GYM 
doubly pinndtt,> ~~ leaflets- ovate, tightly ftalked, 
If long, e, entire, veiny, flightly dowry 
s in ‘terminal, compound bunches, 
whitifh, pee downy. Legumes four or five inches long, 
thick and flefhy. Seeds very hard, Fae ae much moitture, 
and a hot-bed, to make them vegetate. The tree, accord- 
large, 
an inch and ha 
down or removed, fuch parts of the roots 
as happen ~ ca, produce abana ce of y young } plants. 
GYMN DIA, akind of dance, eftablifhed by Ly- 
curgus ers among the ancient ee 3 per- 
formed, haiti their facrifices, by y oung perfons, who 
danced naked, finging at the fame AP a hymn in honour 
of Apollo! . a 
The word is alfo written re ead 3 it is com 
of yur, naked, and wa: c 
erpander is recorded as the j inventor of the pation A 
Athenzus deferibes it as a Bacchic dance, performed by 
youths ftripped quite naked, with certain interrupted thoug 
agreeable motions and geftures of the body; the arms and 
iene being flourifhed and directed after a peculiar manner, 
reprefenting a fort of real wrettlin 
GYMNOPODIA, among the cients, a kind of fhoes 
which difcovered the naked feet. They were worn by the 
women 
erfoon, oe -of one hundred and thet) ive 
which have a central ftalk, deftitute of a veil or 
“GYMNOPY RIS, in Natural Hi iflory, the name of a 
genus of foffils, the charaéters of which are thefe : they are 
of the clafs of the pyrite, and are a inflammable, 
metallic bodies, found in detac no determinately 
ps yd figure ; of a fimple internal rine er not itriated ; 
are naked, or not covered wit nee Sata coat or 
cruft, in which they differ from the pyrip 
Of this genus there are only two iconic ieaiens 
GYMNOSOPHISTS, a clafs of Indian philofophers, fa- 
mous in antiquity ; fo denominated from their going barefoot. 
The word is formed of the Greek Wine pe A d.a fo- 
phitt or philofopher who goes naked. 
This name was given to the Indian shite fophers, whom the 
of heat of the country obliged to go naked; as that 
Peripatetic was given to thofe who philofophifed walk- 
sa etetins Vives, &c. will not have Gymmofophift to 
ve been the name of any particular feét, but a common 
¥ vame of all the philofophers in the Indies; and hence they 
vide them into Brachmans and Germani. 5 
the 
and by ther 
exand. Albii, 
eee Ale 
to come nearett to the notion co: Gymnofophifts. 
Clement: ‘relates, that thefe Alobii neither inhabit cities 
towns, are clothed moftly with the leaves of trees, 
hands, 
Germani, called alfo by Porphyry » a. 
emens Alexand. Sarmane,' fome were called Hylobii, 
tahig fom marge and drink aries of their 
* 
GYM 
advanced age. One of them, ae Calamus, thus burnt 
himfelf in the prefence of Alexan eat. 
The Indian Gymnofophifts were more rg eae by 
feverity of manners than by the Swi te of fcience, and 
they feem to have more refemble ern monks ‘hen an- 
cient philofophers. Some of hen. however, ailowed them- 
felves a greater latitude of manners than others; but their 
general Shavadteriftios were rigid abflinence, indo!ence, and 
the pride of independence. Of their high fpirit Strabo re- 
lates the following inftance: when Oneficritus was co 
miffioned by Alexander to invite a body of thef 2 phil. 
phers to vilit him, they refufed to go, faying, chide if Alex- 
ander had any bufinefs with the Brachmans, he might come 
them. Their abitinence and hardy endurance made a 
{trong impreffion on the minds of the multitude, and gave 
them great influence in an age of ignorance and f{uperitition ; 
more efpecially, as they arrogated to themfelves the whole 
bufinefs of Fortling future events, and agi ones to 
8 Arrian Exp. 
concerns. 
Alex. lv 
rae Forid. lib, i. defcribes ie Cee thus; 
“« They are all devoted to the t f wifdom, both the 
elder mafters and the younger phe. ; ind what A me ap- 
pears the moft amiable thing in their chara is, that they 
have an averfion to idlencte and pecagee 
foon as the table is {pread, before 
the youths are all called together Ewe their fe 
offices, and the mafters examine them what 
done fince the fun-rife; here one relates fomething he 
difcovered by meditation ; another has learned Pacthing by 
demonttration ; and as thofe who have ert to 
ed why they fhould dine, Roi! are turned out to 
fi, 
oa 
rom, was one 
ranked’ by Suidas among on ‘Bs mans, 
makes Buddas, the preceptor of Manes the Perfian, ' 
founder of the Gymnofophifts. 
Ptoiemy affignstotheG ymnofophitts a fituation in the north- 
eaftern part of India, between the Hyphatis and the Ganges; 
whereas the a Sabai or Brahmins, a branch of the Gym- 
nofophiftsy were fixed by the fame geogr 
part of t is region, between the Solenus and the Chaberus, two 
rivers not far from the fea-coait, and by thefe different fitua- 
tions, he feems to have confidered the latter as feparate 
diftinét from the former. 
‘There were likewife ‘African Gymnofophifts, who dwelt 
vper a mountain in Ethiopia, near the Nile, without the ac- 
ommodation either oufe or cell. e did not form 
eheiniclien’t into focieties, like aged of India ; but 998 had 
his private retirement, where and fp d his 
devotions by himfelf. If any pe ribo bid 
chance, he applied to thefe ie for cP and fub-. 
h mitted to whatever penances they enjoined. They pretend- 
ed to Sd cr cle and lived only upon the 
fruits of the earth. Lucian Ses Tey pertiemedl the 
feveral new difcoveries in aftronomy. 
< funétions after the a, of the Egyptian = 
had diftiné colleges and claffes of np Nae and t shee 
pave in Sewer ee language. ; were. 
rapher in the fouthern ~ 
C 
. 
i 
