Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/714

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708 LUCULLUS LtJDERS and perish together, and closes with a fine ex- position of the folly of fearing death, which is to extinguish feeling for ever. The fourth treats of the senses, of sleep, dreams, and love. The fifth and most impressive book discusses the origin of the world, the movements of the heavens, the changes of the seasons, and the progress of man, society, institutions, inven- tions, and sciences. The sixth book explains extraordinary natural phenomena, as thunder, lightning, storms, earthquakes, and volcanoes. Throughout the work the most abstruse spec- ulations are clearly rendered, and the dryness of the subject and the inherent weakness of the views are relieved by the sublimity of the poetry and by digressions of remarkable pow- er and beauty. The best editions are those of Havercamp (2 vols. 4to, Ley den, 1725), For- biger (Leipsic, 1828), and Munro, with notes and translations (2 vols. 8vo, 3d ed., London, 1873). There are complete English transla- tions in verse by John Mason Good (1805) and Thomas Busby (1813), and in prose by the Rev. J. S. Watson (1851), which forms with the ver- sion of Good one volume of " Bonn's Classical Library," and 0. F. Johnson (New York, 1872). LUCILLIS, Lneins Lieinins, a Roman general, born about 109 B. 0., died about 57. His first appearance in public life was as the ac- cuser of the augur Servilius, who had procured the banishment of his father. This prosecu- tion, though unsuccessful, and leading to scenes of violence and blood, was yet deemed highly creditable to the young Lucullus. He served in the social war, and afterward accompanied Sulla to Greece and Asia as quaestor, on the outbreak of the first Mithridatic war in 88. During the siege of Athens, Lucullus, in obe- dience to the orders of Sulla, collected a naval force from the allies of Rome, with which he defeated the fleet of Mithridates off the coast of ' Tenedos. After the conclusion of peace with the king of Pontus he was appointed to collect from the cities of Asia the tribute which Sulla had imposed on them as a punishment for their recent revolt. In the discharge of this duty Lucullus displayed the utmost humanity and kindness. In 80 he returned to Rome to fill the office of curule aedile, to which he had been elected in his absence, together with his younger brother Marcus. The games exhibited by the Luculii during their aedileship were remarkable for their magnificence, and for being the first at which combats of elephants and bulls were introduced. The elder brother was so highly esteemed by Sulla that the ex-dictator confided to him the revision and correction of his Com- mentaries, appointed him guardian of his son Faustus, and caused a special law to be passed to enable him to hold the praatorship imme- diately after he had been sedile. In 74 he was consul with M. Aurelius Cotta, and having been appointed to conduct the second war against Mithridates, he carried it on for eight years with almost invariable success ; defeated the king and his generals both by sea and land, and compelled him to seek an asylum at the court of Tigranes, king of Armenia ; invaded the latter kingdom, vanquished its sovereign, and captured his capital; and was only pre- vented from consummating the overthrow of his formidable antagonist, and bringing the war to a triumphant conclusion, by the insub- ordination of his own soldiers. He also de- voted much of his attention to the condition of the provinces, which were suffering under the oppressions of the Roman revenue officers, who thus became his enemies. At length the Manilian law was enacted, which deprived Lu- cullus of his command, and gave it to his rival Pompey. He returned to Rome, and for the rest of his life took hardly any part in public affairs, but spent most of his time at his rural villas, in the enjoyment of a princely fortune, and in conversation with philosophers and lite- rati. He collected a valuable library, which was open to all, and wrote a history of the social war in Greek, which is lost. His gar- dens near Rome were laid out in a style of extraordinary splendor, and his horticultural works in the neighborhood of Neapolis were on so gigantic a scale that Pompey called him in derision " the Roman Xerxes." He spared no expense in the entertainment of his friends, and a single supper which he gave some of them is said to have cost him 50,000 denarii, or about $8,500. He first introduced cherries into Europe, the tree receiving its Latin name from Cerasus, a town of Pontus. LI DEN, Heinrich, a German historian, born at Loxstedt, near Bremen, April 10, 178Q, died in Jena, May 23, 1847. He studied theology, history, and philosophy at Gottingen. In 1806 he became extraordinary, and in 1810 ordina- ry professor at Jena. When a considerable part of Germany was under the rule of the French, Luden was among the first and most influential writers who stirred up the patri- otic sentiments of the Germans. His historical publications are very numerous, including, be- sides biographies of Thomasius (Berlin, 1805), Hugo Grotius (1806), and Sir William Temple (Gottingen, 1808), Allgemeine GfescJiichte der Volker und Staaten des Alterthums (Jena, 1814) ; Allgemeine Geschichte der Volker und Staaten des Mittelalters (2d ed., 1824); Die Geschichte des deutschen Vollces (12 vols., Go- tha, 1825- '37), which reaches only to 1237; and others. For four years (1814-'18) he was the editor of the Nemesis, a journal devoted to politics and history, published at Weimar. A posthumous work, Ruckblicke in mein Leben (Jena, 1847), contains many valuable notices of persons and events of his times. LUDERS, Alexander Nikolayevitch, a Russian general, born in 1790, of a German family long settled in Russia, died in St. Petersburg in February, 1874. He entered the army in 1807, was engaged in the war in Finland in 1808, and took part in the campaigns against Napoleon from 1812 to 1814. In 1831 he led a brigade in Poland, and distinguished himself at the taking