Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/801

LINUS. LIME'NIA, LIMENI'TES, LIMENI'TIS, and LIMENO'SCOPUS (Aifxhia, Aii^ievhri^, Aj/ueviTis, At^ej/oo-KOTTos), i. e. the protector or superintendent of the harbour, occurs as a surname of several divinities, such as Zeus (Callimach. Fragm. 114, 2ded. Bentl.), Artemis (Callim. Hymn, in Dian. 259), Aphrodite (Paus. ii. 34. $ 11; Serv. ad Aen. i. 724), Priapus (Anthol. Palat. x. 1, 7), and of Pan (Antliol. Palat. x. 10.) [L. S.] LIMETA'NUS, C. MAMI'LIUS, tribune of the plebs. b, c. 110, carried a law for inquiring into the cases of all persons who had assisted Jugurtha in his opposition to the senate, and had received bribes from him to neglect tlieir dutj- to the state. Three quaesitores were appointed under this law, which was the first serious blow given to the power of the nobility since the death of C. Gracchus. Many men of the highest family were condemned under it, and among them four who had been consuls. (Sail. Jug. 40, 65 ; Cic. BruL 33, 34.) The name of Limetanus occurs on a coin of the Mamilia gens. [Mamilia Gens.] LIMENTI'NUS, the god protecting the thresh- old (limen) of the house. (Arnob. adv. Gent. i. 15, iv. 9, 11 ; Tertull. Idol. 15 ; August, de Civ. Dei^ iv. 8, vi. 7.) Much superstition was con- nected among the Romans with the threshold, and many persons were very scrupulous in always putting the right foot across it first. (Petron. Sat. 30.) [L. S.] LIMNAEA, LIMNE'TES, LIMNE'GENES (At^fata (os), Aiixv^tkis (is), A.ijxv7]'yivris), i. e. in- habiting or born in a lake or marsh, is a surname of several divinities who were believed either to have sprung from a lake, or had their temples near a lake. Instances are, Dionysus at Athens (Eustath. ad Horn. p. 871 ; Callim. Fragm. 280, Bentl.; Thuc. ii. 15 ; Aristoph. Ran. 216 ; Athen. x. p. 437, xi. p. 465), and Artemis at Sicyon, near Epi- daurus (Paus. ii. 7. § 6, iii. 23. § 10), on the fron- tiers between Laconia and Messenia (Paus. iii. 2. § 6, 7. § 4, iv. 4. § 2, 31. § 3, vii. 20. § 7, &c. ; Strab. viii. p. 361 ; Tac. Ann. iv. 43), near Calamae (Paus. iv. 31. § 3), at Tegea (viii. 53. § 11, comp. iii. 14. § 2), Patrae (vii. 20. § 7) ; it is also used as a surname of nymphs (Theocrit. v. 17) that dwell in lakes or marshes. [L. S.] LIMITS (A(;uos), the Latin Fames, or personifi- cation of hunger. Hesiod {T/ieog. 227) describes hunger as the offspring of Eris or Discord. A poet- ical description *f Fames occurs in Ovid (Met. viii. 800, &c.), and Virgil (Aen. vi. 276) places it, along with other monsters, at the entrance of Orcus. [L.S.] LINAX, artist. [Zenas.] LI'NDl A (AtvSta), a surname of Athena, derived from the town of Lindus, in the island of Rhodus, where she had a celebrated temple. (Diod. v. 58 ; Herod, ii. 182 ; Strab. xiv. p. 655). [L. S.] LINDINUS, a Latin poet, whose age is quite uncertain, but who probably lived at a late period, is the author of a short poem of twelve lines, " De Aetate," in which he assigns the different years of life to different occupations, such as the first ten to plaj^, &c. It is printed in the Aniho/ogia Latina (No. 541, ed. Meyer), and by Wernsdorf {Poetae Lutini Minorcs, p. 415). LINLTS (Aivos), the personification of a dirge or lamentation, and therefore described as a son of Apollo by a Muse (Calliope, or by Psamathe or Chalciopp, Apollod. i. 3. § 2 ; Paus. i. 43. § 7, LINUS. 787 ii 19. § 7; Eustath. ad I Tom. p. 1164), or of Amphimarus by Urania (Paus. ix. 29. § 3). Re- specting his mother Psamatlie, the story runs thus : — When she had given birth to Linus she exposed the child. He was found by shepherds, who brought him up, but the child was afterwards torn to pieces by dogs. Psamathe's grief at the occurrence be- trayed her misfortune to her father, who condemned her to death. Apollo, in his indignation at the father's cruelty, visited Argos with a plague, and when his oracle was consulted about the means of averting the plague, he answered that the Argives must propitiate Psamathe and Linus. This was attempted by means of sacrifices, and matrons and virgins sang dirges which were called AiVot, and the month in which this solemnity was celebrated was called apvei6s, and the festival itself apvis, be- cause Linus had grown up among lambs. The pestilence, however, did not cease until Crotopus quitted Argos and settled at Tripodisium, in Me- garis (Conon. Narrat. 19 ; Paus. i. 43. § 7 ; Athen. iii. p. dd). According to a Boeotian tradition Linus was killed by Apollo, because he had ven- tured upon a musical contest with the god (Paus. ix. 29. § 3 ; Eustath. ad Horn. p. 1 1 63), and near Mount Helicon his image stood in a hollow rock, formed in the shape of a grotto ; and every year before sacrifices were offered to the Muses, a funeral sacrifice was offered to him, and dirges [Xivoi) were sung in his honour. His tomb was claimed both by the city of Argos and by Thebes (Paus. /. c, comp. ii. 1 9. § 7) ; but after the battle of Chaeroneia, Philip of Macedonia was said to have carried away the remains of Liims from Thebes to Macedonia. Subsequently, however, the king was induced by a dream to send the remains back to Thebes. Chalcis in Euboea likewise boasted of possessing the tomb of Linus, the insci'iption of which is preserved by Diogenes Laertius (Prooem. 4 ; comp. Suid. s. v. Aiuos). Being regarded as a son of Apollo and a Muse, he is said to have received from his father the three-stringed lute, and is himself called the inventor of new melodies, of dirges (^prjvoi)^ and of songs in general. Hesiod (ap. Clem. Alex. Strom, i. p. 330) even calls him TravTolr]s <ro<piy]s SeSarjKws. It is probably owing to the difficulty of reconciling the different mythuses about Linus, that the Thebans (Paus. ix. 29, in fin.) thought it necessary to distinguish between an earlier and later Linus ; the latter is said to have instructed Heracles in music, but to have been killed by the hero (comp. Apollod. ii. 4. § 9 ; Theocrit. xxiv. 103 ; Diodor. iii. 67 ; Athen. iv. p. 164). In the time of the Alexandrine grammarians people even went so far as to look upon Linus as an historical per- sonage, and to consider him, like Musaeus, Orpheus, and others, as the author of apocryphal works (Diodor. iii. 66), in which he described the ex- ploits of Dionysus ; Diogenes Laertius (Frooem. 3), who calls him a son of Hermes and Urania, ascribes to him several poetical productions, such as a cosmogony on the course of the sun and moon, on the generation of animals and fruits, and the like. The principal places in Greece which are the scenes of the legends about Linus are Argos and Thebes, and the legends themselves bear a strong resemblance to those about Hyacynthus, Narcissus, Glaucus, Adonis, Maneros, and others, all of whom are conceived as handsome and lovely youths, and either as princes or as sheplicrds. They are the 3 K 2