Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VIII.djvu/123

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GORGIAS he recommenced the offensive against the Aus- trians simultaneously with the invasion of the Russians. Political rather than strategical rea- sons led him to choose the left bank of the Danube as a basis of operations, and he changed his plan only after a series of bloody and fruit- less struggles on the Waag and Danube (June 16, 20, 21). On the right bank of the latter river his army was forced to give up Raab (June 28), and he was obliged to retreat into the for- tified camp at Oomorn, where he gained more glory than success in the great battle of Szony (July 2), in which he was wounded. At this juncture, when Russians and Austrians were advancing from every quarter, a concentration of the main armies on the Theiss was resolved upon at Pesth ; Meszaros received the nominal, and Dembinski the virtual command in chief; the capital was again evacuated, and Gorgey was finally compelled to sacrifice his plans. Leaving a part of his army under Klapka at Comorn, he retreated toward Waitzen, where he fought (July 15) against the Russian main army under Paskevitch ; but being unable to break through it, he took his direction toward the upper Theiss, and defeated the Russians on the Saj6 (July 25) and on the Hernad (July 28). The division of Nagy-Sandor was soon after surprised and defeated at Debreczin (Aug. 2) ; and when Gorgey finally reached Arad, the last appointed place of concentration, as well as the last seat of the Hungarian government, his army alone was still able to fight, all the others which had been ordered there having been defeated and dispersed ; Bern had lost Transylvania. But to resist with success the overwhelming forces of Paskevitch and Haynau was now im- possible. Having summoned Kossuth to re- sign, and been himself invested (Aug. 11) with supreme civil and military powers, Gorgey in- formed the Russian general Riidiger of his intention to surrender his army, relying for the fate of his men on the magnanimity of the czar. The surrender took place at Vila- gos, Aug. 13, 1849, when 20,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry laid down their arms. The gen- erals and soldiers were then delivered by the Russians to the Austrians, the former to be executed at Arad (Oct. 6), the latter to serve a new term in their army. Gorgey was spared at the intercession of the czar, and carried as captive to Klagenfurth, where he resumed his chemical studies, and wrote Mein Leben und Wirlcen in Ungarn in den Jahren 1848 und 1849 (Leipsic, 1852 ; English translation, " My Life and Acts in Hungary," London, 1852). On the restoration of the Hungarian constitu- tion in 1867, he returned to his country, and in 1869 published anonymously Magyarorszdg 1849-fow es 1866 utdn (" Hungary in 1849 and after 1866 "), a review of the situation from a politico-strategical point of view. GORGIAS, a Greek rhetorician and sophist, born in Leontini, Sicily, about 487 B. C., died about 380. Pie was a disciple of Empedocles and Prodicus, and first appears in history in GORILLA 115 427, when he was sent to Athens to beseech succor for the Leontines attacked by the Sy- racusans. He spent the remainder of his life chiefly in Greece. He not only captivated the Athenian populace by the splendor of his eloquence, but gained Alcibiades, Alcidamas, ^Eschines, and Antisthenes for pupils or imi- tators. Plato gave his name to the dialogue which he composed against the sophists. The views of Gorgias were set forth in a work " On Nature," which was early lost, but of which considerable extracts still exist. A full account of it is given by Theophrastus. The book was divided into three sections. In the first he argued that nothing had any real existence ; in the second, that if there were a real existence, it was not in man's power to ascertain it; in the third, that existence, even if real and as- certainable, could not be communicated. To prove these points, he made use of the conclu- sions of the Eleatics, which however he did not fully accept. , Sextus Empiricus also gives a clear description of the work of Gorgias. The charm of his oratory is said to have con- sisted largely in a profusion of metaphors and a poetical choice and arrangement of words. According to Plato, he expressly declared that he did not profess to impart virtue, but only the power of speaking eloquently. GORGONA, an island in the Pacific, 30m. from the coast of the United States of Colombia, to which it belongs; lat. 2 51' N., Ion. 78 4' W. ; length from N. to S. 6 m., breadth from E. to W. 2 m. The surface is varied, now low and undulating, now swelling into mountains, one of which is 2,000 ft. above the sea. The lower portions are covered with a thick forest growth. The soil is very fertile. There are few inhabitants. It is chiefly remarkable as having been visited by Pizarro immediately prior to the conquest of Peru, and having long been a favorite resort of buccaneers. GORGONS, in Greek mythology, three sisters, daughters of Phorcys and Ceto, who had but one eye in common, and changed into stone whomsoever they looked upon. Homer men- tions but one gorgon, which appears as a hid- eous phantom in Hades, and whose head, of frightful aspect, was represented on the a?gis of Athena. Hesiod mentions three, Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa, who had hissing ser- pents for hair, brazen claws, short wings, and a single tusk-like tooth. They were placed in the garden of the Hesperides near the realm of Night, where Medusa was slain by Perseus. Virgil places the gorgons with harpies and other monsters at Pluto's palace gate. GORILLA, the largest of the anthropoid apes, a native of the equatorial region of western Africa, and first introduced to the scientific world by Dr. T. S. Savage in 1847. There were vague reports by voyagers and travellers of the existence in Africa of a quadrumanous animal larger than the chimpanzee, and there were in museums portions of a creature since ascertained to be the gorilla; but naturalists