Kl'IC I'OKTllV. 



EPIL1 



natural parts of his adventures, all unite to render the ' Odyvey ' a 

 poem more fitted perhaps than the ' Iliad ' itself to intercut an age like 

 ours, when everything which gives a lyrical character to poetry in so 

 much although so unconsciously sought for. 



It usually happens that sacred poetry partakes strongly of a lyrical 

 character, and Heaiod has perhaps struck out the only path which an 

 epic writer in a simple age could follow without lapsing iiito the lyrical 

 spirit as he approached theological subject*. The only poet of anti- 

 quity with whom he can be compared is Lucretius ; but the ' Do 

 Kerurn Xatnrft ' approaches so much more nearly to the character of a 

 treatise on philosophy, that it is hard to give it the name of an epic 

 poem, although it, as well as all didactic works like Virgil's ' Georgics,' 

 come under the definition. The reason why we are slow to recognise 

 them as epics arises from the habit of taking the heroic epos, one 

 species, although the primary one, for the whole class, which really 

 includes other species, as a reference to our definition cannot fail to 

 show. 



It has been observed by a German writer (Schelling, ' Vorlesungen,' 

 Ac., p. 224) that, properly speaking, an epic poem has no regular 

 beginning or end ; it is a metrical and imaginative production, which, 

 if it consist of narrative, may take it up and lay it down at any 

 period. This is the case with the Iliad, as well as with the Odyssey 

 and .Kneid, although the two last are considerably more complex in 

 the arrangement of the narrative, and evidently draw to a more 

 decided close than the Iliad. There appears, however, to be a greater 

 unity in the plot of the Odyssey than in that of Virgil's poem, in this 

 respect, that the events never get the upper hand of the hero. We 

 are interested in his adventures because they are his ; while in the 

 .Kneid they strike us rather aa embellishments intended to possess 

 independent merit. 



The early romantic epos deserves notice as the first distinct form of 

 modern art. Much discussion has been expended in order to ascertain 

 whence arose those cycles of metrical romances which have for their 

 subjects the exploits of Alexander the Great, King Arthur, and other 

 heroes ; but it rather concerns us here to notice that the second 

 birth of civilisation which ensued on the breaking up of the Roman 

 empire was productive of a series of events in literary history, 

 parallel, as far as we can judge, to those which occurred in the times 

 of Homer. 



The traces of heroic poetry which remain in Livy's History are 

 plain enough to enable us to infer with considerable probability that a 

 series of epic poete appeared in Rome about the time of the Tarquins 

 onwards ; but as no fragments remain, we are too much in the dark 

 as to the nature of their writings to enable us to refer to them as we 

 do to Homer. 



We find that the northern nations possessed numerous poems of an 

 epical kind, some of which remain, and are or might be read with con- 

 siderable interest. The cycles of romances on Troy and Alexander 

 the Great compose a form of art which could only exist in a revival of 

 imaginative spirit, as they derive their subjects from an older date and 

 a different country, although, as regards every thing but the name of 

 Greek or Trojan, the hero is usually the countryman of the bard ; but 

 the numerous poems on Arthur, with ' Havelok the Dane,' and ' Horn 

 Child,' in our own language, ' Beowulf,' in Anglo-Saxon, ' The Poem 

 of the Cid,' in Spanish, and the ' Nibelungen Lied,' in old German, are 

 quite sufficient proofs of the coincidence of epic spirit with an early 

 stage of society. 



The Italian epic arose somewhat later than that of any of the 

 northern nations, which may be attributed to the fact that it was only 

 to a strong admixture of barbarian blood that the Italians owed their 

 restoration to political existence. The dregs of a nation never possess 

 a national literature. 



Coleridge has observed that " Gothic art depends on a symbolical 

 expression of the infinite," or what cannot be circumscribed within 

 the limits of actual sensuous being, while in ancient art everything 

 wan finite and material. (' Lit. Remains,' vol. i. p. 68.) This applies 

 more directly to architecture, but in a measure also to literature, 

 although we think that the introduction of Christianity had more to 

 do with it than the cause which Coleridge assigns, namely the wild 

 liberty of the Northman's habits and manners and the imagery of 

 nature which surrounded him. Perhaps the greatest difference which 

 u traceable between the ancient and the modern epic has been pro- 

 duced by that spirit of devotion to the female sex which characterises 

 all the Gothic nations ; and arising as it does, partly from the refine- 

 ment of an instinct and partly from religious impressions, is very 

 superior, u a motive of action, to the mere unmitigated instinct for 

 war which constitutes the prevailing feature of the ancient epic, or at 

 least of the heroic poems. 



We have been at no pains to notice those detached epic poems 

 which have appeared at different times since the revival of learning, 

 although some of the most noble specimens of this style of poetry are 

 to be numbered amongst them ; still less have we intended to give 

 anything like sketches of any which we have mentioned, as this is 

 properly done under the heads of the several authors, in Bloo. Div. 



(Thirlwall'M /Iiii;ri, :/ 1,'reete, vol. i. ; Grote's Jfiilory of Vreccc, vol. 

 ii. ; Mure's Cfitieal Uittory of the U,,<,, M! ,<: and Literature of Ancient 

 Greece, vol. 1. ; Ulrici, Qadacktt der ffelienitchen IXMuntt ; Baohr. 

 Abriu MT Romitchen Llteratnr-Ottffiichte.) 



IMClll.nl! II YKHIN. [CHI.ORHYDBIX.] 



KI'It'YCl.K. a rin-le, tin' centre of which is carried round upon 

 another circle : a term of the PTOI.VM MI SVMKM. 



r.l'lrvrl.nin. [TROCHOII..M. Ci KVF.S.] 



KI'ICVCI.OIDAI. TK1TH o|' WHKKLS. [WHEELS, TEKTII OF.] 



KPIDKMIC (iwttfiiuos, rpidtmiut; from M,'m the sense of 

 " all through," and JKjpor, " people ") diseases are those which prevail 

 among a large portion of the people of a country, rage for a certain 

 time, and then gradually diminish and disappear, to return again at 

 periods more or less remote. Thus cholera and influenza have pre- 

 vailed as epidemic diseases in this country ; and the continued iY\ers 

 called synochus and typhus, and what are termed the eruptive fevers, 

 as scarlet fever, the small-pox, the measles, frequently prevail an 

 epidemics in different parts of the country. It is essential b 

 medical notion of an epidemic disease that it be dependent 

 common and widely-extended cause, of a temporary in contradistinc- 

 tion to a persistent nature. [ENDEMIC.] 



EPIDERMOSE. [FIBRIN.] 



EPIGRAM ('Eirlypan/M, Kjiir/niMma; from the Greek M, , 

 ffxlQfiv, write), in its proper sense, is a writing on an inscription ; 

 whence it comes to signify a short poem, such as might be comprised 

 within the limits of an inscription. For an account of the class of 

 poems called epigrams by the Greeks, see ANTHOLOGY ; they are dedi- 

 catory, descriptive, amatory, elegiac ; rarely humorous or satirical ; 

 and their merit consists " in the justness of a single thought, conveyed 

 in harmonious language." (Preface to Bland and Merivale's ' Antho- 

 lSy-') Much of early Greek history was preserved in epigrams, to 

 which Herodotus and Thucydides often refer ; as for instance, those 

 concerning the battle of Thermopylae (Herod, vii. 228), one of which is 

 thus literally translated : " Here once four thousand from Pelopon- 

 nesus fought with three millions." 



The Latin epigram approaches nearer to the English acceptation of 

 the term, being much oftener dependent for its merit upon humour 

 and personality. The most distinguished Latin epigrammatists are 

 Catullus and Martial, in whom there is much wit, disfigured by 

 much scurrility and obscenity ; but many of the epigrams of Martial 

 are epigrams in the Greek sense, and some of them are characterised by 

 a propriety of thought and felicity of expression that could not easily 

 be surpassed. The Latin Anthology of Peter Hut-man the younger 

 contains a large collection of epigrams, by numerous authors, of \\ hii-h 

 many resemble in simplicity the Greek epigrams. 



In English the word signifies a short poem, which, to be good in its 

 kiii'l. must be clear, concise, and elegant in expression, and must con- 

 tain a point, that is, some striking and unexpected turn of thought ; 

 whether it be humorous or serious is indifferent. The following terse 

 and elegant compliment 'addressed by Pope to Lord Chesterfield, on 

 being asked to write with that nobleman's pencil, may serve as well as 

 any for a specimen : 



Accept a miracle ; instead of wit, 



.See two dull lines by Stanhope's pencil writ. 



EPILEPSY, Ejiilepsii (&riAj^is), 'a seizing.' Synonymes: Morbut 

 (lirinus, litrculcut, cumitiulis, nullifies; Falliii'i >/,,,.<. Sudden abolitii 'it 

 of sensation and consciousness, with convulsions [CONVULSION] of the 

 nusclcs of voluntary motion, ending in a state of sopor or apparent 

 sleep, the attack recurring in paroxysms more or less regular. The 

 attack of epilepsy is usually quite sudden. The person, while in his 

 ordinasy health, and perhaps engaged in his usual occupation, utters a 

 nercing scream. If standing, he falls to the ground, where he lies for 

 i moment in a state of extreme rigidity, almost amounting to tet anir 

 tiffness; but this state is quickly succeeded by convulsions, which 

 ariously agitate the limbs and the trunk of the body. The he 

 generally thrown backwards ; the eyes are open, fixed and staring ; the 

 mpils are dilated; the vessels of the head and neck are swollen, 

 etidering the countenance flushed, and sometimes of a dusky hue ; 

 .he muscles of the face are in violent action, producing frightful dis- 

 unions of the countenance ; the muscles that move the lower jaw 

 1> >,-( the mouth with violence, producing gnashing of the teeth ; the 

 ongue, which is swollen and livid, is thrust out forcibly between the 

 oeth, and is often grievously wounded ; the arms are sometimes tossed 

 iolently about the chest, or struck against it ; the hands and fingers 

 ire in a state of rapid alternation, between the motions of flexion and 

 ixtension ; the lower extremities are agitated in a similar manner ; the 

 humbs are drawn inwards, and the toes incurved : and a quantity of 

 rothy saliva flows from the mouth, which is often bloody from the 

 vouuds inflicted on the tongue. The muscles on one side of the body 

 are commonly more violently agitated than those of the other. .^ 

 jases are on record in which the muscular contractions were so violent 

 hat the bones of the limbs were broken, the teeth fractured, and the 

 oints dislocated. Generally the convulsions have for a few moments 

 some remission, when they are again suddenly renewed with great 

 iolencc. The breathing is disordered in consequence of the convul- 

 sion of the muscles of respiration. At first heavy and difficult as if a 

 oad were placed upon the chest, it becomes at length quick, short, 

 rregular, and stertorous, and is often accompanied with sighing and 

 iioaning. The diaphragm, the muscles of the abdomen, and the mus- 

 cular fibres of the bladder, contract with so much violence that the 

 it.ceti and tho urine are discharged involuntarily and with great force 



