Anto´nius Mar´cus. Mark Antony, the triumvir, distinguished himself by his ambitious views. When Julius Cæsar was killed in the senate house, Antony delivered an oration over his body, the eloquence of which is recorded in Shakspeare’s tragedy of Julius Cæsar. Antony had married Fulvia, whom he repudiated to marry Octavia, the sister of Augustus. He fought by the side of Augustus at the battle of Philippi, against the murderers of Julius Cæsar. Subsequently he became enamored with Cleopatra, the renowned queen of Egypt, and repudiated Octavia to marry her. He was utterly defeated at the battle of Actium, and stabbed himself. He died in the fifty-sixth year of his age, B.C. 30.
Anto´nius, Ju´lius, son of the famous triumvir Antony, by Fulvia, was consul with Paulus Fabius Maximus. He was surnamed Africanus, and put to death by order of Augustus, but some say he killed himself.
Anto´nius M. Gni´pho. A poet of Gaul who taught rhetoric at Rome. Cicero and other illustrious men frequented his school. There were a number of others of the same name, but of less repute.
Apel´les. A celebrated painter of Cos, or, as others say, of Ephesus, son of Pithius. He lived in the age of Alexander the Great, who forbade any one but Apelles to paint his portrait. He was so absorbed in his profession that he never allowed a day to pass without employing himself at his art: hence the proverb of Nulla dies sine linea. His most perfect picture was Venus Anadyomene, which was not quite finished when he died. He painted a picture in which a horse was a prominent feature, and so correctly was it delineated that a horse passing by it neighed, supposing it to be alive. He was ordered by Alexander to paint a portrait of one of his favorites—Campaspe. Apelles became enamored with her and married her. He only put his name to three of his pictures—a sleeping Venus, Venus Anadyomene, and an Alexander. The proverb, Ne sutor ultra crepidam, has been used in reference to him by some writers.
Aphrodi´te. The Grecian name for Venus, from the Greek word [Greek: aphros αφρς], froth, because Venus is said to have been born from the froth of the ocean.
Apic´ius. A famous gourmand in Rome. There were three of this name, all noted for their voracious appetites.
A´pis. One of the ancient kings of Peloponnesus, son of Phoroneus and Laodice. Some say that Apollo was his father, and that he was king of Argos, whilst others called him king of Sicyon, and fix the time of his reign above 200 years earlier. Varro and others have supposed that Apis went to Egypt with a colony of Greeks, and that he civilized the inhabitants and polished their manners, for which they made him a god after death, and paid divine honors to him under the name of Serapis.
A´pis. A god of the Egyptians, worshiped under the form of an ox. Some say that Isis and Osiris are the deities worshiped under this name, because they taught the Egyptians agriculture.
Apol´lo. Son of Jupiter and Latona; called also Phœbus. He was the god of the fine arts and the reputed originator of music, poetry, and eloquence. He had received from Jupiter the power of knowing futurity, and his oracles were in repute everywhere. As soon as he was born he destroyed with his arrows the serpent Python, which Juno had sent to persecute Latona; hence he was called Pythius. He was not the inventor of the lyre, as some have supposed, but it was given to him by Mercury, who received in return the famous Caduceus. He received the surnames of Phœbus, Delius, Cynthius, Pæan, Delphicus, etc. He is in sculpture generally represented as a handsome young man with a bow in his hand, from which an arrow has just been discharged.
Appia´nus. An historian of Alexandria, who flourished A.D. 123. His Universal History, which consisted of twenty-four books, was a history of all the nations conquered by the Romans.