L^LIUS. 685 LA FABGE. LJELITTS, le'II-fis, Gaius, surnanied Sapiens (the Wise) (B.C. 180-115). The son of C. La-lius, Koiiiau general in the Second I'unic War. In early life he studied pliilosophy with the Stoics Diogenes and Pana'tius, and afterwards law, taking a high rank among the orators of liis time. lie was the intimate friend anil eom])anion of Seipio Afrieanus the Younger, and accompanied him in liis expedition into Africa, displaying great valor at the siege of Carthage, B.C. 149-14C. When prietor in l.usitania he made a successful campaign against the powerful chieftain Viriathus. He was consul li.c. 140. At the beginning of his career he favored plans for raising the masses to become landed jiroprieiors, but was repelled by the ex- travajian>:c of tlic elder Gracchus. After his Ijolitical career clo.sed he spent his time in the country, partly in study and partly in rural occupations. The equanimity of his temper is noticed by Horace in the words mitis sapientia IacU. The titles of many of his orations are known, but tha orations have been lost. Lielius is best known as the principal speaker of Cicero's I.alius (Ic Amicilia and one of the speakers of his i*! SciH'ctiile. LAENNEC, la'en'nfek', RExfi TnfioniiLE Hya- ci.xTiiE ( 1781-182(i) . A distinguished French physician, born at Quimper, in Lower Brittany. He studied medicine in Paris, where he at- tended the practice of Corvisart. In 1816 he was apjjointcd chief physician to the Hopital >fecker, and it was there that he created a ra- tional system of di^pnosis of diseases of the heart and of the lungs, by adding the art of aus- cultation by means of the stethoscope (q.v.) of Ills own invention to the method of percussion discovered by Aucnbrugger. In 1819 he pub- lished his Tniite dc rduscultatioii nicdiiitc, which has probably done more to advance the art of diagnosis than any other single book. LAEB, liir. A spelling of the name of the Dutch painter Pieter >anLaar (q.v.). LAERTES, l.a-er'tfz. (1) The son of Acri- sius, husband of Anticlea, and father of Odys- seus, who hence bears the name T.aertiades. He participated in the Calydonian Hunt, and in the Argonautic Expedition. (2) In Shakespeare's Ihiiiiirt, the son of Polonius and brother of Ophelia. He is himself wounded by the poisoned sword with which he kills Hamlet, and dies with his victim. L^'SA MAJES'TAS (Lat., injured majes- ty). . plira>i' transferred from the Roman to the common law, and denoting .any offense against the king's person or dignity. The expression criiiirH lirsfr niajrsfatis is used by Glanvil as the e(|nivalent of treason, but the ofTense was not clearly defined until the enactment of the statute of 2S Kdw. III., upon which the modern English law of treason is based. L^STRYGONES, les-trig'6-nez (Lat., from Gk. AoiffTpK76>'fs, Ldi/ftri/DOiwn) . A race of can- nibalistic giants whom Odysseus is fabled to have met in the course of his wanderings {Odi/fi- Sf7/, X. 80 IT.). According to the later Greek tra- dition, their seat was at Leontini, in Sicily, but the Unmans supposed them to have lived at Forniix. in Latium. Consult: Woermann. Die Odiixs((-I.(i)idshaftcn von Esquilin (Munich, 18711) ; Harrison, .l/y/7is of the Odyssey (London, 1882). L^ffiTARE MEDAL. A gold medal presented each year by the L'niversity of Notre Dame, In- diana, to some Konian Catholic layman in recog- nition of distinguished services rendered by him to the cause of religion or education. It is given on Jlid-Lent or Lietare Sunday, whence the name. LA FAROE, la'fiirzh', .John (1835—). An American landscape, figure, and decorative painter. He was born in New York, March 31, 18;J5. His fiither was a French ofiicer who came to Arnerici in l80(i, and La Farge studied draw- ing with his grandfather Binsse, a miniature painter. After receiving a liberal education, he went abroad in 1850, and entered the studio of Couture in Paris. Upon his return to America, he entered a lawyer's ollice in New Y'ork. At this time he met William JI. Hunt, who helped him to appreciate color as well ii-s overcome many technical dilliculties. In 1800 he married Jlar- garet Perry, a great-granddaughter of Benjamin Franklin. He was elected a member of the National Academy in 1809. In 1870 he was engaged for the whole mural decoration of Trin- ity Church, Boston, which was completed in 1877. In 1878 he commenced works in glass-painting and window-designing, and, with the assistiince of Saint-Gaudens, built the King sepulchral nionumcnt at Newport, R. I. In 1880 he went to .Japan and the islands of the Pacific Ocean, where he made many water-color sketches of na- tive life and scenes. He painted in 1887 the large altar-piece in the Church of the Ascen- sion, New York, which is considered one of his finest works. He received the medal of the Legion of Honor at the Paris Exposition of 1889, for a stained-glass window. In 1892 he gave a course of six lectures to the students of the ^letropolitan Museum, which have been ]iublished in fiook form, under the title Consid- erations on Painting (1895). During the last few years he has contributed many viiluable articles on art subjects to the leading magazines. La Farge is one of the most versatile of American jiainters. His subjects include flowers, religious subjects, portraits, and landscapes; he has worked in oil, in water-color, on wood, and on glass. He has an individual style, and his technique is careful, though broad in brush- work. His color is varied, sometimes expressed with a charm that sujn^ests all the opalescent qualities of a pearl: then again it is strong, with sharp and striking contrasts. His drawing is good. His greatest contribution to art. besides the mural paintings, is his successful experi- ments in glass cutting, painting, and designing. Among the best of his paintings, besides those mentioned, are: "The Arrival of the Magi," Church of the Incarnation. New York; decora- tions in the Brick Church. New Y'ork, and in the Congregational Church, Newport. R. I.; mural paintings in the Church of the Paulist Fathers, New York. His works in glass include: "The Infant Samuel." .Tudson Memorial Church. New York : The Old Philosopher." Crane Memorial Library. Quincy. Mass.; a circular mosaic window- in the Second Presbyterian Cliurch, Cliicago; Watson memorial window. Trinity Church, Buf- falo; "Battle Window," Memorial Hall. Harvard College. Cambridge. Mass. Consult : CalTin, Anicrican Masters of Painting (New Y'ork. 1892) ; Waern, John La Farge: Artist and M'ritcr (London, 1896).
