Combusta
(i) KaraKeKavfiivn), a
city of Asia Minor or Lycaonia, northwest of Iconium.
city of Asia Minor or Lycaonia, northwest of Iconium.
Charles - 1867 - Classical Dictionary
LAN
T. A O
eo (his city and given it its name, being directed by
the oracle to settle wherever they saw lightning first.
This took place in the district Pityusa, and hence the
name of the city, from Xa/iiru, to shine forth. {Mela,
1, 19. --Etym. Mag. --Holstcn. , ad Steph. Byz. , p.
608. ) Strabo calls Lampsacus a Milesian colony:
very probably it was only enlarged by a colony from
Miletus. (Strab. , 588. --Mannert, Geogr. , vol. 6, pt.
3, p. 518. ) Another account, however, makes the
city to have axisted prior to the arrival of the Pho-
casans, and merely the name to have been changed by
Ihem. They aided, according to this version of the
story, a king of the Bebryces, named Mandro, against
the neighbouring barbarians, and were persuaded by
him to occupy a part of his territory. Their successes
in war, however, and the spoils they had obtained, ex-
cited the envy of the Bebrycians, and the Phocaeans
would have been secretly destroyed, had not Lamp-
ssce, the king's daughter, apprized them of the plot.
Out of gratitude to her, they called the city Lampsa-
cus, having destroyed the former inhabitants. (Pol-
y<rn. , 8, 37. --Steph. Byz. , s. v. ) The neighbouring
country was termed Abarnis or Abarnus, because Ve-
nos, who here was delivered of Priapus, was so disgust-
ed with his appearance, that she disowned him (a-r/p-
vttro) for her offspring. (Steph. Byz. , s. v. 'AfJapvof.
--Holslenius, ad Steph. Byz. , I. c. ) Priapus was the
chief deity of the place. His temple there was the
asylum of lewdness and debauchery; and hence the
epithet Lampsucius is used to express immodesty and
wantonness. Alexander resolved to destroy the city
on account of the vices of its inhabitants, or more
probably for its 6rm adherence to the interest of Per-
sia. It was, however, saved from ruin by the artifice
of Anaximenes. (Vid. Anaximenes. ) The name of
Lamsaki is still attached to a small town, near which
Lampsacus probably stood, as Lamsaki itself contains
no remains or vestiges of antiquity. A modern trav-
eller assures us besides, that "its wine, once so cele-
brated, is now among the worst that is made in this
part of Anatolia. " (Sibthorpe, in Walpole's Collec-
tion, vol. 1. p. 91. )
1,ami's, I. a fabled king of the Lestrygones, said to
have founded Formiae. (rid. Laestrygones. ) The La-
mian family at Rome pretended to claim descent from
him. (Horat , Od. , 3, 17. )--II. A son of Hercules
and Omphale, fabled to have succeeded his mother on
the throne of Lydia. --III. A river in the western part
of Cilicia Camnestris, now the Lamas. It gave to
the adjacent district the name of Lamotis. (Cramer's
Asia Minor, vol. 2, p. 338. )
Lancia, the name of two towns in Lusitania, dis-
tinguished by the appellations of Oppidana and Trans-
cudana. The first was on the frontiers of the Lusi-
tani, near the sources of the river Munda or Mondego.
It is now La Guarda. The latter lay to the east of
the former, and is now Ciudad Rodrigo. It was called
Transcudana, because it lay beyond the Cuda. (Bis-
choff und Miller, Worterb. der Geogr. , p. 679. )
Lanuob<koi, a people of Germany, located by most
writers on the Albis or Elbe, and the Viadrus or Oder,
in part of what is now called Brandenburg. Accord-
ing to the account, however, of Paulus Diaconus, him-
self one of this nation, they originally came from Scan-
dinavia, under the name of Wilini, and were called by
(he German nations Long Beards, from their appear-
ance. (Paul Diae. , the Warnefrid, de Gest. Lon-
? ? foi, 1, 9. ) The German term Lang Baerdt, Latin-
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:11 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? LAOCOON.
LAO
? culptors whi executed it are also recorded. They
are Agesander, Polydorus, and Athenodorus, natives
of HI. /i. is. Pliny (36, 5) says, " Laocoon, which is in
the palace (domo) of the Emperor Titus, is a work to
be preferred to all others either in painting or sculp-
ture. Tho :;e great artists, Agesander, and Polydorus,
and Athcnodorus, Rhodians, executed the principal
figure (turn), and ihe sons, and the wonderful folds of
the serpents, out of one block of marble. "--There
has been much difference ot opinion among antiqua-
ries on aevenl points connected with this group:
first, as to the date of the artists; Winckelmann con-
tending that they are of a good period of Grecian art,
ami as early as l. ysippus. A considerably later date,
however, is now attributed to them. The next ques-
tion discussed has been, whether the sculptor was in-
debted fur the subject to Virgil's fine description (Ain. ,
2, 200, seqq. ), or whether the poet was indebted to
the artist. With respect to date, the most careful
consideration seems to fix these sculptors as late as
the early emperors; and Leasing, whose work on the
Laocoon deserves the attention of all who take an in-
terest in the philosophy and capabilities of art, believes
they lived in the reign of Titus. With regard to the
subject, it is most probable that the story, being well
known, offered advantages for illustration to the sculp-
tor, as it did for description to the poet. As Virgil's
priest was habited in his robes during the exercise of
hie priestly functions, and the group under considera-
tion is entirely naked, the argument is additionally
strengthened against the assumption that the artist
borrowed from the poet. It is more natural to believe
that each drew from a common source, and treated
tho subject in the way best adapted to the different
artn they exercised; the sculptor's object being con-
centration of effect, the poet's amplification and brill-
iant description. --T'his group is justly considered, by
all competent judges, to be a master-piece of art. It
combines, in its class, all '. hat sculpture requires, and,
we may say, admits of, and may truly be studied as a
canon. The sutj'sct is of the most affecting and in-
teiesting kind ', and the expression in every part < i
the figures reaches, but does not exceed, the limits of
propriety. Intense mental suffering is portrayed in
the countenances, while the physical strength of all
the three figures is evidently sinking under the irresist-
ible power of the huge reptiles wreathed around their
exhausted limbs. One son, in whose side a serpent
nas fixed his deadly fangs, seems to be fainting; the
other, not yet bitten, tries (and the futility of the at-
tempt is faithfully shown) to disengage one foot from
the serpent's embrace. The father, Laocoon, himself,
is mighty in his sufferings: every muscle is in extreme
action, and his hands and feet are convulsed with pain-
ful energy. Yet there is nothing frightful, disgusting,
or contrary to beauty in the countenance. Suffering
is faithfully and strongly depicted there, but it is rather
the exhibition of mental anguish than of the repul-
sive and undignified contortions of mere physical pain.
THe whole of this figure displays the most intimate
knowledge of anatomy and of outward form; the lat-
ter selected with care, and freed from any vulgarity
of common individual nature: indeed, the single figure
of Laocoon may be fairly referred to, as one of the
finest specimens existing of that combination of truth
and beauty, which is so essential to the production of
perfect sculpture, and which can alone ensure for it
? ? lasting admiration. The youths are of a smaller
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:11 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? LAO
LA R
Km--Ckalcond. , p. 85. ) The ruins of Laodicea are
now called by the Turks Eski Hissar. (Manncrt,
Geogr. , vol. 6, pt. 3, p. 131. -- Leake's Journal, p.
154, seqq. )--II. Scabiosa, a city of Syria, southwest
of Emesa and of the Orontes. It is sometimes, though
erroneously, styled Cabiosa. Tho epithet Scabiosa
mast have reference to the leprosy, or some cutaneous
complaint, very prevalent here in the time of the Ro-
man power. Its previous name under the Greeks was
XaodtKt'-a rj irpoo AiCuvu), Laxdicta ad Libanum
(Strabo, 753. --Plin. ,5,23;, and it must have been sit-
uate, therefore, near the northeastern port of the chain
of Libanus, in the plain Marsyas, which Pococke (2,
p. 204) mentions, though he is silent respecting its
ancient name. Its site must bo looked for to the
west of the modern Hasseiah, a day's journey to the
southwest of the modern Hems, the ancient Emesa.
(Marmert, Geogr. , irol. 6, pt. 1, p. 428. )--HI. A mar-
itime city of Syria, on an eminence near the coast,
called, for distinction' sake, Aaodtxeta im ry ? ddXdr-
rj, Laodicea ad Mare. <Strab. , 751. --Plin. , 21, 5. )
It was built by Seleucus Nicator, and named in hon-
our of his mother; and Strabo ranks it among the
four principal cities of the country. (Compare Ap-
pian, B. Syr. , c. 27. ) The fruitfulness of the adja-
cent country, and the quantity of good wine made in
this quarter, which furnished a great article of trade
with Alexandres, were the chief reasons that induced
Seleucus to found this city. Laodicea may, in fact,
be regarded as the harbour of Antiochia. The an-
cient writers praise its excellent port, and it would
seem, even at the present day, to show traces of the
works constructed to give security and convenience
to the harbour. (Pococke, 2, p. 287. --Walpole's Me-
moirs, vol. 2, p. 138. ) In the civil war after Caesar's
death, Dolabella stood a long siege in this place; it
was finally taken, and suffered severely. (Dio Cass. ,
47, 30. --Appian, B. Civ. , 4, 62. ) Hence Antony
leclared it independent, and freed it from all tribute.
{Appian, B. Civ. , 5, 7. ) It again suffered from Pes-
eennius Niger (Malala, Ckron. , 11, p. 125), and there-
fore his more successful competitor Severus did all in
his power to restore it to its former condition. Among
other favours shown it, he made the place a colony
with the Juj lialicum. (Ulpian, 1. 50, Digest. Tit. ,
15, (fe censtMS. ) The modern name is Ladikii.
The modern city suffered severely from an earthquake
in 1797, the greater part of the buildings having been
thrown down. These have been rebuilt, though less
substantially than before. Scarcely any wine is now
made Here, and few vines are planted. (Walpole's
Memoirs, vol. 2, p. 138. --Marmert, Geogr. , vol. 6,
pt. 1, p. 450. )--IV.
Combusta (i) KaraKeKavfiivn), a
city of Asia Minor or Lycaonia, northwest of Iconium.
Its name is supposed to be owing to the frequent
breaking forth of subterranean fires in the vicinity.
Strabo mentions this as peculiarly the case in the parts
of Phrygia to the west of Laodicea, which were hence
termed Catacecaumene (KaraxeKavfievn. -- Strabo,
579). The place itself was unimportant, and would
? nly seem to have been mentioned by Strabo and
Pliny from the circumstance of its having been situ-
ated on the great road from the western coast through
Melitene to the Euphrates. Leake (Journal, p. 25)
gives the modern name as Yirrgan Laihk, and speaks
of numerous fragments of ancient architecture found
there. --V. A city of Media, on the confines of Persia.
? ? {Pliny, 6, 26. ) -- VI. A city of Mesouotamia, near
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:11 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? LARES
LARES.
>>r Ihc contrary, by reason of the faults committed in
life, it found in the grave no resting- place, it appeared
to men as a phantom; inoffensive to the good, but
terrible to the wicked. Its name was in that case Lar-
va. (Festus, p. 200, ed. Dacier. --Bulcnger, de Pro-
dig. , 4, ZO. -- Grm. , Thes. Antiq. Rom. , 5, p. 480,
atqq. ) As, however, there was no wav of precisely
ascertaining what had been the lot of a deceased per-
<<od, whether he had become, for example, a Lar or a
Larva, it was customary to give to the dead the gen-
eral appellation of Manet. {Dais Mams. ) Varro,
in a more extended sense, if we credit Arnohius, re-
garded the Lares, at one time, as identical with the
Manes, the tutelary genii of the living and the dead;
at another time, as gods and heroes roaming in the air;
and at another, again, as spirits or souls separated from
bodies, as Lemures or Larvae. The mother of the
Lares waa called Lara or Larunda. {Arnobius, adv.
Gent. ,3,41. --Macrol. , Sat. , 1, 7. --Marini,gli Atti. ,
2, p. 373. ) This conception of the Lares, as the souls
of fathers and of forefathers, protectors of their chil-
dren, and watching over the safety of their descend-
ants, necessarily gave rise to the custom of burying
the dead within the dwelling. (. Sot. , ad Virg. , JEn. ,
6,64. --Id. , adA? n. ,6, 162--/<<dor. , Orig. , 16, 11.
--Zoega, de Obelise, p. 269. ) Men wished to have
lear them these tutelary genii, in order to be certain
sf their assistance and support. In process of time,
lowcver, this custom was prohibited at Rome by the
aws of the Twelve Tables. {Cie. , de Leg. , 2, 23. )
^t was general in early Greece, and among the primi-
tive population of Italy. {Plat. , Min. , p. 254, ed.
Rekker. )--The meaning attached to the word Lar
being of itself extremely general, had among the an-
cients different acceptations. (Compare Miillcr, dc
Diis Homanorum Laribus tt Penatibut, p. 60. ) Anal-
ogous to the demons (or genii) and heroes of the
Greeks, the Lares, pure spirits, invisible masters and
protectors, and everywhere present, limited, as little
<<s the Penates, their domain to the domestic hearth.
Tht. Etrurians, and the Romans after them, had their
Lares pubtici and Lares privali. (Hempel. , de Diis
Laribus, p. xxiv. ,scqq. ) The Lares were supposed to
assist at all gatherings together of men, at all public
assemblies or reunions, in all transactions of men, in
all the most important affairs of the state as well as of
individuals. Born in the house, in the bosom of the
family, the notion of Lares went forth by little and lit-
tle; extended itself to the streets, to the public ways;
above all, to the cross-roads, where the peril was great-
er for passengers, and where assistance was more im-
mediately necessary. From this it extended itself to
communities, to entire cities, and even to whole coun-
tries. Hence the numerous classes of the Lares -and
their various denominations, such as vzedes, males,
compUales, grundiles, hoslilcs, &c. If each individ-
ual had his Lar, his genius, his guardian spirit, even
the infant at the breast; so entire families, and whole
races and nations, were equally under the protection
of one of these tutelar deities. Here the Lares be-
came in some degree confounded with the Heroes,
that is, with the spirits of those who, having deserved
well of their country while on earth, continued to
watch over and protect it from that mansion in the
skies lo which their merits had exalted them. It
would seem, too, that at times, the worship of these
public I. ares, like that of the public Penates, was not
? ? without some striking resemblance to that rendered
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:11 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? LAR
LA R
iri dwellings. Macrobius (Sal. ,. , 7) informs us, that
it was Junius Brutus who, after the expulsion of the
Tsrquins, introduced a new form of sacrifice, by vir-
ile of which, beads of garlic and poppies were offered
op in place of human heads, vt, pro capitibus, capil-
i*a>> suppliearetur, in accordance with the oracle of
Apollo. Every family, during these festivals, brought
a cake for an offering; slaves enjoyed a perfect equal-
ity with their masters, as on the Saturnalia; and it
was slaves, not free men, that assisted the priests in
the sacrifices offered up on this occasion to the tute-
lary genii of the ways. (Dion. Hal. ,i--Cic. ,ad Alt. ,
7, l. --llorat. , Od. , 3, 17, 14, and Mitsckerlicb, ad
Horn'. I. c. ) In case of death in a family, a sacrifice
of sheep was offered up to the family Lares. (Cic, de
Leg. , 2, 32, 55, where we must read, with Gbrenz,
KrKfliu. --Marini, Alti. tie. , 1, p. 378. )--As re-
gards the forms under which the Lares were repre-
sented, it may be observed, that it differed often but
little from that of the Penates. Thus, on the coins
of the Cajsian family, they are represented as two
jonng men, seated, their heads covered with helmets,
and holding spears in their hands, while a dog watch-
es at their feet. Sometimes, as we have already re-
marked, the heads of the Lares are represented as
covered with, or their mantle as formed of, the skin
of a dog. At other times we find the Lares resem-
bling naked children, with the bulla hanging from the
neck, and always accompanied by the attribute of the
dog. (Creuser, Symbolik, par Guigniaut, vol. 2, pt.
I, p 416, seqq. )
],<<KivuM, a town of Apulia, which appears to have
selonged once to the Frentani, from the name of Lari-
nates Frentani attached to its inhabitants by Pliny (3,
12). It was situate on the road which led from Pice-
num into Apulia. (Lie. , 22, 18. ) Its ruins, which
arc said to be considerable, occupy the site called La-
rina Vecckio. (Romanclli, vol. 3, p. 20. )
Lakissa, I. a town of Syria, on the western side of
the Orontes, southeast of Apamea. It was either
founded or else re-established by Scleucus Nicator.
(Appian, B. Syr. , c. 57. ) Pliny calls the inhabitants
Lanosaei (5, 23). The city appears to have made no
figure in history. Its true Oriental name would seem
to have been Sizara, or something closely resembling
it. Stephanus Byzantinus (s. r>) gives Sizara (Xifcpa)
as the Syriac name of the place, and Abulfeda (Tab.
? Syr. , p. 110) and other Arabian writers speak of a
fortress in this quarter named Schaitar or Sjaizar.
(Compare Sehullens, Index ad Vilam Saladini, *. r.
Siajzarum. )--II. A town of Lydia, in the Caystrian
field, and territory of Ephcsus. It had a famous tem-
ple of Apollo. Larissa was situate near Mount Tmo-
lus, 180 stadia from Ephesus, and 30 stadia from Tral-
les, on the northern side of the Messogis. The adja-
cent country produced very good wine. (Strabo, 620. )
--III. A town on the coast of Troas, north of Colonae
and Alexandres Troas. Whether it is the same with
the place assigned by Homer to the Pelasgi (II. , 2,
841) is uncertain. Strabo, however, decides in favour
of the Larissa below Cumae. (Manncrt, Geogr. , vol.
6, pt. 3, p. 465. )--IV. A town of iEolis, in Asia Mi-
nor, to the southeast of Cyme, and on the northern
bank of the Hermus. (Mannert, Geogr. , vol. 6, pt. 3,
p. 394. ) It is supposed by Strabo to have been the
nme with the Larissa mentioned by Homer (7/. , 2,
841), and was called by the ^Eolians, after it was ta-
? ? ken by them from the Pelasgi, Phriconis, for distinc-
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:11 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? LAT
LAT
from Mount Scollis, which Homer (II. , 11, 757) des-
ignates by the name of "Olenian rock. " (Strabo,
387. ) The modern name of this river is Rissa or
Mana. (Cramer's Anc. Greece, vol. 3, p. 73. )
Lariub, Lacus, a lake of Cisalpine Gaul, north of
(he Padua, and east of the Lacus Verbanus. The
name Lariua is supposed to have been of Etrurian ori-
gin. "Whatever truth, however, there may have been
in this conjecture, there is no mention of the name
prior to the time of Polybius, who, as Strabo (209) re-
ports, estimated its length at 300 stadia and its breadth
at 30, or 38 miles by 4. Servius says that Cato reck-
oned 60 miles from one extremity to the other, and the
real distance, including the Lake of Ckiavenna, is not
short of that measurement; so that Virgil (Georg. , 2,
159) seems justified in saying, " Anne lacus lanlos?
tc Lari maximc--" The younger Pliny had two vil-
las on this lake, which he describes (Epist. , 9, 7).
The one which he calls his Twgedy stood probably
at Bellagio, as from thence the view extends over
both arms of the lake.
T. A O
eo (his city and given it its name, being directed by
the oracle to settle wherever they saw lightning first.
This took place in the district Pityusa, and hence the
name of the city, from Xa/iiru, to shine forth. {Mela,
1, 19. --Etym. Mag. --Holstcn. , ad Steph. Byz. , p.
608. ) Strabo calls Lampsacus a Milesian colony:
very probably it was only enlarged by a colony from
Miletus. (Strab. , 588. --Mannert, Geogr. , vol. 6, pt.
3, p. 518. ) Another account, however, makes the
city to have axisted prior to the arrival of the Pho-
casans, and merely the name to have been changed by
Ihem. They aided, according to this version of the
story, a king of the Bebryces, named Mandro, against
the neighbouring barbarians, and were persuaded by
him to occupy a part of his territory. Their successes
in war, however, and the spoils they had obtained, ex-
cited the envy of the Bebrycians, and the Phocaeans
would have been secretly destroyed, had not Lamp-
ssce, the king's daughter, apprized them of the plot.
Out of gratitude to her, they called the city Lampsa-
cus, having destroyed the former inhabitants. (Pol-
y<rn. , 8, 37. --Steph. Byz. , s. v. ) The neighbouring
country was termed Abarnis or Abarnus, because Ve-
nos, who here was delivered of Priapus, was so disgust-
ed with his appearance, that she disowned him (a-r/p-
vttro) for her offspring. (Steph. Byz. , s. v. 'AfJapvof.
--Holslenius, ad Steph. Byz. , I. c. ) Priapus was the
chief deity of the place. His temple there was the
asylum of lewdness and debauchery; and hence the
epithet Lampsucius is used to express immodesty and
wantonness. Alexander resolved to destroy the city
on account of the vices of its inhabitants, or more
probably for its 6rm adherence to the interest of Per-
sia. It was, however, saved from ruin by the artifice
of Anaximenes. (Vid. Anaximenes. ) The name of
Lamsaki is still attached to a small town, near which
Lampsacus probably stood, as Lamsaki itself contains
no remains or vestiges of antiquity. A modern trav-
eller assures us besides, that "its wine, once so cele-
brated, is now among the worst that is made in this
part of Anatolia. " (Sibthorpe, in Walpole's Collec-
tion, vol. 1. p. 91. )
1,ami's, I. a fabled king of the Lestrygones, said to
have founded Formiae. (rid. Laestrygones. ) The La-
mian family at Rome pretended to claim descent from
him. (Horat , Od. , 3, 17. )--II. A son of Hercules
and Omphale, fabled to have succeeded his mother on
the throne of Lydia. --III. A river in the western part
of Cilicia Camnestris, now the Lamas. It gave to
the adjacent district the name of Lamotis. (Cramer's
Asia Minor, vol. 2, p. 338. )
Lancia, the name of two towns in Lusitania, dis-
tinguished by the appellations of Oppidana and Trans-
cudana. The first was on the frontiers of the Lusi-
tani, near the sources of the river Munda or Mondego.
It is now La Guarda. The latter lay to the east of
the former, and is now Ciudad Rodrigo. It was called
Transcudana, because it lay beyond the Cuda. (Bis-
choff und Miller, Worterb. der Geogr. , p. 679. )
Lanuob<koi, a people of Germany, located by most
writers on the Albis or Elbe, and the Viadrus or Oder,
in part of what is now called Brandenburg. Accord-
ing to the account, however, of Paulus Diaconus, him-
self one of this nation, they originally came from Scan-
dinavia, under the name of Wilini, and were called by
(he German nations Long Beards, from their appear-
ance. (Paul Diae. , the Warnefrid, de Gest. Lon-
? ? foi, 1, 9. ) The German term Lang Baerdt, Latin-
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:11 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? LAOCOON.
LAO
? culptors whi executed it are also recorded. They
are Agesander, Polydorus, and Athenodorus, natives
of HI. /i. is. Pliny (36, 5) says, " Laocoon, which is in
the palace (domo) of the Emperor Titus, is a work to
be preferred to all others either in painting or sculp-
ture. Tho :;e great artists, Agesander, and Polydorus,
and Athcnodorus, Rhodians, executed the principal
figure (turn), and ihe sons, and the wonderful folds of
the serpents, out of one block of marble. "--There
has been much difference ot opinion among antiqua-
ries on aevenl points connected with this group:
first, as to the date of the artists; Winckelmann con-
tending that they are of a good period of Grecian art,
ami as early as l. ysippus. A considerably later date,
however, is now attributed to them. The next ques-
tion discussed has been, whether the sculptor was in-
debted fur the subject to Virgil's fine description (Ain. ,
2, 200, seqq. ), or whether the poet was indebted to
the artist. With respect to date, the most careful
consideration seems to fix these sculptors as late as
the early emperors; and Leasing, whose work on the
Laocoon deserves the attention of all who take an in-
terest in the philosophy and capabilities of art, believes
they lived in the reign of Titus. With regard to the
subject, it is most probable that the story, being well
known, offered advantages for illustration to the sculp-
tor, as it did for description to the poet. As Virgil's
priest was habited in his robes during the exercise of
hie priestly functions, and the group under considera-
tion is entirely naked, the argument is additionally
strengthened against the assumption that the artist
borrowed from the poet. It is more natural to believe
that each drew from a common source, and treated
tho subject in the way best adapted to the different
artn they exercised; the sculptor's object being con-
centration of effect, the poet's amplification and brill-
iant description. --T'his group is justly considered, by
all competent judges, to be a master-piece of art. It
combines, in its class, all '. hat sculpture requires, and,
we may say, admits of, and may truly be studied as a
canon. The sutj'sct is of the most affecting and in-
teiesting kind ', and the expression in every part < i
the figures reaches, but does not exceed, the limits of
propriety. Intense mental suffering is portrayed in
the countenances, while the physical strength of all
the three figures is evidently sinking under the irresist-
ible power of the huge reptiles wreathed around their
exhausted limbs. One son, in whose side a serpent
nas fixed his deadly fangs, seems to be fainting; the
other, not yet bitten, tries (and the futility of the at-
tempt is faithfully shown) to disengage one foot from
the serpent's embrace. The father, Laocoon, himself,
is mighty in his sufferings: every muscle is in extreme
action, and his hands and feet are convulsed with pain-
ful energy. Yet there is nothing frightful, disgusting,
or contrary to beauty in the countenance. Suffering
is faithfully and strongly depicted there, but it is rather
the exhibition of mental anguish than of the repul-
sive and undignified contortions of mere physical pain.
THe whole of this figure displays the most intimate
knowledge of anatomy and of outward form; the lat-
ter selected with care, and freed from any vulgarity
of common individual nature: indeed, the single figure
of Laocoon may be fairly referred to, as one of the
finest specimens existing of that combination of truth
and beauty, which is so essential to the production of
perfect sculpture, and which can alone ensure for it
? ? lasting admiration. The youths are of a smaller
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:11 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? LAO
LA R
Km--Ckalcond. , p. 85. ) The ruins of Laodicea are
now called by the Turks Eski Hissar. (Manncrt,
Geogr. , vol. 6, pt. 3, p. 131. -- Leake's Journal, p.
154, seqq. )--II. Scabiosa, a city of Syria, southwest
of Emesa and of the Orontes. It is sometimes, though
erroneously, styled Cabiosa. Tho epithet Scabiosa
mast have reference to the leprosy, or some cutaneous
complaint, very prevalent here in the time of the Ro-
man power. Its previous name under the Greeks was
XaodtKt'-a rj irpoo AiCuvu), Laxdicta ad Libanum
(Strabo, 753. --Plin. ,5,23;, and it must have been sit-
uate, therefore, near the northeastern port of the chain
of Libanus, in the plain Marsyas, which Pococke (2,
p. 204) mentions, though he is silent respecting its
ancient name. Its site must bo looked for to the
west of the modern Hasseiah, a day's journey to the
southwest of the modern Hems, the ancient Emesa.
(Marmert, Geogr. , irol. 6, pt. 1, p. 428. )--HI. A mar-
itime city of Syria, on an eminence near the coast,
called, for distinction' sake, Aaodtxeta im ry ? ddXdr-
rj, Laodicea ad Mare. <Strab. , 751. --Plin. , 21, 5. )
It was built by Seleucus Nicator, and named in hon-
our of his mother; and Strabo ranks it among the
four principal cities of the country. (Compare Ap-
pian, B. Syr. , c. 27. ) The fruitfulness of the adja-
cent country, and the quantity of good wine made in
this quarter, which furnished a great article of trade
with Alexandres, were the chief reasons that induced
Seleucus to found this city. Laodicea may, in fact,
be regarded as the harbour of Antiochia. The an-
cient writers praise its excellent port, and it would
seem, even at the present day, to show traces of the
works constructed to give security and convenience
to the harbour. (Pococke, 2, p. 287. --Walpole's Me-
moirs, vol. 2, p. 138. ) In the civil war after Caesar's
death, Dolabella stood a long siege in this place; it
was finally taken, and suffered severely. (Dio Cass. ,
47, 30. --Appian, B. Civ. , 4, 62. ) Hence Antony
leclared it independent, and freed it from all tribute.
{Appian, B. Civ. , 5, 7. ) It again suffered from Pes-
eennius Niger (Malala, Ckron. , 11, p. 125), and there-
fore his more successful competitor Severus did all in
his power to restore it to its former condition. Among
other favours shown it, he made the place a colony
with the Juj lialicum. (Ulpian, 1. 50, Digest. Tit. ,
15, (fe censtMS. ) The modern name is Ladikii.
The modern city suffered severely from an earthquake
in 1797, the greater part of the buildings having been
thrown down. These have been rebuilt, though less
substantially than before. Scarcely any wine is now
made Here, and few vines are planted. (Walpole's
Memoirs, vol. 2, p. 138. --Marmert, Geogr. , vol. 6,
pt. 1, p. 450. )--IV.
Combusta (i) KaraKeKavfiivn), a
city of Asia Minor or Lycaonia, northwest of Iconium.
Its name is supposed to be owing to the frequent
breaking forth of subterranean fires in the vicinity.
Strabo mentions this as peculiarly the case in the parts
of Phrygia to the west of Laodicea, which were hence
termed Catacecaumene (KaraxeKavfievn. -- Strabo,
579). The place itself was unimportant, and would
? nly seem to have been mentioned by Strabo and
Pliny from the circumstance of its having been situ-
ated on the great road from the western coast through
Melitene to the Euphrates. Leake (Journal, p. 25)
gives the modern name as Yirrgan Laihk, and speaks
of numerous fragments of ancient architecture found
there. --V. A city of Media, on the confines of Persia.
? ? {Pliny, 6, 26. ) -- VI. A city of Mesouotamia, near
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:11 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? LARES
LARES.
>>r Ihc contrary, by reason of the faults committed in
life, it found in the grave no resting- place, it appeared
to men as a phantom; inoffensive to the good, but
terrible to the wicked. Its name was in that case Lar-
va. (Festus, p. 200, ed. Dacier. --Bulcnger, de Pro-
dig. , 4, ZO. -- Grm. , Thes. Antiq. Rom. , 5, p. 480,
atqq. ) As, however, there was no wav of precisely
ascertaining what had been the lot of a deceased per-
<<od, whether he had become, for example, a Lar or a
Larva, it was customary to give to the dead the gen-
eral appellation of Manet. {Dais Mams. ) Varro,
in a more extended sense, if we credit Arnohius, re-
garded the Lares, at one time, as identical with the
Manes, the tutelary genii of the living and the dead;
at another time, as gods and heroes roaming in the air;
and at another, again, as spirits or souls separated from
bodies, as Lemures or Larvae. The mother of the
Lares waa called Lara or Larunda. {Arnobius, adv.
Gent. ,3,41. --Macrol. , Sat. , 1, 7. --Marini,gli Atti. ,
2, p. 373. ) This conception of the Lares, as the souls
of fathers and of forefathers, protectors of their chil-
dren, and watching over the safety of their descend-
ants, necessarily gave rise to the custom of burying
the dead within the dwelling. (. Sot. , ad Virg. , JEn. ,
6,64. --Id. , adA? n. ,6, 162--/<<dor. , Orig. , 16, 11.
--Zoega, de Obelise, p. 269. ) Men wished to have
lear them these tutelary genii, in order to be certain
sf their assistance and support. In process of time,
lowcver, this custom was prohibited at Rome by the
aws of the Twelve Tables. {Cie. , de Leg. , 2, 23. )
^t was general in early Greece, and among the primi-
tive population of Italy. {Plat. , Min. , p. 254, ed.
Rekker. )--The meaning attached to the word Lar
being of itself extremely general, had among the an-
cients different acceptations. (Compare Miillcr, dc
Diis Homanorum Laribus tt Penatibut, p. 60. ) Anal-
ogous to the demons (or genii) and heroes of the
Greeks, the Lares, pure spirits, invisible masters and
protectors, and everywhere present, limited, as little
<<s the Penates, their domain to the domestic hearth.
Tht. Etrurians, and the Romans after them, had their
Lares pubtici and Lares privali. (Hempel. , de Diis
Laribus, p. xxiv. ,scqq. ) The Lares were supposed to
assist at all gatherings together of men, at all public
assemblies or reunions, in all transactions of men, in
all the most important affairs of the state as well as of
individuals. Born in the house, in the bosom of the
family, the notion of Lares went forth by little and lit-
tle; extended itself to the streets, to the public ways;
above all, to the cross-roads, where the peril was great-
er for passengers, and where assistance was more im-
mediately necessary. From this it extended itself to
communities, to entire cities, and even to whole coun-
tries. Hence the numerous classes of the Lares -and
their various denominations, such as vzedes, males,
compUales, grundiles, hoslilcs, &c. If each individ-
ual had his Lar, his genius, his guardian spirit, even
the infant at the breast; so entire families, and whole
races and nations, were equally under the protection
of one of these tutelar deities. Here the Lares be-
came in some degree confounded with the Heroes,
that is, with the spirits of those who, having deserved
well of their country while on earth, continued to
watch over and protect it from that mansion in the
skies lo which their merits had exalted them. It
would seem, too, that at times, the worship of these
public I. ares, like that of the public Penates, was not
? ? without some striking resemblance to that rendered
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:11 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? LAR
LA R
iri dwellings. Macrobius (Sal. ,. , 7) informs us, that
it was Junius Brutus who, after the expulsion of the
Tsrquins, introduced a new form of sacrifice, by vir-
ile of which, beads of garlic and poppies were offered
op in place of human heads, vt, pro capitibus, capil-
i*a>> suppliearetur, in accordance with the oracle of
Apollo. Every family, during these festivals, brought
a cake for an offering; slaves enjoyed a perfect equal-
ity with their masters, as on the Saturnalia; and it
was slaves, not free men, that assisted the priests in
the sacrifices offered up on this occasion to the tute-
lary genii of the ways. (Dion. Hal. ,i--Cic. ,ad Alt. ,
7, l. --llorat. , Od. , 3, 17, 14, and Mitsckerlicb, ad
Horn'. I. c. ) In case of death in a family, a sacrifice
of sheep was offered up to the family Lares. (Cic, de
Leg. , 2, 32, 55, where we must read, with Gbrenz,
KrKfliu. --Marini, Alti. tie. , 1, p. 378. )--As re-
gards the forms under which the Lares were repre-
sented, it may be observed, that it differed often but
little from that of the Penates. Thus, on the coins
of the Cajsian family, they are represented as two
jonng men, seated, their heads covered with helmets,
and holding spears in their hands, while a dog watch-
es at their feet. Sometimes, as we have already re-
marked, the heads of the Lares are represented as
covered with, or their mantle as formed of, the skin
of a dog. At other times we find the Lares resem-
bling naked children, with the bulla hanging from the
neck, and always accompanied by the attribute of the
dog. (Creuser, Symbolik, par Guigniaut, vol. 2, pt.
I, p 416, seqq. )
],<<KivuM, a town of Apulia, which appears to have
selonged once to the Frentani, from the name of Lari-
nates Frentani attached to its inhabitants by Pliny (3,
12). It was situate on the road which led from Pice-
num into Apulia. (Lie. , 22, 18. ) Its ruins, which
arc said to be considerable, occupy the site called La-
rina Vecckio. (Romanclli, vol. 3, p. 20. )
Lakissa, I. a town of Syria, on the western side of
the Orontes, southeast of Apamea. It was either
founded or else re-established by Scleucus Nicator.
(Appian, B. Syr. , c. 57. ) Pliny calls the inhabitants
Lanosaei (5, 23). The city appears to have made no
figure in history. Its true Oriental name would seem
to have been Sizara, or something closely resembling
it. Stephanus Byzantinus (s. r>) gives Sizara (Xifcpa)
as the Syriac name of the place, and Abulfeda (Tab.
? Syr. , p. 110) and other Arabian writers speak of a
fortress in this quarter named Schaitar or Sjaizar.
(Compare Sehullens, Index ad Vilam Saladini, *. r.
Siajzarum. )--II. A town of Lydia, in the Caystrian
field, and territory of Ephcsus. It had a famous tem-
ple of Apollo. Larissa was situate near Mount Tmo-
lus, 180 stadia from Ephesus, and 30 stadia from Tral-
les, on the northern side of the Messogis. The adja-
cent country produced very good wine. (Strabo, 620. )
--III. A town on the coast of Troas, north of Colonae
and Alexandres Troas. Whether it is the same with
the place assigned by Homer to the Pelasgi (II. , 2,
841) is uncertain. Strabo, however, decides in favour
of the Larissa below Cumae. (Manncrt, Geogr. , vol.
6, pt. 3, p. 465. )--IV. A town of iEolis, in Asia Mi-
nor, to the southeast of Cyme, and on the northern
bank of the Hermus. (Mannert, Geogr. , vol. 6, pt. 3,
p. 394. ) It is supposed by Strabo to have been the
nme with the Larissa mentioned by Homer (7/. , 2,
841), and was called by the ^Eolians, after it was ta-
? ? ken by them from the Pelasgi, Phriconis, for distinc-
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:11 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? LAT
LAT
from Mount Scollis, which Homer (II. , 11, 757) des-
ignates by the name of "Olenian rock. " (Strabo,
387. ) The modern name of this river is Rissa or
Mana. (Cramer's Anc. Greece, vol. 3, p. 73. )
Lariub, Lacus, a lake of Cisalpine Gaul, north of
(he Padua, and east of the Lacus Verbanus. The
name Lariua is supposed to have been of Etrurian ori-
gin. "Whatever truth, however, there may have been
in this conjecture, there is no mention of the name
prior to the time of Polybius, who, as Strabo (209) re-
ports, estimated its length at 300 stadia and its breadth
at 30, or 38 miles by 4. Servius says that Cato reck-
oned 60 miles from one extremity to the other, and the
real distance, including the Lake of Ckiavenna, is not
short of that measurement; so that Virgil (Georg. , 2,
159) seems justified in saying, " Anne lacus lanlos?
tc Lari maximc--" The younger Pliny had two vil-
las on this lake, which he describes (Epist. , 9, 7).
The one which he calls his Twgedy stood probably
at Bellagio, as from thence the view extends over
both arms of the lake.