Leda, a daughter of king Thespius and Eurythemis, who married Tyndarus king of Sparta. She was seen bathing in the river Eurotas by Jupiter, when she was some few days advanced in her pregnancy, and the god, struck with her beauty, resolved to deceive her. He persuaded Venus to change herself into an eagle, while he assumed the form of a swan, and, after this metamorphosis, Jupiter, as if fearful of the tyrannical cruelty of the bird of prey, fled through the air into the arms of Leda, who willingly sheltered the trembling swan from the assaults of his superior enemy. The caresses with which the naked Leda received the swan, enabled Jupiter to avail himself of his situation, and nine months after this adventure, the wife of Tyndarus brought forth two eggs, of one of which sprang Pollux and Helena, and of the other Castor and Clytemnestra. The two former were deemed the offspring of Jupiter, and the others claimed Tyndarus for their father. Some mythologists attributed this amour to Nemesis, and not to Leda; and they further mention, that Leda was entrusted with the education of the children which sprang from the eggs brought forth by Nemesis. See: [Helena]. To reconcile this diversity of opinions, others maintain that Leda received the name of Nemesis after death. Homer and Hesiod make no mention of the metamorphosis of Jupiter into a swan, whence some have imagined that the fable was unknown to these two ancient poets, and probably invented since their age. Apollodorus, bk. 1, ch. 8; bk. 3, ch. 10.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 6, li. 109.—Hesiod, bk. 17, li. 55.—Hyginus, fable 77.—Isocrates, Helen.—Homer, Odyssey, bk. 11.—Euripides, Helen.——A famous dancer in the age of Juvenal, satire 6, li. 63.
Ledæa, an epithet given to Hermione, &c., as related to Leda. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 3, li. 328.
Ledus, now Lez, a river of Gaul, near the modern Montpelier. Mela, bk. 2, ch. 5.
Lĕgio, a corps of soldiers in the Roman armies, whose numbers have been different at different times. The legion under Romulus consisted of 3000 foot and 300 horse, and was soon after augmented to 4000, after the admission of the Sabines into the city. When Annibal was in Italy it consisted of 5000 soldiers, and afterwards it decreased to 4000, or 4500. Marius made it consist of 6200, besides 700 horse. This was the period of its greatness in numbers. Livy speaks of 10, and even 18, legions kept at Rome. During the consular government it was usual to levy and fit up four legions, which were divided between the two consuls. This number was, however, often increased, as time and occasion required. Augustus maintained a standing army of 23 or 25 legions, and this number was seldom diminished. In the reign of Tiberius there were 27 legions, and the peace establishment of Adrian maintained no less than 30 of these formidable brigades. They were distributed over the Roman empire, and their stations were settled and permanent. The peace of Britain was protected by three legions; 16 were stationed on the banks of the Rhine and Danube, viz. two in Lower, and three in Upper Germany; one in Noricum, one in Rhætia, three in Mœsia, four in Pannonia, and two in Dacia. Eight were stationed on the Euphrates, six of which remained in Syria, and two in Cappadocia; while the remote provinces of Egypt, Africa, and Spain were guarded each by a single legion. Besides these the tranquillity of Rome was preserved by 20,000 soldiers, who, under the titles of city cohorts and of pretorian guards, watched over the safety of the monarch and of the capital. The legions were distinguished by different appellations, and generally borrowed their name from the order in which they were first raised, as prima, secunda, tertia, quarta, &c. Besides this distinction, another more expressive was generally added, as from the name of the emperor who embodied them, as Augusta, Claudiana, Galbiana, Flavia, Ulpia, Trajana, Antoniana, &c.; from the provinces or quarters where they were stationed, as Britannica, Cyreniaca, Gallica, &c.; from the provinces which had been subdued by their valour, as Parthica, Scythica, Arabica, Africana, &c.; from the names of the deities whom their generals particularly worshipped, as Minervia, Apollinaris, &c.; or from more trifling accidents, as Martia, Fulminatrix, Rapax, Adjutrix, &c. Each legion was divided into 10 cohorts, each cohort into three manipuli, and every manipulus into two centuries or ordines. The chief commander of the legion was called legatus, lieutenant. The standards borne by the legions were various. In the first ages of Rome a wolf was the standard, in honour of Romulus; after that a hog, because that animal was generally sacrificed at the conclusion of a treaty, and therefore it indicated that war is undertaken for the obtaining of peace. A minotaur was sometimes the standard, to intimate the secrecy with which the general was to act, in commemoration of the labyrinth. Sometimes a horse or boar was used, till the age of Marius, who changed all these for the eagle, being a representation of that bird in silver, holding sometimes a thunderbolt in its claws. The Roman eagle ever after remained in use, though Trajan made use of the dragon.
Leitus, or Letus, a commander of the Bœotians at the siege of Troy. He was saved from the victorious hand of Hector and from death by Idomeneus. Homer, Iliad, bks. 2, 6 & 17.——One of the Argonauts, son of Alector. Apollodorus, bk. 2, ch. 9.
Lelaps, a dog that never failed to seize and conquer whatever animal he was ordered to pursue. It was given to Procris by Diana, and Procris reconciled herself to her husband by presenting him with that valuable present. According to some, Procris had received it from Minos, as a reward for the dangerous wounds of which she had cured him. Hyginus, fable 128.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 7, li. 771.—Pausanias, bk. 9, ch. 19.——One of Actæon’s dogs. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 3, li. 211.
Lĕlĕges (a λεγω, to gather), a wandering people, composed of different unconnected nations. They were originally inhabitants of Caria, and went to the Trojan war with Altes their king. Achilles plundered their country, and obliged them to retire to the neighbourhood of Halicarnassus, where they fixed their habitation. The inhabitants of Laconia and Megara bore this name for some time, from Lelex, one of their kings. Strabo, bks. 7 & 8.—Homer, Iliad, bk. 21, li. 85.—Pliny, bk. 4, ch. 7; bk. 5, ch. 30.—Virgil, Æneid, bk. 8, li. 725.—Pausanias, bk. 3, ch. 1.
Lelegeis, a name applied to Miletus, because once possessed by the Leleges. Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 29.
Lelex, an Egyptian, who came with a colony to Megara, where he reigned about 200 years before the Trojan war. His subjects were called from him Leleges, and the place Lelegeia mœnia. Pausanias, bk. 3, ch. 1.——A Greek, who was the first king of Laconia in Peloponnesus. His subjects were also called Leleges, and the country where he reigned Lelegia. Pausanias.
Lemanis, a place in Britain, where Cæsar is supposed to have first landed, and therefore placed by some at Lime in Kent.