JE S O 



equal lacinl* or fringes of the lip. Tlie fpecics are, 



1. L.or /-E. mlnu/a, With a yellow abdoinen, two black lines, 

 hinder wings yellow, and two black fpGts, found in Cliin;i. 



2. /X. clavcila, with a clavated abdomen, gil)bou3 baft, 

 and body vanegated witli brown and green, found in Cliina. 



3. IE. macnliita or vanvgata, with two yellow lines on eaell 

 fide of the thorax, and a black fpot at the bafe of the 

 wings, found in Terra del Fuego. 4. jr.. j^nrm/is, with four 

 yellow lines on the thorax and variegated body, found near 

 the waters of Europe, and in the .Sandwicli iflands. 5. 

 R. forcipaia, with a black thorax, varioiis yellowillj marks, 

 and unguiculated tail, found in Europe. 



■ .ffiSICA, in ylncienl Geography, is luppofed to have been 

 the prefent village of Netterby in Cumberland. 



jESIS, F.firm, Fhimkino, a fmall river of Italy, which 

 feparaled the Senones from Piccnuin, and emptied itfelf 

 into the Adriatic fea. near Ancona. See Sil. Ital. lib. viii. 

 V. 446. ^ 



^SISIU-Vl, a town of Italy, belonging to the Uni- 

 brians. 



iESIT^, a people of Arabia Defcrta, placed by Pto- 

 lemy below the Cauchabcni. 



^SIUM, called alfo yEsis, a town of Umbria in Italy, 

 fituate upon the wellern bank of the .■Efis, which was the 

 common boundary of Umbria and Picenum. In after-ages 

 it received a Roman colony. 



^ESNECY, in Laiu, denotes priority of age among 

 coparceners. 



jESOLA, or iEsuLA, in Aiuient Geography, a town of 

 Italy, near the Tiber and not far from Pedum. It was 

 fituated upon a hill between the Tiber and Prxnefte ; and 

 according to Livy, who fpeaks of jlrx /Efulamt (1. xxvi. 

 c. ix. t. iii. p. 1069. Ed. Burman.) it was a fortilied place. 

 It is mentioned by Horace (1. iii. od. 25.) and by Pater- 

 culus (1. i. c. 14.) as a colony ; and Pliny alfo (1. iii. c. 9.) 

 fpeaks of the jEfolani in his time, though no vellige of 

 them now remains. 



..ESON, a town of ThefFaly, founded by ^fon, the fa- 

 ther of Jafon : and alfo a river of Theffaly towards Mag- 

 nefia, near this town. 



iESONA, or leforiLi, a town of Spain, between the 

 livers Sicoris and Nuceria. 



^SOP, in Biographf, a native of Phrygia, who lived 

 in the time of Solon, about the 5 ill or ^zA olympiad, the 

 firfl: year of which coincides with the 572d before Chrift, 

 and during the reign of Crocfus the laft king of Lydia. 

 His condition was that of a fiave, and his perlon was fo 

 deformed, that one of his mailers found great difficulty in 

 difpofmg of liim, as every one who law him was fhoeked 

 at the unfightlinefs of his figure. He is alfo feid to have 

 been for a confiderable time without the ufe of fpeech. 

 His mental talents, however, compenlated for his bodily 

 defecls, and commanded attention and refpcft notvvitli- 

 ftanding the meannefs of his condition. His firfl maftcr 

 was Demarchus, an Athenian, in whofe fervice he is fup- 

 pofed to have acquired his purity in the Greek tongue. 

 From him he was transferred to Xanthus, a Samian jshilofo- 

 pher ; and he was fold by Xanthus to ladmon, who was 

 likewife a Samian, and who granted him his freedom on 

 account of his extraordinary abihties ; others fay that lie 

 became free by the favour of Rhodope, a celebrated 

 courtezan. Having obtained his liberty, jEtop acquired 

 very ditlinguifhed reputation, and was much eileemed by 

 Crocfus, altliough in the firll interview his deformity made 

 an unfavourable impreffion on the mind of the king, who 

 found the obfcrvation of ^foj), on another oecafion, fignally 

 verified in his own cafe, ria. tjiat we ought jiot to coalider 



Vol. I. 



^ s o 



the form of the vefl'cl, but the quality of the liquor 

 wlu'cli it contains. Piixdrus (1. i. fab. 2.) informs us that 

 h e made fevcni! voyages into Greece, either for his own 

 pleafiirc, or upon the aflairs of Crccfus ; and being at 

 Athens foon afterPififtratushad ufui-ped the fovcrcignty and 

 abolifhcd the pojjular government, and obferving the im- 

 patience of the Athenians under tliis newyi.ke, he repeated 

 to them the fable of the frogs who demanded a king from 

 Jupiter. In order to account for the mifcries of human 

 life, ^fop ufed to fay, that when Prometheus formed man 

 of clay, he tempered the mateiials with tears. As to the 

 time of .lEfop's death, Eufebius and Suidas refer it to the 

 54tli olympiad ; but this date is not confident wrtli the 

 oecafion to which Plixdrus afcribes the fable of the frogs ; 

 for Pifiltratiis alTumed the fovcrcignty of Athens in the 

 firfl; year of tlie 55th olympiad. In Blair's Tables, his 

 death is fixed to about the year before Chrill, 561. The 

 manner of his death is thus related by Plutarch, in hii 

 treatife de his qui fero a nurniue ptiniuntur, (apud Oper. 

 torn. ii. p. 556. Ed. Xylandr.) Having gone to Delphos, 

 by order of Crocfus, with a large quantity of gold and 

 filvea-, to offer a coftly facrifice to Apollo, and to diilribute 

 a confiderable fum amongft the inhabitants, a quan-el arofe 

 between him and tlie Delphians, wliicli, induced him to re- 

 turn the money, and to inform the king tliat the people 

 were unworthy of the liberal bencfaftion which he intended 

 for them. The inliabitants of Delphos, thus incenfed, 

 charged liim witli facrilege, and having procured his con- 

 demnation, precipitated him from a rock and OLcafioned his 

 death. Apollo puniflied them for this aft of violence with 

 pellilence and famine ; and in order to avert thefe evils, it 

 was proclaimed in all the aiTemblies of Greece, that if any 

 one, for the honour of ^fop, would claim vengeance for 

 his death, they would give him fatisfadtion. A "relation of 

 ladmon, a foi-mer mailer of .iEfop, prefented himfelf, fays 

 Herodotus (1. ii. p. 168. Ed. WefleHng.) and obtained 

 fatisfaftion ; and thus the Delphians were refcned from the 

 peililence and famine by which they were diflrelfed. The 

 Athenians afterwards eredled a noble ilatue, executed by 

 Lyfippus, to the honour of this ingenious and learned flave, 

 in order to let all the people know, as PhiKdrus (lib. ii.) 

 obferves, that the path of honour was alike accefiTible to all 

 mankind ; and that it was not to birth, but merit, thef 

 rendered this diftinguiihing honour. 



" ^fopo ingentem ftatnam pofuere Attici, 



Senumque colloearunt a;terna in bafi, 



Patcre lionoris fcirent ut cundlis viam. 



Nee genere tribui, fed virtuti gloriam." 

 jEfop, it is faid, compofed his fables, in order to allevi- 

 ate the hardfliips of fervitude ; and it has been generally 

 fuppofcd that he was the firfl author or inventor of thi* 

 fpecies of compofition : and thus Phxdrus (Prol. ad lib. i,) 

 reprefents him : 



" iEfopus auilor qiiam materiam reperit, 



Hanc ego polivi vcrfibus fenariis. 



If any thoughts in thefe Iambics (hine, 



Th' invention's ^fop's, and the veife is mine.'* 

 But Qiiindliliari (Inil. Orat. 1. v. c. II. tom. i. p. 44.1.) 

 afcribes the honour of the invention to Hefiod, who is 

 known to have lived 1 30 years before the time of /^fop : 

 and he fpeaks of them as admirably adapted to delight and 

 captivate the minds, particularly, of the vulgar and unin- 

 formed, ^fop, however, improved this kind of writing, 

 and adopted a variety of images, which combine the acriee- 

 able with the inflruftive, and cdmmunicato praftical pre- 

 cepts ifi a familiar and impreffive niannet. 'J'o this purpoie 

 S s Aului 



