Lampsacus

“ At Lampsacus the victim to he offered to Priapus is an ass, and the cause of the sacrifice of this animal is thus set forth in the Fasti:-When all the deities had assembled at the festival of the Great Mother, and when, satiated with feasting. they were spending the night in sport, they say that Vesta had laid herself on the ground for rest, and had fallen asleep, and that Priapus upon this formed a design against her honour as she slept; but that she was aroused by the unseasonable braying of the ass on which Silenus used to ride, and that the design of the insidious plotter was frustrated. ”

“ Another Mysian town of note was Lampsacus, also a colony of Miletus and Phocæa, attested as this is by its gold and silver coins, and by a statue of a prostrate lion, said to have been the work of Lysippus, and subsequently, placed by Agrippa in the Campus Martius at Rome. The town was famous for its wine, and was, for this reason, granted to Themistocles, who is said to have learnt here, or at Magnesia, Persian in a year; the district around having been granted to him by his old enemy the King of Persia. ”

“ We learn (he adds) from the old geographers, that there was a town called Ægospotami on the Thracian side of the Hellespont, and we may infer a stream from which its name was derived. The description of the naval fight, and the situation relatively to Lampsacus (the modern Lamsaki) , further define the locality within certain limits. The reviewer then adds some practical suggestions of importance. The traveller devoting himself to this research should make his head-quarters at various places near the spot in question. ”

“ A small village, called Lampsaki, most likely marks on our modern maps the site of the old town.
3. Liv. xliii. 6. Most likely, its brave resistance to Antiochus had favourably inclined the Romans to it (Liv. xxxiii. 38; xxxv. 42; Polyb. xxi. 10) .
A little to the south of Lampsacus was Abydus, at the narrowest part of the Hellespont, and opposite the town of Sestus. [4] It was a little above Abydus that Xerxes constructed his famous bridge, 6B.C. 480; but, except for the gallant resistance it made to Philip, son of Demetrius, king of Macedon, Abydus has no place in history. ”

“ And as soon as the horses heard them playing on the flute, they not only began to dance, but ran over to the army of the Crotonians, carrying their riders with them.
And Charon of Lampsacus tells a similar story about the Cardians, in the second book of his Annals, writing as follows:—"The Bisaltæ invaded the territory of the Cardians, and conquered them. But the general of the Bisaltæ was Onaris; and he, while he was a boy, had been sold as a slave in Cardia; and having lived as a slave to one of the Cardians, he had been taught the trade of a barber. ”

“ As for the autonomous cities of Asia, they must acquire their freedom by his free grace, not by an injunction from Rome. As for Ptolemy, he was about to settle matters amicably with him: for it was his intention to confirm their friendship by a matrimonial alliance.”
52. But upon Lucius expressing an opinion that they ought to call in the representatives of LampsacusAntiochus refuses to acknowledge the Romans as arbitrators. and Smyrna and give them a hearing, this was done. The envoys from Lampsacus were Parmenio and Pythodorus, and from Smyrna Coeranus. ”

“ It is one of the 12 capital cities of Ionia, situate at the distance of about 30 stadia from the mouth of the Mæander. Artaxerxes king of Persia gave it to Themistocles to maintain him in meat. Magnesia was to support him in bread, and Lampsacus in wine. Cornelius Nepos, Themistocles.—Strabo, bk. 14.—Herodotus, bk. 4, ch. 142.—Diodorus, bk. 11.
N Nabazanes, an officer of Darius III., at the battle of Issus. He conspired with Bessus to murder his royal master, either to obtain the favour of Alexander or to seize the kingdom. He was pardoned by Alexander. Curtius, bk. 3, &c.—Diodorus, bk. 17. ”

“ LAMACHUS OH! the moths have eaten the hair of my crest. DICAEOPOLIS I shall always eat hare before dinner. LAMACHUS Hi! friend! try not to scoff at my armor? DICAEOPOLIS Hi! friend! will you kindly not stare at my thrushes. LAMACHUS Hi! friend! will you kindly not address me. DICAEOPOLIS I do not address you; I am scolding my slave. Shall we wager and submit the matter to Lamachus, which of the two is the best to eat, a locust or a thrush? LAMACHUS Insolent hound! DICAEOPOLIS He much prefers the locusts. LAMACHUS Slave, unhook my spear and bring it to me. ”

“ The striking peculiarity of the lamprey is its life-history. It lives in fresh water, spending a large portion of its life in the mud during the period of its larval existence: then comes a somewhat sudden transformation-stage, characterized, as in the lepidopterous larva, by a process of histolysis, by which many of the larval tissues are destroyed and new ones formed, with the result that the larval lamprey, or Ammocœtes, is transformed into the adult lamprey, or Petromyzon. ”

“ Exotic species of Lampyris are similarly luminous, and light-giving organs are present in many genera of the family Lampyridae from various parts of the world. Frequently—as in the south European Luciola italica—both sexes of the beetle are provided with wings, and both male and female emit light. These luminous, winged Lampyrids are generally known as “fire-flies.” In correspondence with their power of emitting light, the insects are nocturnal in habit. ”

“ As a matter of fact the Lampyris is not a worm at all, not even in general appearance. He has six short legs, which he well knows how to use, for he is a real gad-about. The male, when he is full-grown has wing-cases, like the true Beetle that he is. The female is an unattractive creature who knows nothing of the delights of flying and all her life remains in the larva, or incomplete form. ”

“ Free communication with the outer air is essential to the emission of the light of these two sacs, and we are thus able to account for the frequent disappearance of the glowworm's lamp by the power which insects enjoy of closing their spiracula at will. But the Lampyris can in reality only partially extinguish its light; beneath the last segmentary ring of the abdomen a second pair of still more minute sacs are placed, likewise filled with yellow, greasy matter, and the light of these is not entirely under the insect's control. It may always be seen if the glow-worm be closely examined. ”

“ With the lamprey we bid adieu to the class Vertebrata—the nobility of the animal kingdom—among whom nevertheless we must distinguish between the peer, who approaches nearest the person of his sovereign, and the inferior provincial lords who live at a hundred miles' distance. There is only one step from the lamprey to the mollusks or soft-bodied animals, and this is the course which animal organisation seems really to have taken in its progress. But nature never moves forward in a single straight line. ”

“ He passed between rows of statues, animal-headed gods, men and women wearing conventionalized wigs and beards in stylized poses. The pale light gave the reds, greens and blues which predominated, a chalky, muffled quality; it threw the looped crosses molded on the frieze into shadowed relief.
The air was dank with the penetrating, pervasive dampness of oozing stone. Lampley was oppressed by thoughts of decay and destruction, of the knowledge without the sensation of pain. He longed for the warmth of the sun outside the hotel or the climate of the island under the earth. ”

“ Here are a carp, two pike, and I know not what fish beside, but I have seen no lamprey to day.”
“What?” said he. “Do you think I am drunk?”
“Yes,” replied the curé and the other guests, “we think no less. You are too niggardly to buy such a lamprey.”
“By God,” said his wife, “he is either making fun of you or he is dreaming—for certainly I have never seen this lamprey.”
Her husband grew angry, and cried,
“You lie, you whore! Either you have eaten it, or you have hidden it somewhere. I promise you it will be the dearest lamprey you ever had.” ”

“ The people of Lampsacos therefore fearing Croesus loosed Miltiades and let him go..
38. He then escaped by means of Croesus, but afterwards he brought his life to an end leaving no son to succeed him, but passing over his rule and his possessions to Stesagoras, who was the son of Kimon, his brother on the mother's side: 24 and the people of the Chersonese still offer sacrifices to him after his death as it is usual to do to a founder, and hold in his honour a contest of horse-races and athletic exercises, in which none of the men of Lampsacos are allowed to contend. ”

“ Of these the Lampyrides, or glow-worms, are of special interest, as most of their members give off a phosphorescent light when alive; in many of them the female is apterous and like a larva, and then the light it gives is usually conspicuous, frequently much more so than that of its mate; in other cases the males are the most brilliant. ”

“ In his left hand each held a crook, with a sharp flint point at the other end so that it could be used as a spear if a weapon were needed. The taller led the wolf, which fawned and licked his bare feet; the other, who was not quite so dark of hair and eye, was playing on a reed pipe, taking up the call of the pipers and weaving it into a simple melody. For a moment the people did not know who they could be. All the shepherd boys in that neighborhood were known. Surely only gods come out of the forest would be accompanied by a wolf.
They did not enter the village. ”

“ The Lamprey has a hole on top of its head through which it spouts water, somewhat like a Whale, and the fins are formed by a lengthening out of the skin instead of having a set of bones or spines for that purpose. The mouth of the Lamprey is not only formed like that of the Leech, but it has the same property of sticking close to and sucking any body that is applied to it. It has a wonderful 240power of holding on to stones by sucking with its mouth, so that it is almost impossible to draw it away. ”

“ This long-continued free-living existence in the larval or Ammocœtes stage makes the lamprey, more than any other type of lowly organized fish, invaluable for the present investigation, for throughout the animal kingdom it is recognized that the larval form approaches nearer to the ancestral type than the adult form, whether the latter is progressive or degenerate. ”

“ They are very sluggish in their motions, and live in the most exposed situations on the surface of leaves; their curious shapes are therefore no doubt so many disguises to protect them from the keen eyes of insectivorous birds and lizards. A nearly allied group, the Lamprosomas, of which several species occurred in the same places, have perfectly smooth convex bodies; these glitter like precious stones on the foliage, and seem to be protected by the excessive hardness of their integuments. ”

“ A lamprey is able to strike its suctorial mouth against a fish, and in an instant becomes so firmly attached that it is very rarely indeed that the efforts of the fish will avail to rid itself of its persecutor. ”

“ In our British glow-worm the female is entirely apterous—hence the name glow-worm—but the male has elytra and ample wings, and frequently flies at night into lighted apartments. Although so little has been ascertained as to the light of Lampyridae, there are two facts that justify us in supposing that it is in some way of importance to the species. These are: (1) that in a great many species the eyes have a magnificent and unusual development ”

“ I have heard it myself,” interrupted Blas Aria, one of the listeners.
“Like a musket, than it once more brings its power of suction to bear; and in this manner the contest continues until the victim is finally drawn into the monster's jaws. It is well known that the lampalagua is the strongest of all God's creatures, and that if a man, stripped to the skin, engages one, and conquers it by sheer muscular strength, the serpent's power goes into him, after which he is invincible.” ”

“ The young larva of P. noctilucus is luminous, having a light-giving centre at the junction of the head and thorax; the older larva has also numerous luminous points along the sides of the body near the spiracles. It is remarkable that there should be three successive seats of luminescence in the life of the same individual. The eggs too are said to be luminous. The light given off by these Insects is extremely pleasing, and is used by the natives on nocturnal excursions, and by the women for ornament. The structure of the light-organs is essentially similar to that of the Lampyridae. ”

“ There are eighteen species of Lampyris or glow-worm, according to Linneus, some of which are found in almost every part of the world. In many of the species the females have no wings, and are supposed to be discovered by the winged males by their shining in the night. ”

“ A similar question should be addressed, by way of a preliminary, to every insect whose habits we propose to study, for, from the least to the greatest in the zoological progression, the stomach sways the world; the data supplied by food are the chief of all the documents of life. Well, in spite of his innocent appearance, the Lampyris is an eater of flesh, a hunter of game; and he follows his calling with rare villainy. His regular prey is the Snail. ”

“ Lampreys live on small crustaceans, worms, and so forth, eat carrion, and also attack living fishes. The tongue, like the interior of the mouth, is armed with teeth. They are in the habit of attaching themselves to stones in order to hold themselves against a river current, breathing meanwhile by taking water directly into the pouchlike gill chambers and expelling it, instead of sucking it through the mouth and passing it out of the gill slits. ”