48 



JfSOP /ETNA. 



accounts of the winders which befell his infl'iicy. 

 Aoconliniif ti sonic. he \\.'s ,-\\ .M-d Ity his mother, 

 tuu'klcd by ft goflt- found by shepherds, and his di- 

 \ ine nature recognized by a glittering lialo round his 

 1 c;ul : according toothers, Coronis im\ injj admitted 

 the embraces of Ix-hysa* well ;is ||IOM- of Apollo, the 

 latter in a fit of anger (or Diana in his stead), killed 

 Coronis, but savea the child from her womb. The 

 last opinion was the most common, and was confirm- 

 ed by the Pythian oracle. Apollo afterwards brought 

 hU son to Chiron, who instructed him in medicine 

 and hunting. In the former he acquired a high de- 

 nf skill, so as to surpass even the tame of his 

 teacher. He not only prevented the death of the 

 living, but e\ en recalled the dead to life. Jupiter, 

 however, induced by the complaints of his brother 

 Pluto, slew JE. with a thunderbolt. After his death, 

 he received divine honours. In particular, he was 

 worshipped at Epidaurus in Peloponnesus, (see Ar- 

 folit), where a temple with a grove was dedicated to 

 him. From the accurate register here kept of the 

 most remarkable diseases and their remedies, the 

 greatest physicians gathered experience and know- 

 ledge. Thence his worship spread over all Greece, 

 and finally to Rome. After the plague had raged there 

 for three years, ambassadors were sent to JEsculapius 

 at Epidaurus by the advice of the Delphian Ajtollo. 

 They had hardly appeared before the god, when a 

 serpent crept from beneath his image, and hastened 

 directly to the Roman ship. This serpent, which 

 was thought to be ^sculapius himself, was carried 

 vrith great solemnity to Rome, upon which the 

 plague ceased, ^sculapius had two sons, Macliaon 

 ana Podalirius, who were called Asclepiades, and 

 during the Trojan war made themselves famous as 

 heroes and physicians. His daughters were Hygeia, 

 laso, Panacea, and .JSgle ; the first of whom was wor- 

 shipped as the goddess of health. /Esculapius is re- 

 presented with a large beard, holding a knotty staff, 

 round which was entwined a serpent, the symbol of 

 convalescence. Near him stands the cock, the sym- 

 bol of watclifulness. He is sometimes crowned with 

 the laurel of Apollo. Sometimes his little son Teles- 

 phorus is represented beside him, with a cap upon 

 his head, wrapped up in a cloak. Sometimes 2Escula- 

 pius is represented tinder the image of a serpent only. 

 jEsop ; the oldest Greek fabulist. He is said to 



have been a native of Phrygia, and a slave, till lie 

 was set free by his last owner. He lived about the 

 middle of the 6th century B. C. He inculcated 

 rules of practical morality, drawn from the habits ol 

 the inferior creation, and thus spread his fame 

 through Greece and all the neighbouring countries. 

 Croesus, king of Lyd!a, invited ^Esop to his court, 

 and kept him always about his person. Indeed, he 

 was never absent, except during his journeys to 

 Greece, Persia, and Egypt. Croesus once sent him 

 to Delphi to offer a sacrifice to Apollo ; while en- 

 gaged in this embassy, he wrote his fable of the Float- 

 ing Log, which appeared terrible at a distance, bu! 

 lost its terrors when approached. The priests o 

 Delphi, applying the fable to themselves, resolved to 

 take vengeance on the author, and plunged him 

 from a precipice. Planudes, who wrote a miserable 

 romance, of which he makes .ZEsop the hero, describes 

 him as excessively deformed and disagreeable in his 

 appearance, and given to stuttering ; but this ac- 

 count does not agree with what his contemporaries 

 say of him. The stories related of JEsop, even by the 

 ancients, are not entitled to credit. A collection o 

 fables made by Planudes, which are still extant, un 

 der the name of the Grecian fabulist, are ascribed to 

 bim with little foundation ; their origin is lost in tli 

 darkness of antiquity. Of the early editions, th 

 most valuable are those by Henry Stephens, Paris 



(i, 4to. ; and by Ilud-on, Oxford, 1718. Mon= 

 ately they have JM en piihii-hcd from the maim 

 cript, in a very dim rent form, by De I'uria, 2 vols., 

 'lorence, 180;>, and Ldnfc, 1810; Corray, Paris, 

 810; mid Schneider, Hreslau, 1811. The best 

 English versions are by ( Yoxall and Dodsley. These 

 'ables have had iiuinln rli -s imitators. 



Esori's, Clodins, a cclebr.ited actor, who flour- 

 -hcd alnmt the (>7<>ili year of Rome, lie was a con- 

 em porary of Iloscius. His folly in spending money 

 m expensive dMies made him as conspicuous as his 

 dramatic talents. He is said, at one t ntcrunnmeiit, 

 o have had a. dish filled with singing ;ind speaking 

 >irds, which cost 800. When acting, he emend 

 into his part to such a decree as sometimes to lie 

 seized with a perfect ecstasy. Plutarch mentions it 

 as reported of him, that, whilst he was representing 

 Atreus, deliberating how he should revenge himself 

 on Thyestes, he was so transported beyond himself, 

 that lie smote with his truncheon one of the servants 

 ivho was crossing the stage, and killed Jiim on the spot. 

 ^ESTHETICS (from the Greek aMn/nt, perception) ; 

 the science which treats of the beautiful, and of the 

 various applications of its principles. Baumgartvn, 

 a professor in the university at Frankfort on the 

 Oder, first used this name, and intended to designate 

 by it a branch of philosophy, which should cstablMi 

 correct principles of criticism in relation to the beau- 

 tiful. Since the time of Baumgarten, this word lias 

 been used in Germany, France, and Italy, and has 

 lately been employed by some English writers. For 

 the character of the science, and the attention which 

 it lias received, see Philosophy. 



.^THER : an extremely fine, subtile, and elastic 

 fluid, which philosophers have supposed to be diffused 

 throughout the universe, and by means of which they 

 have explained many of the great phenomena of na- 

 ture. It is mentioned by Aristotle. Its existence 

 cannot be proved. Newton believed in it, and ex- 

 plains by it the cdns$xiou of the parts of a body, and 

 the laws of gravity. Euler asserts that rether is 

 almost 39,000,000 times thinner, and 1,278 times 

 more elastic, than atmospheric air. 



./ETHER ; in chemistry. See Ether. 



.^ETHIOPIA. See Ethiopia. 



jEnns ; one of the most zealous defenders of 

 Arianism, Iwrn in Syria, flourished about A.D. 336, 

 and his followers were called jEtians. 



./ETNA (in Italian, monte Gibello) ; the famous vol- 

 canic mountain on the eastern coast of Sicily, not far 

 from Catania. This mountain rises more than 

 10,000 feet above the surface of the sea ; Buffon 

 thinks 2000 fathoms ; Saussure gives 10,963 fed, 

 Spallanzani 11,400, and Sir G. Shuckburgh 10,954. 

 Its circumference at the base is 180 miles. On its 

 sides are 77 cities, towns, and villages, containing 

 about 115,000 inhabitants. From Catania to the 

 summit the distance is 30 miles, and the traveller 

 must pass tlirough three distinct climates the hot, 

 the temperate, and the frigid. Accordingly, the 

 whole mountain is divided into three distinct regions, 

 called the fertile region (regione cvlta), the woody 

 region (regione selvosa), and the barren region (re- 

 gione deserta). The lowest region extends through 

 an ascent from 12 to 18 miles. The city of Catania 

 and several villages are situated in the first zone, 

 which abounds in pastures, orchards, and various 

 kinds of fruit-trees. Its great fertility is ascribed 

 chiefly to the decomposition of lava ; it is perhaps 

 owing, in part, to cultivation. The figs and fruits in 

 general, in this region, are reckoned the finest in 

 Sicily. The lava here flows from a number of small 

 mountains, which are dispersed over the immense 

 declivity of ^Etna. The woody region or temperate 

 zone, extends from eight to ten miles in a direct line 



