[1] See Bishop C. Gore, _The Church and the Ministry_ (1887).
[2] Neither the Articles nor the authoritative Homilies of the Church
of England speak of episcopacy as essential to the constitution of a
church. The latter make "the three notes or marks" by which a true
church is known "pure and sound doctrine, the sacraments administered
according to Christ's holy institution, and the right use of
ecclesiastical discipline." These marks are perhaps ambiguous, but
they certainly do not depend on the possession of the Apostolic
Succession; for it is further stated that "the bishops of Rome and
their adherents are not the true Church of Christ" (Homily
"concerning the Holy Ghost," ed. Oxford, 1683, p. 292).
[3] "He and his holy apostles likewise, namely Peter and Paul, did
forbid unto all Ecclesiastical Ministers, dominion over the Church of
Christ" (_Homilies appointed to be read in Churches_, "The V. part of
the Sermon against Wilful Rebellion," ed. Oxford, 1683, p. 378).
Princes are "God's lieutenants, God's presidents, God's officers,
God's commissioners, God's judges ... God's vicegerents" ("The II.
part of the Sermon of Obedience," ib. p. 64).
[4] Juridically they were, of course, never this in the strict sense
in which the term could be used of the Lutheran superintendents (see
below). They were never mere royal officials, but peers of
parliament, holding their temporalities as baronies under the crown.
[5] During the crisis of the Reformation all the Swedish sees became
vacant but two, and the bishops of these two soon left the kingdom.
The episcopate, however, was preserved by Peter Magnusson, who, when
residing as warden of the Swedish hospital of St Bridget in Rome, had
been duly elected bishop of the see of Westeraes, and consecrated, c.
1524. No official record of his consecration can be discovered, but
there is no sufficient reason to doubt the fact; and it is certain
that during his lifetime he was acknowledged as a canonical bishop
both by Roman Catholics and by Protestants. In 1528 Magnusson
consecrated bishops to fill the vacant sees, and, assisted by one of
these, Magnus Sommar, bishop of Strengness, he afterwards consecrated
the Reformer, Lawrence Peterson, as archbishop of Upsala, Sept. 22,
1531. Some doubt has been raised as to the validity of the
consecration of Peterson's successor, also named Lawrence Peterson,
in 1575, from the insufficiency of the documentary evidence of the
consecration of his consecrator, Paul Justin, bishop of Abo. The
integrity of the succession has, however, been accepted after
searching investigation by men of such learning as Grabe and Routh,
and has been formally recognized by the convention of the American
Episcopal Church. The succession to the daughter church of Finland,
now independent, stands or falls with that of Sweden.
EPISCOPIUS, SIMON (1583-1643), the Latin form of the name of Simon
Bischop, Dutch theologian, was born at Amsterdam on the 1st of January
1583. In 1600 he entered the university of Leiden, where he studied
theology under Jacobus Arminius, whose teaching he followed. In 1610,
the year in which the Arminians presented the famous Remonstrance to the
states of Holland, he became pastor at Bleyswick, a small village near
Rotterdam; in the following year he advocated the cause of the
Remonstrants (q.v.) at the Hague conference. In 1612 he succeeded
Francis Gomarus as professor of theology at Leiden, an appointment which
awakened the bitter enmity of the Calvinists, and, on account of the
influence lent by it to the spread of Arminian opinions, was doubtless
an ultimate cause of the meeting of the synod of Dort in 1618.
Episcopius was chosen as the spokesman of the thirteen representatives
of the Remonstrants before the synod; but he was refused a hearing, and
the Remonstrant doctrines were condemned without any explanation or
defence of them being permitted. At the end of the synod's sittings in
1619, Episcopius and the other twelve Arminian representatives were
deprived of their offices and expelled from the country (see DORT, SYNOD
OF). Episcopius retired to Antwerp and ultimately to France, where he
lived partly at Paris, partly at Rouen. He devoted most of his time to
writings in support of the Arminian cause; but the attempt of Luke
Wadding (1588-1657) to win him over to the Romish faith involved him
also in a controversy with that famous Jesuit. After the death (1625) of
Maurice, prince of Orange, the violence of the Arminian controversy
began to abate, and Episcopius was permitted in 1626 to return to his
own country. He was appointed preacher at the Remonstrant church in
Rotterdam and afterwards rector of the Remonstrant college in Amsterdam.
Here he died in 1643. Episcopius may be regarded as in great part the
theological founder of Arminianism, since he developed and systematized
the principles tentatively enunciated by Arminius. Besides opposing at
all points the peculiar doctrines of Calvinism, Episcopius protested
against the tendency of Calvinists to lay so much stress on abstract
dogma, and argued that Christianity was practical rather than
theoretical--not so much a system of intellectual belief as a moral
power--and that an orthodox faith did not necessarily imply the
knowledge of and assent to a system of doctrine which included the whole
range of Christian truth, but only the knowledge and acceptance of so
much of Christianity as was necessary to effect a real change on the
heart and life.
The principal works of Episcopius are his _Confessio s. declaratio
sententiae pastorum qui in foederato Belgio Remonstrantes vocantur
super praecipuis articulis religionis Christianae_ (1621), his
_Apologia pro confessione_ (1629), his _Verus theologus remonstrans_,
and his uncompleted work _Institutiones theologicae_. A life of
Episcopius was written by Philip Limborch, and one was also prefixed
by his successor, Etienne de Courcelles (Curcellaeus) (1586-1659), to
an edition of his collected works published in 2 vols. (1650-1665).
See also article in Herzog-Hauck, _Realencyklopadie_.
EPISODE, an incident occurring in the history of a nation, an
institution or an individual, especially with the significance of being
an interruption of an ordered course of events, an irrelevance. The word
is derived from a word ([Greek: epeisodos]) with a technical meaning in
the ancient Greek tragedy. It is defined by Aristotle (_Poetics_, 12) as
[Greek: meros holon tragodias to metaxy holon chorikon melon], all the
scenes, that is, which fall between the choric songs. [Greek: eisodos],
or entrance, is generally applied to the entrance of the chorus, but the
reference may be to that of the actors at the close of the choric songs.
In the early Greek tragedy the parts which were spoken by the actors
were considered of subsidiary importance to those sung by the chorus,
and it is from this aspect that the meaning of the word, as something
which breaks off the course of events, is derived (see A.E. Haigh, _The
Tragic Drama of the Greeks_, 1896, at p. 353).
EPISTAXIS (Gr. [Greek: epi], upon, and [Greek: stazein], to drop), the
medical term for bleeding from the nose, whether resulting from local
injury or some constitutional condition. In persistent cases of
nose-bleeding, various measures are adopted, such as holding the arms
over the head, the application of ice, or of such astringents as zinc or
alum, or plugging the nostrils.
EPISTEMOLOGY (Gr. [Greek: episteme], knowledge, and [Greek: logos],
theory, account; Germ. _Erkenntnistheorie_), in philosophy, a term
applied, probably first by J.F. Ferrier, to that department of thought
whose subject matter is the nature and origin of knowledge. It is thus
contrasted with metaphysics, which considers the nature of reality, and
with psychology, which deals with the objective part of cognition, and,
as Prof. James Ward said, "is essentially genetic in its method"
(_Mind_, April 1883, pp. 166-167). Epistemology is concerned rather with
the possibility of knowledge in the abstract (_sub specie aeternitatis_,
Ward, ibid.). In the evolution of thought epistemological inquiry
succeeded the speculations of the early thinkers, who concerned
themselves primarily with attempts to explain existence. The differences
of opinion which arose on this problem naturally led to the inquiry as
to whether any universally valid statement was possible. The Sophists
and the Sceptics, Plato and Aristotle, the Stoics and the Epicureans
took up the question, and from the time of Locke and Kant it has been
prominent in modern philosophy. It is extremely difficult, if not
impossible, to draw a hard and fast line between epistemology and other
branches of philosophy. If, for example, philosophy is divided into the
theory of knowing and the theory of being, it is impossible entirely to
separate the latter (Ontology) from the analysis of knowledge
(Epistemology), so close is the connexion between the two. Again, the
relation between logic in its widest sense and the theory of knowledge
is extremely close. Some thinkers have identified the two, while others
regard Epistemology as a subdivision of logic; others demarcate their
relative spheres by confining logic to the science of the laws of
thought, i.e. to formal logic. An attempt has been made by some
philosophers to substitute "Gnosiology" (Gr. [Greek: gnosis]) for
"Epistemology" as a special term for that part of Epistemology which is
confined to "systematic analysis of the conceptions employed by ordinary
and scientific thought in interpreting the world, and including an
investigation of the art of knowledge, or the nature of knowledge as
such." "Epistemology" would thus be reserved for the broad questions of
"the origin, nature and limits of knowledge" (Baldwin's _Dict. of
Philos._ i. pp. 333 and 414). The term Gnosiology has not, however, come
into general use. (See PHILOSOPHY.)
EPISTLE, in its primary sense any letter addressed to an absent person;
from the Greek word [Greek: epistole], a thing sent on a particular
occasion. Strictly speaking, any such communication is an epistle, but
at the present day the term has become archaic, and is used only for
letters of an ancient time, or for elaborate literary productions which
take an epistolary form, that is to say, are, or affect to be, written
to a person at a distance.
1. _Epistles and Letters._--The student of literary history soon
discovers that a broad distinction exists between the letter and the
epistle. The letter is essentially a spontaneous, non-literary
production, ephemeral, intimate, personal and private, a substitute for
a spoken conversation. The epistle, on the other hand, rather takes the
place of a public speech, it is written with an audience in view, it is
a literary form, a distinctly artistic effort aiming at permanence; and
it bears much the same relation to a letter as a Platonic dialogue does
to a private talk between two friends. The posthumous value placed on a
great man's letters would naturally lead to the production of epistles,
which might be written to set forth the views of a person or a school,
either genuinely or as forgeries under some eminent name. Pseudonymous
epistles were especially numerous under the early Roman empire, and
mainly attached themselves to the names of Plato, Demosthenes, Aristotle
and Cicero.
Both letters and epistles have come down to us in considerable variety
and extent from the ancient world. Babylonia and Assyria, Egypt, Greece
and Rome alike contribute to our inheritance of letters. Those of
Aristotle are of questionable genuineness, but we can rely, at any rate
in part, on those of Isocrates and Epicurus. Some of the letters of
Cicero are rather epistles, since they were meant ultimately for the
general eye. The papyrus discoveries in Egypt have a peculiar interest,
for they are mainly the letters of people unknown to fame, and having no
thought of publicity. It is less to be wondered at that we have a large
collection of ancient epistles, especially in the realm of magic and
religion, for epistles were meant to live, were published in several
copies, and were not a difficult form of literary effort. The Tell
el-Amarna tablets found in Upper Egypt in 1887 are a series of
despatches in cuneiform script from Babylonian kings and Phoenician and
Palestinian governors to the Pharaohs (c. 1400 B.C.). The epistles of
Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Plutarch, Seneca and the Younger Pliny claim
mention at this point. In the later Roman period and into the middle
ages, formal epistles were almost a distinct branch of literature. The
ten books of Symmachus' _Epistolae_, so highly esteemed in the cultured
circles of the 4th century, may be contrasted with the less elegant but
more forceful epistles of Jerome.
The distinction between letters and epistles has particular interest
for the student of early Christian literature. G.A. Deissmann (_Bible
Studies_) assigns to the category of letters all the Pauline writings as
well as 2 and 3 John. The books bearing the names of James, Peter and
Jude, together with the Pastorals (though these may contain fragments of
genuine Pauline letters) and the Apocalypse, he regards as epistles. The
first epistle of John he calls less a letter or an epistle than a
religious tract. It is doubtful, however, whether we can thus reduce all
the letters of the New Testament to one or other of these categories;
and W.M. Ramsay (Hastings' _Dict. Bib._ Extra vol. p. 401) has pointed
out with some force that "in the new conditions a new category had been
developed--the general letter addressed to a whole class of persons or
to the entire Church of Christ." Such writings have affinities with both
the letter and the epistle, and they may further be compared with the
"edicts and rescripts by which Roman law grew, documents arising out of
special circumstances but treating them on general principles." Most of
the literature of the sub-apostolic age is epistolary, and we have a
particularly interesting form of epistle in the communications between
churches (as distinct from individuals) known as the _First Epistle of
Clement_ (Rome to Corinth), the _Martyrdom of Polycarp_ (Smyrna to
Philomelium), and the _Letters of the Churches of Vienne and Lyons_ (to
the congregations of Asia Minor and Phrygia) describing the Gallican
martyrdoms of A.D. 177. In the following centuries we have the valuable
epistles of Cyprian, of Gregory Nazianzen (to Cledonius on the
Apollinarian controversy), of Basil (to be classed rather as letters),
of Ambrose, Chrysostom, Augustine and Jerome. The encyclical letters of
the Roman Catholic Church are epistles, even more so than bulls, which
are usually more special in their destination. In the Renaissance one of
the most common forms of literary production was that modelled upon
Cicero's letters. From Petrarch to the _Epistolae obscurorum virorum_
there is a whole epistolary literature. The _Epistolae obscurorum
virorum_ have to some extent a counterpart in the Epistles of Martin
Marprelate. Later satires in an epistolary form are Pascal's _Provincial
Letters_, Swift's _Drapier Letters_, and the _Letters of Junius_. The
"open letter" of modern journalism is really an epistle. (A. J. G.)
2. _Epistles in Poetry._--A branch of poetry bears the name of the
Epistle, and is modelled on those pieces of Horace which are almost
essays (_sermones_) on moral or philosophical subjects, and are chiefly
distinguished from other poems by being addressed to particular patrons
or friends. The epistle of Horace to his agent (or _villicus_) is of a
more familiar order, and is at once a masterpiece and a model of what an
epistle should be. Examples of the work in this direction of Ovid,
Claudian, Ausonius and other late Latin poets have been preserved, but
it is particularly those of Horace which have given this character to
the epistles in verse which form so very characteristic a section of
French poetry. The graceful precision and dignified familiarity of the
epistle are particularly attractive to the temperament of France.
Clement Marot, in the 16th century, first made the epistle popular in
France, with his brief and spirited specimens. We pass the witty
epistles of Scarron and Voiture, to reach those of Boileau, whose
epistles, twelve in number, are the classic examples of this form of
verse in French literature; they were composed at different dates
between 1668 and 1695. In the 18th century Voltaire enjoyed a supremacy
in this graceful and sparkling species of writing; the _Epitre a Uranie_
is perhaps the most famous of his verse-letters. Gresset, Bernis,
Sedaine, Dorat, Gentil-Bernard, all excelled in the epistle. The curious
"Epitres" of J.P.G. Viennet (1777-1868) were not easy and mundane like
their predecessors, but violently polemical. Viennet, a hot defender of
lost causes, may be considered the latest of the epistolary poets of
France.
In England the verse-epistle was first prominently employed by Samuel
Daniel in his "Letter from Octavia to Marcus Antonius" (1599), and later
on, more legitimately, in his "Certain Epistles" (1601-1603). His
letter, in _terza rima_, to Lucy, Countess of Bristol, is one of the
finest examples of this form in English literature. It was Daniel's
deliberate intention to introduce the Epistle into English poetry,
"after the manner of Horace." He was supported by Ben Jonson, who has
some fine Horatian epistles in his _Forests_ (1616) and his
_Underwoods_. _Letters to Several Persons of Honour_ form an important
section in the poetry of John Donne. Habington's _Epistle to a Friend_
is one of his most finished pieces. Henry Vaughan (1622-1695) addressed
a fine epistle in verse to the French romance-writer Gombauld
(1570-1666). Such "letters" were not unfrequent down to the Restoration,
but they did not create a department of literature such as Daniel had
proposed. At the close of the 17th century Dryden greatly excelled in
this class of poetry, and his epistles to Congreve (1694) and to the
duchess of Ormond (1700) are among the most graceful and eloquent that
we possess. During the age of Anne various Augustan poets in whom the
lyrical faculty was slight, from Congreve and Richard Duke down to
Ambrose Philips and William Somerville, essayed the epistle with more or
less success, and it was employed by Gay for several exercises in his
elegant persiflage. Among the epistles of Gay, one rises to an eminence
of merit, that called "Mr Pope's welcome from Greece," written in 1720.
But the great writer of epistles in English is Pope himself, to whom the
glory of this kind of verse belongs. His "Eloisa to Abelard" (1717) is
carefully modelled on the form of Ovid's "Heroides," while in his _Moral
Essays_ he adopts the Horatian formula for the epistle. In either case
his success was brilliant and complete. The "Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot"
has not been surpassed, if it has been equalled, in Latin or French
poetry of the same class. But Pope excelled, not only in the voluptuous
and in the didactic epistle, but in that of compliment as well, and
there is no more graceful example of this in literature than is afforded
by the letter about the poems of Parnell addressed, in 1721, to Robert,
earl of Oxford. After the day of Pope the epistle again fell into
desuetude, or occasional use, in England. It revived in the charming
naivete of Cowper's lyrical letters in octosyllabics to his friends,
such as William Bull and Lady Austin (1782). At the close of the century
Samuel Rogers endeavoured to resuscitate the neglected form in his
"Epistle to a Friend" (1798). The formality and conventional grace of
the epistle were elements with which the leaders of romantic revival
were out of sympathy, and it was not cultivated to any important degree
in the 19th century. It is, however, to be noted that Shelley's "Letter
to Maria Gisborne" (1820), Keats's "Epistle to Charles Clarke" (1816),
and Landor's "To Julius Hare" (1836), in spite of their romantic
colouring, are genuine Horatian epistles and of the pure Augustan type.
This type, in English literature, is commonly, though not at all
universally, cast in heroic verse. But Daniel employs _rime royal_ and
_terza rima_, while some modern epistles have been cast in short iambic
rhymed measures or in blank verse. It is sometimes not easy to
distinguish the epistle from the elegy and from the dedication. (E. G.)
For St Paul's Epistles see PAUL, for St Peter's see PETER, for
Apocryphal Epistles see APOCRYPHAL LITERATURE, for Plato's see PLATO,
&c.
EPISTYLE (Gr. [Greek: epi], upon, and [Greek: stylos], column), the
Greek architectural term for architrave, the lower member of the
entablature of the classic orders (q.v.).
EPISTYLIS (C.G. Ehrenberg), in zoology, a genus of peritrichous
Infusoria with a short oral disc and collar, and a rigid stalk, often
branching to form a colony.
EPITAPH (Gr. [Greek: epitaphios], sc. [Greek: logos], from [Greek: epi],
upon, and [Greek: taphos], a tomb), strictly, an inscription upon a
tomb, though by a natural extension of usage the name is applied to
anything written ostensibly for that purpose whether actually inscribed
upon a tomb or not. When the word was introduced into English in the
14th century it took the form _epitaphy_, as well as _epitaphe_, which
latter word is used both by Gower and Lydgate. Many of the best-known
epitaphs, both ancient and modern, are merely literary memorials, and
find no place on sepulchral monuments. Sometimes the intention of the
writer to have his production placed upon the grave of the person he has
commemorated may have been frustrated, sometimes it may never have
existed; what he has written is still entitled to be called an epitaph
if it be suitable for the purpose, whether the purpose has been carried
out or not. The most obvious external condition that suitability for
mural inscription imposes is one of rigid limitation as to length. An
epitaph cannot in the nature of things extend to the proportions that
may be required in an elegy.
The desire to perpetuate the memory of the dead being natural to man,
the practice of placing epitaphs upon their graves has been common among
all nations and in all ages. And the similarity, amounting sometimes
almost to identity, of thought and expression that often exists between
epitaphs written more than two thousand years ago and epitaphs written
only yesterday is as striking an evidence as literature affords of the
close kinship of human nature under the most varying conditions where
the same primary elemental feelings are stirred. The grief and hope of
the Roman mother as expressed in the touching lines--
"Lagge fili bene quiescas;
Mater tua rogat te,
Ut me ad te recipias:
Vale!"
find their echo in similar inscriptions in many a modern cemetery.
Probably the earliest epitaphial inscriptions that have come down to us
are those of the ancient Egyptians, written, as their mode of sepulture
necessitated, upon the sarcophagi and coffins. Those that have been
deciphered are all very much in the same form, commencing with a prayer
to a deity, generally Osiris or Anubis, on behalf of the deceased, whose
name, descent and office are usually specified. There is, however, no
attempt to delineate individual character, and the feelings of the
survivors are not expressed otherwise than in the fact of a prayer being
offered. Ancient Greek epitaphs, unlike the Egyptian, are of great
literary interest, deep and often tender in feeling, rich and varied in
expression, and generally epigrammatic in form. They are written usually
in elegiac verse, though many of the later epitaphs are in prose. Among
the gems of the Greek anthology familiar to English readers through
translations are the epitaphs upon those who had fallen in battle. There
are several ascribed to Simonides on the heroes of Thermopylae, of which
the most celebrated is the epigram--
"Go tell the Spartans, thou that passest by,
That here, obedient to their laws, we lie."
A hymn of Simonides on the same subject contains some lines of great
beauty in praise of those who were buried at Thermopylae, and these may
be regarded as forming a literary epitaph. In Sparta epitaphs were
inscribed only upon the graves of those who had been especially
distinguished in war; in Athens they were applied more indiscriminately.
They generally contained the name, the descent, the demise, and some
account of the life of the person commemorated. It must be remembered,
however, that many of the so-called Greek epitaphs are merely literary
memorials not intended for monumental inscription, and that in these
freer scope is naturally given to general reflections, while less
attention is paid to biographical details. Many of them, even some of
the monumental, do not contain any personal name, as in the one ascribed
to Plato--
"I am a shipwrecked sailor's tomb; a peasant's there doth stand:
Thus the same world of Hades lies beneath both sea and land."
Others again are so entirely of the nature of general reflections upon
death that they contain no indication of the particular case that called
them forth. It may be questioned, indeed, whether several of this
character quoted in ordinary collections are epitaphs at all, in the
sense of being intended for a particular occasion.
Roman epitaphs, in contrast to those of the Greeks, contained, as a
rule, nothing beyond a record of facts. The inscriptions on the urns, of
which numerous specimens are to be found in the British Museum, present
but little variation. The letters D.M. or D.M.S. (_Diis Manibus_ or
_Diis Manibus Sacrum_) are followed by the name of the person whose
ashes are enclosed, his age at death, and sometimes one or two other
particulars. The inscription closes with the name of the person who
caused the urn to be made, and his relationship to the deceased. It is a
curious illustration of the survival of traces of an old faith after it
has been formally discarded to find that the letters D.M. are not
uncommon on the Christian inscriptions in the catacombs. It has been
suggested that in this case they mean _Deo Maximo_ and not _Diis
Manibus_, but the explanation would be quite untenable, even if there
were not many other undeniable instances of the survival of pagan
superstitions in the thought and life of the early Christians. In these
very catacomb inscriptions there are many illustrations to be found,
apart from the use of the letters D.M., of the union of heathen with
Christian sentiment, (see Maitland's _Church in the Catacombs_). The
private burial-places for the ashes of the dead were usually by the side
of the various roads leading into Rome, the Via Appia, the Via Flaminia,
&c. The traveller to or from the city thus passed for miles an almost
uninterrupted succession of tombstones, whose inscriptions usually began
with the appropriate words _Siste Viator_ or _Aspice Viator_, the origin
doubtless of the "Stop Passenger," which still meets the eye in many
parish churchyards of Britain. Another phrase of very common occurrence
on ancient Roman tombstones, _Sit tibi terra levis_ ("Light lie the
earth upon thee"), has continued in frequent use, as conveying an
appropriate sentiment, down to modern times. A remarkable feature of
many of the Roman epitaphs was the terrible denunciation they often
pronounced upon those who violated the sepulchre. Such denunciations
were not uncommon in later times. A well-known instance is furnished in
the lines on Shakespeare's tomb at Stratford-on-Avon, said to have been
written by the poet himself--
"Good frend, for Jesus' sake forbeare
To digg the dust enclosed heare;
Bleste be y^e man y^t spares thes stones.
And curst be he y^t moves my bones."
The earliest existing British epitaphs belonged to the Roman period,
and are written in Latin after the Roman form. Specimens are to be seen
in various antiquarian museums throughout the country; some of the
inscriptions are given in Bruce's _Roman Wall_, and the seventh volume
of the _Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum_ edited by Hubner, containing the
British inscriptions, is a valuable repertory for the earlier Roman
epitaphs in Britain. The earliest, of course, are commemorative of
soldiers, belonging to the legions of occupation, but the Roman form was
afterwards adopted for native Britons. Long after the Roman form was
discarded, the Latin language continued to be used, especially for
inscriptions of a more public character, as being from its supposed
permanence the most suitable medium of communication to distant ages. It
is only, in fact, within recent years that Latin has become unusual, and
the more natural practice has been adopted of writing the epitaphs of
distinguished men in the language of the country in which they lived.
While Latin was the chief if not the sole literary language, it was, as
a matter of course, almost exclusively used for epitaphial inscriptions.
The comparatively few English epitaphs that remain of the 11th and 12th
centuries are all in Latin. They are generally confined to a mere
statement of the name and rank of the deceased following the words "Hic
jacet." Two noteworthy exceptions to this general brevity are, however,
to be found in most of the collections. One is the epitaph to Gundrada,
daughter of the Conqueror (d. 1085), which still exists at Lewes, though
in an imperfect state, two of the lines having been lost; another is
that to William de Warren, earl of Surrey (d. 1089), believed to have
been inscribed in the abbey of St Pancras, near Lewes, founded by him.
Both are encomiastic, and describe the character and work of the
deceased with considerable fulness and beauty of expression. They are
written in leonine verse. In the 13th century French began to be used in
writing epitaphs, and most of the inscriptions to celebrated historical
personages between 1200 and 1400 are in that language. Mention may be
made of those to Robert, the 3rd earl of Oxford (d. 1221), as given in
Weever, to Henry III. (d. 1272) at Westminster Abbey, and to Edward the
Black Prince (d. 1376) at Canterbury. In most of the inscriptions of
this period the deceased addresses the reader in the first person,
describes his rank and position while alive, and, as in the case of the
Black Prince, contrasts it with his wasted and loathsome state in the
grave, and warns the reader to prepare for the same inevitable change.
The epitaph almost invariably closes with a request, sometimes very
urgently worded, for the prayers of the reader that the soul of the
deceased may pass to glory, and an invocation of blessing, general or
specific, upon all who comply. Epitaphs preserved much of the same
character after English began to be used towards the close of the 14th
century. The following, to a member of the Savile family at Thornhill,
is probably even earlier, though its precise date cannot be fixed:--
"Bonys emongg stonys lys ful
steyl gwylste the sawle wan-
deris were that God wylethe"--
that is, Bones among stones lie full still, whilst the soul wanders
whither God willeth. It may be noted here that the majority of the
inscriptions, Latin and English, from 1300 to the period of the
Reformation, that have been preserved, are upon brasses (see BRASSES,
MONUMENTAL). The very curious epitaph on St Bernard, probably written by
a monk of Clairvaux, has the peculiarity of being a dialogue in Latin
verse.
It was in the reign of Elizabeth that epitaphs in English began to
assume a distinct literary character and value, entitling them to rank
with those that had hitherto been composed in Latin. We learn from Nash
that at the close of the 16th century it had become a trade to supply
epitaphs in English verse. There is one on the dowager countess of
Pembroke (d. 1621), remarkable for its successful use of a somewhat
daring hyperbole. It was written by William Browne, author of
_Britannia's Pastorals_:--
"Underneath this sable hearse
Lies the subject of all verse;
Sydney's sister, Pembroke's mother;
Death, ere thou hast slain another
Fair and learn'd and good as she,
Time will throw his dart at thee.
Marble piles let no man raise
To her name for after days;
Some kind woman, born as she,
Reading this, like Niobe,
Shall turn marble, and become
Both her mourner and her tomb."
If there be something of the exaggeration of a conceit in the second
stanza, it needs scarcely to be pointed out that epitaphs, like every
other form of composition, necessarily reflect the literary
characteristics of the age in which they were written. The deprecation
of marble as unnecessary suggests one of the finest literary epitaphs in
the English language, that by Milton upon Shakespeare.
The epitaphs of Pope are still considered to possess very great literary
merit, though they were rated higher by Johnson and critics of his
period than they are now.
Dr Johnson, who thought so highly of Pope's epitaphs, was himself a
great authority on both the theory and practice of this species of
composition. His essay on epitaphs is one of the few existing monographs
on the subject, and his opinion as to the use of Latin had great
influence. The manner in which he met the delicately insinuated request
of a number of eminent men that English should be employed in the case
of Oliver Goldsmith was characteristic, and showed the strength of his
conviction on the subject. His arguments in favour of Latin were chiefly
drawn from its inherent fitness for epitaphial inscriptions and its
classical stability. The first of these has a very considerable force,
it being admitted on all hands that few languages are in themselves so
suitable for the purpose; the second is outweighed by considerations
that had considerable force in Dr Johnson's time, and have acquired more
since. Even to the learned Latin is no longer the language of daily
thought and life as it was at the period of the Reformation, and the
great body of those who may fairly claim to be called the well-educated
classes can only read it with difficulty, if at all. It seems,
therefore, little less than absurd, for the sake of a stability which is
itself in great part delusive, to write epitaphs in a language
unintelligible to the vast majority of those for whose information
presumably they are intended. Though a stickler for Latin, Dr Johnson
wrote some very beautiful English epitaphs, as, for example, the
following on Philips, a musician:--
"Philips, whose touch harmonious could remove
The pangs of guilty power or hapless love;
Rest here, distressed by poverty no more,
Here find that calm thou gav'st so oft before;
Sleep undisturbed within this peaceful shrine
Till angels wake thee with a note like thine!"
In classifying epitaphs various principles of division may be adopted.
Arranged according to nationality they indicate distinctions of race
less clearly perhaps than any other form of literature does,--and this
obviously because when under the influence of the deepest feeling men
think and speak very much in the same way whatever be their country. At
the same time the influence of nationality may to some extent be traced
in epitaphs. The characteristics of the French style, its grace,
clearness, wit and epigrammatic point, are all recognizable in French
epitaphs. In the 16th century those of Etienne Pasquier were universally
admired. Instances such as "La premiere au rendez-vous," inscribed on
the grave of a mother, Piron's epitaph, written for himself after his
rejection by the French Academy--
"Ci-git Piron, qui ne fut rien,
Pas meme academicien"--
and one by a relieved husband, to be seen at Pere la Chaise--
"Ci-git ma femme. Ah! qu'elle est bien
Pour son repos et pour le mien"--
might be multiplied indefinitely. One can hardly look through a
collection of English epitaphs without being struck with the fact that
these represent a greater variety of intellectual and emotional states
than those of any other nation, ranging through every style of thought
from the sublime to the commonplace, every mood of feeling from the most
delicate and touching to the coarse and even brutal. Few subordinate
illustrations of the complex nature of the English nationality are more
striking.
Epitaphs are sometimes classified according to their authorship and
sometimes according to their subject, but neither division is so
interesting as that which arranges them according to their
characteristic features. What has just been said of English epitaphs is,
of course, more true of epitaphs generally. They exemplify every variety
of sentiment and taste, from lofty pathos and dignified eulogy to coarse
buffoonery and the vilest scurrility. The extent to which the humorous
and even the low comic element prevails among them is a noteworthy
circumstance. It is curious that the most solemn of all subjects should
have been frequently treated, intentionally or unintentionally, in a
style so ludicrous that a collection of epitaphs is generally one of the
most amusing books that can be picked up. In this as in other cases,
too, it is to be observed that the unintended humour is generally of a
much more entertaining kind than that which has been deliberately
perpetrated.
See Weever, _Ancient Funerall Monuments_ (1631, 1661, Tooke's edit.,
1767); Philippe Labbe, _Thesaurus epitaphiorum_ (Paris, 1666);
_Theatrum funebre extructum a Dodone Richea seu Ottone Aicher_ (1675);
Hackett, _Select and Remarkable Epitaphs_ (1757); de Laplace,
_Epitaphes serieuses, badines, satiriques et burlesques_ (3 vols.,
Paris, 1782); Pulleyn, _Churchyard Gleanings_ (c. 1830); L. Lewysohn,
_Sechzig Epitaphien von Grabsteinen d. israelit. Friedhofes zu Worms_
(1855); Pettigrew, _Chronicles of the Tombs_ (1857); S. Tissington,
_Epitaphs_ (1857); Robinson, _Epitaphs from Cemeteries in London,
Edinburgh, &c._ (1859); le Blant, _Inscriptions chretiennes de la
Gaule anterieures au VIII^e siecle_ (1856, 1865); Blommaert, Galliard,
&c, _Inscriptions funeraires et monumentales de la prov. de Flandre
Orient_ (Ghent, 1857, 1860); _Inscriptions fun. et mon. de la prov.
d'Anvers_ (Antwerp, 1857-1860); Chwolson, _Achtzehn hebraische
Grabschriften aus der Krim_ (1859); J. Brown, _Epitaphs, &c, in
Greyfriars Churchyard, Edinburgh_ (1867); H.J. Loaring, _Quaint,
Curious, and Elegant Epitaphs_ (1872); J.K. Kippax, _Churchyard
Literature, a Choice Collection of American Epitaphs_ (Chicago, 1876);
also the poet William Wordsworth's _Essay on Epitaphs_.
EPITHALAMIUM (Gr. [Greek: epi], at or upon, and [Greek: thalamos], a
nuptial chamber), originally among the Greeks a song in praise of bride
and bridegroom, which was sung by a number of boys and girls at the door
of the nuptial chamber. According to the scholiast on Theocritus, one
form, the [Greek: katakoimetikon], was employed at night, and another,
the [Greek: diegertikon], to arouse the bride and bridegroom on the
following morning. In either case, as was natural, the main burden of
the song consisted of invocations of blessing and predictions of
happiness, interrupted from time to time by the ancient chorus of _Hymen
hymenaee_. Among the Romans a similar custom was in vogue, but the song
was sung by girls only, after the marriage guests had gone, and it
contained much more of what modern morality would condemn as obscene. In
the hands of the poets the epithalamium was developed into a special
literary form, and received considerable cultivation. Sappho, Anacreon,
Stesichorus and Pindar are all regarded as masters of the species, but
the finest example preserved in Greek literature is the 18th Idyll of
Theocritus, which celebrates the marriage of Menelaus and Helen. In
Latin, the epithalamium, imitated from Fescennine Greek models, was a
base form of literature, when Catullus redeemed it and gave it dignity
by modelling his _Marriage of Thetis and Peleus_ on a lost ode of
Sappho. In later times Statius, Ausonius, Sidonius Apollinaris and
Claudian are the authors of the best-known epithalamia in classical
Latin; and they have been imitated by Buchanan, Scaliger, Sannazaro, and
a whole host of modern Latin poets, with whom, indeed, the form was at
one time in great favour. The names of Ronsard, Malherbe and Scarron are
especially associated with the species in French literature, and Marini
and Metastasio in Italian. Perhaps no poem of this class has been more
universally admired than the _Epithalamium_ of Spenser (1595), though he
has found no unworthy rivals in Ben Jonson, Donne and Quarles. At the
close of _In Memoriam_ Tennyson has appended a poem, on the nuptials of
his sister, which is strictly an epithalamium.
EPITHELIAL, ENDOTHELIAL and GLANDULAR TISSUES,
Epithelium.
in anatomy. Every surface of the body which may come into contact with
foreign substances is covered with a protecting layer of cells closely
bound to one another to form continuous sheets. These are epithelial
cells (from [Greek: thele], a nipple). By the formation of outgrowths or
ingrowths from these surfaces further structures, consisting largely or
entirely of cells directly derived from the surface epithelium, may be
formed. In this way originate the central nervous system, the sensitive
surfaces of the special sense organs, the glands, and the hairs, nails,
&c. The epithelial cells possess typical microscopical characters which
enable them to be readily distinguished from all others. Thus the cell
outline is clearly marked, the nucleus large and spherical or
ellipsoidal. The protoplasm of the cell is usually large in amount and
often contains large numbers of granules.
Varieties.
The individual cells forming an epithelial membrane are classified
according to their shape. Thus we find _flattened_, or _squamous_,
_cubical_, _columnar_, _irregular_, _ciliated_ or _flagellated_ cells.
Many of the membranes formed by these cells are only one cell thick, as
for instance is the case for the major part of the alimentary canal. In
other instances the epithelial membrane may consist of a number of
layers of cells, as in the case of the epidermis of the skin.
Considering in the first place those membranes of which the cells are in
a single layer we may distinguish the following:--
1. _Columnar Epithelium_ (figs. 1 and 2).--This variety covers the main
part of the intestinal tract, i.e. from the end of the oesophagus to the
commencement of the rectum. It is also found lining the ducts of many
glands. In a highly typical form it is found covering the villi of the
small intestine (fig. 1). The external layer of the cell is commonly
modified to form a thin membrane showing a number of very fine radially
arranged lines, which are probably the expression of very minute tubular
perforations through the membrane.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Isolated Epithelial Cells from the Small
Intestine of the Frog.]
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Columnar Epithelial Cells resting upon a
Basement Membrane.]
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Mosaic appearance of a Columnar Epithelial
Surface as seen from above.]
The close apposition of these cells to form a closed membrane is well
seen when a surface covered by them is examined from above (fig. 3). The
surfaces of the cells are then seen to form a mosaic, each cell area
having a polyhedral shape.
2. _Cubical Epithelium._--This differs from the former in that the cells
are less in height. It is found in many glands and ducts (e.g. the
kidney), in the middle ear, choroid plexuses of the brain, &c.
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--Squamous Epithelial Cells from the Mucous
Membrane of the Mouth.]
[Illustration: FIG. 5.--Isolated ciliated Epithelial Cells from the
Trachea.]
3. _Squamous or Flattened Epithelium_ (fig. 4).--In this variety the
cell is flattened, very thin and irregular in outline. It occurs as the
covering epithelium of the alveoli of the lung, of the kidney glomerules
and capsule, &c. The surface epithelial cells of a stratified epithelium
are also of this type (fig. 4). Closely resembling these cells are those
known as endothelial (see later).
4. _Ciliated Epithelium_ (fig. 5).--The surface cells of many
epithelial membranes are often provided with a number of very fine
protoplasmic processes or _cilia_. Most commonly the cells are columnar,
but other shapes are also found. During life the cilia are always in
movement, and set up a current tending to drive fluid or other material
on the surface in one direction along the membrane or tube lined by such
epithelium. It is found lining the trachea, bronchi, parts of the nasal
cavities and the uterus, oviduct, vas deferens, epididymis, a portion of
the renal tubule, &c.
In the instance of some cells there may be but a single process from the
exposed surface of the cell, and then the process is usually of large
size and length. It is then known as a _flagellum_. Such cells are
common among the surface cells of many of the simple animal organisms.
[Illustration: FIG. 6.--A Stratified Epithelium from a Mucous Membrane.]
[Illustration: FIG. 7.--Stratified Epithelium from the Skin.
c, Columnar cells resting on the fibrous true skin.
p, The so-called prickle cells.
g, Stratum granulosum.
h, Horny cells.
s, Squamous horny cells.]
When the cells of an epithelial surface are arranged several layers
deep, we can again distinguish various types:--
1. _Stratified Epithelium_ (figs. 6 and 7).--This is found in the
epithelium of the skin and of many mucous membranes (mouth, oesophagus,
rectum, conjunctiva, vagina, &c.). Here the surface cells are very much
flattened (squamous epithelium), those of the middle layer are
polyhedral and those of the lowest layer are cubical or columnar. This
type of epithelium is found covering surfaces commonly exposed to
friction. The surface may be dry as in the skin, or moist, e.g. the
mouth. The surface cells are constantly being rubbed off, and are then
replaced by new cells growing up from below. Hence the deepest layer,
that nearest the blood supply, is a formative layer, and in successive
stages from this we can trace the gradual transformation of these
protoplasmic cells into scaly cells, which no longer show any sign of
being alive. In the moist mucous surfaces the number of cells forming
the epithelial layer is usually much smaller than in a dry stratified
epithelium.
2. _Stratified Ciliated Epithelium._--In this variety the superficial
cells are ciliated and columnar, between the bases of these are found
fusiform cells and the lowest cells are cubical or pyramidal. This
epithelium is found lining parts of the respiratory passages, the vas
deferens and the epididymis.
[Illustration: FIG. 8.--Transitional Epithelium from the Urinary
Bladder, showing the outlines of the cells only.]
3. _Transitional Epithelium_ (fig. 8).--This variety of epithelium is
found lining the bladder, and the appearance observed depends upon the
contracted or distended state of the bladder from which the preparation
was made. If the bladder was contracted the form seen in fig. 8 is
obtained. The epithelium is in three or more layers, the superficial one
being very characteristic. The cells are cubical and fit over the
rounded ends of the cells of the next layer. These are pear-shaped, the
points of the pear resting on the basement membrane. Between the bases
of these cells lie those of the lowermost layer. These are irregularly
columnar. If the bladder is distended before the preparation is made,
the cells are then found stretched out transversely. This is especially
the case with the surface cells, which may then become very flattened.
Considering epithelium from the point of view of function, it may be
classified as protective, absorptive or secretory. It may produce
special outgrowths for protective or ornamental purposes, such are
hairs, nails, horns, &c., and for such purposes it may manufacture
within itself chemical material best suited for that purpose, e.g.
keratin; here the whole cell becomes modified. In other instances may be
seen in the interior of the cells many chemical substances which
indicate the nature of their work, e.g. fat droplets, granules of
various kinds, protein, mucin, watery granules, glycogen, &c. In a
typical absorbing cell granules of material being absorbed may be seen.
A secreting cell of normal type forming specific substances stores these
in its interior until wanted, e.g. fat as in sebaceous and mammary
glands, ferment precursors (salivary, gastric glands, &c.), and various
excretory substances, as in the renal epithelium.
Initially the epithelium cell might have all these functions, but later
came specialization and therefore to most cells a specific work. Some of
that work does not require the cell to be at the surface, while for
other work this is indispensable, and hence when the surface becomes
limited those of the former category are removed from the surface to the
deeper parts. This is seen typically in secretory and excretory cells,
which usually lie below the surface on to which they pour their
secretions. If the secretion required at any one point is considerable,
then the secreting cells are numerous in proportion and a typical gland
is formed. The secretion is then conducted to the surface by a duct, and
this duct is also lined with epithelium.
[Illustration: FIG. 9.--A Compound Tubular Gland. One of the pyloric
glands of the stomach of the dog.]
Glands.
_Glandular Tissues._--Every gland is formed by an ingrowth from an
epithelial surface. This ingrowth may from the beginning possess a
tubular structure, but in other instances may start as a solid column of
cells which subsequently becomes tubulated. As growth proceeds, the
column of cells may divide or give off offshoots, in which case a
compound gland is formed. In many glands the number of branches is
limited, in others (salivary, pancreas) a very large structure is
finally formed by repeated growth and subdivision. As a rule the
branches do not unite with one another, but in one instance, the liver,
this does occur when a reticulated compound gland is produced. In
compound glands the more typical or secretory epithelium is found
forming the terminal portion of each branch, and the uniting portions
form ducts and are lined with a less modified type of epithelial cell.
[Illustration: FIG. 10.--A Tubulo-alveolar Gland. One of the mucous
salivary glands of the dog. On the left the alveoli are unfolded to show
their general arrangement. d, Small duct of gland subdividing into
branches; e, f and g, terminal tubular alveoli of gland.]
[Illustration: FIG. 11.--A Compound Alveolar Gland. One of the terminal
lobules of the pancreas, showing the spherical form of the alveoli.]
Glands are classified according to their shape. If the gland retains its
shape as a tube throughout it is termed a _tubular_ gland, simple
tubular if there is no division (large intestine), _compound_ tubular
(fig. 9) if branching occurs (pyloric glands of stomach). In the simple
tubular glands the gland may be coiled without losing its tubular form,
e.g. in sweat glands. In the second main variety of gland the secretory
portion is enlarged and the lumen variously increased in size. These are
termed _alveolar_ or _saccular_ glands. They are again subdivided into
simple or compound alveolar glands, as in the case of the tubular glands
(fig. 10). A further complication in the case of the alveolar glands may
occur in the form of still smaller saccular diverticuli growing out from
the main sacculi (fig. 11). These are termed _alveoli_.
The typical secretory cells of the glands are found lining the terminal
portions of the ramifications and extend upwards to varying degrees.
Thus in a typical acinous gland the cells are restricted to the final
alveoli. The remaining tubes are to be considered mainly as ducts. In
tubulo-alveolar glands the secreting epithelium lines the alveus as well
as the terminal tubule.
The gland cells are all placed upon a basement membrane. In many
instances this membrane is formed of very thin flattened cells, in other
instances it is apparently a homogeneous membrane, and according to some
observers is simply a modified part of the basal surface of the cell,
while according to others it is a definite structure distinct from the
epithelium.
In the secretory portion of the gland and in the smaller ducts the
epithelial layer is one cell thick only. In the larger ducts there are
two layers of cells, but even here the surface cell usually extends by a
thinned-out stalk down to the basement membrane.
The detailed characters of the epithelium of the different glands of the
body are given in separate articles (see ALIMENTARY CANAL, &c.). It will
be sufficient here to give the more general characters possessed by
these cells. They are cubical or conical cells with distinct oval nuclei
and granular protoplasm. Within the protoplasm is accumulated a large
number of spherical granules arranged in diverse manners in different
cells. The granules vary much in size in different glands, and in
chemical composition, but in all cases represent a store of material
ready to be discharged from the cell as its secretion. Hence the general
appearance of the cell is found to vary according to the previous degree
of activity of the cell. If it has been at rest for some time the cell
contains very many granules which swell it out and increase its size.
The nucleus is then largely hidden by the granules. In the opposite
condition, i.e. when the cell has been actively secreting, the
protoplasm is much clearer, the nucleus obvious and the cell shrunken in
size, all these changes being due to the extrusion of the granules.
Endothelium and mesothelium.
_Endothelium and Mesothelium._--Lining the blood vessels, lymph vessels
and lymph spaces are found flattened cells apposed to one another by
their edges to form an extremely thin membrane. These cells are
developed from the middle embryonic layer and are termed endothelium. A
very similar type of cells is also found, formed into a very thin
continuous sheet, lining the body-cavity, i.e. pleural pericardial, and
peritoneal cavities. These cells develop from that portion of the
mesoderm known as the mesothelium, and are therefore frequently termed
mesothelial, though by many they are also included as endothelial cells.
[Illustration: FIG. 12.--Mesothelial Cells forming the Peritoneal Serous
Membrane. Three stomata are seen surrounded by cubical cells. One of
these is closed. The light band marks the position of a lymphatic.
(After Klein.)]
A mesothelial cell is very flattened, thus resembling a squamous
epithelial cell. It possesses a protoplasm with faint granules and an
oval or round nucleus (fig. 12). The outline of the cell is irregularly
polyhedral, and the borders may be finely serrated. The cells are united
to one another by an intercellular cement substance which, however, is
very scanty in amount, but can be made apparent by staining with silver
nitrate when the appearance reproduced in the figure is seen. By being
thus united together, the cells form a continuous layer. This layer is
pierced by a number of small openings, known as stomata, which bring the
cavity into direct communication with lymph spaces or vessels lying
beneath the membrane. The stomata are surrounded by a special layer of
cubical and granular cells. Through these stomata fluids and other
materials present in the body-cavity can be removed into the lymph
spaces.
_Endothelial membranes_ (fig. 13) are quite similar in structure to
mesothelial. They are usually elongated cells of irregular outline and
serrated borders.
[Illustration: FIG. 13.--Endothelial Cells from the Interior of an
Artery.]
By means of endothelial or mesothelial membranes the surfaces of the
parts covered by them are rendered very smooth, so that movement over
the surface is greatly facilitated. Thus the abdominal organs can glide
easily over one another within the peritoneal cavity; the blood or lymph
experiences the least amount of friction; or again the friction is
reduced to a minimum between a tendon and its sheath or in the joint
cavities. The cells forming these membranes also possess further
physiological properties. Thus it is most probable that they play an
active part in the blood capillaries in transmitting substances from the
blood into the tissue spaces, or conversely in preventing the passage of
materials from blood to tissue space or from tissue space to blood.
Hence the fluid of the blood and that of the tissue space need not be of
the same chemical composition. (T. G. Br.)
EPITOME (Gr. [Greek: epitome], from [Greek: epitemnein], to cut short),
an abridgment, abstract or summary giving the salient points of a book,
law case, &c., a short and concise account of any particular subject or
event. By transference _epitome_ is also used to express the
representation of a larger thing, concrete or abstract, reproduced in
miniature. Thus St Mark's was called by Ruskin the "epitome of Venice,"
as it embraces examples of all the periods of architecture from the 10th
to the 19th centuries.
EPOCH (Gr. [Greek: epoche], holding in suspense, a pause, from [Greek:
epechein], to hold up, to stop), a term for a stated period of time, and
so used of a date accepted as the starting-point of an era or of a new
period in chronology, such as the birth of Christ. It is hence
transferred to a period which marks a great change, whether in the
history of a country or a science, such as a great discovery or
invention. Thus an event may be spoken of as "epoch-making." The word is
also used, synonymously with "period," for any space of time marked by a
distinctive condition or by a particular series of events.
In astronomy the word is used for a moment from which time is measured,
or at which a definite position of a body or a definite relation of two
bodies occurs. For example, the position of a body moving in an orbit
cannot be determined unless its position at some given time is known.
The given time is then the epoch; but the term is often applied to the
mean longitude of the body at the given time.
EPODE, in verse, the third part in an ode, which followed the strophe
and the antistrophe, and completed the movement; it was called [Greek:
epodos periodos] by the Greeks. At a certain moment the choirs, which
had chanted to right of the altar or stage and then to left of it,
combined and sang in unison, or permitted the coryphaeus to sing for
them all, standing in the centre. When, with the appearance of
Stesichorus and the evolution of choral lyric, a learned and artificial
kind of poetry began to be cultivated in Greece, a new form, the [Greek:
eidos epodikon], or epode-song, came into existence. It consisted of a
verse of trimeter iambic, followed by a dimeter iambic, and it is
reported that, although the epode was carried to its highest perfection
by Stesichorus, an earlier poet, Archilochus, was really the inventor of
this form. The epode soon took a firm place in choral poetry, which it
lost when that branch of literature declined. But it extended beyond the
ode, and in the early dramatists we find numerous examples of monologues
and dialogues framed on the epodical system. In Latin poetry the epode
was cultivated, in conscious archaism, both as a part of the ode and as
an independent branch of poetry. Of the former class, the epithalamia of
Catullus, founded on an imitation of Pindar, present us with examples of
strophe, antistrophe and epode; and it has been observed that the
celebrated ode of Horace, beginning _Quem virum aut heroa lyra vel
acri_, possesses this triple character. But the word is now mainly
familiar from an experiment of Horace in the second class, for he
entitled his fifth book of odes _Epodon liber_ or the Book of Epodes. He
says in the course of these poems, that in composing them he was
introducing a new form, at least in Latin literature, and that he was
imitating the effect of the iambic distichs invented by Archilochus.
Accordingly we find the first ten of these epodes composed in alternate
verses of iambic trimeter and iambic dimeter, thus:--
"At o Deorum quicquid in coelo regit
Terras et humanum genus."
In the seven remaining epodes Horace has diversified the measures, while
retaining the general character of the distich. This group of poems
belongs in the main to the early youth of the poet, and displays a
truculence and a controversial heat which are absent from his more
mature writings. As he was imitating Archilochus in form, he believed
himself justified, no doubt, in repeating the sarcastic violence of his
fierce model. The curious thing is that these particular poems of
Horace, which are really short lyrical satires, have appropriated almost
exclusively the name of epodes, although they bear little enough
resemblance to the genuine epode of early Greek literature.
EPONA, a goddess of horses, asses and mules, worshipped by the Romans,
though of foreign, probably Gallic, origin. The majority of inscriptions
and images bearing her name have been found in Gaul, Germany and the
Danube countries; of the few that occur in Rome itself most were exhumed
on the site of the barracks of the _equites singulares_, a foreign
imperial body-guard mainly recruited from the Batavians. Her name does
not appear in Tertullian's list of the _indigetes di_, and Juvenal
contrasts her worship unfavourably with the old Roman Numa ritual. Her
cult does not appear to have been introduced before imperial times, when
she is often called Augusta and invoked on behalf of the emperor and the
imperial house. Her chief function, however, was to see that the beasts
of burden were duly fed, and to protect them against accidents and
malicious influence. In the countries in which the worship of Epona was
said to have had its origin it was a common belief that certain beings
were in the habit of casting a spell over stables during the night. The
Romans used to place the image of the goddess, crowned with flowers on
festive occasions, in a sort of shrine in the centre of the architrave
of the stable. In art she is generally represented seated, with her hand
on the head of the accompanying horse or animal.
See Tertullian, Apol. 16; Juvenal viii. 157; Prudentius, _Apoth._ 197;
Apuleius, _Metam._ iii. 27; articles in Daremberg and Saglio's _Dict,
des antiquites_ and Pauly-Wissowa's _Realencyclopadie_.
EPONYMOUS, that which gives a name to anything (Gr. [Greek: eponymos],
from [Greek: onoma], a name), a term especially applied to the mythical
or semi-mythical personages, heroes, deities, &c. from whom a country or
city took its name. Thus Pelops is the giver of the name to the
Peloponnese. At Athens the chief archon of the year was known as the
[Greek: archon eponymos], as the year was known by his name. There was a
similar official in ancient Assyria. In ancient times, as in historical
and modern cases, a country or a city has been named after a real
personage, but in many cases the person has been invented to account for
the name.
EPPING, a market town in the Epping parliamentary division of Essex,
England, 17 m. N.N.E. from London by a branch of the Great Eastern
railway. Pop. of urban district (1901), 3789. The town lies high and
picturesquely, at the northern outskirts of Epping Forest. The modern
church of St John the Baptist replaces the old parish church of All
Saints in the village of Epping Upland 2 m. N.W. This is in part Norman.
There is considerable trade in butter, cheese and sausages.
Epping Forest forms part of the ancient Waltham Forest, which covered
the greater part of the county. All the "London Basin," within which the
Forest lies, was densely wooded. The Forest became one of the commonable
lands of Royal Chases or hunting-grounds. It was threatened with total
disafforestation, when under the Epping Forest Act of 1871 a board of
commissioners was appointed for the better management of the lands. The
corporation of the city of London then acquired the freehold interest of
waste land belonging to the lords of the manor, and finally secured
5559-1/2 acres, magnificently timbered, to the use of the public for
ever, the tract being declared open by Queen Victoria in 1882. The
Ancient Court of Verderers was also revived, consisting of an hereditary
lord warden together with four verderers elected by freeholders of the
county. The present forest lies between the valleys of the Roding and
the Lea, and extends southward from Epping to the vicinity of Woodford
and Walthamstow, a distance of about 7 m. It is readily accessible from
the villages on its outskirts, such as Woodford, Chingford and Loughton,
which are served by branches of the Great Eastern railway. These are
centres of residential districts, and, especially on public holidays in
the summer, receive large numbers of visitors.
EPPS, the name of an English family, well known in commerce and
medicine. In the second half of the 18th century they had been settled
near Ashford, Kent, for some generations, claiming descent from an
equerry of Charles II., but were reduced in circumstances, when JOHN
EPPS rose to prosperity as a provision merchant in London, and restored
the family fortunes. He had four sons, of whom JOHN EPPS (1805-1869),
GEORGE NAPOLEON EPPS (1815-1874), and JAMES EPPS (1821-1907) were
notable men of their day, the two former as prominent doctors who were
ardent converts to homoeopathy, and James as a homoeopathic chemist and
the founder of the great cocoa business associated with his name. Among
Dr G.N. Epps's children were Dr Washington Epps, a well-known
homoeopathist, Lady Alma-Tadema, and Mrs Edmund Gosse.
EPREMESNIL (ESPREMESNIL or EPREMENIL), JEAN JACQUES DUVAL D'
(1745-1794), French magistrate and politician, was born in India on the
5th of December 1745 at Pondicherry, his father being a colleague of
Dupleix. Returning to France in 1750 he was educated in Paris for the
law, and became in 1775 _conseiller_ in the parlement of Paris, where he
soon distinguished himself by his zealous defence of its rights against
the royal prerogative. He showed bitter enmity to Marie Antoinette in
the matter of the diamond necklace, and on the 19th of November 1787 he
was the spokesman of the parlement in demanding the convocation of the
states-general. When the court retaliated by an edict depriving the
parlement of its functions, Epremesnil bribed the printers to supply him
with a copy before its promulgation, and this he read to the assembled
parlement. A royal officer was sent to the palais de justice to arrest
Epremesnil and his chief supporter Goislard de Montsabert, but the
parlement (5th of May 1788) declared that they were all Epremesnils, and
the arrest was only effected on the next day on the voluntary surrender
of the two members. After four months' imprisonment on the island of Ste
Marguerite, Epremesnil found himself a popular hero, and was returned to
the states-general as deputy of the nobility of the outlying districts
of Paris. But with the rapid advance towards revolution his views
changed; in his _Reflexions impartiales_ ... (January 1789) he defended
the monarchy, and he led the party among the nobility that refused to
meet with the third estate until summoned to do so by royal command. In
the Constituent Assembly he opposed every step towards the destruction
of the monarchy. After a narrow escape from the fury of the Parisian
populace in July 1792 he was imprisoned in the Abbaye, but was set at
liberty before the September massacres. In September 1793, however, he
was arrested at Le Havre, taken to Paris, and denounced to the
Convention as an agent of Pitt. He was brought to trial before the
revolutionary tribunal on the 21st of April 1794, and was guillotined
the next day.
D'Epremesnil's speeches were collected in a small volume in 1823. See
also H. Carre, _Un Precurseur inconscient de la Revolution_ (Paris,
1897).
EPSOM, a market town in the Epsom parliamentary division of Surrey,
England, 14 m. S.W. by S. of London Bridge. Pop. of urban district
(1901), 10,915. It is served by the London & South-Western and the
London, Brighton & South Coast railways, and on the racecourse on the
neighbouring Downs there is a station (Tattenham Corner) of the
South-Eastern & Chatham railway. The principal building is the parish
church of St Martin, a good example of modern Gothic, the interior of
which contains some fine sculptures by Flaxman and Chantrey. Epsom (a
contraction of Ebbisham, still the name of the manor) first came into
notice when mineral springs were discovered there about 1618. For some
time after their discovery the town enjoyed a wonderful degree of
prosperity. After the Restoration it was often visited by Charles II.,
and when Queen Anne came to the throne, her husband, Prince George of
Denmark, made it his frequent resort. Epsom gradually lost its celebrity
as a spa, but the annual races held on its downs arrested the decay of
the town. Races appear to have been established here as early as James
I's residence at Nonsuch, but they did not assume a permanent character
until 1730. The principal races--the Derby and Oaks--are named after one
of the earls of Derby and his seat, the Oaks, which is in the
neighbourhood. The latter race was established in 1779, and the former
in the following year. The spring races are held on a Thursday and
Friday towards the close of April; and the great Epsom meeting takes
place on the Tuesday and three following days immediately before
Whitsuntide,--the Derby on the Wednesday, and the Oaks on the Friday
(see HORSE-RACING). The grand stand was erected in 1829, and
subsequently enlarged; and there are numerous training stables in the
vicinity. Close to the town are the extensive buildings of the Royal
Medical Benevolent College, commonly called Epsom College, founded in
1855. Scholars on the foundation must be the sons of medical men, but in
other respects the school is open. In the neighbourhood is the Durdans,
a seat of the earl of Rosebery.
EPSOM SALTS, heptohydrated magnesium sulphate, MgSO4.7H2O, the _magnesii
sulphas_ of pharmacy (Ger. _Bittersalz_). It occurs dissolved in sea
water and in most mineral waters, especially in those at Epsom (from
which place it takes its name), Seidlitz, Saidschutz and Pullna. It also
occurs in nature in fibrous excrescences, constituting the mineral
epsomite or hair-salt; and as compact masses (reichardite), as in the
Stassfurt mines. It is also found associated with limestone, as in the
Mammoth Caves, Kentucky, and with gypsum, as at Montmartre. Epsom salts
crystallizes in the orthorhombic system, being isomorphous with the
corresponding zinc and nickel sulphates, and also with magnesium
chromate. Occasionally monoclinic crystals are obtained by crystallizing
from a strong solution. It is used in the arts for weighting cotton
fabrics, as a top-dressing for clover hay in agriculture, and in dyeing.
In medicine it is frequently employed as a hydragogue purgative,
specially valuable in febrile diseases, in congestion of the portal
system, and in the obstinate constipation of painters' colic. In the
last case it is combined with potassium iodide, the two salts being
exceedingly effective in causing the elimination of lead from the
system. It is also very useful as a supplement to mercury, which needs a
saline aperient to complete its action. The salt should be given a few
hours after the mercury, e.g. in the early morning, the mercury having
been given at night. It possesses the advantage of exercising but little
irritant effect upon the bowels. Its nauseous bitter taste may to some
extent be concealed by acidifying the solution with dilute sulphuric
acid, and in some cases where full doses have failed the repeated
administration of small ones has proved effectual.
For the manufacture of Epsom salts and for other hydrated magnesium
sulphates see MAGNESIUM.