Midas. A king of Phrygia, to whom Dionysus granted the power of changing all that he touched into gold. Being unable in consequence to obtain any nourishment, Midas was permitted to cancel this privilege by bathing in the Pactolus. Chosen as a judge in a musical contest between Pan and Apollo he decided against the latter, who changed his ears into those of an ass.

Midias. A wealthy Athenian, and a bitter enemy of Demosthenes, whose speech against him is extant.

Milo. Of Croton, a famous athlete, of whom various feats of strength are recorded.

Miltiades. Son of Cimon. Commanded the Athenians at Marathon. He afterwards used the power entrusted to him for his private purposes, and the charges brought against him were better justified than is implied in Slander (29).

Mina. A sum of money—£4 1s. 3d.

Minos I. Son of Zeus and Europa, brother of Rhadamanthus. King and legislator of Crete and, after his death, a judge in Hades.

Minos II. Grandson of Minos I, and king of Crete. Made war on the Athenians and compelled them to send to Crete an annual tribute of seven youths and seven maidens, to be devoured by the Minotaur, the monstrous offspring of Pasiphae and a bull. See Theseus.

Minotaur. See Minos II

Mithras. God of the sun among the Persians.

Momus. Son of Night, and God of criticism.

Mormo. A female spectre, used to frighten children with.

Musaeus. The supposed author of various poetical works. His origin is doubtful; he is sometimes called the son of Orpheus.

Muses. The Goddesses of poetry, and of the arts and sciences. They were nine in number, and were the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne (Memory). Mount Helicon in Boeotia was their favourite haunt.

Musonius Rufus. A celebrated Stoic philosopher, banished by Nero in 66 A.D. on the pretext of conspiracy.

Myia. Of this daughter of Pythagoras we have no certain information.

Myron. A celebrated sculptor, born about 480 B.C.

Mysteries (Eleusinian). Eumolpus, Musaeus, and Demeter, are all mentioned as the founders of these Mysteries, in which were commemorated the rape of Persephone by Pluto, and the wanderings of Demeter in search of her. They were held annually, the Greater at Eleusis and Athens, the Lesser at Agrae. Persons initiated at the Lesser could only be admitted to the Greater after a year's interval. A part of the Greater Mysteries, to which those only were admitted who had been fully initiated, and had taken the oath of secrecy, consisted of a torchlight procession from Athens to the temple of Demeter at Eleusis, after which the initiated were purified, repeated the oath of secrecy, and were admitted to the inner sanctuary of the temple. Of the secret doctrines there divulged nothing is known.

Narcissus. A youth so beautiful that he fell in love with his image reflected in a pool.

Nausicaa. The beautiful daughter of Alcinous and Arete, who received Odysseus with kindness when cast up by the sea.

Neleus. Of Scepsis; he is known to have been in possession of the MSS. of Aristotle, and may therefore have been a patron of literature.

Nemesis. 'Wrath,' the Goddess who avenges presumption.

Neoptolemus, also called Pyrrhus, son of Achilles, after whose death the seer declared that Troy could not be taken without the help of his son. He distinguished himself in the taking.

Nephele. See Athamas. Changed to a cloud after his desertion of her.

Nereïds. The sea nymphs, daughters of Nereus, a Sea-God.

Nesiotes. See Critius.

Nestor. Oldest and wisest of the Greek chiefs at Troy. His cup was one that 'scarce could another move from the table when it was full, but old Nestor lifted it with ease.'

Nicander. Grammarian, poet, and physician of Colophon, about 140 B.C. Wrote Theriaca and Alexipharmaca, works on poisons and antidotes.

Nicias. The Athenian general in command of the Sicilian expedition, 415 B.C. Put to death by the Syracusans.

Nicostratus. A wrestler and double Olympic victor, about 40 A.D.

Niobe. See Leto.

Nireus. A Greek at the siege of Troy, famous for beauty.

Numa. Second king of Rome; his reign was marked by peace and the founding of religious institutions.

Odysseus. Son of Laertes, king of Ithaca. To escape joining the Greeks against Troy, simulated madness by driving a plough for a chariot, with one ox and one horse. Palamedes exposed him by threatening Odysseus's son Telemachus with a sword, when he confessed. In revenge, he ruined Palamedes at Troy, convicting him by forged evidence of treacherous dealings with the enemy. When Agamemnon lost heart, and was for returning, Odysseus prevailed on the Greeks not to give up. Took ten years getting home, detained by Calypso, by Circe, and otherwise. Circe enabled him to visit Hades and consult Tiresias. Escaped the Sirens by stopping his crew's ears with wax, and having himself bound to the mast.

Oeneus. See Meleager.

Olympia. In Elis; the Olympic games took place every four years, and, starting from 776 B.C., from which time a record of them was kept, were used for dating events, under the name of Olympiads. The games were the occasion of the largest gatherings of Greeks that took place.

Olympias. Wife of Philip of Macedon and mother of Alexander.

Olympiēum. A temple of Zeus at Athens, begun by the tyrant Pisistratus (560-527 B.C.), but not finished till the time of Hadrian (117-138 A.D.).

Olympus (1). A mountain separating Macedonia and Thessaly, the summit of which was the residence of the Gods.

Olympus (2). A celebrated flute-player of Phrygia.

Omphale. See Heracles.

Orestes. See Agamemnon.

Orion. A giant and hunter of Boeotia. Blinded by Oenopion for ill-treatment of his daughter Merope, he recovered his sight by the help of Cedalion, who directed his eyes towards the rising sun.

Orithyia. Daughter of Erechtheus, king of Athens. Carried off by Boreas.

Orpheus. A Thracian musician, son of the Muse Calliope. His music charmed wild beasts, trees, and rocks, and prevailed upon Pluto to restore his wife Eurydice, on condition that Orpheus should not look back to see that she was following him; this condition not being observed, Eurydice remained in Hades. Orpheus was afterwards torn in pieces by the Thracian women, and his head and lyre thrown into the Hebrus, and carried to Lesbos.

Osiris. An Egyptian king, deified after death, as the husband of Isis.

Osroës. Son of Vologesus I. A king of Parthia, engaged in war with the Emperor Trajan.

Othryades. The only survivor of the three hundred Spartans who fought with three hundred Argives for the possession of Thyrea in Cynuria. Being left for dead by the two Argive survivors, he raised a trophy on the field, with an inscription in his own blood, and thus secured the victory.

Otus. See Ephialtes.

Pactōlus. A Lydian river, whose sands were said to contain gold.

Paean, (1) A name of Apollo; (2) a song sung before or after a battle.

Palamedes. A Greek hero in the Trojan War. See under Odysseus. Said to have added certain letters to the Greek alphabet.

Pan. A rustic God, son of Hermes and Penelope. Invented the Pan's pipe, and attended upon Dionysus. Represented with horns and goat's legs.

Panathenaea. Two festivals of this name were celebrated at Athens with games, sacrifices, &c.; the Lesser annually, the Greater every fourth year.

Pancratium. A contest in the public games, in which both boxing and wrestling were employed.

Pangaeus. A range of mountains in Macedonia, famous for gold and silver mines.

Panthea (1). Wife of Abradatas, king of Susa. Her spirit and loyalty are commended by Xenophon.

Panthea (2). Presumably the mistress of the Emperor Lucius Verus.

Paris. Son of Priam king of Troy.

Parmenio. An able lieutenant of Alexander.

Parthenius. A Greek elegiac poet, about 30 B.C.

Parthians. The successors in Asia of the Persian monarchy. The war between their king Vologesus III and Rome, 162-165 A.D., was conducted on the Roman side by the Emperor Lucius Verus. He brought it to a successful conclusion, more by the merits of his lieutenants, Cassius and Statius Priscus, than his own.

Parthonīce. 'Conquest of the Parthians,' quoted as an affected poetical-sounding title.

Patroclus. Friend and follower of Achilles, who, when he sulked himself, lent him his armour, in which Patroclus won great renown; but Apollo struck him senseless, Euphorbus ran him through, and Hector gave him the last fatal blow.

Pegasus. See Bellerophon.

Pelasgicum. A space under the Acropolis at Athens, unoccupied till the Spartan invasions in the Peloponnesian war brought the country Attics into the town.

Peleus. Father of Achilles.

Pĕlias. King of Iolcus, usurper of his nephew Jason's rights. When Medea restored Jason's father Aeson to youth by cutting him to pieces and boiling him, she persuaded the daughters of Pelias to try the same system with their father, which resulted in his death.

Pelopids. The descendants of Pelops, many of them, as Atreus and Thyestes, Agamemnon and Menelaus, Orestes, Electra and Iphigenia, famous in tragic story.

Penelope. Wife of Odysseus.

Pentheus. King of Thebes, resisted the introduction of Dionysus's rites; the God caused his Bacchantes, among them Pentheus's mother Agave, to tear him to pieces in their frenzy.

Perdiccas. One of Alexander's generals, who, on the strength of the dying king's having handed him his ring, claimed the succession, but was defeated by the combination of Ptolemy, Antipater, and other generals, and finally assassinated.

Peregrine. Nothing can be added to Lucian's description of him in the Death of Peregrine, but that he is a historical character.

Periander. Son of Cypselus, and tyrant of Corinth. A patron of literature, and one of the Seven Sages.

Pericles. Greatest of Athenian statesmen. A pupil of Anaxagoras. He was nicknamed 'Olympian.' Lucian mentions his funeral speech, delivered in 431 B.C., and his intercourse with the famous Milesian courtesan Aspasia, by whom he had a son Pericles.

Peripatetics. Aristotle of Stagira (385-323 B.C.), the founder of this school of philosophers, studied for twenty years under Plato. In 335 B.C. he began teaching independently in the Lyceum, a public garden at Athens. The name Peripatetic refers to his habit of walking about while lecturing. Forty-six of his works remain, though perhaps only in the form of notes. They are remarkable for the rigidly systematic treatment applied to all subjects alike, to Ethics and Poetry, not less than to Zoology and Mechanics. Most notable of his doctrines is that which refers all definable things to four Causes, viz., Matter, the existence of which is Potentiality, and the Moving, Final, and Formal Causes, whose operation is included under the general term Energy; the combination of Potentiality and Energy resulting in the perfection of the completed thing. The summum bonum, according to Aristotle, is Eudaemonia (Happiness); and each virtue is the mean between the excess and defect of some quality. The virtuous mean between avarice and profuseness, or between luxury and asceticism, might perhaps involve that respect for money with which Lucian reproaches the Peripatetics. The ten Categories, or Predicaments, were an attempt to classify all existing things; among them were Substance, Quality, Quantity, Relation, Time, and Place.

Persephone. Daughter of Zeus and Demeter. Pluto, with the permission of Zeus, carried her down to Hades. Demeter, discovering the truth after a long search, left Heaven in anger, and took up her abode on earth. Zeus now ordered Pluto to restore Persephone: as, however, she had partaken of food in the lower world, she was compelled to return thither for one-third of each year.

Perseus. His story is given under Danae, Gorgons, and Andromeda.

Phaeacians. A fabulous people described in the Odyssey as inhabiting Scheria. Alcinous was their king.

Phaedra. Daughter of Minos of Crete, and wife of Theseus. See Hippolytus.

Phaedrus. A character in two of the dialogues of Plato, whose friend he was.

Phaethon. Son of Helius and Clymene. Being allowed on one occasion to drive the chariot of the sun, he lost control of the horses, and almost consumed the earth with fire. Zeus slew him with a thunderbolt, and cast him into the river Eridanus. His sisters, changed into poplars on its banks, wept tears of amber for his loss.

Phalaris. Tyrant of Agrigentum in Sicily, 570-564 B.C. For the brazen bull in which he is said to have burnt many victims alive, see Phalaris I.

Phaon. An ugly old boatman at Mytilene, with whom Sappho is said to have fallen in love, after he had been made young and beautiful by Aphrodite as a reward for carrying her across the sea without payment.

Pharus. A small island off the coast of Egypt, on which was a famous lighthouse, built by Ptolemy II.

Phīdias. Famous Athenian sculptor, 490-432 B.C. The chryselephantine statue of Zeus at Olympia was his work.

Philip of Macedon. King, 359-336 B.C. Raised Macedon from an insignificant State to the mistress of Greece, and made possible the conquests of his son Alexander by his organization. Used diplomacy as much as arms to effect his ends, and systematically bribed persons in the states opposed to him, especially in Athens.

Philippides. More usually called Phidippides.

Philo. The person to whom Lucian addresses The Way to write History is unknown.

Philocrates. Prominent Athenian, probably in the pay of Philip, into whose hands he constantly played.

Philoctētes. Armour-bearer of Heracles, inherited his bow. Left at Lemnos on the way to Troy, because a wound from a snake-bite rendered him offensive by its stench. Later, an oracle declaring the bow necessary for the capture of Troy, Odysseus went and induced him to come.

Philosophy. Lucian is fond of ridiculing the different schools of philosophy, some for their paradoxical choice of ends, some for their hypocrisy in practically disregarding their own precepts. The regulation philosophic garb and appearance also comes in for satire; it consisted of threadbare cloak, wallet, and staff, with long beard. A brief account of the chief schools will be found under Academy, Cynics, Cyrenaics, Peripatetics, Stoics, Epicureans, Sceptics, Plato, Pythagoras.

Philoxenus. A poet, who, for his severe criticism of a poem of Dionysius I, was imprisoned in the Syracusan quarries. The tyrant, having pardoned him and invited him to dinner, recited another poem he had composed. Asked his opinion of it, Philoxenus made no direct reply, but said, 'Take me back to the quarries.'

Phineus. King of Bithynia, blinded by Zeus for unjustly blinding his own children; and See Harpies.

Phlegethon. 'Burning,' one of the infernal rivers.

Phocion. Athenian statesman and general, died 318 B.C.; distinguished for virtue, moderation, and poverty.

Phoebus. See Apollo.

Phoenix (1). Son of Amyntor king of Argos. Blinded by his father, fled to Peleus, was cured by Chiron of his blindness, and became tutor to Achilles.

Phoenix (2). An Indian bird which lived five hundred years and then cremated itself, another rising from its ashes.

Pholus. See Heracles.

Phrixus. See Athamas.

Phrygians. Troy being in Phrygia, 'Phrygians' is often used for 'Trojans.'

Phryne. Famous Athenian courtesan, 328 B.C.

Phrynon. Athenian politician in the Macedonian interest, associated by Demosthenes especially with Philocrates.

Piraeus. The port of Athens, about five miles off.

Pisa. The town in Elis, near which the Olympic games were held.

Pitch-plasters were employed by women and by effeminate men for removing the hair from the body.

Pityocamptes. 'Pine-bender,' descriptive surname of the robber Sinis, who killed travellers by fastening them to the top of a pine bent down and then allowed to spring up. He was killed by Theseus in the same way.

Plataea. A town in Boeotia, near which the final battle of the Graeco-Persian war was fought, 478 B.C. The Persians were defeated.

Plato. An Athenian philosopher (428-347 B.C.), and pupil of Socrates, whom in his dialogues he often makes the mouthpiece of his own doctrines. He studied in Africa, Egypt, Italy, and Sicily, and returned to Athens in 386 B.C. to lecture in the gymnasium of the Academy. He paid three visits to the Syracusan court of Dionysius I and II. The Platonic theory of Ideas is an attempt to secure accuracy of definition (which is the first step towards knowledge), by contemplation of those abstract types or Ideas of things, of which external objects are in every case only an imperfect manifestation, and which are perceptible to us by reason of our familiarity with them in a previous existence; for the soul is immortal, and what we call the acquisition of knowledge is in fact only recollection. In his Republic we have a sketch of a model state, in which philosophers are to be kings, and community of women is recommended as a means of securing scientific breeding.

Pluto. 'Rich' in dead, according to Lucian's derivation; also called Hades. Drew lots with his brothers Zeus and Posidon, and received the Lower World for his share. His wife was Persephone.

Plutus. Son of Iasion and Demeter, and God of wealth. Blinded by Zeus.

Pnyx. The place where the Athenian Assembly was held. It was cut out of the side of a small hill west of the Acropolis.

Podalirius. Son of Asclepius, and brother of Machaon, with whom he led the Thessalians of Tricca against Troy. Both brothers inherited their father's medical skill.

Poecīle. The 'Painted' Porch in the Athenian market-place, adorned with paintings of Polygnotus. Here Zeno, the founder of the Stoic philosophy, opened his school, which was accordingly often spoken of as 'The Porch.'

Poenae. 'Punishments.' Infernal spirits, akin to the Erinyes.

Polemon. Athenian philosopher, head of the Academy, 315 B.C. Had been dissolute in youth, but was converted, as related in The Double Indictment, by Xenocrates.

Polias. See Athene.

Pollux (1). See Castor.

Pollux (2). See Herodes.

Polus (1). A rhetorician of Agrigentum, pupil of Gorgias, with whom he is introduced by Plato in the Gorgias.

Polus (2). A celebrated tragic actor.

Polyclītus. 452-412 B.C. A Sicyonian sculptor, reckoned the equal of Phidias. His 'canon' was a bronze statue in which he exemplified the principles that he had laid down in a book to which he gave the same name. The Diadumenus, or youth tying on a fillet, was one of his most famous works.

Polycrates. Powerful tyrant of Samos. Frightened by his excessive prosperity, tried to propitiate Nemesis by throwing into the sea a ring that he prized highly; but a fisherman found it in a fish, and returned it, a sign that his offering was rejected. He was lured to Asia by Oroetes, satrap of Sardis, and by him crucified, 522 B.C.

Polydămas. Olympic victor, 408 B.C. Marvellous stories are told of his strength.

Polygnotus. Famous painter, of Thasos, 422 B.C.

Polynīces. One of the sons of Oedipus, who killed each other.

Polyphemus. See Cyclopes. His story is given Dialogues of the Sea-Gods, i.

Polyxĕna. Daughter of Priam and Hecuba, loved by Achilles, who after his death demanded that she should be sacrificed to his manes. She submitted willingly, and was slain by Neoptolemus at his father's tomb.

Porch, The. See Poecile and Stoics.

Porus. See Alexander (1).

Posīdon. Son of Cronus, brother of Zeus and Pluto, received the sea as his province. Assisted Apollo in building the walls of Troy for Laomedon.

Praxiteles. Athenian sculptor, 364 B.C. With Scopas, headed the later Attic school, known less for sublimity than beauty. The Cnidian Aphrodite was his.

Priāpus. Son of Dionysus and Aphrodite, worshipped especially at Lampsacus.

Prŏdĭcus. Sophist of Ceos, often at Athens, where Socrates is said to have attended his lectures, about 430 B.C. Spoken of by Plato with more respect than most sophists, and famous for his apologue of The Choice of Heracles, between Pleasure and Virtue.

Proetus. See Bellerophon.

Prometheus. Son of Iapetus, and therefore first cousin of Zeus, who nailed him up on the Caucasus, and instructed an eagle to devour his liver, which grew again each night. The provocation had been threefold: (1) Prometheus, forming clay figures, had persuaded Athene to breathe life into them, and thus created man; (2) he had stolen fire from Heaven for the use of man; (3) by dividing a slain animal into two portions, one consisting of bones wrapped up in fat, the other of the lean parts, and persuading Zeus to choose the former as his share, he had secured the more desirable portion of sacrificial animals for man. The confusion of the sexes alluded to in the Literary Prometheus (7) is perhaps drawn from Plato's account in the Symposium of the creation of double beings, who possessed the characteristics of both sexes, and referred by Lucian to Prometheus on his own responsibility; though in Phaedrus (Fables, iv. 14) Prometheus is charged with a confusion of the sexes in a different sense.

Protesilaus. A Thessalian, son of Iphiclus, and the first Greek slain by the Trojans. Permitted to return to life for a few hours to see his wife Laodamia.

Proteus. The prophetic old man of the sea, from whom it was only possible to obtain information by seizing him; this was difficult, as he changed into many different shapes. Peregrine (whom see) took the name of Proteus.

Ptolemy (1). Son of Lagus, surnamed Soter. A general of Alexander, and afterwards king of Egypt. Died 283 B.C.

Ptolemy (2) Philadelphus, son of Ptolemy Soter. Married his sister Arsinoe, 309-247 B.C.

Ptolemy (3) Dionysus. King of Egypt, 80-51 B.C.

Puzzles. Lucian is never tired of ridiculing the verbal quibbles in which the philosophers of his time indulged. He attributes them especially to the Stoics, whose insistence on pure reason, as opposed to emotion, for the guide of life, resulted in much attention to logic, including its paradoxical forms. Among these logical puzzles are the following: (1) Sorites, the heap trick. Suppose a heap of corn. Is it a heap? Yes. Take a grain away. Is it a heap? Yes. And so on, till only one grain is left. The drawing of the line is impossible. (2) The Horns. If you have not lost a thing, you still have it? Certainly. Have you lost your horns? No. Then you are horned. (3) The Crocodile. A child is caught by a crocodile; the father asks him to give it back. I will, says the crocodile, on condition that you tell me correctly whether I shall do so or not. The dilemma is obvious. (4) The Day and Night. This appears to be a proof that there is no such thing as night, through the ambiguity in 'Day being, Night cannot be,' which in Greek, though not in English, is equally natural in the sense of Since it is day, it cannot be night, and, if day exists, night cannot. (5) The Reaper. I will prove to you that you will not reap your corn, thus. If you reap it, you will not either-reap-or-not-reap, but reap. If you do not reap it, you will not either-reap-or-not-reap, but not reap. So in each case you will not either reap or not reap, that is, there will be no reaping. (6) The Rightful Owner. Unexplained; but see Epictetus, ii, xix. (7) and (8) The Electra, and The Man in the Hood, sufficiently explained in Sale of Creeds (22).

Pyanepsion. An Attic month.

Pylades. Cousin and friend of Orestes.

Pyrrhias. Stock name for a slave. Used jestingly in Sale of Creeds instead of Pyrrho.

Pyrrho. Of Elis. About 300 B.C. Gave up painting to become a philosopher, and was the founder of the Sceptics.

Pyrrhus. King of Epirus, 295-272 B.C. The greatest general of his time, won several victories over the Romans.

Pythagoras. Born at Samos, settled at Croton in Italy. 580-510 B.C. The early Ionic philosophers, as Thales and Heraclitus, had found the origin of all things in some one principle, as water, or fire. Pythagoras found it in number and proportion; hence the name Order (κόσμος), which he first gave to the universe; hence also the mystic importance attached to certain numbers, e.g. the Decad, called Tetractys (which we have translated 'quaternion') as made by the addition of the first four integers (1+2+3+4=10), and the Pentagram, or figure resulting from the production of all the sides of a regular pentagon till they intersect. Pythagoras had travelled in Egypt, and perhaps brought thence his most famous doctrines of the immortality of the soul and transmigration; he is said to have retained the memory of his own previous existences, especially as Euphorbus the Trojan, whose shield he recognized; human knowledge, for him as for Plato, would be accounted for as recollection from earlier lives. He instituted a brotherhood of his disciples, with elaborate training and different degrees; and the Pythagorean 'Ipse dixit,' implying that what the master had said was not open to argument, marks the strict subordination; a novice had to observe silence for five years. Pythagoras left no writings, and this, combined with the mystic character of his speculations on number and his specially authoritative position, gave occasion to innumerable legends, misrepresentations, and extensions. The Pythagorean prohibition of beans as food has never been explained; see Mayor's note on Juv. xv. 174. The usual account is that he thought the souls of his parents might be in them. The story of his appearing at the Olympic games with a golden thigh is one of the later legends illustrative of his supposed assumption of superhuman qualities, which made him the model of impostors or half-impostors like Apollonius of Tyana, Alexander of Abonutichus, or Paracelsus.

Pytheas. An Athenian orator, of disreputable character; an enemy of Demosthenes.

Python. An eloquent Byzantine orator in the pay of Philip of Macedon.

Rhadamanthus. Son of Zeus and Europa, and brother of Minos. After his death, a judge in Hades.

Rhea, or Cybele. Daughter of Uranus and Ge, wife of Cronus, and mother of Zeus, Hera, Posidon, Pluto, Hestia, and Demeter. Her worship, celebrated by the Corybantes and the Galli, was of a wild and enthusiastic character. She is commonly represented as being drawn by lions. See also under Attis.

Sabazius. A Phrygian deity, of doubtful origin, commonly described as a son of Rhea.

Salamis. An island off the west coast of Attica, the scene of a great naval victory of the Athenians over the Persians in 480 B.C. It is to this victory that the oracle refers, quoted in the Zeus Tragoedus.

Salii. The dancing priests of Mars, said to have been instituted by Numa.

Salmōneus. Son of Aeolus, and brother of Sisyphus. Zeus slew him with the thunderbolt, for claiming sacrifice, and imitating the thunder and lightning.

Sappho. A Lesbian poetess of the sixth century B.C. Taken as a type of elegance in the Portrait-Study.

Sardanapālus. Last king of the Assyrian empire of Nineveh. Lucian's favourite type of luxury and effeminacy.

Sarpēdon. Son of Zeus and Laodamia, slain in the Trojan war by Patroclus.

Saturnalia. The feast of the Latin God Saturn, held in the month of December. During the feast, all ranks devoted themselves to merriment, presents were exchanged, and public gambling was officially recognized. A mock king was also chosen, who could impose forfeits on his subjects. Lucian does not speak of the Saturnalia by that name, but only of the feast of Cronus, with whom Saturn was identified; and in some cases it is possible that he refers to a feast of Cronus himself.

Satyrs. Beings connected with the worship of Dionysus, and represented with snub noses, horns, and tails.

Sceptics. A school of philosophers founded by Pyrrho of Elis, who flourished 325 B.C. Abstention from definition, and suspension of judgement, were the guiding principles of the school.

Scheria. See Phaeacians.

Sciron. A robber who infested the frontier of Attica and Megara, and compelled travellers to wash his feet upon the edge of the Scironian precipice, kicking them over into the sea during the operation. He was slain by Theseus.

Scŏpas. A famous sculptor of Paros, flourished 400-350 B.C.

Selēne. Goddess of the moon. Fell in love with Endymion.

Seleucus. Surnamed Nicator. First king of Syria, 312-280 B.C. For his wife Stratonice see Antiochus.

Sĕmĕle. Daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia. Beloved by Zeus. Incited by the machinations of Hera, she prevailed upon Zeus against his will to appear to her in all his splendour. His lightnings consumed her; but the child Dionysus, with whom she was pregnant, was saved by Zeus, and matured within his thigh.

Semirămis and her husband Ninus were the founders of the Assyrian empire of Nineveh. Her date is placed at about 2000 B.C. She built numerous cities.

Silēnus. A Satyr, son of Hermes or of Pan. Usually represented as drunk, and riding on an ass, in attendance on Dionysus.

Simonides. Of Ceos; a famous lyric poet, 556-467 B.C. Said to have added four letters to the alphabet.

Sisyphus. King of Corinth, fraudulent and avaricious. Punished in the lower world by having to roll a stone up hill, which as soon as he reached the top always fell to the bottom again.

Socrates. Son of Sophroniscus and Phaenarete, 469-399 B.C. He abandoned sculpture (his father's profession) for the study of philosophy, in which he was remarkable for the preference that he gave to ethics over physics, and for the method of dialectic, or logical conversation carried on by means of question and answer, for the purpose of eliciting accurate definition. He was frequently ridiculed on the comic stage by Aristophanes and other poets. In 399 B.C. a charge of impiety was brought against him by Anytus and Meletus, and he was condemned to drink hemlock. Socrates served with credit at the battle of Delium, 424 B.C. An oracle given to his disciple Chaerephon pronounced Socrates to be the wisest of men: Socrates himself claimed to know one thing only—that he knew nothing. Lucian alludes to his favourite oaths, the dog and plane-tree. For the (Platonic) theory of Ideas, and the community of women, see Plato.

Soli. A city on the coast of Cilicia, proverbial for the bad Greek spoken there.

Solon. A famous Athenian legislator, 594 B.C. Said to have visited Croesus of Lydia.

Sophist. At Athens this word denoted in particular a paid teacher of grammar, rhetoric, politics, mathematics, &c. Lucian sometimes uses it also for 'philosopher,' and perhaps sometimes in the modern sense of a quibbler.

Sophroniscus. Father of Socrates.

Spartans. Among the means adopted to train the youths in fortitude were competitive scourgings at the altar of Artemis Orthia, which must be endured without sign of distress.

Stesichŏrus. Lyric poet of Himera, 612 B.C. Lost his sight after lampooning Helen, and only recovered it by composing a retractation, 'palinode.'

Stheneboea. Another name for Antea; see Bellerophon.

Stoics. School of philosophy, so called from the Stoa Poecile, or Painted Porch, at Athens, in which Zeno their founder taught. Zeno, Cleanthes, Chrysippus, were the first three heads, starting 310 B.C. Stoicism was a great influence among the Romans, as with the emperor M. Aurelius. Its aim was purely practical, to make man independent of his surroundings. The 'wise man,' who formed his views on pure reason, would recognize that virtue or duty was the only end, and that pleasure and pain, wealth, power, and everything else that did not depend on his own choice, were 'things indifferent.' He would ultimately attain to 'apathy,' and be completely unmoved by the ordinary objects of desire or aversion, being, in whatever external condition, the 'only king,' the 'only happy.' They paid great attention to logic, much reasoning being necessary to establish these paradoxes, whence their reputation for verbal quibbles, and their elaborate technical terms for the relations between sensation and the mental processes. Later Stoics relaxed the severity of the 'indifference' doctrine by dividing indifferentia into praeposita and rejecta; e.g. health was to be preferred to sickness, though virtue was consistent with either. This would open the door to the preference of wealth, and account for Lucian's sneer at Stoic usurers. The Stoic physics was a materialistic pantheism.

Stratonīce. See Antiochus.

Styx. 'Loathing,' one of the infernal rivers. The oath by it was the only one that could bind the Immortals.

Taenărum. Southern point of Greece, supposed way from earth to Hades.

Talent. Sum of money, about £250.

Talos (1). Nephew of Daedalus, famous artificer, worshipped as a hero at Athens.

Talos (2). A brazen man made by Hephaestus, given to Minos, and employed as a sentinel to walk round Crete thrice daily.

Tanăgra. Town in Boeotia, famous for a breed of fighting cocks.

Tellus. See Charon (10).

Tereus. Son of Ares and king of Thrace, committed bigamy with Procne and Philomela, daughters of Pandion. The two wives were changed at their own request to nightingale and swallow, and Tereus became a hoopoe.

Teucer. Step-brother of Ajax Telamonius, and best archer among the Greeks at Troy.

Thais. A famous Athenian courtesan, accompanied Alexander.

Thamy̆ris. Thracian bard, blinded by the Muses for presuming to challenge them.

Theano (1). Wife of Antenor and priestess of Athene at Troy.

Theāno (2). Female philosopher of Pythagoras's school, perhaps his wife.

Thebe. A daughter of Prometheus, from whom Thebes had its name.

Themistocles. Saviour of Greece in the Persian war, 480-478 B.C.; he convinced the Athenians that the famous oracle meant by 'wooden walls,' and 'divine Salamis,' to promise a naval victory there if they trusted to their fleet.

Theophrastus. Head of the Peripatetic school after Aristotle.

Theopompus. Of Chios, historian, of the fourth century B.C.

Thericles. A Corinthian potter, of uncertain date.

Thersītes. A Greek at Troy, deformed, impudent, and a demagogue.

Theseus. Son of Aegeus, king of Athens. Destroyed Sciron, Pityocamptes, Cercyon, and other evil-doers. Slew the Minotaur (see Minos II) in the Cretan Labyrinth, and escaped thence by means of the clue given to him by Minos's daughter Ariadne, of whom he was enamoured, but whom he afterwards deserted in Naxos, where she was found and married by Dionysus. Made an expedition against the Amazons, and carried off their queen Antiope, whose sister Hippolyta afterwards invaded Attica, but was repelled by Theseus. By Antiope he had a son Hippolytus, with whom his second wife Phaedra fell in love. Assisted by his friend Pirithoüs, Theseus carried off Helen from Sparta, and kept her at Aphidnae.

Thesmophoria. Festival of Demeter at Athens.

Thĕtis. Mother of Achilles.

Thyestes. Son of Pelops and brother of Atreus. The latter, having been wronged by him, killed and served up to him his own sons.

Thyrsus. A wand of the narthex plant, carried by the bacchantes, with its head wreathed in vine or ivy, which concealed a steel point.

Tibius. Stock name for a slave.

Timon. The Misanthrope, lived during the Peloponnesian war.

Tirĕsias. A Theban seer; was changed into a girl as the result of striking two serpents. Seven years later, he recovered his sex in the same way. Asked by Zeus and Hera to decide their dispute which sex was constituted with stronger passions, said, the woman. Hera, offended, blinded him; Zeus consoled him with the gift of prophecy. See Odysseus also.

Titans. The dynasty previous to that of the Olympian Gods, till Zeus deposed Cronus, and imprisoned him and the other children of Uranus and Ge in Tartarus.

Tithonus. The husband of Eos (Aurora), who gave him immortality, but not immortal youth, whence the use of his name for a withered old man.

Titormus. An Aetolian shepherd of gigantic strength.

Tityus. A giant punished by vultures in Hades for violence offered to Artemis.

Tribe. See Deme.

Triptolemus. Favourite of Demeter, who gave him a winged chariot and seeds of wheat, which he scattered as he drove over the earth.

Triton. A Sea-God, son of Posidon and Amphitrite.

Tritonia. A name for Athene, of doubtful explanation.

Trophonius. A mortal worshipped as a hero after death. His oracle was consulted in a cave in Boeotia.

Tyro. For her story see Dialogues of the Sea-Gods, xiii. Lucian plays on the name elsewhere (tyrus, cheese).

Urănus. See Cronus and Ge.

Vologĕsus III. See Parthians.

Xenocrates. Distinguished philosopher of the Academy, friend of Plato and Aristotle.

Xerxes. King of Persia, 485-465 B.C. Invader of Greece, 480 B.C. His bridge over the Hellespont and canal past Mount Athos were proverbially foolish exercises of power.

Zamolxis. A Thracian who, having been a slave of Pythagoras in Samos, learned his doctrines, and communicated them to the Thracians after his escape. He was deified in Thrace after death.

Zeno. See Stoics.

Zenodotus. See Homer.

Zeus. Son of Cronus, and of Rhea, who saved him at birth in the manner described under Cronus. With the help of the Cyclopes, who gave him the thunderbolt, and of the Giants, he overthrew Cronus and the other Titans, imprisoned them in Tartarus, and established himself as king of the Gods. The Giants afterwards revolted, but were crushed with the assistance of Hera. Zeus now became the father of Persephone by Demeter, of the Muses by Mnemosyne, of Apollo and Artemis by Leto, of Hebe, Ares, and Ilithyia by Hera, and of Athene, who was born from his head. He was the lover also of the mortals, Danae, Semele, Europa, Io, and many others, in various disguises. On one occasion Posidon, Hera, and Athene conspired against him, but were frustrated by Thetis and Briareus. Zeus in gratitude, at the request of Thetis, punished the Greeks, for their ill-treatment of Achilles by persuading Agamemnon, with a lying dream to make a premature attack upon Troy. His superiority to the other Gods is expressed in the boast alluded to in Dialogues of the Gods, xxi. Lucian also refers to the Cretan story, according to which Zeus lay buried in that island. His usual attributes are the sceptre, the eagle, and the thunderbolt. The famous statue of Zeus at Olympia was by Phidias. In Egypt he was identified with Ammon.

Zeuxis. Celebrated painter of Heraclea, 424-400 B.C.

Zoïlus. See Homer.

Zopy̆rus. A Persian who mutilated himself horribly to gain entrance to Babylon and betray it to Darius.

ALPHABETICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS

(Roman numerals indicate the volume, and Arabic the page.)

In this table all the titles are given in the English list. The other lists are added for those to whom the Greek or Latin names are familiar; but they do not contain the titles that are practically identical with the English ones.