laid on and finished without stucco, and afterwards well | painted. If stucco be dressed on as a third coat, it will scale off. Pavements-Roofing. Pavements are formed of marble, stone, slate, or some kind of artificial compound. Marble, on account of its costliness, is little employed for this purpose in Great Britain; and the floors of lobbies, halls, and also pathways, are more generally formed of slabs of sand-stone, bedded on mortar, and neatly joined together. The stone employed for pavements exposed to the atmosphere should be hard, and not liable to scale off by the effects of the weather. Stone inclining to slate forms the most durable pavement, and possesses the great advantage of being impervious to damp. The floors of churches in the Netherlands, and also the common pavements of that country, are of a material of this kind, and we should recommend the use of slate for ground-flooring in all similarly damp countries and situations. Woolen pavement.-The idea of paving with pieces of wood, the points of the grain upwards, was propounded in the year 1825, but was not carried into execution till nearly fifteen years later. Two plans have been pressed on public attention; the first is that of Mr. Stead. It consists of pieces of wood, each from four to eight inches deep, as cut lengthwise from the timber, and about six inches across, but fashioned round the sides into a hexagonal shape; these are set in rows on a flat basis, and are held together by mutual pressure throughout the mass. This plan, by which individual pieces are apt to sink and form ruts or hollows, is, in our opinion, inferior to that of an ingenious foreigner, Count de Lisle, which is conducted by the Metropolitan Wood-pavement Company, in London. By this plan, a squared piece of timber is cut diagonally into pieces, rhomboidal in shape, or each the stereotony of a cube. The size is six inches deep by nearly the same in width. The pieces are set on a flat basis, one overlapping the other, and are held together and in their places by pins in the sides. When one row has been laid down, all the pieces lean in one direction across the street, the next row being made to lean the contrary way, and so on with all succeeding rows. By means of the pins in the side, each row is fastened close and firmly up to the other, so as to prevent all shifting. If we now examine the principle on which the pressure is sustained by the united blocks, it will be observed that, by means of the overlapping, no single block supports any given pressure that falls upon it, except at a point in the middle; at other points, the pressure is distributed over at least two blocks -the upper part of one, and the lower part of another. The resistance which is therefore given by the mass to all the ordinary kinds of pressure from horses and vehicles, must be much greater than that offered by blocks standing isolated, either with respect to overlapping or pinning. Another very great advantage is the mode of laying down blocks pinned together in masses. It seems that lumps of a yard square, or thirty-six blocks, may be put down at once, and that a mile of street could be laid down in three days. In the event of after-repairs, or when the streets are to be opened for laying gas or water pipes, these lumps can again with ease be taken up and laid aside. Across the upper surface, grooves are cut at short intervals, to afford indentations for the horses' feet. The whole, when laid in a proper manner, has the appearance of neat oblong pavement. The advantages of wood over stone pavement are far greater cleanliness, as respects either dust or mud, much less noise, and in some places considerably less expense. The only disadvantage, as far as we have ever heard, is the over-smoothness of surface, in consequence of which horses have a tendency to slip and come down. In Lon don and various towns in England, the Cunt de Lisle's plan has latterly spread considerably, and is now generally esteemed. It does not appear likely to come into use, however, in places where stone is abundant. The cost of about 11s. or 12s. per square yard for wooden blocks may be cheap in London, but would be excessively high in Edinburgh and other places where stone abounds. Slates. The thin and trimmed laminae of slate from the quarries form the handsomest and most durable roofing for all kinds of houses in which a slope is allowable or required. The best kinds of this material are found in Wales, and are now thence imported to most seaports. Tiles, formed of burnt clay, are a more unsightly and less durable kind of roofing, but their comparative cheapness causes them to be largely employed for at least all cominon edifices. The neatest tiles are flat and angular, and are held to the rafters by pegs, the interstices of each row being plastered before lapping over the next above it. Those tiles are the strongest which contain a proportion of iron. Asphalte has lately been adopted to a large extent in France and some other countries, both as pavement and as waterproof roofing for buildings. Asphalte, or asphaltum, is a bituminous mineral, allied in its nature to pitch, and is found in the form of rocky masses in different parts of the world. The chief quarries for it in centinental Europe are in the Val de Travers, province of Neuchatel, the excavations being in the Jura range of mountains, which are calcareous in their nature. An in. ferior kind is a species of bituminous molasse, which exists in various parts in what must be called lakes, or vast semi-fluid masses. The true asphalte, or asphaltic cement of Neuchatel, is procured by boring and blasting the bituminous rocks, and the pieces being brayed and then melted in large boilers, the hot fluid is poured out so as to form conveniently-sized cakes. needed for smearing on roofs, it requires to be only melted and spread, and when dry, it remains impervious to the weather, neither cracking in winter nor melting in summer. If designed for pavement, it is customary to mix fine river sand with it, which gives it more stability, and a degree of roughness that is not unnecessary. It is spread while hot on a properly prepared bed, and being rendered smooth on the surface, it offers an exceedingly agreeable resistance to the foot, being not so hard as stone, nor so soft as a mud pathway. Wherever stone is expensive, this asphaltic pavement may be advantageously employed, not for streets, but floors of dairies and other outhouses, garden-walks, and terraces. When Zine (see article CHEMISTRY), a metal of a light-bluish tinge, has lately come into use for covering buildings, and also for forming gutters to carry off the rain from roofs. It is much thinner than lead, and being made in large rolls, it can be laid to any length; its lightness and comparative cheapness render it suitable for temporary edifices, and also for buildings which could not support a heavy roof. It does not oxidize or rust by exposure, and will last a long period of time if not damaged. Note. In the compilation of the present sheet, besides the authorities mentioned, we have been indebted to some learned Lexicon), and also to Elements of Technology," by Dr. Jacob articles in the "Encyclopedia Americana" (Conversations Bigelow." VOL. II.-6 DICTIONARY OF CLASSICAL TERMS. [THE extensive use of classical terms and allusions in modern literature, places a serious stumbling-block in the way of all readers who have not received a regular scholastic education. Hence, such an explanatory dictionary as that contained in the present sheet, will prove, it is hoped, alike acceptable and useful to a large section of the public.] ACADEMIA, a pleasant and finely wooded spot in the vicinity of Athens, which derived its name from the proprietor Academus, and became renowned as the spot where Plato taught philosophy to his pupils. These were thence termed Academics; and a familiar appellation, originating in the same source, is bestowed on seats of learning and education at the present day. ACHATA, a district of the Peloponnesus or Morea, the people of which held so considerable a station among the ancient Greeks, that their name was frequently used to denote the entire population of the country. ACHATES, a follower of Eneas, so faithful and devoted that his name has become proverbially significant of constancy in friendship, being applied to Sir John the Graeme, among others, on account of his adherence to Wallace. ACHERON, a gloomy river in the fabulous infernal regions of the classical mythology, imagined by some writers to lie near the south-west extremity of the Euxine or Black Sea. ally behield Diana bathing, was changed by the chaste goddess into a stag, and torn to pieces by his own dogs. The Fate of Acteon" is a phrase expressive of the ruin of a man by his own friends, or from unwittingly becoming cognisant of dangerous secrets. ADONIS, a youth of great beauty beloved by Venus, who, on his being gored to death by a wild boar, converted him into the flower Anemone. Some say, how. ever, that life was granted to him during six months of every year, at the entreaties of Venus. ENEAS, a Trojan prince, son of Anchises and Venus, who, on the fall of Troy, is said to have wandered with a small band to Italy, and there to have laid the foundation of the Roman empire. The Romans were proud of this traditional descent; and Virgil made it the subject of his great national epic. EOLUS, the god of the winds, according to the classi cal mythology. The "Eolian harp" derives from him its designation. ÆSCHYLUS, a tragic writer of Athens, whose style is peculiarly vehement and sublime. Æsop, a native of Phrygia, renowned as a writer of fables. His actual productions are lost; but the Latin fabulists profess to have translated from his original Greek. He is stated to have been deformed in person, and a slave by station. ESCULAPIUS, a personage honoured as the god of medicine, and reputed to be the son of Apollo by a mortal nymph. Exposed in infancy to save his mother's repu tation, he fell under the care of Chiron the centaur, and acquired such skill in the healing art as even to recover dead persons from the grave. For this feat, Pluto, the king of the nether realms, persuaded Jupiter to kill him ACHILLES, son of Peleus, king of Thessaly, by the with a thunderbolt. Many temples were erected to sea-goddess Thetis. Educated by Chiron, a learned cen- Esculapius; and he was generally represented in the taur (half man, and half horse), Achilles is represented form of an old man, with one hand on a staff and the as having become perfect in all the accomplishments of other on a serpent's head. The latter animal is to this his heroic age, and had just attained the prime of youth-day the emblem of medical science; and the name of ful manhood, when the princes of Greece went to war the supposed divinity is familiarly applied to the art and with Troy. Thetis, foreknowing that her son would fall its professors. in that contest, disguised him as a female to prevent his entering into it, but he was detected, and, not against his will, went with the other chiefs to Troy, where he distinguished himself above all the Greeks by consummate daring and prowess. A quarrel with the leader, Agamemnon, caused him at length to withdraw in disgust from the field; and, in spite of the entreaties of his countrymen, he remained obstinately inactive in his ships, until the death of Patroclus by the hand of Hector caused him to don the splendid panoply formed for him by the armourer of the gods, and rush to the scene of battle. Many Trojans fell before the infuriated chieftain, and, finally, Hector himself was cast lifeless on the field. In his youthful days, Thetis had rendered her son Invulnerable by dipping him in the river Styx; but the tendon of the heel by which she held him (hence called the tendo Achillis) was left unsecured, and Paris, the brother of Hector, slew the chief by a wound in that spot, thus fulfilling the decree of fate. Strength, swiftness, and beauty of person, are the leading characteristics assigned to Achilles by the poet Homer; and it is worthy of remark, that speed of foot is one of the most valued qualities of a Greek chief at this day, Marco Bozzaris, a man worthy of the old times, being renowned for this property. Acis, a son of Faunus, slain by the one-eyed giant Polyphemus, on account of a rivalry between them for the love of the nymph Galatea. The latter changed Acis into a river, yet called the Jaci. Handel produced a fine opera on the subject of Acis and Galatea. ETNA, the most famous volcanic mountain in the world, situated in Sicily, and rising to a height of more than 11,000 feet above the sea-level. The noise and flame emitted from it led the imaginative ancients to make its interior the workshop of the smith-god Vulcan. AGAMEMNON, king of Mycena, in the Peloponnesus, and leader of the Greeks in the expedition against Troy. The character given to him by Homer is one of massive grandeur. He was murdered, on his return home, by his wife Clytemnestra and her paramour Ægisthus. AGLAIA, one of the three Graces. AGRARIAN LAW-During the times of the republic, some ambitious men endeavoured to win the favour of the Romans by passing a law for the equal division among them of portions of individual property. Great disturbances followed. The phrase is yet often used to signify arbitrary divisions of individual property among a community. AGRICOLA (CN. JULIUS), a Roman general, who, under various emperors, served with great distinction in Britain, defeating Galgacus, among others, near the Grampian hills. AJAX, son of Telamon, and famous in the war of Troy for his bravery, and vast though unwieldy strength. He became mad, and slew himself, because the arms of ACROCORINTHUS, the citadel rock of Corinth, an emi- the deceased Achilles were not assigned to him. Another nence of great height and strength. ACTEON, a Baotian huntsman, who, having accident Ajax also figured in the same contest. ALCESTIS, wife of Admetus, king of Phere, who vo luntarily died for her husband's sake, and was brought again from the regions of the dead by Hercules. ALCIBIADES, an Athenian noble, remarkable for beauty of person and intellectual capacity, and not less noto. rious for his vices and luxurious effeminacy. He was a pupil of the philosopher Socrates, and owed much to his instructions. After a youth spent for the most in folly, yet folly redeemed in part by generous actions, he entered into the service of the state, and showed eminent talents as a military and naval commander. However, his fickle countrymen, influenced by demagogues, soon found cause of quarrel with him. In his absence, some of his wild frolics were represented as a profanation of the rites of religion, and he was recalled for trial. He did not obey, and his property was confiscated. Boiling with indignation, the high-spirited Alcibiades united himself with Sparta and Persia, the rival and the enemy of Athens. The latter state began then to decline before its adversaries, until Alcibiades relented, and restored its fallen fortunes. But after raising him once more to command, the Athenians anew pulled him down, and Alcibiades took refuge first in Thrace, and afterwards in the Persian possessions in Asia Minor. The viceroy there grew jealous of him, however, and sent assassins to his lodging, who, not daring to meet him hand to hand, basely slew him by projectile weapons as he attempted to escape. Alcibiades was a being of great and varied endowments, but his life proves he was deficient in that settled rectitude of principle which can alone constitute the perfect statesman and hero. ALECTO, one of the three Furies, daughters of Nox or Night. ALEXANDER, a name borne by several Macedonian princes and others, but rendered chiefly illustrious as the designation of the son of Philip of Macedon by his wife Olympias. Born about 356 B. c., Alexander enjoyed in youth the advantage of the instructions of Aristotle, and showed, at the age of fifteen, the well-developed qualities of a commander and prince. When he succeeded to the throne, he first brought to submission the states around him, and then looked abroad for a wider field wherein to gratify his boundless ambition. Persia was the quarter to which his eyes naturally turned; and after arousing the Greek republics to join him, he marched into Asia. On the banks of the Granicus he defeated the Persian monarch. Darius, and in a second engagement the latter lost his life. Asia Minor, Tyre, Egypt, Media, Syria, and Persia, succumbed in turns to the conquering Macedonian, and he even pushed his victories beyond the Indus. Returning to western Asia, he perished suddenly at Babylon, either through poison or excesses in drinking. The extent of Alexander's conquests has amazed pos'erity; and the marvel has not been lessened by the fact, hat his possession of the territories overrun by him was not temporary, but laid the foundation of many new kingdoms for his successors. Great virtues and great vices were mingled in Alexander's character. One striking proof of his transcendant talents is, that during his life he ruled with ease the numerous and able chiefs who, at his death, disdained to stoop to any other man, and showed each the capabilities of a great ruler. They originated so many separate kingdoms as to change the face of the world. ALEXANDRIA, a city of Egypt, founded by Alexander the Great, famous for its lighthouse, its learned men, and its two splendid libraries, successively destroyed by Augustus Cæsar and the Caliph Omar. AMALTHEA, the reputed nurse of the god Jupiter, whom she fed with goat's milk. Some mythologists say that she herself was a goat, and her horn is often termed the Horn of Plenty. AMAZON-The Amazons are said to have been a tribe of thian women, who did not allow men to live with them, killed the majority of their male children, and trained their female offspring to war, burning off their right breasts for the better use of the bow. Whether an imaginary raee or not, the word Amazon has become a proverbial designation for a woman of masculine habits and temperament. AMMON, a name under which Jupiter was worshipped in Egypt. An oasis in the deserts bordering on the Nile contained a famous temple and oracle of Jupiter Ammon, the ruins of which are still discernible. AMPHICTYON, a person who founded a general council for the twelve leading states of Greece, and from whom such assemblages were permanently called Amphictyonic councils. AMPHION, an individual of semi-divine origin, who founded Thebes, in whole or part, and is stated to have excelled so much in music as to have moved the stones voluntarily to take their places in the structures of the new city. AMPHITRYON, husband of Alcmena, the mother of Hercules by Jupiter. An expression of Moliere in a play on this subject, "l'Amphitryon où l'on dine," has caused a hospitable dianer-giver to get the familiar name of an Amphitryon. ANACREON, a bard of Ionia, whose graceful verse is devoted to love and wine. ANDROMACHE, wife of Hector and mother of Astyanax, celebrated by Homer for her conjugal affection and domestic virtues. ANDROMEDA, daughter of an Ethiopian king, who, being chained to a rock, and exposed to a sea-monster, was rescued from that peril by Perseus, son of Danäe, and, by promise, became his wife. ANTEUS, son of the Earth and Sea, a Libyan giant, slain by Hercules. When a man seems to derive fresh vigour from an overthrow, he is compared to Antæus, because, at every fall, his mother earth gave that giant fresh strength; and Hercules only foiled him by holding him up, and squeezing him to death. ANTINOUS, a friend of Adrian, whose form, as represented by ancient sculptors, has become significant of a peculiar description of physical beauty. ANTONIUS (MARCUS), a Roman, who shared for a time the empire of the world with Augustus Cæsar. Antony was a follower of Julius Cæsar, and when that great leader was slain by Brutus and Cassius, he joined Augustus Cæsar in pursuing the conspirators to the death, when the two victors acquired almost uncontrolled dominion. Antony fatally revenged himself, at the same time, on Cicero, who had always been obnoxious to him. Being called to the east, he became enamoured of the beautiful but licentious Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, and passed years with her in luxurious inactivity. Roused by some proceedings of his colleague in power, Augustus Caesar, Antony would have gone to war, but peace was restored by his marriage with the sister of Cæsar. He soon left this lady, however, to return to the east, where Cleopatra again threw her fetters around him. The consequence was an open and decisive war between the two lords of the world. Antony was vanquished at Actium, and fled to Egypt, where he committed suicide, and was followed in the same course by Cleopatra. Mark Antony was, in a measure, a Roman Alcibiades. Elegant in person, and engaging in manners, an admirable speaker, and distinguished equally for skill and endurance in war, he was at the same time a man of unbounded profligacy, and stained with every species of vice and crime. ANUBIS, an Egyptian idol, represented with the head of a dog. APELLES, a native of the isle of Cos, usually regarded as the greatest of the ancient painters. He followed for a time the fortunes of Alexander. Apicius, a noted Roman epicure, who expended £800,000 on his appetite, and finally killed himself in fear of want, the £80,000 which still remained to him at the time being insufficient to sustain the proper rate of gourmandizing extravagance. APIS, a god of the Egyptians, venerated under the form of a white bull. APOLLO, the son of Jupiter and Latona, god of the sun, music, medicine, and the fine arts. Born in the isle of Delps, he soon after slew the serpent Python, sent by Jupiter's wife to plague Latona, and thus gained for himself the name of the Pythian Archer. A noble ancient statue, existing in Rome, and splendidly described by Lord Byron, gives an image of him in this character. He is usually pictured as a beardless youth, holding a bow or lyre. Like others of the mythological deities, he is said to have had many amours with the daughters of earth, and even to have dwelt there for nine years as a shepherd, when expelled from heaven by his sire. The chief supplementary names given to him in poetry are, the Delian, Cynthian, Delphic, and Lycian god; and, as sungod, he is commonly named Phoebus. His principal temples and oracles were at Delphi, Delos, and Claros, the Delphic one being the most renowned oracle of the earth. A youth of fine form is often styled an Apollo, and the poets allude endlessly to the god as their patron and guardian. AQUARIUS, or the Waterman, the eleventh sign of the zodiac. ARACHNE, a woman of Colophon, so well skilled in needle-work that she challenged competition with Minerva, and being defeated, hanged herself, on which the goddess changed her to a spider. ARCADIA, a pastoral region in the centre of the Peloponnesus, so much distinguished for natural beauty, and for the happy and simple life of its population, that the word has long been used to signify a scene of rural and inartificial enjoyment. ARCHIMEDES, a geometrician of Syracuse, of great abilities. Among his other inventions, he is said to have discovered a mode of setting fire to ships from a distance by means of burning glass, a feat which Buffon proved to be not impracticable. When his sovereign suspected a tradesman of having used some alloy in making a golden crown, Archimedes was applied to in order to discover the truth. At a loss at first, the philosopher finally ran out of his house towards the palace, crying, Eureka (I have found it), the idea having occurred to him of immersing the crown in a vessel of water, and measuring what quantity of liquid ran over. He was killed at the siege of Syracuse, and, though interred with honour, the spot where he lay remained long unknown, till discovered by Cicero. Archimedes also invented the pumping-screw. A small part only of his writings is now in existence. watch an earthly mistress of Jupiter, and slain by Mercury. A jealous custodian often receives the titic of an Argus. ARIADNE, daughter of Minos, king of Crete, who, when the Athenian prince, Theseus, was shut up in the celebrated Cretan labyrinth to be devoured by a monster, gave him a clue of thread by which he extricated himself. The Clue of Ariadne has become a byword. Being cruelly abandoned by Theseus, Ariadne, according to the poets, gained the love of the god Bacchus, and by him was elevated to a place among the constellations. ARIES, the sign of the Ram. ARION, a famous musician, who, when in peril of his life at sea, played so sweetly that some grateful dolphins bore him safely ashore. ARISTIDES, a statesman and warrior of Athens, whose conduct earned for him the title of the Just. He die virtuously poor. ARISTOPHANES, a famous comic satirist of Athens. ARISTOTLE, a Greek philosopher of the first rank, born at Stagyra, in Macedon, and hence called the Stagyrite. After studying under Plato, who valued him so much as to style him the mind of the school, Aristotle opened a seminary of his own, and long taught with great success. From his lecturing to his pupils while walking, they received the name of the Peripatetics. Aristotle also spent ten years as the tutor of Alexander the Great, who said that Philip had given him life, but Aristotle had taught him to live well." By the aid of this prince, the philosopher was enabled to produce his « History of Animated Nature," describing from collected specimens. He also wrote on Physics, Metaphysics, Ethics, Logic, Rhetoric, and Criticism. His canons on the latter subject are yet held in high respect. Compelled to leave Athens. Aristotle died at Chalcis, at the age of sixty-five. His works prove his intellect to have been one of extraordinary acuteness. 66 ARRIA, wife of the Roman Poetus, famous for stabbing herself and saying, "Oh, Poetus, it is not painful!" when her husband hesitated to free himself in the same manner from his woes. ASCANIUS, son of the Trojan Æneas, and successor to his power in Italy. The young inheritor and hope of a house or party is sometimes designated by this title. ASPASIA, a celebrated courtesan of Athens, mistress and ultimately wife of Pericles, and so eminent for her intellectual accomplishments that even modest women resorted to her to enjoy her instructive converse. ASTREA, the goddess of Justice in the classical mythology. ATALANTA, a princess of the isle of Seyro, of great beauty, and determinedly averse to matrimony. As she excelled in running, she consented to wed him who foiled her in a trial of speed, and defeated all her lovers, until one came forward who was favoured by the goddess of love. From that deity he received three golden apples, ARCHIPELAGUS (Archipelago), a name given to any sea studded with islands, as the Grecian or Indian Archipelago. ARCHONS, the ancient title of the chief magistrates of and was directed to throw them down at intervals in the Athens. ARCTURUS, a star near the tail of the Great Bear. AREOPAGITE, the judges of the Areopagus, a seat of Justice on a mount near Athens. ARETHUSA, a nymph of Diana's train, changed by her mistress into a Sicilian fount, to preserve her from the pursuit of the Grecian river-god, Alpheus. The waters of the latter, however, were fabled to pass under the seas to join the fount. ARGO, a famous ship of antiquity, which is said to have carried Jason and a renowned body of Greeks (called the Argonauts to Colchis, a district on the eastern shore of the Black Sea, in quest of a Golden Fleece, surreptitiously taken from the Greeks. Numerous writers have treated of this subject. By many, the Argo is styled the first ship ever built. ARGUS, a being with a hundred eyes, set by Juno to race. The stratagem succeeded. Atalanta could not refrain from stopping to pick up the apples, and the lover obtained her hand. But, for subsequent disrespect to Jupiter, the pair were changed into a lion and lioness. The race of Atalanta is often alluded to. ATE, the goddess of Evil. ATHOS, a mountain of Macedonia, which a sculptor proposed to cut into a vast statue of Alexander the Great. ATLAS, a Titan or giant who warred with Jupiter, and was ultimately changed into the mountain, or chain of mountains, of the same name in Africa, which, from their height, were supposed to support the heavens. Hence the frequent allusions to the load of Atlas. ATREUS, king of Argos, who, having cause of offence against his brother Thyestes, caused the latter unwit tingly to eat the flesh of his own children. The son of Thyestes revenged this deed by slaying Agamemnon, | the son of Atreus. The whole history of this family was a subject of horror and frequent allusion among the Greeks. ATROPOS, one of the Fates or Parcæ, whose task it was to cut the thread of life. ATTICA, a district of Greece, lying south of Baotia, and west of the Egean Sea. It was supposed to be so peculiarly favourable to genius, and its dialect to be so pure, that the phrase of "Attic wit" or "salt" became indicative of the highest literary merit, as garrets got the name of "Attics" from writers being too often the inhabitants of such poor places in times not far distant. ATTICUS, an intimate friend of the orator Cicero, and a man pre-eminently distinguished by the superior qualities of his head and heart. AVENTINUS, one of the seven hills on which Rome was built. AVERNUS, a lake of Campania, so unwholesome and putrid that the ancients made it the entrance to the infernal regions. AUGEAS, king of Elis, whose vast stables for oxen and goats were so overrun with filth that it was deemed impossible to cleanse them, until Hercules effected the task by turning a river into them. Difficult cases of purification or reformation are proverbially compared to this feat of cleaning the Augean stables. AUGURS.-The Augurs of Rome were officials who foretold events by sacrifices and divination. AURORA, the goddess of the Morning, usually represented as drawn by two horses in a rose-coloured chariot. She was called sister to the sun and moon, and mother of the winds and stars. AUTOLYCUS, a famous thief of antiquity, whose name is sometimes bestowed on the members of the same craft. BABYLON, the capital of Assyria, a city of vast size in early times, with walls 60,000 paces in circumference, 200 feet high, 50 feet in thickness, and in their circuit 100 brazen gates. Hanging gardens of great extent, the temple of Belus, and an artificial lake 160 miles in circumference, with large canals, were among the other wonders of the place. BACCHANTES, priestesses of Bacchus, who did honour to the god of wine by the most frantic and licentious orgies. BACCHUS, god of wine, son of Jupiter by Semele, who, being a mortal, fell a victim to her vain wish of seeing her lover in all the blaze of his divinity. Jupiter rescued her unborn child from the same fate, and placed him in his own thigh, until grown to infant maturity. Bacchus, in his adult state, underwent many adventures, according to the poets. He made an expedition to India with his bacchanalian followers, and made an easy conquest of the intermediate nations, teaching them the use of the vine. As Bacchus the conqueror, he is painted as drawn in a chariot by a lion and a tiger; and in other circumstances he is represented as a plump, smooth-skinned young man, with a crown of vine and ivy leaves, and a thyrsus or rod in his hand. His common names, besides that mentioned, are Iacchus, Liber, Bromius, Lyæus, and Evan. The rites in his honour were called Bacchanalia. BAUCIS, a poor old woman of Phrygia, with her spouse Philemon, received Jupiter so kindly that he made their house a splendid temple, and created them his priest and priestess. Allowed to die together at their request, they were converted into trees. Dryden and Swift tell this story in verse. BAVIUS and MEVIUS, two inferior and malevolent poets in the time of Augustus Cæsar, whose names have become a by-word for all envy of superior merit. BELISARIUS, an able general of the Constantinopolitan emperor, Justinian, reduced to beggary in his old age, and afflicted with blindness. "Date obolum Pelisario" | | (Give the smallest coin to Belisarius), tne usua petition of the fallen, soldier, has become proverbial. BELLEROPHON, a son of the king of Ephyre, who, having committed an act of violence, fled to the court of Prœtus, king of Argos, where the queen fell in love with him, and, finding herself slighted, accused him to her husband. The latter sent Bellerophon to Lycia with sealed letters, desiring that the bearer should be put to death. The Lycian king sent his guest, with this view, against a monster called the Chimæra, but receiving from Minerva a winged horse called Pegasus, Bellerophon overcame the monster; and after other trials, ultimately wedded the daughter of the Lycian monarch. From this story, all letters unfavourable to the bearer have been called Letters of Bellerophon. BELLONA, sister and charioteer to Mars, the god of war. BERENICE, a name borne by several Egyptian princesses, one of whom was noted for her beautiful hair, which was placed by her in the temple of Venus. Being lost, the locks were said by the court-astronomers to have been turned into a constellation. BIAS, one of the seven wise men of Greece. BOADICEA (or BONDICEA), queen of the Icenians, a tribe of South-Britons, who took up arms to avenge the outrages of the Romans, but, in spite of her undaunted conduct in the field, was vanquished by them, and poisoned herself. BOTIA, a district of Greece, now forming part of Livadia, and lying between Phocis and Attica. Partly from an idea that the atmosphere of the region was peculiarly thick, the inhabitants gained a reputation for stupidity which has yet adhered to their name. Yet Pindar, Plutarch, and others of the brightest spirits of Greece, were Boeotians. BOOTES, a northern constellation near Ursa Major. BOSPHORUS, the early name of the strait of Constantinople. BRIAREUS, a famous giant with fifty heads and a hundred hands, son of the Heaven and Earth. BRUTUS (LUCIUS JUNIUS), a noble Roman, who, in the days of the last king of Rome, feigned himself an idiot to ensure his safety, but threw off the mask, and overturned the royal authority, when Lucretia fell a victim te the brutality of the son of Tarquin. When the sons of Brutus afterwards conspired to restore the Tarquins, he himself, as consul, was called upon to act as judge, and his high-minded victory over parental feeling has made his name immortal. BRUTUS (MARCUS JUNIUS), descendant of the preceding, who emulated his virtues and his fame. When the power of Julius Cæsar became dangerous to the liberties of Rome, Marcus Brutus, though one of his warmest personal friends, rose against him, and united with Cassius and others in stabbing him in the Capitol. Cæsar, as he received the last blow, uttered to him who dealt it the memorable words, "Et tu Brute!" (Thou, too, Brutus!) The friends of Cæsar were avenged at Philippi, where the chief conspirators fell; and Plutarch tells that Brutus was forewarned of the event by the spirit of Cæsar, which appeared in his tent, and said, "I will meet thee again at Philippi❞— words often used to convey an indication of coming evil. BUCEPHALUS, a horse tamed by Alexander the Great in youth, and which became so renowned for bearing him in the field of battle as to give a common name to all spirited animals of its species. BUSIRIS, an Egyptian king, who followed the shocking custom of sacrificing strangers. CACUS, a renowned robber of Italy, who, being descended from Vulcan, could defend himself by emitting fire and smoke; but being detected in stealing cows, though he dragged them backwards to prevent discovery Hercules, the owner, strangled him by main force |