780,
after an unimportant reign.
after an unimportant reign.
Charles - 1867 - Classical Dictionary
It is now
the Lake of Geneva. This is a most beautiful expanse
of water in the form of a crescent, the concave side
of which is upward of 45 miles long. Its greatest
breadth is about 12 miles. It never wholly freezes
over in the severest winters, and it rises about ten
feet in summer, by the melting of the snows on the
Alps. Besides the Rhone, which traverses its whole
length, it receives the waters of forty other streams.
(Lucan. 1, 396. -- Mela, 2, 5-- Cits. , B. G. , 1,2. --Id.
ii. , 1,8. --Ji. ib. , 3, 1. )
Lemnos, sn island in the ^Egean Sea, between
Tenedos, Iinbros, and Samothrace. According to
Pliny (4, 12) it was 87 miles from Mount Athos; but
there must be an error in the MSS. of that author,
(or the distance is not forty miles from the extreme
point of tlie Arrothoan Cape to the nearest headland
of Lemnos. 'Compare remarks under the article
Athos. ) Lemnoj is known in ancient mythology as
the spot on which Vulcan fell, after being hurled
down from heaven, and where he established his for-
ges. A volcano, which once was burning on the
island, may have afforded ground for the fable. A
story is also recorded by Herodotus and other ancient
writers of the women of Lemnos having murdered all
the men. (Vid. Hypsipyle. ) Homer states that the
earliest inhabitants of this island were the Simians,
a Thracian tribe (II. , 1, 593. --Strabo, Ezc, 7, p. 331),
whence Apollonius Khodius terms it ZivrqlSa Aijfivov
(I, 608. --Compare Schol. Thucyd. , 2, 98. -- Slcph.
Byz. , s. v. Af/uvoc) To these succeeded the Tyr-
rhenian Pelasgi, who had been driven out of Attica,
fhey are said to have afterward stolen some Athenian
women from Brauron, and carried them to Lemnos;
and it is also said, that the children of these women
having despised their half-brethren, born of Pelasgian
women, the Pelasgi took the resolution of murdering
both the Athenian women and their offspring. In con-
sequence of these atrocities, Lemnos had a bad name
? ? among tho ancient Greeks. _ (C >nsult Erasm. , Ckil.
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? I. E N
LEO
of the house then arose, and went baref >ot, through
la darknoss, to a fountain, where he washed his
hands. He proceeded to it in silence, making mere-
ly a nlight noise with his fingers, to drive away the
shades that might be gathering around. After he had
washed his hands three times, he returned, casting
"dchind him at the same time some black figs which
he carried in his mouth, and uttering in a low tone
the following words: "With these figs do I ransom
myself and my family. " He repeated these same
words nine times, with the same formalities, and with-
out looking behind. Then, after a short interval of
silence, he exclaimed with a loud voice, striking at the
same time on a brazen vessel, "Paternal Manes, Le-
mures, deities of the lower world, depart from this
abode. " Fires were immediately kindled in every
put of the mansion, and the ceremony ended. Cu-
ring the time for celebrating these rites the temples
were closed, and no one could be united in marriage.
{(hid. Fast. , 5, 421, teqq. --Pers. , Sat. , 5, 185. --
Horat. , Epist. , 2, 2, 209. 1
I. kx^us, a surname of Bacchus, from Xtyvbc, a
vine-press. {Vtd. Bacchus, and also Theatrum, $ 2,
Dramatic Contests. )
Lkntulus, a family name of one of the most an-
cient and distinguished branches of the Gens Cornelia.
The appellation is said to have been derived from the
circumstance of one of the line having been bom with
a wart on his visage, shaped like a lentil (lens, gen.
Until). It is more probable, however, that the appel-
lation arose from some peculiar skill displayed by the
founder of the family in the culture of the lentil. --The
most eminent or best known of the Lcntuli were the
following: I. L. Cornelius, was consul A. U. C. 427,
B. C. 327, and cleared Umbria of the brigands that in-
fested it. He was present, six years afterward, at the
disastrous affair of the Furce Caudinse. and was one
? f those who exhorted the Roman consuls to submit
to the humiliating conditions offered by the Samnites,
k order to save the whole army. (Liv. , 8, 22, seqq.
--Id. , 9, 4. )--II. P. Cornelius, surnamed Sura, a Ro-
aian nobleman, grandson of P. Cornelius Lentulus,
who had been Priweps Senaiut. He married Julia,
. sister of L. Julius Cesar, after the death of her first
husband. M. Antonius Creticus, to whom she had
borne M. Antonius the triumvir. Lentulus was a man
of talents, but extremely corrupt in his private charac-
ter. The interest of his family and the affability of
his manners, proceeding from a love of popularity,
raised him through the usual gradations of public hon-
ours to the office of consul, which he obtained B. C.
73, in conjunction with Cn. Aufidius Orestis. Ex-
pelled subsequently*from the senate on account of his
immoral conduct, he had procured the pretorship, the
usual step for being restored to that body, when Cati-
line formed his design of subverting the government.
Poverty, the natural consequence of excessive dissipa-
tion, added to immoderate vanity and extravagant am-
bition, induced him to join in the conspiracy. The
soothsayers easily persuaded him that he was the third
member of the Cornelian house, destined by the Fates
to enjoy the supreme power at Rome, Cinna and Sylla
having both attained to that elevation. His schemes,
however, all proved abortive: he was arrested, along
with others of the conspirators, by the orders of Cice-
ro, who was then in the consulship, and having been
brought before a full senate, was condemned to death,
? ? and strangled in prison. Plutarch informs us that he
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? LEO
IXO.
lit. Or. , vol. 7, p. 58. )--II. An historical writer, sur
named the Carian, who published a continuation of
Theophanes. His work, which extends from A. D.
813 to 949, is entitled Xpovoypa^ia ru rCm vcuv pa-
ai'Keuv ireptexo"aa, " Chronicle of the late emperors. "
We have an edition of this work by Combefis, Paris,
1655, fol. --III. Surnamed the Deacon (AtuKovoc),
r--. ;n about A. P. 950, at Ccelat, a village of Ionia at
the foot of Mouit Tmolus. He was attached, by vir-
tue of his office . if Atuxovor, to the court of the Greek
emperors, which is nearly all that we know of his per-
sonal history. He wrote, in ten books, a history of
the emperors Romanus II. the younger, Nicephorus
Phocas, and John Zimisces, that is, of the years in-
cluded between 959 and 975. His object in compo-
sing this work was to give a histoire raisonnie of the
events which took place under his own eyes. Such an
undertaking, however, was beyond his strength. His
style is neither elegant nor clear, and we are often
startled at the introduction of Latin words in a Greek
garb. His work abounds with specimens of false elo-
quence and bad taste: occasionally, however, we meet
with agreeable and pleasing details. The best edi-
tion at present is that of Hase, Paris, 1819, folio.
The work will form a part, however, of the new edi-
tion of Byzantine writers now in a course of publica-
tion. --IV. Magentcnus or Magentinus, a metropolitan
of Mytilenc, flourished about 1340 A. D. He wrote
commentaries on the works of Aristotle "On Inter-
pretation," and the " first Analytics. " The first of
these commentaries is given in the Aldine collection
of the Peripatetic writers, 1503; the second at the
end of the Venice edition (1536) of John Philoponus.
--V. The First, surnamed the Great, an emperor of
the East, born in Thrace of an obscure family, and who
awed his advancement through the various gradations
of the Roman army to the powerful favour of Aspar,
a Gothic chief who commanded the auxiliaries, and
his son Ardaburius. Leo was in cor. is&nd of . : body
ef trojps encamped at Selymbrie, whan his ambi-
tious protectors made him ascend the throne left va-
cant by the death of the virtuous Mercian. The
senate confirmed this choice; and Leo was acknowl-
edged as emperor at the head of the forces, Feb.
7, A. D. 457, and crowned by Anatolius, patriarch
of Constantinople. It is believed to have been the
first example given of this sacred sanction in the ele-
vation of a monarch to the throne. Aspar soon per-
ceived that Leo would not long support the yoke im-
posed upon him. A quarrel arose between them rel-
ative to the party of the Eutychians who had massa-
cred their bishop and appointed another in his stead.
Aspar espoused the cause of the latter, but Leo drove
'iim from his see, and nominated an orthodox prelate
to the vacant place. Leo had already before this ob-
tained some signal successes over the barbarians, and
had restored peace to the empire of the East. He
wished also to put an end to the troubles of the West-
ern Empire, torn by the ambition and fury of Ricimer,
desolated by Genseric, and governed by mere phan-
toms of emperors. Genseric braved the menaces of
Leo. The latter, whose armies had just repelled the
Huns, and slain one of the sons of Attila, united all
his forces, and aent them into Africa against the Van-
dal prince; but the inexperience, or, according to
Procopius, the tr-achery of Basiliscus saved Genseric,
>>nd tho Roman army returned ingloriously home.
? ? Aspar and his so;: were suspected of having contribu-
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? LEO.
LEO
with scarcely any resistance. Leo was . rowned
emperor March 25, A. D. 717. The Saracens, whom
be had amused by false pretences, now advanced to
'. he capital, and besieged it by sea and land. In this
extremity Leo redoubled his exertions and courage,
and, after long and obstinate conflicts, he succeeded in
repelling his dangerous assailants. In 719, an attempt
or the part of Anastasius to regain the throne failed
tlrough the activity of Leo, and the unsuccessful aspi-
rant lost his head. He sustained also, with varied
success, the repeated attacks of the Saracens in Sicily,
Italy, and Sardinia. So many services rendered to
the empire would have placed Leo in the rank of
great monarchs, had not his fondness for theological
quarrels, too common in those ages of ignorance, in-
volved him in long and dangerous collisions. He es-
poused the cause of the Iconoclasts, and his severity
drove many of the inhabitants into open rebellion.
After a stormy conflict, marked by the most cruel per-
secutions, Leo died, A. D. 741, leaving the throne to
bis son Constantine Copronymus. (Biogr. Univ. ,
vol. 24, p. 136, tegq. )--VIII. The fourth, an emperor
of the east, the son of Constantine Copronymus. He
ascended the throne A. D. 775, and died A. D.
780,
after an unimportant reign. --IX. The fifth, surnamed
the Armenian, an emperor of the East, who rose from
an obscure station to the throne. He succeeded the
emperor Michael Rhanga. be, whom the soldiers re-
jected in a mutiny secretly fomented by the ambi-
tious Leo. His reign continued for seven years and
t half, and was remarkable for the rigid military disci-
pline introduced by him into the civil government.
He was an Iconoclast, but his religious inconstancy
obtained for him, in fact, the name of Chameleon. He
was slain by a baud of conspirators at the very foot
? f the altar, during the morning celebration of the
festival of Christmas. {Gibbon, Decline and Fall, c.
18. )--X. The sixth, surnamed the Philosopher, an
emperor of the East. He was the son of Eudoxia,
wife of Basil I. The irregularities of his mother hare
left some doubt relative to his legitimacy; he was ac-
knowledged, however, by Basil, as his son and suc-
cessor. Already at the age of 19 years, the young
prince had made himself beloved by all the empire.
Santabaren, however, the favourite of Basil, an artful
and dangerous man, irritated at the contempt and ha-
tred which Leo testified for him, sought every means
to destroy him, and at last succeeded in having him
cast into prison on suspicion of plotting against his
father's life. A cruel punishment at first threatened
him; but the parent relented, and his son, being al-
lowed to justify his conduct, was restored to all his
former honours. A little while after, the death of
Basil left Leo master of the Eastern empire. He as-
cended the throne with his brother Alexander in 88G;
but the latter, given up to his pleasures, abandoned to
Leo the whole care of the government. Perhaps the
effeminacy and licentiousness of Alexander obtained
for Leo, by the mere force of flattering comparison,
the title of Philosopher, which his life in no degree
lustified. Scarcely had he ascended the throne when
he deposed Photius, the celebrated patriarch, who was
secretly connected with Santabaren in the plot for his
destruction. Santabaren mmself underwent a cruel
ounishment, and was then driven into exile. Leo
-eigned weakly, and the ill success of his generals
igamst the Bulgarians obliged him to submit to such
? ? terms of peace as those barbarians pleased to pro-
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? t. rco
LEP
frustrated l. r nis being slain in baltle. (Plut. , Vit.
AUx. --Id. , Vit. Phoc. --Id. , Vit. Eum. )
Lronidas, I. a celebrated king of Laccdtemon, of
the family of the Eurysthenid. e, sent by his countrymen
to maintain the pass of Thermopylae against the inva-
ding army of Xerxes, B. C. 430. A full narrative of
the whole affair, together with an examination of the
ancient statements on this subject, will be found under
the article Thermopylae. --II. Son of Cleonymus, of the
line of the Agida, succeeded Areus II. on the throne
>>f Sparta, B. C. 257. Agis, his colleague in the
sovereignty, having resolved to restore the institutions
o; Lycurgus to their former vigour, Leonidas opposed
his views, and became the main support of those who
were inclined to a relaxation of ancient strictness.
He was convicted, however, of having transgressed
the lawB, and was obliged to yield the supreme power
to Cleombrotus, his son-in-law. Not long after he
w<<s re-established on the Spartan throne, and avenged
the affront which he had received at the hands of Agis,
by impeaching him and effecting his condemnation.
(Pausan. , 2, 9. --Id. , 3, 6. )--III. A native of Alexan-
dres, who flourished at Rome as a grammarian to-
wards the close of the first century of the Christian
era. He wrote, among other things, epigrams denom-
inated ioCiftrjQa, arranged in such a manner, that the
uumeririi value of all the letters composing any one
disti-h is equal to that of the letters of any other. He
was very probably the inventor of this learned species of
Infling. (Scholl, Hist. Lit. , vol. 4, p. 60. --Compare
Jacobs, fatal. Poet. Epigramm. , s. t>. )--IV. A na-
"ive of Tarentum, who flourished about 275 B. C. He
tas left behind a hundred epigrams in the Doric dialect,
tnd which belong to the best of those that have been
|rcserved for us. (Jacobs, Catal. Poet. Epigramm. ,
Leontini, a town of Sicily, situate about five mites
torn the seashore, on the south of Catana, between two
email streams, the Lissus and Terias. Tlio place is
jometimes called by modern writers Leontium; this,
lowcver, is not only a deviation from Thucydidcs, who
always uses the form Acovrtvoi, but, in fact, is employ-
id by no ancient author except Ptolemy; and Clave-
rius there suspeots the reading to be a corruption for
\covrivov. (Bloomfield, ad Thucyd. , 6, 3. ) It was
founded by a colony of Chalcideans from Eubcea, who
had come to the island but six years before, and had
(hen settled Naxos, near Mount Taurus, where Tauro-
inenium was afterward founded. That they should have
settled Leontini only six years after their own coloniza-
tion may indeed aeem strange; but it may be accounted
for from the superior fertility of the plain of Leontini,
which has ever been accounted the richest tract in Si-
cily; for the very same reason they soon afterward
settled Catana. (Thucyd. , I. c. -- Bloomf. , ad loc. )
The Siculi were in possession of the territory where
Leontini was founded prior to the arrival of the col-
ony, and were driven out by force of arms. Leontini
for a time continued flourishing and powerful, but
eventually sank under the superior power and prosper-
ity of Syracuse. Its quarrel with this last-mentioned
city led to the unfortunate expedition of the Athenians,
whose aid Leontini has) solicited. The city ultimate-
ly fell under the Syracusan power. The celebrated
Gorgias was a native of this place. (Manner! , Geogr. ,
vol. 9, pt. 2, p. 301, scqq. )
Leontium, an Athenian female, originally an hetarist,
although aftcrv. -i. rd, as Gassendi maintains, the wife
? ? of Metrod&rcs, the most eminent friend and disciple
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? LEP
L EP
let of Autonim the y lunger, t>y Lucius Domitius . Eno-
barbus. She was the wife of Valerius Messala, and
mother of Messalina, and is described as having been
a woman of debauched and profligate manners, and of
a violent end impetuous spirit. In point of beauty
u<d vice, she was the rival of Agrippitia, Nero's moth-
B. She was condemned to death through the influ-
ence of the same Agrippina. (Tacit. , Ann. , 11, 37.
--Id, Ann. , 12, 64. --Sutton. , Vil. Claud. , 26 -- Id. ,
Fit. Ner. , 7. )
Lepidi, the name of one of the most distinguished
families of the patrician gens, or houso, of the ^Emilii.
The individuals most worthy of notice in this family
are the following: I. M. -Emii. ius Lepidus, was sent
as an ambassador to Ptolemy, king of . Egypt, at the
close of the second Punic war, B. C. 201. (Polyb. ,
16,34. --Ln>. ,31,2. --Compare Tacittu,Ann. , 2, 67. )
He obtained the consulship B. C. 187 (Lit). , 39, 5.
-Polyb. , 23, 1), and again in B. C. 175. In B. C.
179 he was elected Pontifex Msximus and Censor.
(La. , 40, 42. --Aul. Gell. , 12,8. ) He was also Prin-
ceps Senatus aix times. (Liv. , Eptt. , 48. ) He died
B. C. 150. --II. M. jEhilius Lepidus, was praetor
B. C. 81; after which he obtained the province of
Sicily. (Cie. in Verr. , 3, 91. ) In his consulship,
B. C. 78, he endeavoured to rescind the measures of
Sylla, but was driven out of Italy by his colleague
Quintus Catulus and by Pompey, and retired to Sar-
dinia, where he died the following year, while making
preparations for a renewal of the war. (Appian, Bell.
Civ. , 1. 105. --Liu. , . Eptr. , 90. -- Plut. , Vil. Pomp. ,
16. }--III. M. -Emilius Lepidus, the triumvir, eon
of the preceding, was sedilc B. C. 52, and pnetorB. C.
49, in which year Cesar came to an open rupture
with the senatorian party. Lepidus, from his first
entrance into public life, opposed the party of the
senate; and though he dues not appear to havo pos-
sessed any of the talent and energy of character by
which Antony was distinguished, yet his great riches
and extensive family connexions made him an im-
portant accession to the popular causo. On the first
expedition of Ca;sar into Spain, Lepidus was left in
charge of the city, though the military command of
Italy was intrusted to Antony. During Caesar's ab-
sence, Lepidus proposed the law by which the former
was created dictator.
the Lake of Geneva. This is a most beautiful expanse
of water in the form of a crescent, the concave side
of which is upward of 45 miles long. Its greatest
breadth is about 12 miles. It never wholly freezes
over in the severest winters, and it rises about ten
feet in summer, by the melting of the snows on the
Alps. Besides the Rhone, which traverses its whole
length, it receives the waters of forty other streams.
(Lucan. 1, 396. -- Mela, 2, 5-- Cits. , B. G. , 1,2. --Id.
ii. , 1,8. --Ji. ib. , 3, 1. )
Lemnos, sn island in the ^Egean Sea, between
Tenedos, Iinbros, and Samothrace. According to
Pliny (4, 12) it was 87 miles from Mount Athos; but
there must be an error in the MSS. of that author,
(or the distance is not forty miles from the extreme
point of tlie Arrothoan Cape to the nearest headland
of Lemnos. 'Compare remarks under the article
Athos. ) Lemnoj is known in ancient mythology as
the spot on which Vulcan fell, after being hurled
down from heaven, and where he established his for-
ges. A volcano, which once was burning on the
island, may have afforded ground for the fable. A
story is also recorded by Herodotus and other ancient
writers of the women of Lemnos having murdered all
the men. (Vid. Hypsipyle. ) Homer states that the
earliest inhabitants of this island were the Simians,
a Thracian tribe (II. , 1, 593. --Strabo, Ezc, 7, p. 331),
whence Apollonius Khodius terms it ZivrqlSa Aijfivov
(I, 608. --Compare Schol. Thucyd. , 2, 98. -- Slcph.
Byz. , s. v. Af/uvoc) To these succeeded the Tyr-
rhenian Pelasgi, who had been driven out of Attica,
fhey are said to have afterward stolen some Athenian
women from Brauron, and carried them to Lemnos;
and it is also said, that the children of these women
having despised their half-brethren, born of Pelasgian
women, the Pelasgi took the resolution of murdering
both the Athenian women and their offspring. In con-
sequence of these atrocities, Lemnos had a bad name
? ? among tho ancient Greeks. _ (C >nsult Erasm. , Ckil.
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? I. E N
LEO
of the house then arose, and went baref >ot, through
la darknoss, to a fountain, where he washed his
hands. He proceeded to it in silence, making mere-
ly a nlight noise with his fingers, to drive away the
shades that might be gathering around. After he had
washed his hands three times, he returned, casting
"dchind him at the same time some black figs which
he carried in his mouth, and uttering in a low tone
the following words: "With these figs do I ransom
myself and my family. " He repeated these same
words nine times, with the same formalities, and with-
out looking behind. Then, after a short interval of
silence, he exclaimed with a loud voice, striking at the
same time on a brazen vessel, "Paternal Manes, Le-
mures, deities of the lower world, depart from this
abode. " Fires were immediately kindled in every
put of the mansion, and the ceremony ended. Cu-
ring the time for celebrating these rites the temples
were closed, and no one could be united in marriage.
{(hid. Fast. , 5, 421, teqq. --Pers. , Sat. , 5, 185. --
Horat. , Epist. , 2, 2, 209. 1
I. kx^us, a surname of Bacchus, from Xtyvbc, a
vine-press. {Vtd. Bacchus, and also Theatrum, $ 2,
Dramatic Contests. )
Lkntulus, a family name of one of the most an-
cient and distinguished branches of the Gens Cornelia.
The appellation is said to have been derived from the
circumstance of one of the line having been bom with
a wart on his visage, shaped like a lentil (lens, gen.
Until). It is more probable, however, that the appel-
lation arose from some peculiar skill displayed by the
founder of the family in the culture of the lentil. --The
most eminent or best known of the Lcntuli were the
following: I. L. Cornelius, was consul A. U. C. 427,
B. C. 327, and cleared Umbria of the brigands that in-
fested it. He was present, six years afterward, at the
disastrous affair of the Furce Caudinse. and was one
? f those who exhorted the Roman consuls to submit
to the humiliating conditions offered by the Samnites,
k order to save the whole army. (Liv. , 8, 22, seqq.
--Id. , 9, 4. )--II. P. Cornelius, surnamed Sura, a Ro-
aian nobleman, grandson of P. Cornelius Lentulus,
who had been Priweps Senaiut. He married Julia,
. sister of L. Julius Cesar, after the death of her first
husband. M. Antonius Creticus, to whom she had
borne M. Antonius the triumvir. Lentulus was a man
of talents, but extremely corrupt in his private charac-
ter. The interest of his family and the affability of
his manners, proceeding from a love of popularity,
raised him through the usual gradations of public hon-
ours to the office of consul, which he obtained B. C.
73, in conjunction with Cn. Aufidius Orestis. Ex-
pelled subsequently*from the senate on account of his
immoral conduct, he had procured the pretorship, the
usual step for being restored to that body, when Cati-
line formed his design of subverting the government.
Poverty, the natural consequence of excessive dissipa-
tion, added to immoderate vanity and extravagant am-
bition, induced him to join in the conspiracy. The
soothsayers easily persuaded him that he was the third
member of the Cornelian house, destined by the Fates
to enjoy the supreme power at Rome, Cinna and Sylla
having both attained to that elevation. His schemes,
however, all proved abortive: he was arrested, along
with others of the conspirators, by the orders of Cice-
ro, who was then in the consulship, and having been
brought before a full senate, was condemned to death,
? ? and strangled in prison. Plutarch informs us that he
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? LEO
IXO.
lit. Or. , vol. 7, p. 58. )--II. An historical writer, sur
named the Carian, who published a continuation of
Theophanes. His work, which extends from A. D.
813 to 949, is entitled Xpovoypa^ia ru rCm vcuv pa-
ai'Keuv ireptexo"aa, " Chronicle of the late emperors. "
We have an edition of this work by Combefis, Paris,
1655, fol. --III. Surnamed the Deacon (AtuKovoc),
r--. ;n about A. P. 950, at Ccelat, a village of Ionia at
the foot of Mouit Tmolus. He was attached, by vir-
tue of his office . if Atuxovor, to the court of the Greek
emperors, which is nearly all that we know of his per-
sonal history. He wrote, in ten books, a history of
the emperors Romanus II. the younger, Nicephorus
Phocas, and John Zimisces, that is, of the years in-
cluded between 959 and 975. His object in compo-
sing this work was to give a histoire raisonnie of the
events which took place under his own eyes. Such an
undertaking, however, was beyond his strength. His
style is neither elegant nor clear, and we are often
startled at the introduction of Latin words in a Greek
garb. His work abounds with specimens of false elo-
quence and bad taste: occasionally, however, we meet
with agreeable and pleasing details. The best edi-
tion at present is that of Hase, Paris, 1819, folio.
The work will form a part, however, of the new edi-
tion of Byzantine writers now in a course of publica-
tion. --IV. Magentcnus or Magentinus, a metropolitan
of Mytilenc, flourished about 1340 A. D. He wrote
commentaries on the works of Aristotle "On Inter-
pretation," and the " first Analytics. " The first of
these commentaries is given in the Aldine collection
of the Peripatetic writers, 1503; the second at the
end of the Venice edition (1536) of John Philoponus.
--V. The First, surnamed the Great, an emperor of
the East, born in Thrace of an obscure family, and who
awed his advancement through the various gradations
of the Roman army to the powerful favour of Aspar,
a Gothic chief who commanded the auxiliaries, and
his son Ardaburius. Leo was in cor. is&nd of . : body
ef trojps encamped at Selymbrie, whan his ambi-
tious protectors made him ascend the throne left va-
cant by the death of the virtuous Mercian. The
senate confirmed this choice; and Leo was acknowl-
edged as emperor at the head of the forces, Feb.
7, A. D. 457, and crowned by Anatolius, patriarch
of Constantinople. It is believed to have been the
first example given of this sacred sanction in the ele-
vation of a monarch to the throne. Aspar soon per-
ceived that Leo would not long support the yoke im-
posed upon him. A quarrel arose between them rel-
ative to the party of the Eutychians who had massa-
cred their bishop and appointed another in his stead.
Aspar espoused the cause of the latter, but Leo drove
'iim from his see, and nominated an orthodox prelate
to the vacant place. Leo had already before this ob-
tained some signal successes over the barbarians, and
had restored peace to the empire of the East. He
wished also to put an end to the troubles of the West-
ern Empire, torn by the ambition and fury of Ricimer,
desolated by Genseric, and governed by mere phan-
toms of emperors. Genseric braved the menaces of
Leo. The latter, whose armies had just repelled the
Huns, and slain one of the sons of Attila, united all
his forces, and aent them into Africa against the Van-
dal prince; but the inexperience, or, according to
Procopius, the tr-achery of Basiliscus saved Genseric,
>>nd tho Roman army returned ingloriously home.
? ? Aspar and his so;: were suspected of having contribu-
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? LEO.
LEO
with scarcely any resistance. Leo was . rowned
emperor March 25, A. D. 717. The Saracens, whom
be had amused by false pretences, now advanced to
'. he capital, and besieged it by sea and land. In this
extremity Leo redoubled his exertions and courage,
and, after long and obstinate conflicts, he succeeded in
repelling his dangerous assailants. In 719, an attempt
or the part of Anastasius to regain the throne failed
tlrough the activity of Leo, and the unsuccessful aspi-
rant lost his head. He sustained also, with varied
success, the repeated attacks of the Saracens in Sicily,
Italy, and Sardinia. So many services rendered to
the empire would have placed Leo in the rank of
great monarchs, had not his fondness for theological
quarrels, too common in those ages of ignorance, in-
volved him in long and dangerous collisions. He es-
poused the cause of the Iconoclasts, and his severity
drove many of the inhabitants into open rebellion.
After a stormy conflict, marked by the most cruel per-
secutions, Leo died, A. D. 741, leaving the throne to
bis son Constantine Copronymus. (Biogr. Univ. ,
vol. 24, p. 136, tegq. )--VIII. The fourth, an emperor
of the east, the son of Constantine Copronymus. He
ascended the throne A. D. 775, and died A. D.
780,
after an unimportant reign. --IX. The fifth, surnamed
the Armenian, an emperor of the East, who rose from
an obscure station to the throne. He succeeded the
emperor Michael Rhanga. be, whom the soldiers re-
jected in a mutiny secretly fomented by the ambi-
tious Leo. His reign continued for seven years and
t half, and was remarkable for the rigid military disci-
pline introduced by him into the civil government.
He was an Iconoclast, but his religious inconstancy
obtained for him, in fact, the name of Chameleon. He
was slain by a baud of conspirators at the very foot
? f the altar, during the morning celebration of the
festival of Christmas. {Gibbon, Decline and Fall, c.
18. )--X. The sixth, surnamed the Philosopher, an
emperor of the East. He was the son of Eudoxia,
wife of Basil I. The irregularities of his mother hare
left some doubt relative to his legitimacy; he was ac-
knowledged, however, by Basil, as his son and suc-
cessor. Already at the age of 19 years, the young
prince had made himself beloved by all the empire.
Santabaren, however, the favourite of Basil, an artful
and dangerous man, irritated at the contempt and ha-
tred which Leo testified for him, sought every means
to destroy him, and at last succeeded in having him
cast into prison on suspicion of plotting against his
father's life. A cruel punishment at first threatened
him; but the parent relented, and his son, being al-
lowed to justify his conduct, was restored to all his
former honours. A little while after, the death of
Basil left Leo master of the Eastern empire. He as-
cended the throne with his brother Alexander in 88G;
but the latter, given up to his pleasures, abandoned to
Leo the whole care of the government. Perhaps the
effeminacy and licentiousness of Alexander obtained
for Leo, by the mere force of flattering comparison,
the title of Philosopher, which his life in no degree
lustified. Scarcely had he ascended the throne when
he deposed Photius, the celebrated patriarch, who was
secretly connected with Santabaren in the plot for his
destruction. Santabaren mmself underwent a cruel
ounishment, and was then driven into exile. Leo
-eigned weakly, and the ill success of his generals
igamst the Bulgarians obliged him to submit to such
? ? terms of peace as those barbarians pleased to pro-
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? t. rco
LEP
frustrated l. r nis being slain in baltle. (Plut. , Vit.
AUx. --Id. , Vit. Phoc. --Id. , Vit. Eum. )
Lronidas, I. a celebrated king of Laccdtemon, of
the family of the Eurysthenid. e, sent by his countrymen
to maintain the pass of Thermopylae against the inva-
ding army of Xerxes, B. C. 430. A full narrative of
the whole affair, together with an examination of the
ancient statements on this subject, will be found under
the article Thermopylae. --II. Son of Cleonymus, of the
line of the Agida, succeeded Areus II. on the throne
>>f Sparta, B. C. 257. Agis, his colleague in the
sovereignty, having resolved to restore the institutions
o; Lycurgus to their former vigour, Leonidas opposed
his views, and became the main support of those who
were inclined to a relaxation of ancient strictness.
He was convicted, however, of having transgressed
the lawB, and was obliged to yield the supreme power
to Cleombrotus, his son-in-law. Not long after he
w<<s re-established on the Spartan throne, and avenged
the affront which he had received at the hands of Agis,
by impeaching him and effecting his condemnation.
(Pausan. , 2, 9. --Id. , 3, 6. )--III. A native of Alexan-
dres, who flourished at Rome as a grammarian to-
wards the close of the first century of the Christian
era. He wrote, among other things, epigrams denom-
inated ioCiftrjQa, arranged in such a manner, that the
uumeririi value of all the letters composing any one
disti-h is equal to that of the letters of any other. He
was very probably the inventor of this learned species of
Infling. (Scholl, Hist. Lit. , vol. 4, p. 60. --Compare
Jacobs, fatal. Poet. Epigramm. , s. t>. )--IV. A na-
"ive of Tarentum, who flourished about 275 B. C. He
tas left behind a hundred epigrams in the Doric dialect,
tnd which belong to the best of those that have been
|rcserved for us. (Jacobs, Catal. Poet. Epigramm. ,
Leontini, a town of Sicily, situate about five mites
torn the seashore, on the south of Catana, between two
email streams, the Lissus and Terias. Tlio place is
jometimes called by modern writers Leontium; this,
lowcver, is not only a deviation from Thucydidcs, who
always uses the form Acovrtvoi, but, in fact, is employ-
id by no ancient author except Ptolemy; and Clave-
rius there suspeots the reading to be a corruption for
\covrivov. (Bloomfield, ad Thucyd. , 6, 3. ) It was
founded by a colony of Chalcideans from Eubcea, who
had come to the island but six years before, and had
(hen settled Naxos, near Mount Taurus, where Tauro-
inenium was afterward founded. That they should have
settled Leontini only six years after their own coloniza-
tion may indeed aeem strange; but it may be accounted
for from the superior fertility of the plain of Leontini,
which has ever been accounted the richest tract in Si-
cily; for the very same reason they soon afterward
settled Catana. (Thucyd. , I. c. -- Bloomf. , ad loc. )
The Siculi were in possession of the territory where
Leontini was founded prior to the arrival of the col-
ony, and were driven out by force of arms. Leontini
for a time continued flourishing and powerful, but
eventually sank under the superior power and prosper-
ity of Syracuse. Its quarrel with this last-mentioned
city led to the unfortunate expedition of the Athenians,
whose aid Leontini has) solicited. The city ultimate-
ly fell under the Syracusan power. The celebrated
Gorgias was a native of this place. (Manner! , Geogr. ,
vol. 9, pt. 2, p. 301, scqq. )
Leontium, an Athenian female, originally an hetarist,
although aftcrv. -i. rd, as Gassendi maintains, the wife
? ? of Metrod&rcs, the most eminent friend and disciple
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? LEP
L EP
let of Autonim the y lunger, t>y Lucius Domitius . Eno-
barbus. She was the wife of Valerius Messala, and
mother of Messalina, and is described as having been
a woman of debauched and profligate manners, and of
a violent end impetuous spirit. In point of beauty
u<d vice, she was the rival of Agrippitia, Nero's moth-
B. She was condemned to death through the influ-
ence of the same Agrippina. (Tacit. , Ann. , 11, 37.
--Id, Ann. , 12, 64. --Sutton. , Vil. Claud. , 26 -- Id. ,
Fit. Ner. , 7. )
Lepidi, the name of one of the most distinguished
families of the patrician gens, or houso, of the ^Emilii.
The individuals most worthy of notice in this family
are the following: I. M. -Emii. ius Lepidus, was sent
as an ambassador to Ptolemy, king of . Egypt, at the
close of the second Punic war, B. C. 201. (Polyb. ,
16,34. --Ln>. ,31,2. --Compare Tacittu,Ann. , 2, 67. )
He obtained the consulship B. C. 187 (Lit). , 39, 5.
-Polyb. , 23, 1), and again in B. C. 175. In B. C.
179 he was elected Pontifex Msximus and Censor.
(La. , 40, 42. --Aul. Gell. , 12,8. ) He was also Prin-
ceps Senatus aix times. (Liv. , Eptt. , 48. ) He died
B. C. 150. --II. M. jEhilius Lepidus, was praetor
B. C. 81; after which he obtained the province of
Sicily. (Cie. in Verr. , 3, 91. ) In his consulship,
B. C. 78, he endeavoured to rescind the measures of
Sylla, but was driven out of Italy by his colleague
Quintus Catulus and by Pompey, and retired to Sar-
dinia, where he died the following year, while making
preparations for a renewal of the war. (Appian, Bell.
Civ. , 1. 105. --Liu. , . Eptr. , 90. -- Plut. , Vil. Pomp. ,
16. }--III. M. -Emilius Lepidus, the triumvir, eon
of the preceding, was sedilc B. C. 52, and pnetorB. C.
49, in which year Cesar came to an open rupture
with the senatorian party. Lepidus, from his first
entrance into public life, opposed the party of the
senate; and though he dues not appear to havo pos-
sessed any of the talent and energy of character by
which Antony was distinguished, yet his great riches
and extensive family connexions made him an im-
portant accession to the popular causo. On the first
expedition of Ca;sar into Spain, Lepidus was left in
charge of the city, though the military command of
Italy was intrusted to Antony. During Caesar's ab-
sence, Lepidus proposed the law by which the former
was created dictator.
