Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/774

Rh 760 LEOSTHENES. Christianity. For this offence they were brought before the governor Lysias, and after being tortured in various modes, and (according to the legend) miraculously delivered, they were at last beheaded, probably A. d. 300. Their memory is celebrated by the Romish church, on August 20th. See the Jcta Sanctorum (in Aug. 20), where several diiR- culties are critically discussed at length. [ W.A.G.] LEO'NYMUS. [AuTOLEON.] LEO'PHANES (Aeoocpdyns), a Greek physician or physiologist, who must have lived in or before the fourth century, B. c, as he is quoted by Aristotle (De Gener. Anim. iv. 1. § 22) and Theophrastus {De Cans. Plant, ii. 4. § 12). The passage of Aris- totle, which relates to the supposed method of generating male and female children, is alluded to by Plutarch {De Placit. Philos. v. 7) and Pseudo-Galen {Histor. Philos. c. 32, vol. xix. p, 324) in both of which places he is called Cleophanes. The same opinion (or rather, if the passage in Aristotle be correct, exactly the contrary) is to be found in the treatise *'De Superfoetatione," which forms part of the Hippocratic collection (vol. i. p. 476), and this has made M. Littr^ attribute the work in question to Leophanes, though perhaps without sufficient reason. {^Oeuvres (THippocr. vol. i. p. 879, &c.) [W.A.G.] LEOPHON, artist. [Lophon.] LEOPHRON (Aeo^pwi/), son of Anaxilas, tyrant of Rhegium. According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus {Exc. xix. 4, p. 2359, ed. Reiske.), he succeeded his father in the sovereign power ; it is therefore probable that he was the eldest of the two sons of Anaxilas, in whose name Micythus assumed the sovereignty, and who afterwards, at the instigation of Hieron of Syracuse, dispossessed the latter of his authority. Diodorus, from whom we learn these facts, does not mention the name of either of the young princes. According to the same author, their reign lasted six years (b. c. 467 — 461), when they were expelled by a popular insurrection both from Rhegium and Zancle. (Diod. xi. 48, QQ., 76.) Leophron is elsewhere mentioned as carrying on war against the neighbouring city of Locri, and as displaying his magnificence at the Olympic games, by feasting the whole assembled multitude. His victory on that occasion was cele- brated by Simonides. (Justin, xxi. 3 ; Athen. i. p. 3.) [E. H.B.] LEGS (Aews), one of the heroes eponymi of the Athenians. He is said to have been a son of Or- pheus, and the phyle of Leontis derived its name from him. (Phot. s. v.; Suid. s. v.; Paus. i. 5, $ 2, X. 10. § 1.) Once, it is said, when Athens was suffering from famine or plague, the Delphic oracle demanded that the daughters of Leos should be sacrificed, and the father's merit was that he complied with the command of the oracle. The maidens were afterwards honoured by the Athe- nians, who erected the Leocorium (from Aews and nSpat) to them. (Hieronym. in Jovin. p. 185, ed. Mart.; Aelian, V. H. xii. 28; Plut. Thes. 13; Paus. i. 5, § 2 ; Diod. xv. 17 ; Demosth. Epitaph. p. 1398; Schol. ad Thucyd. vi. 57.) Aelian calls the daughters of Leos Praxithea, Theope, and I'^ubule ; and Photius calls the first of them Phasi- thea ; while Hieronymus, who mentions only one, states that she sacrificed herself for her country of her own accord. [L. S.] LEO'STHENES (Acoo-e^rTjs). 1. An Athe- nian, who commanded a fleet and armament in the LEOSTHENES. Cyclades in B.C. 361. Having allowed himself to be surprised by Alexander, tyrant of Pherae, and defeated, with a loss of 5 triremes and 600 men, he was condemned to death by the Athenians, as a punishment for his ill success. (Diod. xv. 95.) 2. An Athenian, commander of the combined Greek army in the Lamian war. We know not by what means he had obtained the high reputation which we find him enjoying when he first makes his appearance in history : it has been generally inferred, from a passage in Strabo (ix. p. 433), that he had first served under Alexander in Asia ; but there seems much reason to believe that this is a mistake, and that Leonnatus is the person there meant. (See Groskurd, Strab. I. c, and comp. Thirlwairs Greece., vol. vii. p. 164.) It is certain that when we first meet with any distinct mention of Leosthenes, he appears as an officer of acknowledged ability and established re- putation in war, but a vehement opponent of the Macedonian interest. Shortly before the death of Alexander he had collected together and brought over to Taenarus a large body of the Greek mer- cenaries that had been disbanded by the different satraps in Asia, according to Alexander's orders. (Paus. i. 1. § 3, 25. § 5 viii. 52. § 5 ; Diod. xvii. 111.) As soon as the news of the king's death reached Athens, Leosthenes was despatched to Taenarus to engage the services of these troops, 8000 in number : from thence he hastened to Aetolia, and induced that people to join in the war against Macedonia. Their example was followed by the Locrians, Phocians, Dorians, and many of the Thessalians, as well as by several of the states of the Peloponnese ; and Leosthenes, who was by common consent appointed commander-in-chief, assembled these combined forces in the neighbour- hood of Thermopylae. The Boeotians, who, through fear of the restoration of Thebes, adhered to the Macedonian interest, collected a force to prevent the Athenian contingent from joining the allied army ; but Leosthenes hastened with a part of his forces to assist the Athenians, and totally defeated the Boeotian army. Antipater now advanced from the north, but with a force very inferior to that of the confederates : he was defeated in the first action near Thermopylae, and compelled to throw himself into the small town of Lamia. Leosthenes, de- sirous to finish the war at a blow, pressed the siege with the utmost vigour ; but his assaults were re- pulsed, and he was compelled to resort to the slower method of a blockade. While he was engaged in forming the lines of circumvallation, the besieged made a vigorous sally, in which Leosthenes himself received a blow on the head from a stone, of which he died three days after. (Diod. xviii. 8 — 13; Paus. i. 25. § 5 ; Plut. Phoc. 23 ; Justin, xiii. 5.) His death was felt as a great discouragement to the cause of the allied Greeks ; and Pausanias is pro- bably right in regarding it as the main cause of their ultimate failure. Phocion's remark, on the other hand, is well known, that " he was very well fitted for a short course, but not equal to a long one." (Plut. Phoc. 23, de Pep. gerend. 6.) It is certain that Leosthenes gave proofs of no common energy and ability during the short period of his command ; and his loss was mourned by the Athe- nians as a public calamity. He was honoured with a public burial in the Cerameicus, and his funeral oration was pronounced by Hyperides. (Paus. i. 29, § 13; Diod. xviil 13). His death took place