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of Xanthippus." On this and similar authority | we learn, that Pericles was indebted to Aspasia for much of his high mental cultivation. The Athenians used often to bring their wives to hear her converse, notwithstanding what was said of her immoral life. She is accused of having excited, from motives of personal resentment, the war of Peloponnesus; yet, calamitous as that conflict proved to Greece, Aspasia inflicted on the country still more incurable evils. Her example and instructions formed a school at Athens, by which her dangerous profession was reduced to a system.

Aspasia, on occasion of a check of the Athenian army, came herself into the assembly of the people, and pronounced an oration, inciting them to rally and redeem their cause; her speech was allowed to be far more eloquent than those of Gorgias, and other famous orators who spoke on the same conjuncture.

Hermippus, a comic poet, prosecuted Aspasia for impiety, which seems to have consisted in disputing the existence of their imaginary gods, and introducing new opinions about celestial appearances. But she was acquitted, though contrary to the law, by means of Pericles, who is said to have shed tears in his application for mercy in her be

half.

It should not be omitted that some modern writers have maintained opinions on the life of Aspasia very different from those popularly entertained. They say, the woman whom Socrates respected, the woman who for years was the bosom counsellor of so eminent a man as Pericles, never could have been devoid of personal purity; vice palls; vice may please by charms of exterior, but never could keep up mental enthusiasm such as Aspasia certainly excited and retained with Pericles. They suggest that aspersions were thrown upon her character by Aristophanes, to wound Pericles through her bosom; but that the friend, the adviser, the sympathizing companion of the man who has been called Princeps Gracia, was not a courtezan. We may here recall some verses of Croly, who, in a note to the poem now quoted, evidently leans to the opinions just stated.

"And throned immortal by his side

A woman sits with eye sublime,

Aspasia, all his spirit's bride;

But if their solemn love were crime,
Pity the beauty and the sage;

Their crime was in their darken'd age."

Socrates, who was the intellectual admirer of this fascinating woman, in his Dialogue of Æschines, gives an account of the method which Aspasia took, in order to persuade Xenophon and his wife to observe the reciprocal duties of a married state in the best manner. The persons in the Dialogue are Aspasia, Xenophon, and his wife, whom Mr. Le Clerc supposes from a passage in Laertius to have been named Philesia.

"Tell me, Philesia," says Aspasia, "whether, if your neighbour had a piece of gold of more value than your own, you would not choose it before your own?" "Yes," answered Philesia. "If she had a gown, or any of the female ornaments,

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better than your's, would not you choose them rather than your own?" "Yes," answered she. 'But," says Aspasia, "if she had an husband of more merit than your own, would not you choose the former?" Upon this Philesia blushed. Aspasia then addressed herself to Xenophon. "If your neighbour, Xenophon, had an horse better than your own, would not you choose him preferably to your own?" "Yes," answered he. "If he had an estate or farm of more value than your own, which would you choose?" "The former," answered he, "that is, that which is more of value." "But if his wife was better than your own, would not you choose your neighbour's?" Here Xenophon was silent upon this question. Aspasia therefore proceeded thus: "Since both of you, then, have refused to answer me in that point only, which I wanted you to satisfy me in, I will tell you myself what you both think: for you, Philesia, would have the best of husbands, and you, Xenophon, the best of wives. And therefore if you don't endeavour that there be not a better husband and wife in the world than yourselves, you will always be wishing for that which you shall think best; you, Xenophon, will wish you might be married to the best of wives, and Philesia, that she might have the best of husbands."

Pericles died at the age of seventy, B. C. 429; and after this we hear nothing of Aspasia, excepting that she transferred her affections to Lysicles, a grazier, who, in consequence of her influence, became, for a time, one of the leading men in Athens.

ASPASIA, or MILTO,

MISTRESS of Cyrus the younger, was born about 421, B. C. of free parents, at Phocis, in Ionia. She was brought up virtuously but in poverty, and being very beautiful, with a profusion of light curling hair, very uncommon in that country, she attracted the notice of one of the satraps of Cyrus, who forced her father to give her to him for the seraglio of this prince. Her modesty, dignity, and grief had such an effect on Cyrus, that he made her his wife in every thing but the name, consulting her in the most important affairs, and following her counsels. He changed her name to Aspasia, that being the appellation of the celebrated wit and beauty of Miletus. Aspasia bore her honours with the greatest moderation, and availed herself of the change in her fortunes only to rescue her father from his poverty. When Cyrus was killed, B. C. 401, in the ambitious attempt to dethrone his brother Artaxerxes, Aspasia was taken prisoner and brought before the conqueror. Artaxerxes treated her with the greatest attention, and made her the first among his women, although he could not marry her, as his wife Statira was still living. He ordered her to be clothed in magnificent apparel, and to be sumptuously lodged; but it was long before his attentions or kindness could efface the memory of Cyrus, whom she had tenderly loved. She showed the utmost indifference, through her whole life, to her own personal aggrandizement, and would seldom accept any present which she did not need. On one occasion Cyrus had sent her a chain of gold, remarking that "It was wor

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thy the wife of a king;" but she requested him to send it to his mother Parysatis. This so pleased Parysatis, that she sent Aspasia many grand presents and a large sum of gold, all of which Aspasia gave to Cyrus, after praising the generosity of his mother.

"It may be of service to you," said she, "who are my riches and ornament."

ATHALIAH,

"

THE daughter of Ahab king of Samaria, and of Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, was wife of Jehoram, king of Judah, who walked in the idolatrous ways of the house of Ahab. Jehoram died in the year B. C. 885, and the kingdom devolved on Ahaziah their son. Ahaziah reigned only one year, and on his untimely death, Athaliah arose and slew all the seed-royal of the house of Judah,' although they were her grand-children, and ascended the throne B. C. 884, and reigned six years. At the end of that time, Joash, a son of Ahaziah, who had been concealed six years in the temple by his aunt Jehosheba, the wife of Jehoida the high-priest, was produced by Jehoida before the priests and soldiers, and anointed king. Athaliah hastened to the temple and attempted to excite a reaction in her own favour by raising a cry of treason, but in vain, for Jehoida gave instant orders that she should be removed from the sacred enclosure and slain. This command was immediately obeyed, B. C. 878. The discovery of Joash is the subject of a tragedy by Racine, written by command of Madame de Maintenon.

AXIOTHEA,

A FEMALE philosopher of the age of Plato, whose lectures she attended in male attire.

B.

BATHSHEBA, or BATHCHUAH, DAUGHTER of Eliam Ammiel, was wife of Uriah the Hittite. While her husband was absent at the siege of Rabbah, David, king of Israel, accidentally saw her and fell violently in love with her. In consequence of this, he contrived the death of her husband, and married her. Bathsheba's eldest child by David died, but she bore four others to him, of whom Solomon and Nathan are reckoned in the genealogy of Jesus Christ.

Bathsheba is represented as very beautiful; and she must have been a woman of extraordinary powers of mind, as she exercised over her husband, king David, such paramount influence. Though he had, by his other wives, several sons older than Solomon, and Adonijah seems to have been his favourite, yet she induced him to promise that Solomon her son should succeed to the throne. The scene in David's death-chamber, when, at her appeal, the old king calls back, as it were, the full powers of his strong mind to give her again the solemn promise that her son shall reign, is sufficient confirmation of her influence. After David's death she was treated with profound reverence by

her son, king Solomon. The period of her death is not recorded; but the last time she is mentioned, when she "sat on the right hand" of her son, who was "on his throne," was about B. C. 1012.

BAUCIS,

A PHRYGIAN Woman, wife of Philemon, who received Jupiter and Mercury kindly, after these gods had been denied hospitality in the whole country, while travelling in disguise. A deluge afterwards destroyed all but Philemon and Baucis, who entreated the gods to make their cottage a temple, in which they could officiate as priest and priestess, and that they might die together. Both of these requests were granted. Their story has been a favourite theme of poetry.

BERENICE (1),

ONE of the four wives of Ptolemy I., the founder of the dynasty of the Lagidæ in Egypt, and the mother of Ptolemy II., called Philadelphus. She had another son, Magas, by a former husband, who was afterwards king of Cyrene.

BERENICE (2),

A DAUGHTER of Ptolemy II., Philadelphus, and sister of Ptolemy III., Euergetes. She was married to Antiochus II., king of Syria, who divorced his wife Laodice on the occasion. But after the death of Philadelphus, Antiochus divorced Berenice and took back Laodice, who, enraged at her husband's having married Berenice, murdered them both, as well as a son Berenice had by Antiochus, B. C. 248.

BERENICE (3),

THE daughter of Ptolemy Philadelphus and Arsinoe, married her brother Euergetes. Being passionately attached to him, she made a vow to consecrate her beautiful locks to Venus, in case of his safe return from a dangerous expedition. He came home unhurt, and she performed her vow; but some time after, the hair disappeared from the temple, and Conon, the astronomer, published that they had been placed among the stars; and he gave to a constellation the name of Berenice's hair, which it still retains. She was put to death by her own son, B. C. 221.

BERENICE (4),

SOMETIMES called Cleopatra, was the only legitimate child of Ptolemy VIII. (Soter II.), reigned six months, and was then murdered by her husband, Alexander II., to whom she had been married only nineteen days.

BERENICE (5),

A DAUGHTER of Ptolemy IX., Auletes, who began to reign in Egypt B. C. 81, was sister of the celebrated Cleopatra. While her father was at Rome, from B. C. 58 to B. C. 55, Berenice was made regent; but on the restoration of Auletes, he put his daughter to death. Berenice first married Seleucus, whom, it is said, she caused to be strangled; and afterwards, Archelaus, who was also put to death by Auletes.

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BERENICE (6),

Of Chios, one of the wives of Mithridates Eupator, king of Pontus, B. C. 123, generally called Mithridates the Great, was put to death by his command, together with his other wives, lest they should fall into the hands of his conqueror, Lucullus.

BERENICE (7),

DAUGHTER of Costoborus and Salome, Herod the Great's sister, was married first to her cousin Aristobulus, son of Herod and Mariamne. He, belonging to the Asmonean race, and having a brother who married the daughter of Archelaus, king of Cappadocia, often upbraided Berenice that he had married below himself in wedding hér. Berenice related these discourses to her mother, and exasperated her so furiously that Salome, who had great influence over her brother Herod, made him suspicious of Aristobulus, and caused him to order the murder of his own son. Berenice married again; and, having lost her second husband, went to Rome, and got into the favour of Augustus; and also of Antonia, wife of Drusus, son of Augustus, which, in the end, proved of great service to Herod Agrippa, her son by Aristobulus.

C.

CALPURNIA,

DAUGHTER of Lucius Piso, of an ancient and an honourable family in Rome, married Cæsar, after his divorce from his third wife, Pompeia. In her, Cæsar found a wife such as he desired, whose propriety of conduct placed her "above suspicion." To her virtues she added beauty, talents, prudence, an extraordinary eloquence, and a generosity and magnanimity of mind truly Roman. Unmoved by all reverses of fortune, she showed herself equally dignified when wife to Cæsar, senator of Rome, as when consort to the master of the world. Warned, as she thought, in a dream, of her husband's fate, she entreated him not to leave his house on the ides of March; but, urged by the conspirators, he disregarded her prayers, and was assassinated before his return, March 15th, B. C.

44.

Calpurnia, superior to the weakness of ordinary minds, pronounced publicly, in the rostra, the funeral eulogium of her husband in an impressive and eloquent manner. Having declared a loss like hers to be irreparable, she passed the remainder of her life in mourning, secluded in the house of Mark Antony, to whom she entrusted the treasures and papers of Cæsar, that she might be the better enabled to avenge his death.

CAMILLA,

DAUGHTER and successor of Metabus, king of the Volsci, and ally of Turnus in his contests with Eneas in Italy. She was killed on the field of battle. She is celebrated by Virgil for her valour.

CARMENTA, or NICOSTRATA, AN ancient poetess of Latium, flourished before the foundation of Rome, in which, afterwards, divine honours were paid her. According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Carmenta was born in Arcadia, where she was known by her name of Nicostrata. Her son Evander being implicated in an unintentional homicide, she found means for an emigration, which she conducted herself, about 60 years prior to the Trojan war. She led her followers into Italy, and established her son Evander as king of that country, which afterwards contained Rome. She found it inhabited by a savage race, without religion, without courtesy, without agriculture. She taught them to sow grain, she polished them by introducing poetry and music; and she built their first temple, and lifted their thoughts to a superintending Deity. For these great benefits she was revered as prophetess, priestess and queen, and received her celebrated name of Carmenta, in allusion to the oracular power with which she was supposed to be gifted.

That she was a woman of wonderful genius and a remarkably practical mind, there can be little doubt; as the Romans would not otherwise have acknowledged, for such a length of time, her talents and merits. In their proudest days, the Romans never forgot the honours due to the benefactress of their rude ancestors. Cicero speaks of an officer in his day called Flamen Carmentalis, who had charge of the rites instituted by this ancient prophetess. Virgil alludes to this remarkable woman in the eighth book of the Eneid:Dehinc progressus, monstrat et aram, Et Carmentalem Romano nomine portam, Quam memorant Nymphæ priscum Carmentis honorem Vatis fatidicæ.

It is supposed to be from her name that verses were named Carmina by the Latins. She was well skilled in the Greek language, and of extraordinary learning for the age in which she lived.

CASSANDRA,

DAUGHTER of Priam, king of Troy, was regarded as a prophetess; and, during the siege of Troy, uttered various predictions of impending calami

ties, which were disregarded at the time, but verified in the event. During the plunder of Troy, B. C. 1184, she took refuge in the temple of Minerva, where she was barbarously treated by Ajax. In the division of the spoil, she fell to the lot of Agamemnon, who brought her home, where she excited the jealousy of Clytemnestra. In consequence, Cassandra and Agamemnon were both murdered by Clytemnestra and her paramour. She is said to have been very beautiful, and to have had many suitors in the flourishing time of Troy.

CASSIOPEIA,

DAUGHTER of Arabus, and wife of Cepheus, king of Ethiopia, to whom she bore Andromeda. She dared to compare her daughter's beauty to that of the Nereides, who besought Neptune for vengeance. The god complied by laying waste the dominions of Cepheus by a deluge and a seamonster. In astronomy, Cassiopeia is a conspicuous constellation in the northern hemisphere.

CECONIA, or CESENIA,

WIFE of Caligula, emperor of Rome, was killed by Julius Lupus, A. D. 41, while weeping over the body of her murdered husband. When she saw the assassin approaching, and discovered his purpose, she calmly presented her breast to his sword, urging him to finish the tragedy his companions had begun. Her two daughters died by the same hand.

CHARIXENA,

A VERY learned Grecian lady, who composed many pieces in prose and verse. One of her poems is entitled Cromata." She is mentioned by Aristophanes.

CHELIDONIS,

Cleo

DAUGHTER of Leotychides, and grand-daughter of Timoea, wife of Agis, king of Sparta, married Cleonymus, son of Cleomenes II., king of Sparta. Cleonymus was disliked by the Lacedæmonians, on account of his violent temper, and they gave the royal authority to Atreus, his brother's son. Chelidonis also despised him and loved Acrotatus, a very beautiful youth, the son of Atreus. nymus left Lacedæmon in anger, and went to solicit Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, to make war against the Lacedæmonians. Pyrrhus came against the city with a large army, but was repulsed, The Spartans, on his approach, had resolved to send the women, by night, to Crete for safety; but Archidamia came, sword in hand, into the senate, complaining that they were thought capable of surviving the destruction of their country. The women laboured all night on the abutments, with the exception of Chelidonis, who put a rope around her neck, resolving not to fall alive into the hands of her husband. Acrotatus did wonders, and was received with acclamations on his return as a conqueror to the city, which was saved chiefly by the patriotism of the women, inspired by Chelidonis. She lived about 280 B. C

CHELONIS,

DAUGHTER of Leonidas, king of Sparta, B. C. Her father 491, was the wife of Cleombrutus. was deposed by a faction, who placed Cleombrutus on the throne in his stead. Chelonis refused to share her husband's triumph, and retired with her father into a temple in which he had taken sanctuary. Leonidas, some time after, was permitted to retire to Tagea, whither Chelonis accompanied him.

A change occurring in the feelings of the populace, Leonidas was restored, and Cleombrutus obliged to take refuge, in his turn, in the sanctuary. Chelonis now left her father for her husband. Leonidas repaired, with an armed force, to the sanctuary, and bitterly reproached Cleombrutus, who listened in silence, with the injuries he had received from him. The tears of Chelonis, who protested that she would not survive Cleombrutus, softened Leonidas, and he not only gave his son-in-law his life, but allowed him to choose his place of exile. To the entreaties of Leonidas that Chelonis would remain with him, she returned a resolute refusal; and, placing one of her children in her husband's arms, and taking the other in her own, she went with him into banishment.

CHIOMARA,

THE heroic wife of Ortiagon, a Gaulish prince, equally celebrated for her beauty and her chastity. During the war between the Romans and the Gauls, B. C. 186, the latter were entirely defeated on Mount Olympus. Chiomara, among many other ladies, was taken prisoner, and committed to the charge of a centurion. This centurion, not being able to overcome the chastity of the princess by persuasion, employed force; and then, to make her amends, offered her her liberty, for an Attic talent. To conceal his design from the other Romans, he allowed her to send a slave of her own, who was among the prisoners, to her relations, and assigned a place near the river where she could be exchanged for the gold.

She was carried there the next night by the centurion, and found there two relations of her own, with the gold. While the centurion was weighing it, Chiomara, speaking in her own tongue, commanded her friends to kill him, which they did. Then cutting off his head herself, she carried it under her robe to her husband, Ortiagon, who had returned home after the defeat of his troops. As soon as she came into his presence she threw the head at his feet. Surprised, as he might well be, at such a sight, he asked whose head it was, and what had induced her to do a deed so uncommon with her sex? Blushing, but at the same time expressing her fierce indignation, she declared the outrage that had been done her, and the revenge she had taken. During the remainder of her life, she strenuously retained her purity of manners, and was treated with great esteem.

CLELIA,

ONE of the Roman virgins given as a hostage to Porsenna, when he came to restore the Tarquins,

Stealing from his camp by night, she crossed the Tiber on horseback. Porsenna sent to demand her, and she was given up to him; but he dismissed her with her companions for the great esteem he had of her virtue. The Senate erected an equestrian statue to her.

CLEOBULE, or CLEOBULINE, DAUGHTER of Cleobulus, prince of Lindos, in Greece, who flourished B. C. 594, was celebrated for her enigmatical sentences, or riddles, composed chiefly in Greek verse.

CLEOPATRA,

her answer to foreign ambassadors. She herself gave audience to the Ethiopians, the Troglodytes, Hebrews, Arabians, Syrians, Medes, and Parthians. She could converse on all topics, grave or gay; and put on any humour, according to the purpose of the moment. So many charms captivated Cæsar at once; and the next morning he sent for Ptolemy and urged him to receive Cleopatra on her own terms; but Ptolemy appealed to the people, and put the whole city in an uproar. A war commenced, in which Cæsar proved victorious; and Ptolemy, while endeavouring to escape across the Nile in a boat, was drowned. Cæsar then caused Cleopatra to marry her younger brother, also named Ptolemy, who, being a boy of eleven, could only contribute his name to the joint sovereignty. This mature statesman and warrior, who had almost forgotten ambition for love, at length tore himself from Cleopatra, who had borne him a son, Cæsarion, and went to Rome.

After his departure, Cleopatra reigned unmolested; and when her husband had reached his fourteenth year, the age of majority in Egypt, she poisoned him, and from that time reigned alone in Egypt. She went to Rome to see Cæsar, and while there lodged in his house, where her authority over him made her insolence intolerable to the Romans. His assassination so alarmed her that she fled precipitately to her own country, where, out of regard to the memory of Cæsar, she raised a fleet to go to the assistance of the triumvirs, but was obliged by a storm to return.

After the battle of Philippi, Antony visited Asia, and, on the pretext that Cleopatra had furnished Cassius with some supplies, he summoned her to appear before him at Tarsus, in Cilicia. Cleopatra prepared for the interview in a manner suited to the state of a young and beautiful eastern queen. Laden with money and magnificent gifts, she sailed with her fleet to the mouth of the Cydnus. There she embarked in a vessel whose stern was of gold, sails of purple silk, and oars of silver that kept time to a concert of several instruments. She herself was lying under a canopy of cloth of gold, dressed like Venus rising out of the sea; about her were lovely children like Cupids fanning her; the handsomest of her women, habited like Nereids and Graces, were leaning on the sides and shrouds of the vessel; the sweets that were burning perfumed the banks of the river, which were covered by crowds of people, shouting, that "the goddess Venus was come to visit Bacchus for the happiness of Asia;" while Antony sat alone and unattended.

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WAS the eldest daughter of Ptolemy Auletes, king of Egypt. On his death, B. C. 51, he left his crown to her, then only seventeen years old, and her eldest brother Ptolemy, who was still younger, directing them, according to the custom of that family, to be married, and committing them to the care of the Roman Senate. They could not agree, however, either to be married or to reign together; and the ministers of Ptolemy deprived Cleopatra of her share in the government, and banished her from the kingdom. She retired to Syria, and raised an army, with which she approached the Egyptian frontier. Just at this time, Julius Cæsar, in pursuit of Pompey, sailed into Egypt, and came to Alexandria. Here he employed himself in hearing and determining the controversy between Ptolemy and Cleopatra, which he claimed a right to do as an arbitrator appointed by the will of Auletes; the power of the Romans being then vested in him as dictator. But Cleopatra laid a plot to attach him to her cause by the power of those charms which distinguished her in so peculiar a manner. She sent word to Cæsar that her cause was betrayed by those who managed it for her, and begged to be allowed to come in person and plead it before him. This being granted, she came secretly into the port of Alexandria in a small skiff, in the dusk of the evening; and to elude her brother's officers, who then commanded the place, she caused herself to be tied up in her bedding and carried to Caesar's apartment on the back of one of her slaves. She was then about nineteen; and though, according to Plutarch, not transcendently beautiful, yet her wit and fascinating manners made her quite irresistible. Her eyes were remarkably fine, and her voice was delightfully melodious, and capable of all the variety of modulation belonging to a musical instrument. She spoke seven different languages, and seldom employed an interpreter in

Cleopatra succeeded in her object; Antony became her captive; and the impression her beauty and splendour had made on him was completed and rendered durable by the charms of her society. Her influence over him became unbounded, and she abused it to the worst purposes. At her request, her younger sister, Arsinoe, was assassinated; and she scrupled no act of injustice for the aggrandizement of her dominions. Antony had spent a winter with her at Alexandria, he went to Italy, where he married Octavia. Cleopatra's charms, however, drew him back to

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