called the Cato of his age, was consul in 214 and again in 216. He was banished by Heliogabalus.
AQUIN, Louis Claude d', was born at Paris in 1694. His playing on the harpsichord, when he was but six years old, was so remarkable, as to attract the attention and patronage of the king, Louis XIV. When he was still a child, while only in his twelfth year, he played the organ in the Sainte Chapelle in Paris. In 1727 he was appointed organist of the church of St. Paul in that city. He was almost equally precocious as a composer and as an executant, and his productions, though but extremely few of them were printed, are very voluminous; they consist of motets, cantatas, portions of operas, sinfonias for the organ, and an extensive variety of trios, fugues, and other instrumental pieces, the majority of which are preserved in the libraries of his native city. Manpurg includes his name in the list of thirty-three musicians of different countries, who were, in 1755, eminent performers on the organ and harpsichord, and able writers for those instruments. Handel visited Paris expressly for the purpose of hearing him play, and said of him, "He is the only one whom the fashionable mania has not corrupted, and who preserves the true majesty of the organ." He died at the age of seventy-eight, in the year 1772.—G. A. M.
AQUIN, Phillipe d', or AQUINAS, Phillipus d', a Jewish rabbi, converted to Christianity at Aquino in Naples, taught Hebrew at Paris, and was appointed professor at the college of France by Louis XIII. His works are numerous. Died at Paris in 1650.
AQUIN DE CHATEAU-LION, Pierre Louis, a French poet and critic, son of Louis Claude d'Aquin, died in 1797.
AQUINAS or D'AQUINS, Thomas, called "The Angelic Doctor," was the most eminent scholastic of his age. He was descended from the noble and powerful family of Aquins. The year of his birth is not ascertained, but it was either in 1224, 1227, or the two intervening years. His father, Randulf or Rodolf, had several children, of whom he was the youngest. At the age of five he was sent to the monastery of Monte Cassino, whence he repaired in his eleventh year to the new university of Naples, founded by Frederick II. in 1224. Here he continued, engaged in acts of religious devotion and in philosophical studies, till he was seventeen, when he became a Dominican. But his family were averse to his entering the monastic profession, and endeavoured to rescue him from its grasp. Hence the Dominicans removed him from Italy, and were conducting him to France, when his two brothers, who were serving in the armies of Tuscany, brought him back as a prisoner to the paternal castle of Aquins. Here he spent two years in confinement, exposed to the solicitations of his mother and sisters, and to the stronger importunities of his military brothers, who also introduced a beautiful courtesan into his chamber to tempt him. It is related, that when on the point of yielding to the solicitations of the female, he suddenly resolved to expel her from his presence, and, for this purpose, snatched a burning brand. Falling down before the mark of the cross which the brand had impressed on the floor, he repeated his vows of chastity and prayers for grace. After this trial, his mother yielded to his strong determination, and favoured his escape from durance. But the command of Frederick II. caused his release. He was placed under the care of Albert the Great of Cologne, the most renowned of the Dominicans at that time, and soon made great progress under his tuition. It is said that his taciturnity, together with his large fame, procured him among his fellow-students the appellation of the "Dumb Ox of Sicily." When his preceptor was appointed to occupy the chair of theology for three years in the college of St. James at Paris, Aquinas accompanied him, returning with him to Cologne, where he remained till 1253 and was ordained priest. Having returned to Paris in that year, he began lectures on "The Book of Sentences" of Peter Lombard, and gradually attracted the notice of the great and learned. In 1261 he was summoned to Rome by Urban IV., and lectured there for several years. Nor were his lectures confined to Rome; for he visited the principal cities of Italy, such as Bologna, Pisa, Viterbo, &c., where his fame attracted multitudes of hearers. In 1265, Clement IV. offered him the archbishopric of Naples, which he declined. He also refused the abbacy of Monte Cassino, though better suited to his tastes and studies. In 1269 he again lectured in Paris, under the royal patronage, returning to Naples in 1272. Here he was summoned by Gregory X. to attend the second council of Lyons in 1274, which was convened for the purpose of reconciling the Greek and Latin churches. Though feeble and worn with long sickness, he set out on the journey; but finding himself at last too ill to proceed, he requested to be carried to the Cistercian abbey of Fossa Nuova in the diocese of Terracina, where he lingered nearly a month, having felt from the first that it was to be the place of his rest. The time was spent in prayer and holy conversation. It is said that he dictated his "Exposition of Canticles" at the request of the monks in this abbey, and expired, with every demonstration of profound devotion, on the 7th March, 1274, at the age of forty-eight. Several miracles are related to have occurred at the time of his death: and credulous authors describe prodigies which he performed in his lifetime. He was canonized by John XXII.
Great as was the reputation of St. Thomas Aquinas in his lifetime among his contemporaries, it increased after his death. Even his body was eagerly claimed by various cities; by none with more importunity than Paris. The monks of Fossa Nuova, however, refused to part with his mortal remains. Urban V. afterwards presented them to the city of Toulouse, where they were finally deposited with great solemnity in the church of the Dominicans.
Thomas Aquinas was gifted with great mental powers, which he consecrated to the study of theology and the service of the church. He is the most renowned of all the schoolmen. His intellect was acute, clear, logical, passionless. He looked at every subject through the understanding, and reduced it with minute precision and accuracy to the syllogistic form. He had great perspicacity of thought and perspicuity of expression, and carried the penetration of his intellect into all theological subjects with the boldest and calmest confidence. His definitions and distinctions are minute as well as numerous, often impalpable to the common intellect. Aquinas may be said to have carried the Aristotelian logic, as applied to theology, to its utmost limit. In him the scholastic system of theology reached its highest point. In philosophy he was more a Realist than a Conceptualist or Nominalist, though he was not absolutely so; for, like his great master Albert, he was somewhat of an Eclectic.
His theological works are very numerous; but by far his greatest is the "Sum of Theology." This is divided into three parts—the natural, moral, and sacramental. The first treats of God—his existence, attributes, providence, &c. The second refers to man as a moral and intellectual agent, the principles of human action, and the virtues in which they are embodied. The third is on the incarnation, and the sacraments of the church. Angels and demons are treated under the first part. "In his works," says Milman, "or rather in his one great work, is the final result of all which has been decided by pope or council, taught by the fathers, accepted by tradition, argued by the schools, inculcated in the confessional. The 'Sum of Theology' is the authentic, authoritative, acknowledged code of Latin Christianity." There are various editions of this "Summa Theologiæ." An edition of all his works was published by order of Pope Pius V. at Rome, 1570-71, folio, 17 volumes in 18mo. This is often considered the best. Other editions were published at Venice, 1593, 18 vols. folio; at Antwerp, 1612, 19 vols. folio; at Paris, 1636-41, 23 vols. folio. The second Venice edition appeared in 28 vols. 4to. in 1775. A full life was published by Morelles in the Antwerp edition of 1612, carefully compiled from preceding writers.—S. D.
AQUI´NO, Carlo d', an Italian writer, professor of rhetoric in the college of jesuits at Rome, was a son of Bartolommeo, prince of Caramanico. Among his numerous works, which embrace a wide variety of subjects, is a Latin translation of Dante. Died in 1737.
ARABIUS, Scholasticus, a Greek epigrammatic poet, supposed to have lived about the year 550.
ARABSCHAH, a Mahometan writer, born at Damascus, author of two works—"The wonderful effects of the Divine Decrees in the affairs of Tamerlane," and a theological treatise "On the Unity of God." He died at his native city in 1460.
ARACHIE´LUS, Cacciaturo, an Armenian theologian, educated at Rome, died at Venice in 1740.
ARADON, Jerome, a French general of the second half of the sixteenth century, employed against Henry IV. in the war of the League.
ARAGO, Dominic-François, born at Estagel, near Perpignan, early in the year 1786; died in Paris on the 2d October, 1852 The life of this remarkable savant partook very little of
