Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/208

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
APO
184
APP

most potent methods, are found amid the writings of such men as Apollonius; and the great historic task remains, to detect and scrutinize these rudiments, and to track that flow of thought which, notwithstanding breaks and large and dreary spaces of barrenness, is yet continuous, and unites an Apollonius with a Monge. The opportunity is clear. The important task may be accomplished by whomsoever, with the requisite acuteness and knowledge, shall—mainly on the ground of those precious fragments, by Robert Simson, now resting in unread manuscript in the library of the university of Glasgow—have the courage to occupy some years of his life in preparing a new and adequate edition of Pappus.—J. P. N.

APOLLONIUS of Rhodes, a Greek poet, who was born in Alexandria about 237 b.c., fled, to avoid a persecution, to Rhodes, where he completed his epic poem on the Argonauts, but was recalled in his old age to Alexandria, where he became librarian to the museum, and died about 186 b.c.

APOLLONIUS the Sophist, an Alexandrian lexicographer, who lived in the reign of Augustus.

APOLLONIUS of Tralles, a Greek sculptor of the Rhodian school, who, with Tauriscus, executed the colossal group of Amphion and Zethus, now existing at Naples, and known as the Toro Farnese. At the time of Pliny this group was in Rome. Apollonius is said to have lived about 184 b.c.—R. M.

APOLLONIUS of Tyana, a mystic of antiquity, concerning whose life and doctrine the greatest uncertainty prevails, and whose very existence has been called in question. The following facts are all that can be disentangled from the web of mythology and fiction in which the career of this remarkable thinker has been enveloped. He was born about 4 b.c. at Tyana, a city of Cappadocia, his birth being, according to tradition, accompanied by various prodigies. His education was at first committed to Euthydemus, a rhetorician of Tarsus; but, disgusted with the laxity of morals prevalent in that city, he removed to Aege, and there made himself acquainted with the tenets of the leading philosophical schools of Greece. He devoted himself finally to the Pythagorean doctrines, renounced all the pleasures of sense, and distributed his patrimony among his relatives. He now travelled about the country, instructing the people, reforming public morals, and restoring the Greek religion to its original purity. He is next said to have visited Babylonia, Parthia, and India. We next find him in Asia Minor, exhorting the people to virtue and philosophy. He visited Rome during the reign of Nero, being actuated with the desire of seeing "what sort of a beast a tyrant was." He next travelled in Spain, Africa, Sicily, and in Egypt, where he became acquainted with Vespasian, who placed the greatest confidence in his advice and predictions. He visited Upper Egypt and Ethiopia, and on his return met, by invitation, with the Emperor Titus in Cilicia. On the accession of Domitian he ceased to enjoy the imperial favour, and became involved in a conspiracy against the tyrant, who issued orders for his arrest. Apollonius voluntarily repaired to Rome, confuted his accusers, and is said, after his acquittal, to have returned by magical means to Greece, and afterwards, whilst lecturing at Ephesus, to have announced to his audience the assassination of Domitian, which was at that moment happening at Rome. He died, it is said, about a.d. 97. His earliest biographer was Philostratus, who lived in the reign of Septimius Severus. Apollonius laid very little weight on the scientific doctrines of Pythagoras, turning his attention exclusively to morals and religion. He was probably a wise and virtuous man, whose earnestness, bordering perhaps upon fanaticism, attracted general attention, and made him the subject of innumerable fables.—J. W. S.

APOLLONIUS, Wilhelm, a Dutch reformed theologian of Zeeland, who lived in the seventeenth century, and is chiefly known from his controversy with Wedel, on the power of government in ecclesiastical affairs.

APOLLOPHANES, a Greek comic dramatist, who lived about 400 b.c.

APOLLOPHANES, physician to Antiochus Soter, lived about the middle of the third century.

APOLLOS, born at Alexandria, and descended from Jewish parents, was a man of great eloquence, and thoroughly versed in the Old Testament scriptures. At first he was only acquainted with the baptism of John; and having come to Ephesus, he began to teach the things of the Lord. His zeal and ability attracted the notice of Aquila and Priscilla, who instructed him more fully in the doctrines of the gospel. He now became desirous of proceeding to Achaia; and having obtained letters of introduction to the brethren there, he was hailed as a valuable accession to their cause, and laboured among them with distinguished ability and success. He was a powerful preacher; and in consequence of his extensive acquaintance with the Old Testament, he was particularly successful in convincing the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. At Corinth, he watered the seed which had been sown by Paul; his eloquence was so attractive, that a numerous party became his special adherents, as there were others who named themselves after Paul and Cephas. On account of the unhappy divisions which thus arose, Apollos left Corinth, and returned to Ephesus; and it was probably from him that Paul received his first accounts of what was transpiring in Achaia. The contentions at Corinth, though relating to themselves, had no effect upon the friendship of the two preachers; for, when Apollos was altogether averse to return to that scene of labour, though he was so much admired there, Paul, with an entire freedom from the meanness of jealousy, used every persuasion to induce him to go back. He retired, however, for a time to Crete, carrying with him a recommendation from Paul to Titus; and it is the opinion of Jerome, that, after the divisions at Corinth were healed, he returned to that city, and laboured in preaching the gospel.—W. L.

APONO, Peter of. See Abono.

APOSTOLI, Francesco, a Venetian author, was born in 1746, and died in 1816, having spent the latter part of his life in the position of a police agent.

APOSTOLI, Giovanni Francesco, an Italian poet of Montferrat, who wrote chiefly in the Latin language. He lived in the latter part of the sixteenth century, became professor of "humanity" (classical literature) at Casale, and was admitted a member of the academy degl Illustrati of that town.

APOSTOLI, Pietro (or Pedro de los APOSTOLOS), an Italian Carmelite of the sixteenth century.

APOSTOLI, Pietro Francesco degli, an Italian theologian of Novara, who lived about a.d. 1650, and was much celebrated as a preacher.

APOSTOLIUS, Aristobulus, an unimportant Greek poet of the fifteenth century.

APOSTOLIUS, Michael, a divine and rhetorician, one of the Greeks who fled to Italy on the taking of Constantinople in 1423. He was at first patronized by Cardinal Bessarion, but having offended this dignitary by a controversial essay on the respective merits of Aristotle and Plato, he repaired to Crete, where he died in 1480.

APOSTOOL, Samuel, a Dutch theologian of the 17th century, a leader of the more acrimonious party among the anabaptists.

APPEL, Jacob, a Dutch portrait and landscape painter, who followed the style of Tempesta. Born at Amsterdam in 1680; died 1751.

APPELMAN, Bernardt (Hector), a Dutch landscape painter of the seventeenth century, a native of the Hague.

APPENDINI, Francesco Maria, an Italian linguist, historian, and critic, of Pririne in Turin, afterwards professor of the new college of Ragusa, lived from 1768 to 1837.

APPERLEY, Charles James (Nimrod), a writer on various sporting subjects, was born at Plasgronow in Denbighshire in 1777. He was educated at Rugby, served for some time in the army, and finally settled as a gentleman-farmer, devoting his time to fox-hunting. He wrote for the "Sporting Magazine," but becoming embarrassed in circumstances, he withdrew to France. He is the author of "Nimrod's Hunting Tours," 1835; "The Life of the late John Myttin, Esq.," 1837; "The Chase, the Turf, and the Road," 1837; "Nimrod's Northern Tour," &c., 1838; "Sporting by Nimrod," 1840; "The Horse and the Hound," 1842; "Nimrod Abroad," &c., which have had a wide circulation. Apperley died in 1843.—J. W. S.

APPERT, Benjamin-Nicholas Marie, born at Paris in 1797, early devoted himself to the cause of education. When only sixteen, he was appointed an assistant sub-professor in the school of design; but a few years afterwards, he conceived the project of instituting a system of mutual education among those classes whose circumstances placed them in a great measure beyond the reach of the ordinary means of instruction. His efforts met with distinguished success. A vast number of military schools were established, and in the course of two or three years, more than one hundred thousand persons in the army had learnt