ZAHRTMANN, VICE-ADMIRAL. 



ZALEUCUS. 



004 



received the Order of St. Anne of the third class. This was the com- 

 mencement of Lis career as a dramatist, which he pursued first at St. 

 Petersburg and after 1820 at Moscow, to which city he was transferred 

 as director of the theatre. He wrote altogether seventeen original 

 comedies, some in verse and some in prose, several of which met 

 with distinguished success, and none failed except the last. The best 

 are ' Mr. Bogatonov, or the Country Gentleman in the Metropolis ; ' 

 ' Bogatonov the Second, or the Metropolitan in the Country ; ' ' A 

 Romance on the Highroad,' and ' The Journey Abroad.' It is worthy 

 of remark that till beyond his thirtieth year Zagoskin had not 

 written a line of verse, his ear being singularly insensible to cadence 

 and metre, and that in 1821, on some of his friends laughing at him 

 for pretending to give bis opinion on poetry when he laboured under 

 this deficiency, ho was piqued into saying that he would show he could 

 write verses after all ; and sotting doggedly to work, and making 

 progress at the rate of four lines a day, correcting the metre on his 

 fingers, he produced some verses that were not only rhythmically 

 correct, but remarkable for their grace and freedom. After this he 

 frequently wrote in verse, but detested the occupation ; and when he 

 determined to write a romance in imitation of Walter Scott, one chief 

 inducement was to enjoy a double freedom from the trammels of 

 rhyme and the rules of the drama. The tale he produced, ' Yurii Milo- 

 slavsky ili Ruskie v 1612 Qodu' (George Miloslavsky, or the Russians 

 in 1612), 3 vols., Moscow, 1829, delineates the state of Russia at the 

 time that it was nearly conquered by the Poles. The success it met 

 with was prodigious. " The appearance of this romance," says 

 Zagoskiu's biographer Aksakov, " made an epoch both in the literary 

 and social career of Zagoskin. The enthusiasm was universal and 

 unanimous ; few indeed were there who did not fully share it. The 

 public of both the capitals, and after them, or rather with them, the 

 public of all the provincial towns, fell into raptures. Up to this day 

 (in 1852) ' George Miloslavsky ' is read by all Russia that can read, 

 and not without cause ; the Russian mind and soul, and eveu the 

 Russian way of speaking, were for the first time represented in Russia 

 in this romance." An English translation of it appeared in London 

 in 1S34 under the title of 'The Young Muscovite, or the Poles in 

 Kussia, edited by Captain Frederic Chamier, R.N.,' and was said in the 

 preface to be ' edited ' from a manuscript translation of the book 

 made into English "by a Russian lady of high rank and her two amiable 

 daughters," to which the editors, for it appears there were more than 

 one, took the liberty of adding " an underplot by which the characters 

 of the chief actors are further developed." Although of course these 

 alterations detract from the value of the book as a picture of Russian 

 life and character, stamped by native approbation as correct, they are 

 not so extensive as to spoil it. Speaking of it from a full perusal of 

 the original, we should say that* George Miloslavsky' was an amusing 

 third-rate tale, rather unequal in its progress, and falling off sadly 

 towards the end. Zagoskin was hailed as the Russian Walter Scott. 

 For his next tale ' Rostavlev,' a story of Russia in 1812, in which he 

 introduced some of his own adventures, there was an unheard-of com- 

 petition in the Russian publishing world, 4800 copies were printed, and 

 an enormous price given for the copyright, but it was far from attain- 

 ing the success of its predecessor. Zagoskin went on writing novels 

 and romances, and in general founding a play on each after it appeared; 

 but the merit and popularity of his works went on diminishing, and 

 none of his subsequent productions was considered to rival ' Yurii 

 Miloslavsky,' or even ' Rostavlev.' He continued to reside at Moscow, 

 where he enjoyed the additional appointment of director of the 

 Armoury of the Kremlin, and was a well-known and popular member 

 of the best society, which his never-failing good-humour ,and disposi- 

 tion to merriment qualified him. both to enliven and to enjoy. Almost 

 his only work besides his plays and novels was a collection of essays 

 entitled 'Moskva i Moskvichi' (Moscow and the Moscowers), which 

 ran to three or four volumes. After a tedious illness, originating in 

 gout, which he combated by hotnosopathy, he suddenly expired at 

 Moscow on the 23rd of June (o.s.) 1852. Soon after his death a life 

 of him by Aksakov appeared in the ' Moskvitianin,' from which the 

 foregoing particulars have chiefly been taken. His best works have 

 an interest both to the native and foreigner from the purely Russian 

 tone of their language and spirit, as indeed in every country the most 

 popular national romance is a valuable clue to the knowledge of 

 national character. 



ZAHRTMANN, VICE-ADMIRAL CHRISTIAN CHRISTOPHER, 

 Hydographer to the Danish Admiralty, entered the naval service of his 

 country as a cadet in the year 1805, and afterwards served as a 

 lieutenant in many arduous and perilous undertakings during the war 

 which terminated in 1815 ; acquiring the character of being one of the 

 most able and accomplished officers of the Danish navy. At the 

 general peace he betook himself entirely to geodetical and hydro- 

 graphical labours ; among which he assisted the late Professor Schu- 

 macher in the measurement of the Danish arc of the meridian. After 

 a crui?e to the West Indies, during which he made a chart of a 

 portion of their seas, and set up an observatory on the island of St. 

 Thomas, he was appointed successor to Admiral Lovernorn as director 

 of the Hydrographic Office at Copenhagen. In this capacity, notwith- 

 standing much prejudice respecting the publication of documents, he 

 brought the labours of his department in an available form before the 

 world, and with the highest degree of finish and exactness. The 



works, so important to the navigators of all nations, on which his 

 fame rests, are the charts of the coasts of Denmark, with accurate 

 soundings between the numerous islands, accompanied by determina- 

 tions of the currents and trigonometrical surveys of the coast. His 

 chart of the North Sea (1843) was indeed the greatest boon to all 

 seamen, and to those of Britain in particular ; whilst the ' Danske 

 Lods ' (Danish Pilot), which is a complete description of all the seas 

 surrounding Denmark, has been found so useful that it has been 

 translated, under the direction of Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort, F.K.S., 

 late Hydrographer to the British Admiralty, into both the English and 

 French languages. He was also master-general of the naval ordnance 

 of Denmark, inspector of the chronometer bureau of Copeuhagen, 

 and a chamberlain of his sovereign, as well as a knight grand cross of 

 the order of Dannebrog and Dannebrogsman, and a knight of four 

 foreign orders, Russian, Prussian, French, and Greek. 



Admiral Zahrtmann died suddenly on the 15th of April 1853, in 

 the sixtieth year of his age. The estimation in which he was held by 

 his countrymen was evinced by the attendance at his funeral of the 

 princes of the royal family, the ministers of state, the corps diploma- 

 tique, and many officers of the naval, military, and civil services. 



He was an honorary member of the Royal Geographical Society of 

 London, and communicated to that society, in 1830, shortly after its 

 foundation, an account of Danish discoveries on the East Coast of 

 Greenland in the preceding year : a translation of his official report on 

 which, sent to the Geographical Society of Paris, appears in the first 

 volume of the Journal of the former society. In the same work, vol. 

 v., is an elaborate paper by him entitled ' Remarks on the Voyages to 

 the Northern Hemisphere, ascribed to the Zeni of Venice; ' in which, 

 communicated to the society in 1835, he arrives at the conclusion that 

 these voyages, at least in the main points, are mere fabrications. 



ZALEUCUS (ZoAewcoj), the celebrated legislator of the Epizephy- 

 rian Locrians in Southern Italy, is said to have been the first Greek 

 that drew up a code of written laws. (Marcian Heracleot., 313 ; Clemens 

 Alexandr., 'Stromat.,' L p. 309; Strabo, vL p. 259.) It has been sup- 

 posed that the statement of the Locrians having had the first written 

 laws among the Greeks must be limited to the Greeks of Italy, since 

 it is stated that Zaleucus derived many of his laws from the Cretans, 

 Lacedaemonians, and the Areopagus of Athens; but as it cannot be 

 proved that the Cretans and Lacedaemonians, had any written laws at 

 that time, we must acquiesce in the common traditions that Zaleucus 

 was the first of all the Greeks who composed a code of written laws. 

 He lived in all probability about B.C. 660, but his history, like that of 

 all the early legislators, is mixed with fable. According to Suidas, 

 who describes him as a native of Thurii, Zaleucus was originally a 

 slave and a shepherd ; whereas Diodorus (xii. 20) calls him a man 

 of good family. He is -further said to have been called upon by 

 Minerva in a dream to legislate for the Locrians; and when the 

 Locrians applied to the oracle about the means of getting rid of their 

 political disturbances, they received a command to legislate for them- 

 selves. When Zaleucus announced to them his dream, he was eman- 

 cipated, and drew up a code of laws for them. (Suidas ; Scholiast ad 

 Pindar. ' Olymp.,' x. 17; Valer. Maxim., i. 2 ; Ext. 4 ; Aristotle, apud 

 Clem. Alexandr. 'Strom.,' i. p. 352.) A great portion of his laws was 

 derived from the customs of other Greek states, but he was the first 

 who fixed punishments for the crimes enumerated in his code ; whereas 

 before his time the punishment had always been left to the discretion 

 of the judges. His laws, of which several specimens are still extant, 

 were according to the unanimous opinion of the ancients very severe, 

 but the Locrians observed them for a long period, during which they 

 are called the " most observant of law and order " (fwo^tinaroi) of all 

 the Greeks. (Zenobius, iv. 10; Diogenianus, iv. 94 ; Apostolius, 'Pro- 

 verb.,' x. 50; Marcian Heracleot., 345, &c.) 



The code of Zaleucus embraced the religious and moral as well as 

 the civil and political duties of the people, and entered so much into 

 the details of private life that it regulated even the dress by which 

 free women should be distinguished from other females. Although 

 Zaleucus, as has been shown incoatrovertibly by Beutley, must have 

 lived before the time of Pythagoras ; both Suidas and Diodorus call 

 him a disciple of that philosopher, an anachronism which arose out of 

 the desire of the ancients to trace all practical wisdom to Pythagoras, 

 as in the case of the Roman king Numa Pompilius, who is likewise 

 called a disciple of Pythagora 3 . The common story about the death 

 of Zaleucus is as follows : One of his laws forbade the citizens of 

 Locri to enter the senate-house in armsj but on one occasion, while 

 they were at war, Zaleucus, forgetting his own law, entered the senate- 

 house as a warrior ; and when one of the persons assembled called out 

 to him that he was violating his own law, Zaleucus threw himself on 

 his sword, and thus punished himself. (Eustathius ad Horn. 'Iliad,' 

 i. p. 62.) But the same story is related by others of Charondas, with 

 whom Zaleucus is frequently confounded by the ancients themselves 

 (Valer. Max., vi. 5, Ext. 4 ; Diodor., xii. 20) ; and Suidas states that 

 Zaleucus fell fighting for his country. The contradictions aud fables 

 which occur in the history of Zaleucus led some sceptical writers 

 among the ancients, such as Timteus, to deny that a legislator Zaleucus 

 ever existed. (Cicero, 'Do Legib.,' ii. 6 : 'Ad Atticum,' vi. 1.) 



(Fabricius, Bibliotheca Grcec., ii. p. 1, &c. ; Bentley, Dissertation 

 upon the Epistles of Phalaris, p. 241, &c. ; Heyne, Opuscula Academica, 

 vol. ii., where the fragments of the laws of Zaleucus are collected.) 



