386 



LATIN EMPIRE LATITUDE. 



than hold any office in a churcli which enforced such 

 terms of communion, and retired into the country. 

 Here la- remained in privacy, until obliged to repair 

 to London for medical advice. There he was dis- 

 rosrred by the emissaries of Gardiner, and Imprisoned 

 for the remainder of Henry's reign. On the acces- 

 sion of Edward, he was released, and became highly 

 popular at court by his preaching, during that reign, 

 l)iit never could be induced to resume his episcopal 

 functions. He took up his abode with archbishop 

 Craiimer at Lambeth, where his chief employment 

 w;n to hear complaints and procure redress for the 

 poor. Soon after Mary ascended the throne, Lati- 

 mer was cited to appear before the council, in doing 

 which, an opportunity was afforded him to quit the 

 kingdom. He, however, prepared with alacrity to 

 obey the citation, and, as lie passed through Smith- 

 field, exclaimed, " This place has long groaned for 

 me." About the same time, Cranmer and bishop 

 Ridley were also committed to the Tower, and the 

 three prelates were confined in the same room. From 

 the Tower they were conveyed to Oxford, and con- 

 fined in the common prison, preparatory to a dispu- 

 tation, in which Latimer behaved with intrepidity 

 and simplicity, refusing to deliver any thing more 

 than a free confession of his opinions. The three 

 prelates, although condemned, remained in prison 

 sixteen months, chiefly because the statutes under 

 which they had been tried had been formally repealed. 

 In 1555, however, new and more sanguinary laws 

 having been enacted, in support of the Roman reli- 

 gion, a commission was issued by cardinal Pole, the 

 pope's legate, to try Latimer and Ridley for heresy. 

 Much pains were taken, during this second trial, to 

 induce them to sign articles of subscription, which 

 they steadfastly refused, and were, in consequence, 

 delivered over to the secular arm, and condemned to 

 the flames. This sentence was put in execution about 

 a fortnight after their condemnation, Oct. 16, 1555. 

 At the place of execution, having thrown off the old 

 gown which was wrapped about him, Latimer ap- 

 peared in a shroud, prepared for the purpose, and, 

 with his fellow-sufferer, was fastened to the stake 

 with an iron chain. A fagot, ready kindled, was 

 then placed at Ridley's feet, to whom Latimer ex- 

 claimed, " Be of good comfort, master Ridley, and 

 play the man. We shall this day light such a candle, 

 by God's grace, in England, as, I trust, shall never 

 be put out." He then recommended his soul to 

 God, and, with firmness and composure, expired. His 

 preaching was popular in his own times, in which 

 his simplicity, familiarity, and drollery were highly 

 estimated. 



LATIN EMPIRE. See Byzantine Empire. 



LATIN LANGUAGE. See Roman Language 

 and Literature. 



LATINS (Latini) ; an ancient people of Latium 

 in Italy, who sprang from a mixture of the aborigines 

 with Arcadian-Pelasgian and Trojan colonists. The 

 derivation of their name is unknown. It is not pro- 

 bable that they received it from king Latinus. Janus, 

 Saturn, Picus, and Faunus, who were deified by their 

 subjects, are represented to have been the most 

 ancient Latin kings. These names were probably 

 appellations of the old Pelasgian divinities. During 

 the reign of Faunus, Hercules and Evander are said 

 to liave arrived in Latium; the latter taught the 

 aborigines the use of the alphabet, music, ana other 

 arts, and also succeeded Faunus in the government. 

 About sixty years afterwards lived king Latinus, at 

 whose court ^Eneas (q. v.) arrived, married his daugh- 

 ter Lavinia, and succeeded to his throne. The city 

 of Alba Longa was built by Ascanius, the son of 

 jEneas by a former marriage, and made the seat of 

 the Latin kings. Henceforward we know nothing 



of the history of Latium, whose kings all bore the 

 surname of Sylvius, until Romulus and Remus laid 

 the foundations of a new city. Jealousy kindled a 

 war between these two sister states, the Latin and 

 the Roman, which terminated with the subjugation 

 of the Latins and the demolition of their capital. 

 Rome became the capital of all Latium, when king 

 Servius united the Latins with the Romans in a per- 

 manent confederacy. From this epoch, we may date 

 the beginning of the greatness and splendour oi 

 Rome; for, without the valour and friendship of the 

 Latins, she would never have obtained the dominion 

 of the world. Tarquinius Superbus endeavoured to 

 draw this alliance still closer; but, after his banish- 

 ment, he excited the Latins to rise against Rome. 

 This war of the Romans with the Latins, the first 

 since the alliance which had been made between 

 them, was decided in favour of Rome by the valour 

 of the dictator, and the treaty was renewed. In the 

 year of Rome 414, there was a still more dangerous 

 rupture between them. The Latins made war upon 

 the Samnites, who implored the assistance of the 

 Romans. A dispute arose between Rome and La- 

 tium, in which the latter went so far as to demand 

 that one consul and half of the senate should be 

 Latins. This demand was indignantly rejected by 

 the Romans, and, in the war which followed, the 

 Latins were reduced after a very severe struggle. 

 When the Romans had nearly obtained the dominion 

 of the world, the Latins made another attempt to 

 regain their freedom, by engaging in the Social war 

 (A. U. C. 663), and they succeeded so far as to re- 

 cover many of their privileges. (See Rome, and 

 Latium.} Niebuhr's History of Rome (introductory 

 chapter) contains a critical examination of the origin 

 of the Latins. 



LATINUS; a son of Faunus by Marcia. He was 

 king of the aborigines in Italy. He married Amata, 

 by whom he had a son and a daughter. The son 

 died in his infancy, and the daughter, called Lavinia, 

 was secretly promised in marriage, by her mother, to 

 Turnus, king of the Rutuli, one of her most powerful 

 admirers. The gods opposed this union, and the 

 oracle declared that Lavinia must become the wife 

 of a foreign prince. The arrival of ./Eneas in Italy 

 seemed favourable to this prediction, and Latinus, by 

 offering his daughter to the foreign prince, and 

 making him his friend and ally, seemed to have ful- 

 filled the commands of the oracle. Turnus, however, 

 disapproved of the conduct of Latinus; he claimed 

 Lavinia as his lawful wife, and prepared to support 

 his cause by arms. ^Eneas took up arms in his own 

 defence, and Latium was the seat of the war. After 

 mutual losses, it was agreed that the quarrel should 

 be decided by a combat between the two rivals, and 

 Latinus promised his daughter to the conqueror. 

 .<Eneas obtained the victory, and married Lavinia. 

 Latinus soon after died, and was succeeded by his 

 son-in-law. This is the form of the legend in the 



neid; other accounts are different. 



LATITUDE, GEOGRAPHICAL; the distance of 

 a place, on the surface of the earth, from the equa- 

 tor, measured by that arc of the meridian of the 

 place which is intercepted between the place and the 

 equator. Geographical latitude is either north or 

 south, according as the place, reckoned from the 

 equator of the earth, lies towards the north or the 

 south pole. Latitude is the measure of the angle 

 formed by a vertical line drawn from the place to 

 the centre of the earth and the plane of the equator. 

 Since, however, this vertical line, if continued to the 

 heavens, passes through the zenith of the place, and 

 the plane of the terrestrial equator, continued to the 

 heavens, meets the celestial equator, the latitude of 

 a place is also determined by the distance between 



