8(3 



ElUDANfS ERIS. 



with one of these mares, and transformed himself 

 into a horse. The product of this union was twelve 

 colts, which bounded over the plains without injuring 

 a spire of grass, and skimmed the waves of the sea. 

 I'nctlioiiius obtained the kingdom of Troy by the 

 death of his brother Ilus without children. He mar- 

 ried Astyoche, the daughter of Simos, by whom (or, 

 according to some, by Callirrhoe, the daughter of 

 Scamander) he became the father of Tros. 



Another ErictAonius, king of Athens, was, as fable 

 'relates, the son of Vulcan and Atthis, daughter of 

 '-'ranaus. Ericthonius was educated in the temple 

 of Minerva, by the goddess herself. When he grew 

 up, he drove Amphitryon from his throne, and reigned 

 in his stead. He erected a statue to Minerva ; or, 

 according to some, a temple in the citadel, and insti- 

 tuted, in her honour, the festival called Panathenceon. 

 The fabulous history of this Ericthonius is differently 

 related. He is said to have had dragon's feet; and, 

 on account of his inability to walk, to have, invented 

 a four-wheeled covered wagon to conceal his feet in 

 it. For this reason, Jupiter placed him among the 

 stars, where he became a constellation, under the 

 name of Bootes, 



ERIDANUS (probably the Po, in Italy); a river 

 famous in mythology, mentioned in the return of the 

 Argonauts. When Phaeton, who is also called 

 Eridanus, was struck by the thunderbolts of Jupiter, 

 he fell into this river and his three sisters, the 

 Heliades, lamented him till they were changed into 

 poplars. They did not cease to weep for him even 

 in this condition; and their tears falling into the 

 water of the river, became transparent amber. It is 

 believed by many, that the amber found on the shores 

 of the Baltic passed, by barter, through several 

 savage tribes, until it reached the Adriatic sea, where 

 Greek and Phoenician merchants came to buy it. 



ERIE ; a lake of North America, through which 

 the boundary line runs which separates the United 

 States from Canada ; about 280 miles in length from 

 S. W. to N. E., from 10 to 63 in breadth, and 658 in 

 circumference; containing about 12,000 square miles. 

 It is 120 feet deep, and its surface is 334 feet above 

 that of lake Ontario, with which it is connected by 

 the Welland canal, and 565 feet above the tide water 

 at Albany, with which it is connected by the great 

 Erie canal ; Ion. 78 35' to 83 10' W. ; lat. 41 20' 

 to 42 50' N. This lake is of dangerous navigation, 

 011 account of the great number of rocks which pro- 

 ject, for many miles together, from the northern shore, 

 without any shelter from storms. A constant current 

 sets down lake Erie, and, with the prevalence of 

 north-western and south-western winds, renders the 

 up-lake navigation tedious. There are several 

 tolerably good harbours on the south shore, the 

 principal of which are Buffalo and Dunkirk, New 

 York ; Erie, Pennsylvania ; Sandusky, Ohio, besides 

 the harbour at Put-in-bay island. It discharges its 

 waters at the north-east end into the river Niagara. 

 A battle was fought on this lake, September 10th, 

 1813, between the American fleet, under commodore 

 I'erry, and the English fleet, in which the latter was 

 taken. The lake is now navigated by several steam- 

 boats. The rapid progress of civilization is also 

 perceptible in the region beyond it. In 1812, the 

 news of the declaration of war against Great Britain 

 by the United States did not reach the post of Michi- 

 liuiackinac under two months. It is now within ten 

 days' distance from the Atlantic ocean. 



ERIGENA (JOHN SCOTOS). The birthplace of this 

 eminent scholar and metaphysician lias been disputed ; 

 notwithstanding the patronymic usually affixed to 

 his name, (which in his days, or at least a century or 

 two earlier, signified a native of Ireland,) the weight 

 of evidence seems to predominate in favour of Ayr- 



shire, in Scotland. At an early age he visited 

 Greece, and especially Athens, where lie devoted 

 himself to the study of Oriental as well as classical 

 literature, and became no mean proficient in logic 

 and philosophy. Charles the Bald, king of France, 

 invited him to his court, and encouraged him in the 

 production of some metaphysical disquisitions, which 

 gave great offence to the church, by the boldness 

 with which he impugned the doctrines of transub- 

 st initiation and predestination. But his grand offence 

 was the translating into Latin a pretended work of 

 Dionysius the Areopagite, the supposed first Christian 

 preacher in France. Many passages in this treatise, 

 although popular among the clergy of the east, were 

 extremely obnoxious to the Romish hierarchy, and a 

 peremptory order from pope Nicholas to Charles, 

 commanding the immediate transmission of the culprit 

 to Rome, induced that monarch to connive at his 

 escape into England, in preference to delivering him 

 up to the vengeance of the papal see. Alfred the 

 Great received Erigena gladly, and placed him at 

 the head of the establisliment lately founded by him 

 in Oxford, then called the King's Hall, and now more 

 generally known as Brazen-nose College. Here he 

 continued to lecture on mathematics, logic, and as- 

 tronomy, about the year 879 ; but, after a residence 

 of little more than three years, disputes arising, tra- 

 ditionally said to have proceeded from the severity 

 of his discipline, he gave up his professorship, and 

 retired to the abbey of Malmesbury, where he again 

 superintended a number of pupils, whom the fame 

 of his learning had drawn to him. The time of his 

 decease, or murder, for he is said to have been 

 stabbed to death by his scholars, with the iron styles 

 or bodkins then in use in writing, is variously stated 

 as having occurred in the years 874, 884, and 886 ; 

 it is, however, more credibly asserted, that the jea- 

 lousy of the monks, rather than the insubordination 

 of his pupils, was the real cause of his death, inas- 

 much as his heterodoxy had given great offence to 

 their fraternity. This statement of facts has, how- 

 ever, been, with considerable probability, disputed 

 by other writers, who are of opinion, that the English 

 historians have confounded John Scotus Erigena with 

 another, John Scot, abbot of Ethelingay, who taught 

 at Oxford. In proof of the latter supposition, Mac- 

 kenzie, in Ids first volume of Scottish writers, quotes 

 a letter from Anastasius Bibliothecarius to Charles 

 the Bald, written in 875, which speaks of Erigena as 

 then dead. Doctor Henry, in his history of England, 

 thinks it probable that he died in France. A treatise 

 written by him with great acuteness and metaphysical 

 subtilty, De Divisione Natura, was published at 

 Oxford, in folio, by doctor Gale, in 1681. A work 

 of his, against transubstantiation, entitled De Corpora 

 et Sanguine fromini, is also extant, printed in 1558. 

 He is said to have been as celebrated for his wit as 

 for his learning. 



ERINNYES. See Furies. 



ERIPHYLE, in fabulous history, daughter of 

 Talaus, and wife of Amphiaraus, whom she betrayed 

 for a necklace presented to her by Polynices, so that 

 he was compelled to go to the war of the seven 

 princes against Thebes, where he knew he was to 

 perish. Her son, Alcmseon, slew her for her trea- 

 chery ; but ^Esculapius restored her to life. The 

 necklace was made by Vulcan, and had the power 

 of rendering whoever wore it unlucky. 



ERIS, in heathen mythology, the goddess of dis- 

 cord, daughter of Night, and sister of Nemesis and 

 the Parcae or Fates ; not being invited to the mar- 

 riage of Peleus, she revenged herself by throwing a 

 golden apple into the room where the gods and 

 goddesses were assembled, with this inscription : 

 For the most beautiful. Juno, Minerva, and Venus 



