narrow valley of Lateriua. Thence it issues through the rocky defile Dell Inferno, pours into the lovely Val d Arno, sweeps beneath the woods of Vallombrosa, and, after receiv ing the Sieve, enters the plain of Florence and flows through that city. Ten miles below Florence it is confined in an artificial channel, formed by the ancient Etruscans, for the purpose of draining the plain. It receives several tributaries, and enters the plain of Pisa, which it traverses ; and after a further course of eight miles, falls into the Tuscan sea by an artificial embouchure excavated in 1603. Its whole winding course is about 140 miles. At Florence it is 400 feet wide, but is f ordable in summer. It is liable to sudden floods, and then is impetuous, carrying down with it immense quantities of earth and stones, by which its bed is elevated ; in many places it requires frequent embankment. The most remarkab e inundations are those of 1537 and 1740, the water on the former occasion rising 8 feet in the city of Florence. On the banks of the upper Arno are vast accumulations of fossil bones of the elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, and bear, especially
between Arezzo and Florence.ARNO, or Aquila, tenth bishop and first archbishop of Salzburg, was one of those learned churchmen whom Charles the Great gathered round him, and who did so much to frame and strengthen that alliance between the Emperor and the Pope which lay at the basis of the Holy Roman empire of the West. The occasion of his introduc tion to the emperor was the defeat of Thassilo, duke of Bavaria, who had made war upon Charles, and was com pelled to sue for peace. He sent at the head of the embassy Arno, who was then bishop of Salzburg, and in whose talents and fidelity he had the utmost confidence. The embassy did not succeed, mainly because Thassilo refused to make the required concessions, and Bavaria was annexed to the empire. When this took place Charles secured the services of Arno, and got for him from the Pope the archbishopric of Salzburg in 798 A.D. From this time forward Arno was frequently at the court of Charles, and became the intimate associate of Alcuin and other scholars whom the emperor delighted to gather around him. In 799 he presided at a synod of the church held at Reisbach, and in 807 at the more important synod of Salzburg. The zeal which he evinced for the conversion of the pagans of Hungary and Bohemia commended him to his ecclesiastical superiors. He established a library in Salzburg formed on the model of the emperor s palace library, and did all he could to further the interests of learning within his diocese. Assisted by a deacon named Benedict, he published a catalogue of the church lands, proprietary rights, and so on, belonging to the church in Bavaria. This is of great value to the historical student, and goes by the name of the Congestum, or Indiculus Arnonis ; an edition with notes was published by Frederick Keinz, Munich, 1869. Arno also wrote De Donis Ducum Bavaria; Salzbrugensi Ecclesice datis, which is to be found in the Tliesaurus Monumentorum ecclesiastic orum et historicorum (Antwerp, 1725).
ARNOBIUS, called Afer, and sometimes the Elder, was a native of Sicca Venerea in Nuinidia. The date of his birth is uncertain, but it must have been during the latter part of the 3d century of our era. He was a teacher of rhetoric, and at first an opponent of Christianity. His conversion is said by Jerome to have been occasioned by a dream ; and the same writer adds that the bishop to whom Arnobius applied distrusted his professions, and asked some proof of them, and that the treatise Adversus Gentes was composed for this purpose. But this story seems rather improbable ; for Arnobius speaks contemptuously of dreams, and besides, his work bears no traces of having been written in a short time, or of having been revised by a Christian bishop. From internal evidence the time of composition may be fixed at about 303 A.D. Nothing further is known of the life of Arnobius. He is said to have been the author of a work on rhetoric, which, however, has not come down to us. His great treatise, in seven books, Adversus Gentes (or Nationes], on account of which he takes rank as a Christian apologist, appears to have been occasioned by a desire to answer the complaint then brought against the Christians, that the prevalent calamities and disasters were due to their impiety, and had corno upon men since the establishment of their religion. In tho first book Arnobius carefully discusses this complaint; he shows that the allegation of greater calamities having come upon men since the Christian era is false ; and that, even if it were true, it could by no means be attributed to the Christians. He skilfully contends that Christians who worship the self-existent God cannot justly be called less religious than those who worship subordinate deities, and concludes by vindicating the divinity of Christ. The second book is principally taken up with a discussion on the soul, which Arnobius does not think is of divine origin, and which he scarcely believes to be immortal. Curiously enough, he is of opinion that a belief in the soul s immor tality would tend to remove moral restraint, and have a prejudicial effect on human Life. In the concluding chapters he answers the objections drawn from the recent origin of Christianity. Books iii., iv., and v. contain an examina tion of the heathen mythology, in which he narrates, with powerful sarcasm, the scandalous chronicles of the gods, and contrasts with their grossness and immorality the pure and holy worship of the Christian. These books are valuable as a repertory of mythological stories. Books vi. and vii. discuss, in a very admirable manner, the questions of sacrifices and worship of images. He points out the absurdities of the heathen practices in these respects, and shows how unnecessary they are in a pure system of religion. The work of Arnobius appears to have been written when he was a recent convert, for he does not possess a very extensive knowledge of Scripture. He knows nothing of the Old Testament, and only the life of Christ in the New, while he does not quote directly from the Gospels. He is also at fault in regard to the Jewish sects. The best editions of his work are those of Orelli, 1816 ; Hildebrand, 1844; andOehler, 1846. It has been translated into English as vol. xix. of the Ante-Nicene Christian Library (1871).
ARNOBIUS, the younger, a Christian priest or bishop in Gaul, flourished about 460 A.D. He is the author of a mystical and allegorical commentary on the Psalms, first published by Erasmus in 1522, and by him attributed to the elder Arnobius. It has been frequently reprinted, and in the edition of De !a Barre, 1580, is accompanied by some notes on the Gospels by the same author. To him has sometimes been ascribed the anti-Augustinian treatise Pr&destinatus, which is anonymous. His opinions, as appears from the commentary, are semi-Pelagian.
the Reformation and assailant of the Pope s temporal power, was born about the beginning of the 1 2th century, and became a priest in his native city. The fame of Abe- lard s eloquence induced him to repair to France for tho sake of becoming his disciple. On his return ho bitterly attacked the temporal dominion of the Pope and the wealth of the clergy, advocating the secularisation of all ecclesias tical property. He is said to have also impugned the current doctrine of the sacraments, but this appears to have been an invention of his adversaries. Persecuted in Italy, he returned (1140) to Abelard, and incurred the enmity of the latter s great antagonist, St Bernard, whose
denunciations drove him to seek refuge at Zurich, where