performed the usual rites of purifi-
cation to remove the blood-guilt of the death of Ab-
jvrtus, and the heroes then departed. Ere long they
came to the Isle of the Sirens, charmed by whose en-
chanting strains they were about to land on that fatal
shore, when Orpheus struck his lyre, and with its tones
overpowered their voices. Wind and wave urged on
the Ar,ro, and all escaped but Butes, who flung him-
self into the sea to swim to the Flowery Isle. Venus,
to save him, took him and set him to dwell at Lilyboj-
om. The Argonauts now passed Scylla and Charyb-
dis. and also the Wandering Kocks; over these they
beheld flame and smoke ascending, but Thetis and her
sister Nereids guided them through by the command
of Juno. Passing Thrinakia, the Isle of the Sun, they
came to the island of the Phieacians. Some of the
Colehians who were in pursuit of the Argonauts, ar-
riving here, found the Argo, and requested Alcinous
to m Medea up to them. He assented, provided she
had not been actually married to Jason. His wife
\rete hearing this, lost no time in joining the lovers
in wedlock; and the Colehians. then fearing to return,
? ? settled in the island Sailing thence, the Argo was
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? ARGONAUTS.
ARG
the fleece, and the sleepless dragon which watched
over it, into their commander Draco: but yet not more
satisfactory; for it explains a casual, immaterial cir-
cumstance, while it leaves the essential point in the
legend wholly untouched. The epithet golden, to
which it relates, is merely poetical and ornamental,
and signified nothing more, as to the nature of the
fleece, than the epithets white or purple, which were
also applied to it by early poets, (tichoi. ad ApoU.
Rh. , 4, 177. ) According to the original and genuine
tradition, the fleece was a sacred relic, and its impor-
tance arose out of its connexion with the tragical story
of Phrixus, the main feature of which is the human
sacrifice which the gods had required from the house
of Athamas. This legend was not a mere poetic fic-
tion, but was grounded on a peculiar form of religion,
which prevailed in that part of Greece from which the
Argonauts are said to have set out on their expedi- j
tion, and which remained in vigour even down to the
Persian wars. Herodotus informs us, that when
Xerxes, on his march to Grfecc, had come to Alus, a
town of the Thessalian Achaia, situate near the Gulf
of Pajasa:, in a tract sometimes called the Athaman-
tian i>'ain, his guides described to him the rites be-
longing to the temple of the Laphystian Jupiter, an
epithet equivalent to that mnle>>uliicli Phrixus is said
to have sacrificed the ram to the same deity, as the
god who had favoured his escape. (Zrir <t>r? iof. --
Midler, Orchomenus, p. 164. ) The eldest among the
descendants of Phrixus was forbidden to enter the
council-house at Alus, though their ancestor Athamas
was the founder of the city. If the head of the family
was detected on the forbiuden ground, he was led in
solemn procession, covered with garlands, like an or-
dinary victim, and sacrificed. Many of the devoted
race were said to have quitted their country to avoid
this danger, and to have fallen into the snare when
they returned after a long absence. The origin as-
signed to this rite was, that, after the escape of Phrix-
us, the Achesins had been on the point of sacrificing
Athamas himself to appease the anger of the gods;
but that he was rescued by the timely interference of
Cytissorus, son of Phrixus, who had returned from the
Colchian JEa, the land of his father's exile; hence
the curse, unfulfilled, was transmitted for ever to the
posterity of Phrixus. This story, strange as it may
sound, not only rests on unquestionable authority, but
might be confirmed by parallel instances of Greek su-
perstition; and it scarcely leaves room to doubt that
it was from this religious belief of the people, among
whom the Argonautic legend sprang up, that it de-
rived its peculiar character; and that the expedition,
so far as it was the adventure of the golden fleece,
was equally unconnected with piracy, commerce, and
discovery. It closely resembled one of the romantic
enterprises celebrated in the poetry of the middle
ages, the object of which was imaginary, and the di-
rection uncertain. And so Pindar represents it as un-
dertaken for the purpose of bringing back, with the
golden fleece, the soul of Phrixus, which could not
rest in the foreign land to which it had been banished.
--But the tradition must also have had an historical
foundation in some real voyages and adventures, with-
out which it would scarcely have arisen at all, or be-
come so generally credited. The voyage of the Argo-
nauts must no doubt be regarded, like the expedition
of the Tyrian Hercules, as representing a succession
? ? of enterprises, which may have been the employment
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? ARGOS.
attested by Herodotus (1, I). The walls of the city
were constructed of massive blocks of stone, a mode
of building which was generally attributed to the
Cyclopes (Euripides, Troad, 1087. -- Id. , Hercules
Far, 15), but which evidently shows the Pelasgie
origin of the place. It was also protected by two
citadels, situated on towering rocks, and surrounded
by fortifications equally strong. The principal one
was named Larissa. (Strabo, 370. -- Livy, 34, 25. )
In the time of Strabo, Argos was inferior only to
Sparta in extent and population, and from the de-
scription of Pausanias, it is evident that, when he vis-
ited this celebrated town, it was adorned with many
sumptuous buildings and noble works of art. Argos
produced some of the first sculptors of Greece, among
whom were Ageladas, the master of Phidias, and
Poivcfefus, who surpassed all the artists of antiquity
in correctness of design. Music also was highly cul-
tivated in this city; and, as early as the reign of Da-
rius, the Arrives, according to Herodotus, were ac-
counted the first musicians of the age. (Hcrodot. , 3,
131. )--Argos, if we follow the common tradition, was
{bunded by Inachus, B. C. 1856. On the arrival of
Danaus, who is said to have come from Egypt, the in-
habitants changed their ancient appellation of Pelasgi
to that of Danai. (Eunp. , Arclicl, frag. 2. --Com-
pare Strabo, 371. ) At that time the whole of what
was afterward called Argolis acknowledged the au-
thority of one sovereign; but, after the lapse of two
generations, a division took place, by which Argos and
its territory were allotted to Acrisius, the lineal de-
scendant of Danaus, while Tiryns and the maritime
country became the inheritance of his brother Prcetus.
A third kingdom was subsequently established by Per-
seus, son of the former, ^vho founded Mycence; but
these were all finally reunited in the person of At-
rriis. son of Pelops; who, having been left regent by
his nephew Eurystheus. during his expedition against
the Heraclidre, naturally assumed the sovereign power
ifter his death. Atreus thus acquired, in right of the
houses of Pelops and Perseus, which he represented,
possession of nearly the whole of Peloponnesus, which
ample territory he transmitted to his son Agamemnon,
who is called by Homer sovereign of all Argos and the
islands. (II. , 2, 107. --Compare Thucyd. , 1, 9. --
Strabo, 372. ) After the death of Agamemnon the
crown descended to Orestes, and subsequently to his
son Tisamenes, who was forced to evacuate the throne
by the invasion of the Dorians and Hcraclidm eighty
years after the siege of Troy. (Pausan. , 2, 18. ) Te-
menus, the lineal descendant of Hercules, now became
the founder of a new dynasty; but the Argivcs, hav-
ing acquired a taste for liberty, curtailed so much the
power of their sovereigns as to leave them but the
name and semblance of kings: at length, having de-
posed Meltas. the last of the Temenic dynasty, they
changed the constitution into a republican govern-
ment. (Pausan. , 2. 19) As regards the inward or-
ganization of this government, we only know, that in
Argos, a senate, a college of eighty men, and magis-
trates, stood at the head. In the time of the Achiean
league the first officer of the state appears to have
been elected by the people. (Lie. , 32, 25. ) The
Arrives, after the establishment of their republican
form of government, were engaged in frequent hostil-
ities with the Spartans, each people claiming the pos-
session of the small district of Cynuria. In the reign
of Cleomenes, king of Sparta, the Argives met with a
? ? total defeat, and Argos itself was only saved from the
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? ARGOS.
AUG
slaves or vassals, called yv/iv? /Tec. (Aristot. , Rep. , 5,
2, 8. --Pollux, 3, 83. ) The number of the first class
might amount to 16,000, being nearly equal to that of
the Athenian citizens. (Lys. , ap. Dion. Hal. , p.
