Page:Imperialdictiona02eadi Brandeis.pdf/577

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
GAL
543
GAL

Pluto and Proserpine;" "Apollo and Daphne;" "The Royal Chase, or Merlin's Cave;" "Œdipus;" "Oreste e Pilade," &c. He was besides the author of many cantatas, single songs, solos for various instruments, Milton's Morning Hymn of Adam and Eve, and an excellent translation of Tosi's celebrated work on the Florid Song. He died in 1749.—E. F. R.

GALLIENUS, Publius Licinius, son of the Emperor Valerian, born in 235, was made Cæsar and colleague to his father in 253, and reigned in conjunction with him about seven years He was an indolent and dissolute youth, utterly unfit for the office even in peaceful times, and during his whole reign the Roman empire was torn in pieces both by domestic usurpers, and by the Franks and Goths and other foreign invaders. He was by no means destitute of abilities, however, and when roused as he was occasionally, from his habitual torpor, showed that he possessed both personal courage and military talent. Valerian was taken prisoner by the Persians in 260, and Gallienus became sole emperor. He had long borne with impatience the restraints imposed upon him by the severity of his father, and the aged emperor was left by his heartless son to spend the remainder of his life in hopeless captivity. The empire was now assailed on all sides by the barbarians. The Franks, after ravaging Gaul and Spain, passed over into Africa, which they desolated with fire and sword. The provinces of the Upper Danube were laid waste by the Alemanni, and those of the Lower Danube by the Sarmatians; while the Goths established themselves on the coast of the Black Sea, and at the mouth of the Danube, ravaged Asia Minor, Thrace, and Greece, captured and plundered Athens, Corinth, Argos, and Sparta, and ruined for ever the famous temple of Diana at Ephesus. To add to the miseries of the wretched inhabitants, several provinces were destroyed by earthquakes. The ravages of the barbarians caused a long protracted famine, and this was followed by a frightful pestilence, which swept away many millions of the people. While his subjects were involved in these calamities, Gallienus was immured in frivolous pleasures, and indulged in the most profuse expenditure; he surrounded himself with philosophers and courtezans, wasted his time in trifling speculations, in the cultivation of curious but useless sciences, and the composition of licentious poems. Yet now and then he threw off his indolence, and the trifling licentious epicurean was for a brief space transformed into an intrepid soldier, or a cruel tyrant. He repeatedly massacred thousands of his troops who murmured at his conduct, permitted his soldiers to exterminate the population of Byzantium, and on the suppression of the revolt of Ingenuus ordered one of his ministers to "tear, kill, hew in pieces," men, women, and children. The complete dissolution of the empire was only averted by the efforts of Piso, Probus, Aurelianus, Odenatus, and other able officers (the thirty tyrants as they were termed), who sprang up in every district, and repelled the attacks of the barbarians, while at the same time they raised the standard of rebellion against Gallienus. One of these, named Aureolus, was proclaimed emperor by the soldiers on the Upper Danube, and passing the Alps at the head of a powerful army occupied Milan, and threatened Rome. He was defeated by Gallienus, in a great battle near the Adda, and took refuge in Milan, where he was closely besieged by the emperor. But during the siege a conspiracy was formed against Gallienus, and he was killed by his own soldiers, March 20, 268.—J. T.

GALLIOT or GALIOT de Genouilhac, a famous officer of artillery, born in Quercy in France in 1466; died in 1546. He was present at the battles of Fornovo, 1495, Agnadello, 1509, and Marignano, 1515—immediately after which he was appointed by Francis I. grand master of artillery. This branch of the military service Galliot, in the course of a few years, signally improved; and at the battle of Pavia, 1545, if the temerity of Francis I. had not ruined everything, his cannoneers would have completely discomfited and dispersed the Spanish forces. He was named governor of Languedoc a few months before his death.—J. S., G.

GALLITZIN. See Galyzin.

GALLO. See Gallus, Thomas.

GALLO, Marzio, Marquis, afterwards Duke of Mastrilli, born at Palermo in 1753. He soon became known at Naples for his political ability, and was sent ambassador to Vienna at the close of last century. He took an active and influential part in the negotiations which led to the treaty of Campo Formio in 1797, and was called back to Naples to fill the place of prime minister. After the flight of the Bourbons from Naples, he lived some time in Paris. Disgusted with the faithlessness of his former masters, he followed Joseph Bonaparte to Naples, and subsequently acted as minister of foreign affairs under Murat. After the restoration of Ferdinand of Bourbon, Gallo's diplomatic experience was again in request, and in 1820 he was sent ambassador to St. Petersburg. At the time of the Revolution, he accompanied the king to Laybach, with a view to persuade the allied powers to respect the Neapolitan constitution; but his exertions were unsuccessful, and he was the first to bring to Naples the news that King Ferdinand was coming back in the rear of an Austrian army. He spent in retirement the rest of his life. He died in 1833.—A. S., O.

GALLOCHE, Louis, a distinguished French painter, was born at Paris, August 24th, 1670. He was brought up at the college of Louis XIV., and received the tonsure at thirteen years of age, but he had no taste for the priestly calling, and placed himself with a notary. This pursuit pleasing him no better, he at length persuaded his father, who was a wood measurer, to let him become a painter, and in his nineteenth year entered the school of Louis de Boulogne. About 1693 he visited Rome, where he remained two years; after his return he established a school of his own, and the celebrated François Lemoine was one of his first scholars. About this time he painted two pictures for the refectory of St. Martin des Champs—miracles of St. Benedict and St. Scholastica, for which in 1703 he was made associate of the Academy of Painting; and in 1711 he became a member, for his picture of Hercules bringing Alcestes from the infernal regions. In 1720 he became a professor, in 1746 rector, and in 1754 chancellor of the academy. Galloche painted chiefly religious works for the churches; but he executed also a few pictures from profane subjects, a few portraits, and even a few landscapes. Galloche was one of the victims of John Law's Mississippi scheme. He acquired a fortune of 40,000 francs by his wife Louise Catherine Maillard, and he had inherited as much of his own, but all was sunk in Law's Indian Company, and nearly the whole was lost. He delivered five lectures to the students of the academy. He died at his residence in the Louvre, 21st July, 1761.—(Mémoires Inédits des membres de l'Académie Royale, Paris, 1854.)—R. N. W.

GALLOIS, Charles André Gustave Leonard, born at Monaco in 1789; died in 1851; first employed as commercial traveller, then as a private secretary by the préfet of the Maritime Alps, and during the Hundred Days he got into the army. He for a while conducted a journal at Monaco, and afterwards went to Paris, where he found occupation on the newspapers. He supported extreme democratic views, and had the triumph of suffering a short imprisonment. He published several works to which he gave the name of history. They were chiefly on contemporary matters, in which he stated, often with great power, the views of the party to which he attached himself.—J. A., D.

GALLOIS, Jean Antoine Gauvain, born at Paris about 1755; died in 1828. First known by the publication of some original poems and a translation of Filangieri, Gallois in 1799 was made a member of the tribunat, of which he became president in 1802, and secretary in 1804. In this year he supported Bonaparte's being declared hereditary emperor. After the Hundred Days Gallois was unwilling to take any active part in public affairs. He left some political tracts, which are still valued.—J. A., D.

GALLONI, Antonio, a Roman priest and biographer, born about the middle of the seventeenth century; died in 1709. He wrote some learned hagiological works in Latin; a biography of St. Filippo Neri; Apologeticus liber pro assertis in annalibus Baronianis de Monachato S. Gregorii Papæ," maintaining with Baronio that Gregory the Great had not belonged to that order; and a work on the different kinds of torture to which the martyrs of the primitive church were subjected.—A. S., O.

GALLOWAY, Sir Archibald, K.C.B., a British general and author, was born at Perth in 1780. Having entered the service of the East India Company, he was nominated a cadet in 1799, and appointed to the fifty-eighth native infantry. His active service extended over a period of thirty-five years, and brought him both honours and substantial rewards. He took part in the defence of Delhi, which was held by a handful of British soldiers against an army of seventy thousand men, and one hundred and thirty pieces of cannon. He also distinguished himself at the siege of Bhurtpore by Lord Lake, and