Astyn'ome (4 syl.) or Chryseïs, daughter of Chrysês priest of Apollo. When Lyrnessus was taken, Astynomê fell to the share of Agamemnon, but the father begged to be allowed to ransom her. Agamemnon refused to comply, whereupon the priest invoked the anger of his patron god, and Apollo sent a plague into the Grecian camp. This was the cause of contention between Agamemnon and Achillês, and forms the subject of Homer's epic called The Iliad.
As'wad, son of Shedad king of Ad. He was saved alive when the angel of death destroyed Shedad and all his subjects, because he showed mercy to a camel which had been bound to a tomb to starve to death, that it might serve its master on the day of resurrection.—Southey, Thalaba the Destroyer (1797).
Ataba'lipa, the last emperor of Peru, subdued by Pizarro, the Spanish general. Milton refers to him in Paradise Lost, xi. 409 (1665).
At'ala, the name of a novel by François Auguste Chateaubriand. Atala, the daughter of a white man and a Christianized Indian, takes an oath of virginity, but subsequently falling in love with Chactas, a young Indian, she poisons herself for fear that she may be tempted to break her oath. The novel was received with extraordinary enthusiasm (1801).
(This has nothing to do with Attila, king of the Huns, nor with Atlialie (queen of Judah), the subject of Racine's great tragedy.)
Atalanta, of Arcadia, wished to remain single, and therefore gave out that she would marry no one who could not outstrip her in running; but if any challenged her and lost the race, he was to lose his life. Hippom'enês won the race by throwing down golden apples, which Atalanta kept stopping to pick up. William Morris has chosen this for one of his tales in Earthly Paradise (March).
In short, she thus appeared like another Atalanta.—Comtesse D'Aunoy, Fairy Tales ("Fortunio," 1682).
Atalanta, the central figure in Algernon Charles Swinburne's poem after Æschylus Atalanta in Calydon (1864).
Atali'ba, the inca of Peru, most dearly beloved by his subjects, on whom Pizarro makes war. An old man says of the inca—
The virtues of our monarch alike secure to him the affection of his people and the benign regard of heaven.—Sheridan, Pizarro; ii. 4 (from Kotzebue),(1799).
Atê (2 syl.), goddess of revenge.
With him along is come the mother queen. An Atê, stirring him to blood and strife. Shakespeare, King John, act ii. sc. I (1596).
Atê (2 syl.), "mother of debate and all dissension," the friend of Duessa. She squinted, lied with a false tongue, and maligned even the best of beings. Her abode, "far under ground hard by the gates of hell," is described at length in bk. iv. I. When Sir Blandamour was challenged by Braggadoccio (canto 4), the terms of the contest were that the conqueror should have "Florimel," and the other "the old hag Atê," who was always to ride beside him till he could pass her off to another.—Spenser, Faëry Queen, iv. (1596).
Ath'alie (3 syl.), daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, and wife of Joram king of Judah. She massacred all the remnant of the house of David; but Joash escaped, and six years afterwards was proclaimed king. Athalie, attracted by the shouts, went to the temple, and was killed by the mob. This forms the subject and title of Racine's chef-d'oeuvre (1691), and was Mdlle. Rachel's great part.
(Racine's tragedy of Athalie, queen of Judah, must not be confounded with Corneille's tragedy of Attila, king of the Huns.)
Atheist's Tragedy (The), by Cyril Tourneur. The "atheist" is D'Amville, who murders his brother Montferrers for his estates.—(Seventeenth century.)
Ath'elstane (3 syl.), surnamed "The Unready," thane of Coningsburgh.—Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).
therefore.jpg"Unready" does not mean unprepared but injudicious (from Anglo-Saxon raed, "wisdom, counsel").
Athe'na (Pallas) once meant "the air," but in Homer this goddess is the representative of civic prudence and military skill; the armed protectress of states and cities. The Romans called her Minerva.
Athe'nian Bee, Plato, so called from, the honeyed sweetness of his composition. It is said that a bee settled on his lip while he was an infant asleep in his cradle, and indicated that "honeyed words" would fall from his lips, and flow from his pen. Sophoclês is called "The Attic Bee."
Ath'liot, the most wretched of all women.
Ath'os. Dinoc'ratês, a sculptor, proposed to Alexander to hew mount Athos into a statue representing the great conqueror, with a city in his left hand, and a basin in his right to receive all the waters which flowed from the mountain. Alexander greatly approved of the suggestion, but objected to the locality.
At'imus, Baseness of Mind personified in The Purple Island (1633), by Phineas Fletcher. "A careless, idle swain ... his work to eat, drink, sleep, and purge his reins." Fully described in canto viii. (Greek, atimos, "one dishonored.")
A'tin (Strife), the squire of Pyr'ochlês.—Spenser, Faëry Queen, ii. 4, 5, 6 (1590).
Atos'sa. So Pope calls Sarah duchess of Marlborough, because she was the great friend of lady Mary Wortley Montagu, whom he calls Sappho.
(The great friend of Sappho was Atthis. By Atossa is generally understood Vashti, daughter of Cyrus and wife of Ahasuerus of the Old Testament.)
At'ropos, one of the Fates, whose office is to cut the thread of life with a pair of scissors.
Attic Bee (The), Soph'oclês (B.C. 495-405). Plato is called "The Athenian Bee."
Attic Boy (The), referred to by Milton in his Il Penseroso, is Ceph'alos, who was beloved by Aurora or Morn, but was married to Procris. He was passionately fond of hunting.
Attic Muse (The), a phrase signifying the whole body of Attic poetry.
Atticus. The surname of T. Pomponius, the intimate friend of Cicero, given to him on account of his long residence in Athens. His biography is found in Nepor.
The English Atticus. Joseph Addison.
At'tila, one of the tragedies of Pierre Corneille (1667). This king of the Huns, usually called "The Scourge of God," must not be confounded with "Athalie," daughter of Jezebel and wife of Joram, the subject and title of Racine's ches-d'oeuvre, and Mdlle. Rachel's chief character.
Aubert (Thérèse), the heroine of C. Nodier's romance of that name (1819). The story relates to the adventures of a young royalist in the French Revolutionary epoch, who had disguised himself in female apparel to escape detection.
Aubrey, a widower for eighteen years. At the death of his wife he committed his infant daughter to the care of Mr. Bridgemore, a merchant, and lived abroad. He returned to London after an absence of eighteen years, and found that Bridgemore had abused his trust, and his daughter had been obliged to quit the house and seek protection with Mr. Mortimer.
Augusta Aubrey, daughter of Mr. Aubrey, in love with Francis Tyrrel, the nephew of Mr. Mortimer. She is snubbed and persecuted by the vulgar Lucinda Bridgemore, and most wantonly persecuted by lord Abberville, but after passing through many a most painful visitation, she is happily married to the man of her choice.—Cumberland, The Fashionable Lover (1780).
Au´bri's Dog showed a most unaccountable hatred to Richard de Macaire, snarling and flying at him whenever he appeared in sight. Now Aubri had been murdered by some one in the forest of Bondy, and this animosity of the dog directed suspicion towards Richard de Macaire. Richard was taken up, and condemned to single combat with the dog, by whom he was killed. In his dying moments he confessed himself to be the murderer of Aubri. (See DOG.)
Le combat entre Macaire et le chien eut lieu à Paris, dans l'île Louviers. On place ce fait merveilleux en 1371, mais ... il est bien antérieur, car il est mentionné dès le siècle précédent par Albéric des Trois-Fontaines.—Bouillet, Dict. Universel, etc.
Auch´termuch´ty (John), the Kinross carrier.—Sir W. Scott, The Abbot (time, Elizabeth).
Audhum´bla, the cow created by Surt to nourish Ymir. She supplied him with four rivers of milk, and was herself nourished by licking dew from the rocks.—Scandinavian Mythology.
Au´drey, a country wench, who jilted William for Touchstone. She is an excellent specimen of a wondering she-gawky. She thanks the gods that "she is foul," and if to be poetical is not to be honest, she thanks the gods also that "she is not poetical."—Shakespeare, As You Like It (1598).
Augus´ta, mother of Gustavus Vasa. She is a prisoner of Christian II. king of Denmark, but the king promises to set her free if she will induce her son to submission. Augusta refuses, but in the war which follows, Gustavus defeats Christian, and becomes king of Sweden.—H. Brooke, Gustavus Vasa (1730).
Augusta, a title conferred by the Roman emperors on their wives, sisters, daughters, mothers, and even concubines. It had to be conferred; for even the wife of an Augustus was not an Augusta until after her coronation.
1. EMPRESSES. Livia and Julia were both Augusta; so were Julia (wife of Tiberius), Messalina, Agrippina, Octavia, Poppaea, Statilia, Sabina, Domitilla, Domitia, and Faustina. In imperials the wife of an emperor is spoken of as Augusta: Serenissima Augusta conjux nostra; Divina Augusta, etc. But the title had to be conferred; hence we read, "Domitian uxorem suam Augustam jussit nuncupari;" and "Flavia Titiana, eadem die, uxor ejus [i.e. Pertinax] Augusta est appellata."
2. MOTHERS or GRANDMOTHERS. Antonia, grandmother of Caligula, was created Augusta. Claudius made his mother Antonia Augusta after her death. Heliogab´alus had coins inscribed with "Julia Mæsa Augusta," in honor of his grandmother;
Mammaea, mother of Alexander Severus, is styled Augusta on coins; and so is Helena, mother of Constantine.
3. SISTERS. Honorius speaks of his sister as "venerabilis Augusta germananostra." Trajan has coins inscribed with "Diva Marciana Augusta."
4. DAUGHTERS. Mallia Scantilla the wife, and Didia the daughter of Didius Julianus, were both Augusta. Titus inscribed on coins his daughter as "Julia Sabina Augusta;" there are coins of the emperor Decius inscribed with "Herennia Etruscilla Augusta," and "Sallustia Augusta," sisters of the emperor Decius.
5. OTHERS. Matidia, niece of Trajan, is called Augusta on coins; Constantine Monomachus called his concubine Augusta.
Augusta Hare, a woman with a native genius for popularity, in Mrs. A.D.T. Whitney's novel Hitherto.
Augusti´na, the Maid of Saragossa. She was only twenty-two when, her lover being shot, she mounted the battery in his place. The French, after a siege of two months, were obliged to retreat, August 15, 1808.
Auld Robin Gray was written (1772) by Lady Anne Barnard, to raise a little money for an old nurse. Lady Anne's maiden name was Lindsay, and her father was earl of Balcarras.
Aullay, a monster horse with an elephant's trunk. The creature is as much bigger than an elephant as an elephant is larger than a sheep. King Baly of India rode on an aullay.
Aure´lius, a young nobleman who tried to win to himself Do´rigen, the wife of Arvir´agus, but Dorigen told him she would never yield to his suit till all the rocks of the British coast were removed, "and there n'is no stone y-seen." Aurelius by magic made all the rocks disappear, but when Dorigen went, at her husband's bidding, to keep her promise, Aurelius, seeing how sad she was, made answer, he would rather die than injure so true a wife and noble a gentleman.—Chaucer, Canterbury Tales ("The Franklin's Tale," 1388).
(This is substantially the same as Boccaccio's tale of Dimora and Gilberto, x. 5. See DIANORA.)
Aurelius, elder brother of Uther the pendragon, and uncle of Arthur, but he died before the hero was born.
Even sicke of a flixe [ill of the flux] as he was, he caused himself to be carried forth on a litter; with whose presence the people were so encouraged, that encountering with the Saxons they wan the victorie.—Holinshed, History of Scotland, 99.
Aurora Leigh, daughter of an Englishman and an Italian woman. At her father's death Aurora comes to England to live with a severe, practical aunt. In time she becomes a poet, travels far, sees much, and thinks much of life's problems. She marries her cousin Romney, a philanthropist, blinded by an accident.—Aurora Leigh, by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1856).
Aurora Nuncanou, beautiful Creole widow in The Grandissimes, by George W. Cable. In her thirty-fifth year, she "is the red, red, full-blown, faultless joy of the garden. With her it will be always morning. That woman is going to last forever; ha-a-a-a!--even longer!" (1880).
Austin, the assumed name of the lord of Clarinsal, when he renounced the world and became a monk of St. Nicholas. Theodore, the grandson of Alfonso, was his son, and rightful heir to the possessions and title of the count of Narbonne.—Robert Jephson, Count of Narbonne (1782).
Austins (The). Miss Susan, old maid resident at Whiteladies, concerned in a conspiracy to introduce a false heir to the estate.
Miss Augustine, saintly sister, who tries to "turn the curse from Whiteladies, by her own prayers and those of her almsmen."—Whiteladies, by M.O.W. Oliphant.
Aus´tria and the Lion's Hide. There is an old tale that the arch-duke of Austria killed Richard I., and wore as a spoil the lion's hide which belonged to our English monarch. Hence Faulconbridge (the natural son of Richard) says jeeringly to the arch-duke:
(The point is better understood when it is borne in mind that fools and jesters were dressed in calf-skins.)
Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table, a mythical personage who indites Oliver Wendell Holmes's breakfast-table conversations.
Autol´ycos, the craftiest of thieves. He stole the flocks of his neighbors, and changed their marks. Sis´yphos outwitted him by marking his sheep under their feet.
Autol´ycus, a peddler and witty rogue, in The Winter's Tale, by Shakespeare (1604).
Avare (L'). The plot of this comedy is as follows: Harpagon the miser and his son Cléante (2 syl.) both want to marry Mariane (3 syl.), daughter of Anselme, alias don Thomas d'Alburci, of Naples. Cléante gets possession of a casket of gold belonging to the miser, and hidden in the garden. When Harpagon discovers his loss he raves like a madman, and Cléante gives him the choice of Mariane or the casket. The miser chooses the casket, and leaves the young lady to his son. The second plot is connected with Elise (2 syl.), the miser's daughter, promised in marriage by the father to his friend Anselme (2 syl.); but Elise is herself in love with Valère, who, however, turns out to be the son of Anselme. As soon as Anselme discovers that Valère is his son, who he thought had been lost at sea, he resigns to him Elise, and so in both instances the young folks marry together, and the old ones give up their unnatural rivalry.—Molière, L'Avare (1667).
Ave´nel (2 syl.), Julian, the usurper of Avenel Castle.
Lady Alice, widow of sir Walter.
Mary, daughter of Lady Alice. She marries Halbert Glendinning.—Sir W. Scott, The Monastery (date 1559).
Ave´nel (Sir Halbert Glendinning, knight of), same as the bridegroom in The Monastery.
The lady Mary of Avenel, same as the bride in The Monastery.—Sir W. Scott, The Abbot (time, Elizabeth).
The White Lady of Avenel, a spirit mysteriously connected with the Avenel family, as the Irish banshee is with true Mile´sian families. She announces good or ill fortune, and manifests a general interest in the family to which she is attached, but to others she acts with considerable caprice; thus she shows unmitigated malignity to the sacristan and the robber. Any truly virtuous mortal has commanding power over her.
Aven´ger of Blood, the man who had the birthright, according to the Jewish, polity, of taking vengeance on him who had killed one of his relatives.
Avery (Parson), a missionary "to the souls of fishers starving on the rocks of Marblehead." He is wrecked with his crew, one wintry midnight, and dies praying aloud.—J.G. Whittier, The Swan Song of Parson Avery (1850).
Av´icen or Abou-ibn-Sina, an Arabian physician and philosopher, born at Shiraz, in Persia (980-1037). He composed a treatise on logic, and another on metaphysics. Avicen is called both the Hippo´cratês and the Aristotle of the Arabs.
Avis, a New England girl, heroine of The Story of Avis, by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps-Ward. She is forced by genius to be an artist, and through her art loses hope of domestic happiness (1877).
Ayl'mer (Mrs.), a neighbor of sir Henry Lee.—Sir W. Scott, Woodstock (time, Commonwealth).
Ay'mer (Prior), a jovial Benedictine monk, prior of Jorvaulx Abbey.—Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).
Ay'mon, duke of Dordona (Dordogne). He had four sons, Rinaldo, Guicciardo, Alardo, and Ricciardetto (i.e. Renaud, Guiscard, Alard, and Richard), whose adventures are the subject of a French romance, entitled Les Quatre fils Aymon, by H. de Alleneuve (1165-1223).
Aza'zel, one of the ginn or jinn, all of whom were made of "smokeless fire," that is, the fire of the Simoom. These jinn inhabited the earth before man was created, but on account of their persistent disobedience were driven from it by an army of angels. When Adam was created, and God commanded all to worship him, Azâzel insolently made answer, "Me hast Thou created of fire, and him of earth; why should I worship him?" Whereupon God changed the jinnee into a devil, and called him Iblis or Despair. In hell he was made the standard-bearer of Satan's host.
Az'la, a suttee, the young widow of Ar'valan, son of Keha'ma.—Southey, Curse of Kehama, i. 10 (1809).
Az'o, husband of Parisi'na. He was marquis d'Este, of Ferrara, and had already a natural son, Hugo, by Bianca, who, "never made his bride," died of a broken heart. Hugo was betrothed to Parisina before she married the marqnis, and after she became his mother-in-law, they loved on still. One night Azo heard Parisina in sleep express her love for Hugo, and the angry marquis condemned his son to death. Although he spared his bride, no one ever knew what became of her.—Byron, Parisina.
Az´rael (3 syl.), the angel of death (called Raphael in the Gospel of Barnabas).—Al Korân.
Az´tecas, an Indian tribe, which conquered the Hoamen (2 syl.), seized their territory, and established themselves on a southern branch of the Missouri, having Az´tlan as their imperial city. When Madoc conquered the Aztecas in the twelfth century, he restored the Hoamen, and the Aztecas migrated to Mexico.—Southey, Madoc (1805).
Azuce´na, a gipsy. Manri´co is supposed to be her son, but is in reality the son of Garzia (brother of the conte di Luna).—Verdi, Il Trovato´rê (1853).
Azyoru´ca (4 syl.), queen of the snakes and dragons. She resides in Patala, or the infernal regions.—Hindû Mythology.
Southey, Curse of Kehama, xxiii 15 (1809).
b.jpg
aal, plu. Baalim, a general name for all the Syrian gods, as Ash´taroth was for the goddesses. The general version of the legend of Baal is the same as that of Adonis, Thammuz, Osiris, and the Arabian myth of El Khouder. All allegorize the Sun, six months above and six months below the equator. As a title of honor, the word Baal, Bal, Bel, etc., enters into a large number of Phoenician and Carthaginian proper names, as Hanni-bal, Hasdrubal, Bel-shazzar, etc.
Milton, Paradise Lost, i. 422 (1665).
Bab (Lady), a waiting maid on a lady so called, who assumes the airs with the name and address of her mistress. Her fellow-servants and other servants address her as "lady Bab," or "Your ladyship." She is a fine wench, "but by no means particular in keeping her teeth clean." She says she never reads but one "book, which is Shikspur." And she calls Lovel and Freeman, two gentlemen of fortune, "downright hottenpots."—Rev. J. Townley, High Life Below Stairs (1763).
Ba´ba, chief of the eunuchs in the court of the sultana Gulbey´az.—Byron, Don Juan, v. 82, etc. (1820).
Baba (Ali), who relates the story of the "Forty Thieves" in the Arabian Nights' Entertainments. He discovered the thieves' cave while hiding in a tree, and heard the magic word "Ses´amê," at which the door of the cave opened and shut.
Cassim Baba, brother of Ali Baba, who entered the cave of the forty thieves, but forgot the pass-word, and stood crying "Open Wheat!" "Open Barley!" to the door, which obeyed to no sound but "Open Sesamê!"
Baba Mus´tapha, a cobbler who sewed together the four pieces into which Cassim's body had been cleft by the forty thieves. When the thieves discovered that the body had been taken away, they sent one of the band into the city, to ascertain who had died of late. The man happened to enter the cobbler's stall, and falling into a gossip heard about the body which the cobbler had sewed together. Mustapha pointed out to him the house of Cassim Baba's widow, and the thief marked it with a piece of white chalk. Next day the cobbler pointed out the house to another, who marked it with red chalk. And the day following he pointed it out to the captain of the band, who instead of marking the door studied the house till he felt sure of recognizing it.—Arabian Nights ("Ali Baba, or The Forty Thieves").
Bababalouk, chief of the black eunuchs, whose duty it was to wait on the sultan, to guard the sultanas, and to superintend the harem.—Habesci, State of the Ottoman Empire, 155-6.
Babes in the Wood, insurrectionary hordes that infested the mountains of Wicklow and the woods of Enniscarthy towards the close of the eighteenth century. (See CHILDREN IN THE WOOD.)
Babie, old Alice Gray's servant-girl.—Sir W. Scott, Bride of Lammermoor (time, William III.).
Babie´ca (3 syl.), the Cid's horse.
The Cid (1128).
Baboon (Philip), Philippe Bourbon, duc d'Anjou.
Lewis Baboon, Louis XIV., "a false loon of a grandfather to Philip, and one that might justly be called a Jack-of-all-trades."
Baby Bell, the infant whose brief beautiful life is given in the poem that first drew the eyes of the world to the young American poet, T.B. Aldrich, then but nineteen years of age.