LYCANTHROPY LYCUKGUS. 



589 



the lieail. Tn 1783, he returned 10 France, having 

 received the most flattering expressions of esteem 

 from congress; and, in 1788, was sent ambassador to 

 London, where he remained till his death, in 1791. 

 When the federal government was organized, the 

 secretary of state (Jefferson) addressed a letter to the 

 chevalier De la Luzerne, by direction of Washington, 

 for the purpose of making an express acknowledg- 

 ment of his services, and the sense of them enter- 

 tained by the nation. 



LYCANTEIROPY (from the Greek Xvxes a wolf, 

 and atfyavai, a man); as defined by Cottgrave, " a 

 freiizie or melancholic, which causeth the patient 

 (who thinks he is turned woolf ) to flee all company 

 and hide himself in dens and corners." Herodotus, 

 with great naivete, tells us, that, when he was in 

 Scythia, he heard of a people which once a year 

 changed themselves into wolves, and then resumed 

 their original shape; "but," adds he "they cannot 

 make me believe such tales, although they not only 

 tell them, but swear to them." But the lycanthropes 

 of the middle ages, or loups-garoux, as they were 

 called by the French, were sorcerers, who during 

 their wolfhood, had a most cannibal appetite for 

 human flesh. The Germans called them Wahrwolfe. 

 Many marvellous stories are told by the writers of 

 the middle ages, of these wolf-men, or loups-garoux , 

 and numerous authentic narratives remain of victims 

 committed to the flames for this imaginary crime, 

 often on their own confessions. 



LYCEUM; an academy at Athens, which derived 

 its name from its situation near the temple of Apollo, 

 *.ux.w>f (slayer of the wolf). In its covered, walks, 

 Aristotle explained his philosophy. In modern times, 

 the name of lyceum has been given to the schools 

 intended to prepare young men for the universities; 

 for in them the Aristotelian philosophy was formerly 

 taught in the scholastic form. 



LYCIA; a maritime province of Asia Minor, 

 bounded by Caria on the west, Pamphylia on the 

 east, and Pisidia on the north. Its fertility and 

 populousness are attested by the twenty-seven cities 

 mentioned by Pliny, which formed a confederated 

 republic, with a congress which regulated the pub- 

 lic concerns, and a president called the Lyciarch. 

 Little is known of the early history and geography 

 of this country. See Beaufort's Karamania, Lon- 

 don, 1817. 



LYCOPHRON, born at Chalcis,in Euboea, a Gre- 

 cian grammarian, and the author of several tragedies, 

 lived at Alexandria, 280 years B. C., under Ptolemy 

 Philadelphia, whose favour he won by the invention 

 of anagrams. He is said to have died of a wound, 

 inflicted by the arrow of an antagonist with whom 

 he was contending on the merits of the ancient poets. 

 Of all his writings, there remains but one tragedy, 

 Cassandra (Alexandra), which is written in iambics, 

 and bears the marks of learning acquired by piUient 

 industry; it is therefore very difficult, and filled with 

 obscure allusions. It is, properly speaking, a con- 

 tinued soliloquy, in which Cassandra predicts the fall 

 of Troy, and the fate of all the heroes and heroines 

 who shared its ruin. It affords some information of 

 value respecting antiquities and mythology. A 

 grammarian, named John Tzetzes, has written a 

 commentary upon it. See the edition, cum Commen- 

 farto Johannis Tzctzee, Cura Jo. Potteri (Oxford, 

 1697 and 1702, folio); also those by Reichard, with 

 a commentary of Canter (Leipsic, 1788), by Sebas- 

 tiani (Rome, 1803), by C. G. Muller (Leipsic, 1811, 

 three vols.) 



LYCURGUS, the Spartan lawgiver, supposed to 

 have flourished in the latter half of the ninth century 

 B. C., was, according to the commonly received tra- 

 ditions, the youneest son of the Spartan king Enno- 



mus. His eldest brother, Polydectes, succeeded his 

 father in the government, but died soon after, leaving 

 the kingdom to Lycurgus. As the widow of Poly- 

 dectes was known to be pregnant, Lycurgus declared 

 that, if she bore a son, he would be the first to 

 acknowledge him for his king. To convince the 

 Lacedaemonians of his sincerity, he laid aside the 

 royal title, and administered the kingdom as guardian 

 to the future heir. In the mean while, the queen 

 sent word to him, that, if he would marry her, she 

 would without delay cause the death of her child. 

 He flattered her with the idea that he would comply 

 with her wishes, until he obtained possession of the 

 child. From the joy of the people at his birth, the 

 child received the name of Charilaus (joy of the 

 people). Lycurgus, by the wisdom of his administra- 

 tion, had already won general esteem; and his noble 

 disinterestedness now raised his glory to a height 

 which awoke envy against him in the minds of some 

 of the most distinguished Spartans, with whom the 

 queen conspired to revenge her disappointment. 

 She spread among her people the opinion, that it 

 was dangerous to intrust the future heir of the throne 

 to the man who would gain most by his death. To 

 avoid this suspicion, Lycurgus was obliged not only 

 to resign the guardianship of the young king, but 

 even to leave his country. Whether this resolution 

 was partly induced by the desire of seeing foreign 

 nations, and learning their manners, or not, we do 

 not know; but, at any rate, he is described as employ- 

 ing the time of his absence in this way. After visit- 

 ing Crete, and admiring the wise laws of Minos, he 

 went to Ionia. The effeminate and luxurious life of 

 the inhabitants, the feebleness of their laws, which 

 formed a striking contrast with the simplicity and 

 vigour of those of Crete, made a deep impression 

 upon him. Here, however, he is said to have become 

 acquainted with the poems of Homer. From hence 

 he is said to have travelled into various countries, 

 including Egypt, India, and Spain. But, as we do 

 not find in his laws any traces of Indian or Egyptian 

 wisdom, this seems to be doubtful. 



In the mean while, the two kings, Archelaus, and 

 Charilaus, were esteemed neither by the people nor 

 by the nobility; and, as there were no laws sufficient 

 to maintain the public tranquillity, the confusion 

 passed all bounds. In this dangerous situation, Ly- 

 curgus was the only man from whom help and deliv- 

 erance could be expected. The people hoped from 

 him protection against the nobles, and the kings 

 believed that he would put an end to the disobedience 

 of the people. More than once, ambassadors were 

 sent to beg him to come to the assistance of the state. 

 He long resisted, but at last yielded to the urgent 

 wishes of his fellow-citizens. At his arrival in Sparta, 

 he soon found that not only particular abuses were to 

 be suppressed, but that it would be necessary to form 

 an entirely new constitution. The esteem which his 

 personal character, his judgment, and the dangerous 

 situation of the state, gave him among his fellow- 

 citizens, encouraged him to encounter boldly all ob- 

 stacles. The first step which he took was, to add to 

 the kings a gerousia, or senate of twenty-eight persons, 

 venerable for their age (see Gerontes), without 

 whose consent the kings were to undertake nothing. 

 He thus effected a useful balance between the power 

 of the kings and the licentiousness of the people. 

 The people, at the same time, obtained the privilege 

 of giving their voice in public affairs. They had not, 

 however, properly speaking, deliberative privileges, 

 but only the limited right of accepting or of rejecting 

 what was proposed by the kings or the senate. The 

 Spartans conformed in general to the institutions of 

 Lycurgus; but the equal division of property excited 

 among the rich such violent commotions, that the 



