LAC 



497 



LAC 



more vigorous course. Considering the cphori as the 

 source of the evil, he caused them to be put to death 

 in a secret and summary manner ; and having called 

 an assembly of the people, restored the ancient con- 

 stitution in all its simplicity and rigour. But the ha- 

 bits of his countrymen were too depraved to be so in- 

 stantaneously renovated ; and, as soon as he had quit- 

 ted the capital to take the command of the army against 

 the Achaeans, with whom a quarrel had arisen, the new 

 discipline was again relaxed. His efforts to break the 

 domination of the Aclia-an league over the other states 

 of Peloponnesus were at first successful ; but, by the 

 aid of Antigonus of Macedonia, his army was almost 

 annihilated in a general engagement at Sellasia; and, 

 afraid to encounter his disaffected subjects, he sought 

 an asylum in the Egyptian court. The Spartans, no 

 longer worthy of the name, after suffering the most un- 

 paralleled cruelties from the sanguinary tyrant Nabis, 

 were reduced by Philopu-men to a state of complete 

 subjection to Achaia; and, finally, surrendered their 

 own liberties, as well as the general independence of 

 Greece, by committing themselves to the protection 

 of the Romans. See the references under the article 

 GREECE, (a) 



I. AL'QL'EK is a varnish applied to brass and other 

 metals, in order to improve their colour, and preserve 

 them from tarnishing. The different lacquers are 

 lormed by shell lac dissolved in alcohol. Sec GILDINU 

 and VAHM-II. 



FIRMIAM-S, sometimes called also 

 Lucius Cuclius, or Cectliiis, one of the Christian fathers, 

 is supposed to have been born at Firmiim, in Italy, 

 and to have thence derived his surname of Firmi- 

 aOM But he is more generally considered as a na- 

 tive of Africa, whc-r t least, ascertained, that 

 he received a part of hi* education under Arnolmi- 

 at Sicca, and where he was probably bom about tin- 

 end of the third crntur- i- ruth ng known 

 with certainty of In- origin . but he soon became dis- 

 tinguished as a rhetorician, ami was selected by Dio- 

 cletian as a teacher of the art in Nicomedia. It i 

 ';nown how he escaped the cruel persecution which 

 that emperor soon aftrr directed at>aint the Christians ; 

 but he appears to have remained in Nicomedia for 

 ; after its commencement. He is said to have 



I little employment as a teacher of rhetoric, and is 

 understood to have betaken himself on that account to 

 writing. During the greater part of his life he lived 

 in a state of poverty ; but historians are not agreed, 

 whether this was in consequence of his labours tailing 

 of their just reward, or of a voluntary renunciation of 

 wealth on his own part. He was at one time, how- 



honourablr, and not unprofitably employed, when, 

 in his old age, be was appointed by Constantine to in- 

 stinct hi* son Crispus Co-tar in the Latin language. 

 < )n thii service be removed to Gaul, and resided at 

 coon ; but it is not known what became of him after 

 the death of his pupil, except that be attained to a 

 great age, and died, as he had lived, in poor circum- 

 stances. He wrote a number of treatises, of which the 

 roost valuable are hit work De oprribui Dei, in winch 



cusses the subjects of creation and providence ; 



istuutianei Diitiur, a general and able defence of 



:anity against all the objections of the heathen*, 

 of which he afterwards drew up an abridgment, i 

 uppoted to have been lost, till it was discovert 

 I'faff. in the library of the king of Sardinia at Turin, 

 and first published at Paris, in 171'-' :; and, lastly, his 

 VOL. ur. PART ii. 



book De ira Dieina, a learned and elegant, as well as Littometnr. 

 complete treatise on the subject. There are numerous "*~~Y~*^ 

 editions of the works of Lactantius, the first of which 

 was published at Rome in 1468, folio; and one of the 

 most ample at Paris in 1748, in 2 vols. 4to. 



Lactantius, as a writer, is one of the most elegant 

 and pleasing of the fathers. He was possessed of emi- 

 nent talents, which he employed in the service of reli- 

 gion with the most disinterested views. His works 

 discover a considerable portion of learning, and arc pe- 

 culiarly distinguished by the beauty and eloquence of 

 the style. He studiously imitated, in this respect, the 

 great Roman orator ; and is generally denominated 

 " the Christian Cicero." He was an ardent investiga- 

 tor of truth in general, and earnestly zealous for the 

 vindication of the Christian faith. He is said to have 

 had a natural impetuosity of temper, whi-;h is supposed 

 to have biassed his conclusions on some occasions. But 

 he was distinguished altogether by uncommon upright- 

 ness and simplicity of character ; and though more 

 successful in refuting heathen errors than unfolding 

 sacred truth, he may be ranked among the ornaments 

 of the Christian name in the age in which he lived. 

 See Hutoire Literaire de la France, torn. i. ; Tillemont, 

 Eccl. t. vi.'; Lardner's Credibility of the Gospel 

 IJittory, part ii. ; and A Concise Viem of the Succession 



crrtf Literature, by Dr. Adam Clarke, (q) 

 LACTOMETER, is the name of an instrument, in- Dicas'slic- 

 vented by Mr. Dicas, mathematical instrument maker tometer. 

 in Liverpool, for ascertaining the different qualities of 

 milk, or the richness of milk, from its specific gravity, 

 compared with water, by its degree of warmth taken 

 with a standard thermometer. As we have never seen 

 the instrument, we have taken the following descrip- 

 tion of it from the Agricultural Survey of Lancashire. 

 It is constructed with ten divisions upon the stem, 

 similar to the patent brewing hydrometer, and with 

 eight weight*, which are to be applied only one at a 

 time upon the top, to obtain the weight of milk ; an 

 ivory killing-rule accompanies the instrument, upon the 

 middle or sliding part of which is laid down the lacto- 

 meter weight of the milk, going from to 80 ; and 

 opposite thereto are placed the various strengths of the 

 milk, from watrr to 1 60; 100 having previously been 

 fixed upon, from a number of experiments, as the stand- 

 ard of good in w-milk, and each of the other numbers 

 bearing a proportionate reference thereto. At one end 

 of the slidmg-rule, the degrees of heat, from 40 to 100, 

 are placed with a star opposite, as an index to fix the 

 lide to the temperature of the milk ; the whole being 

 graduated to shew the exact strength of the milk, as it 

 would appear in the temperature of 55 of heat, al- 

 though tried in any inferior or superior temperature 

 between 4O and 1 00* : 'thus the great inconvenience 

 which would attend bringing the milk at all times to 

 one temperature is avoided, and a simple mechanical 

 method of allowing for the contraction and expansion 

 substituted. And as skimmed milk, being divested of 

 the particles of butter which existed before skimming, 

 appears to have a less degree of affinity with that than 

 the new milk has, one side of the ivory slulin^-rule is 

 adapted to skimmed, and the other to new milk. 



i-ral Rule. First, find the temperature of the 

 milk with the thermometer, and fix the sliding rule so 

 that the star shall be facing the degree of heat the mer- 

 cury rises or falls to ; then put in the lactometer, and try 

 which of the weights, applied to the ton, will sink it 

 to some one division upon the stem ; acid the number 



3 n , 



