L Y S 



L Y S 



JEgos-Potamos, in the Thracian Chcrfonefus, and wholly de- 

 ftroyed it except three fhips, with which the enemy's general 

 fled to Evagoras, king of Cyprus. In this celebrated 

 battle, which happened 405 years before the Chriltian era, 

 the Athenians loll 3000 men, and with them their empire 

 and influence among the neighbouring ftates. Lyfander 

 knew how to take advantage of this viftory, and in the 

 following year Athens, worn out by a long war of 27 

 years, gave itfelf up to the power of the enemy, and fub- 

 mitted, in every rcfpcft, to the power of Lacedrnmon. The 

 government of Athens was totally changed, and 30 tyrants 

 were fet over it by Lyfander. This fuccefs, and the ho- 

 nour of ha\'ing put an end to the Peloponnefian war, ren- 

 dered the conqueror extremely proud, and ambitious of 

 higher diftinftions than the conftitutionof his country would 

 allow. He aimed at univerfal power, by eflablifhing arif- 

 tocracy in the Grecian cities of Aiia, and he attempted to 

 make the crown of Sparta eleftive, in order that he might 

 feize it for himfelf, but was, in this refpeft, unfuccefsful, 

 and he was accufcd of grofs corruption in endeavouring to 

 accomplifli his purpofes. The fudden declaration of war 

 againft the Thebans faved him from the accufations of his 

 adverfaries, and he was fcnt with Paufanias againft the 

 enemy. The Spartan troops were defeated, and their ge- 

 neral Lyfander killed in the year B.C. 394. His body was 

 recovered by his colleague Paufanias, and honoured with a 

 magnificent funeral. Lyfander was a brave man, but his 

 ambition merited the fevereft cenfure He was arrogant 

 and vain in his public, as well as in his private conduft, 

 and he received and heard with the greateft avidity the 

 hymns which his coiTrtiers and flatterers fung to his ho- 

 nour. But in the midil of all his pomp, his ambition, and 

 his intrigues, he died extremely poor, and on account of his 

 poverty his daughters were rejedled by two opulent citizens 

 of Sparta, to whom they had been betrothed during the 

 hfe of their father. Plutarch. Cornelius Nepos. Anc. 

 Univer. Hift. 



LYSANDRIA, Avs-m^^ix, in Jntiquhy, a Samian fefti- 

 val, celebrated with facrifices and games in honour of 

 Lyfander, the Lacedamonian admiral. It was anciently 

 called herea, which name was aboliftied by a decree of the 

 Saniians. 



LYSANO, in Geography, a town of Pruffia, in the pa- 

 latinate of Culm ; I '; miles S. of Culm. 



LYSE, a town of Norway ; 8 miles S.S.W. of Berg-en. 

 LYSEKIL, a fea-port town of Sweden, in the province 

 of Weft Gothland ; 16 miles W. of Uddevalla. 



LYSERUSj PoLYCARP, in Biography, a learned Lu- 

 theran divine, was born at Winendeen, in Germany, in 

 1552. He was educated at the expence of the prince of 

 Wittemburg, and was diftinguifhed as •^'ell for great in- 

 duftry as confiderable talents. He became diftinguiflied 

 as a preacher, and received frequent applications to preach, 

 on particular occafions, at Vienna, and in other parts of 

 Auftria. In 1576 he took his degree of doftor of di- 

 vinity, and in the following year, Auguftus, eleftor of 

 Saxony, was induced, by the fa-ne of his pulpit talents, 

 to appoint hiai a minifter of the church of Wittemburg. 

 He was foon raifed to the profeiTorfhip of divinity in the 

 univerfity, pnd attained to other high honours. In the year 

 1594, he was appointed minifter of the court of Drefden, 

 ■where he fpent the remainder of his life, occupied r.ot only 

 in literary labours, and in minifterial duties, but in the edu- 

 cation of young princes. He died in 1601, in the forty- 

 ninth year of his age. He was a very voluminous writer, 

 particularly as i commentator on the fcriptureS. He wrote 

 ikewife feveral coutroverfial treatifes. 



LvsEnu.s, JoHK, a Lutheran divine of the fame family, 

 diftinguidied for his vaft zeal as a writer in defence of po* 

 lygamy. The moft confiderable of his publications is en- 

 titled " Polygamia Triumphatrix," &c. He fpent his fortu ic 

 and his life in endeavours to maintain and propagate his 

 favourite doftrine, and with incredible pains travelled t hrough 

 almoft every country on the European continent, exami' i.ig 

 libraries for materials to confirm his fyftem. At length, 

 having fpent all his property, and being reduced to great 

 diftrefs, he died in the neighbourhood of Paris in 1684., 

 Moreri. 



LYSIANTHUS, in Botany. (See Li.si.vnthus.) The 

 latter is, no doubt, the original reading in Browne's Ja- 

 maica. Lamarck adopts the former, apparently from At/:i;, 

 a diffolvcr, alluding to the deobftruent or purgative qualities 

 of fome of the fpecies dcfcribed by Aublet. 



LYSIARCHA, an ancient kind of magillrate, being 

 the pontiff" of Lycia, or fuperintendant of the facred games 

 of that province. 



Strabo obferves, that the lyfiarcha was created in a fcwn- 

 cil confifting of the deputies of twenty-three cities ; that is, 

 of all the cities in the province ; fome of which cities had 

 three voices, others two, and others but one. 



Cardinal Norris fays, that the lyfiarcha prefided in matters 

 of religion ; in effefl, the lyfiarcha was nearly the fame 

 with the ajiarcha, and fyriarcha ; who, though they were 

 all the heads of the councils, or ftates of thofe provinces, 

 yet were they eftabliftied principally to take care of the 

 games and feafts celebrated in honour of the gods, whofe 

 priefts they were inaugurated, at the fame time that they 

 were created lyfiarcha, fyriarcha, or tfiarcha. 



LYSIAS, in Biography, an eminent Greek orator, born 

 at Svracufe about the year 459- B.C. He accompanied 

 his father to Athens while he was very young, and was edu- 

 cated with great care in that city. In procefs of time he 

 became himfelf a teacher of rhetoric, and compofcd orations 

 for others, but does not appear to have been a pleader. He 

 diftinguiftied himfelf by the eloquence and purity of his 

 orations, of which it is laid by Plutarch, he wrote no lefs 

 than 425, though the number may with more probability 

 be reduced to 230 ; and of thefe only 34 remain, which are 

 to be found in the coUeftions of the Greek orators. He 

 died in the 81 ft year of his age, and in the 378th year B.C. 

 Lyfias attained great reputation in his time, which his 

 works afterwards fupported, and he is mentioned with ap- 

 plaufe by Cicero and Quintilian. Lyfias lived at a fome- 

 what earlier period than Ifocrates ; and exhibits a model of 

 that manner which the ancients call the " tenuis vel fub- 

 tiUs " He has none of the pomp of Ifocrates. He ia 

 every where pure and attic in the higheft degree ; fimple 

 and unaffefted ; but wants force, and is fometimcs frigid in 

 his compofitions. In the judicious compariion which Dio- 

 nyfius of Halicarnaftus makes of the merits of Lyfias and 

 Ifocrates, iie afcribes to Lyfias, as the diftinguiftiing cha- 

 ratter of his manner, a certain grace or elegance arifing 

 from fimplicity : " irs^'iKs 72^ -n A- iria Xsjic iyjti to x^-?'-"' '' ^' 

 Is-oxjzld;-, (3a\=TCii : i. e. the ityle of Lyfias has gracefulncfs 

 for its nature ; that of Ifocrates feems to have it." In the 

 art of narration, as diftinft, probable, and perfuafive, he 

 holds Lyfias to be fuperior to all orators ; at the fame time 

 he admits, that his compofition is more adapted to private 

 litigation than to great fubjetls. He convinces, but he 

 does not elevate nor animate. The magnificence and fplen- 

 dour of Ifocrates are more fuited to great occafions. He is 

 more agreeable than Lyiias ; and in dignity of fentiment, 

 far excds him. Blair's Ledl. vol. ii. The beft editions of 



Lyfiaa's 



