150 ROB 
ROBLES, a river of New Granada, in the province of 
Popayan, which runs north-east, and unites itself with the 
river Honda, to enter the Cauca by the west part, in Lat. 2. 
34. N. 
ROBO, a village of Yemen, in Arabia; 12 miles east-north- 
east of Zebid. 
ROBORANTS, s. pi. Strengthening medicines. 
ROBORA'TION, s. [roboration , Fr.] A strengthening; 
a confirmation of strength. Not in use. Coles. 
ROBO'REOUS, adj. \robur, Lat.] Made of oak. 
Johnson. 
ROBOROUGH, a parish of England, in Devonshire; 6 
miles east-south-east of Great Torrington. Population 453. 
ROBORTELLO (Francesco), an Italian man of letters, 
born at Udine in 1516, was the son of a notary and noble 
of that city. He was educated at the University of Bologna 
under Romolo Amaseo, and about 1538 was invited to oc¬ 
cupy the chair of eloquence at Lucca. In 1543 he removed 
to Pisa, where he held a similar professorship till 1549, 
when he received an invitation to Venice to succeed Batista 
Egnazio, then past his services. About that time he took a 
wife at his native place; and in 1552 he was called to Padua 
to fill the chair of Greek and Latin eloquence vacant by the 
death of Lazzaro Buonamici. He quitted Padua for Bologna 
in 1557 ; whence, in 1560, he was recalled by the senate of 
Venice to his chair at Padua. In that city he died in 1567, 
in his 51st year. The University gave him a splendid fu¬ 
neral, and the German nation erected a handsome monument 
to his memory in the church of St. Antonio. 
Robortello appears to have been of a contentious dispo¬ 
sition, for at most of the places of his residence he was in¬ 
volved in quarrels with his colleagues, and his writings are 
full of attacks upon his contemporaries. He published nu¬ 
merous works, chiefly on critical and antiquarian topics, 
among which were, “Annotations on various Authors, 
Greek and Latin," 1543, republished in 1548 with several 
small treatises: a corrected edition of “Aristotle’s Poetics,” 
together with a paraphrase on “Horace’s Art of Poetry;” 
an edition of the “ Tragedies of vEschylus;” of “ ^Elian’s 
Tactics,” with a Latin version; and of “ Longiuus de Subli- 
mitate,” with annotations. He also published a valuable work 
“ De Vitaet Victu Populi Romani sub Imperatoribus Caesari- 
bus Augustis,” with ten other dissertations on subjects of Ro¬ 
man antiquity; and a book “ De Artificio dicendi.” 
ROBU'ST, or Robu'stious, adj. [robustus , Lat. 
robuste, Fr.] Strong; sinewy; vigorous; forceful. 
These redundant locks, 
Robustious to no purpose, clustering down, 
Vain monument of strength. Milton. 
Boisterous; violent; unwieldy.—It offends me to hear a 
robustious perriwig-pated fellow tear a passion to tatters, to 
very rags, to split the ears of the groundlings. Shahspcare. 
—Hardly could one see a man of a more grim aspect; and 
no less robust and rude was his behaviour. Sir T. Herbert. 
—While I was managing this young robustious fellow, 
that old spark, who was nothing but skin and bone, slipt 
through my fingers. Dry den .—Requiring strength.—The 
tenderness of a sprain remains a good while after, and leaves 
a lasting caution in the man, not to put the part again to 
any robust employment. Locke.—Robustious is now only 
used in low language, and in a sense of contempt. 
Admires how modest women can 
Be so robustious like a man. Swift. 
ROBUSTI. See Tintoretto. 
ROBU'STIOUSLY, adv. With violence; with fury.— 
The multitude commend writers, as they do fencers or 
wrestlers, who, if they come in robustiously, and put for 
it with a deal of violence, are received for the braver fellows. 
B. Jonson. 
ROBU'STIOUSNESS, s. Quality of being vigorous.— 
That robustiousness of body, and puissance of person, 
which is the only fruit of strength. Sir. E. Sandys. 
ROC 
ROBUSTNESS, s. Strength; vigour.—Beef may confer 
z robustness on my son’s limbs, but will hebetate his intel¬ 
lectuals. Arbuthnot. 
ROC A, an archipelago of small desert islands on the coast 
of the province and government of Venezuela, in New 
Granada. They extend about 23 miles from east to west, and 
10 from north to south. The most northern of these islands 
is the most worthy of note, from a lofty mountain of white 
stone, which it has at the west extremity. The other islands 
are low; and that which is nearest to the one just mentioned, 
is small and flat, and produces nothing but grass. These 
islands are situated in Lat. 11. 55. N. long. 66.45. W. 
ROCA, a point of land on the south coast of the island of 
St. Domingo.—There is another on the north coast of the 
same island. 
ROCA, a small river of the island of Martinique, which 
runs north, and enters the sea. 
ROCA DE ILHEOS, a small island on the coast of the 
province of Venezuela, of a very hot climate, but inhabited. 
Lat. 11. 51. N. 
ROCA PAMPLONA, a dangerous rock in the South 
Pacific ocean, which lies about 26 leagues off Cape Suckling, 
on the west coast of North America. 
ROCA PARTIDO, a small island in the North Pacific 
ocean, south-east of La Messa, and west from the isle La 
Nublada, and in about Lat. 16. 35. N. long. 128. W. 
ROCAB, a small seaport of Hadramaunt, in Arabia, on 
the Indian ocean ; 30 miles south-south-west of Sahar. 
ROCABERTI (John-Thomas de), a Spanish prelate in 
the 17th century, noted for the ardour of his zeal in defence 
of the high claims of the papal see. He was made Arch¬ 
bishop of Valencia in 1676 ; and inquisitor general in Spain 
in 1695. He was honoured with the esteem of the Catholic 
King, who twice appointed him Viceroy of Valencia. He 
published a treatise “ De Romani Pontificis Auctoritate," 
1693, in 3 vols. folio. This work was very favourably re¬ 
ceived in Spain and in Italy ; but the sale of it was prohi¬ 
bited in France, by a decree of the parliament of Paris. 
Not contented with such a proof of his devotedness to the 
holy see, he spared no pains in procuring all the treatises 
which had been composed by different authors in defence 
of the Pope’s authority and infallibility, and made provision 
for their being printed in an uniform edition at Rome. This 
enormous collection is entitled, “ Bibliotheca Maxima Pon- 
tificia,” &c., and consists of 21 folio volumes. The Arch¬ 
bishop died in 1699, when he was about 75 years of age„ 
Moreri. 
ROCAIBA, a small town of Hedsjas, in Arabia; 120 milts 
east-north-east of Mecca. 
ROCAIBA, a small town of Nedsjed, in Arabia ; 17 miles 
east of Mecca. 
ROCAMA, in botany, an Arabian name, applied by 
Forskall, in his FI. 2Egypt-Arab. 71, to the Linnaean Tri- 
anthema pentandra, which he there establishes as a distinct 
genus. See Trianthema. 
ROCAMADOUR, a town of France, department of the 
Lot, on the river Alzon. It contains about 1100 inhabitants, 
and had formerly a celebrated abbey; 22 miles north of 
Cahors. 
RO'CAMBOLE, s. Rocambole is a sort of wild 
garlick, otherwise called Spanish garlick; the seed is about 
the bigness of ordinary pease. Mortimer. — Garlick, 
rocambole, and onions abound with a pungent volatile 
salt. Arbuthnot. 
ROCAS, a town of Ommon, in Arabia, near the sea. 
ROCAS, two small islands in the Pacific ocean, on the 
coast of Peru. They stand at the mouth of the river 
Pisagua, in the province of Carangas. 
ROCCA (Angelo), a learned Italian monk and titular 
bishop in the 16th and early part of the 17th century. 
When very young he took the habit among the hermits of 
St. Augustine, and pursued his studies at Rome, Venice, 
Pavia and Padua. Pope Sextus V. placed him in the 
Vatican m 1585, and confided to his superintendence those 
editions of the Bible, the councils, and the fathers, which 
issued 
