by Æneas. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 10, li. 315.――――Another officer of
Turnus. _Æneid_, bk. 10, ch. 561.
=Ly̆caste=, an ancient town of Crete, whose inhabitants accompanied
Idomeneus to the Trojan war. _Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 2.――――A daughter
of Priam by a concubine. She married Polydamas the son of Antenor.
――――A famous courtesan of Drepanum, called Venus on account of her
great beauty. She had a son called Eryx, by Butes son of Amycus.
=Lycastum=, a town of Cappadocia.
=Lycastus=, a son of Minos I. He was father of Minos II., by Ida
the daughter of Corybas. _Diodorus_, bk. 4.――――A son of Minos and
Philonome daughter of Nyctimus. He succeeded his father on the throne
of Arcadia. _Pausanias_, bk. 8, chs. 3 & 4.
=Lyce=, one of the Amazons, &c. _Flaccus_, bk. 6, li. 374.
=Lyces=, a town of Macedonia. _Livy_, bk. 31, ch. 33.
=Lycēum.= _See:_ Lycæum.
=Lychnīdus=, now _Achridna_, a city with a lake of the same name, in
Illyricum. _Livy_, bk. 27, ch. 32; bk. 44, ch. 15.
=Ly̆cia=, a country of Asia Minor, bounded by the Mediterranean on
the south, Caria on the west, Pamphylia on the east, and Phrygia on
the north. It was anciently called _Milyas_ and _Tremile_, from the
Milyæ or Solymi, a people of Crete, who came to settle there. The
country received the name of Lycia, from Lycus the son of Pandion,
who established himself there. The inhabitants have been greatly
commended by all the ancients, not only for their sobriety and
justice, but their great dexterity in the management of the bow.
They were conquered by Crœsus king of Lydia, and afterwards by Cyrus.
Though they were subject to the power of Persia, yet they were
governed by their own kings, and only paid a yearly tribute to the
Persian monarch. They became part of the Macedonian empire when
Alexander came into the east, and afterwards were ceded to the house
of the Seleucidæ. The country was reduced into a Roman province
by the emperor Claudius. Apollo had there his celebrated oracle at
Patara, and the epithet _hiberna_ is applied to the country, because
the god was said to pass the winter in his temple. _Virgil_, _Æneid_,
bk. 4, lis. 143 & 446; bk. 7, li. 816.――_Statius_, _Thebiad_, bk. 6,
li. 686.――_Herodotus_, bk. 1, ch. 173.――_Strabo_, bk. 13.――_Livy_,
bk. 37, ch. 16; bk. 38, ch. 39.
=Lycĭdas=, a centaur, killed by the Lapithæ at the nuptials of
Pirithous. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 12, li. 310.――――A shepherd’s
name. _Virgil_, _Eclogues_.――――A beautiful youth, the admiration of
Rome in the age of Horace. _Horace_, bk. 1, ode 4, li. 19.
=Lycimna=, a town of Peloponnesus.
=Lycimnia=, a slave, mother of Helenor by a Lydian prince. _Virgil_,
_Æneid_, bk. 9, li. 446.
=Lyciscus=, an Athenian archon.――――A Messenian of the family of the
Æpytidæ. When his daughters were doomed by lot to be sacrificed
for the good of their country, he fled with them to Sparta, and
Aristodemus upon this cheerfully gave his own children and soon after
succeeded to the throne. _Pausanias_, bk. 4, ch. 9.――――A youth of
whom Horace was enamoured.
=Ly̆cius=, a son of Hercules and Toxicreta.――――A son of Lycaon.――――An
epithet given to Apollo from his temple in Lycia, where he gave
oracles, particularly at Patara, where the appellation of _Lyciæ
sortes_ was given to his answers, and even to the will of the fates.
_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 4, li. 346.――――A surname of Danaus.
=Ly̆cŏmēdes=, a king of Scyros, an island in the Ægean sea, son of
Apollo and Parthenope. He was secretly entrusted with the care of
young Achilles, whom his mother Thetis had disguised in woman’s
clothes, to remove him from the Trojan war, where she knew he must
unavoidably perish. Lycomedes has rendered himself infamous for his
treachery to Theseus, who had implored his protection when driven
from the throne of Athens by the usurper Mnestheus. Lycomedes, as
it is reported, either envious of the fame of his illustrious guest,
or bribed by the emissaries of Mnestheus, led Theseus to an elevated
place, on pretence of showing him the extent of his dominions,
and perfidiously threw him down a precipice, where he was killed.
_Plutarch_, _Theseus_.――_Pausanias_, bk. 1, ch. 17; bk. 7, ch. 4.
――――_Apollodorus_, bk. 3, ch. 13.――――An Arcadian, who, with 500
chosen men, put to flight 1000 Spartans and 500 Argives, &c.
_Diodorus_, bk. 15.――――A seditious person at Tegea.――――A Mantinean
general, &c.――――An Athenian, the first who took one of the enemy’s
ships at the battle of Salamis. _Plutarch._
=Lycon=, a philosopher of Troas, son of Astyonax, in the age of
Aristotle. He was greatly esteemed by Eumenes, Antiochus, &c. He died
in the 74th year of his age. _Diogenes Laërtius_, _Lives and Opinions
of Eminent Philosophers_.――――A man who wrote the life of Pythagoras.
――――A poet.――――A writer of epigrams.――――A player, greatly esteemed
by Alexander. A Syracusan who assisted in murdering Dion.――――A
peripatetic philosopher.
=Lycōne=, a city of Thrace.――――A mountain of Argolis. _Pausanias_,
bk. 2, ch. 24.
=Ly̆cōphron=, a son of Periander king of Corinth. The murder of his
mother Melissa by his father had such an effect upon him, that he
resolved never to speak to a man who had been so wantonly cruel
against his relations. This resolution was strengthened by the advice
of Procles his maternal uncle, and Periander at last banished to
Corcyra a son whose disobedience and obstinacy had rendered him
odious. Cypselus, the eldest son of Periander, being incapable of
reigning, Lycophron was the only surviving child who had any claim to
the crown of Corinth. But when the infirmities of Periander obliged
him to look for a successor, Lycophron refused to come to Corinth
while his father was there, and he was induced to leave Corcyra,
only on promise that Periander would come and dwell there while he
remained master of Corinth. This exchange, however, was prevented.
The Corcyreans, who were apprehensive of the tyranny of Periander,
murdered Lycophron before he left that island. _Herodotus_, bk. 3.
――_Aristotle._――――A brother of Thebe, the wife of Alexander tyrant
of Pheræ. He assisted his sister in murdering her husband, and he
afterwards seized the sovereignty. He was dispossessed by Philip of
Macedonia. _Plutarch._――_Diodorus_, bk. 16.――――A general of Corinth,
killed by Nicias. _Plutarch_, _Nicias_.――――A native of Cythera, son
of Mastor. He went to the Trojan war with Ajax the son of Telamon,
after the accidental murder of one of his citizens. He was killed,
&c. _Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 15, li. 450.――――A famous Greek poet and
grammarian, born at Chalcis, in Eubœa. He was one of the poets who
flourished under Ptolemy Philadelphus, and who, from their number,
obtained the name of Pleiades. Lycophron died by the wound of an
arrow. He wrote tragedies, the titles of 20 of which have been
preserved. The only remaining composition of this poet is called
_Cassandra_ or _Alexandra_. It contains 1474 verses, whose obscurity
has procured the epithet of _Tenebrosus_ to its author. It is a
mixture of prophetical effusions, which, as he supposes, were given
by Cassandra during the Trojan war. The best editions of Lycophron
are that of Basil, 1546, folio, enriched with the Greek commentary of
Tzetzes; that of Canter, 8vo, apud Commelin. 1596; and that of Potter,
folio, Oxford, 1702. _Ovid_, _Ibis_, li. 533.――_Statius_, bk. 5,
_Sylvæ_, poem 3.
=Lycopŏlis=, now _Siut_, a town of Egypt. It received this name on
account of the immense number of wolves, λυκοι, which repelled
an army of Æthiopians, who had invaded Egypt. _Diodorus_, bk. 1.
――_Strabo_, bk. 17.
=Lycopus=, an Ætolian who assisted the Cyreneans against Ptolemy.
_Polyænus_, bk. 8.
=Lycorea=, a town of Phocis at the top of Parnassus, where the people
of Delphi took refuge during Deucalion’s deluge, directed by the
howlings of wolves. _Pausanias_, _Phocis_, ch. 6.
=Lycoreus=, the supposed founder of Lycorea, on mount Parnassus, was
son of Apollo and Corycia. _Hyginus_, fable 161.
=Ly̆cōrias=, one of the attendant nymphs of Cyrene. _Virgil_, _Georgics_,
bk. 4, li. 339.
=Ly̆cōris=, a freedwoman of the senator Volumnius, also called
_Cytheris_, and _Volumnia_, from her master. She is celebrated for
her beauty and intrigues. The poet Gallus was greatly enamoured of
her, and his friend Virgil, in his 10th eclogue, comforts him for the
loss of the favours of Cytheris, who followed Marcus Antony’s camp,
and was become the Aspasia of Rome. The charms of Cleopatra, however,
prevailed over those of Cytheris, and the unfortunate courtesan lost
the favours of Antony and of all the world at the same time. Lycoris
was originally a comedian. _Virgil_, _Eclogues_, poem 10.――_Ovid_,
_Ars Amatoria_, bk. 3, li. 537.
=Lycormas=, a river of Ætolia, whose sands were of a golden colour. It
was afterwards called _Evenus_, from king Evenus, who threw himself
into it. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 2, li. 245.
=Lycortas=, the father of Polybius, who flourished B.C. 184. He was
chosen general of the Achæan league, and he revenged the death of
Philopœmen, &c. _Plutarch._
=Lycosūra=, a city built by Lycaon on mount Lycæus in Arcadia.
=Lyctus=, a town of Crete, the country of Idomeneus, whence he is often
called _Lyctius_. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 3, li. 401.
=Lycurgrĭdes=, annual days of solemnity, appointed in honour of the
lawgiver of Sparta.――――A patronymic of a son of Lycurgus. _Ovid_,
_Ibis_, li. 503.
=Lycurgus=, a king of Nemæa, in Peloponnesus. He was raised from the
dead by Æsculapius. _Statius_, _Thebiad_, bk. 5, li. 638.――――A giant
killed by Osiris in Thrace. _Diodorus_, bk. 1.――――A king of Thrace,
son of Dryas. He has been represented as cruel and impious, on
account of the violence which he offered to Bacchus. He, according
to the opinion of the mythologists, drove Bacchus out of his kingdom,
and abolished his worship, for which impiety he was severely punished
by the gods. He put his own son Dryas to death in a fury, and he cut
off his own legs, mistaking them for vine boughs. He was put to death
in the greatest torments by his subjects, who had been informed by
the oracle that they should not taste wine till Lycurgus was no more.
This fable is explained by observing that the aversion of Lycurgus
for wine, over which Bacchus presided, arose from the filthiness and
disgrace of intoxication, and therefore the monarch wisely ordered
all the vines of his dominions to be cut down, that himself and his
subjects might be preserved from the extravagance and debauchery
which are produced by too free a use of wine. _Hyginus_, fable 132.
――_Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 6, li. 130.――_Apollodorus_, bk. 3, ch. 5.
――_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 4, li. 22.――_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 3,
li. 14.――_Horace_, bk. 2, ode 19.――――A son of Hercules and Praxithea
daughter of Thespius. _Apollodorus_, bk. 2, ch. 7.――――A son of Pheres
the son of Cretheus. _Apollodorus_, bk. 1, ch. 9.――――An orator of
Athens, surnamed _Ibis_, in the age of Demosthenes, famous for his
justice and impartiality when at the head of the government. He was
one of the 30 orators whom the Athenians refused to deliver up to
Alexander. Some of his orations are extant. He died about 330 years
before Christ. _Diodorus_, bk. 16.――――A king of Tegea, son of Aleus,
by Neæra the daughter of Pereus. He married Cleophile, called also
Eurynome, by whom he had Amphidamas, &c. _Apollodorus_, bk. 3, ch. 9.
――_Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 7.――――A celebrated lawgiver of Sparta, son of
king Eunomus and brother to Polydectes. He succeeded his brother on
the Spartan throne; but when he saw that the widow of Polydectes was
pregnant, he kept the kingdom not for himself, but till Charilaus his
nephew was arrived to years of maturity. He had previously refused to
marry his brother’s widow, who wished to strengthen him on his throne
by destroying her own son Charilaus, and leaving him in the peaceful
possession of the crown. The integrity with which he acted, when
guardian of his nephew Charilaus, united with the disappointment and
the resentment of the queen, raised him many enemies, and he at last
yielded to their satire and malevolence, and retired to Crete. He
travelled like a philosopher, and visited Asia and Egypt without
suffering himself to be corrupted by the licentiousness and luxury
which prevailed there. The confusion which followed his departure
from Sparta now had made his presence totally necessary, and he
returned home at the earnest solicitations of his countrymen.
The disorders which reigned at Sparta induced him to reform the
government; and the more effectually to execute his undertaking,
he had recourse to the oracle of Delphi. He was received by the
priestess of the god with every mark of honour, his intentions were
warmly approved by the divinity, and he was called the friend of
gods, and himself rather god than man. After such a reception from
the most celebrated oracle of Greece, Lycurgus found no difficulty
in reforming the abuses of the state, and all were equally anxious
in promoting a revolution which had received the sanction of heaven.
This happened 884 years before the christian era. Lycurgus first
established a senate, which was composed of 28 senators, whose
authority preserved the tranquillity of the state, and maintained
a due and just equilibrium between the kings and the people,
by watching over the intrusions of the former, and checking the
seditious convulsions of the latter. All distinctions were destroyed,
and by making an equal and impartial division of the land among the
members of the commonwealth, Lycurgus banished luxury, and encouraged
the useful arts. The use of money, either of gold or silver, was
totally forbidden, and the introduction of heavy brass and iron coin
brought no temptations to the dishonest, and left every individual
in the possession of his effects without any fears of robbery or
violence. All the citizens dined in common, and no one had greater
claims to indulgence or luxury than another. The intercourse of
Sparta with other nations was forbidden, and few were permitted to
travel. The youths were entrusted to the public master as soon as
they had attained their seventh year, and their education was left to
the wisdom of the laws. They were taught early to think, to answer in
a short and laconic manner, and to excel in sharp repartee. They were
instructed and encouraged to carry things by surprise, but if ever
the theft was discovered they were subjected to a severe punishment.
Lycurgus was happy and successful in establishing and enforcing these
laws, and by his prudence and administration the face of affairs in
Lacedæmon was totally changed, and it gave rise to a set of men
distinguished for their intrepidity, their fortitude, and their
magnanimity. After this, Lycurgus retired from Sparta to Delphi, or,
according to others, to Crete, and before his departure he bound all
the citizens of Lacedæmon by a solemn oath, that neither they nor
their posterity would alter, violate, or abolish the laws which he
had established before his return. He soon after put himself to death,
and he ordered his ashes to be thrown into the sea, fearful lest,
if they were carried to Sparta, the citizens would call themselves
freed from the oath which they had taken, and empowered to make a
revolution. The wisdom and the good effect of the laws of Lycurgus
have been firmly demonstrated at Sparta, where for 700 years they
remained in full force, but the legislator has been censured as cruel
and impolitic. He has shown himself inhumane in ordering mothers to
destroy such of their children whose feebleness or deformity in their
youth seemed to promise incapability of action in maturer years,
and to become a burden to the state. His regulations about marriage
must necessarily be censured, and no true conjugal felicity can be
expected from the union of a man with a person whom he perhaps never
knew before, and whom he was compelled to choose in a dark room,
where all the marriageable women in the state assembled on stated
occasions. The peculiar dress which was appointed for the females
might be termed improper; and the law must for ever be called
injudicious, which ordered them to appear naked on certain days of
festivity, and wrestle in a public assembly promiscuously, with boys
of equal age with themselves. These things indeed contributed as much
to corrupt the morals of the Lacedæmonians, as the other regulations
seemed to be calculated to banish dissipation, riot, and debauchery.
Lycurgus has been compared to Solon, the celebrated legislator of
Athens, and it has been judiciously observed, that the former gave
his citizens morals conformable to the laws which he had established,
and that the latter had given the Athenians laws which coincided with
their customs and manners. The office of Lycurgus demanded resolution,
and he showed himself inexorable and severe. In Solon artifice
was requisite, and he showed himself mild and even voluptuous. The
moderation of Lycurgus is greatly commended, particularly when we
recollect that he treated with the greatest humanity and confidence
Alcander, a youth who had put out one of his eyes in a seditious
tumult. Lycurgus had a son called Antiorus, who left no issue. The
Lacedæmonians showed their respect for their great legislator, by
yearly celebrating a festival in his honour, called Lycurgidæ or
Lycurgides. The introduction of money into Sparta in the reign of
Agis the son of Archidamus was one of the principal causes which
corrupted the innocence of the Lacedæmonians, and rendered them the
prey of intrigue and of faction. The laws of Lycurgus were abrogated
by Philopœmen, B.C. 188, but only for a little time, as they were
soon after re-established by the Romans. _Plutarch_, _Lives_.
――_Justin_, bk. 3, ch. 2, &c.――_Strabo_, bks. 8, 10, 15, &c.
――_Dionysius of Halicarnassus_, bk. 2.――_Pausanias_, bk. 3, ch. 2.
=Lycus=, a king of Bœotia, successor to his brother Nycteus, who left
no male issue. He was entrusted with the government only during the
minority of Labdacus, the son of the daughter of Nycteus. He was
further enjoined to make war against Epopeus, who had carried away
by force Antiope the daughter of Nycteus. He was successful in this
expedition. Epopeus was killed, and Lycus recovered Antiope and
married her, though she was his niece. This new connection highly
displeased his first wife Dirce, and Antiope was delivered to the
unfeeling queen and tortured in the most cruel manner. Antiope at
last escaped, and entreated her sons Zethus and Amphion to avenge
her wrongs. The children, incensed on account of the cruelties which
their mother had suffered, besieged Thebes, killed Lycus, and tied
Dirce to the tail of a wild bull, which dragged her till she died.
_Pausanias_, bk. 9, ch. 5.――_Apollodorus_, bk. 3, ch. 5.――――A king
of Libya, who sacrificed whatever strangers came upon his coast. When
Diomedes, at his return from the Trojan war, had been shipwrecked
there, the tyrant seized him and confined him. He, however, escaped
by means of Callirhoe, the tyrant’s daughter, who was enamoured of
him, and who hung herself when she saw herself deserted.――――A son
of Neptune by Celæno, made king of a part of Mysia by Hercules. He
offered violence to Megara the wife of Hercules, for which he was
killed by the incensed hero. Lycus gave a kind reception to the
Argonauts. _Apollodorus_, bk. 3, ch. 10.――_Hyginus_, fables 18,
31, 32, 137.――――A son of Ægyptus,――――of Mars,――――of Lycaon king of
Arcadia,――――of Pandion king of Athens.――――The father of Arcesilaus.
――――One of the companions of Æneas. _Apollodorus_, bk. 2, ch. 3.
――_Pausanias_, bk. 1, &c.――_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 1, &c.――_Hyginus_,
fable 97 & 159.――――An officer of Alexander in the interest of
Lysimachus. He made himself master of Ephesus by the treachery of
Andron, &c. _Polyænus_, bk. 5.――――One of the Centaurs.――――A son of
Priam.――――A river of Phrygia, which disappears near Colosse, and
rises again at the distance of about four stadia, and at last falls
into the Mæander. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 15, li. 273.――――A
river of Sarmatia, falling into the Palus Mæotis.――――Another in
Paphlagonia, near Heraclea. _Ovid_, bk. 4, _ex Ponto_, poem 1, li.
47.――――Another in Assyria.――――Another in Armenia, falling into the
Euxine near the Phasis. _Virgil_, _Georgics_, bk. 4, li. 367.――――One
of the friends of Æneas, killed by Turnus. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 9,
li. 545.――――A youth beloved by Alcæus. _Horace_, bk. 1, ode 32.――――A
town of Crete.
=Lyde=, the wife of the poet Antimachus, &c. _Ovid_, _Tristia_, bk. 1,
poem 5.――――A woman in Domitian’s reign, who pretended that she could
remove barrenness by medicines. _Juvenal_, satire 2, li. 141.
=Lȳdia=, a celebrated kingdom of Asia Minor, whose boundaries were
different at different times. It was first bounded by Mysia Major,
Caria, Phrygia Major, and Ionia, but in its more flourishing times
it contained the whole country which lies between the Halys and the
Ægean sea. It was anciently called _Mæonia_, and received the name of
Lydia from Lydus, one of its kings. It was governed by monarchs who,
after the fabulous ages, reigned for 249 years in the following order:
Ardysus began to reign 797 B.C.; Alyattes, 761; Meles, 747; Candaules,
735; Gyges, 718; Ardysus II., 680; Sadyattes, 631; Alyattes II., 619;
and Crœsus, 562, who was conquered by Cyrus, B.C. 548, when the
kingdom became a province of the Persian empire. There were three
different races that reigned in Lydia, the Atyadæ, Heraclidæ, and
Mermnadæ. The history of the first is obscure and fabulous; the
Heraclidæ began to reign about the Trojan war, and the crown remained
in their family for about 505 years, and was always transmitted from
father to son. Candaules was the last of the Heraclidæ; and Gyges the
first, and Crœsus the last, of the Mermnadæ. The Lydians were great
warriors in the reign of the Mermnadæ. They invented the art of
coining gold and silver, and were the first who exhibited public
sports, &c. _Herodotus_, bk. 1, ch. 6; bk. 3, ch. 90; bk. 7, ch. 74.
――_Strabo_, bks. 2, 5, & 13.――_Mela_, bk. 1, ch. 2.――_Pliny_, bk. 3,
ch. 5.――_Dionysius of Halicarnassus_, bk. 1.――_Diodorus_, bk. 4.
――_Justin_, bk. 13, ch. 4.――――A mistress of Horace, &c., bk. 1, ode 8.
=Lydias=, a river of Macedonia.
=Lȳdius=, an epithet applied to the Tiber, because it passed near
Etruria, whose inhabitants were originally a Lydian colony. _Virgil_,
_Æneid_, bk. 2, li. 781; bk. 8, li. 479.
=Lydus=, a son of Atys and Callithea, king of Mæonia, which from him
received the name of Lydia. His brother Tyrrhenus led a colony to
Italy, and gave the name of Tyrrhenia to the settlement which he made
on the coast of the Mediterranean. _Herodotus_, bk. 7, ch. 74.――――A
eunuch, &c.
=Lygdamis=, or =Lygdamus=, a man who made himself absolute at Naxos.
_Polyænus._――――A general of the Cimmerians who passed into Asia Minor,
and took Sardis in the reign of Ardyes king of Lydia. _Callimachus._
――――An athlete of Syracuse, the father of Artemisia the celebrated
queen of Halicarnassus. _Herodotus_, bk. 7, ch. 99.――――A servant of
the poet Propertius, or of his mistress Cynthia.
=Lygii=, a nation of Germany. _Tacitus_, _Germania_, ch. 42.
=Lygodesma=, a surname of Diana at Sparta, because her statue
was brought by Orestes from Taurus, shielded round with osiers.
_Pausanias_, bk. 3, ch. 26.
=Lygus.= _See:_ Ligus.
=Lymīre=, a town of Lycia. _Ovid_ _Metamorphoses_, bk. 12.
=Lymax=, a river of Arcadia. _Pausanias_, bk. 8, ch. 41.
=Lyncīdes=, a man at the court of Cepheus. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_
bk. 4, fable 12.
=Lyncestæ=, a noble family of Macedonia, connected with the royal
family. _Justin_, bk. 11, ch. 2, &c.
=Lyncestes=, a son of Amyntas, in the army of Alexander, &c. _Curtius_,
bk. 7, &c.――――Alexander, a son-in-law of Antipater, who conspired
against Alexander and was put to death. _Curtius_, bk. 7.
=Lyncestius=, a river of Macedonia, whose waters were of an intoxicating
quality. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 17, li. 329.