Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 2.djvu/141

Rh world may appear, if not become, stronger as that extension is more decided ; but the personality and intenseness which the apostles impart to the reaction transfer it to the region of the improbable. Humanity is not so vicious as to break away from God with the extreme insanity which the feel ings of the sacred writers conjure up in times of fear for the church. (Comp. Gesenius s article " Antichrist " in Ersch and Gruber ; De Wette s Kurze Erkldrung of the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians and the Revelation; Liicke s Yersuch einer vollstandigen Einleitung in die 0/enbarung des Johannes, zweite Auflage; Bleek s Vorles- ungen ueber die Apocalypse; Ewald s Commentarius in Apocalypsin Johannis, and his Die Johanneischen Schriften uebersetzt und erklart; Liinemann, Ueber die Briefe an die Thessalonicher in Meyer s Kommentar ueber das Neue Testament ; Davidson s Introduction to the Study of the Neio Testament, vol. i. ; Kenan s L Antechrist ; Jowett s Epistles ofSt Paul to the Thessalonians, &c., vol. i.) (author:Samuel Davidson)

 ANTICLIMAX ([ Greek ] and [ Greek ]), in rhetoric, is an abrupt declension on the part of a speaker or writer from the dignity of idea which he has attained, as in the following well-known distich:—

4em 4em

From its character it is plain that it can be intentionally employed only for a jocular or satiric purpose. It frequently partakes of the nature of antithesis, as—

4em

From bathos it is distinguished by being much more decidedly a relative term. A whole speech may never rise above the level of bathos; but a climax of greater or less elevation is the necessary antecedent of an anticlimax.

 ANTICOSTI, a barren island of British North America, situated in the Gulf of St Lawrence, between lat. 49 and 50 N., and between long. 61 40 and 64 30 W., with a length of 135 miles, and a maximum breadth of 40. Most of the coast is dangerous, but lighthouses have been built at different points, and there are also provision posts for shipwrecked sailors. The lighthouse keepers and other officials are the only inhabitants of the island.  ANTICYRA, in Ancient Geography, the name of three cities of Greece. (1.) In Phocis, on the Bay of Anticyra, in the Corinthian Gulf. Its modern name is Aspra Spitia, where some remains are still visible. It was a town of considerable importance in ancient times; was destroyed by Philip of Macedon ; recovered its prosperity ; and was captured by Flaininiu in 198 B.C. (2.) In Thessaly, on the right bank of the River SDerchius, near its mouth. (3.) In Locris, on the left side of the entrance to the Corinthian Gulf, and not far from Naupactus. All three places are said to have been known for their hellebore; but the first was the source of the chief supply. The city was resorted to by those suffering from mental derangement, that they might the more easily obtain the curative herb ; and this circumstance gave rise to a number of proverbial expressions, like [ Greek ], or naviget Anticyram, and to frequent allusions in the Greek and Latin writers (Suetonius, Gal. 29; Persius, Sat. iv. 16; Juv. Sat. xiii. 97). Hellebore was likewise considered beneficial in cases of gout and epilepsy.

 ANTIETAM, a small river of the United States, which rises in Pennsylvania, and flowing into Maryland, joins the Potomac about 50 miles from Washington. An indecisive battle between the Federals under M&lsquo;Clellan and the Confederates under Lee was fought on its banks on 16th and 17th September 1862. The victory, however, practically lay with the Federals, as the Confederates retreated out of Maryland on the night of the 18th September.  ANTIGONE, the daughter of CEdipus, known in Greek legend, first, for the faithfulness with which she attended her father when he, on discovering that Jocaste, the mother of his children, was also his own mother, put his eyes out and resigned the throne of Thebes ; secondly, for having, in defiance of a decree, buried with due rites the body of her brother Polynices, for which act she was sentenced to be buried alive in a vault. Her character and these incidents of her life presented an attractive subject to the Greek tragic poets, especially Sophocles, whose plays of Antigone and (Edipus at Colon us still exist ; and Euripides, whose Antigone, though now lost, is partly known from extracts incidentally preserved in later writers, and from passages in his play of the Phoenissae. In the order of the events, at least, Sophocles departed from the original legend, according to which the cremation of Polynices took place while CEdipus was yet in Thebes, not after he had died at Colonus. Pos sibly his having left Thebes at all is an invention of the poet. Again, in assigning Antigone the tragic end of being buried alive, Sophocles differs from Euripides, in whose play that calamity was averted by the intercession of Bacchus, and was followed by the marriage of Antigone and Hsemon, the son of her persecutor Creon, who had succeeded to the throne. In another version of the legend (Hyginus, Fab. 72), founded apparently (Heydemann, Ueber eine nach Euripideische Antigone, Berlin, 1868) on a tragedy by some follower of Euripides, Antigone, on being handed over by Creon to her lover Haeinon to be slain, was instead secretly carried off by him, and concealed among herdsmen, where she bore him a son Ma3on. The boy having grown up, went to the games at Thebes, and being there recognised by the mark of a dragon on his body, the secret was discovered. Hercules pleaded with Creon in vain for Hseinon, who now slew both Antigone and himself. On a painted vase (engraved by Heydemanu, supra] appears the scene of the intercession of Hercules. Antigone placing the body of Polynices on the funeral pile occurs on a sarcophagus in the villa Pamfili in Rome, and in the description of an ancient painting by Philostratus (Imag. ii. 29), in which it is stated that the flames consuming the two brothers burnt apart, as indicative of their hostility in life.  ANTIGONE (2), in Greek legend, the daughter of Eurytion, king of Phthia, who gave her in marriage to Peleus, the issue being a daughter, Polydora. Peleus having acci dentally killed Eurytion in a hunt, some say the hunt of the Calydonian boar, fled and obtained expiation from Acastus, whose wife in malice, because her affection for Peleus was not returned, informed Antigone that it was, upon which Antigone took her own life.  ANTIGONUS I., called Cyclops, from his having lost an eye, one of the generals of Alexander the Great, was the son of Philip of Elymiotis. In the division of the provinces after Alexander s death, 323 B.C., Pamphylia, Lycia, and Phrygia Major fell to his share. But Perdiccas, having an eye to universal dominion, determined to divest him of his government, and laid plans for his life, by bringing various accusations against him. Antigonus escaped with his sou Demetrius into Greece, where he obtained the favour and protection of Antipater, 321 B.C. ; and when soon after, on the death of Perdiccas, a new division took place, he had the province of Susiana added to his former share. He was likewise intrusted with the command of the war against Euiueues, who had joined Perdiccas against the coalition of Antipater, Antigonus, and the other generals. Eumenes was thoroughly defeated, and was obliged to retire with only 600 men to the inac cessible castle of Nora, and a new army that was marching to his relief was also routed by Antigonus. In the interval Antipater had died (318 B.C.), and the opportunity ex cited the ambition of Antigoims to possess the whole of <section end="ANTIGONUS I." />