Ap´pius Clau´dius. A decemvir who obtained his power by force and oppression. He grossly insulted Virginia, whom her father killed to save her from the power of the tyrant.
Arca´dia. A district of Peloponnesus, which has been much extolled by the poets. It was famous for its mountains. The inhabitants were for the most part shepherds, who lived upon acorns. They were skillful warriors and able musicians. Pan lived chiefly among them.
Archil´ochus. A poet of Paros, who wrote elegies, satires, odes, and epigrams. He lived B.C. 685.
Archime´des. A famous geometrician of Syracuse, who invented a machine of glass that represented the motion of the heavenly bodies. When Marcellus, the Roman consul, besieged Syracuse, Archimedes constructed machines which suddenly raised into the air the ships of the enemy, which then fell into the sea and were sunk. He also set fire to the ships with burning-glasses. When the enemy were in possession of the town, a soldier, not knowing who he was, killed him, B.C. 212.
Arethu´sa, a nymph of Elis, daughter of Oceanus, and one of Diana’s attendants. As she returned one day from hunting she bathed in the Alpheus stream. The god of the river was enamored of her, and pursued her over the mountains, till Arethusa, ready to sink from fatigue, implored Diana to change her into a fountain, which the goddess did.
Ar´go. The name of the famous ship which carried Jason and his companions to Polchis, when they went to recover the Golden Fleece.
Argonau´tæ. The Argonauts, those ancient heroes who went with Jason in the Argo to Aolchis to recover the Golden Fleece, about seventy-nine years before the capture of Troy. The number of the Argonauts is not exactly known.
Ar´gus. A son of Arestor, whence he is sometimes called Arestorides. He had a hundred eyes, of which only two were asleep at one time. Juno set him to watch Io, whom Jupiter had changed into a heifer, but Mercury, by order of Jupiter, slew him, by lulling all his eyes to sleep with the notes of the lyre. Juno put the eyes of Argus in the tail of the peacock, a bird sacred to her.
Ariad´ne, daughter of Minos, second king of Crete, and Pasiphæ, fell in love with Theseus, who was shut up in the labyrinth to be devoured by the Minotaur. She gave Theseus a clue of thread by which he extricated himself from the windings of the labyrinth. After he had conquered the Minotaur he married her, but after a time forsook her. On this, according to some authorities, she hanged herself. According to other writers, after being abandoned by Theseus, Bacchus loved her, and gave her a crown of seven stars, which were made a constellation.
Ari´on. A famous lyric poet and musician, son of Cyclos of Methymna in Lesbos. He went into Italy with Periander, tyrant of Corinth, where he gained much wealth by his profession. Afterwards he wished to revisit the place of his nativity, and he embarked in a ship, the sailors of which resolved to kill him for the riches he had with him. Arion entreated them to listen to his music, and as soon as he had finished playing he threw himself into the sea. A number of dolphins had been attracted by the sweetness of his music, and it is said that one of them carried him safely on its back to Tænarus, whence he went to the court of Periander, who ordered all the sailors to be crucified.