965 



LUCAS, FREDERICK. 



LUCIAN, SAINT. 



9C6 



Biderable rhetorical merits, but the language is often inflated, and the 

 expressions extremely laboured and artificial; the poem is also deficient 

 in that truth to nature, and in those appeals to the feelings and the 

 imagination, which excite the sympathy of every class of readers. Still 

 great allowance must be made for the youth of the author, who, if he 

 had lived longer, would probably have cured himself of those faults 

 and defects which are now so conspicuous in his poem. 



The best editions of Lucan are by Burmann (1740), Bentley (1760), 

 Weber (1831), and Weise (1835). Among the numerous translations 

 of the ' Pharsalia,' those most deserving of notice are in French, by 

 Marmontel (1766) and BriSbeuf (1795) ; in English, by Rowe (1718), by 

 May (1627), who also published in 1630 a continuation of the poem 

 to the death of Julius Caesar, which he afterwards translated into 

 Latin verse (1640), and by H. T. Riley in 'Bonn's Classical Library;' 

 and in Italian, by Cristoforo Bocella (1804). 



LUCAS, FREDERICK, was the second son of Samuel H. Lucas, 

 Esq., of Croham, near Croydon, Surrey, a member of the Society of 

 Friends. He waa born in 1812, and was educated at the London 

 University, where he gained early distinction as a debater. He was 

 called to the bar in 1838, and in the following year became a member 

 of the Roman Catholic Church. In his new position he took an active 

 part in public matters, and became the founder of the ' Tablet' news- 

 paper, which he conducted as editor for many years. He was also a 

 frequent contributor to the 'Dublin Review." In 1849 he transferred 

 the 'Tablet' from London to Dublin, and in 1852 was elected M.P. 

 for Meath, mainly through the influence of the Roman Catholic 

 prie<thood, whose cause, and that of the poorer classes of the laud of 

 hia adoption, he warmly espoused. Believing that the Roman Catholic 

 priesthood, under the existing circumstances of the country, were the 

 natural friends and guides of the lower orders, he very warmly and 

 zealously advocated their right to take part in political affairs. In 

 thia view he was not supported by the Roman Catholic episcopate in 

 Ireland ; and towards the close of 1854 he travelled to Rome, in order to 

 appeal to the pope against the decision of that body. His health, which 

 had long been failing from over exertion of his mental and physical 

 energies, broke down while the matter waa under deliberation at Rome, 

 and Mr. Lucas returned to England and died before a formal decision 

 was given. His death occurred on the 22nd of October 1855. He was a 

 powerful but declamatory writer and speaker ; but he succeeded from 

 the first in securing the respect and attention of the House of Com- 

 mons, and bis able and fearless advocacy of Tenant Kight, and of the 

 independence of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland, made his loss 

 much regretted by his party. 



LUCAS, PAUL, born at Kouen in 1664, first travelled in the Levant 

 as a jeweller, after which he entered the Venetian service against the 

 Turks. In 1696 he returned to France, bringing with him a collection 

 of ancient coins, engraved stones, and other curiosities, which were 

 purchased for the king's cabinet of medals. In 1699 he went to Egypt, 

 and ascended the Nile as far as the cataracts. He afterwards visited 

 Cyprus, Syria, Armenia, and Persia, but was at last plundered at 

 Baghdad of most of the objects of curiosity which he had collected in 

 his journey. He returned to Paris in 1703, and published the narra- 

 tive of his journey, ' Voyage au Levaut,' 1704, which contains 

 numerous exaggerations and absurd stories. Lucas was not deficient 

 in observation, but he did not always tell the truth ; perhaps he 

 thought that a dash of the marvellous would enhance his narrative, 

 or perhaps he listened credulously to the stories of others. lu 1705 

 he was sent by Louis XIV. to the Levant again, for the purpose of 

 making collections; and he visited Asia Minor, Macedonia, Syria, and 

 Barbary, and returned to France in 1708. Ho published the narrative 

 of this second journey in 1710' Voyage dans la Urece, 1'Asie Miueure, 

 la Macedoine, et 1'Afrique.' This work contains some interesting 

 memoirs by other travellers concerning Cyrenaica and Tunis. 

 Louia XIV. sent him out again in 1714, when he visited most of 

 the same countries which he had seen in the preceding journey, for 

 the purpose of correcting his former observations. He returned to 

 Paris in 1717, and in 1719 published an account of his third journey 

 (' Voyage dans la Turquie, 1'Asie, Syrie, Palestine, Egypte, &c.'), which 

 is the best of the three, though it also contains some strange stories. 

 Lucas travelled once more in the Levant, and at last died in Spain in 

 1737, having gone thither for the purpose of examining the antiquities 

 of that country. 



LUCHETTo DA GENOVA. [CAMBIASO, LUCA.] 



LUCIAN (AovKiavAs), a celebrated Greek writer, was born at Samo- 

 sata, a city on the west bank of the Euphrates, in the Syrian province 

 of Commagene. We possess no particulars respecting his life on which 

 any reliance can be placed, except a few scattered notices in his own 

 writings. From these it appears that he was born about the latter 

 end of Trajan's reign, that he lived under both the Antonines, and 

 died in the reign of Aurelius Commodus, or shortly afterwards. His 

 parents, who were in humble circumstances, placed him with his 

 maternal uncle, a sculptor, in order to learu statuary ; but he soou 

 quitted this trade, and applied himself to the study of the law. He 

 atterwards practised at the bar in Syria and Greece ; but not meeting 

 with much success in this profession, he resolved to settle in Qaul as a 

 teacher of rhetoric, where he soon obtained great celebrity and a 

 numerous school. He appears to have remained in Gaul till ho was 

 about forty, when he gave up the profession of rhetoric, after having 



acquired considerable wealth. The greater part, if not all of his 

 dialogues appear to have been written after this time ; but most of 

 his other pieces, such as his ' Hercules,' ' Hesiod,' ' Herodotus,' 

 ' Zeuxis,' ' Bacchus,' the ' Dipsades," &c., were probably written during 

 the time that he taught rhetoric in Gaul. During the remainder of 

 his life we find him travelling about from place to place, and visiting 

 successively Macedonia, Cappadocia, Paphlagonia, and Bithynia. The 

 greater part of his time however was passed in Athens, where he 

 lived on terms of the greatest intimacy with Demonax, a philosopher 

 of great celebrity, and where most of his works were probably written. 

 Towards the latter part of his life he held a lucrative public office in 

 Egypt, which was bestowed upon him by the Emperor Commodus. 

 The account of his being torn to death by dogs for having attacked 

 the Christian religion rests on no credible authority, and was pro- 

 bably invented by Suidas, who appears to have been the earliest to 

 relate it. 



The dialogues of Luciau are written in remarkably pure and elegant 

 Greek, and are free from the false ornaments and artificial rhetoric 

 which characterise most of the writings of his contemporaries. 

 Modern critics have usually given him his full meed of praise for 

 these excellences, and have also deservedly admired the keenness of 

 his wit, his great talent as a writer, and the inimitable ease and flow 

 of his dialogue; but they have seldom done him the justice he 

 deserves. They have either represented him as merely a witty and 

 amusing writer, but without any further merit ; or else they have 

 attacked him as an immoral and infidel author, whose only object was 

 to corrupt the minds of his readers, and to throw ridicule upon all 

 religion. But these opinions appear to us to have arisen from a mis- 

 taken and one-sided view of the character of Lucian. He seems to us 

 to have endeavoured to expose all kinds of delusion, fanaticism, and 

 imposture ; the quackery and imposition of the priests, the folly and 

 absurdity of the superstitious, and especially the solemn nonsense, 

 the prating insolence, and the immoral lives of the philosophical 

 charlatans of his age. (See his 'Alexander.') Lucian may, in fact 

 be regarded as the Aristophanes of his age, and, like the great comic 

 poet, he had recourse to raillery and satire to accomplish the great 

 objects he had in view. His study was human character in all its 

 varieties, and the age in which he lived furnished ample materials for 

 his observation. Many of his pictures, though drawn from the cir- 

 cumstances of his own times, are true for every age and country. As 

 an instance of this we mention the essay entitled ' On those who serve 

 the Great for Hire.' If he sometimes discloses the follies and vices of 

 mankind too freely, and occasionally uses expressions which are 

 revolting to our ideas of morality, it should be recollected that every 

 author ought to be judged of by the age in which he lived, and not 

 by a standard of religiou and morality which was unknown to the 

 writer. The character of Lucian's mind was decidedly practical ; he 

 was not disposed to believe anything without sufficient evidence of 

 its truth ; and nothing that was ridiculous or absurd escaped his 

 raillery and sarcasm. The tales of the poets respecting the attributes 

 and exploits of the goda, which were still firmly believed by the 

 common people of his age, were especially the objects of his satire 

 and ridicule in his dialogues between the gods nnd in many other of 

 his works. That he should have attacked the Christians in common 

 with the false systems of the pagan religion will not appear surprising 

 to any one who considers that Lucian probably never took the trouble 

 to inquire iuto the doctrines of a religion which was almost universally 

 despised in his time by the higher orders of society. Lucian's state- 

 ments have sometimes had an historical value assigned to them which 

 lie does not appear to have intended : the story of Herodotus reading 

 his history at the Olympic games is one of these. [HERODOTUS.] 

 Lucian had a taste for art, which he has shown by his descriptions in 

 his ' Action,' ' Zeuxia,' ' Kikones,' &c. 



The best editions of Luciau's works are by Hemsterhusius, who 

 only edited part of the first volume, and Reiz, 4 vols. 8vo ; by Leh- 

 mann, 9 vols. 8vo, Leip. ; the edition published by the Bipont Society; 

 and an edition without notes by Dindorf, Paris, 1840. The best trans- 

 lation of Lucian into German U by Wieland, 6 vols. 8vo ; ia French, 

 by De Ballu; and in Italian by Mau^i. There are English translations 

 by Blount, by Franklin, and by Tooke, 2 vols. 4to, Lond., 1820. 



LUCIAN, SAINT, Presbyter of Autioch, is said by some writers, 

 but without sufficient authority, to have been born at Samosata ; he 

 suffered martyrdom during the reign of Diocletian, A.D. 312, and was 

 buried at Helenopolis in Bithynia. He is frequently mentioned by 

 ecclesiastical writers as a man of great learning and piety. Eusebius 

 calls him a " person of unblemished character throughout his whole 

 life" (|Hist. Eccl.,' viii. 13) ; and Chrysostom, on the anniversary of 

 Lucian's martyrdom, pronounced a panegyric upon him which is still 

 extant. Jerome informs ua, in his ' Catalogue of Ecclesiastical Writers ' 

 [c. 77), that " Lucian was so laborious in the study of the Scriptures, that 

 in his own time some copies of the Scriptures were known by the name 

 of Lucian ; " and we learn from another part of his works (' Prsef. in 

 Paralip.,' vol. i, p. 1023), that Lucian's revision of the Septuagint 

 version of the Old Testament was generally used by the churches 

 rom Constantinople to Antioch. Lucian also made a revision of the 

 flaw Testament, which Jerome considered inferio ito his edition of 

 .he Septuagint. 



There were extant in Jerome's time some treatises of Lucian con- 



