*? 5 
L A T , 
(elves in the latitude of thirty degrees two minutes fouth. 
Swift. —A particular degree, reckoned from the equator. 
■—Another effect the Alps have on Geneva is, that the 
fun here rifes later and fets fooner than it does to other 
places of the fame latitude. Addifcm. —Unreftrained accep¬ 
tation ; licentious or lax interpretation.—In fuch latitudes 
of fenfe, many that love me and the church well may 
have taken the covenant. King Charles. —Freedom from 
fettled rules ; laxity.—In human aftions there are no de¬ 
grees and precife natural limits defcribed, but a latitude is 
indulged, Taylor. —Extent 5 dift'ufion.— Albertus biuiop 
of Ratifbon, for his great learning, and latitude of know¬ 
ledge, firnamed. Magnus, beftdes divinity, hath written 
many trafts in philolophy. Brown. —I pretend not to treat 
of them in their full latitude ; it fuffices to (hew how the 
mind receives them, from fenfation and refleftion. Locke. 
LATITUDINA'Rl AN, adj. [ laliludinaire , Fr. lalitudi- 
narius, low Lat.] Not retrained ; not confined; thinking 
or afting at large.— Latitudinarian love v\ ill be expenfive, 
and therefore I will be informed what is to be gotten by 
it. Collier on Kindncjs. 
LATITUDINA'Rl AN, f. One who departs from or¬ 
thodoxy.—’Tis to them doubtlefs that we owe the oppro- 
brioufnefs and abufe of thofe naturally lionelf appellations 
of free-livers, free-thinkers, latitudinarians. Shaftejlury, 
LA'TIUM, a country of Italy near the river Tiber. 
It was originally very circumfcribed, extending only from 
the Tiber to Circeii, but afterwards it comprehended the 
territories of the Volfci, iEqui, Hernici, Aufones, Um- 
bri, and Rutuli. The firlt inhabitants were called Abori¬ 
gines, and received the name of Latini from Latinus their 
king. According to others the word is derived from la- 
teo , to conceal, becaufe Saturn concealed himfelf there 
when flying the refentment of his fan Jupiter. Lauren- 
tum was' thh capital of the country in the reign of Lati¬ 
nos; Lavinium under AEneas, and Alba under Afcanius. 
Tire Latins, though originally known only among their 
neighbours, loon rofe in confequence when Romulus had 
founded the city of Rome in their country. 
LAT'MUS, in ancient geography, a mountain of Ionia, 
or on the confines of Caria, famous for the fable of En¬ 
dymion, of whom the Moon was faid to be enamoured : 
hence called Latmius Heros, and Latmius Venator. In the 
mountain was a cave in which Endymion dwelt. See 
Endymion, vol. vi. 
LAT'MUS, originally a village in Afla, in Cilicia, on 
the banks of a river of the lame name, which afterwards 
became an epifcopal town of Ifauria. The river had its 
fource in Mount Latmus,, and difcharged itfelf into the 
LatmicGulf, near the town of Heraclea. The LatmicGulf 
was a gulf of Ionia, which commenced between the moun¬ 
tains Latmus and Grius, and extended from thence to¬ 
wards the north-well, communicating with another gulf 
at the mouth of the Meander.—Alio, a fmall ifland fitu- 
ated to the fouth-eaft of the Latrnic Gulf, near to and 
vveft-north-weft of Heraclea. 
LATO'BIUS, the god of health among the Corinthians. 
LATOBRI'GI, in ancient geography, a people of Bel- 
gic Gaul. 
LATO'AN, a fmall ifland in the Eaftern Indian Sea, 
near the north coaft of Borneo. Lat.. 7. 16. N. Ion. 117. 
zi. E. 
LATO'IS, a name of Diana, as being the daughter of 
Latona. 
LATO'MIA, f. [from the Greek hxs, a (tone, and rc^vu, 
to cut ] A (tone quarry. The places whenGe (tones 
had been dug having been made ufe of fometimes as dun¬ 
geons, jails, or priions for Criminals, it is oftentimes ap¬ 
plied as a name for a prifon. There was a place of con¬ 
finement of this fort at Rome, near the Tullianum; and 
another at Syracufe, in which Cicero fays Verres had flint 
up Roman citizens. It was cut out of the folid rock by 
Dionyfius; and now converted into a fubterraneons gar¬ 
den filled with numerous flirubs, flourifliing in luxuriant 
i’ariety. 
yPL. ¥ 11 - No. Sag, 
LAT 
LAT'OMIST, f. A mafon ; a ftonecutter. 
LATO'MUS (James), a celebrated catholic confrover- 
flal divine in the lixteenth century, was a native of C3in- 
bron, a fmall town in Hainault. He became a doftor and 
profeflbrof divinity in the university of Louvain ; obtained 
a canonry of St. Peter, in that city; and is clafled by the 
catholics among the ableft opponents of Luther and the 
other reformers, againll whom he diftinguilhed himfelf by 
his writings from the year 1519 to 1544., which was the 
year of his death. He al(o wrote “A Dialogue concern¬ 
ing the Three Languages, or the Study of Theology ;” in 
which he endeavours to defend fcholaftic divinity, and, 
without naming Erafmus, to refute many things in his 
treatife on the 1’cudy of divinity. That great writer was 
not flow in replying to Latomus, and in defending the 
advice given by him to theological ftudents, to apply to 
the ftudy of polite learning, and profane fciences, as well 
as to that of divinity, the facred fcriptures, and the anci¬ 
ent fathers. This reply our author endeavoured to ref ute 
in an “Apology.” All his works were collected together, 
and publilhed in 1550, in folio. Moreri. 
LATO'NA, in mythology, a pagan goddefs, whofe 
hiftory is very obfcure. Heliod makes her the daughter 
of the Titan Coeus and Phoebe bis filler; but Homer calls 
her the daughte'r of Saturn. She was admired for her 
beauty, and celebrated for the favours which file granted 
to Jupiter. Juno, always jealous of her hufband’s amours, 
made Latona the obje6t of her vengeance, and fent the 
ferpent Python to difturb her peace and perfecute her. 
Latona wandered from place to place during her preg¬ 
nancy, continually alarmed for fear of Python. She was 
driven from heaven ; and Terra, influenced by Juno, re- 
fufed to give her a place where (he might reft and bring 
forth. Neptune, moved with compaflion, (truck with his 
trident and made immoveable the ifland of Delos, which 
before wandered in the AEgean Sea, and appeared fometimes 
above, and fometimes below, thefurface. Latona, changed 
into a quail by Jupiter, came to Delos; where (lie refumed her 
original ftiape, and gave birth to Apollo and Diana, leaning 
againft a palm-tree or an olive. Her repofe was of (hort 
duration : Juno difcovered the place of her retreat, and 
obliged her to fly from Delos. She wandered over the 
greateft part of the world ; and in Caria, where her fatigue 
compelled her to (top, (he was infulted and ridiculed by 
the peafants, of whom (lie aflced for water while they were 
weeding a marfli. Their refufal and infolence provoked 
her, and (lie entreated Jupiter to punifli their barbarity : 
they were all changed into frogs. She was alfo infulted 
by Niobe; who beaded herfelf greater than the mother of 
Apollo and Diana, and ridiculed the prefents which tho 
piety of her neighbours had offered to Latona. At laft, 
Latona, though perfecuted and expofed to the refentment 
of Juno, became a powerful deity, and faw her children 
receive divine honours. Her worfliip was generally efta- 
b!ifhed where her children Received adoration ; particu¬ 
larly at Argos, Delos, See. where (lie had temples. She 
had an oracle in Egypt, celebrated for the true and deci- 
five anfwers which it gave. Latona, Venus, and Diana, 
were the three goddefles molt in veneration among the 
Roman women. 
LATO'NA, a town of Egypt, upon the Nile, which 
was the capital of a nome called the Nomos Latopolites. 
Ptolemy. 
LATOO', apafs acrofs the mountains of Bengal, in the 
circar of Palamow. 
LATOP'OLIS. See the article Ecjypt, vol. vi. p. 352. 
LATOPOLITES NO'MOS, a diftrift of Egypt, the 
capital of which was dedicated to JAtona, and fituated oh 
the left of the Nile. This nome is mentioned both by 
Strabo and Pliny. 
LATOPOLITES NO'MOS, or Hermonthites No¬ 
mos, another diltrift of Egypt, the capital of which was 
called the town of Latonum, according to Ptolemy.. 
LATOR, /'. [from the Lat. fero latus, to carry.] A 
bearer; a melfenger. Cole. 
4 A LATORC'2.\ 
