Dissatisfied with the meta-
physical subtleties by which the former philosophers
of the Eleatic school had confounded all evidence from
the senses, Leucippus and his follower 'Jemocritns
determined, if possible, to discover a '/stem more
consonant to rature and reason.
physical subtleties by which the former philosophers
of the Eleatic school had confounded all evidence from
the senses, Leucippus and his follower 'Jemocritns
determined, if possible, to discover a '/stem more
consonant to rature and reason.
Charles - 1867 - Classical Dictionary
It was finally demolished by the
Saracens; after which it appears to have been wholly
abandoned, and its remains, according to Leo Afri-
cami8, were employed in the construction of the mod-
ern Tripoli. The modern name is Lcbida. An ac-
count of the remains of the ancient city will be found
in Bcecky's Travels, p. 74, seqq. , and in the Modern
Traveller, pt. 49, p. 61. Oapt. Becchy describes the
country around Lcbida as beautiful and highly pro-
ductive. (Mela, \,7. --Plin. , 5, 4. --Strab. , 574 )--
II. The latter was in the district of Byzacium or Em-
poria;, about 18 miles below Hadrumetum, on the
coast. It is now Lcmpla. It paid a talent a day to
Ihe Carthaginians as tribute. (Fid. Emporia;. ) The
Phoenicians, according to Sallust, were its founders.
(Lucan, 2, 251. --/'/in. , 5, 19. --Sallust, Jug. , 77. --
Mr la, 1, 8. )
Lerina or PlanasIi, a small island in the Med-
iterranean, on the coast of Gallia Narbonensis, south
of Nicesa. It is now St. Marguerite. Strabo gives
It the nameof Planasia, from its shape. (Tacit,, Ann. ,
1, 8. )
l. ERvi, a small lake in Argolis, near the western
rcoast of the Sinus Argolicus, rendered celebrated by
the fable of the many-headed hydra slain by Hercules,
and connected also with the legend of the Danaides,
who flung into its waters the heads of their murdered
husbands. (Vid. Hercules, Hydra, and Danaides. )
The Lernxan Lake was formed by several sources,
which discharged themselves into its basin. Minerva
is said to have purified the daughters of Danaus by
means of its waters; which circumstance subsequent-
ly gave rise to certain mystic rites called Lernxa, in-
stituted, as Pausanias affirms, by Philammon, son of
Apollo and father of Thamyris, in honour of Ceres.
(Pausan. , 2, 37. --Strab. , 371. -- Cramer's Ancient
Greece, vol. 3, p. 237. )
I. kros, a small island off the coast of Caria, and
forming one of the cluster called Sporades. (Pltn. ,
5, 31. ) It was peopled from Miletus, and very prob-
ably belonged to that cily. Strabo gives its inhabi-
tants a character for dishonesty. (Strab. , 635. )
Lassos, now Mctelin, an island of the jEgean, ly-
ing off the coast of Mysia, at the cnlranco of tho Gulf
of Adramyttium. It was first settled by a body of
Pclasgi, who, under the conduct of Xanthus their king,
having been driven from Argos, passed from Lvcia
into this islaud, then called Issa, and named by them
Pehugia. Seven generations after this, and a short
time subsequent to the deluge of Deucalion, Macareus
? ? passed from Attica, then denominated Ionia, with a
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? LEU
LEU
3u* hays of this island. The mountains of the inte-
nor are covered with mastic, turpentine-trees, pine*
of Aleppo, and the cistns. Rivulets flow under the
shades of the plane-tree. The island contains at pres-
ent about 35,000 inhabitants. (Mannert, Geogr. ,
>>oL 6, pt. 3, p. 433. -- Barthclcmy, Voyage d'Ana-
ktrttt, vol. 2, p. 59, teqq, 12mo ed. -- Encyclop.
Amtric. , vol. 7, p. 516. --Mallc-Brun, vol. 2, p. 85,
MM. )
Lesbos or Lesbos, a son of Lapithus, grandson
af . -Eolus. who married Melhymna, daughter of Ma-
careus. He succeeded his father-in-law, and gave his
name to the island over which he reigned. (Vid.
Lesbos. )
Lesches, a Cyclic bard, a native of Mytilene, or
Pyrrha, in the island of Lesbos, and considerably later
than Arctinus. The best authorities concur in pla-
cing him in the time of Arcbilochus, or about the 18th
Olympiad (B. C. 70&V704). Hence the account which
we find in ancient authors, of a contest between Arc-
tinus and Lesches, can only mean that the latter com-
peted with tho earlier poet in treating the same sub-
jects. His poem, which was attributed by many to
Homer, and, besides, to very different authors, was
called the Little Iliad ('Uiaf Mik/iu), and was clearly
intended as a supplement to the great Iliad. We
learn from Aristotle (Poet. , c. 23, ad Jin. , ed. Bekk. --
c. 3S, ed. Tyrwh. ) that it comprised the events before
the fall of Troy, the fate of Ajax, the exploits of
Philoctetes, Neoptolemus, and Ulysses, which led to
the taking of the city, as well as the account of the
destruction of Troy itself; which statement is con-
firmed by numerous fragments. The last part of this
(like the first part of the poem of Arctinus) was call-
ed the Dettriution of Troy: from which Pausanias
makes several quotations, with reference to the sack-
rag of Troy, and the partition and carrying away of
ibe prisoners. It ia evident, from his citations, that
Lesches, in many important events (for example, the
death of Priam, the end of Astyanax, and the fate of
. Eneas, whom he represents Neoptolemus as taking
lo rharsalus), followed quite different traditions from
Iboso of Arctinus. The connexion of the several
events was necessarily loose and superficial, and with-
out any unity of subject. Hence, according to Aris-
totle, while the Iliad and Odyssey only furnished ma-
terials for one tragedy each, more than eight might
be formed out of the Little Iliad. (K. 0. Midler,
Hiit. Gr. Lit. , p. 66. -- C. G. Midler, de Lesche Po-
fu. )
Lethe, I. one of the rivers of the lower world,
the waters of which possessed the property of causing
a total forgelfulness of the past. Hence the name,
from the Greek "knOi) (lethe), signifying "forgetful-
nets" m "oblivion. " The shades of the dead drank
? draught of the waters of Lethe, when entering on
the joys of Elysium, and ceased to remember the
troubles and sorrows of life. --II. A river of Spain.
Its true name, however, was the Limius, according to
Ptolemy, or, according to Pliny (4, 34), the Lirnia.
Strabo styles it the Belion. It was in the territory
of the Calliaci, a little below the Minius. Its name,
Lethe (or, as it should be rather termed, 6 ti/c Xqdrft,
the river of forgetfulness), was given to it from the
circumstance of tho Celts and Turduli, who had gone
an an expedition with united forces, losing here their
common commander, becoming disunited, forgetting
? ? the object of their expedition, and returning to their
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on the Geography and Anttquitits of Ithaca. On
the summit of the promontory wag a temple of Apol-
lo. Strabo states a curious custom which prevailed,
of casting down a criminal from this precipice ev-
ery year, on the festival of the god; and adds, that,
in order to break his fall, they attached to him birds
of all kinds. If he reached the water alive, he was
picked up by boats stationed there, and allowed to
depart from the territories of Leucadia. (Strab. ,
452. --Cm;. , Tuse. Q. , 4, 18. --Cramer's Arte. Greece,
Till. 2, p. 13, seqq. )
Lkucatk, a promontory at the southwestern extrem-
ity of Lcucaa. (Kid. Leucas. )
Lkuce, an island in the Euxine Sea, near the mouth
uf the Uorysthenes. It is probable that it was the
same with the westernmost extremity of the Dromos
Achillis, which was formed into an island by a small
arm of the sea, and lay facing the month of the Borys-
thenes; now named Tentra. It derived its name
from its white sandy shores. (Mannert, Geogr. , vol.
4, p. 235. ) According to the poets, the souls of the
ancient heroes were placed here as in the Elysian
fields, and enjoyed perpetual felicity. Here, loo, the
shade of Achilles is fabled to have been united to that
of Helen. (Vid. Helena I. )
Lkuci, I. a people in the southeastern quarter of
Gallia Belgica, and to the south of the Mediomatrici.
Lucan speaks of them, in conjunction with the Kemi,
as very expert with the sling (1,424). Their territory
extended from the Matrons to the Mosella, and cor-
responds to the northeastern part of the department of
the Upper Marne, and to the southern part of the de-
partment of the Mcuse and Meurthe, or, in other words,
to the country around Tout. (Can. , B. G. , 2, 14. --
Tacit. , Hut. , 1, M. --Plin. , 4, 17. )--II. Montes
(Atvku Spn), mountains in the western part of the isl-
and of Crete, to the south of Cydonia; now Alprovo-
ana. (Strabo, 475. )
Lsooirpca, I. a celebrated philosopher, of whose
native country and preceptor little is known with cer-
tainty. Diogenes Laertius (9, 30) makes him to have
been a native of Elea, and e disciple of Zeno, the Ele-
atic philosopher: he refers, however, at the same time,
to other opinions, which assigned, respectively, Abdera
and Miletus as his birthplace. (Compare Tcnncmann,
Gesch. dcr Phil. , vol. 1, p. 257. ) He wrote a treatise
concerning nature, now lost (Pseud. Orig. Phil. , e.
12, p. 88. -- Fabr. , Bibl. Gr. , vol. 1, p. 778), from
which the ancients probably collected what they relate
concerning his tenets.
Dissatisfied with the meta-
physical subtleties by which the former philosophers
of the Eleatic school had confounded all evidence from
the senses, Leucippus and his follower 'Jemocritns
determined, if possible, to discover a '/stem more
consonant to rature and reason. Leaving behind them
the whole train of fanciful conceptions, numbers, ideas,
proportions, qualities, and elementary forms, in which
philosophers had hitherto taken refuge, as the asylum
of ignorance, they resolved to examine the real consti-
tutions of the material world, and to inquire into the
mechanical properties of bodies, that from these they
might, if possible, deduce some certain knowledge of
natural causes, and henco be able to account for nat-
ural appearances. Their great object was, to restore
the alliance between reason and the senses, which
metaphysi-al subtleties had dissolved. For this pur-
pose they introduced the doctrine of indivisible atoms,
? ? possessing within themselves a principle of motion!
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? LEU
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Uuan. , p. a. disc. 8. -- Cramer's Anc. Italy, vol. 2,
p. 369. )
I. eucosvrii, the Greek form of a name applied by
(he Persians to the Cappadocians, and signifying White
Syrians. (Herod. , 1, 72. --Id. , 5, 45. --Id. , 7, 72. --
Strabo, 543. ) The Persians called the Cappadocians
by this appellation, because they considered them to
be a branch of the great Syrian nation, from the re-
semblance of their language, customs, and religion,
and because they found that they possessed a fairer
complexion than their swarthy brethren of the south.
The Greek colonie* on the coast of Pontus received
this name from the Persians, and expressed it by the
forms of their own language, but, in its application, re-
stricted it to the inhabitants of the mountainous coun-
try lying along the coast, from the Promontorium Ja-
sonium in the east, to the mouth of the Halys in the
west, while they called the people in the interior of the
country by the name of Cappadocians. The Lcuco-
syrii became in time blended into one people with the
Paphlagonians. {Manner! , Gcogr. , vol. 2, pt. 2, p.
329, seqq. )
Leucothka, I. the name given to Ino after she
had been transformed into a sea-goddess. Beth she
and her son Palsemon were held powerful to save from
shipwreck, and were invoked by mariners. The name
Leucotbea is supposed to be derived from the white
waves running rapidly on {'Acvki'ic, white, and ? Sea, to
run). --II. A daughter of Orchamus, dishonoured by
Apollo, and buried alive by ber incensed father. The
god caused the frankincense shrub to spring up from
her grave. (Ovid, Met. , 4, 196, seqq. )
Lkuctka, a small town of Bceotia, southeast of
Thespiae, and west of Plataea, famous for the victory
which Epaininondas, the Theban general, obtained
over the superior force of Cleombrotus, king of Sparta,
on the 8tU of July, B. C. 371. (Pausan. , 9, 13. ) In
this famous battle 4000 Spartans were killed, with
their king Cleombrotus, and no more than 300 The-
bans. From that lime the Spartans lost the empire
of Greece, which they had held for so many years.
The Theban army consisted at most of 6000 men,
whereas that of the enemy was at least thrice that
Dumber, including the allies. But Epaininondas trust-
ed most to his cavalry, in which he had much ad-
vantage both as to quality and good management; the
wealthy Lacedemonians alone keeping horses at that
time, which made their cavalry most wretched, both
as to ill-fed, undisciplined steeds and unskilful riders.
Other deficiencies he endeavoured to supply by the
disposition of his men, who were drawn up fifty deep,
while the Spartans were but twelve. When the The-
bans had gained the victory and killed Cleombro-
tus, the Spartans renewed the fight to recover their
king's body, and in this object the Theban general
wisely chose to gratify them rather than hazard the
success of another onset. --According to Strabo (414),
Leuctra was situate on the road from Thespis to Pla-
tans, and, according to Xenophon {Hist. Gr. , 6, 4), in
the territory of the former. An oracle had predicted
that the Spartans would sustain a severe loss in this
place, because some of their youths had violated two
maidens of Leuctra, who afterward destroyed them-
selves. (Pausan. , 9,13, seqq. --Plutarch, Vit. Epam.
--Xen. , Hist. Gr. , I. c. ) The spot still retains in some
degree its ancient name, Leuea, prouounccd Lefka.
Dr. Clarke noticed here several tombs and the remains
? ? of an ancient fortress upon a lofty conical hill. The
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? LIBANIUS.
LIB
>>( hi>> having natural children of his own. If it be
true that he lived to the time of Arcadius, he must
have attained to more than 90 years of age. --Besides
his Pugymnasmata, Libanius has left harangues, dec-
lamations, MeArrcu (discourses on imaginary sub-
jects), stories, and letters on various points of morali-
ty, politics, and literature. All these pieces are well
written, and though the style of Libanius is open to
t? d charge of too much study and elaborate care, we
may notwithstanding pronounce him the greatest ora-
tor that Constantinople ever produced. Gibbon, there-
fort-, would seem to have judged him altogether too
harshly, when he characterizes his writings as, for the
most part, "the vain and idle compositions of an ora-
tor who cultivated the science of words; and the pro-
ductions of a recluse student, whose mind, regardless
of his contemporaries, was incessantly fixed on the
Trojan war and the Athenian commonwealth. " (De-
cline and Fall, c. 24. ) It is no little glory for this
sophist to have been the preceptor of St. Basil and St.
Chrysostom, and of having been connected in intimate
friendship, notwithstanding the opposition of their re-
ligious sentiments, with these two pillars of the church.
--Libanius, as we have already remarked, was a pa-
gan, and attached to the religion ot his fathers. His
tolerance forms a singular contrast with the persecu-
ting zea> of the Christians of his time; and a remark-
able proof of this may be seen in one of his epistles.
(Ep. , 730, p. 349. ed. Wolf. )--Among the writings
of Libanius may be mentioned his Progymnasmata
(Praxxercitaliones), or Examples of Rhetorical Exer-
cises (Upoyv/ivaafturuv irapadeiy/iaTa), divided into
thirteen sections, and each one containing a model of
one particular kind. Among the Discourses or Ha-
1-anpia of Libanius are many which were never pro-
tjunced, and which were not even intended to be de-
ht. '-. ec in public: they partake less of the nature of
discourses than of memoirs, or, rather, moral disserta-
tions. One of them is a biographical sketch of Liba-
? ili! , written by himself, at the age of 60 years, unless
here be some mistake in the number, and retouched
by him -j>>i>>r anou' 10 years. It forms the most in-
teresting production o* his pen. Another of these
pieces is entitled Motvdid, and is a Lament on the
death of Julian. Libanius does not pretend to con-
ceal, in this discourse, that one ground of his deplo-
ring the death of the monarch, is the triumph of Chris-
tianity which would result therefrom. A third is a
discourse addressed to Theodosius on the preservation
of the temples and idols of paganism. A fragment of
this discourse was discovered by Mai, in 1823, in
some of the Vatican MSS. A fourth is entitled Tmp
tuv 'lepuv, "Respecting the Temples. " In this dis-
course, pronounced or written about A. D. 390, Liba-
nius entreats the Emperor Theodosius to set bounds
to the fanaticism of the monks, who were destroying
'he temples of paganism, especially those in the coun-
ry, and to order the bishops not to connive at these
excesses. --The Declamations, or exercises on imagin-
>>ry subjects, exceed forty in number. Some idea
may be formed of their nature by the titles of a few:
"Discourse of Menelaus, addressed to the Trojans,
and demanding back his spouse. " "Discourse of
Achilles, in answer to Ulysses, when the- latter was
sent by Agamemnon to propose a reconciliation. "
"Discourse of a parasite who deplores the loss of a
dinner," &c. --A very interesting part of the works of
? ? Libanius is his epistolary correspondence. There are
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? LIB
LIB
suiicee is found. --Of the noble cedars which once
adorned the upper part of this mountain, bit few now
remain, and those much decayed. Burckhardt, who
crossed Movnt Libanus in 1810, counted about 36
large ones, 60 of middle size, and about 300 smaller
and young ones; but more might exist in other parts
of the mouutaie. The wine, especially that made
about the corner. *, of Canobin, still preserves its an-
cient celebrity; and is reported by travellers, more
particularly by Rouwolff, Le Bruyn, and De la Roque,
to be of the most exquisite kind for flavour and fra-
Cncc. --The rains which fall in the lower regions of
barton, and the melting of the snows in the upper
ones, furnish an abundance of perennial atreams,
which are alluded to by Solomon. (Song, 4, 15. )
On the declivities of the mountain grew the vines that
furnished the rich and fragrant wines which Hoaea
(14, 7) celebrated, and which may still be obtained by
proper culture. The snow of Lebanon was probably
transported to a distance, for the purpose of cooling
wine and other liquors. Solomon speaks of the cold
of snow in the time of harvest (Prov. , 25, 13), which
could be obtained nowhere in Judaea nearer than
Lebanon. (Manner! , Gcogr. , vol. 6, pt. 1, p. 341. --
Hansford's Scripture Gazetteer, p. 314, scqq. 1
Liber, the name of an ancient Italian deity, /certi-
fied with the Grecian Dionysus or Bacchus. His
festival, named Liberalia, was celebrated on the 17th
March, when the young men assumed the toga tirilis
or libera. (Varro, L. L. , 5, p. 55. -- Ovid, Fast. , 3,
713, seqq ) When the worship of Ceres and Proser-
pina was introduced at Rome, Proserpina was named
Libera, and the conjoined deities were honoured as
? cres. Liber, and Libera. The name Liber is com-
monly derived from liber, " free," and is referred to
the influence of wine in freeing from care. Others,
however, prefer deducing it from libo, " to pour forth,"
and make Liber 10 be the god of productiveness ef-
fected by moisture. (Keightlcy's Mythology, p. 517. )
Libska, a name given to Proserpina among the Ro-
nuns. (Vi*. Liber. )
LibcsalIa, a festival celebrated annually in honour
of Liber, the Roman Bacchus. It took place on the
17th of March. (. Vid. Liber. )
LiBf. RTAs, the Goddess of Freedom, the same with
the Eleuthcria of the Greeks. Hyginus makes her
the daughter of Jupiter and Juno. (Prof. , p. 10, ed.
Munck. ) Tiberius Gracchus is said to have erected
the first temple to her at Rome, on the Aventine Hill,
and it was here that the archives of the state were de-
posited. The goddess was represented as a Roman
matron, arrayed in white, holding in one hand a broken
sceptre, and in the other a pike surmounted by a pilcus
or cap: at her feet ley a cat, an animal that is an en-
emy to all restraint. The cap alluded to the Roman
custom of putting one on the heads of slaves when
manumitted. (Lit). , 24, 16. -- Id. , 25, 7. -- Ovid,
Trist. , 3, I, 7i. --Plut. , Vit. Gracch. )
Libethra, I. a city of Macedonia, situate, accord-
ing to Pausanlas (9, 30), on the declivity of Olympus,
and not far from the tomb of Orpheus. An oracle de-
clared, that when the sun beheld the bones of the poet,
the city should be destroyed by a boar (ilird ovoc).
The inhabitants of Libethra ridiculed the prophecy as a
thing impossible; but the column of Orpheus's monu-
ment having been accidentally broken, a gap was made
by which light broke in upon the tomb, when the same
? ? nigh the torrent named Sus, being prodigiously swol-
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Saracens; after which it appears to have been wholly
abandoned, and its remains, according to Leo Afri-
cami8, were employed in the construction of the mod-
ern Tripoli. The modern name is Lcbida. An ac-
count of the remains of the ancient city will be found
in Bcecky's Travels, p. 74, seqq. , and in the Modern
Traveller, pt. 49, p. 61. Oapt. Becchy describes the
country around Lcbida as beautiful and highly pro-
ductive. (Mela, \,7. --Plin. , 5, 4. --Strab. , 574 )--
II. The latter was in the district of Byzacium or Em-
poria;, about 18 miles below Hadrumetum, on the
coast. It is now Lcmpla. It paid a talent a day to
Ihe Carthaginians as tribute. (Fid. Emporia;. ) The
Phoenicians, according to Sallust, were its founders.
(Lucan, 2, 251. --/'/in. , 5, 19. --Sallust, Jug. , 77. --
Mr la, 1, 8. )
Lerina or PlanasIi, a small island in the Med-
iterranean, on the coast of Gallia Narbonensis, south
of Nicesa. It is now St. Marguerite. Strabo gives
It the nameof Planasia, from its shape. (Tacit,, Ann. ,
1, 8. )
l. ERvi, a small lake in Argolis, near the western
rcoast of the Sinus Argolicus, rendered celebrated by
the fable of the many-headed hydra slain by Hercules,
and connected also with the legend of the Danaides,
who flung into its waters the heads of their murdered
husbands. (Vid. Hercules, Hydra, and Danaides. )
The Lernxan Lake was formed by several sources,
which discharged themselves into its basin. Minerva
is said to have purified the daughters of Danaus by
means of its waters; which circumstance subsequent-
ly gave rise to certain mystic rites called Lernxa, in-
stituted, as Pausanias affirms, by Philammon, son of
Apollo and father of Thamyris, in honour of Ceres.
(Pausan. , 2, 37. --Strab. , 371. -- Cramer's Ancient
Greece, vol. 3, p. 237. )
I. kros, a small island off the coast of Caria, and
forming one of the cluster called Sporades. (Pltn. ,
5, 31. ) It was peopled from Miletus, and very prob-
ably belonged to that cily. Strabo gives its inhabi-
tants a character for dishonesty. (Strab. , 635. )
Lassos, now Mctelin, an island of the jEgean, ly-
ing off the coast of Mysia, at the cnlranco of tho Gulf
of Adramyttium. It was first settled by a body of
Pclasgi, who, under the conduct of Xanthus their king,
having been driven from Argos, passed from Lvcia
into this islaud, then called Issa, and named by them
Pehugia. Seven generations after this, and a short
time subsequent to the deluge of Deucalion, Macareus
? ? passed from Attica, then denominated Ionia, with a
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? LEU
LEU
3u* hays of this island. The mountains of the inte-
nor are covered with mastic, turpentine-trees, pine*
of Aleppo, and the cistns. Rivulets flow under the
shades of the plane-tree. The island contains at pres-
ent about 35,000 inhabitants. (Mannert, Geogr. ,
>>oL 6, pt. 3, p. 433. -- Barthclcmy, Voyage d'Ana-
ktrttt, vol. 2, p. 59, teqq, 12mo ed. -- Encyclop.
Amtric. , vol. 7, p. 516. --Mallc-Brun, vol. 2, p. 85,
MM. )
Lesbos or Lesbos, a son of Lapithus, grandson
af . -Eolus. who married Melhymna, daughter of Ma-
careus. He succeeded his father-in-law, and gave his
name to the island over which he reigned. (Vid.
Lesbos. )
Lesches, a Cyclic bard, a native of Mytilene, or
Pyrrha, in the island of Lesbos, and considerably later
than Arctinus. The best authorities concur in pla-
cing him in the time of Arcbilochus, or about the 18th
Olympiad (B. C. 70&V704). Hence the account which
we find in ancient authors, of a contest between Arc-
tinus and Lesches, can only mean that the latter com-
peted with tho earlier poet in treating the same sub-
jects. His poem, which was attributed by many to
Homer, and, besides, to very different authors, was
called the Little Iliad ('Uiaf Mik/iu), and was clearly
intended as a supplement to the great Iliad. We
learn from Aristotle (Poet. , c. 23, ad Jin. , ed. Bekk. --
c. 3S, ed. Tyrwh. ) that it comprised the events before
the fall of Troy, the fate of Ajax, the exploits of
Philoctetes, Neoptolemus, and Ulysses, which led to
the taking of the city, as well as the account of the
destruction of Troy itself; which statement is con-
firmed by numerous fragments. The last part of this
(like the first part of the poem of Arctinus) was call-
ed the Dettriution of Troy: from which Pausanias
makes several quotations, with reference to the sack-
rag of Troy, and the partition and carrying away of
ibe prisoners. It ia evident, from his citations, that
Lesches, in many important events (for example, the
death of Priam, the end of Astyanax, and the fate of
. Eneas, whom he represents Neoptolemus as taking
lo rharsalus), followed quite different traditions from
Iboso of Arctinus. The connexion of the several
events was necessarily loose and superficial, and with-
out any unity of subject. Hence, according to Aris-
totle, while the Iliad and Odyssey only furnished ma-
terials for one tragedy each, more than eight might
be formed out of the Little Iliad. (K. 0. Midler,
Hiit. Gr. Lit. , p. 66. -- C. G. Midler, de Lesche Po-
fu. )
Lethe, I. one of the rivers of the lower world,
the waters of which possessed the property of causing
a total forgelfulness of the past. Hence the name,
from the Greek "knOi) (lethe), signifying "forgetful-
nets" m "oblivion. " The shades of the dead drank
? draught of the waters of Lethe, when entering on
the joys of Elysium, and ceased to remember the
troubles and sorrows of life. --II. A river of Spain.
Its true name, however, was the Limius, according to
Ptolemy, or, according to Pliny (4, 34), the Lirnia.
Strabo styles it the Belion. It was in the territory
of the Calliaci, a little below the Minius. Its name,
Lethe (or, as it should be rather termed, 6 ti/c Xqdrft,
the river of forgetfulness), was given to it from the
circumstance of tho Celts and Turduli, who had gone
an an expedition with united forces, losing here their
common commander, becoming disunited, forgetting
? ? the object of their expedition, and returning to their
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? LEU
LETT
on the Geography and Anttquitits of Ithaca. On
the summit of the promontory wag a temple of Apol-
lo. Strabo states a curious custom which prevailed,
of casting down a criminal from this precipice ev-
ery year, on the festival of the god; and adds, that,
in order to break his fall, they attached to him birds
of all kinds. If he reached the water alive, he was
picked up by boats stationed there, and allowed to
depart from the territories of Leucadia. (Strab. ,
452. --Cm;. , Tuse. Q. , 4, 18. --Cramer's Arte. Greece,
Till. 2, p. 13, seqq. )
Lkucatk, a promontory at the southwestern extrem-
ity of Lcucaa. (Kid. Leucas. )
Lkuce, an island in the Euxine Sea, near the mouth
uf the Uorysthenes. It is probable that it was the
same with the westernmost extremity of the Dromos
Achillis, which was formed into an island by a small
arm of the sea, and lay facing the month of the Borys-
thenes; now named Tentra. It derived its name
from its white sandy shores. (Mannert, Geogr. , vol.
4, p. 235. ) According to the poets, the souls of the
ancient heroes were placed here as in the Elysian
fields, and enjoyed perpetual felicity. Here, loo, the
shade of Achilles is fabled to have been united to that
of Helen. (Vid. Helena I. )
Lkuci, I. a people in the southeastern quarter of
Gallia Belgica, and to the south of the Mediomatrici.
Lucan speaks of them, in conjunction with the Kemi,
as very expert with the sling (1,424). Their territory
extended from the Matrons to the Mosella, and cor-
responds to the northeastern part of the department of
the Upper Marne, and to the southern part of the de-
partment of the Mcuse and Meurthe, or, in other words,
to the country around Tout. (Can. , B. G. , 2, 14. --
Tacit. , Hut. , 1, M. --Plin. , 4, 17. )--II. Montes
(Atvku Spn), mountains in the western part of the isl-
and of Crete, to the south of Cydonia; now Alprovo-
ana. (Strabo, 475. )
Lsooirpca, I. a celebrated philosopher, of whose
native country and preceptor little is known with cer-
tainty. Diogenes Laertius (9, 30) makes him to have
been a native of Elea, and e disciple of Zeno, the Ele-
atic philosopher: he refers, however, at the same time,
to other opinions, which assigned, respectively, Abdera
and Miletus as his birthplace. (Compare Tcnncmann,
Gesch. dcr Phil. , vol. 1, p. 257. ) He wrote a treatise
concerning nature, now lost (Pseud. Orig. Phil. , e.
12, p. 88. -- Fabr. , Bibl. Gr. , vol. 1, p. 778), from
which the ancients probably collected what they relate
concerning his tenets.
Dissatisfied with the meta-
physical subtleties by which the former philosophers
of the Eleatic school had confounded all evidence from
the senses, Leucippus and his follower 'Jemocritns
determined, if possible, to discover a '/stem more
consonant to rature and reason. Leaving behind them
the whole train of fanciful conceptions, numbers, ideas,
proportions, qualities, and elementary forms, in which
philosophers had hitherto taken refuge, as the asylum
of ignorance, they resolved to examine the real consti-
tutions of the material world, and to inquire into the
mechanical properties of bodies, that from these they
might, if possible, deduce some certain knowledge of
natural causes, and henco be able to account for nat-
ural appearances. Their great object was, to restore
the alliance between reason and the senses, which
metaphysi-al subtleties had dissolved. For this pur-
pose they introduced the doctrine of indivisible atoms,
? ? possessing within themselves a principle of motion!
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? LEU
LIB
Uuan. , p. a. disc. 8. -- Cramer's Anc. Italy, vol. 2,
p. 369. )
I. eucosvrii, the Greek form of a name applied by
(he Persians to the Cappadocians, and signifying White
Syrians. (Herod. , 1, 72. --Id. , 5, 45. --Id. , 7, 72. --
Strabo, 543. ) The Persians called the Cappadocians
by this appellation, because they considered them to
be a branch of the great Syrian nation, from the re-
semblance of their language, customs, and religion,
and because they found that they possessed a fairer
complexion than their swarthy brethren of the south.
The Greek colonie* on the coast of Pontus received
this name from the Persians, and expressed it by the
forms of their own language, but, in its application, re-
stricted it to the inhabitants of the mountainous coun-
try lying along the coast, from the Promontorium Ja-
sonium in the east, to the mouth of the Halys in the
west, while they called the people in the interior of the
country by the name of Cappadocians. The Lcuco-
syrii became in time blended into one people with the
Paphlagonians. {Manner! , Gcogr. , vol. 2, pt. 2, p.
329, seqq. )
Leucothka, I. the name given to Ino after she
had been transformed into a sea-goddess. Beth she
and her son Palsemon were held powerful to save from
shipwreck, and were invoked by mariners. The name
Leucotbea is supposed to be derived from the white
waves running rapidly on {'Acvki'ic, white, and ? Sea, to
run). --II. A daughter of Orchamus, dishonoured by
Apollo, and buried alive by ber incensed father. The
god caused the frankincense shrub to spring up from
her grave. (Ovid, Met. , 4, 196, seqq. )
Lkuctka, a small town of Bceotia, southeast of
Thespiae, and west of Plataea, famous for the victory
which Epaininondas, the Theban general, obtained
over the superior force of Cleombrotus, king of Sparta,
on the 8tU of July, B. C. 371. (Pausan. , 9, 13. ) In
this famous battle 4000 Spartans were killed, with
their king Cleombrotus, and no more than 300 The-
bans. From that lime the Spartans lost the empire
of Greece, which they had held for so many years.
The Theban army consisted at most of 6000 men,
whereas that of the enemy was at least thrice that
Dumber, including the allies. But Epaininondas trust-
ed most to his cavalry, in which he had much ad-
vantage both as to quality and good management; the
wealthy Lacedemonians alone keeping horses at that
time, which made their cavalry most wretched, both
as to ill-fed, undisciplined steeds and unskilful riders.
Other deficiencies he endeavoured to supply by the
disposition of his men, who were drawn up fifty deep,
while the Spartans were but twelve. When the The-
bans had gained the victory and killed Cleombro-
tus, the Spartans renewed the fight to recover their
king's body, and in this object the Theban general
wisely chose to gratify them rather than hazard the
success of another onset. --According to Strabo (414),
Leuctra was situate on the road from Thespis to Pla-
tans, and, according to Xenophon {Hist. Gr. , 6, 4), in
the territory of the former. An oracle had predicted
that the Spartans would sustain a severe loss in this
place, because some of their youths had violated two
maidens of Leuctra, who afterward destroyed them-
selves. (Pausan. , 9,13, seqq. --Plutarch, Vit. Epam.
--Xen. , Hist. Gr. , I. c. ) The spot still retains in some
degree its ancient name, Leuea, prouounccd Lefka.
Dr. Clarke noticed here several tombs and the remains
? ? of an ancient fortress upon a lofty conical hill. The
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? LIBANIUS.
LIB
>>( hi>> having natural children of his own. If it be
true that he lived to the time of Arcadius, he must
have attained to more than 90 years of age. --Besides
his Pugymnasmata, Libanius has left harangues, dec-
lamations, MeArrcu (discourses on imaginary sub-
jects), stories, and letters on various points of morali-
ty, politics, and literature. All these pieces are well
written, and though the style of Libanius is open to
t? d charge of too much study and elaborate care, we
may notwithstanding pronounce him the greatest ora-
tor that Constantinople ever produced. Gibbon, there-
fort-, would seem to have judged him altogether too
harshly, when he characterizes his writings as, for the
most part, "the vain and idle compositions of an ora-
tor who cultivated the science of words; and the pro-
ductions of a recluse student, whose mind, regardless
of his contemporaries, was incessantly fixed on the
Trojan war and the Athenian commonwealth. " (De-
cline and Fall, c. 24. ) It is no little glory for this
sophist to have been the preceptor of St. Basil and St.
Chrysostom, and of having been connected in intimate
friendship, notwithstanding the opposition of their re-
ligious sentiments, with these two pillars of the church.
--Libanius, as we have already remarked, was a pa-
gan, and attached to the religion ot his fathers. His
tolerance forms a singular contrast with the persecu-
ting zea> of the Christians of his time; and a remark-
able proof of this may be seen in one of his epistles.
(Ep. , 730, p. 349. ed. Wolf. )--Among the writings
of Libanius may be mentioned his Progymnasmata
(Praxxercitaliones), or Examples of Rhetorical Exer-
cises (Upoyv/ivaafturuv irapadeiy/iaTa), divided into
thirteen sections, and each one containing a model of
one particular kind. Among the Discourses or Ha-
1-anpia of Libanius are many which were never pro-
tjunced, and which were not even intended to be de-
ht. '-. ec in public: they partake less of the nature of
discourses than of memoirs, or, rather, moral disserta-
tions. One of them is a biographical sketch of Liba-
? ili! , written by himself, at the age of 60 years, unless
here be some mistake in the number, and retouched
by him -j>>i>>r anou' 10 years. It forms the most in-
teresting production o* his pen. Another of these
pieces is entitled Motvdid, and is a Lament on the
death of Julian. Libanius does not pretend to con-
ceal, in this discourse, that one ground of his deplo-
ring the death of the monarch, is the triumph of Chris-
tianity which would result therefrom. A third is a
discourse addressed to Theodosius on the preservation
of the temples and idols of paganism. A fragment of
this discourse was discovered by Mai, in 1823, in
some of the Vatican MSS. A fourth is entitled Tmp
tuv 'lepuv, "Respecting the Temples. " In this dis-
course, pronounced or written about A. D. 390, Liba-
nius entreats the Emperor Theodosius to set bounds
to the fanaticism of the monks, who were destroying
'he temples of paganism, especially those in the coun-
ry, and to order the bishops not to connive at these
excesses. --The Declamations, or exercises on imagin-
>>ry subjects, exceed forty in number. Some idea
may be formed of their nature by the titles of a few:
"Discourse of Menelaus, addressed to the Trojans,
and demanding back his spouse. " "Discourse of
Achilles, in answer to Ulysses, when the- latter was
sent by Agamemnon to propose a reconciliation. "
"Discourse of a parasite who deplores the loss of a
dinner," &c. --A very interesting part of the works of
? ? Libanius is his epistolary correspondence. There are
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? LIB
LIB
suiicee is found. --Of the noble cedars which once
adorned the upper part of this mountain, bit few now
remain, and those much decayed. Burckhardt, who
crossed Movnt Libanus in 1810, counted about 36
large ones, 60 of middle size, and about 300 smaller
and young ones; but more might exist in other parts
of the mouutaie. The wine, especially that made
about the corner. *, of Canobin, still preserves its an-
cient celebrity; and is reported by travellers, more
particularly by Rouwolff, Le Bruyn, and De la Roque,
to be of the most exquisite kind for flavour and fra-
Cncc. --The rains which fall in the lower regions of
barton, and the melting of the snows in the upper
ones, furnish an abundance of perennial atreams,
which are alluded to by Solomon. (Song, 4, 15. )
On the declivities of the mountain grew the vines that
furnished the rich and fragrant wines which Hoaea
(14, 7) celebrated, and which may still be obtained by
proper culture. The snow of Lebanon was probably
transported to a distance, for the purpose of cooling
wine and other liquors. Solomon speaks of the cold
of snow in the time of harvest (Prov. , 25, 13), which
could be obtained nowhere in Judaea nearer than
Lebanon. (Manner! , Gcogr. , vol. 6, pt. 1, p. 341. --
Hansford's Scripture Gazetteer, p. 314, scqq. 1
Liber, the name of an ancient Italian deity, /certi-
fied with the Grecian Dionysus or Bacchus. His
festival, named Liberalia, was celebrated on the 17th
March, when the young men assumed the toga tirilis
or libera. (Varro, L. L. , 5, p. 55. -- Ovid, Fast. , 3,
713, seqq ) When the worship of Ceres and Proser-
pina was introduced at Rome, Proserpina was named
Libera, and the conjoined deities were honoured as
? cres. Liber, and Libera. The name Liber is com-
monly derived from liber, " free," and is referred to
the influence of wine in freeing from care. Others,
however, prefer deducing it from libo, " to pour forth,"
and make Liber 10 be the god of productiveness ef-
fected by moisture. (Keightlcy's Mythology, p. 517. )
Libska, a name given to Proserpina among the Ro-
nuns. (Vi*. Liber. )
LibcsalIa, a festival celebrated annually in honour
of Liber, the Roman Bacchus. It took place on the
17th of March. (. Vid. Liber. )
LiBf. RTAs, the Goddess of Freedom, the same with
the Eleuthcria of the Greeks. Hyginus makes her
the daughter of Jupiter and Juno. (Prof. , p. 10, ed.
Munck. ) Tiberius Gracchus is said to have erected
the first temple to her at Rome, on the Aventine Hill,
and it was here that the archives of the state were de-
posited. The goddess was represented as a Roman
matron, arrayed in white, holding in one hand a broken
sceptre, and in the other a pike surmounted by a pilcus
or cap: at her feet ley a cat, an animal that is an en-
emy to all restraint. The cap alluded to the Roman
custom of putting one on the heads of slaves when
manumitted. (Lit). , 24, 16. -- Id. , 25, 7. -- Ovid,
Trist. , 3, I, 7i. --Plut. , Vit. Gracch. )
Libethra, I. a city of Macedonia, situate, accord-
ing to Pausanlas (9, 30), on the declivity of Olympus,
and not far from the tomb of Orpheus. An oracle de-
clared, that when the sun beheld the bones of the poet,
the city should be destroyed by a boar (ilird ovoc).
The inhabitants of Libethra ridiculed the prophecy as a
thing impossible; but the column of Orpheus's monu-
ment having been accidentally broken, a gap was made
by which light broke in upon the tomb, when the same
? ? nigh the torrent named Sus, being prodigiously swol-
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