Et qu'il est malaisé que, sans etre amoureux
Un jeune prince soit et grand et généreux.
Act i. 1.
_Arbate_, in Racine's drama of _Mithridate_ (1673).
AR'BITER EL'IGANTIÆ. C. Petro'nius was appointed dictator-in-chief
of the imperial pleasures at the court of Nero, and nothing was
considered _comme il faut_ till it had received the sanction of this
Roman _beau Brummel_.
Behold the new Petronius of the day,
The arbiter of pleasure and of play.
Byron, _English Bards and Scottish Reviewers_.
ARBRE SOL foretold, with audible voice, the place and manner of
Alexander's death. It figures in all the fabulous legends of
Alexander.
ARBUTUS, sturdy yeoman usually known as "Bute," in Bayard Taylor's
novel _Hannah Thurston._ Rugged and sound as the New England granite
underlying the farm he tills.
ARC _(Joan of)_, or _Jeanne la Pucelle_, the "Maid of Orleans,"
daughter of a rustic of Domrémy, near Vaucouleurs, in France. She was
servant at an inn when she conceived the idea of liberating France
from the English. Having gained admission to Charles VII., she was
sent by him to raise the siege of Orleans, and actually succeeded in
so doing. Schiller has a tragedy on the subject, Casimir Delavigne an
elegy on her, Southey an epic poem on her life and death, and Voltaire
a burlesque.
In regard to her death, M. Octave Delepière, in his _Doute
Historique_, denies the tradition of her having been burnt to death at
Rouen; and Vignier discovered in a family muniment chest the "contract
of marriage between" Robert des Armoise, knight, and Jeanne d'Arc,
surnamed "The Maid of Orleans."
AR'CADES AMBO, both fools alike; both "sweet innocents;" both alike
eccentric. There is nothing in the character of Corydon and Thyrsis
(Virgil's _Eclogue_, vii. 4) to justify this disparaging application
of the phrase. All Virgil says is they were both "in the flower of
their youth," and both Arcadians, both equal in setting a theme for
song or capping it epigrammatically; but as Arcadia was the least
intellectual part of Greece, an "Arcadian" came to signify a dunce,
and hence "Arcades ambo" received its present acceptation.
ARCALA'US (4 _syl_.), an enchanter who bound Am'adis de Gaul to a
pillar in his courtyard, and administered to him 200 stripes with his
horse's bridle.--_Amadis de Gaul_ (fifteenth century).
ARCA'NES (3 _syl_.), a noble soldier, friend of Cas'silane (3 _syl_.)
general of Candy.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Laws of Candy_ (1647).
ARCHAN'GEL. Burroughs, the puritan preacher, called Cromwell "the
archangel that did battle with the devil."
ARCHAS, "the loyal subject" of the great duke of Moscovia, and general
of the Moscovites. His son is colonel Theodore.
_Young Archas_, son of the general. Disguised as a woman, he assumes
the name of Alinda.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Loyal Subject_
(1618).
ARCHBSH'OP OF GRANA'DA told his secretary, Gil Blas, when he hired
him,
"Whenever thou shalt perceive my pen smack of old age and my genius
flag, don't fail to advertise me of it, for I don't trust to my own
judgment, which may be seduced by self-love." After a fit of apoplexy,
Gil Blas ventured in the most delicate manner to hint to his grace
that "his last discourse had not altogether the energy of his former
ones." To this the archbishop replied, "You are yet too raw to make
proper distinctions. Know, child, that I never composed a better
homily than that which you disapprove. Go, tell my treasurer to
give you 100 ducats. Adieu, Mr. Gil Blas; I wish you all manner of
prosperity, with a little more taste."--Le-sage, _Gil Blas_, vii. 3
(1715).
AR'CHER (_Francis_), friend of Aimwell, who joins him in
fortune-hunting. These are the two "beaux." Thomas viscount Aimwell
marries Dorinda, the daughter of lady Bountiful. Archer hands the
deeds and property taken from the highwaymen to sir Charles Freeman,
who takes his sister, Mrs. Sullen, under his charge again.--George
Farquhar, _The Beaux' Stratagem_ (1707).
ARCHIBALD (_John_), attendant on the duke of Argyle.--Sir W. Scott,
_Heart of Midlothian_ (time, George II.).
ARCHIMA'GO, the reverse of holiness, and therefore Satan the father of
lies and all deception. Assuming the guise of the Red Cross Knight, he
deceived Una; and under the guise of a hermit, he deceived the knight
himself. Archimago is introduced in bks. i. and ii. of Spenser's
_Faëry Queen._ The poet says:
... he could take
As many forms and shapes in seeming wise
As ever Proteus to himself could make:
Sometimes a fowl, sometimes a fish in lake,
Now like a fox, now like a dragon fell.
Spenser, _The Faëry Queen_, I. ii. 10 (1590).
ARCHIMEDES, Syracusan philosopher, who discovered, among other great
scientific facts, the functions of the lever. The solution of an
abstruse problem having occurred to him while in the bath, he
leaped out of the water, and ran naked through the city, shouting,
"_Eureka!_"
AR'CHY M'SAR'CASM _(Sir)_, "a proud Caledonian knight, whose tongue,
like the dart of death, spares neither sex nor age ... His insolence
of family and licentiousness of wit gained him the contempt of every
one" (i. 1). Sir Archy tells Charlotte, "In the house of M'Sarcasm are
two barons, three viscounts, six earls, one marquisate, and two dukes,
besides baronets and lairds oot o' a' reckoning" (i. 1). He makes love
to Charlotte Goodchild, but supposing it to be true that she has lost
her fortune, declares to her that he has just received letters "frae
the dukes, the marquis, and a' the dignitaries of the family ...
expressly prohibiting his contaminating the blood of M'Sarcasm wi'
onything sprung from a hogshead or a coonting-house" (ii. 1).
The man has something droll, something ridiculous in him. His
abominable Scotch accent, his grotesque visage almost buried in snuff,
the roll of his eyes and twist of his mouth, his strange inhuman
laugh, his tremendous periwig, and his manners altogether--why, one
might take him for a mountebank doctor at a Dutch fair.--C. Macklin,
_Love à-la-mode_, i. 1 (1779).
_Sir Archy's Great-grandmother._ Sir Archy M'Sarcasm insisted on
fighting Sir Callaghan O'Brallaghan on a point of ancestry. The
Scotchman said that the Irish are a colony from Scotland, "an ootcast,
a mere ootcast." The Irishman retorted by saying that "one Mac Fergus
O'Brallaghan went from Carrickfergus, and peopled all Scotland with
his own hands." Charlotte [Goodchild] interposed, and asked the cause
of the contention, whereupon Sir Callaghan replied, "Madam, it is
about sir Archy's great-grandmother."--C. Macklin, _Love à-la-mode_,
i. I (1779).
We shall not now stay to quarrel about sir Archy's
great-grandmother.--Maepherson, _Dissertation upon Ossian_.
ARCHY'TAS of Tarentum made a wooden pigeon that could fly; and
Regiomonta'nus, a German, made a wooden eagle that flew from
Koenigsberg to meet the emperor, and, having saluted him, returned
whence it set out (1436-1476).
This engine may be contrived from the same principles by which
Archytas made a wooden dove, and Regiomontanus a wooden eagle.--Dr.
John Wilkins (1614-1672).
AR'CITE (2 _syl_.) AND PAL'AMON, two Theban knights, captives of
duke Theseus, who used to see from their dungeon window the duke's
sister-in-law, Emily, taking her airing in the palace garden, and fell
in love with her. Both captives having gained their liberty, contended
for the lady by single combat. Arcite was victor, but being
thrown from his horse was killed, and Emily became the bride of
Palamon.--Chaucer, _Canterbury Tales_ ("The Knight's Tale," 1388).
Richard Edwards in 1566 produced a drama entitled _Palamon and
Arcite_.
AR'DEN _(Enoch)_, the hero of a poetic tale by Tennyson. He is a
seaman wrecked on a desert island, who returns home after the absence
of several years, and finds his wife married to another. Seeing her
both happy and prosperous, Enoch resolves not to mar her domestic
peace, so leaves her undisturbed, and dies of a broken heart.
AR'DEN OF FEV'ERSLIAM, a noble character, honorable, forgiving,
affectionate, and modest. His wife Alicia in her sleep reveals to him
her guilty love for Mosby, but he pardons her on condition that she
will never see the seducer again. Scarcely has she made the promise
when she plots with Mosby her husband's murder. In a planned
street-scuffle, Mosby pretends to take Arden's part, and thus throws
him off his guard. Arden thinks he has wronged him, and invites him to
his house, but Mosby conspires with two hired ruffians to fall on his
host during a game of draughts, the right moment being signified by
Mosby's saying, "Now I take you." Arden is murdered; but the whole
gang is apprehended and brought to justice.
(This drama is based on a murder which took place in 1551. Ludwig
Tieck has translated the play into German, as a genuine production of
Shakespeare. Some ascribe the play to George Lillo, but Charles Lamb
gives 1592 as the date of its production, and says the author is
unknown.)
AREOUS'KI, the Indian war-god, war, tumult.
A cry of Areouski broke our sleep. Campbell, _Gertrude of Wyoming_, i,
16 (1809).
ARETHU'SA, daughter of the king Messi'na, in the drama called
_Philaster_ or _Love Lies a-bleeding_, by Beaumont and Fletcher
(1638).
_Arethusa_, a nymph pursued by Alpheos the river-god, and changed into
a fountain in the island of Ortygia; but the river-god still pursued
her, and mingled his stream with the fountain, and now, "like friends
once parted grown single-hearted," they leap and flow and slumber
together, "like spirits that love but live no more."
[Illustration] This fable has been exquisitely turned into poetry by
Percy B. Shelley (_Arethusa_, 1820).
ARGALI'A, brother of Angel'ica, in Ariosto's _Orlando Furioso_ (1516).
AR'GAN, the _malade imaginaire_ and father of Angelique. He is
introduced taxing his apothecary's bills, under the conviction that he
cannot afford to be sick at the prices charged, but then he notices
that he has already reduced his bills during the current month, and is
not so well. He first hits upon the plan of marrying Angelique to a
young doctor, but to this the lady objects. His brother suggests that
Argan himself should be his own doctor, and when the invalid replies
he has not studied either diseases, drugs, or Latin, the objection is
overruled by investing the "malade" in a doctor's cap and robe. The
piece concludes with the ceremonial in macaronic Latin.
[Illustration] When Argan asks his doctor how many grains of salt he
ought to eat with an egg, the doctor answers, "Six, huit, dix, etc.,
par les nombres pairs, comme dans les médicaments par les nombres
impairs."--Molière, _Le Malade Imaginaire_, ii. 9 (1673).
ARGAN'TE (3 _syl_.), a giantess called "the very monster and miracle
of lust." She and her twin-brother Ollyphant or Oliphant were the
children of Typhoe'us and Earth. Argantè used to carry off young
men as her captives, and seized "the Squire of Dames" as one of
her victims. The squire, who was in fact Britomart (the heroine of
chastity), was delivered by sir Sat'yrane (3 _syl_.).--Spenser, _Faëry
Queen_, iii. 7 (1590).
_Argante_' (2 _syl_.), father of Octave (2 _syl_.) and Zerbinette (3
_syl_.). He promises to give his daughter Zerbinette to Leandre (2
_syl_.), the son of his friend Géronte (2 _syl_.); but during his
absence abroad the young people fall in love unknown to their
respective fathers. Both fathers storm, and threaten to break off the
engagement, but are delighted beyond measure when they discover that
the choice of the young people has unknowingly coincided with their
own.--Molière, _Les Fourteries de Scapin_ (1671).
(Thomas Otway has adapted this play to the English stage, and called
it _The Cheats of Scapin_. "Argante" he calls _Thrifty_; "Géronte" is
_Gripe_; "Zerbinette" he calls _Lucia_; and "Leandre" he Anglicizes
into _Leander_.)
ARGAN'TES (3 _syl_.), a Circassian of high rank and undoubted courage,
but fierce and a great detester of the Nazarenes. Argantês and Solyman
were undoubtedly the bravest heroes of the infidel host. Argantês
was slain by Rinaldo, and Solyman by Tancred.--Tasso, _Jerusalem
Delivered_ (1575).
Bonaparte stood before the deputies like the Argantês of Italy's
heroic poet.--Sir Walter Scott.
AR'GENIS, a political romance by Barclay (1621).
AR'GENTILE (3 _syl_.), daughter of king Adelbright, and ward of Edel.
Curan, a Danish prince, in order to woo her, became a drudge in her
house, but being obliged to quit her service, became a shepherd. Edel,
the guardian, forcing his suit on Argentile, compelled her to flight,
and she became a neatherd's maid. In this capacity Curan wooed and won
her. Edel was forced to restore the possessions of his ward, and
Curan became king of Northumberland. As for Edel, he was put to
death.--William Warner, _Albion's England_ (1586).
AR'GENTIN _(Le sieur d_'), one of the officers of the duke of
Burgundy.--Sir W. Scott, _Anne of Geiersiein_ (time, Edward IV.).
ARGE'O, baron of Servia and husband of Gabrina. (See _Dictionary of
Phrase and Fable_.)--Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_ (1516).
ARGES'TES (3 _syl_.), the west wind.
Wingèd Argestes, faire Aurora's sonne,
Licensed that day to leave his dungeon,
Meekly attended.
Wm. Browne, _Britannia's Pastorals_, ii. 5 (1613).
_Arges'tes_ (3 _syl_.), the north-east wind; Cæ'cias, the north-west;
Bo'reas, the full north.
Boreas and Cæcias and Argestes loud
... rend the woods, and seas upturn.
Milton, _Paradise Lost_, x. 699, etc. (1665).
AR'GILLAN, a haughty, turbulent knight, born on the banks of the
Trent. He induced the Latians to revolt, was arrested, made his
escape, but was ultimately slain in battle by Solyman.--Tasso,
_Jerusalem Delivered_, viii. ix. (1575).
ARGON AND RURO, the two sons of Annir, king of Inis-thona, an island
of Scandinavia. Cor'malo, a neighboring chief, came to the island, and
asked for the honor of a tournament. Argon granted the request, and
overthrew him, and this so vexed Cormalo that during a hunt he shot
both the brothers with his bow. Their dog Runo, running to the hall,
howled so as to attract attention, and Annir, following the hound,
found his two sons both dead. On his return he discovered that Cormalo
had run off with his daughter. Oscar, son of Ossian, slew Cormalo in
fight, and restored the daughter to her father.--_Ossian_ ("The War of
Inis-thona").
ARGONAUTS, heroes and demi-gods, who sailed to Colchis in quest of the
golden fleece, guarded by a sleepless dragon. Jason was their leader.
_Argonauts (The)_. Title applied to adventurers who, in 1849, sought
gold in California. Bret Harte has seized upon the name as the theme
of tales and ballads of the "Forty-niners."
AR'GUS, the turf-writer, was Irwin Willes, who died in 1871.
ARGYLE _(Mac Callum More, duke of_), in the reign of George I.--Sir W.
Scott, _Rob Roy_ (1818).
_Mac Callum More, marquis of Argyle_, in the reign of Charles I.,
was commander of the parliamentary forces, and is called "Gillespie
Grumach;" he disguises himself, and assumes the name of Murdoch
Campbell.--Sir W. Scott, _Legend of Montrose_ (1819).
(Duke and duchess of Argyle are introduced also in the _Heart of
Midlothian_, by Sir W. Scott, 1818.)
ARIAD'NE (4 _syl_.), daughter of Minos king of Crete. She gave Theseus
a clew of thread to guide him out of the Cretan labyrinth. Theseus
married his deliverer, but when he arrived at Naxos _(Dia)_ forsook
her, and she hung herself.
Surely it is an Ariadnê.... There is dawning womanhood in every line;
but she knows nothing of Naxos.--Ouidà, _Ariadnê_, i. 1.
AR'IBERT, king of the Lombards (653-661), left "no male pledge
behind," but only a daughter named Rhodalind, whom he wished duke
Gondibert to marry, but the duke fell in love with Bertha, daughter
of As'tragon, the sage. The tale being unfinished, the sequel is not
known.--Sir W. Davenant, _Gondibert_ (died 1668).
ARIDEUS _[A.ree'.de.us]_, a herald in the Christian army.--Tasso,
_Jerusalem Delivered_ (1575).
A'RIEL, in _The Tempest_, an airy spirit, able to assume any shape,
or even to become invisible. He was enslaved to the witch Syc'orax,
mother of Caliban, who overtasked the little thing, and in punishment
for not doing what was beyond his strength, imprisoned him for twelve
years in the rift of a pine tree, where Caliban delighted to torture
him with impish cruelty. Prospero, duke of Milan and father of
Miranda, liberated Ariel from the pine-rift, and the grateful spirit
served the duke for sixteen years, when he was set free.
And like Ariel in the cloven pine tree,
For its freedom groans and sighs.
Longfellow, _The Golden Milestone_.
_A'riel_, the sylph in Pope's _Rape of the Lock_. The impersonation
of "fine life" in the abstract, the nice adjuster of hearts and
necklaces. When disobedient he is punished by being kept hovering over
the fumes of the chocolate, or is transfixed with pins, clogged with
pomatums, or wedged in the eyes of bodkins.
_A'riel_, one of the rebel angels. The word means "the Lion of God."
Abdiel encountered him, and overthrew him.--Milton, _Paradise Lost_,
vi. 371 (1665).
ARIELLA, an invalid girl, the daughter of Malachi and Hagar his wife,
in _Come Forth_, by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps and Herbert D. Ward. Her
name signifies STRENGTH OF GOD. She has lain a helpless cripple for
nine years, when she is healed by a word from The Christ (1891).
ARIMAN'ES (4 _syl_.), the prince of the powers of evil, introduced by
Byron in his drama called _Manfred_. The Persians recognized a power
of good and a power of evil: the former Yezad, and the latter Ahriman
(in Greek, Oroma'zes and Ariman'nis). These two spirits are ever at
war with each other. Oromazes created twenty-four good spirits, and
enclosed them in an egg to be out of the power of Arimanês; but
Arimanês pierced the shell, and thus mixed evil with every good.
However, a time will come when Arimanês shall be subjected, and the
earth will become a perfect paradise.
ARIMAS'PIANS, a one-eyed people of Scythia, who adorned their hair
with gold. As gold mines were guarded by Gryphons, there were
perpetual contentions between the Arimaspians and the Gryphons. (See
GRYPHON.)
Arimaspi, quos diximus uno oculo in fronte
media in signes; quibus assidue bellum esse
circa metella cum gryphis, ferarum volucri genere,
quale vulgo traditur, eruente ex cuniculis
aurum, mire cupiditate et feris custodientibus,
et Arimaspis rapientibus, multi, sed maxime
illustres Herodotus et Aristeas Proconnesius scribunt.--Pliny,
_Nat. Hist._ vii. 2.
AR'IOCH ("_a fierce lion_"), one of the fallen angels overthrown by
Abdiel.--Milton, _Paradise Lost_, vi. 371 (1665).
ARIODAN'TES (5 _syl_.), the beloved of Geneu'ra, a Scotch princess.
Geneura being accused of incontinence, Ariodantês stood forth her
champion, vindicated her innocence, and married her.--Ariosto,
_Orlando Furioso_ (1516).
ARI'ON. William Falconer, author of _The Shipwreck_, speaks of himself
under this _nom de plume_ (canto iii). He was sent to sea when a lad,
and says he was eager to investigate the "antiquities of foreign
states." He was junior officer in the _Britannia_, which was wrecked
against the projecting verge of cape Colonna, the most southern point
of Attica, and was the only officer who survived.
Thy woes, Arion, and thy simple tale
O'er all the hearts shall triumph and prevail.
Campbell, _Pleasures of Hope_, ii. (1799).
_Ari'on_, a Greek musician, who, to avoid being murdered for his
wealth, threw himself into the sea, and was carried to Tæ'naros on the
back of a dolphin.
_Ari'on_, the wonderful horse which Herculês gave to Adrastos. It had
the gift of human speech, and the feet on the right side were the feet
of a man.
(One of the masques in Sir W. Scott's _Kenilworth_ is called "Arion.")
ARIO'STO OF THE NORTH, Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832).
And, like the Ariosto of the North,
Sang ladye-love and war, romance and knightly worth.
Byron, _Childe Harold_, iv. 40.
ARISTÆ'US, protector of vines and olives, huntsmen and herdsmen. He
instructed man also in the management of bees, taught him by his
mother Cyrenê.
In such a palace Aristæus found
Cyrenê, when he bore the plaintive tale
Of his lost bees to her maternal ear.
Cowper, _The Ice Palace of Anne of Russia_.
ARISTAR'CHUS, any critic. Aristarchus of Samothrace was the greatest
critic of antiquity. His labors were chiefly directed to the _Iliad_
and _Odyssey_ of Homer. He divided them into twenty-four books each,
marked every doubtful line with an obelos, and every one he considered
especially beautiful with an asterisk. (Fl. B.C. 156; died aged 72.)
The whole region of belle lettres fell under my inspection.... There,
sirs, like another Aristarch, I dealt out fame and damnation at
pleasure.--Samuel Foote, _The Liar_, i. 1.
"How, friend," replied the archbishop, "has it [_the homily_] met
with any Aristarchus [_severe critic_]?"--Lesage, _Gil Blas_, vii. 4
(1715).
ARISTE (2 _syl_.), brother of Chrysale (2 _syl_.), not a _savant_,
but a practical tradesman. He sympathizes with Henriette, his womanly
niece, against his sister-in-law Philaminte (3 _syl_.) and her
daughter Armande (2 _syl_.), who _femmes savantes_.--Molière, _Les
Femmes Savantes_ (1672).
ARISTE'AS, a poet who continued to appear and disappear alternately
for above 400 years, and who visited all the mythical nations of the
earth. When not in the human form, he took the form of a stag.--_Greek
Legend_.
ARISTI'DES (_The British_), Andrew Marvell, an influential member of
the House of Commons in the reign of Charles II. He refused every
offer of promotion, and a direct bribe tendered to him by the lord
treasurer. Dying in great poverty, he was buried, like Aristidês, at
the public expense (1620-1678).
ARISTIP'POS, a Greek philosopher of Cyre'nê, who studied under
Soc'ratês, and set up a philosophic school of his own, called
"he'donism" (_[Greek: aedonae]_ "pleasure").
[Illustration] C. M. Wieland has an historic novel in German, called
_Aristippus_, in which he sets forth the philosophical dogmas of this
Cyrenian (1733-1813).
An axiom of Aristippos was _Omnis Aristippum decuit color, et status,
et res_ (Horace, _Epist_. i. 17, 23); and his great precept was _Mihi
res, non me rebus subjungere_ (Horace, _Epist_. i. I, 18).
I am a sort of Aristippus, and can equally accommodate myself to
company and solitude, to affluence and frugality.--Lesage, _Gil Blas_,
v. 12 (1715).
ARISTOBU'LUS, called by Drayton Aristob'ulus (_Rom._ xvi. 10), and
said to be the first that brought to England the "glad tidings of
salvation." He was murdered by the Britons.
The first that ever told Christ crucified to us,
By Paul and Peter sent, just Aristob'ulus ...
By the Britons murdered was.
Drayton, _Polyolbion_, xxiv. (1622).
ARISTOM'ENES (5 _syl_.), a young Messenian of the royal line, the
"Cid" of ancient Messe'nia. On one occasion he entered Sparta by night
to suspend a shield from the temple of Pallas. On the shield were
inscribed these words: "Aristomenês from the Spartan spoils dedicates
this to the goddess."
[Illustration] A similar tale is told of Fernando Perez del Pulgar,
when serving under Ferdinand of Castile at the siege of Grana'da. With
fifteen companions he entered Granada, then in the power of the Moors,
and nailed to the door of the principal mosque with his dagger a
tablet inscribed "Ave Maria!" then galloped back, before the guards
recovered from their amazement.--Washington Irving, _Conquest of
Granada_, 91.
ARISTOPH'ANES (5 _syl_.), a Greek who wrote fifty-four comedies,
eleven of which have survived to the present day (B.C. 444-380). He is
called "The Prince of Ancient Comedy," and Menander "The Prince of New
Comedy" (B.C. 342-291).
_The English_ or _Modern Aristophanes_, Samuel Foote (1722-1777).
_The French Aristophanes_, J. Baptiste Poquelin de Molière
(1622-1673).
ARISTOTLE. The mistress of this philosopher was Hepyllis; of Plato,
Archionassa; and of Epicurus, Leontium.
_Aristotle of China_, Tehuhe, who died A.D. 1200, called "The Prince
of Science."