Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 01.djvu/209

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ÆSTHETICS.
163
ÆTOLIAN LEAGUE.

1897); George Santayana, The Sense of Beauty: Outlines of Æsthetic Theory (New York, 1896).


ÆSTIVAL, e='tl-val or es-ti'val, or ESTIVAL (Lat. æstivus, of summer, from æstas, summer). Plants whose conspicuous functions, especially the blooming of the flower, occur in summer, are said to he æstival. Prairie plants, especially of the composite family, are largely æstival, and contrast strongly with the vernal plants of the woods, such as many members of the lily family.


ÆS'TIVA'TION. See Flower; Hibernation; and Estivation.


AËTA, lia'ta. The woolly-haired, dark col- ored, dwarfish aboriginal folk of Luzon and other Philippine islands: also called Negrito. They live in out-of-the-way places in lower sav- agery, and are supposed to number 20,000. Ate, Eta, Ita, Mamanua, etc., are synonyms. Con- sult: A. B. Meyer, The Negritos (Dresden, 1899). See Philippines.


ÆTHEL, :"ith'el. A combining form which occurs as the first element in many Anglo-Saxon names. It is derived from A. S. æfel, noble, and is akin to Ger. Adel, nobility, edel, noble; compare Engl. atheling (q.v.), an Anglo-Saxon prince or nobleman, and ethel, noble. The names in which this combining form occurs (e.g., Ethelbald, "Noble Bold," Ethelwulf, "Noble Wolf," etc.), when given in the present work, are generally to be found under the more modern spelling Ethel-, which is that adopted in Leslie Stephen's Dictionary of National Biography.


ÆTHELBALD, ath'el-bald. See Ethelbald.


ÆTHELHARD, ath'ehard. See Adelard.


ÆTHELING, fitU'el-ing. See Atheling.


ÆTHIO’PIS (Gk. Αἰθιοπίς). The name of a Greek epic in five books by Arctinus of Miletus, one of the Cyclic Poets (q.v.). It relates the events of the Trojan War immediately succeeding those described in the Iliad, the heroine of the poem being the Amazon queen, Penthesilea.


Æ'THRIOSCOPE (Gk. ai-dpia, ailhria, clear sky + OKmrm; skopcin, to observe, watch ) . An instrument to measure the temperature effects produced by radiation, invented by Sir John Ijcslie in 1SI7, and described in the Tra>i.sfictio)ts of the Royal Society of Edinburgh for the following year. It consisted of a concive metallic mirror, or cup. containing a differential thermometer, and was so finely constructed as to be intlueneed by a passing cloud, ^'ith it Leslie hoped to discover the ell'ect of the clouds upon atmospheric conditions, and to explain other meteorological phrnoinciia.


AËTION, a-e'shi-on (Gk. 'Aeriuv). A Greek painter who lived in the latter half of the fourth, or the first half of the third, century B.C, and is, perhaps, to be identified with the sculptor Eëtion. He was highly praised for his technique, and is classed with such painters as Nicomachus and Apelles. His most famous painting repre- sented the wedding of Alexander and Roxana. Scarcely anything is known of his life.


AËTIUS, i-e'shl-fis. Called "the ungodly." A Roman theologian who lived in the fourth century. He was born in Antioch, and sold into slavery; when liberated, studied medicine and theology at Antioch, became a deacon, and developed the doctrines called the Aëtian heresy. Under the Emperor Constantius he was banished (360), but recalled in 361 by Julian, and was shortly after made bishop. He died in Constantinople, 367


AËTIUS. A Roman general, born about 390 A.D. He long defended Gaul from the barbarians; with Theodoric he compelled Attila to raise the siege of Orleans: he followed the Huns to the plains of Châlons. and defeated them in a great battle, in which 300,000 men are said to have been slain. The Emperor Valentinian III. became jealous of Aëtius and slew him with his own hand, 454 A.D.


ÆT'NA. A Latin poem, in hexameters, describing Mount Ætna and one of its eruptions, with a theory as to their cause. The work used to be attributed to Vergil, but was probably written by Seneca's friend, Lucilius Junior, who was a procurator in Sicily. Consult: Ætna, edited by H. A. J. Munro (Cambridge, 1867).


ÆT'NA, Mount. See Etna, Mount.


ÆTO'LIA (Gk. Αἰτωλία, Aitōlia). A district of ancient Greece, lying on the north coast of the Gulf of Corinth. The ancient Ætolia was divided from Acarnania on the west by the river Acheloüs, and extended as far as the river Daphnos, where it was bounded by Locris and Doris; on the north it bordered on Thessaly and Epirus. In later times these boundaries were considerably extended to the north and east. The country has few cities, and is generally wild and barren, though the southwest portion (Old Ætolia) contains two marshy but fruitful plains, one on the coast, the other north of Mount Zygos, largely occupied by the lakes Apokuro (Trichonis) and Zygos (Hyria). This was the Ætolia of the Heroic Age, in which the Ætolians play a conspicuous part. It was in Calydon, that, according to the legend, Meleager (q.v.) slew the boar. When they next appear in Greek history, at the time of the Peloponnesian War, they are described by Thucydides as rude and barbarous. The Ætolian confederacy, first mentioned in 314 B.C, but of unknown origin, became important in the time of the Æchæan League. (See Achæa.) The supreme authority was the general assembly of all Ætolians, which met yearly after the autumnal equinox at Thermon, and elected the general and other officials. During the third century B.C. the league steadily increased its power, in conflict with the Achæans and Macedon, and, finally, in pursuance of its characteristically selfish policy, entered into alliance with the Romans. As this did not yield all that was expected, it afterward joined Antiochus and Perseus in their wars against Rome. The political influence of Ætolia was destroyed in 189 B.C. by the Romans, though the league existed nominally even to the time of Sulla. With Acarnania, Ætolia now forms a province of the modern kingdom of Greece. The chief rivers of Ætolia are the Aspropotamo (Acheloüs), in the west, the Phidaris (Euenos), in the centre, and the Marnos (Daphnos), in the east. The people in the plains are employed in agriculture and fishing; while in the mountain districts some traces of the rude and martial character of ancient Ætolia may still be found. The chief towns are Mesolonghi, Lepanto, and Agrinion. Consult: W. J. Woodhouse, Ætolia (Oxford, 1897).


ÆTO'LIAN LEAGUE. confederacy of the tribes of Ætolia, and afterward including also