country after the accidental murder of one of his friends, and found
a safe asylum in the court of Adrastus king of Argos, whose daughter
Deiphyle he married. When Adrastus wished to replace his son-in-law
Polynices on the throne of Thebes, Tydeus undertook to go and declare
war against Eteocles, who usurped the crown. The reception he met
provoked his resentment; he challenged Eteocles and his officers
to single combat, and defeated them. On his return to Argos he slew
50 of the Thebans who had conspired against his life, and lay in an
ambush to surprise him; and only one of the number was permitted to
return to Thebes, to bear the tidings of the fate of his companions.
He was one of the seven chiefs of the army of Adrastus, and during
the Theban war he behaved with great courage. Many of the enemies
expired under his blows, till he was at last wounded by Menalippus.
Though the blow was fatal, Tydeus had the strength to dart at his
enemy, and to bring him to the ground, before he was carried away
from the fight by his companions. At his own request, the dead body
of Menalippus was brought to him, and after he had ordered the head
to be cut off, he began to tear out the brains with his teeth. The
savage barbarity of Tydeus displeased Minerva, who was coming to
bring him relief and to make him immortal, and the goddess left him
to his fate, and suffered him to die. He was buried at Argos, where
his monument was still to be seen in the age of Pausanias. He was
father to Diomedes. Some suppose that the cause of his flight to
Argos was the murder of the son of Melus, or, according to others, of
Alcathous his father’s brother, or perhaps his own brother Olenius.
_Homer_, _Iliad_, bk. 4, lis. 365, 387.――_Apollodorus_, bk. 1, ch. 8;
bk. 3, ch. 6.――_Aeschylus_, _Seven Against Thebes_.――_Pausanias_, bk.
9, ch. 18.――_Diodorus_, bk. 2.――_Euripides_, _Suppliants_.――_Virgil_,
_Æneid_, bk. 6, li. 479.――_Ovid_, _Ibis_, li. 350, &c.
=Tydīdes=, a patronymic of Diomedes, as son of Tydeus. _Virgil_,
_Æneid_, bk. 1, li. 101.――_Horace_, bk. 1, ode 15, li. 28.
=Tylos=, a town of Peloponnesus near Tænarus, now _Bahrain_.
=Tymber=, a son of Daunus, who assisted Turnus. His head was cut off in
an engagement by Pallas. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 10, li. 391, &c.
=Tymōlus=, a mountain. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 6, li. 15. _See:_
Tmolus.
=Tympania=, an inland town of Elis.
=Tynphæi=, a people between Epirus and Thessaly.
=Tyndărĭdæ=, a patronymic of the children of Tyndarus, as Castor,
Pollux, and Helen, &c. _Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 8.――――A people of
Colchis.
=Tyndăris=, a patronymic of Helen daughter of Tyndarus. _Virgil_,
_Æneid_, bk. 2, li. 569.――――A town of Sicily near Pelorus, founded
by a Messenian colony. _Strabo_, bk. 6.――_Pliny_, bk. 2, ch. 91.
――_Silius Italicus_, bk. 14, li. 209.――――Horace gave this name to one
of his mistresses, as best expressive of all female accomplishments,
bk. 1, ode 17, li. 10.――――A name given to Cassandra. _Ovid_, _Ars
Amatoria_, bk. 2, li. 408.――――A town of Colchis on the Phasis.
_Pliny._
=Tyndărus=, son of Œbalus and Gorgophone, or, according to some,
of Perieres. He was king of Lacedæmon, and married the celebrated
Leda, who bore him Timandra, Philonoe, &c., and also became mother
of Pollux and Helen by Jupiter. _See:_ Leda, Castor, Pollux,
Clytemnestra, &c.
=Tynnĭchus=, a general of Heraclea. _Polyænus._
=Typhœus=, or =Typhon=, a famous giant, son of Tartarus and Terra,
who had 100 heads like those of a serpent or a dragon. Flames of
devouring fire were darted from his mouth and from his eyes, and he
uttered horrid yells, like the dissonant shrieks of different animals.
He was no sooner born, than, to avenge the death of his brothers the
giants, he made war against heaven, and so frightened the gods that
they fled away and assumed different shapes. Jupiter became a ram,
Mercury an ibis, ♦Apollo a crow, Juno a cow, Bacchus a goat, Diana a
cat, Venus a fish, &c. The father of the gods at last resumed courage,
and put Typhœus to flight with his thunderbolts, and crushed him
under mount Ætna, in the island of Sicily, or, according to some,
under the island Inarime. Typhœus became father of Geryon, Cerberus,
and Orthos by his union with Echidna. _Hyginus_, fables 152 & 196.
――_Ovid_, _Metamorphoses_, bk. 5, li. 325.――_Aeschylus_, _Seven
Against Thebes_.――_Hesiod_, _Theogony_, li. 820.――_Homer_, _Hymns_.
――_Herodotus_, bk. 2, ch. 156.――_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 9, li. 716.
♦ ‘Appollo’ replaced with ‘Apollo’
=Typhon=, a giant whom Juno produced by striking the earth. Some of the
poets make him the same as the famous Typhœus. _See:_ Typhœus.――――A
brother of Osiris, who married Nepthys. He laid snares for his
brother during his expedition, and murdered him at his return. The
death of Osiris was avenged by his son Orus, and Typhon was put to
death. _See:_ Osiris. He was reckoned among the Egyptians to be the
cause of every evil, and on that account generally represented as a
wolf and a crocodile. _Plutarch_, _de Iside et Osiride_.――_Diodorus_,
bk. 1.
=Tyrannion=, a grammarian of Pontus, intimate with Cicero. His original
name was Theophrastus, and he received that of Tyrannion, from his
austerity to his pupils. He was taken by Lucullus, and restored to
his liberty by Muræna. He opened a school in the house of his friend
Cicero, and enjoyed his friendship. He was extremely fond of books,
and collected a library of about 30,000 volumes. To his care and
industry the world is indebted for the preservation of Aristotle’s
works.――――There was also one of his disciples called Diocles, who
bore his name. He was a native of Phœnicia, and was made prisoner in
the war of Augustus and Antony. He was bought by Dymes, one of the
emperors favourites, and afterwards by Terentia, who gave him his
liberty. He wrote 68 different volumes, in one of which he proved
that the Latin tongue was derived from the Greek; and another in
which Homer’s poems were corrected, &c.
=Tyrannus=, a son of Pterelaus.
=Tyras=, or =Tyra=, a river of European Sarmatia, falling into the
Euxine sea, between the Danube and the Borysthenes, and now called
the _Niester_. _Ovid_, _ex Ponto_, bk. 4, poem 10, li. 50.
=Tyres=, one of the companions of Æneas in his wars against Turnus. He
was brother to Teuthras. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 10, li. 403.
=Tyridates=, a rich man in the age of Alexander, &c. _Curtius._
=Tyrii=, or =Tyrus=, a town of Magna Græcia.
=Tyriotes=, a eunuch of Darius, who fled from Alexander’s camp, to
inform his master of the queen’s death. _Curtius_, bk. 4, ch. 10.
=Tyro=, a beautiful nymph, daughter of Salmoneus king of Elis and
Alcidice. She was treated with great severity by her mother-in-law
Sidero, and at last removed from her father’s house by her uncle
Cretheus. She became enamoured of the Enipeus; and as she often
walked on the banks of the river, Neptune assumed the shape of her
favourite lover, and gained her affections. She had two sons, Pelias
and Neleus, by Neptune, whom she exposed, to conceal her incontinence
from the world. The children were preserved by shepherds, and when
they had arrived at years of maturity, they avenged their mother’s
injuries by assassinating the cruel Sidero. Some time after her
amour with Neptune, Tyro married her uncle Cretheus, by whom she had
Amythaon, Pheres, and Æson. Tyro is often called _Salmonis_ from her
father. _Homer_, _Odyssey_, bk. 11, li. 234.――_Pindar_, _Pythian_, ch.
4.――_Apollodorus_, bk. 1, ch. 9.――_Diodorus_, bk. 4.――_Propertius_,
bk. 1, poem 13, li. 20; bk. 2, poem 30, li. 51; bk. 3, poem 19,
li. 13.――_Ovid_, _Amores_, bk. 3, poem 6, li. 43.――_Ælian_, _Varia
Historia_, bk. 12, ch. 42.
=Tyros=, an island of Arabia.――――A city of Phœnicia. _See:_ Tyrus.
=Tyrrheidæ=, a patronymic given to the sons of Tyrrheus, who kept the
flocks of Latinus. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 7, li. 484.
=Tyrrhēni=, the inhabitants of Etruria. _See:_ Etruria.
=Tyrrhēnum mare=, that part of the Mediterranean which lies on the
coast of Etruria. It is also called _Inferum_, as being at the bottom
or south of Italy.
=Tyrrhēnus=, a son of Atys king of Lydia, who came to Italy, where part
of the country was called after him. _Strabo_, bk. 5.――_Tacitus_,
_Annals_, bk. 4, ch. 55.――_Paterculus_, bk. 1, ch. 1.――――A friend of
Æneas. _Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 11, li. 612.
=Tyrrheus=, a shepherd of king Latinus, whose stag being killed by the
companions of Ascanius, was the first cause of war between Æneas and
the inhabitants of Latium. Hence the word _Tyrrheides_. _Virgil_,
_Æneid_, bk. 7, li. 485.――――An Egyptian general, B.C. 91.
=Tyrsis=, a place in the Balearides, supposed to be the palace of
Saturn.
=Tyrtæus=, a Greek elegiac poet, born in Attica, son of Archimbrotus.
In the second Messenian war, the Lacedæmonians were directed by the
oracle to apply to the Athenians for a general, if they wished to
finish their expedition with success, and they were contemptuously
presented with Tyrtæus. The poet, though ridiculed for his many
deformities, and his ignorance of military affairs, animated the
Lacedæmonians with martial songs, just as they wished to raise the
siege of Ithome, and inspired them with so much courage, that they
defeated the Messenians. For his services, he was made a citizen of
Lacedæmon, and treated with great attention. Of the compositions of
Tyrtæus nothing is extant but the fragments of four or five elegies.
He flourished about 684 B.C. _Justin_, bk. 2, ch. 5.――_Strabo_, bk. 8.
――_Aristotle_, _Politics_, bk. 5, ch. 7.――_Horace_, _Art of Poetry_,
li. 402.――_Ælian_, _Varia Historia_, bk. 12, ch. 50.――_Pausanias_,
bk. 4, ch. 6, &c.
=Tyrus=, or =Tyros=, a very ancient city of Phœnicia, built by the
Sidonians, on a small island at the south of Sidon, about 200 stadia
from the shore, and now called _Sur_. There were, properly speaking,
two places of that name, the old Tyros, called _Palætyros_, on the
sea-shore, and the other in the island. It was about 19 miles in
circumference, including Palætyros, but, without it, about four miles.
Tyre was destroyed by the princes of Assyria, and afterwards rebuilt.
It maintained its independence till the age of Alexander, who took
it with much difficulty, and only after he had joined the island to
the continent by a mole, after a siege of seven months, on the 20th
of August, B.C. 332. The Tyrians were naturally industrious; their
city was the emporium of commerce, and they were deemed the inventors
of scarlet and purple colours. They founded many cities in different
parts of the world, such as Carthage, Gades, Leptis, Utica, &c.,
which on that account are often distinguished by the epithet _Tyria_.
The buildings of Tyre were very splendid and magnificent; the walls
were 150 feet high, with a proportionate breadth. Hercules was the
chief deity of the place. It had two large and capacious harbours,
and a powerful fleet, and was built, according to some writers, about
2760 years before the christian era. _Strabo_, bk. 16.――_Herodotus_,
bk. 2, ch. 44.――_Mela_, bk. 1, ch. 12.――_Curtius_, bk. 4, ch. 4.
――_Virgil_, _Æneid_, bk. 1, lis. 6, 339, &c.――_Ovid_, _Fasti_, bk. 1,
&c. _Metamorphoses_, bks. 5 & 10.――_Lucan_, bk. 3, &c.――――A nymph,
mother of Venus, according to some.
=Tysias=, a man celebrated by Cicero. _See:_ Tisias.
U & V
=Vacatione= (_lex de_), was enacted concerning the exemption from
military service, and contained this very remarkable clause, _nisi
bellum Gallicum exoriatur_, in which case the priests themselves were
not exempted from service. This can intimate how apprehensive the
Romans were of the Gauls, by whom their city had once been taken.
=Vacca=, a town of Numidia. _Sallust_, _Jugurthine War_.――――A river of
Spain.
=Vaccæi=, a people at the north of Spain. _Livy_, bk. 21, ch. 5; bk. 35,
ch. 7; bk. 46, ch. 47.
=Vaccus=, a general, &c. _Livy_, bk. 8, ch. 19.
=Vacūna=, a goddess at Rome, who presided over repose and leisure, as
the word indicates (_vacare_). Her festivals were observed in the
month of December. _Ovid_, _Fasti_, bk. 6, li. 307.――_Horace_, bk. 1,
ltr. 10, li. 49.
=Vadimōnis lacus=, now _Bassano_, a lake of Etruria, whose waters were
sulphureous. The Etrurians were defeated there by the Romans, and the
Gauls by Dolabella. _Livy_, bk. 9, ch. 39.――_Florus_, bk. 1, ch. 13.
――_Pliny_, bk. 8, ltr. 20.
=Vaga=, a town of Africa. _Silius Italicus_, bk. 3, li. 259.
=Vagedrūsa=, a river of Sicily between the towns of Camarina and Gela.
_Silius Italicus_, bk. 14, li. 229.
=Vagellius=, an obscene lawyer of Mutina. _Juvenal_, satire 16, li. 23.
=Vagēni=, or =Vagienni=, a people of Liguria, at the sources of the Po,
whose capital was called _Augusta Vagiennorum_. _Silius Italicus_,
bk. 8, li. 606.
=Vahālis=, a river of modern Holland, now called the _Waal_. _Tacitus_,
_Annals_, bk. 2, ch. 6.
=Vala Caius Numonius=, a friend of Horace, to whom the poet addressed
bk. 1, ltr. 15.
=Valens Flavius=, a son of Gratian, born in Pannonia. His brother
Valentinian took him as his colleague on the throne, and appointed
him over the eastern parts of the Roman empire. The bold measures and
the threats of the rebel Procopius frightened the new emperor; and
if his friends had not interfered, he would have willingly resigned
all his pretensions to the empire which his brother had entrusted to
his care. By perseverance, however, Valens was enabled to destroy his
rival, and to distinguish himself in his wars against the northern
barbarians. But his lenity to these savage intruders proved fatal
to the Roman power; and by permitting some of the Goths to settle in
the provinces of Thrace, and to have free access to every part of the
country, Valens encouraged them to make depredations on his subjects,
and to disturb their tranquillity. His eyes were opened too late;
he attempted to repel them, but he failed in the attempt. A bloody
battle was fought, in which the barbarians obtained some advantage,
and Valens was hurried away by the obscurity of the night, and
the affection of the soldiers for his person, into a lonely house,
which the Goths set on fire. Valens, unable to make his escape, was
burnt alive in the 50th year of his age, after a reign of 13 years,
A.D. 378. He has been blamed for his superstition and cruelty, in
putting to death all such of his subjects whose name began by _Theod_,
because he had been informed by his favourite astrologers that his
crown would devolve upon the head of an officer whose name began
with these letters. Valens did not possess any of the great qualities
which distinguish a good and powerful monarch. He was illiterate, and
of a disposition naturally indolent and inactive. Yet though timorous
in the highest degree, he was warlike; and though fond of ease, he
was acquainted with the character of his officers, and preferred none
but such as possessed merit. He was a great friend to discipline,
a pattern of chastity and temperance, and he showed himself always
ready to listen to the just complaints of his subjects, though he
gave an attentive ear to flattery and malevolent informations.
_Ammianus_, &c.――――Valerius, a proconsul of Achaia, who proclaimed
himself emperor of Rome, when Marcian, who had been invested with
the purple in the east, attempted to assassinate him. He reigned only
six months, and was murdered by his soldiers, A.D. 261.――――Fabius, a
friend of Vitellius, whom he saluted emperor, in opposition to Otho.
He was greatly honoured by Vitellius, &c.――――A general of the emperor
Honorius.――――The name of the second Mercury mentioned by _Cicero_,
_de Natura Deorum_, bk. 3, ch. 22, but considered as more properly
belonging to Jupiter.
=Valentia=, one of the ancient names of Rome.――――A town of Spain, a
little below Saguntum, founded by Julius Brutus, and for some time
known by the name of Julia Collonia.――――A town of Italy.――――Another,
in Sardinia.
=Valentiniānus I.=, a son of Gratian, raised to the imperial throne
by his merit and valour. He kept the western part of the empire for
himself, and appointed over the east his brother Valens. He gave
the most convincing proof of his military valour in the victories
which he obtained over the barbarians in the provinces of Gaul, the
deserts of Africa, and on the banks of the Rhine and the Danube.
The insolence of the Quadi he punished with great severity; and
when these desperate and indigent barbarians had deprecated the
conqueror’s mercy, Valentinian treated them with contempt, and
upbraided them with every mark of resentment. While he spoke with
such warmth, he broke a blood-vessel, and fell lifeless on the ground.
He was conveyed into his palace by his attendants, and soon after
died, after suffering the greatest agonies, from violent fits and
contortions of his limbs, on the 17th of November, A.D. 375. He was
then in the 55th year of his age, and had reigned 12 years. He has
been represented by some as cruel and covetous in the highest degree.
He was naturally of an irascible disposition, and he gratified his
pride in expressing a contempt for those who were his equals in
military abilities, or who shone for gracefulness or elegance of
address. _Ammianus._
=Valentinianus II.=, second son of Valentinian I., was proclaimed
emperor about six days after his father’s death, though only five
years old. He succeeded his brother, Gratian, A.D. 383, but his youth
seemed to favour dissension, and the attempts and the usurpations
of rebels. He was robbed of his throne by Maximus, four years after
the death of Gratian; and in this helpless situation he had recourse
to Theodosius, who was then emperor of the east. He was successful
in his applications; Maximus was conquered by Theodosius, and
Valentinian entered Rome in triumph, accompanied by his benefactor.
He was some time after strangled by one of his officers, a native of
Gaul, called Arbogastes, in whom he had placed too much confidence,
and from whom he expected more deference than the ambition of a
barbarian could pay. Valentinian reigned nine years. This happened
the 15th of May, A.D. 392, at Vienne, one of the modern towns of
France. He has been commended for his many virtues, and the applause
which the populace bestowed upon him was bestowed upon real merit.
He abolished the greatest part of the taxes; and because his subjects
complained that he was too fond of the amusements of the circus, he
ordered all such festivals to be abolished, and all the wild beasts
that were kept for the entertainment of the people to be slain. He
was remarkable for his benevolence and clemency, not only to his
friends, but even to such as had conspired against his life; and
he used to say that tyrants alone are suspicious. He was fond of
imitating the virtues and exemplary life of his friend and patron
Theodosius, and if he had lived longer, the Romans might have enjoyed
peace and security.
=Valentinianus III.=, was son of Constantius and Placidia the
daughter of Theodosius the Great, and therefore, as related to the
imperial family, he was saluted emperor in his youth, and publicly
acknowledged as such at Rome, the 3rd of October, A.D. 423, about
the sixth year of his age. He was at first governed by his mother,
and the intrigues of his generals and courtiers; and when he came to
years of discretion, he disgraced himself by violence, oppression,
and incontinence. He was murdered in the midst of Rome, A.D. 454, in
the 36th year of his age, and 31st of his reign, by Petronius Maximus,
to whose wife he had offered violence. The vices of Valentinian III.
were conspicuous; every passion he wished to gratify at the expense
of his honour, his health, and character; and as he lived without
one single act of benevolence or kindness, he died lamented by none,
though pitied for his imprudence and vicious propensities. He was the
last of the family of Theodosius.
=Valentinianus=, a son of the emperor Gratian, who died when very young.
=Valeria=, a sister of Publicola, who advised the Roman matrons to go
and deprecate the resentment of Coriolanus. _Plutarch_, _Coriolanus_.
――――A daughter of Publicola, given as a hostage to Porsenna by the
Romans. She fled from the enemy’s country with Clœlia, and swam
across the Tiber. _Plutarch_, _de Mulierum Virtutibus_.――――A daughter
of Messala, sister to Hortensius, who married Sylla.――――The wife
of the emperor Valentinian.――――The wife of the emperor Galerius, &c.
――――A road in Sicily, which led from Messana to Lilybæum.――――A town
of Spain. _Pliny_, bk. 3, ch. 3.
=Valeria lex=, _de provocatione_, by Publius Valerius Poplicola the
sole consul, A.U.C. 245. It permitted the appeal from a magistrate to
the people, and forbade the magistrate to punish a citizen for making
the appeal. It further made it a capital crime for a citizen to
aspire to the sovereignty of Rome, or to exercise any office without
the choice and approbation of the people. _Valerius Maximus_, bk. 4,
ch. 1.――_Livy_, bk. 2, ch. 8.――_Dionysius of Halicarnassus_, bk. 4.
――――Another, _de debitoribus_, by Valerius Flaccus. It required that
all creditors should discharge their debtors, on receiving a fourth
part of the whole sum.――――Another, by Marcus Valerius Corvinus, A.U.C.
453, which confirmed the first Valerian law, enacted by Poplicola.
――――Another, called also _Horatia_, by Lucius Valerius and Marcus
Horatius the consuls, A.U.C. 305. It revived the first Valerian law,
which, under the triumvirate, had lost its force.――――Another, _de
magistratibus_, by Publius Valerius Poplicola sole consul, A.U.C. 245.
It created two questors to take care of the public treasure, which
was for the future to be kept in the temple of Saturn. _Plutarch_,
_Publicola_.――_Livy_, bk. 2.
=Valeriānus Publius Licinius=, a Roman, proclaimed emperor by the
armies in Rhætia, A.D. 254. The virtues which shone in him when
a private man, were lost when he ascended the throne. Formerly
distinguished for his temperance, moderation, and many virtues,
which fixed the uninfluenced choice of all Rome upon him, Valerian,
invested with the purple, displayed inability and meanness. He was
cowardly in his operations, and though acquainted with war, and the
patron of science, he seldom acted with prudence, or favoured men of
true genius and merit. He took his son Gallienus as his colleague in
the empire, and showed the malevolence of his heart by persecuting
the christians whom he had for a while tolerated. He also made
war against the Goths and Scythians; but in an expedition which he
undertook against Sapor king of Persia, his arms were attended with
ill success. He was conquered in Mesopotamia, and when he wished to
have a private conference with Sapor, the conqueror seized his person,
and carried him in triumph to his capital, where he exposed him, and
in all the cities of his empire, to the ridicule and insolence of his
subjects. When the Persian monarch mounted on horseback, Valerian
served as a footstool, and the many other insults which he suffered
excited indignation even among the courtiers of Sapor. The monarch at
last ordered him to be flayed alive, and salt to be thrown over his
mangled body, so that he died in the greatest torments. His skin was
tanned, and painted in red; and that the ignominy of the Roman empire
might be lasting, it was nailed in one of the temples of Persia.
Valerian died in the 71st year of his age, A.D. 260, after a reign
of seven years.――――A grandson of Valerian the emperor. He was put to
death when his father, the emperor Gallienus, was killed.――――One of
the generals of the usurper Niger.――――A worthy senator, put to death
by Heliogabalus.