THE NEW
INTERNATIONAL
ENCYCLOPEDIA
LATIUM, LVshi-um (from Lat. latus, OLat. stlatus, broad). Originally the name of the broad plateau on the western coast of Central Italy, lying southeast of the Tiber be- tween the Apennines and the sea, near the centre of which rises the isolated Mons Albanus, the crater of an extinct volcano. hen Rome became predominant in this region and pushed her conquests among the Volsci and Hernici and Aurunci, and other tribes that dwelt among the foothills of the Apennines, the name Latium was extended to include all the country from the Tiber to the Liris. The early in- habitants of Latium— the Latini— were a shep- herd people of warlike, marauding habits, dwell- ing in many towns, and loosely bound into a sort of federation, with a common worship and a central shrine of Jupiter Latiaris on Mons Albanus. Their earliest to%-ns were Ardea. Lanuvium, and Lavinium in the plain, and Tusculum on the Alban slopes. Alba Longa was also an early settlement; and from here, accord- ing to the "story, which may well be based on fact, was colonized Rome ( q.v. ) . In the course of time Rome destroyed all the neighboring towns or reduced them to' a state of vassalage, and at li'Mgth beciime the recognized head of the Latin l.iMgue. One by one the powers of the Latins were reduced, their duties as allies (but not their privileges) were increased, and finally the Latin league was formally abolished. Then the towiis revolted in B.C. 340, and the Latin War, which lasted foi' two years, put an end to their independent political existence. Again, in B.C. 89, the Latin towns tt^k up arms against Rome in the Social War. Now, however, the confeder- ates were tlioroughly crushed, and Latium never again thought to resist the power of Rome. By -the end of the Republic, all the Latin towns en- joyed the privileges of Roman citizenship. LATO'NA (Lat. from Gk. Ajjrii, Lcto) . In Grecian mythology, the mother of Apollo and Artemis by Zeus. The oldest version of the legend is in the Homeric Hymn to Apollo. All lands refuse to receive the goddess in her need. except Delos. and the island yields only when Leto swears it shall be the specially favored seat of worship for the new god. Later legend made the jealousy of Hera more prominent, and added the tale of the fixing by Poseidon of the floating island of Delos, that it furnish a refuge. This later version also made Artemis the twin sister of Apollo. Leto was commonly worshiped in conjunction with her children, but we hear of separate shrines at Delos. Plata?a, and other places. In Hellenistic and Roman times the name was given to the nature-goddess worshiped under the name of the 'Mother' throughout much of Asia Minor, and often called Artemis.
LA TOUCHE-TREVILLE, la toosh'trS'vel',
Loui.s Re,'£ Vassor, Viscount de (1745-1804).
A French naval officer, born at Rochefort. He
entered the navy in 1757, and distinguished him-
self especially in the American Revolution. In
1780 he was put in command of a frigate for his
bravery in the capture of a British vessel off
Newport, R. I., and in the next year was wounded
at Yorktown. In 1786 he took part in the fram-
ing of the Maritime Code, and three years later
was Deputy to the States General from Mon-
targis. He commanded a squadron at Brest and
met Nelson and forced him to retreat (1801).
At the end of the same year he was put in
command of the fleet at Aix destined for Santo
Domingo. He got to Port-au-Prince in time to
save the city from the negroes; fortified the
place, and with it as a base made several suc-
cessful attacks on the British West Indies and
English commerce. He succeeded in beating oft"
the fleet sent to capture him (1803). In 1804
he took command of the French fleet in the
Mediterranean, but died in the same year.
LA TOUR, la toor, jMaubice Quentix de (1704-SS). A French pastel painter, born at Saint Quentin. He may be called self-taught, though he was the pupil in Paris of a little known artist, Spoede. He went to Cambrai when the congress was held there in 1724, and attracted so much attention that he was invited to go to London with the English Ambassador. In 1737 he began to exhibit at the Salon, to which he continued to send pictures until after 1773. In 1750 he became Court ]>ainter. with lodgings in the Louvre, where his subjects included all the notable characters of the day. He founded a free school of design at Saint Quentin, and left to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts three prizes, which are still distributed. Especially fine were his portraits of
