Acarnania, anciently Curetis, a country of Epirus, at the north of the Ionian sea, divided from Ætolia by the Achelous. The inhabitants reckoned only six months in the year; they were luxurious, and addicted to pleasure, so that porcus Acarnas became proverbial. Their horses were famous. It received its name from Acarnas. Pliny, bk. 2, ch. 90.—Mela, bk. 2, ch. 3.—Strabo, bks. 7 & 9.—Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 24.—Lucian, Dialogi Meretricii.
Acarnas and Amphoterus, sons of Alcmæon and Callirhöe. Alcmæon being murdered by the brothers of Alphesibœa his former wife, Callirhöe obtained from Jupiter, that her children, who were still in the cradle, might, by a supernatural power, suddenly grow up to punish their father’s murderers. This was granted. See: [Alcmæon]. Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 24.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 9, fable 10.
Acarnas and Acarnan, a stony mountain of Attica. Seneca, Hippolytus, li. 20.
Acasta, one of the Oceanides. Hesiod, Theogony, li. 356.
Acastus, son of Pelias king of Thessaly by Anaxibia, married Astydamia or Hippolyte, who fell in love with Peleus son of Æacus, when in banishment at her husband’s court. Peleus, rejecting the addresses of Hippolyte, was accused before Acastus of attempts upon her virtue, and soon after, at a chase, exposed to wild beasts. Vulcan, by order of Jupiter, delivered Peleus, who returned to Thessaly, and put to death Acastus and his wife. See: [Peleus] and [Astydamia]. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 8, li. 306; Heroides, poem 13, li. 25.—Apollodorus, bk. 1, ch. 9, &c.——The second archon at Athens.
Acathantus, a bay in the Red sea.—Strabo, bk. 16.
Acca Laurentia, the wife of Faustulus shepherd of king Numitor’s flocks, who brought up Romulus and Remus, who had been exposed on the banks of the Tiber. From her wantonness, she was called Lupa, prostitute, whence the fable that Romulus was suckled by a she-wolf. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, bk. 1, ch. 18.—Livy, bk. 1, ch. 4.—Aulus Gellius, bk. 6, ch. 7.——The Romans yearly celebrated certain festivals [See: [Laurentalia]] in honour of another prostitute of the same name, which arose from this circumstance: the keeper of the temple of Hercules, one day playing at dice, made the god one of the number, on condition that if Hercules was defeated, he should make him a present, but if he conquered he should be entertained with an elegant feast, and share his bed with a beautiful female. Hercules was victorious, and accordingly Acca was conducted to the bed of Hercules, who in reality came to see her, and told her in the morning to go into the streets, and salute with a kiss the first man she met. This was Tarrutius, an old unmarried man, who, not displeased with Acca’s liberty, loved her, and made her the heiress of all his possessions. These, at her death, she gave to the Roman people, whence the honours paid to her memory. Plutarch, Quæstiones Romanæ, Romulus.——A companion of Camilla. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 11, li. 820.
Accia, or Atia, daughter of Julia and Marcus Atius Balbus, was the mother of Augustus, and died about 40 years B.C. Dio Cassius.—Suetonius, Augustus, ch. 4.——Variola, an illustrious female, whose cause was eloquently pleaded by Pliny. Pliny, bk. 6, ch. 33.
Accĭla, a town of Sicily. Livy, bk. 24, ch. 35.
Lucius Accius, a Roman tragic poet, whose roughness of style Quintilian has imputed to the unpolished age in which he lived. He translated some of the tragedies of Sophocles, but of his numerous pieces only some of the names are known; and among these his Nuptiæ, Mercator, Neoptolemus, Phœnice, Medea, Atreus, &c. The great marks of honour which he received at Rome may be collected from this circumstance: that a man was severely reprimanded by a magistrate for mentioning his name without reverence. Some few of his verses are preserved in Cicero and in other writers. He died about 180 years B.C. Horace, bk. 2, ltr. 1, li. 56.—Ovid, Amores, bk. 1, poem 15, li. 19.—Quintilian, bk. 10, ch. 1.—Cicero, Letters to Atticus & Brutus or de Claris Oratoribus, bk. 3, ch. 16.——A famous orator of Pisaurum in Cicero’s age.——Labeo, a foolish poet mentioned Persius, bk. 1, li. 50.——Tullius, a prince of the Volsci, very inimical to the Romans. Coriolanus, when banished by his countrymen, fled to him, and led his armies against Rome. Livy, bk. 2, ch. 37.—Plutarch, Coriolanus.