ALE 



tKree confiderable temples, viz. thofe of die Ephcfiiin Diana, of 

 Minerva Alca, and of Bacchus. The fcall of Bacclius, called 

 SiUrna, was celebrated ever)' third year ; and I'aiilanias re- 

 lates, tliat on this oceafion they privately fcourged the wo- 

 men at the altar of this deity. 



Alea was alfo a town of ThefTaly, and another of Spain, 

 where Steph. Byz. places the Carpctani. 



ALEANDER, Jerome, in Biographt, was born in 

 1480, and dillinguilhed hiinfelf in the i6th century by his 

 ■violent oppofition to Luther and the Reformation. Lusher 

 fays he was a Jew, prabably on account of his accurate ac- 

 quaintance with the Hebrew language ; but Bayle (hews that 

 he was defcended from a Catholic family of dillinition in If- 

 tna_. His memoi'y was fingularly retentive, and enabled him 

 to acquire not only the Hebrew, Greek and Latin, but alfo 

 many modern languages. According to Luther, who is con- 

 traditled by Bayle, he was at Rome in the pontificate of 

 Alexander VL and was fecretaiy to the infamous Cxfar 

 Borgia. It is acknowledged, however, that he was invited to 

 France by I^ewis XH. in 1508, to teach the Belles Lettres 

 in the univerfity of Paris. In this fituation he was fo much 

 elleemed, that he attracted the attention of Leo X. and by 

 the recommendation of this pontiif he became ftcretary to 

 the cardinal de Medici ; and afterwards fucceeded Acciaioli 

 as librarian of tlie Vatican. In 1519 he was fent by Leo as 

 his nuncio into Germany ; and in the diet of Worms he de- 

 claimed for three hours againll the dotlrine of Luther. Al- 

 though he declined the contcfl to which Luther challenged 

 him, he had influence fufBcient to obtain an edift, wliich he 

 himfelf drew up, for burning his books and prolcribing his 

 perfon. In 1531 he was again nuncio in Germany, and at- 

 tempted, though unfucccfsfuUy, to diffuade Charles V. from 

 niaking a tnjce with the Protellants in this country. Having 

 been created cardinal by Paul III. in 1537, he was fent a 

 third time into Gennany, where, as tlie pope's legate, he ex- 

 erted himfelf in cliccking the progrcfs of the Reformation. 

 LTpon his return to Rome he died in 1542, in confequenceof 

 taking too many unnecefTary medicines, andjull as he was 

 fmilhing a large work againft all the profeiTors of literature, 

 which was never publiflied. The works which he has left are 

 a Greek and Latin Lexicon, printed at Paris in 1521, fol. 

 and a Greek Grammar, printed at Strafburg in I J 17, Svo. 

 Luther reprefents Aleander as a man deftitute of principle, 

 of violent palTJons, iiifatiable avarice, and licentious conduft ; 

 but he was an adverfary, and allowance fhould be made for 

 the feelings and language of rcfentment. Erafmus fpeaks 

 with refpecl of his learning, but complains of his unileadi- 

 nefs as a friend, of his want of veracity, and of the injury 

 which he fuffered from his accufations. Aleander's mortifi- 

 cation at feeing the progrcfs of herefy, notwlthftanding his 

 Mtmoft efforts to rellrain it, is emphatically expreffed in the 

 epitaph, which he compofed for his own tomb. 



" Not unreluftant I refign my breath. 



For to behold life's ills is w orfe than death." 



Gen. Dia. 



Aleander, Jerome, the Touii^ei; the nephew of the 

 former, was by proftdiou a civilian, and a writer of fome dif- 

 tinttion in the 17th century. He was fecretury firll to Ban- 

 dini, and afterwards to Barberini at Rome, and a member of 

 the literary academy denominated Humouriils ; for which 

 fociety he wrote feveral pieces, and one on the device adopted 

 by the fociety. In the way of his profciTion he wrote 

 " Commentaries on the Inftltutes of Caius ;" and as an anti- 

 quarian he wrote a piece iiititled, «' E.xphcatiu anliquse ta- 



Vol.. I. 



ALE 



buitt Marmorcx Solis effigie exfculptie," Sec. printed in 4to. 

 at Rome, in 16 16, and at Paris ni 161 7. He alfo wrote 



Italian and I^ailn poem.s, and fome pieces on eecltfiaftical af- 

 fairs. His death, which is laid to be owing to cxcefs of eat- 

 ing, happened in 1631; and his funeral, which was magnifi- 

 cent, wds conducted and attended. by his afibciatca ot the 

 academy. Gen. Dift. 



ALEA70RIUM, in Roman Antiquity, was the place 

 where they played at alat. 



The aleatorlum was near the fpharijlcrium ; that the fpoilf« 

 men, vs'hen tired with the pila, or more robuft cxcrcifcs, 

 might refrelh thcmfclves in the alcatorium. 



ALEBECE, in Afuiait Geogiiiphy, atown of Gaul, fnp- 

 pofed to be the fame with Albiccce. 



ALEBUS, a rivcrof Spain. 



ALEC, in Icl>tbyology,z name given by Gaza, in his com- 

 mentaries on Arillotlc, to the filh ciUed by that author mat- 

 tiis, and by Ovid mencrela. It is of the sparus kind. 



ALECOST. See Tanacetum. 



ALECTO, in Mythology, one of the three Furies, daugh- 

 ter of Acheron and Night, or of Pluto and Proferpine ; (he 

 is reprcfented with vipers about her hcaJ and wings, and 

 armed with vipers, fcourges, and torches. The name de- 

 notes envy, or tiiat whicli has no reft ; being derived from 

 c: priv. and ^lyw, / rejl. See a fine defcription of tliij Fury la 

 Virgil. jEn. vii, 



Ai.ECTO, in Entomology, a fpecies of Sphinx, with the 

 fore wings grey above, and the pollerior red, with a black 

 bafe and margin ; found in India. 



ALECTO R, in Ornithology, a fpecies of C&AX, with *. 

 yellow cere, black body, and white belly. 



ALECTORIA, derived from aAiKri^'^, a cod, in Natu- 

 ral Hiflory, a ilone laid to be found in the ftomach, liver, or 

 rather gall-bladder of old cocks. * 



It is ordinarily of the figure of a lupine, and feldom ex- 

 ceeds the bignefs of a bean. It has abundance of virtues at- 

 tributed to it, but moll of them are fabulous. 



This is othenvife called alcilorius lapis, foraetimes ahdora- 

 lithos, in Englilh the cock-llone. 



The more modern naturalifts hold the ale8onus lapis to be 

 originally fwallowed down, not generated in the ftomach or 

 gizzard of cocks and capons. 



ALECTORICARDITES, compounded of the Greek 

 a^ixTilp, cod, and KxpJiai, heart, in Natural Hijlory, a name 

 given by Plot to a figured Hone refcmbling a pullet's heart, 

 with the fat near the bafis of it, and the coronary veffels de- 

 fcended from it. 



ALECTO RIUS lapis, is ufed for a fmall fpecies of lufon- 

 lies, or disjunct fcgment of a palate of a fifh, approaching to 

 the nature of the chckdonius lapis. 



ALECTOROLOPHUS, in Botany. See Bartsia, 

 PEDICUtARIS, and Rhinanthus. 



ALECTOROMANTIA, from aXixTc.;, a coch, and 

 fiKirna, ilii'ination, in Antiquity, an ancient kind of divination, 

 performed by means of a cock. 



This art was in ule ajnong the Greeks ; and the ufual 

 manner of it was this. A circle was made on the ground, 

 and divided into twenty-four e<[ual portions, or fpaces : in 

 each of which fpaces was written one of the letters of the al- 

 phabet, and upon each of thefe letters was laid a grain of 

 wheat. This done, a cock was turned loofe in the circle, 

 and careful obfervation was made of the grains lie pecked. 

 The letters correfpondiug to thofe grains were afterwards 

 formed into a word ; which word was to be the anfwer de- 

 iired. 



It was thus that I^ibanius and Janiblichus fought v'h« 

 lliould fucceedlhe emperor Valens; and the cock anfwering 



4 F to 



