Character Sketches of Romance Volume I Part 121

EPHE'SIAN POET (_The_), Hippo'nax, born at Ephesus (sixth century B.C.).

EPIC POETRY (_The Father of_), Homer (about 950 B.C.).

EP'ICENE (_3 syl._), or _The Silent Woman_, one of the three great comedies of Ben Jonson (1609).

The other two are _Volpone_ (_2 syl._, 1605), and _The Alchemist_ (1610).

EPICURUS. The _aimee de coeur_ of this philosopher was Leontium. (See LOVERS).

EPICURUS OF CHINA, Tao-tse, who commenced the search for "the elixir of perpetual youth and health" (B.C. 540).

[Ill.u.s.tration] Thomas Moore has a prose romance ent.i.tled _The Epicure'an_. Lucretius the Roman poet, in his _De Rerum Natura_, is an exponent of the Epicurean doctrines.

EPIDAURUS (_That G.o.d in_), Aescula'pius, son of Apollo, who was worshipped in Epidaurus, a city of Peloponne'sus. Being sent for to Rome during a plague, he a.s.sumed the form of a serpent.--Livy, _Nat.

Hist._, xi.; Ovid, _Metaph._, xv.

Never since of serpent kind Lovelier, not those that in Illyria changed Hermione and Cadmus, or the G.o.d In Epidaurus.

Milton, _Paradise Lost_, ix. 507 (1665).

(Cadmus and his wife Harmonia [_Hermoine_] left Thebes and migrated into Illyria, where they were changed into serpents because they happened to kill one belonging to Mars.)

EPHIAL'TES (_4 syl._), one of the giants who made war upon the G.o.ds.

He was deprived of his left eye by Apollo, and of his right eye by Hercules.

EPIG'ONI, seven youthful warriors, sons of the seven chiefs who laid siege to Thebes. All the seven chiefs (except Adrastos) perished in the siege; but the seven sons, ten years later, took the city and razed it to the ground. The chiefs and sons were: (1) Adrastos, whose son was Aegi'aleus (_4 syl._); (2) Polynikes, whose son was Thersan'der; (3) Amphiar'aos (_5 syl._), whose son was Alkmaeon (_the chief_); (4) Ty'deus (_2 syl._), whose son was Diome'des; (5) Kap'aneus (_3 syl._), whose son was Sthen'elos; (6) Parthenopae'os, whose son was Promachos; (7) Mekis'theus (_3 syl._), whose son was Eury'alos.

aeschylos has a tragedy on _The Seven Chiefs against Thebes_. There are also two epics, one _The Thebad_ of Statius, and _The Epigoni_ sometimes attributed to Homer and sometimes to one of the Cyclic poets of Greece.

EPIGON'IAD (_The_), called "the Scotch _Iliad_," by William Wilkie (1721-1772). This is the tale of the Epig'oni or seven sons of the seven chieftains who laid siege to Thebes. The tale is this: When Oe'dipos abdicated, his two sons agreed to reign alternate years; but at the expiration of the first year, the elder son (Eteocles) refused to give up the throne. Whereupon the younger brother (Polynikes) interested six Grecian chiefs to espouse his cause, and the allied armies laid siege to Thebes, without success. Subsequently, the seven sons of the old chiefs went against the city to avenge the death of their fathers, who had fallen in the former siege. They succeeded in taking the city, and in placing Thersander on the throne. The names of the seven sons are Thersander, AEgi'aleus, Alkmaeon, Diomedes, Sthen'elos, Pro'machos, and Euryalos.

EPIMEN'IDES (_5 syl._) of Crete, sometimes reckoned one of the "seven wise men of Greece" in the place of Periander. He slept for fifty-seven years in a cave, and, on waking, found everything so changed that he could recognize nothing. Epimenides lived 289 years, and was adored by the Cretans as one of their "Curetes" or priests of Jove. He was contemporary with Solon.

(Goethe has a poem called _Des Epimenides Erwachen._--See Heinrich's _Epimenides.)_

_Epimenides's Drug_. A nymph who loved Epimenides gave him a draught in a bull's horn, one single drop of which would not only cure any ailment, but would serve for a hearty meal.

_Le Nouveau Epimenede_ is a man who lives in a dream in a kind of "Castle of Spain," where he deems himself a king, and does not wish to be disillusioned. The song is by Jacinthe Leclere, one of the members of the "Societe de Momus," of Paris.

EPINOGRIS _(Sir)_, son of the king of Northumberland. He loved an earl's daughter, but slew the earl in a knightly combat. Next day, a knight challenged him to fight, and the lady was to be the prize of the victor. Sir Epinogris, being overthrown, lost the lady; but when Sir Palomides heard the tale, he promised to recover her. Accordingly, he challenged the victorious knight, who turned out to be his brother.

The point of dispute was then amicably arranged by giving up the lady to Sir Epinogris.--Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_, ii. 169 (1470).

EPPIE, one of the servants of the Rev. Josiah Cargill. In the same novel is Eppie Anderson, one of the servants at the Mowbray Arms, Old St. Ronan's, held by Meg Dods.--Sir W. Scott, _St. Bonarts Well_ (time, George III.).

EPPS, cook of Saunders Fairford, a lawyer.--Sir W. Scott, _Redgauntlet_ (time, George III.). EQUITY (_Father of_), Heneage Finch, earl of Nottingham (1621-1682). In _Absalom and Achitophel_ (by Dryden and Tate) he is called "Amri."

Sincere was Amri, and not only knew, But Israel's sanctions into practice drew; Our laws, that did a boundless ocean seem, Were coasted all, and fathomed all by him ...

To whom the double blessing doth belong, With Moses' inspiration, Aaron's tongue.

_Absalom and Achitophel_, ii. (1682).

EQUIVOKES.

1. HENRY IV. was told that "he should not die but in Jerusalem," which he supposed meant the Holy Land; but he died in the Jerusalem Chamber, London, which is the chapter-house of Westminster Abbey.

2. POPE SYLVESTER was also told that he should die at Jerusalem, and he died while saying ma.s.s in a church so called at Rome.

3. CAMBYSES, son of Cyrus, was told that he should die in Ecbat'ana, which he supposed meant the capital of Media. Being wounded accidentally in Syria, he asked the name of the place; and being told it was Ecbatana, "Here, then, I am destined to end my life."

4. A Messenian seer, being sent to consult the Delphic oracle respecting the issue of the Messenian war, then raging, received for reply:

When the goat stoops to drink of the Neda, O, seer, From Messenia flee, for its ruin is near!

In order to avert this calamity, all goats were diligently chased from the banks of the Neda. One day, Theoclos observed a _fig tree_ growing on the river-side, and its branches dipped into the stream. The interpretation of the oracle flashed across his mind, for he remembered that _goat_ and _fig tree_, in the Messenian dialect were the same word.

[Ill.u.s.tration] The pun would be clearer to an English reader if "a stork" were subst.i.tuted for _the goat_: "When a stork stoops to drink of the Neda;" and the "stalk" of the fig tree dipping into the stream.

5. When the allied Greeks demanded of the Delphic oracle what would be the issue of the battle of Salamis, they received for answer:

Seed-time and harvest, weeping sires shall tell How thousands fought at Salamis and fell;

but whether the oracle referred to the Greeks or Persians who were to fall by "thousands," was not stated.

6. When CROESUS demanded what would be the issue of the battle against the Persians, headed by Cyrus, the answer was, he "should behold a mighty empire overthrown;" but whether that empire was his own, or that of Cyrus, only the actual issue of the fight could determine.

7. Similarly, when PHILIP of Macedon sent to Delphi to inquire if his Persian expedition would prove successful, he received for reply, "The ready victim crowned for sacrifice stands before the altar." Philip took it for granted that the "ready victim" was the king of Persia, but it was himself.

8. TARQUIN sent to Delphi to learn the fate of his struggle with the Romans for the recovery of his throne, and was told, "Tarquin will never fall till a dog speaks with the voice of a man." The "dog" was Junius Brutus, who was called a dog by way of contempt.

9. When the oracle was asked who would succeed Tarquin, it replied, "He who shall first kiss his mother." Whereupon Junius Brutus fell to the earth, and exclaimed, "Thus, then, I kiss thee, O mother earth!"

10. Jourdain, the wizard, told the duke of Somerset, if he wished to live, to "avoid where castles mounted stand." The duke died in an ale-house called the Castle, in St. Alban's.--Shakespeare, _2 Henry VI._ act v. sc. 2.

11. A wizard told King Edward IV. that "after him should reign one the first letter of whose name should be G." The king thought the person meant was his brother George, but the duke of Gloucester was the person pointed at.--Holinshed, _Chronicles_; Shakespeare, _Richard III._ act i. sc. I.

ERAC'LIUS (_The emperor_) condemned a knight to death on the supposition of murder; but the man supposed to be murdered making his appearance, the condemned man was taken back, under the expectation that he would be instantly acquitted. But no, Eraclius ordered all three to be put to death: the knight, because the emperor had ordered it; the man who brought him back, because he had not carried out the emperor's order; and the man supposed to be murdered, because he was virtually the cause of death to the other two.

This tale is told in the _Gesta Romanorum_, and Chaucer has put it into the mouth of his Sumpnor. It is also told by Seneca, in his _De Ira_; but he ascribes it to Cornelius Piso, and not to Eraclius.

eRASTE (_2 syl._), hero of _Les Fcheux_ by Moliere. He is in love with Orphiso (_2 syl._), whose tutor is Damis (1661).

ER'CELDOUN (_Thomas of_), also called "Thomas the Rhymer," introduced by Sir W. Scott in his novel called _Castle Dangerous_ (time, Henry I.).

It is said that Thomas of Erceldoun is not dead, but that he is sleeping beneath the Eildon Hills, in Scotland. One day, he met with a lady of elfin race beneath the Eildon tree, and she led him to an under-ground region, where he remained for seven years. He then revisited the earth, but bound himself to return when summoned. One day, when he was making merry with his friends, he was told that a hart and hind were parading the street; and he knew it was his summons, so he immediately went to the Eildon tree, and has never since been heard of.--Sir W. Scott, _Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border_.

[Ill.u.s.tration: symbol] This tale is substantially the same in the German one of _Tannhauser_ (_q.v._).

ERECK, a knight of the Round Table. He marries the beautiful Enite (_2 syl_.), daughter of a poor knight, and falls into a state of idleness and effeminacy, till Enite rouses him to action. He then goes forth on an expedition of adventures, and after combating with brigands, giants, and dwarfs, returns to the court of King Arthur, where he remains till the death of his father. He then enters on his inheritance, and lives peaceably the rest of his life.--Hartmann von der Aue, _Ereck_ (thirteenth century).