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TiCtory declared for the Epigoni, and fome of the The- 
bans fled to Illyricum with Leodamas their general, while 
others retired into Thebes, where they were foon befieg- 
ed, and forced to furrender. In this war ASgialeus alone 
was killed, and his father Adraftus was the only perfon 
who efcaped alive in the firlt war. This whole vyar, as 
Paufanias obferves, was written in verfe ; and Callinus, 
who quotes fome of the verfes, afcribes them to Homer, 
which opinion has been adopted by many writers. Poi¬ 
nty part, continues the geographer, I own that next to 
the Iliad and Odyfley of Homer, I have never feen a finer 
poem. Apollodorus. This name has been applied to the 
fans of thofe Macedonian veterans, who, in the age ot 
Alexander, formed connections with the women of Alia. 
EPIGO'NATIS,/ [Gr.] The pan of the knee. 
E'PIGRAM,/. [ epigramma , Lat.] A fliort poem ter¬ 
minating in a point.—A college of witcrackerscannot flout 
me out of my humour : do’it thou think I care for a fatire 
or an epigram ? Shakefpeart. 
I writ 
An epigram that boafts more truth than wit. Gay. 
EPIGRAMMATIC, orEpiGRAMMATiCAt,,aj/;'. [ epi- 
grammaticus, Lat.] Dealing in epigrams ; writing epi¬ 
grams.—Our good epigrammatical poet, old Godfrey of 
Winchefler, thinketh no ominous forefpeaking to lie in 
names. Camden. —Suitable to epigrams ; belonging to epi¬ 
grams.—Me is every where above conceits of epigrammatick 
wit and grofs hyperboles : he maintains majetly in the 
midft of plainnefs ; he (bines, but glares not ; and is 
ftately, without ambition. Addifon. 
EPIGRAM'MATIST,y. One who writes or deals in 
epigrams.—Suchacuftomer the epigrammatijl Martial meets 
withall, one who, after he had walked through the faired 
ftreet twice or thrice, cheapening jewels, plate, rich hang¬ 
ings, came away with a wooden difli. Peachum. 
EP'IGRAPH,yi [from f<an, upon, and Gr. wri¬ 
ting.] An infcri.ption on a building, pointing out the 
time when, the perfons by whom, the ufes, &c. for which 
it was erefted. 
EPIGRY'PHUS,yi [from vmt, and ygtnj/, Gr. a hawk. ] 
Having amofe like the beak of a hawk, commonly called 
a Roman nofe. This was the diftinguifhing charadberiftic 
of the Egyptian god Ofiris. See Egypt, in this volume. 
EPI'LA, a town of Spain, in the province of Aragon, 
on the Xiloca : feventeen miles weft of Saragolfa. 
EPILAMP'SIS,y. [from £®-iAag.'Erw, Gr. to thine.] The 
fparkling and fhining lights which feem to appear before 
the eyes of epileptic perfons. 
EP'ILEPSY,yi [from I’mXapGuvco, Gr. to feize upon. ] 
A convulfion, or convullive motion of the whole body, or 
fome of itsparts, with a lofs of fenfe. A convulfive mo¬ 
tion happens when the blood, or nervous fluid, runs into 
any part with fo great violence, that the mind cannot rc- 
ftrain them. See the article Medicine. —Melancholy 
diflempers are deduced from fpirits drawn from that ca- 
^hochymia, the phrenitis from cholerickTpirits, and the 
epilepfy from fumes. Flayer. 
EPILEP'TIC, adj. Convulfed ; difeafed with an epi¬ 
lepfy.— Epilepticks ought to breath a pure air, unaffefted 
with any (teams, even fuch as are very fragant. Arbulhnot. 
EPILEP'TICS,/! [ epileptica , Lat. from iw^wiGr., 
the epilepfy.] Medicines which cure or relieve an 
epilepfy. 
EPILO'BIUM, f. [ £ ®i Ao£ 0 y toy, Gr. “ a violet 
upon a pod a rare inftance of the name exprefling an 
elfential character of the plant.] In botany ; the Wit,- 
tow-HERB ; a genus of the clals oCtandria, order mono- 
gynia, natural order of calycantheinse. The generic 
characters are—Calyx : perianthium one leafed, four- 
parted, fuperior ; divilions oblong, acuminate, coloured, 
deciduous. Corolla : petals four, roundifh, outwardly 
wider, emarginate, expanding, inferted into the divifiojts 
of the calyx. Stamina : filaments eight, fubulate, the 
alternate ones (horter; anthers oval, comprefled, obtufe. 
Piftillum : germ cylindric, extremely long, inferior; 
E P I 807 
ftyle filiform; (tigma four-cleft, thick, obtufe, rolled 
back. Pericarium : capfule extremely long, cylindric, 
ftreaked, four-celled, four-valved. Seeds : numerous, 
oblong, crowned with down ; receptacle extremely long, 
four-cornered, free, flexile, coloured.— EJfcntial CharaElcr. 
Calyx four-cleft ; petals four; capfule, oblong, inferior; 
feeds, downy. 
Species. I. Stamens bent down, i. Epilobium anguffi- 
folium, or narrow.leaved or rofebay willow-herb : leaves 
fcattered, linear-lanceolate,quite entire, veined, flowers un¬ 
equal. Thele plantsare hardy perennials, not void of beau¬ 
ty ; they are, however, commonly conlidered only as weeds, 
and accordingly are Celdom cultivated in gardens, except 
the prelent fpecies, which has an upright (fern, from three 
to fix feet high, branched at top, round, and pubefeent ; 
branches alternate ; leaves alternate, running (lightly down 
the (tern, fmooth, the edge minutely and rarely indented, 
the midrib whitifh, the lateral nerves are nearly at right 
angles with this, and the leaves at their firft appearance are 
rolled in at the edge ; flowers purple, (howy, growing in 
a kind of long fpike, on purple peduncles, the length of 
the germ, bending down before the flowers open, but 
afterwards eredl, feldom more than four or five blown to¬ 
gether on the fame fpike. There is a variety of this with 
white flowers. From the fimilitude of the leaves to thofe 
of willow, this plant obtained the name of willow-herb or 
French willow. It was formerly much planted in gardens; 
but, as it overruns all the neighbouring plants by means 
of its creeping roots,.it has generally been caff out: how¬ 
ever, in low moift places, or in great (hade, this plant will 
make a good appearance when it is in flower, which will- 
be near a month, if the feafon be not very hot. It is na¬ 
tive of mod parts of Europe from Lapland to Italy. In 
Britain it is not common ; on Maizehill, beyond Green¬ 
wich, and other places near London, it has probably got 
out of gardens ; but in other places it is undoubtedly 
wild, as near Alton in Hamplhire ; in Charlton foreft, and 
feveral other woods in Suffex, where Mr. Miller found 
it in great plenty, far from any habitations; about Berk- 
hampitead, in Hertfordfhire ; in feveral parts of York- 
fhire ; and many places in Scotland. The young (hoots 
are (aid to be eatable, although an infufion of the plant 
ftttpifies: the pith, when dried, is boiled, and becoming 
(weet, is by a proper procefs made into ale, and this into 
vinegar by the Kamtfchatdales ; it is alfo added to the 
cow-patfnip, to enrich the fpirit that is prepared from 
that plant; as fodder, goats are faid to be extremely fond 
of it, and cows and (beep to eat it ; the down of the feeds 
mixed with cotton or fur has been manufactured into 
(lockings and other articles of clothing. 
2. Epilobium angufliflimum, or linear-leaved willow- 
herb : leaves fcattered, linear, obfeurely toothletted, 
veinlefs; petals equal, quite entire. This fpecies has 
been confounded with the foregoing. ProfelfOr de Sauf- 
(ure fays it differs in its woody Item, its very narrow 
leaves with falient glands on their edges, the much more 
lively colour of the flower, (horter (iliques, and the air 
entirely different. Haller adds, that the Item is only a 
foot or eighteen inches in height with a branch from al- 
ntofl: every axil ; the flowers almoft the fame with the 
foregoing, but the leaves totally different. M. Villars 
fays, that the flowers do not come in a fpike, like thofe 
of the preceding, but terminate the (fern, and are fewer 
in number. It is an alpine plant, but is common low 
down in the beds of the alpine torrents ; as in the Vevaife, 
and the Grande Eati near Aigle ; found alfo in Provence, 
Dauphine, Savoy, &c. and flowers in July and Augufi. 
3. Epilobium latifolium, or broad-leaved willow-herb z 
leavesalternate, lanceolate-ovate ; flowers unequal. This 
differs from the firff fpecies in having flowers twice the 
(ize ; the leaves broader, regularly alternate, not fcattered, 
very fmoothly tomentofe on both (ides. The ftem is 
round, eighteen inches to upwards of two feet in height, 
and ereft. Both this and the firll differ from the follow¬ 
ing fpecies in having unequal corollas with entire petals ; 
the flamens converging at the bafe to the ftyle.; the piffil 
bent 
