344 



ORIGINAL* OR IOK, 



was coimuou to soul and body. Origen spoke on 

 this subject likewise with such power, that he giiined 

 them all over to his own opinions. In a new perse- 

 cution, under the emperor Decius, Origen was viewed 

 as a pillar of the church, was thrown into prison, and 

 subjected to the most cruel sufferings. Exhausted 

 by this severity, he died, at Tyre in Uie year 254. 



Few authors have written so much as Origen : few 

 men have been so much esteemed aud admired, and 

 yet attacked with such virulence, and persecuted 

 with such severity, both during his life and after his 

 death. He was reproached with having attempted 

 to blend the Christian doctrines with the notions of 

 Plato. Particularly in his book De Principiis, di- 

 rected against heretics, and now extant only in the 

 fragments of a translation by Rufinus, he presents a 

 system founded on the Platonic philosophy ; but he 

 gives his opinions only as a possibility ; moreover, 

 the heretics of liis own time, as he says himself, cor- 

 rupted his writings. He has been accused, without 

 reason, of favouring materialism. He expressly op- 

 poses those who consider God as having a corporeal 

 nature. Of his works (represented to be 600), with 

 the exception of the one just mentioned, there are 

 extant only his Exhortation to Martyrdom, commen- 

 taries, homilies, and scholia on the Holy Scriptures, 

 of which he may have intended to explain the whole. 

 We still have a large number of them ; but they are, 

 in general, nothing more than free translations. He 

 made a general application of the figurative or alle- 

 gorical explanations of the Jews, and rejected the 

 literal meaning, which he regarded as the mere 

 external part of the former. Besides these exegetical 

 works, he distinguished himself by his critical talent 

 in his Hexapla, of which an edition was published by 

 Montfaucon, and afterwards by Chr. Fr. Bahrdt. 

 His work against Celsus is considered as the most 

 complete and convincing defence of Christianity 

 which antiquity can boast. His works, complete in 

 four volumes folio, were published by De la Rue 

 (Paris, 1733 59). There has been much contention 

 about the orthodoxy of Origen. In the fourth cen- 

 tury, the Arians appealed to his authority to confirm 

 the truth of their doctrines. The most learned and 

 the most celebrated fathers have been found both 

 among his friends and opponents. 



ORIGINAL. See Deer. 



ORILLON, in fortification, is a small rounding of 

 earth faced with a wall, raised on the shoulders of 

 those bastions that have casements, to cover the 

 cannon in the retired flank, and prevent their being 

 dismounted by the enemy. 



ORINOCO, or ORONOKO; a river of South 

 America, one of the largest in the world. Its source 

 has not been ascertained with certainty, but, accord- 

 ing to La Cruz, it rises from the small lake Ipava, in 

 lat. 5 5' N. It has a very circuitous course of up- 

 wards (including its windings) of 1500 miles, and 

 flows into the Atlantic, opposite to the island of Trini- 

 dad, by about fifty mouths, seven of which are navi- 

 gable. The principal mouth, six leagues wide, is 

 south-east of Trinidad, in Ion. 59 50' W., lat. 8 

 30' N. The Orinoco is connected with the Amazon 

 by the Rio Negro and Cassiquiari, and receives the 

 waters of many large rivers, among which are the 

 Meta, A pure, Arauaa, Caura, and Caroni. At the 

 distance of 200 leagues from the ocean, it is from 

 2500 to 3000 fathoms wide ; and at St Thomas, 3850 

 fathoms ; and, in March, when the waters are lowest, 

 it is 65 fathoms deep. During the rainy season, it 

 inundates the immense plains through which it flows, 

 the inundation extending, during the highest floods, 

 from eighty to ninety miles on each side, presenting 

 to the eye a boundless expanse of waters. On the 

 banks of the Orinoco the magnificence of the scenery 



is beyond description. Forests of the greatest extent 

 are filled with aromatic trees, which diffuse the most 

 delightful odour; birds of the most various and beau- 

 tiful plumage abound, and hordes of monkeys follow 

 the astonished traveller. Passing these forests, enor- 

 mous plains extend their verdant surfaces farther 

 than the eye can reach, and the cataracts of the Ori- 

 noco give their name to the whole Cordillera, and 

 are represented as the most tremendous that have 

 ever been observed ; but no good description of these 

 falls has yet been given, though they constitute the 

 only outlets from the country situated east of the 

 Andes, to the vast plains of the Amazon. 



ORIOLE (icterus, Briss.). The beautiful birds, 

 designated under this name are well known, in all 

 parts of the United States of America, by the rich- 

 ness of their plumage and the peculiar form of their 

 nests. They are exclusively found in America, in- 

 habiting the United States during the summer, <md 

 wintering farther south. The female differs widely 

 from the male in brilliancy of colour and in size. 

 The young resembles the female very closely. They 

 usually moult but once a year, but the colours are 

 more vivid in the spring, the plumage of the male, 

 in winter, being somewhat like that of the female. 

 They build in trees, fly well, and walk quick, holding 

 the body almost erect. 



The species inhabiting the United States are /. 

 Baltimore (see Baltimore Bird}; I. spurius ; male bird 

 chestnut ; head, neck, wings, and tail black ; female 

 and young olive green ; beneath yellow; wings and 

 tail dusky. This species is commonly known under 

 the name of orchard bird. It inhabits all parts of 

 the Union in summer, and is far from being uncom- 

 mon. /. phueniceus, or red-winged blackbird ; this 

 bird, so well known for his predatory habits, is found 

 in all parts of the United States in large flocks. The 

 male is black, with the lesser wing-coverts of a bril- 

 liant red ; female blackish, varied with whitish. /. 

 stanthocephalus, yellow-headed troopial, found in the 

 Western territory and Mexico. It is black, with the 

 head, neck, and breast yellow orange, and a white 

 spot on the wing. The female is a dark brown ; 

 throat whitish, and a round yellow patch on the 

 breast. /. pecorts, or cow-bird ; a well-known spe- 

 cies, inhabiting the Northern States during the sum- 

 mer, and wintering to the southward. These are 

 the only birds that, like the cuckoo, deposit their 

 eggs in the nests of other species : they also resem- 

 ble the European starling, in following cattle and 

 alighting on their backs. The male is glossy black, 

 with the head and neck of a deep silky drab. The 

 female is sooty brown, paler beneath. /. agripen- 

 nis ; reed bird or rice bird. 



ORION ; a hero of ancient mythology. He is 

 commonly called the son of Neptune and of Berylla.. 

 According to Homer, he was a beautiful youth, of 

 whose charms Aurora became enamoured. The 

 gods were jealous of her love, and Diana slew him 

 with her arrows, in the island of Ortygia. Accord- 

 ing to other "writers, he was a king and a great 

 hunter, and, as Homer says, continued, even in the 

 lower world, to hunt in a large meadow the animals 

 he had killed upon earth. He was of such gigantic 

 size, that when standing in the middle of the sea, tht 

 water only reached his shoulders. His eyes were 

 put out by OZnopion, whose daughter he had at- 

 tempted to carry away. The oracle, which he con- 

 sulted, advised him to stand in the sea, exposed to 

 the rays of the sun, until he should regain his sight. 

 He died of the sting of a scorpion. Others say that 

 Diana loved Orion so passionately that she wished 

 him for her husband. This condescension so offend- 

 ed her brother Apollo, that he resolved on the death 

 of the insolent mortal. When Orion, therefore, 



