“Shiloh,” or the Messiah. These were great pri- | mediately resolved to marry her. He divorced his vileges; yet dearly did Leah pay the penalty of her high estate, obtained by selfish artifice, in which modesty, truth, and sisterly affection, were all violated. Jacob, her husband, "hated her," and she knew it; knew, too, his heart was wholly given to his other wife, her beautiful, virtuous sister; what earthly punishment could have been so intensely grievous to Leah? As her name implies, "tender-eyed,” she was probably affectionate, but unprincipled and of a weak mind, or she would never have taken the place of her sister, whom she knew Jacob had served seven years to gain. Leah loved her husband devotedly; but though she was submissive and tender, and bore him many sons, a great claim on his favour, yet he never appeared to have felt for her either esteem or affection.

Jacob had sought to unite himself with Rachel in the holy union of one man with one woman, which only is true marriage; but the artifice of Laban, and the passion of Leah, desecrated this union, and by introducing polygamy into the family of the chosen Founder of the house of Israel, opened the way for the worst of evils to that nation, the voluptuousness and idolatry which finally destroyed it. A treacherous sister, a forward woman, an unloved wife, Leah has left a name unhonoured and unsung. She was married about B. C. 1753.

LEENA,

A COURTEZAN of Athens, took an active part in the conspiracy of Harmodius and Aristogiton, against Hipparchus, son of Pisistratus. She was arrested, and put to the torture by Hippias, the brother of Hipparchus, but she refused to betray her accomplices. However, fearful that her resolution would not endure against the torments she was suffering, she bit through her tongue, and spat it in the face of her tormentor. When the Athenians recovered their liberty, they erected to her honour the statue of a lion without a tongue. She lived about B. C. 505.

LEONTIUM,

AN Athenian courtezan, who lived about B. C. 350, became a convert to the philosophy of Epicurus. She married Metrodorus, one of the principal disciples of Epicurus, and had a son by him, whom Epicurus commended to the notice and regard of his executors. She wrote in defence of the Epicurean philosophy, against Theophrastus, one of the principal of the peripatetic sect. The book is said by Cicero to have been written in a polite and elegant style. From her love of letters, she was drawn by Theodorus, the painter, in a posture of meditation.

LIVIA,

DAUGHTER of Livius Drusus Calidianus, married Tiberius Claudius Nero, by whom she had two sons, Drusus and the emperor Tiberius. Her husband was attached to the cause of Antony; and as he fled from the danger with which he was threatened by Octavianus, afterwards the emperor Augustus, Livia was seen by Octavianus, who im

wife Scribonia, and, with the approbation of the augurs, married Livia. She enjoyed, from this moment, the entire confidence of Augustus, and gained a complete ascendency over his mind by an implicit obedience to his will-by never expressing a desire to learn his secrets—and by seeming ignorant of his infidelities. Her children by Drusus she persuaded Augustus to adopt as his own; and after the death of Drusus the eldest son, Augustus appointed Tiberius his successor. The respect and love of Augustus for Livia ended only with his life. As he lay dying, he turned his gaze on her, drew her in the grasp of death towards him, and said "Livia, be happy, and remember how we have loved."

Livia has been accused of having involved in one common ruin the heirs and nearest relations of Augustus, and also of poisoning her husband that her son might receive the kingdom sooner; but these accusations seem to be unfounded. By her husband's will she was instituted co-heiress with Tiberius, adopted as his daughter, and directed to assume the name of Livia Augusta. On the deification of Augustus, she became the priestess of the new god.

Tiberius, her son, and the successor to Augustus, treated her with great neglect and ingratitude, and allowed her no share in the government. She died A. D. 29; and Tiberius would not allow any public or private honours to be paid to her memory. Tacitus speaks of her as being strictly moral, but says she was "an imperious mother, a compliant wife, a match for her husband in art, and her son in dissimulation." But if she was "strictly moral," she must have been far worthier than her son or her husband.

LOCUSTA,

A NOTORIOUS woman at Rome, a favourite of Nero, the emperor. She poisoned Claudius and Britannicus, and at last attempted to destroy Nero himself, for which she was executed.

LUCRETIA.

THIS celebrated female was the daughter of Lucretius, and the wife of Collatinus, an officer of rank; who, at the siege of Ardes, in the course of conversation, unfortunately boasted of the virtues she possessed. Several other young men likewise expressed an entire confidence in the chastity and virtue of their wives. A wager was the consequence of this conversation; and it was agreed that Sextus, the son of Tarquin, should go to Rome, for the purpose of seeing how the different females were employed. Upon his arrival at the capital, he found all the other ladies occupied in paying visits, or receiving different guests; but, when he went to the house of Collatinus, Lucretia was bewailing the absence of her husband, and directing her household affairs. As Sextus was distantly related to Collatinus, and son of the monarch who reigned upon the throne, Lucretia entertained him with that elegance and hospitality due to a man of such elevated rank. If the person of this charming woman excited brutal passions

An inscription is said to have been seen at Rome, in the diocese of Viterbo, composed by Collatinus, in honour of Lucretia, to the following purport:-"Collatinus Tarquinius, to his most dear and incomparable wife, honour of chastity, glory of women. She who was most dear to me, lived two-and-twenty years, three months, and six days."

M.
MÆROE,

A WOMAN famed by the ancients for her extraordinary learning, and particularly remembered for her hymn to Neptune. She was a native of Greece; but her birthplace is not known.

in his bosom, her conversation delighted and cap- | founded, in consequence of the outrage on the tivated his mind; and a short time after he had chaste Lucretia and her heroic death. retired to the apartment prepared for him, the terrified Lucretia beheld him enter her room. In vain this detestable man pleaded the violence of his passion for this breach of hospitality, and this deviation from what was right; for the alarmed Lucretia preserved her purity until the monster presented a dagger to her breast, and swore by all the gods that he was determined to gratify his inclinations; and that he would then kill her and one of Collatinus's slaves, and afterwards place him by the side of the injured Lucretia, and inform her husband that he had murdered both, in consequence of having discovered them in the act of committing the crime. The dread of having her memory tarnished by so vile an aspersion at length induced the terrified Lucretia to consent to his desires; but the next morning she despatched a messenger to her father and her husband, requesting them immediately to repair to Rome. They obeyed the summons with pleasure and alacrity, at the same time they were anxious to know the cause of this singular request; but, when they beheld the object of their solicitude, a thousand apprehensions took possession of their breasts. Instead of being welcomed with smiles of pleasure, the countenance of Lucretia was bathed in tears, her hair was dishevelled, her garments of the deepest sable, and her whole figure displayed the image of despair. After describing, in the most eloquent terms, the outrage that had been committed upon her person, she implored them to avenge the insult she had received; and, at the same time drawing forth a dagger, which she had concealed for the purpose, declared her resolution of not surviving her shame; and, before they were able to prevent the horrid purpose, buried the weapon in her heart.

The horror and despair of these dear connections were indescribable. Brutus, one of her relations, drew the reeking weapon from her bosom, and, with all the energy of true feeling, swore he would avenge her fate. "I swear by this blood, once so pure," said he, "and which nothing but the villany of a Tarquin could have polluted, that I will pursue Lucius Tarquinius the Proud, his wicked wife and their children, with fire and sword; nor will I ever suffer any of that family, or any other, henceforward to reign in Rome! And I now call all the gods to witness, that I will most sacredly fulfil my oath."

If the most poignant grief had taken possession of the minds of those who witnessed the dreadful catastrophe which had recently happened, astonishment for a moment banished the impression, at the firmness and energy of the noble Roman's words; who, until that moment, had assumed the appearance of idiotism, to avoid the suspicions of Tarquin the Proud. Roused into action by the affecting scene before him, the hatred which he had long nourished burst into a flame, and he executed the vengeance he had threatened. The Tarquins were expelled from Rome, the kingly government was overthrown, and the Republic

MAKEDA,

OR, as she is called by the Arabians, BALKIS, queen of Sheba, famous for her visit to Solomon, was probably queen of Abyssinia, or of that part of Arabia Felix which was inhabited by the Sabeans, where women were admitted to govern. Josephus says that she reigned over Egypt and Ethiopia. According to the Abyssinian historians, Balkis was a pagan when she undertook the journey; but struck by the grandeur and wisdom of Solomon, she became a convert to the true religion. They also state that she had a son by Solomon, named David by his father, but called Menilek, that is, another self, by his mother. This son was sent to the court of Solomon to be educated, and returned to his own country accompanied by many doctors of the law, who introduced the Jewish religion into Abyssinia, where it continued till the introduction of Christianity.

The compilers of the Universal History are of opinion, and so is Mr. Bruce, that the queen of Sheba was really sovereign of Ethiopia. They say that Ethiopia is more to the south of Judea, than the territory of the kingdom of Saba in Arabia Felix; consequently had a better claim than that country to be the dominions of the princess whom our Saviour calls "the Queen of the South." One thing is certain-a queen came from a far country to "hear the wisdom of Solomon;" while there is no record that any king sought to be instructed in the truths of his philosophy, or to be enlightened by his wisdom. Why was this, unless the mind of the woman was more in harmony with this wisdom than were the minds of ordinary men? So it should be, if our theory of the intuitive faculty of woman's soul be true; for Solomon's wisdom was thus intuitive; the gift of God, not the result of patient reflection and logical reasoning. The mind of the queen was undoubtedly gifted with that refined sensibility for the high subjects discussed which stood to her in place of the learning of the schools. And as she came to prove Solomon with "hard questions," she might have been, also, a scholar. She has left proof of her genius and delicate tact in her beautiful address

before presenting her offering to the wise king. Herod's remorse and grief were so great, that he See I. Kings, chap. x. became for a time insane.

MANDANE,

DAUGHTER of Astyages and wife of Cambyses, receives her highest honour from being the mother of Cyrus the Great. Herodotus asserts that the birthright and glory of Cyrus came from his mother, and that his father was a man of obscure birth. This is partly confirmed by history, which records that Astyages, who was king of Media, dreamed that from the womb of his daughter Mandarne, then married to Cambyses, king of Persia, there sprung up a vine which spread over all Asia. Cyrus was such a son as must have gladdened his mother's heart; and we must believe his mother was worthy of him. She lived B. C. 599.

MARIA,

Lord Byron in his poem "Herod's Lament," &c., has given expression to this agony of the royal murderer's mind:

"O Mariamne! now for thee

The heart for which thou bled'st is bleeding;
Revenge is lost in agony,

And wild remorse to rage succeeding.
Oh, Mariamne! where art thou?

Thou canst not hear my bitter pleading:
Ah, couldst thou-thou wouldst pardon now,
Though heaven were to my prayer unheeding."

MEDEA,

tes

DAUGHTER of Etes, king of Colchis, assisted Jason in carrying off the Golden Fleece from her father. When Medea ran away with Jason, pursued her, but, to retard his progress, she tore Absyrtus, her brother, to pieces, and strewed his limbs in the way. Jason afterwards divorced Medea, and married Glauce, daughter of the king of Corinth. She lived about B. C. 1228.

Euripides has written a fine tragedy on this story, in which Medea ascribes the crimes and misfortunes of her sex to laws, which obliged women to purchase husbands with large fortunes, only to become their slaves and victims.

WIFE of Zenis, who governed Ætolia, as deputy under Pharnabazus, a satrap of Persia, about B. C. 409. Having lost her husband, she waited on the satrap, and entreated to be entrusted with the power which had been enjoyed by Zenis, which she promised to wield with the same zeal and fidelity. Her desire being granted, she effectually fulfilled her engagements, and acted on all occasions with consummate courage and prudence. She not only defended the places committed to her charge, but conquered others; and, besides A GRECIAN poetess, a friend of Alcman, a Sparpaying punctually the customary tribute to Phar- tan lyric poet, flourished in the twenty-seventh nabazus, sent him magnificent presents. She Olympiad, about B. C. 668. None of her poems commanded her troops in person, and preserved remain, but there are satires written against her, the strictest discipline in her army. Pharnabazus which prove her talents were known and envied. held her in the highest esteem.

At length, her son-in-law, Midias, mortified by the reproach of having suffered a woman to reign in his place, gained admittance privately to her apartments, and murdered both her and her son.

MARIAMNE,

DAUGHTER of Alexander and wife of Herod the Great, tetrarch or king of Judæa, and mother of Alexander and Aristobulus, and of two daughters, was a woman of great beauty, intelligence, and powers of conversation. Her husband was so much in love with her that he never opposed her or denied her any thing, but on two occasions. When he left her on dangerous errands, he gave orders with persons high in his confidence, that she should not be allowed to survive him. Mariamne was informed of these orders, and conceived such a dislike to her husband, that on his return she could not avoid his perceiving it; nor would her pride allow her to conceal her feelings, but she openly reproached Herod with his barbarous commands. His mother and his sister Salome used every means to irritate him against his wife, and suborned the king's cup-bearer to accuse Mariamne of an attempt to poison her husband; she was also accused of infidelity to him. Herod, furious at these charges, had her tried for the attempt to poison him, and she was condemned and executed. Mariamne met death with the greatest firmness, without even changing colour; but after her execution, which took place about B. C. 28,

MEGALOSTRATA,

MERAB,

ELDEST daughter of king Saul, and promised by him to David in reward for his victory over Goliath; but Saul gave her to Adriel instead, by whom she had six sons, whom David gave up to the Gibeonites to be put to death, in expiation of some cruelties Saul had inflicted on them.

MICHAL,

DAUGHTER of king Saul, fell in love with David, which Saul took advantage of to require proofs of valour from David, hoping he would fall by the hands of the Philistines. But David doubled what Saul required, and obtained Michal. Saul afterwards sent messengers to seize David at night, but Michal let him down out of the window, and placed a figure in David's bed to deceive the people. chal excused herself to her father by saying that David threatened to kill her if she did not assist him in his escape. Saul afterwards gave Michal

Mi

to Phalti or Phaltiel, son of Laish; but when David came to the crown, he caused Michal to be restored to him. Some time after, Michal, seeing David from a window, dancing before the ark, when it was brought from Shiloh to Jerusalem, upbraided him on his return, for dancing and playing among his servants, acting rather like a buffoon than a king. David vindicated himself and reproved her. Michal bore David no children, which the Scripture seems to impute to these reproaches. This was B. C. about 1042.

of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Assyria. She contri- | to his own daughter, and declared him heir to the buted much to the improvement of Babylon, and empire. But he died early, not without suspicion built a bridge to connect the two parts of the of being poisoned by Livia, wife of Augustus. city divided by the Euphrates, and also extensive His mother sank under this blow, and mourned embankments along the river. She gave orders bitterly for him till her death. there should be an inscription on her tomb, signifying that her successors would find great treasures within, if they were in need of money; but that their labour would be ill repaid if they opened it without necessity. Cyrus opened it from curiosity, and found within it only these words: "If thy avarice had not been insatiable, thou never wouldst have violated the monuments of the dead!"

Other historians suppose her to have been the wife of Evil-Merodach, son and successor of Nebuchadnezzar, who also governed during the lunacy of his father. She was a woman of extraordinary abilities, and did all that she could by human prudence to sustain a tottering empire. She lived in the sixth century before Christ.

0. OCTAVIA,

DAUGHTER of Caius Octavius, and sister to Augustus Cæsar, was one of the most illustrious ladies of ancient Rome. She was first married to Claudius Marcellus, who was consul. She bore this husband three children. After his death she married Antony, and in this way brought about a reconciliation between Antony and her brother Octavianus, afterwards the emperor Augustus Cæsar. These nuptials were solemnized B. C. 41. Three years after, Antony went with his wife to spend the winter at Athens. Here, becoming again exasperated against Augustus by evil reports, he sailed for Italy; but Octavia a second time induced a reconciliation between them.

Antony went to the East soon afterwards, leaving Octavia in Italy; and though she discovered that he did not intend to return, she remained in his palace, continuing to take the same care of everything as though he had been the best of husbands; acting the part of a kind mother to the children of his first wife. She would not consent that Antony's treatment of her should cause a civil war. At length she was ordered to leave the house by Antony, who sent her at the same time a divorce. This treatment of Octavia exposed Antony to the hatred and contempt of the Romans, when they saw him prefer to her a woman of Cleopatra's abandoned character, who had no advantage of her rival either in youth or beauty. Indeed, Cleopatra dreaded Octavia's charms so much that she had recourse to the most studied artifices to persuade Antony to forbid Octavia to come to him; and she accompanied him wherever he went.

After Antony's death, fortune seemed to flatter Octavia with the prospect of the highest worldly felicity. The son she had by her first husband, Marcellus, was now about twelve, and was a boy of great genius, and of an unusually cheerful, dignified and noble disposition. Augustus married him

Virgil wrote in honour of this youth an eulogy in the conclusion of the sixth Eneid; and it is said that Octavia fainted on hearing him read it, but rewarded the poet afterwards with ten sesterces for each verse, of which there are twenty-six. Octavia died B. C. 11, leaving two daughters whom she had by Antony. Great honours were paid to her memory by her brother and the Senate.

So destitute was she of all petty jealousy, that after the death of Antony and Cleopatra, when their children were brought to Rome to grace her brother's triumph, she took them under her protection, and married the daughter to Juba, king of Mauritania.

DAUGHTER of the king of Epirus, married Philip, king of Macedonia, by whom she had Alexander the Great. Her haughtiness and suspected infidelity induced Philip to repudiate her, and marry Cleopatra, niece of Attalus. This incensed Olympias, and Alexander, her son, shared her indignation. Some have attributed the murder of Philip to the intrigues of Olympias, who paid the greatest honour to the dead body of her husband's murderer. Though the administration of Alexander was not altogether pleasing to Olympias, she did not hesitate to declare publicly, that he was not the son of Philip, but of Jupiter. On Alexander's death, B. C. 324, Olympias seized on the government, and cruelly put to death Aridæus, one of Philip's illegitimate sons, who had claimed the throne, and his wife Eurydice, as well as Nicanor, the brother of Cassander, with a hundred of the principal men of Macedonia. Cassander besieged her in Pydna, where she had retired, and after an obstinate defence she was obliged to surrender. Two hundred soldiers were sent to put her to death, but the splendour and majesty of the queen overawed them, and she was at last massacred by those whom she had injured by her tyranny. She died about 316, B. C.