Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 8.djvu/685

Rh the conceptions of division, number, becoming, motion, and possibility to be self-contradictory and false. With Plato, Euclid taught that sense has cognizance of the changeable and unreal only, while thought penetrates to unchangeable Being, to the Good. The Megailan school prided itself first of all upon its dialectic. Euclid s dialectic differed greatly from that of his master Socrates, in marked contrast to whom he repudiated the principle of analogical reasoning as unsound. His favourite method of attacking an oppon ent was by the reductio ad absurdum, which was also a favourite method with his followers, whose arguments degenerated into trivial sophisms, which laid them frequently open to an attack with their own weapon, and which earned for them the contemptuous name of the Epto-rt/cot or &quot; wranglers.&quot; Of Euclid s followers the chief were Eubulides, who taught Demosthenes, wrote against Aristotle, and invented several trifling but ingenious paradoxes, of which the most famous is the Sorites ; Diodorus Chronus, the author of certain arguments to prove the impossibility of motion; Fhilo ; and, most famous of all, Stilpo, who was distinguished by the attractiveness of his lectures.

Our knowledge of Euclid s philosophy is borrowed from scattered passages in Plato, and from Diogenes Laertius. See Zeller, Socrates add t/ie Socratic Schools ; Dyeck, De Meyaricorum Dodrina (Bonn, 1827) ; Mullet, Histoire de I ficole de Met/arc (Paris, 1845) ; Hitter, Ueber die Philosophic der Meg. Schule; Prantl, Geschichte der Logik, i., 33 ; Henne, L ficole de Megare (Paris, 1843). EUDOCIA, the wife of Theodosius II., was the daughter of the Athenian sophist Leontius, or Leon. It is impossible to fix the date of her birth more precisely than in the last decade of the 4th century, though by an inference from a .statement of Nicephorus Callistus (xiv. 50) the year 393-4 has been fixed upon. She was called Athenais prior to her conversion to Christianity. By her father she was carefully instructed in literature and the sciences ; and so high an estimate did the philosopher form of her beauty and merit that, thinking any other endowment unnecessary, he divided his whole patrimony between his two sons. Athenais, however, resented this as an injustice, and carried her plea to Constantinople before the emperor. Here she gained access to Pulcheria, the sister of Theodosius, and by her she was secretly destined to be the wife of the emperor. The probable date of her marriage is 421. Be fore her elevation to the throne, she renounced paganism and was baptized. It was not, however, till the birth of a daughter that she received the title of Augusta (423). Her brothers she not only forgave, but raised to the dignity of consuls and pnefects. About 438 Eudocia made an ostentatious pilgrimage to the Holy Land, distributing alms and donations for pious purposes with a munificence which exceeded that of the great Helena, and she returned to Constantinople in the following year with precious relics of St Stephen, St Peter, and the Virgin. Her peace, how ever, was soon after disturbed by the jealousy of her husband, on account, it is said, of his observing a beautiful apple which he had presented to her in the hands of Paulinus, his master of the offices. The execution of the supposed favourite, and the retirement of Eudocia in 449 to Jerusalem, did not appease the anger of the emperor, who despatched a messenger for the piirpose of putting to death tvo ecclesiastics who had gained her confidence. The assassination of his envoy provoked the emperor still further, and Eudocia was stripped of her royal honours, and degraded in the eyes of the nation. In Jerusalem Eudocia became infected with the Eutychian heresy, and through her influence it made considerable progress in Syria, but the misfortunes of her daughter Licinia Eudocia led her to obtain a reconciliation with Pulcheria, and through her mediation and that of her brothers she afterwards returned to the communion of the church. She died at Jerusalem about 400, and was buried in the church of St Stephen. With her latest breath she protested that she had never transgressed the bounds of innocence and friendship. Eudocia continued through life to cultivate her early literary tastes. She composed a paraphrase on the Octateuch in heroic verse, a paraphrase of Daniel and Zechariah, and a poem on the martyrdom of St Cyprian. To these are added a poem on her husband s victory over the Persians, and, according toZonaras, a cento of the verses of Homer applied to the life and miracles of Christ, but her authorship of the latter is generally disputed by critics. EUDOCIA AUGUSTA, of Macrembolis, lived in the second half of the llth century. She was the wife of ths emperor Constantine XI., and after his death of Romanus IV. She had sworn to her first husband on his deathbed not to marry again, and had even imprisoned and exiled Romanus, who was suspected of aspiring to the throne. Perceiving, however, that she was not able unaided to avert the invasions which threatened the eastern frontier of the empire, she revoked her oath, married Romanus, and with his assistance dispelled the impending danger. She did not live very happily with her new husband, who was war like and self-willed, and when he was taken prisoner by the Turks she was compelled to vacate the throne in favour of her son Michael and retire to a convent, where she died at an advanced age. She compiled a dictionary of mythology entitled Jwvta (Collection of Violets), which has been pub lished by Villoison in his Anecdota Grceca, Venice, 1781. EUDOXUS, a physical philosopher, was a native of Cnidus, and flourished about the middle of the 4th century B.C. It is chiefly in his quality of astronomer that his name has descended to our times. What particular service he rendered to that science beyond introducing the Egyptian sphere into Greece, and correcting the length of the year, cannot now be ascertained. Of his personal history it is known, from a life by Diogenes Laertius, that he studied at Athens under Plato, but being dismissed by that philo sopher, passed over into Egypt, where he remained for six teen months, and that he then went to Cyzicus and the Propontis, where he taught physics, and ultimately migrated with a band of pupils to Athens, where he died in the fifty- third year of his age. Eudoxus is frequently referred to by ancient writers. Strabo attributes to him the introduction of the odd quarter day into the year. According to Vitruvius he invented a solar dial. The Phenomena of Aratus is a poetical account of the astronomical observations of Eudoxus. Several works have been attributed to him, but they are all lost. EUDOXUS, of Cyzicus, a Greek navigator who flourished about 130 B.C. He was employed by Ptolemy Euergetes to make a voyage to India. After two of these he circum navigated Africa from the Red Sea to Gades. An attempt to make the return voyage was unsuccessful. EUGENE, FRANCOIS (1663-1736), commonly called PRINCE EUGENE OF SAVOY, one of the greatest generals of his time, born at Paris on the 18th October 1663, was the fifth son of Eugene Maurice, count of Soissons, who was grandson of the duke of Savoy, Charles Emmanuel I., and of Olympia Mancini, niece of Cardinal Mazarin. Originally destined for the church, Eugene was known at court as the petit abbe ; but his own predilection was strongly for the army. His mother, however, had fallen into disgrace at court, and his application for a commission, repeated more than once, was refused by the king, Louis XIV., prompted probably by the minister Louvois. This engendered in him what proved to be a life-long resentment against the king and his native country. Having quitted France in disgust, he proceeded to Vienna, where the emperor Leopold, who was allied to his family, received him kindly, and granted him permission, along with several other Frenchmen of distinction, to serve against the Turks