Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/18

4 ECPHANTIDES. of the echo which was heard there ; thus, there was one stoa at Hennione with a threefold, and one at Olympia with a sevenfold echo. (Pans. ii. 35. § 6, V. 21. § 7.) Compare Wiesler, DieNymplie Echo : eine kunstmythologische Abhandlung, Gottin- gen, 1844. [L. S.] ECLECTUS or ELECTUS, originally, it would appear, the freedman of L. Verus, after whose death he enjoj-ed the protection of M. Aurolius, became subsequently the chamberlain of Ummidius Quadratus, and after his destruction was chosen to fill the same office in the household of Commodus. The circumstances under which Eclectus, in con- junction with Laetus and Marcia, contrived the death of the tyrant and then forced the vacant throne upon Pertinax, along with whom he eventu- ally perished are described elsewhere. [Com- modus; Laktus; Marcia; Pertinax.] (Capitolin. Ver. 9, expressly declares that the Eclectus who was the freedman of Verus was the individual who murdered Commodus, while in Dion Cassius, Ixxii. 4, he is first introduced as the chamberlain of Quadratus. See also Dion Cass. Ixxii. 19, 22, Ixxiii. 1 ; Capitolin. Pertin. 4, 11 ; Herodian, i. .51, &c., ii. 1; Zonar. xii. 5.) [W. R.] Q. ECLO'GIUS or EULO'GIUS. According to the commonly received text of Suetonius ( Vitell. 1 ), Q. Edogius or Eulogius was the author of a little work on the history and genealogy of the Vitellii, in which the origin of the family was traced from Faunus, king of the Aborigines. It must be remarked, however, that the existence of a writer bearing this appellation depends upon a •conjectural emendation of Casaubon, who supposes that his name at full length was Q. Vitellius Edogius or Eulogiusy and that he was a freedman of the •emperor whose pedigree he investigated. [W. R.J ECPHA'NTIDES ('E/f^ovTtSrjj), an Athenian comic poet of the old comedy, flourished after Magnes, and a little before Cratinus and Tele- cleides. (Nake, Choerilus, p. 52.) He is called by Aspasius (ad Aristot. Eth. Nicom. iv. 2) t£v dpxcUo" iTaai6TaTov voititt^v, which words some writers understand as implying that he was older than Chionides and Magnes. But we have the clear testimony of Aristotle {Poet. v. 3), that all the poets before Magnes furnished their cho- ruses at their own expense, whereas the name «f a person who was choragus for Ecphantides is mentioned also by Aristotle. {Polit. viii. 6.) Again, a certain Androcles, to whom Cratinus and Telecleides often refer, was also attacked by Ec- phantides, who could not, therefore, have flourished long before those poets. (Schol. Aristoph. Vesp. 1182.) The date of Ecphantides may be placed about 01. 80 (b. c. 460), and onwards. The mean- ing of the fumame of Kaitvias^ which was given to >k:phaiuides by his rivals, has been much disputed, but it seems to imply a nnxture of subtlety and <oUc«rity. He ridiculed the rudeness of the old Megaric comedy, and was himself ridiculed on the same ground by Cnuiiius, Aristophanes, and others. (Hesych. ». v. Kanylas ; Schol, Aristoph. Verp. 151 ; Nake, Ckoeril. p. 52 ; Lehrs, Quaest. Epic p. 23 ; Meineke, p. 36.) There is only one certain title of a play by Ec- phantides extant, namely, the Sorupoi, a line of which is preserved by Athenaeus (iii. p. 96, b., c). Aitother pUy, Ilvpat/cov, is ascribed to him by Nake on conjectural grounds ; but Meineke as- cribes it to Antiphaues. Another title, L.i.6vvaos, EGILIUS. is obtained by Nake from a comparison of Suidas (s. V. Euif) with Hephaestion (xv. 13, p. 96, Gaisf.; see Gaisford's note). Ecphantides was said to have been assisted in composing his plays by his slave Choerilus. [P. S.] E'DECON ('E5eK«V), an Iberian chief, called Edesco by Livy. He came to Scipio at Tarraco, in B. c. 209, and oifered to surrender himself " to the faith of the Romans," requesting, at the same time, that his wife and children, who were among the hostages that had fallen into Scipio's hands at the capture of New Carthage, might be restored to him. Scipio granted his prayer, and thereby greatly increased the Roman influence in Spain. Edecon was the first chief who, after the retreat of Hasdrubal to the Pyrenees, saluted Scipio as king, — a homage which the latter knew better than to accept. (Polyb. x. 34, 35, 40; Li v. xxvii. 17, 19.) [E. E.] EDO'NUS ('HSwi/o's), the mythical ancestor of the Edones in Thrace. (Steph. Byz. s. v. 'HSwj/iot.) The name is therefore used also in the sense of "Thracian," and as Thrace was one of the principal seats of the worship of Dionysus, it further signifies "Dionysiac" or " Bacchantic." (Ov. Rem. Am. 593 ; Hor. Carm. ii. 7. 27.) [L. S.] EDU'LICA or EDUSA, a Roman divinity, who was worshipped as the protectress of children, and was believed to bless their food, just as Potina and Cuba blessed their drinking and their sleep. (Augustin, de Civ. Dei., iv. 11 ; Varro, ap. Non. p. 108; Arnob. iii. 25; Donat. ad Terent. Phorm, i. 1, 11.) [L. S.] EERIBOEA. [Eriboea.] EETION ('H6T1W), a king of the Placian Thebe in Cilicia, and father of Andromache and Podes. (Horn. //. vi. 396, xvii. 575.) He and seven of his sons were slain by Achilles (//. vi. 415, &c.), who proposed the mighty iron ball, which Eetion had once thrown, and which had come into the possession of Achilles, as one of the prizes at the funeral games of Patroclus. {II. xxiii. 826, &c.) Among the booty which Achilles made in the town of Eetion, we find especial mention of the horse Pedasus and the phorminx with a silver neck, on which Achilles played in his tent. {II. XV. 153, ix. 186.) There are two other mythical personages of this name. {11. xxi. 40, &c. ; Paus. ii. 4. § 4.) [L. S.] EGE'RIA. [Aegeria.] EGE'RIUS, the son of Aruns, who was the brother of L. Tarquinius Priscus [Aruns, No. I], was bom after the death of his father ; and as De- maratus, the father of Aruns, died shortly after the death of his son without knowing that his daughter- in-law was pregnant, none of his property was left to Egerius, from which circumstance, according to the legend, he derived his name. When the town of Collatia was taken by his uncle Tarquinius Priscus, Egerius was left in command of the place, and henceforth received, according to Dionysius, the surname of Collatinus (though this name is usually confined to his son L. Tarquinius Collatinus). Egerius was afterwards sent against Fidenae in com- mand of the allied forces of Rome. [Collatinus.] (Liv. i. 34, 38 ; Dionys. iii. 50, 57, comp. iv. 64.) EGESl'NUS. [HKGESINU.S.] EGESTA. [AcESTEs.] L. EGI'LIUS, one of the three commissioners who superintended the foundation of the colony planted at Luca, b.c.177. (Liv.xli.l7.) [C.P.M.J