Luciānus, a celebrated writer of Samosata. His father was poor in his circumstances, and Lucian was early bound to one of his uncles, who was a sculptor. This employment highly displeased him; he made no proficiency in the art, and resolved to seek his livelihood by better means. A dream in which Learning seemed to draw him to her, and to promise fame and immortality, confirmed his resolutions, and he began to write. The artifices and unfair dealings of a lawyer, a life which he had embraced, disgusted him, and he began to study philosophy and eloquence. He visited different places, and Antioch, Ionia, Greece, Italy, Gaul, and more particularly Athens, became successively acquainted with the depth of his learning and the power of his eloquence. The emperor Marcus Aurelius was sensible of his merit, and appointed him registrar to the Roman governor of Egypt. He died A.D. 180, in his 90th year, and some of the moderns have asserted that he was torn to pieces by dogs for his impiety, particularly for ridiculing the religion of Christ. The works of Lucian, which are numerous, and written in the Attic dialect, consist partly of dialogues, in which he introduces different characters with much dramatic propriety. His style is easy, simple, elegant, and animated, and he has stored his compositions with many lively sentiments, and much of the true Attic wit. His frequent obscenities, and his manner of exposing to ridicule, not only the religion of his country, but also that of every nation, have deservedly drawn upon him the censure of every age, and branded him with the appellation of atheist and blasphemer. He also wrote the life of Sostrates, a philosopher of Bœotia, as also that of the philosopher Demonax. Some have also attributed to him, with great impropriety, the life of Apollonius Thyaneus. The best editions of Lucian are that of Grævius, 2 vols., 8vo, Amsterdam, 1687, and that of Reitzius, 4 vols., 4to, Amsterdam, 1743.
Lūcĭfer, the name of the planet Venus, or morning star. It is called Lucifer, when appearing in the morning before the sun; but when it follows it, and appears some time after its setting, it is called Hesperus. According to some mythologists, Lucifer was son of Jupiter and Aurora.——A christian writer, whose work was edited by the Coleti, folio, Venice, 1778.
Lucifĕri fanum, a town of Spain.
Caius Lūcīlius, a Roman knight born at Aurunca, illustrious not only for the respectability of his ancestors, but more deservedly for the uprightness and the innocence of his own immaculate character. He lived in the greatest intimacy with Scipio the first Africanus, and even attended him in his war against Numantia. He is looked upon as the founder of satire, and as the first great satirical writer among the Romans. He was superior to his poetical predecessors at Rome; and though he wrote with great roughness and inelegance, but with much facility, he gained many admirers, whose praises have been often lavished with too liberal a hand. Horace compares him to a river which rolls upon its waters precious sand, accompanied with mire and dirt. Of the 30 satires which he wrote, nothing but a few verses remain. He died at Naples, in the 46th year of his age, B.C. 103. His fragments have been collected and published with notes by Franciscus Dousa, 4to, Leiden, 1597, and lastly by the Vulpii, 8vo, Patavium, 1735. Quintilian, bk. 10, ch. 1.—Cicero, On Oratory, bk. 2.—Horace.——Lucilius, a famous Roman, who fled with Brutus after the battle of Philippi. They were soon after overtaken by a party of horse, and Lucilius suffered himself to be severely wounded by the dart of the enemy, exclaiming that he was Brutus. He was taken and carried to the conquerors, whose clemency spared his life. Plutarch.——A tribune who attempted in vain to elect Pompey to the dictatorship.——A centurion, &c.——A governor of Asia under Tiberius.——A friend of Tiberius.
Lucilla, a daughter of Marcus Aurelius, celebrated for the virtues of her youth, her beauty, debaucheries, and misfortunes. At the age of 16 her father sent her to Syria to marry the emperor Verus, who was then employed in a war with the Parthians and [♦]Armenians. The conjugal virtues of Lucilla were great at first, but when she saw Verus plunge himself into debauchery and dissipation, she followed his example and prostituted herself. At her return to Rome she saw the incestuous commerce of her husband with her mother, &c., and at last poisoned him. She afterwards married an old but virtuous senator, by order of her father, and was not ashamed soon to gratify the criminal sensualities of her brother Commodus. The coldness and indifference with which Commodus treated her afterwards determined her on revenge, and she with many illustrious senators conspired against his life A.D. 185. The plot was discovered, Lucilla was banished, and soon after put to death by her brother, in the 38th year of her age.
[♦] ‘Arminians’ replaced with ‘Armenians’
Lūcīna, a goddess, daughter of Jupiter and Juno, or, according to others, of Latona. As her mother brought her into the world without pain, she became the goddess whom women in labour invoked, and she presided over the birth of children. She receives this name either from lucus, or from lux, as Ovid explains it:
Gratia Lucinæ, dedit hæc tibi nomina lucus;
Aut quia principium tu, Dea, lucis habes.
Some suppose her to be the same as Diana and Juno, because these two goddesses were also sometimes called Lucina, and presided over the labours of women. She is called Ilythia by the Greeks. She had a famous temple at Rome, raised A.U.C. 396. Varro, de Lingua Latina, bk. 4.—Cicero, de Natura Deorum, bk. 2, ch. 27.—Ovid, Fasti, bk. 2, li. 449.—Horace, Carmen Sæculare.