=Anaxag´oras.= A Clazomenian philosopher, who disregarded wealth and
honors to indulge his fondness for meditation and philosophy. He applied
himself to astronomy, and obtained a knowledge of eclipses. He used to
say he preferred a grain of wisdom to heaps of gold. He was accused of
impiety and condemned to die, but he ridiculed the sentence, which he
said had already been pronounced on him by nature. He died at the age of
seventy-two, B. C. 428.
=Anaxar´ete.= A girl of Salamis, who so arrogantly rejected the addresses
of Iphis, a youth of ignoble birth, that he hanged himself at her door.
She saw the spectacle without emotion, and was changed into stone.
=Anchi´ses.= A son of Capys and Themis. He was so beautiful that Venus
came down from heaven on Mount Ida to enjoy his company. Æneas was the
son of Anchises and Venus, and was intrusted to the care of Chiron the
Centaur. When Troy was taken, Anchises had become so infirm that Æneas
had to carry him through the flames upon his shoulders, and thus saved
his life.
=Androm´ache.= Daughter of Eetion, king of Thebes. She married Hector, son
of Priam, and was the mother of Astyanax. Her parting with Hector, who
was going to battle, is described in the Iliad, and has been deemed one
of the most beautiful passages in that great work. Pope's translation of
the Iliad (book 6) describes with great pathos and beauty the parting of
Hector from his wife and child.
=Androm´eda.= A daughter of Cepheus, king of Æthiopia, and Cassiope. She
was promised in marriage to Phineus when Neptune drowned the kingdom and
sent a sea monster to ravage the country, because Cassiope had boasted
that she was fairer than Juno and the Nereides. The oracle of Jupiter
Ammon was consulted, but nothing could stop the resentment of Neptune
except the exposure of Andromeda to the sea monster. She was accordingly
tied to a rock, but at the moment that the monster was about to devour
her, Perseus, returning from the conquest of the Gorgons, saw her, and
was captivated with her beauty. He changed the monster into a rock by
showing Medusa's head, and released Andromeda and married her.
=Anthropoph´agi.= A people of Scythia who fed on human flesh. They lived
near the country of the Messagetæ. Shakspeare makes Othello, in his
speech to the Senate, allude to the Anthropophagi thus:--
"The cannibals that each other eat,
The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads
Do grow beneath their shoulders."
=Antig´one.= A daughter of OEdipus, king of Thebes. She buried by night
her brother Polynices, against the orders of Creon, who ordered her to
be buried alive. She, however, killed herself on hearing of the
sentence. The death of Antigone is the subject of one of the finest
tragedies of Sophocles. The play has been adapted for representation on
the English stage, Miss Helen Faucit performing the heroine with
exquisite pathos.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account