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Phoenicians (the first navigators) adored the winds, a practice adopted by many other nations. The Persians adored the sun and fire. The Greeks and Romans adored fire under the name of Vesta. Pliny mentions the adoration of lightning by gently clapping the hands. The Egyptians adored animals, plants and fishes; the Arabs, stones; the Scythians, swords; the Chinese, the statues of their ancestors. The Hindoos have not only an amazing variety of gods, but they worship human beings, beasts, birds, trees, rivers, fish, books and stones. (See Ward's View of the History, Literature and Religion of the Hindoos, and Bishop Heber's Narrative of a Journey through the Upper Provinces of India, from Calcutta to Bombay, 1824-1825, with Notes upon Ceylon, and an Account of a Journey to Madras and the Southern Provinces, 1826.) It must be remembered, that all adoration originates from two different sources, either from love and thankfulness, or from fear.

ADRAGANTH, in medicine, gum dragon. It distils by incision from the trunk or roots of a plant which grows in the Levant. The gum is of different colors, white, red, gray and black, and is useful in medicine. Skinners use great quantities, and prefer the red to the black. It is the astragalus tragacanthus of Linnæus. ADRASTEA; a daughter of Jupiter and Necessity, the servant of eternal Justice, the punisher of all injustice, whom no mortal escapes. A. is generally a mere epithet, given to Nemesis, (q. v.) She is represented sometimes with wings, sometimes with a rudder, and sometimes with a wheel.

ADRASTUS, king of Argos; son of Talaus and Eurynome. In obedience to the oracle which commanded him to give one of his daughters to a lion and the other to a wild boar, he gave Argia to Polynices, who came to him in a lion's skin, and Deiphyle to Tydeus, who was dressed in the skin of a wild boar. He was one of the seven heroes who encamped before Thebes, and the only one who survived the siege. Ten years after this, he made a second expedition against Thebes, accompanied by the sons of his former allies, and took the city, but lost his son in the engagement, and died himself of grief. (See Thebes.)

ADRIAN, the African, abbot of St. Peter's, Canterbury, in the 7th century, accompanied Theodore, archbishop of Canterbury, to England. A. was the preceptor of Adhelm, and Bede extols the hap

py time when the island enjoyed his tui tion, and Kent "was the fountain of knowledge to the rest of England."

ADRIAN, OF HADRIAN, Publius Ælius, a Roman emperor, the successor of Trajan, was born at Rome, A. D. 76. His father, Trajan's cousin, died when A. was ten years of age. A. showed very early great talents, and is said to have spoken the Greek language so perfectly in his 15th year, that he was called the young Greek. His memory is said to have been so extraordinary, that he could commit a book to memory by once perusing it, and that he could call all his soldiers by name. These stories may be exaggerated, but they prove the estimation in which his talents were held. He was an orator, poet, grammarian, mathematician, physician, painter, musician and astrologer. The greater developement of the sciences in modern times does not admit of distinction in so many branches. His great qualities, however, were stained by great faults, so that he never won the affections of Trajan, who was his guardian. He was indebted for his elevation to the throne to the wife of Trajan, Plotina, who concealed the death of her husband until she had time to forge a testament bearing the name of the late emperor, in which he was made to adopt A. and declare him his successor. Her bribes also had in the mean time prepared the troops to espouse the cause of A. After these preparations had been made, A. sent infor mation of the emperor's death from Antioch to Rome, pretended that the imperial dignity had been forced upon him, prom ised the senate that he would discharge faithfully the duties of his station, and assured the pretorian guards that they should receive twice the usual present. A.D. 117, he ascended the imperial throne, appeared in Rome, and strove at first to win the favor of the people by the mildness of his administration. It was not long, however, before he manifested a cowardly and suspicious character, together with too great a devotion to pleasure. Among other things, he purchased peace from the Sarmatians and Roxolani, who had attacked Illyria, by the payment of a tribute. From A. D. 120 to 131, he made his famous journey on foot, and with his head uncovered, through all the provinces of his empire. In Egypt, he lost his favorite Antinous (q. v.), whose death he lamented long and bitterly. During his stay of two years in Athens, he established a colony of Roman soldiers on the site of the ruined Jerusalem;

and on the spot where the temple of Solomon had stood, he erected a temple to Jupiter Capitolinus. Upon this, a dreadful insurrection broke out among the Jews, which lasted two years and a half. He embellished Athens with buildings, and finished the temple of the Olympian Jupiter, begun 560 years before. A. died at Baja, 138 A. D. in the 63d year of his age, and the 21st of his reign. He had good qualities and great faults. He promoted literature and the arts, did many good things on his journey, established the edictum perpetuum, enacted laws against dissipation and the cruelties of the slave trade, prohibited human sacrifices, forbade the indiscriminate bathing of men and women, &c. Antoninus Pius succeeded him. It was with much difficulty that his successor could obtain a decree from the senate, granting him, according to usage, divine honors. A. wrote several books; among others a history of his own life, under the name of Phlegon, one of his freedmen, which is no longer extant. He composed, not long before he breathed his last, the following lines:

Animula, vagula, blandula,
Hospes, comesque corporis,
Quae nunc abibis in loca
Pallidula, rigida, nudula?
Nec, ut soles, dabis jocos.

Pope has imitated them.

ADRIAN. There have been six popes of this name. The first, a Roman, ruled from 772 to 795, was a cotemporary and friend of Charlemagne, who, on account of A.'s able defence of his claims to the crown of France, protected him with his army, 774, against Desiderius, king of the Lombards, confirmed the donation of Pepin to the territory of the church, and made further grants himself. The pope was not allowed, however, to enjoy in peace the gifts of Charlemagne till 787, after the termination of the frequent campaigns of this king against the Italian princes, who claimed the territory, By confirming the decrees of the council of Nice, 786, in favor of the worship of images, A. gave offence to Charlemagne, who was opposed to the practice, and procured a repeal of the decree at the council of Frankfort. The repeal was resisted by A.; but he so carefully and skilfully avoided offending the king, that he remained his friend, and honored him after his death, 795, with an inscription, yet preserved in the Vatican. Though by no means a profound theologian, A. obtained

great influence by the correctness of his conduct, and his decision of character. By a prudent use of this influence, he greatly increased his power.-ADRIAN II, a Roman, was elected pope in 867, at the age of 75 years. He was esteemed for his virtues, and famous on account of his bold opposition to the divorce of Lothaire, king of Lotharingia, from his wife Thietberga. By interfering in the dispute, which arose after the death of Lothaire, between Charles the Bald and the emperor Louis, respecting the right of succession, he made the former his enemy. He had another dispute in France, where bishop Hincmar of Laon had been dismissed against his will; he likewise excommunicated the patriarch Photius of Constantinople, on account of his spiritual jurisdiction over Bulgaria, which diminished the authority of the pope, since the Greek church maintained its independence against him, and made Bulgaria dependent on itself. He died 872, in the midst of his conflicts with this church.-ADRIAN III, a Roman, elected 884, was pope for 1 year and 4 months only. He was opposed to the influence of the emperors on the election of the pope, and determined, if Charles the Fat should die without heir, to give Italy a new king.-ADRIAN IV, an Englishman, originally named Nicholas Breakspear, rose, by his great talents, from the situation of a poor monk to the rank of cardinal, and legate in the north, where he established at Drontheim the first Norwegian archbishopric, and a second at Upsal. He was elected, pope in 1154, and waged an unsuccessful war against William, king of Sicily, who, at the peace of 1156, claimed the privilege, still existing in the monarchia Siciliæ, so called, that, in matters relating to the church, nothing should be done by the pope without the consent of the king. The emperor Frederic I, who, before, had held his stirrup, and had been crowned by him at Rome, June 18, 1155, was opposed to this peace with William, his enemy. A. increased his resentment by the haughty language of his letters, and instigated the Lombards against him. Frederic, on the other hand, acted in ecclesiastical matters as if there had been no pope. Before these difficulties came to a close, A. died, Sept. 1, 1159, at Anagni. The permission which he gave to Henry II, king of England, to invade Ireland, on the condition that every family of that island should pay annually a penny to the papal chair, because all islands belong to the

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pope, is worthy of remark. On this grant the subsequent popes founded their claims on Ireland.-ADRIAN V, previously called Ottoboni da Fiesco, of Genoa, settled, as legate of the pope, the dispute between king Henry III of England and his nobles, in favor of the former; but died soon after his election to the papal chair, 1276.-ADRIAN VI, son of a mechanic of Utrecht, and professor in Louvain, was, in 1507, appointed tutor of the emperor Charles V. When ambassador of the emperor Maximilian, in 1515, he persuaded Ferdinand the Catholic to nominate young Charles his successor to the Spanish throne; after which he became, in 1516, bishop of Tortosa and regent of Spain, and, in 1517, cardinal. The Spaniards were not pleased with his severe and often partial government, and expressed great joy when, at the suggestion of Charles V, he was elected to the papal chair, in 1522. He was not less hated at Rome, on account of his antipathy to classical literature, and his honest endeavors to reform the papal court, to abolish the prevailing luxury, bribery, and other abuses; but his efforts were frustrated by the cardinals, and, if they had been successful, could not have prevented the progress of the reformation already begun in Germany. A. opposed the zeal of Luther with reproaches and threats, and even attempted to excite Erasmus and Zuinglius against him; but uis abilities were not equal to the existing emergency. His measures against France also were unsuccessful. Notwithstanding his honest efforts and upright character, he died unlamented, in 1525, after a reign of one year and a half. His reign was, according to his own confession, the most unhappy period of his life. On his tomb, in the church of St. Peter, is the following epitaph:

Adrianus Papa VI hic situs est,
Qui nihil sibi infelicius
In vita,
Quam quod imperaret,
Duxit.

ADRIANOPLE (in Turkish, Edrene), the second capital and residence of the Ottoman rulers, is situated in ancient Thrace (now Rumelia), on the banks of the navigable river Hebrus (now Maritza). On this spot a small town formerly stood, inhabited by the Bessi, a Thracian tribe. The emperor Adrian founded this city on the left bank of the Hebrus, called it after his own name, and made it the capital of the province of mt. Hæmus. From the range of hills on which it is situated,

it commands a beautiful prospect over a large and fertile plain, divided by two ranges of hills, between which the river runs. It was fortified, and resisted, in the 4th century, the violent attack of the victorious Goths, who were, however, ignorant of the mode of conducting a regular siege. To give it the appearance of a Greek origin, the writers of Byzantium called it Orestea or Orestias. According to their accounts, it is five days' journey distant from Constantinople. In 1360, it was taken by Amurath, the Turkish sultan; and from that time it continued to be the residence of the Turkish emperors for nearly a century, until the conquest of Constantinople. The number of the houses is 16,000, and that of the inhabitants 100,000, among whom there are 30,000 Greeks, under an archbishop. It contains also an imperial palace, 40 mosques, of which that of Selim II and of Amurath II are the most magnificent, 22 bathing establishments, with beautiful aqueducts, important manufactures, and exports, among other articles, oil of roses, which is made in its vicinity, of the best kind.

ADRIAN'S WALL; a celebrated Roman work in the north of England. This work, though called by the Roman his torians murus, which signifies a wall of stone, was only composed of earth covered with green turf. It was carried from the Solway frith, in as direct a line as possible, to the river Tyne, on the east, at the place where the town of Newcastle now stands; so that it must have been above 60 English and nearly 70 Roman miles in length. It consisted of four parts: 1, the principal agger, mound of earth or rampart, on the brink of the ditch; 2, the ditch, on the north side of the rampart; 3, another rampart on the south side of the principal one, about five paces distant from it; 4, a large rampart on the north side of the ditch. For many ages, this work has been in so ruinous a condition, that it is impossible to discover its original dimensions with certainty. But from their appearance, it seems probable that the principal rampart was at least ten or twelve feet high, and the south one not much less; the northern one was considerably lower. The ditch, taken as it passes through a lime-stone quarry near Harlow hill, appears to have been 9 feet deep and in feet wide at the top. The north rampart was about twenty feet distant from the ditch.

ADRIATIC SEA (mare Adriaticum. Adri

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anum), now more commonly called gulf of Venice, though in Italian, German and French the old name continues, is an arm of the Mediterranean included by the coasts of Italy, Illyria, Dalmatia, Albania and Epirus, about 200 leagues long and 50 broad, extending from south-east to north-west, lat. 40° to 50° 55′ north. It contains about 90,000 sq. miles of surface. Different derivations of the name are given. On the Austrian coast it has a number of small islands, and forms many bays, the most remarkable of which are those of Trieste, Quarnaro and Cattaro. It is called the gulf of Venice from the city of this name, which formerly claimed exclusive dominion over this sea, and in those times annually wedded it on Ascension Day. The ceremony was performed by the doge of Venice throwing a ring into the sea with great pomp. The entrance of the gulf is commanded by Corfu, one of the Ionian islands under the British government. The coast of the A. sea is, in many places, very dangerous. The most important ports on the gulf are Venice (since 1829 a free port), Trieste, Ancona, Otranto, &c.

ADULE; ADULIAN MARBLE. Adule, a city in Ethiopia, mentioned by ancient authors as the most important commercial place of the Troglodytes and Ethiopians, in later times the emporium of Axum, seems to be the same with the modern Arkiko. This city, now the residence of the Naib of Massuah, is frequently mentioned on account of an inscription, first copied in the Topographia Christiana, a work partly theological, partly geographical, written by Cosmas Indicopleustes, in the 6th century, under The inthe reign of the emperor Justin. scription, engraved on marble, is contained in part on a throne, the remainder on a stone separated from it, and there are many inconsistencies in the several fragments, which have induced some scholars to declare the inscription spurious. Besides the genealogy of Ptolemy Euergetes, it contaius on a second part, which Salt supposes to be of Axumitic, that is, of Ethiopic or Abyssinian origin, the catalogue of nations whom some king boasts to have subdued. Buttmann (in Wolf's Museum der Alterthumskunde, vol. 2, p. 105) has removed the difficulties arising from the date on the marble, which is the 27th year of the reign of a king, whose name is unknown, probably not Ptolemy Euergetes. Several things, however, remain to be explained, and require a more accurate knowledge than we have at pres

ent of the country where the inscription
was found.

ADULTERY. Mankind, in almost all
ages, and in all civilized countries, have
regarded the violation of the marriage-bed
with abhorrence. It has been punished
in various ways and with different de-
grees of severity, according to the general
manners and morals of the country;
sometimes with extreme and even cruel
rigor; in other instances, with capricious
and ridiculous penalties. By the Jewish
law, it was punished with death. Strabo
says the same was the case in Arabia
Felix. Among the ancient Egyptians, it
was not common, but when it did occur,
a thousand lashes were inflicted on the
man, and the woman was deprived of her
nose. In Greece, the laws against it were
severe. The rich were sometimes allow-
ed to redeem themselves by paying a
fine; in which case, the woman's father
returned the dower which he had receiv-
ed from the husband. Some suppose it
was refunded by the adulterer. A fre-
quent punishment there, was putting out
the eyes. According to Homer, adulter-
ers were stoned to death. By the laws
of Draco and Solon, adulterers, when
caught in the act, were at the mercy of
the injured party. Adulteresses were pro-
hibited, in Greece, from appearing in fine
garments and entering the temples. Some
suppose that this offence was made capi-
tal by a law of Romulus, and again by
the twelve tables; others, that it was first
made capital by Augustus; and others, not
till the reign of Constantine. The fact is,
that the punishment was left to the dis-
cretion of the husband and parents of the
adulteress. The most usual mode of ta-
king revenge was by mutilating, castra-
ting, or cutting off the ears or nose. The
punishment assigned by the lex Julia de
adulteris, instituted by Augustus, was
banishment or a heavy fine. It was de-
creed by Antoninus, that, to sustain a
charge of adultery against a wife, the
husband who brought it must be inno-
cent himself. Under Macrinus, adulter-
ers were burned at a stake. Under Con-
stantius and Constans, they were burned
or sewed in sacks and thrown into the
But the punishment was mitigated
sea.
under Leo and Marcian to perpetual
banishment, or cutting off the nose; and
under Justinian the wife was only to be
scourged, lose her dower, and be shut up
in a monastery; at the expiration of two
years, the husband might take her again;
if he refused, she was shaven, and made
a nun for life. Theodosius instituted the

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shocking practice of public constupration, which, however, he soon abolished. In Crete, adulterers were covered with wool, as an emblem of their effeminacy, and carried in that dress to the magistrate's house, where a fine was imposed on them, and they were deprived of all their privileges and their share in public business. The punishment in use among the Mingrelians is the forfeiture of a hog, which is usually eaten very amicably by the woman, the gallant and the cuckold. In some parts of India, it is said, that any woman may prostitute herself for an elephant, and it is reputed no small glory to have been rated so high. Adultery is stated to be extremely frequent at Ceylon, although punishable with death. Among the Japanese and some other nations, adultery is punishable only in the woman. Among the Abyssinians, the crime of the husband is punished on the innocent wife. On the contrary, in the Marian islands, the woman is not punishable, but the man is, and the wife and her relations waste his lands, burn him out of the house, &c. Among the Chinese, adultery is not capital; fond parents will even make a contract with the future husbands of their daughters, to allow them the indulgence of a gallant. In Portugal, an adulteress is condemned to the flames, but the punishment is seldom executed. By the ancient laws of France, this crime was punishable with death. In Spain, the crime was punished by the deprivation of the instrument. In Poland, previously to the establishment of Christianity, the criminal was carried to the market-place, and there fastened by the testicles with a nail; a razor was laid within his reach, and he had the option to execute justice on himself, or remain where he was and die. The Saxons consigned the adulteress to the flames, and over her ashes erected a gibbet, on which her paramour was hanged. King Edmund the Saxon ordered adultery to be punished in the same manner as homicide, and Canute the Dane ordered that the offender should be banished, and the woman have her ears and nose cut off. In the time of Henry I, it was punished with the loss of the eyes and the genitals. Adultery is, in England, considered a spiritual offence, cognizable by the spiritual courts, where it is punished by fine and penance. The common law allows the party aggrieved only an action and damages. The Mahominedan code pronounces adultery a capital offence. It is one of the three crimes which the prophet

directs to be expiated by the blood of a Mussulman. In France, before the revolution, an adulteress was usually condemned to a convent, where the husband could visit her during two years, and take her back if he saw fit. If he did not choose to receive her again by the expiration of this time, her hair was shaven, she took the habit of the convent, and remained there for life. Where the parties were poor, the wife might be shut up in a hospital instead of a convent. The Code Napoléon does not allow the husband to proceed against his wife for adultery, in case he has been condemned for the same offence. The wife can bring an action against the husband only in case he has introduced his paramour into the house where she resides. An adulteress can be imprisoned from three months to two years. The husband can prevent the execution of the sentence, if he sees fit to take her back. Her partner in guilt is liable to the same punishment. In the United States, the punishment of adultery has varied materially at different times. In the state of Massachusetts, an adulterer or adulteress may be set on the gallows for one hour, be publicly whipped, be imprisoned or fined. All or any of these punishments may be inflicted, according to the degree of the offence. Corporal punishment and exposure, however, are in that state always commuted into imprisonment and labor. Moreover, adultery is very seldom punished criminally in the United States.

ADVENT (from the Latin adventus, i. e. adventus Redemptoris) signifies the coming of our Savior. The name is applied to the holy season which occupies the 4 or 6 weeks preceding Christmas. The Roman Catholics spend this season in fasting, humiliation and prayer, as if preparing for the reception of the Savior of the world. This holy season is first mentioned by Maximus Laurinensis, a divine, in one of his homilies, written in the middle of the 5th century, but is supposed to have been instituted by St. Peter. No nuptials could be celebrated in Advent, since the council held at Lerida, in the 6th century, in order that Christians might more frequently partake in the Lord's supper.

ADVENTURE, bill of; in commerce, a writing signed by a merchant, to testify that the goods shipped on board a certain vessel belong to another person, who is to take the hazard, the subscriber signing only to oblige himself to account to him for the produce.

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