Antony and Cleopatra.—Historical tragedy by Shakespeare which may be considered as a continuation of Julius Cæsar. In the opening scene of Julius Cæsar absolute power is lodged in one man. In the conclusion of Antony and Cleopatra a second Cæsar is again in possession of absolute power, and the entire Roman world is limited under one imperial ruler. There are four prominent characters in this play: Cleopatra, voluptuous, fascinating, gross in her faults, but great in the power of her affections; Octavius Cæsar, cool, prudent, calculating, avaricious; Antony, quick, brave, reckless, prodigal; Enobarbus, a friend of Antony, at first jocular and blunt, but transformed by penitence into a grief-stricken man who dies in the bitterness of despair.
Apocalypse.—The Greek name of the last book of the Testament, termed in English Revelation. It has been generally attributed to the Apostle St. John, but some wholly reject it as spurious. In the first centuries many churches disowned it, and in the fourth century it was excluded from the sacred canon by the council of Laodicea, but was again received by other councils, and confirmed by that of Trent, held in the year 1545. Most commentators suppose it to have been written after the destruction of Jerusalem, about A. D. 96; while others assign it an earlier date. Its figures and symbols are impressive.
Apocrypha (a-pok´ri-fä).—The word originally meant secret or hidden, and it is said that books of the Apocrypha are not found in either the Chaldean or the Hebrew language. These books were not in the Jewish canon, but they were received as canonical by the Catholic church, by the council of Trent. The apocryphal writings are ten in number: Baruch, Ecclesiasticus, Wisdom of Solomon, Tobit, Judith, two books of the Maccabees, Song of the Three Children, Susannah, and Bell and the Dragon. Their style proves that they were a part of the Jewish-Greek literature of Alexandria, within three hundred years before Christ; and as the Septuagint Greek version of the Hebrew Bible came from the same quarter, it was often accompanied by these Greek writings, and they gained a general circulation. No trace of them is found in the Talmud; they are mostly of legendary character, but some of them are of value for their historical information, their moral and maxims, and for the illustrations they give of ancient life.
Apologia pro Vita Sua: “Being a History of His Religious Opinions,” published by John Henry Newman. The Apologia will probably never be equaled as a specimen of acute self-analysis. The only subsequent work of a similar nature with which it can be compared or associated is Mr. Gladstone’s Chapter of Autobiography, which was designed to defend the consistency of his action in reference to the Irish church.
Arabian Nights Entertainments, consisting of one thousand and one stories, told by the sultana of the Indies to divert the sultan from the execution of a bloody vow he made to marry a lady every day and have her head cut off next morning, to avenge himself for the disloyalty of the first sultana. The story on which all the others hang is familiar. Scheherezade, the generous, beautiful young daughter of the vizier, like another Esther, resolves to risk her life in order to save the poor maidens of her city, whom the sultan is marrying and beheading at the rate of one a day. She plans to tell an interesting story each night to the sultan, breaking off in a very exciting place in order that the sultan may be tempted to spare her life so that he may hear the sequel.
Aram (ā´ram), Eugene.—A romance by Lord Lytton, founded on the story of the Knaresborough schoolmaster who committed a murder under peculiar circumstances.
Archimage (är´ki-māj), or Archimago (är-ki-mā´gō).—A character in Spenser’s Faërie Queene, a hypocrite or deceiver. He is opposed to holiness embodied in the Red Cross Knight, wins the confidence of the knight in the disguise of a reverend hermit, and by the help of Duessa, or Deceit, separates him from Una, or Truth.
B
Barons’ Wars, The.—An historical poem, in six books, by Michael Drayton. “In some historic sketches,” says Campbell, “he reaches a manner beyond himself. The pictures of Mortimer and the queen, and of Edward’s entrance into the castle, are splendid and spirited.”