Compare Acrasia, Armida, and Circe

Alcinous (al-sin'ō-us). [Gr. Ἀλκίνοος.] In Greek legend, a king of the Phæacians, in the island of Scheria, mentioned in the Ody ey. A considerable part of the poem (Books VI.-XIII.) is devoted to the events of Ody eus's stay in his dominions. Alciphron (al'si-fron). [Gr. Ἀλκίφρων .] Lived probably in the last part of the 2d century A. D. A Greek epistolographer whose identity is uncertain, Alciphron being, perhaps, an a umed name. The letters attributed to him "are about 100 in number, and are divided into three books. They represent cla es of the older Greek community, and are valuable from the glimpses which they give of social life, the materials being mostly derived from the remains of the middle and new comedy. The most lively are those supposed to be written by celebrated hetæræ, especially those from Glycera to Menander. The style is a careful imitation of the best Attic" ( K. O. Müller , Hist. of the Lit. of Anc. Greece, III.). ( Donald son .) Alciphron. A character in Thomas Moore's romance "The Epicurean," published in 1827. Moore also wrote a poem with this title, published in 1839. Alciphron, or the Minute Philosopher. A philosophical dialogue by Bishop Berkeley, written to expose the weakne of infidelity. It was composed while Berkeley was at Newport, R. I., and was published in 1732. Alcira (äl-theʼrä). A town in the province of Valencia, Spain, on an island of the Jucar 20 miles south of Valencia. Population (1887), 18,448. Alcmæon (alk-me'on). [Gr. Ἀλκμαίων.] In Greek legend, the son of Amphiaraus and Eriphyle and the leader of the Epigoni in the expedition against Thebes. In accordance with the command of his father, given when he joined the first expedition against Thebes, and the advice of the oracle, he slew his mother, and was driven mad and pursued by the Furies in consequence. Having, under false pretenses, obtained from Phegeus the Arcadian the necklace and robe of Harm on i a (see Harm on i a ) for his wife Callirrhoe, he was waylaid and slain by Phegeus's order. Alcmæon. A Greek natural philosopher, born at Croton a, Italy, in the 6th century B. c., especially noted for his discoveries in anatomy. Alcmeonide (alk-mē-on'i-dē). A noble family of Athens, a branch of the family of the Neleide which came from Pylos in Me enia to Athens about 1100 B. C. Among the more notable members of the family are Alcmœon, an A then i an general in the Cirrhæan war; Megacles, a son of Alcmæon, and a rival of Pis i stratus; Clisthenes, the legislator, son of Megacles; Pericles, the celebrated A then i an statesman, great-grandson of Megacles; and the scarcely le famous Alcibiades, cousin of Pericles. The family was banished for sacrilege about 596 B. c., on account of the action of the Alcmæonid archon Megacles who 612 B. C. put to death the participants in the insurrection of Cylon while they clung for protection to the altars. They returned through an alliance with Lycurgus, carried on with varying fortunes a struggle with Pis i stratus and the Pisistratidæ, and were finally restored in 510 в. с . Alcman, or Alkman (alk'man), or Alcmæon. [Gr. Ἀλκμάν , οι Ἀλκμαίων .] The greatest lyric poet of Sparta. He flourished about the middle of the 7th century B. C., and was probably brought to Greece as a slave, in youth, from Sardis. "His six books contained all kinds of melos, hymns, pæans, prosodia, par then i a, and erotic songs. His metres are easy and various, and not like the complicated systems of later lyrists. On the other hand, his proverbial wisdom, and the form of his personal allusions, sometimes remind one of Pindar. But the general character of the poet is that of an easy, simple, pleasure-loving man. He boasts to have imitated the song of birds (fr. 17, 67) — in other words, to have been a self-taught and original poet." ( Mahaffy , Hist. Greek Lit., I. 170.) Fragments of his writings are extant. Alcmene (alk-mē'nē), or Alkmene. [Gr. Άλκ μήνη.] In Greek mythology, the wife of A mph i try on and mother, by Zeus, of Heracles. Alcobaça (äl-kō-bäsä). A small town in the province of Estremadura, Portugal, 50 miles north of Lisbon. It contains a Cistercian monastery, founded in 1148, and believed to have been the largest of the order. The buildings now serve as barracks. Alcock, or Alcocke (al'kok), John. Born at Beverley, Yorkshire, England, 1430: died at Wisbeach, England, Oct. 1, 1500. An English The Century Cyclopedia of Names Alcock prelate and scholar, succe ively bishop of Rochester, Worcester, and Ely, and founder of Jesus College, Cambridge, 1496. Alco frib as Nasier (äl-ko-frē-bänä-syā'). An anagrammatic pseudonym of François Rabelais, once or twice shortened to the first word only. Alcolea (äl-kō-lā'ä). A locality in the province of Cordova, Spain, Spain, on the Guadalquivir 8 miles northeast of Cordova, where, Sept. 28, 1868, the Spanish revolutionists, under Serrano, defeated the royalists. The battle resulted in the overthrow of Queen Isabella. Alcor (al'kôr). [Ar., but uncertain; said to signify 'the rider.'] A small fifth-magnitude star very near to Mizar (( Ursæ Major is). It is easily seen with the naked eye if the eye is normal, but not otherwise: hence sometimes used as a test of vision. It is called Aliore in the Latin version of the "Almagest." Alcoran. See Koran . Alcorn (al'kôrn), James Lusk. Born Nov. 4, 1816: died Dec. 20, 1894. An American politician, founder of the levee system of the State of Mi i ippi, Republican governor of Mi i ippi 1870-71, United States senator 1871-77, and unsucce ful candidate for governor in 1873. Alcott (al'kot), Amos Bronson. Born at Wol cott, Conn., Nov. 29, 1799: died at Boston, March 4,1888. An American philosophical writer and educator, one of the founders of the school of transcendentalists in New England. He was son of Joseph Chat field Alcox, a small farmer and mechanic, and Anna Bronson: the family name was originally spelled Alcocke. His youth was spent in peddling books and other wares, interrupted by school-teaching, chiefly in Vir ginia and North and South Carolina. He returned to New England in 1823, and soon after opened an infant-school in Boston where he later (1834-37) conducted a well-known school in which the instruction was based upon the prin: ciples of self-analysis and self-education, the efforts of the teacher being directed to the development of the individuality of the pupil. He retired to Concord 1840, where he was intimately a ociated with Emerson, Hawthorne, Thoreau, and Channing, and became dean of the Concord School of Philosophy. His chief works are "Orphic Sayings" contributed to the “Dial” (1840), "Tablets" (1863), "Concord Days" (1872), "Table-Talk" (1877), "Son nets and Canzonets" (1882). Alcott, Louisa May. Born at German town, Pa., Nov. 29, 1832: died at Boston, Ma ., March 6, 1888. An American author, daughter of A. B. Alcott. She was a teacher in early life and an army nurse in the Civil War. Among her works are "Little Women" (1868), "Old-Fashioned Girl" (1869), "Little Men" (1871), "Aunt Jo's Scrap-Bag" (1872-82), "Rose in Bloom," etc. Alcoy (äl-koi'). A city in the province of Alicante, Spain, lat. 38° 42′ N., long. 0° 27′ W.: an important manufacturing center (paper, etc.). It was the scene of a bloody insurrection of the Inter nation ale in July, 1873. Population (1887), 30,373. Alcudia (äl-köʻтне-ä). A seaport on the northern coast of Majorca, Balearic Islands, formerly the chief fortre of the island. Population, about 2,000. Alcudia, Duke of. See Godoy , Manuel de . Alcuin (al'kwin), AS. Ealhwine (eälch'wi-ne). Born at York, England, 735: died at Tours, May 19, 804. An English prelate and scholar, abbot of Tours: also known as Albinus, Flaccus, and Albinus Flaccus. He was educated at York, and settled on the Continent in 782, on the invitation and under the protection of Charlemagne. He was master of the school of the palace and served as general superintendent of Charlemagne's schemes of ecclesiastical and educational reform. At the council of Frankfort in 794 he led the opposition to adoptionism, which the council condemned; and at the synod of Aachen (Aix-laChapelle) in 799 he persuaded Felix, the leader of the adoptionists, to recant (his second recantation). Alcuin wrote on a great variety of subjects, including theology, history, grammar, rhetoric, orthography, dialectics, etc. About 802 he revised the Vulgate. He was also a poet. Alcyone (al-sĩ'ō-nē). [Gr. Ἀλκυόνη.] 1. In cla ical mythology: ( a ) The daughter of Æolus and wife of Ceÿx. After the lo of her husband she cast herself into the sea and was changed into a kingfisher. (b) A Pleiad, daughter of Atlas and Pleione. 2. A greenish star of magnitude 3.0, the brightest of the Pleiades. Alcyonius (al-si-o'ni-us), or Alcionius, Petrus. Born at Venice, 1487: died at Rome, 1527. An Italian scholar, corrector of the pre of Aldus Manutius, and profe or of Greek at Florence: author of "Medicis legatus, sive de Exilio" (1522), etc. Aldabella (äl-da-bel'lä). 1. The wife of Orlando in Ariosto's poems, the sister of Oliviero and Brandimarte and daughter of Monodantes: in the old French and Spanish poems called Alda and Auda . 2. A character in Milman's play "Fazio": a handsome shamele woman who beguiles Fazio when he becomes rich, and after his execution is condemned to imprisonment in a nunnery for life through the interposition of Bianca, the wife of Fazio. Aldabra Island (äl-dä brä). A small island in the Indian Ocean, belonging to Great Britain, in lat. 9° 23′ S., long. 46° 15′ E. Aldan (äl-dän'). A river in the government of Yakutsk, Siberia, which rises near the Yablonoi Mountains, Mountain and joins the Lena about lat. 63° N., long. 130° E. Its length is about 1,300 miles. Aldan Mountains. A spur of the Stanovoi Mountains, in eastern Siberia, near the river Aldan. Aldana (äl-dä'nä), Lorenzo de. Born in Estremadura about 1500: died at Are quip a, Peru, probably in 1556. A Spanish soldier who served with Alvarado in Guatemala and Peru, and in 1536 went with Juan de Rada to reinforce Almagro in Chile. In 1554 he was with Alonzo de Alvarado in the campaign against Giron, and shared in the defeat at the Abancay (May 21, 1554). Authorities are not in accord as to the date of his death, Calancha placing it in 1571. Aldborough (âld'bur"ō, locally â'bro). A small town in Yorkshire, England, the ancient Isurium, 16 miles northwest of York, noted for its Roman antiquities (the pavements, foundations, etc., of the ancient city). Aldborough, or Aldeburgh. A watering-place in Suffolk, England, 21 miles northeast of Ipswich. Population (1891), 7,467. Aldea Gallega do Ribatejo (äl-dā'ä gäl-lā'gä dộ rē-bä-tā'zhō). A town in the district of Lisbon, Portugal, near the Tagus 8 miles east of Lisbon. IMG:content-0055.png:[blocks in formation] engraver and painter. Alden (al'den), James. Born at Portland, Maine, March 31, 1810: died at San Francisco, Cal., Feb. 6, 1877. An American naval officer, appointed captain Jan. 2, 1863, commodore July 25, 1866, and rear-admiral June 19, 1871, and retired March 31, 1872. He served in the Mexican war, and commanded the Richmond in the New Orleans campaign of 1862, and the Brooklyn in Mobile Bay, 1864, Alden, John. Born in England, 1599: died at in the attacks on Fort Fisher. Duxbury, Ma ., Sept., 1686. One of the "Pilgrim Fathers," a cooper of Southampton, who was engaged in repairing the Mayflower and became one of the party which sailed in her. He is said to have been the first to step on Plymouth Rock, though this honor is also a igned to Mary Chilton. He settled at Duxbury and in 1621 married Priscilla Mullens. The incidents of their courtship form the theme of Long fellow's "Courtship of Miles Standish." He was a mag is trate in the colony for more than 50 years, and outlived all the other signers of the Mayflower compact. Alden, Joseph. Born at Cairo, N. Y., Jan. 4, 1807 died at New York, Aug. 30, 1885. An American educator. He was profe or of Latin (later of rhetoric and political economy) in Williams College 1835-53, profe or of mental and moral philosophy at Lafayette College 1853-57, president of Jefferson College, Cannons burg, Pennsylvania, 1857-62, and principal of the