676 EPANOMERIA EPERNAY youths. Epaminondas now turned to surprise Mantinea while the enemy marched to the res- cue of Sparta, but the arrival of the Athenians frustrated this attempt also. He finally de- termined on a pitched battle, which was fought on the plain between Mantinea and Tegea. The plan of the Theban general was similar to that adopted at Leuctra, and the issue would probably have been the same had not his ad- vance been interrupted by a javelin wound. He fell with the point of the broken spear sticking in his breast. He was still alive, but the extraction of the spear head would have terminated his pain with his life: Having been assured that his shield was not lost and that the Thebans were victorious, he inquired for two of his generals, but was told that they were dead. "Then let Thebes make peace with the enemy," said he, and drew out the weapon with his own hand. In reply to his friends, who regretted that he died childless, he said : "I leave two fair daughters, Leuctra and Mantinea." He was buried on the field, and a column, bearing a shield with the device of a dragon, was erected on his grave. EPANOMERIA, a remarkable town in the island of Santorin, the ancient Thera, in the Grecian archipelago, built on the face and edges of a tall cliff at the extremity of a prom- ontory on the N. W. end of the island. The houses, many of which are excavated from the rock, are placed one above another, 15 or 20 deep, the lowest being 400 ft. above the water. They are approached by means of a winding road and staircases cut in the cliff, reaching from the base to the summit. Viewed from the sea, nothing can be more striking than the appearance of this town, with its dwellings high above the masts of the largest ships, or perched on the edges of frightful precipices. On the summit the scene is scarcely less singular, the road there in many places passing over habita- tions whose existence is denoted only by chim- neys jutting up on each side. EPEE, Charles Michel, abbe de 1', a French in- structor of the deaf and dumb, born at Ver- sailles, Nov. 25, 1712, died in Paris, Dec. 23, 1789. He studied theology, and gave in his adhesion to the doctrines of the Jansenists, on which account his bishop refused him ordina- tion, unless he would sign a certain formula of doctrine. This he would not consent to, and though admitted to deacon's orders, he was told that he need not aspire to any higher ordination. He then studied law and was admitted to the bar ; but at this juncture his old friend M. de Bossuet, a Jansenist, having become bishop of Troves, offered him a canonry in his cathedral, and admitted him to priest's orders. Hardly was he established in what he hoped was his life work when his patron died, and was succeeded by an orthodox bishop, through whose influence he was suspended from the priesthood. Calling one day upon a neigh- bor, De 1'Epee found that she had two daugh- ters who were deaf and dumb, that a benevolent priest had endeavored to convey some ideas to them by pictures, but that he was dead, and there was no one who could teach them. He resolved to undertake their instruction, but was not aware that any works had been written upon the subject. Some time after he acciden- tally obtained a copy of Bonet's Reduction de las letras, &c., in Spanish, and learned that lan- guage in order to read it. But the idea of using the natural signs and gestures to communicate information to the deaf mute was unquestiona- bly original with him. (See DEAF AND DUMB.) From 1755, the date of his first establishment of a school for deaf mutes, till his death in 1789, he supported the school entirely at his own expense. As it soon became large, and his patrimony was but small, he was compelled to exercise the most rigid economy. Even in his 76th year he deprived himself of fire in his own room in order to sustain his school, refu- sing to receive the children of those who were able to remunerate him, or to accept the gifts offered him by Catharine II. of Russia and Joseph II. of Austria. A bronze statue has been erected to the memory of De 1'Epee at Versailles, and a bass-relief placed in the church of St. Sulpice by citizens of Sweden. In 1855 the centennial anniversary of the es- tablishment of his school for deaf mutes was celebrated at Paris, and was largely attended by delegations from institutions for the deaf and dumb in other countries of Europe. De I'Ep&e wrote Institution des sourds et muets (2 vols., Paris, 1774), which was revised and republished in 1784 under the title La veritable maniere d'instruire les sourdi et muets. EPERIES (Hun. Eperjes), a town of northern Hungary, on the Tarcza, capital of the county of Saros, 142 m. N. E. of Pesth ; pop. in 1869, 10,772, nearly all Germans and Slavs. It is one of the most ancient and interesting, and after Kaschau the handsomest of the town* of Upper Hungary. It is the seat of a bishop of the United Greek church, and has a Lu- theran college embracing a theological institu- tion and a gymnasium, and a Roman Catholic gymnasium. It carries on a brisk trade, chiefly in corn, linen, wine, and cattle, and has manu- factures of earthenware and woollen goods. In 1687 the imperial general Caraffa established here the famous bloody tribunal which caused the torturing and execution of a very large number of patriots, especially Protestants. The executions took place on the public square be- fore the windows of the general, and death on the gallows was regarded as comparatively mild and merciful. In 1848 and 1849 Eperies was successively in the possession of the revo- lutionists, of the Austrians, and of the Russians. EPERNAY, a town of Champagne, France, in the department of Marne, on the left bank of the river Marne and on the line of the Eastern rail- way, 20 m. W. N. W. of Chalons and 74 m. E. N. E. of Paris ; pop. in 1866, 11,704. It is well built, and stands in the midst of a fertile and picturesque valley. In its suburbs are many
