Gæsātæ, a people on the Rhone, who assisted the Senones in taking and plundering Rome under Brennus. Strabo, bk. 5.
Gætūlia, a country of Libya, near the Garamantes, which formed part of king Masinissa’s kingdom. The country was the favourite retreat of wild beasts, and is now called Bildulgerid. Sallust, Jugurthine War.—Silius Italicus, bk. 3, li. 287.—Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 4.
Gætūlĭcus, Cnæus Lentulus, an officer in the age of Tiberius, &c. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 4, ch. 42.——A poet who wrote some epigrams in which he displayed great genius, and more wit, though he often indulged in indelicate expressions.
Gala, father of Masinissa, was king of Numidia.
Galăbrii, a nation near Thrace.
Galactophăgi, a people of Asiatic Scythia. Homer, Iliad, bk. 3.
Galæsus. See: [Galesus].
Galanthis, a servant-maid of Alcmena, whose sagacity eased the labours of her mistress. When Juno resolved to retard the birth of Hercules, and hasten the labours of the wife of Sthenelus, she solicited the aid of Lucina; who immediately repaired to the house of Alcmena, and in the form of an old woman, sat near the door with her legs crossed, and her fingers joined. In this posture she uttered some magical words, which served to prolong the labours of Alcmena, and render her state the more miserable. Alcmena had already passed some days in the most excruciating torments, when Galanthis began to suspect the jealousy of Juno; and concluded that the old woman, who continued at the door always in the same unchanged posture, was the instrument of the anger of the goddess. With such suspicions Galanthis ran out of the house, and with a countenance expressive of joy, she informed the old woman that her mistress had just brought forth. Lucina, at the words, rose from her posture, and that instant Alcmena was safely delivered. The uncommon laugh which Galanthis raised upon this, made Lucina suspect that she had been deceived. She seized Galanthis by the hair, and threw her on the ground; and while she attempted to resist, she was changed into a weasel, and condemned to bring forth her young, in the most agonizing pains, by the mouth, by which she had uttered falsehood. This transformation alludes to a vulgar notion among the ancients, who believed this of the weasel, because she carries her young in her mouth, and continually shifts from place to place. The Bœotians paid great veneration to the weasel, which, as they supposed, facilitated the labours of Alcmena. Ælian, De Natura Animalium, bk. 2.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 9, fable 6.
Galăta, a town of Syria.——An island near Sicily.——A town of Sicily.——A mountain of Phocis.
Gălătæ, the inhabitants of Galatia. See: [Galatia].