X
Xanthe, one of the Oceanides. Hesiod, Theogony, li. 356.
Xanthi, a people of Thrace.——The inhabitants of Xanthus in Asia. See: [Xanthus].
Xanthia Phoceus, a Roman whom Horace addresses in his bk. 2, ode 4, and of whom he speaks as enamoured of a servant-maid.
Xanthĭca, a festival observed by the Macedonians in the month called Xanthicus, the same as April. It was then usual to make a lustration of the army with great solemnity. A bitch was cut into two parts, and one half of the body placed on one side, and the other part on the other side, after which the soldiers marched between, and they imitated a real battle by a sham engagement.
Xanthippe, a daughter of Dorus. See: [Xantippe].
Xanthippus, a son of Melas killed by Tydeus. See: [Xantippus].
Xantho, one of Cyrene’s attendant nymphs. Virgil, Georgics, bk. 4, li. 336.
Xanthus, or Xanthos, a river of Troas, in Asia Minor. It is the same as the Scamander, but, according to Homer, it was called Xanthus by the gods and Scamander by men. See: [Scamander].——A river of Lycia, anciently called Sirbes. It was sacred to Apollo, and fell into the sea near Patara. Homer, Iliad, bk. 6, li. 172.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 4, li. 143.—Mela, bk. 1, ch. 15.——One of the horses of Achilles, who spoke to his master when chid with severity, and told him he must soon be killed. Homer, Iliad, bk. 19.——One of the horses given to Juno by Neptune, and afterwards to the sons of Leda.——An historian of Sardes in the reign of Darius.——A Greek historian of Lydia, who wrote an account of his country, of which some fragments remain. Dionysius of Halicarnassus.——A king of Lesbos.——A king of Bœotia, who made war against the Athenians. He was killed by the artifice of Melanthus. See: [Apaturia].——A Greek poet. Ælian, Varia Historia, bk. 4, ch. 26.—Suidas.——A philosopher of Samos, in whose house Æsop lived some time as servant.——A town of Lycia, on the river of the same name, at the distance of about 15 miles from the sea-shore. The inhabitants were celebrated for their love of liberty and national independence. Brutus laid siege to their city, and when at last they were unable longer to support themselves against the enemy, they set fire to their houses and destroyed themselves. The conqueror wished to spare them, but though he offered rewards to his soldiers if they brought any of the Xanthians alive into his presence, only 150 were saved, much against their will. Appian, bk. 4.—Plutarch, Brutus.
Xantĭcles, one of the leaders of the 10,000 Greeks, after the battle of Cunaxa.
Xantippe, a daughter of Dorus, who married Pleuron, by whom she had Agenor, &c. Apollodorus, bk. 1, ch. 7.——The wife of Socrates, remarkable for her ill humour and peevish disposition, which are become proverbial. Some suppose that the philosopher was acquainted with her moroseness and insolence before he married her, and that he took her for his wife to try his patience, and inure himself to the malevolent reflections of mankind. She continually tormented him with her impertinence; and one day, not satisfied with using the most bitter invectives, she emptied a vessel of dirty water on his head, upon which the philosopher coolly observed, “After thunder there generally falls rain.” Ælian, Varia Historia, bk. 7, ch. 10; bk. 9, ch. 7; bk. 11, ch. 12.—Diogenes Laërtius, Socrates.
Xantippus, a Lacedæmonian general who assisted the Carthaginians in the first Punic war. He defeated the Romans, 256 B.C., and took the celebrated Regulus prisoner. Such signal services deserved to be rewarded, but the Carthaginians looked with envious jealousy upon Xantippus, and he retired to Corinth after he had saved them from destruction. Some authors support that the Carthaginians ordered him to be assassinated, and his body to be thrown into the sea as he was returning home; while others say that they had prepared a leaky ship to convey him to Corinth, which he artfully avoided. Livy, bk. 18 & bk. 28, ch. 43.—Appian, Punic Wars.——An Athenian general who defeated the Persian fleet at Mycale with Leotychides. A statue was erected to his honour at the citadel of Athens. He made some conquests in Thrace, and increased the power of Athens. He was father to the celebrated Pericles by Agariste the niece of Clisthenes, who expelled the Pisistratidæ from Athens. Pausanias, bk. 3, ch. 7; bk. 8, ch. 52.——A son of Pericles who disgraced his father by his disobedience, his ingratitude, and his extravagance. He died of the plague in the Peloponnesian war. Plutarch.
Xenagŏras, an historian. Dionysius of Halicarnassus.——A philosopher who measured the height of mount Olympus.
Xenarchus, a comic poet.——A peripatetic philosopher of Seleucia, who taught at Alexandria and at Rome, and was intimate with Augustus. Strabo, bk. 14.——A pretor of the Achæan league, who wished to favour the interest of Perseus king of Macedonia against the Romans.
Xenares, an intimate friend of Cleomenes king of Sparta.
Xenetus, a rich Locrian, whose daughter Doris married Dionysius of Sicily, &c. Aristotle, Politics, bk. 5, ch. 7.
Xeneus, a Chian writer who composed a history of his country.
Xeniădes, a Corinthian who went to buy Diogenes the Cynic when sold as a slave. He asked him what he could do; upon which the Cynic answered, “Command freemen.” This noble answer so pleased Xeniades, that he gave the Cynic his liberty, and entrusted him with the care and education of his children. Diogenes Laërtius.—Aulus Gellius, bk. 2, ch. 18.
Xenius, a surname given to Jupiter as the god of hospitality.
Xenoclea, a priestess of Apollo’s temple at Delphi, from whom Hercules extorted an oracle by force, when she refused to answer him because he was not purified of the blood and death of Iphitus. Pausanias, bk. 10, ch. 13.
Xenŏcles, a tragic writer, who obtained four times a poetical prize in a contention in which Euripides was competitor, either through the ignorance or by the bribery of his judges. The names of his tragedies which obtained the victory were Œdipus, Lycaon, Bacchæ, Athamas Satyricus, against the Alexander, Palamedes, Trojani, and Sisyphus Satyricus of Euripides. His grandson bore also the name of Xenocles, and excelled in tragical compositions. Ælian, Varia Historia, bk. 2, ch. 8.——A Spartan officer in the expedition which Agesilaus undertook against the Persians.——An architect of Eleusis.——A friend of Aratus.——One of the friends of Cicero.——A celebrated rhetorician of Adramyttium. Strabo, bk. 13.
Xenocrătes, an ancient philosopher born at Chalcedonia, and educated in the school of Plato, whose friendship he gained, and whose approbation he merited. Though of a dull and sluggish disposition, he supplied the defects of nature by unwearied attention and industry, and was at last found capable of succeeding in the school of Plato after Speusippus, about 339 years before Christ. He was remarkable as a disciplinarian, and he required that his pupils should be acquainted with mathematics before they came under his care, and he even rejected some who had not the necessary qualification, saying that they had not yet found the key of philosophy. He recommended himself to his pupils not only by precepts, but more powerfully by example, and since the wonderful change he had made upon the conduct of one of his auditors [See: [Polemon]], his company was as much shunned by the dissolute and extravagant, as it was courted by the virtuous and benevolent. Philip of Macedon attempted to gain his confidence with money, but with no success. Alexander in this imitated his father, and sent some of his friends with 50 talents for the philosopher. They were introduced, and supped with Xenocrates. The repast was small, frugal, and elegant, without ostentation. On the morrow, the officers of Alexander wished to pay down the 50 talents, but the philosopher asked them whether they had not perceived from the entertainment of the preceding day that he was not in want of money. “Tell your master,” said he, “to keep his money; he has more people to maintain than I have.” Yet, not to offend the monarch, he accepted a small sum, about the 200th part of one talent. His character was not less conspicuous in every other particular, and he has been cited as an instance of virtue from the following circumstance: The courtesan Lais had pledged herself to forfeit an immense sum of money, if she did not triumph over the virtue of Xenocrates. She tried every art, assumed the most captivating looks, and used the most tempting attitudes to gain the philosopher, but in vain; and she declared at last that she had not lost her money, as she had pledged herself to conquer a human being, not a lifeless stone. Though so respected and admired, yet Xenocrates was poor, and he was dragged to prison, because he was unable to pay a small tribute to the state. He was delivered from confinement by one of his friends. His integrity was so well known, that when he appeared in the court as a witness, the judges dispensed with his oath. He died B.C. 314, in his 82nd year, after he had presided in the academy for above 25 years. It is said that he fell in the night with his head into a basin of water, and that he was suffocated. He had written above 60 treatises on different subjects, all now lost. He acknowledged no other deity but heaven, and the seven planets. Diogenes Laërtius.—Cicero, Letters to Atticus, bk. 10, ltr. 1, &c. Tusculanæ Disputationes, bk. 5, ch. 32.—Valerius Maximus, bk. 2, ch. 10.—Lucian.——A physician in the age of Nero, not in great esteem. His Greek treatise, de alimento ex aquatilibus, is best edited by Franzius, Lipscomb, 8vo, 1774.——An excellent painter. Pliny, bk. 34, ch. 8.
Xenodamus, an illegitimate son of Menelaus by Gnossia. Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 11.——An athlete of Anticyra. Pausanias, bk. 10, ch. 36.
Xēnodĭce, a daughter of Syleus, killed by Hercules. Apollodorus, bk. 2, ch. 6.——A daughter of Minos and Pasiphae. Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 1.
Xenodŏchus, a Messenian crowned at the Olympic games. Pausanias, bk. 4, ch. 5.——A native of Cardia, &c.
Xenophănes, a Greek philosopher of Colophon, disciple of Archelaus, B.C. 535. He wrote several poems and treatises, and founded a sect which was called the Eleatic, in Sicily. Wild in his opinions about astronomy, he supposed that the stars were extinguished every morning, and rekindled at night; that eclipses were occasioned by the temporary extinction of the sun; that the moon was inhabited, and 18 times bigger than the earth; and that there were several suns and moons for the convenience of the different climates of the earth. He further imagined that God and the world were the same, and he credited the eternity of the universe, but his incoherent opinion about the divinity raised the indignation of his countrymen, and he was banished. He died very poor, when about 100 years old. Cicero, Academica Priora, bk. 4, ch. 37; de Divinatione, bk. 1, ch. 3; De Natura Deorum, bk. 1, ch. 11.—Lactantius, Divinae institutiones, bk. 3, ch. 23.——A governor of Olbus, in the age of Marcus Antony. Strabo, bk. 14.——One of the ministers of Philip, who went to Annibal’s camp, and made a treaty of alliance between Macedonia and Carthage.
Xenophĭlus, a Pythagorean philosopher, who lived to his 170th year, and enjoyed all his faculties to the last. He wrote upon music, and thence he was called the musician. Lucian, Macrobii.—Pliny, bk. 7, ch. 50.—Valerius Maximus, bk. 8, ch. 13.——One of Alexander’s generals. Curtius, bk. 5, ch. 2.——A robber of whom Aratus hired some troops.
Xenŏphon, an Athenian, son of Gryllus, celebrated as a general, an historian, and a philosopher. In the school of Socrates he received those instructions and precepts which afterwards so eminently distinguished him at the head of an army, in literary solitude, and as the prudent father of a family. He was invited by Proxenus, one of his intimate friends, to accompany Cyrus the younger in an expedition against his brother Artaxerxes king of Persia; but he refused to comply without previously consulting his venerable master, and inquiring into the propriety of such a measure. Socrates strongly opposed it, and observed that it might raise the resentment of his countrymen, as Sparta had made an alliance with the Persian monarch; but, however, before he proceeded further, he advised him to consult the oracle of Apollo. Xenophon paid due deference to the injunctions of Socrates, but as he was ambitious of glory, and eager to engage in a distant expedition, he hastened with precipitation to Sardis, where he was introduced to the young prince, and treated with great attention. In the army of Cyrus, Xenophon showed that he was a true disciple of Socrates, and that he had been educated in the warlike city of Athens. After the decisive battle in the plains of Cunaxa, and the fall of young Cyrus, the prudence and vigour of his mind were called into action. The 10,000 Greeks who had followed the standard of an ambitious prince were now at the distance of above 600 leagues from their native home, in a country surrounded on every side by a victorious enemy, without money, without provisions, and without a leader. Xenophon was selected from among the officers to superintend the retreat of his countrymen, and though he was often opposed by malevolence and envy, yet his persuasive eloquence and his activity convinced the Greeks that no general could extricate them from every difficulty better than the disciple of Socrates. He rose superior to danger, and though under continual alarms from the sudden attacks of the Persians, he was enabled to cross rapid rivers, penetrate through vast deserts, gain the tops of mountains, till he could rest secure for a while and refresh his tired companions. This celebrated retreat was at last happily effected; the Greeks returned home after a march of 1155 parasangs, or leagues, which was performed in 215 days, after an absence of 15 months. The whole, perhaps, might now be forgotten, or at least obscurely known, if the great philosopher who planned it had not employed his pen in describing the dangers which he escaped, and the difficulties which he surmounted. He was no sooner returned from Cunaxa, than he sought new honours in following the fortune of Agesilaus in Asia. He enjoyed his confidence, he fought under his standard, and conquered with him in the Asiatic provinces, as well as at the battle of Coronæa. His fame, however, did not escape the aspersions of jealousy; he was publicly banished from Athens for accompanying Cyrus against his brother, and being now without a home, he retired to Scillus, a small town of the Lacedæmonians, in the neighbourhood of Olympia. In this solitary retreat he dedicated his time to literary pursuits, and as he had acquired riches in his Asiatic expeditions, he began to adorn and variegate by the hand of art, for his pleasure and enjoyment, the country which surrounded Scillus. He built a magnificent temple to Diana, in imitation of that of Ephesus, and spent part of his time in rural employments, or in hunting in the woods and mountains. His peaceful occupations, however, were soon disturbed. A war arose between the Lacedæmonians and Elis, and the sanctity of Diana’s temple, and the venerable age of the philosopher, who lived in the delightful retreats of Scillus, were disregarded, and Xenophon, driven by the Elians from his favourite spot, where he had composed and written for the information of posterity, and the honour of his country, retired to the city of Corinth. In this place he died in the 90th year of his age, 359 years before the christian era. The works of Xenophon are numerous. He wrote an account of the expedition of Cyrus, called the Anabasis, and as he had no inconsiderable share in the enterprise, his description must be authentic, as he was himself an eye-witness. Many, however, have accused him of partiality. He appeared often too fond of extolling the virtues of his favourite Cyrus, and while he describes with contempt the imprudent operations of the Persians, he does not neglect to show that he was a native of Greece. His Cyropædia, divided into eight books, has given rise to much criticism, and while some warmly maintain that it is a faithful account of the life and the actions of Cyrus the Great, and declare that it is supported by the authority of Scripture, others as vehemently deny its authenticity. According to the opinions of Plato and of Cicero, the Cyropædia of Xenophon was a moral romance, and these venerable philosophers support that the historian did not so much write what Cyrus had been, as what every true, good, and virtuous monarch ought to be. His Hellenica were written as a continuation of the history of Thucydides; and in his Memorabilia of Socrates, and in his Apology, he has shown himself, as Valerius Maximus observes, a perfect master of the philosophy of that great man, and he has explained his doctrines and moral precepts with all the success of persuasive eloquence and conscious integrity. These are the most famous of his compositions, besides which there are other small tracts, his eulogium given on Agesilaus, his œconomics, on the duties of domestic life, the dialogue entitled Hiero, in which he happily describes and compares the misery which attended the tyrant, with the felicity of a virtuous prince; a treatise on hunting, the symposium of the philosophers, on the government of Athens and Sparta, a treatise on the revenues of Attica, &c. The simplicity and the elegance of Xenophon’s diction have procured him the name of the Athenian muse, and the bee of Greece, and they have induced Quintilian to say that the graces dictated his language, and that the goddess of persuasion dwelt upon his lips. His sentiments, as to the divinity and religion, were the same as those of the venerable Socrates; he supported the immortality of the soul, and exhorted his friends to cultivate those virtues which ensure the happiness of mankind, with all the zeal and fervour of a christian. He has been quoted as an instance of tenderness and of resignation on Providence. As he was offering a sacrifice, he was informed that Gryllus his eldest son had been killed at the battle of Mantinea. Upon this he tore the garland from his head, but when he was told that his son had died like a Greek, and had given a mortal wound to Epaminondas, the enemy’s general, he replaced the flowers on his head, and continued the sacrifice, exclaiming that the pleasure he derived from the valour of his son was greater than the grief which his unfortunate death occasioned. The best editions of Xenophon are those of Leunclavius, folio, Frankfurt, 1596, of Ernesti, 4 vols., 8vo, Lipscomb, 1763, and the Glasgow edition, 12mo; of the Cyropædia, 1767, the expedition of Cyrus, 1764, the Memorabilia, 1761, and the history of Greece, 1762, and likewise the edition of Zeunius, published at Leipsic, in 8vo, in 6 vols., between the years 1778 and 1791. Cicero, Orator, ch. 19.—Valerius Maximus, bk. 5, ch. 10.—Quintilian, bk. 10, ch. 2.—Ælian, Varia Historia, bk. 3, ch. 13; bk. 4, ch. 5.—Diogenes Laërtius, Xenophon.—Seneca.——A writer in the beginning of the fourth century, known by his Greek romance in five books, De Amoribus Anthiæ et Abrocomæ, published in 8vo and 4to by Cocceius, London, 1726.——A physician of the emperor Claudius, born in the island of Cos, and said to be descended from the Asclepiades. He enjoyed the emperor’s favours, and through him the people of Cos were exempt from all taxes. He had the meanness to poison his benefactor at the instigation of Agrippina. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 12, chs. 61 & 67.——An officer under Adrian, &c.
Xera, a town of Spain, now Xerex, where the Moors gained a battle over Roderic king of the Goths, and became masters of the country.
Xerolibya, a part of Africa between Egypt and Cyrene.
Xerxena, a part of Armenia. Strabo, bk. 11.
Xerxes I., succeeded his father Darius on the throne of Persia, and though but the second son of the monarch, he was preferred to his elder brother Artabazanes. The causes alleged for this preference were, that Artabazanes was son of Darius when a private man, and that Xerxes was born, after his father had been raised on the Persian throne, of Atossa the daughter of Cyrus. Xerxes continued the warlike preparations of his father, and added the revolted kingdom of Egypt to his extensive possessions. He afterwards invaded Europe, and entered Greece with an army which, together with the numerous retinue of servants, eunuchs, and women that attended it, amounted to no less than 5,283,220 souls. This multitude, which the fidelity of the historians has not exaggerated, was stopped at Thermopylæ, by the valour of 300 Spartans, under king Leonidas. Xerxes, astonished that such a handful of men should dare to oppose his progress, ordered some of his soldiers to bring them alive into his presence; but for three successive days the most valiant of the Persian troops were repeatedly defeated in attempting to execute the monarch’s injunctions, and the courage of the Spartans might perhaps have triumphed longer, if a Trachinian had not led a detachment to the top of the mountain, and suddenly fallen upon the devoted Leonidas. The king himself nearly perished on this occasion, and it has been reported that, in the night, the desperate Spartans sought, for a while, the royal tent, which they found deserted, and wandered through the Persian army, slaughtering thousands before them. The battle of Thermopylæ was the beginning of the disgrace of Xerxes. The more he advanced, it was to experience new disappointments; his fleet was defeated at Artemisium and Salamis, and though he burnt the deserted city of Athens, and trusted to the artful insinuations of Themistocles, yet he found his millions unable to conquer a nation that was superior to him in the knowledge of war and maritime affairs. Mortified with the ill success of his expedition, and apprehensive of imminent danger in an enemy’s country, Xerxes hastened to Persia, and in 30 days he marched over all that territory which before he had passed with much pomp and parade in the space of six months. Mardonius, the best of his generals, was left behind with an army of 300,000 men, and the rest that had survived the ravages of war, of famine, and pestilence, followed their timid monarch into Thrace, where his steps were marked by the numerous birds of prey that hovered round him, and fed upon the dead carcases of the Persians. When he reached the Hellespont, Xerxes found the bridge of boats which he had erected there totally destroyed by the storms, and he crossed the straits in a small fishing vessel. Restored to his kingdom and safety, he forgot his dangers, his losses, and his defeats, and gave himself up to riot and debauchery. His indolence and luxurious voluptuousness offended his subjects, and Artabanus, the captain of his guards, conspired against him, and murdered him in his bed, in the 21st year of his reign, about 464 years before the christian era. The personal accomplishments of Xerxes have been commended by ancient authors, and Herodotus observes that there was not one man among the millions of his army that was equal to the monarch in comeliness or stature, or that was as worthy to preside over a great and extensive empire. The picture is finished, and the character of Xerxes completely known, when we hear Justin exclaim that the vast armament which invaded Greece was without a head. Xerxes has been cited as an instance of humanity. When he reviewed his millions from a stately throne in the plains of Asia, he suddenly shed a torrent of tears on the recollection that the multitude of men he saw before his eyes in 100 years should be no more. His pride and insolence have been deservedly censured; he ordered chains to be thrown into the sea, and the waves to be whipped, because the first bridge he had laid across the Hellespont had been destroyed by a storm. He cut a channel through mount Athos, and saw his fleet sail in a place which before was dry ground. The very rivers were dried up by his army as he advanced towards Greece, and the cities which he entered reduced to want and poverty. Herodotus, bk. 1, ch. 183; bk. 7, ch. 2, &c.—Diodorus, bk. 11.—Strabo, bk. 9.—Ælian, bk. 3, Varia Historia, ch. 25.—Justin, bk. 2, ch. 10, &c.—Pausanias, bk. 3, ch. 4; bk. 8, ch. 46.—Lucan, bk. 2, li. 672.—Plutarch, Themistocles, &c. Valerius Maximus.—Isocrates, Panathenaicus.—Seneca, de Constantia Sapientis, ch. 4.
Xerxes II., succeeded his father Artaxerxes Longimanus on the throne of Persia, 425 B.C., and was assassinated in the first year of his reign by his brother Sogdianus.
Xerxes, a painter of Heraclea, who made a beautiful representation of Venus.
Xeuxes, an officer of Antiochus the Great king of Syria.
Xiline, a town of Colchis.
Xiphonia, a promontory of Sicily at the north of Syracuse, now Cruce. Strabo, bk. 6.——Also a town near it, now Augusta.
Xois, an island formed by the mouths of the Nile. Strabo, bk. 17.
Xuthia, the ancient name of the plains of Leontium in Sicily. Diodorus, bk. 5.
Xuthus, a son of Hellen, grandson of Deucalion. He was banished from Thessaly by his brothers, and came to Athens, where he married Creusa the daughter of king Erechtheus, by whom he had Achæus and Ion. He retired after the death of his father-in-law into Achaia, where he died. According to some, he had no children, but adopted Ion, the son whom Creusa, before her marriage, had borne to Apollo. Apollodorus, bk. 1, ch. 7.—Pausanias, bk. 7, ch. 1.—Euripides, Ion, bk. 1, scene 1.
Xychus, a Macedonian who told Philip of his cruelty when he had put his son Demetrius to death, at the instigation of Perseus.
Xylenopŏlis, a town at the mouth of the Indus, built by Alexander, supposed to be Laheri. Pliny, bk. 6, ch. 23.
Xyline, a town of Pamphylia. Livy, bk. 38, ch. 15.
Xylopŏlis, a town of Macedonia. Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 10.
Xynias, a lake of Thessaly, or, according to some, of Bœotia. Livy, bk. 32, ch. 13; bk. 33, ch. 3.
Xynoichia, an anniversary day observed at Athens in honour of Minerva, and in commemoration of the time in which the people of Attica left their country seats, and, by advice of Theseus, all united in one body.