.-.1 



onosics, I-AULUSL 



OKPHKUS. 



I J 



that in 1670 rinxuUr anil atrocious outrage was committed upon his 

 person in the street* of London by the notorious Colonel Blood, who, 

 with &TO accomplice*, waylaid him a* he was returning from a state 

 dinner in the city, and dragged him from his coach, with the intention, 

 M it WM believed, if he bad not been rescued, of banging him nt 

 Tyburn. Blood, who had been engaged in a plot to seize the castle of 

 Dublin during Ormond's government of Ireland, pretended that he 

 was resolved to retaliate upon the duke'a person for the execution of 

 some of his associates on that occasion ; but it was strongly suspected 

 that he bad been instigated to his audacious attempt by the profligate 

 Duke of Buckingham, the bitter enemy of Ormond ; and so convinced 

 was his gallant ion, the Earl of Oasory, of the guilt of Buckingham, 

 that soon after, at court, teeing that nobleman standing by the king, 

 he said to him, "My lord of Buckingham, I know well that you arc 

 at the bottom of this lato attempt of Blood's upon my father ; and 

 therefore I give you fair warning, that if my father comes to a violent 

 end by sword or pistol, if he dies by the hand of a ruffian, or by the 

 more secret way of poison, I shall not be at a loss to know the first 

 author of it. I shall consider you as the assassin ; I shall treat you 

 a* such ; and wherever I meet you I shall pistol you, though you 

 should stand behind the king's chair. And I tell it you now in his 

 Majesty's presence, that you may be sure I shall keep my word." 



Ormond himself, when Charles, strangely infatuated, if not disgrace- 

 fully intimidated by the language of the ruffian, whom curiosity led 

 him to visit in the Tower, sent to Ormond to desire that he would 

 forgive Blood, for reasons which Lord Arlington should tell him, drily 

 replied to that nobleman, " that if the king could forgive the offender 

 for stealing the crown, he might easily forgive the attempt upon his 

 life ; and ttat if such waa his Majesty's pleasure, that was for him a 

 sufficient reason, and his lordship might spare the rest" Ormond 

 lived unmolested for many years after this flagitious attempt, though 

 he had the misfortune to survive the noble-minded Ossory ; and he 

 himself died, full of years and honour, in the year 1688. 



Of his numerous children, the eldest who grew to manhood was 

 Thomas, earl of Ossory, the worthy sou of such a father, and eulogised 

 by Burnet as " a man of great honour, generosity, and courage." He 

 was also gifted with many intellectual accomplishments ; was equally 

 distinguished throughout the reign of Charles II. for his military 

 services by sea and land; and would probably, if his life had been 

 spared, have proved himself even a mure perfect character than his 

 parent : hut he died of a violent fever in 16SO, at the premature age 

 of forty-six years. He was the father of James, second duke of Ormond, 

 who inherited several of the generous and chivalric qualities of his 

 house, and took a conspicuous share both in the military achievements 

 and civil dissensions of the reigns of William III. and Queen Anne. 

 But driven from England, on the accession of George I., by the perse- 

 cution of his political antagonists, he embraced the cause of the 

 Pretender ; and being consequently attainted, he sullied his fame by 

 engaging in the service of the national enemies of Ms country, and 

 accepting from the king of Spain the command of an abortive expedition 

 for the invasion of Great Britain. 



(Carte, Lift of Ike Dul-e of Ormond ; Burnet, History of hit own Time.) 



ORO'SILJS, 1'AULUS, a presbyter of the Spanish church, was born 

 in the latter part of the 4th century, at Tarragona, in Catahma. He 

 was educated in Spain, but about A.D. 414 he proceeded, by direction of 

 the Spanish bishops Eutropius and Paul, to Africa, for the purpose, aa 

 it seems, of consulting St. Augustine (whom he appears from the 

 Introduction to his ' History ' to have been in communication with 

 some years before), on several controverted points of belief, which 

 were then discussed by the scots of the Priscillianists and the OrigenwU, 

 especially concerning the nature and origin of the soul. ('Conaultatio 

 live Commonitorium Orosti ad Augustinum de errore PrUcillianiatarum 

 et Origenistarum,' together with Auguatine's answer, ' Ad Orosium 

 rontra Priocillioniataa et Origenistas,' both in the collection of the 

 works of 8t Augustine.) From Africa, Orosius proceeded to Palestine 

 with a recommendation from Augustine to Jerome, who was then 

 living at Bethlehem. While in Palestine, Orosius wrote a treatise 

 against I Vlagiua, who was at that time spreading his opinions concerning 

 original sin and grace, ' Liber apologeticus contra I'elagium de Arbitrii 

 LiberUte,' which is annexed to the ' HUtory ' of Orosius. He was 

 also called upon to oppose Pelagiua and hi* diaciple Capleatius in a 

 synod held at Jerusalem, July 30, 415. From Palestine, Orosius 

 returned to Hippo Kegias, to his friend Augustine, and thence to 

 Spain. He now employed himself in writing hi* 'History of the World,' 

 work which he aeems to have undertaken about 410 (see Bosworth's 

 'Oroaius,' Int, p. 14), at the suggestion of Augustine, to whom it is 

 dedicated. The history end* with the year A..D. 416, about which time 

 it appear* to have been completed. 



The itlsmHin which had befallen the Roman empire, and above all 

 the capture and pillage of Home by A Uric, A.D. 410, afforded to the 

 heathens and to Syinmachus, among the rest, a pretence for accusing 

 the Christian religion of being the cause of all those disasters, and of 

 saying that since the abandonment of the old religion of the state 

 victory bad utterly forsaken the Roman arms. It was for the purpose 

 of replying to these accusations that Orosius wrote his history, which 

 may be considered in part as an apology for Christianity against tin- 

 as tL* title, which ha* been found in several manuscript*, 

 -'AdvcnusFagauo* Hiatoriarum libri vii.' In some manu- 



scripts the title is, 'De totins Mundi Calamitatibus ;' in othas, 'De 

 Cladibus et Miseriia Antiquorum,' Ac. The work consists of seven 

 books, divided into chapters. It begins with a geographical descrip- 

 tion of the world, then treats of the origin of the human race according 

 to the Book of Genesis, and afterwards relates the various accounts of 

 the mythologists and poets concerning the heroic ages. Then follows 

 the history of the early monarchies, the Assyrian, Babylonian, and 

 Persian, the conquests of Alexander, and the wars of his successors, as 

 well as the early history of Home, the contents being chie&y taken 

 from Trogus Pouipeius and Justinus. The fourth book contains the 

 history of Home from the wars of Pyrrhus to the fall of Carthage. 

 The fifth book comprises the period from the taking of Corinth to tho 

 war of Spartacus. Orosius quotes his authorities, several of which 

 are from works which are now lost. The narrative in the sixth book 

 begins with the war of Sulla against Mithridates, and euda with the 

 birth of our Saviour. The seventh book contains the history of the 

 empire till A.D. 416, including a narrative of the taking and sacking of 

 Rome by Alaric, which was the great event of the age. 



Orosius intermixes with his narrative moral reflections, and some- 

 times whole chapters of advice and consolation, addressed to his 

 Christian brethren, and intended to confirm their faith amidst the 

 calamities of the times, which, however heavy, were not, as he asserts, 

 unprecedented. The Romans, he says, in their conquests had inflicted 

 equal if not greater wrongs on other countries. His tone is that of a 

 Christian moralist impressed with the notions of justice, retribution, 

 and humanity, in which most of the heathen historians show themselves 

 deficient He deprecates ambition, conquest, and glory gained at the 

 expense of human blood and human happiness. As nn historian, Orosius 

 shows considerable critical judgment in general, though in particular 

 passages he appears credulous, as in chap. x. of the first book, where 

 he relates from report that the marks of the chariot wheels of Pharaoh's 

 host are still visible at tbe bottom of the Red Sea. As an instance of 

 the incidental value of tho passages taken by Orosius from older writers, 

 see Savigny, 'Das Kecht des Besitzes,' p. 176. 



King Alfred made a free translation of the ' History ' of Oroaius into 

 the Anglo-Saxon language, which was published by Doines Barrington, 

 with on English version of it, 8vo, London, 1773, but of which a much 

 more accurate edition, with a literal translation into English, and 

 valuable notes, was published by Dr. Bosworth in 1855. The very 

 remarkable additions of Alfred are especially valuable, as containing 

 " the only geography of Europe, written by a contemporary, and 

 giving the position and the political state of the Germanic nations so 

 early as the 9th century." A translation of Alfred's version forms a 

 volume of 'Bohn's Antiquarian Library, 1 1847. 



One of the best editions of Orosius is that of Leyden, 4 to, 1738, with 

 Haverkamp's notes. 



ORPHEUS, a poet, musician, and philosopher, whose name is very 

 prominent in the early legends of Greece. The traditions respecting 

 him are remarkably obscure. According to Cicero (' De Nat. Dcor., 

 i 38), Aristotle believed that no such person as Orpheus the poet had 

 ever existed ; but perhaps he only means that the poems ascribed to 

 Orpheus were spurious : he is mentioned as a real person by several of 

 the early Greek writers the lyric poets Ibycus and Pindar, the histo- 

 rians Hellonicus and Pherecydcs, and the Athenian tragedians : he is 

 not mentioned by Homer or Hesiod. Some ancient writers reckon 

 several persons of this name, and Herodotus speaks of two. In later 

 'times a number of marvellous stories were connected with his name. 

 The following is an outline of the legendary history of Orpheus : 

 His native country was Thrace. It is a remarkable fact that most of 

 the legends respecting Greek civilisation are connected with thu 

 Tbraciana, who in later times spoke a language unintelligible to the 

 Greek?, and were looked upon by them as barbarians. Miiller explains 

 this by pointing out that the Thraciana of these legends were not the 

 aame people aa those of the historical period, but a Greek race, who 

 lived in the district called 1'ieria, to the cast of the Olympus range, to 

 the north of Thcssaly, and to the south of Euiathia or Macedonia. 

 (' History of the Literature of Greece,' iu ' Library of Useful Know- 

 ledge,' p. 26.) The time at which ho lived is placed by all writers 

 not long before the Trojan war, and by most at the period of the 

 Argonautic expedition, about twelve or thirteen centuries before 

 Christ He was the ion of Apollo and the muse Calliope, or, accord- 

 ing to other accounts, of (Eager and a muse. The poet* represent 

 him aa a king of Thrace, but the historians are generally silent about 

 his station. According to Clemens of Alexandria, he was the disciple 

 of Musicus ; but the more common accounts make him his teacher. 

 He was one of the Argonauts, to whom he rendered the greatest 

 services by his skill in music; the enchanting tones of his lyre made 

 the Argo move into the water, delivered the heroes from many ilitli- 

 cultiis and dangers while on their voyage, and mainly contributed to 

 their success in obtaining the golden fleece. (Orpin.-!, ' Argonautica.') 

 After the voyage he returned to the cavern in Thrace in which hu 

 commonly dwelt Ho i* said by some authors to have made a voyage 

 to Egypt before the Argonautic expedition. 



Orpheus had for his wife a nymph named Eurydice, who died from 

 the bite of a serpent aa she was flying from Aristn;u. Orpheus 

 followed her to the world beneath, and by the power of his lyre 

 induced Pluto and Proserpine to restore his wife, but upon the con- 

 dition that ho should not look back nt her till he had passed the 



