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.