ARCKT, JEAN D-. 



ARCHELAUS. 



rM 



again by his action*." He was succeeded iu his school by I.aeydes, 

 B.C. Ml. The reader may consult the fourth book of Cicero's 

 Academic Questions ' for an eloquent and masterly exposition of the 

 argument* for and against the philosophical doctrines of Arceulaus 

 and the sect which be founded. 



ARCKT. JKAN D*. waa bora at Douaxit, in the present department 

 of Land** in France, on the 7th of September. 1725. He received hi* 

 early education at the college of Aine, where he was distinguished for 

 the ardour with which be pursued his various studies. His father, 

 who wa* a magistrate, wished, as be was his eldest son, to educate him 

 in such a manner that he might fill his own poaitiou, and for thi* 

 purpose he waa sent to study at Bordeaux. Here a taste for natural 

 aeenos was developed in young D'Arcet, the indulgence of which his 

 father forbade to him on pain of being disinherited. But be ehoee to 

 ran the risk of being for erer driven from his home, rather than give 

 up hi* favourite pursuits. His father kept his word, and without 

 friends or money, D'Arcet taught a few pupils Latin, to enable himself 

 to puna* his studies. He however soon made friend*, and became 

 acquainted with Koux, who was then a young man. Roux subsequently 

 introduced him to Montesquieu, who appointed him tutor to his son. 

 In 174S be came to Paris with Montesquieu, and from the position of 

 tutor in his family became hi* intimate friend. Monteequieu died in 

 the arm* of D'Arcet, and confided to him the care of his manuscript*. 



After the death of Monteequieu, D'Arcet devoted himself to the 

 study of the mHiofl science*, more particularly chemistry, and took 

 hi* degree of doctor in the faculty of medicine in Paris in 1762. Moat 

 of hi* time was given up to chemistry. After spending some time 

 with the army in Germany he returned to hi* laboratory ; devoted 

 himself to study the manufacture of porcelain; and having made 

 analyses of the beet specimens from China, Japan, and other part* of 

 the world, succeeded in producing a porcelain equal to that from other 

 countries. Thee* analyses led him into a long course of experiments 

 on the properties) of mineral*, and the result of his labours was pub- 

 lished in two Memoirs in 1766 and 1768. In a subsequent work he 

 first announced the perfect combustibility of the diamond. Newton 

 had inferred from the refractive power of the diamond that it waa 

 combustible ; Boyle and others had partially succeeded in burning it, 

 but D'Arcet seems to have been the first who perfectly performed 

 thi* interesting experiment. 



Besides the works referred to, he was the author of several others, 

 and was the inventor of a metallic alloy which sometime* bean his 

 name ; it melts in boiling water, and has been employed in making 

 stereotype plates. On the death of Macquer, D'Arcet was appointed 

 director of the Sevre* manufacture of porcelain at Sevres, and elected 

 a member of the Academy of Sciences. He also succeeded Gillet aa 

 inspector of the public mint, and was inspector of the tapestry manu- 

 facture of the Gobelin*. Both in the porcelain and the tapestry 

 manufacture he luggeatod several improvements. 



D'Arcet narrowly escaped the guillotine during the reign of terror. 

 The Duke of Orleans had been bis patron, and this was sufficient to 

 render him "suspect." The order was signed for his arrest, but 

 through the bold defence set up for him by Fourcroy, the chemist, 

 who was then a member of the convention, he wa* saved. He died on 

 the 12th of February, 1801. He left behind him two daughters and a 

 son, who died in 1844. The son's writings on chemistry, and on 

 subject* of public utility, such as the amelioration of the food of 

 hospitals, it, gave him a deserved celebrity. 



(Abridged from the Bioyraphical Dictionary of Ike Society for the 

 D,f.*m of Vf*l JhovUJye.) 



ARCHELA'US, commonly called of Miletus, though he may have 

 been a native of Athens, wa* the son of Apollodorus or, according to 

 others, of Mydon. He was the first man who introduced the physical 

 i Ionia to Athens, from which circumstance probably 

 'cus. He was a pupil of Anaxagoras, and a teacher 

 Physical philosophy terminated in him, and the 

 introduced by Socrates. These few fact* about hi. life 

 net on the authority of Diogene* Laertiua, Then is the testimony of 

 Porphyry to the fact of Socrates having become the pupil of Archelau* 

 when Socrates was seventeen yean of age, and of having continued to 

 be hie pupil for several years, which will fix B.C. 451 (the seventieth 

 year of Socrates), as one of the yean in which Archelaus was at Athens. 

 Diogenes also says that when Socrates was young be visited Samoa in 

 company with Archelaus. Though various authorities .peak of Arche- 

 laus as a master of Socrates, neither Xenophon, nor Plato, nor Aristotle 

 mention* him. 



Arrbelau* is said to have left writing*, but no fragment* have been 

 unset ed. and it is impossible to form a true judgment of bis system 

 from the scanty notice, contained in biogenee and other writers. Of 

 hi* particular opinion* a few an recorded : be con*idered the sun to 

 be the largest of the heavenly bodies ; the sea was formed by oozing 

 through the earth ; voice wa* formed by the impulse of the air, an 

 opinion which i* also attributed to Anaxagoras. 



His general principle* show that bis system resembled that ol 

 Anaxaforas ana Ansitmsnder. He admitted two principle* of gene- 

 ration or production, cold and beat; these two principles separate 

 from on* another ; heat move* and cold remains at rest The mode 

 in which be suppose, the earth and the air to be formed is unintel- 

 ligible a* stated by Diogene* ; but the text may be corrupt. 



first formed from the earth acted on by heat, and afterward! 

 war* continued by generation. In some way men wen separated from 

 other n>ml and formed political communities A'ouj is in all 

 .n| m .l. Plutarch states one of the general doctrines of Archelaus 

 thus : air is infinite, and it* properties are condensation and rarefaction, 

 from which respectively reault fire and water. 



Archelaus i* also laid to have taught the ethical part of philosophy, 

 but we know nothing of his opinions. There is attributed to him the 

 doctrine that the just and the bad are not by naturt but by imtitution 

 (ii <t>van iAAa rifaf). Aa we do not know in what sense he used these 

 two word* (o>wrif and ro)u), we cannot determine the meaning of this 

 dogma. A conjecture i* given by Hitter aa to the sense in which 

 Archelaus used these terms. 



Hitter in hi* ' History of Philosophy,' vol. i., has collected most of 

 the passages relating to Archelaus, aud his remarks show how little is 

 known about him. 



Dictionary of the Society for the Diffusion of Utrful 



philosophy from Ionia t 

 he wa* called Physical, 

 of Socrates. The Pbj 



. 



AKCHELA'US, son of Perdiccaa, king of Hacedon, who succeeded 

 lis father B.C. 41S (Clinton), early in the year. The chronology of 

 tii. reign ha. been a subject of controversy ; and some writers have 

 erroneously supposed that he was succeeded by a son of the same 

 name. Thuoydidea lays that " Arcbelau*, son of Perdiccan, having 

 become king, built the fortification, now in the land, and cut straight 

 roads, and set the military affairs of the nation on a better footing, a* 

 to the provision of arms, hone*, and other equipment*, than all the 

 eight king* who had preceded him." (lib. ii. 100.) He besieged the 

 town of Pydna, a valuable sea-port of Macedonia, which had revolted, 

 and took it, B.C. 410; and to diminish the chance of future insurrec- 

 tions, by rendering it harder to call in foreign aid, he removed the 

 city farther inland by a distance of twenty stadia, about two miles. 

 The tragic poet Euripides resided for some time at hi* court, and died 

 there. Plato is said to have been " very dear " to him ; and he sent 

 a pressing invitation to Socrates, who declined to accept it. Zeuxis 

 visited and executed many pictures for hi* palace, which became a 

 place of great resort for strangers. He established games at Diura iu 

 honour of Jupiter and the nine Muses, which are described by Diodurus 

 (xvii. 16) as " magnificent religious festival* and dramatic contests." 



Fron a silver coin In the British Museum. 



The character of this prince has been drawn in dark colours by 

 Plato, who says, that Archelaus was of illegitimate birth, the son of 

 Perdiccas by a ilave, and that he gained the kingdom by a series of 

 murder*. (' Gorg.' 471, vol. iii. p. 208, ed. Priestly.) Archelaus died 

 B.C. 899, after a reicn of fourteen years. (Mitford, chap, xxxiv. sact. 1 ; 

 Clinton, ' Appendix ' 4 ; and the authorities above quoted.) 



ARCHELA'US, an eminent general in the service of Mithridates, 

 king of Pontus, and the opponent of Sulla when the Mithridatio war 

 was carried on in Greece. In the celebrated siege of Athens, when 

 that city was taken by Sulla, he threw himself into the Peiracus, and 

 defended it obstinately. Compelled at last to evacuate his stronghold, 

 he retreated into Thessaly. He was twice defeated by Sulla, after 

 which he received instructions from hi* master to make peace on the 

 best term* which could be obtained. Being apprehen.ive of danger 

 from the jealous temper of Mithridates, he went over to the Romans, 

 by whom he waa well received. (See Appian, Milkridatica ; Strabo, 

 1. xii. and xvii.) 



AKCHELA'US, son of the preceding, obtained the'dignity of high- 

 priest of the temple of Comana in Pontu, where there waa a temple 

 sacred to Knuo. He served in the expedition to Egypt of Gabinius, 

 to reinstate Ptoleoueus Auletes on the throne then occupied by hi* 

 daughter Berenice ; but having gained the affections and the hand of 

 Berenice under the false pretence that he wa* the son of Mithridates, 

 he went over to her party, and after a six mouth.' reign was slain in 

 battle against the Romans. 



ARCHELA'US, son of the above, succeeded him as high priest of 

 Comma, aud was expelled by Ccoear, B.C. 47, to make room for Nico- 

 medes the liithynian. Between his wife, Glaphyra, and Mark Antony 

 an intrigue is said to have subsisted. 



ARCHELA'US, son of Archelaus and Glaphyra, received from Mark 

 Antony the kingdom of Cappadocia, B.C. 36. He fought on Antony's 

 side at the battle of Actium, and yet retained hi. kingdom under 

 Augustus, and even enlarged it by the acquisition of the leaner Armenia 

 and part of Cilicia. Incurring the displeasure of Tiberius, he was 

 summoned to Rome, where he died A.U. 16. (Tacitus, Ann. ii. 42 

 I >i,,n, Ivii. ; lUyle, An. Un. Hut.) 



AKCHELA'US, the second son of the fifth wife of Herod the 

 Great; his mother, Maltbaka, was a Samaritan. His father's last 



