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OPP to the Greek Oporinus. To better his circumstances he married an old widow, who made his life miserable; and even when death relieved him of his Xantippe, her property was transferred to others, and he was as poor as ever. Though unfortunate in his first matrimonial venture, he was married three times after. He now turned his attention to physic, and became the pupil of Paracelsus, but he did not remain long the dupe of this impostor. He at first established a classical school at Basle, but at length became a printer, and gave to the world a series of well edited editions of some of the classics. His affairs, however, never prospered, and he died in debt in 1568. His chief service to letters consisted in the care he bestowed on the text of his publications, which he furnished with notes, tables of contents, and accurate indexes. Some of his Latin letters were published at Utrecht in 1697.—D. G.  * OPPERT,, orientalist, was born of Jewish parents, in 1825, at Hamburg, where he received his earlier education. At the university of Bonn he studied Sanscrit under Lassen, and Arabic under Freytag. Having devoted his attention specially to the ancient language of Persia, he published in 1847 his "Lautsystem des Alt Persischen," and in the same year proceeded to Paris, where he was encouraged and befriended by Letronne and Eugene Burnouf. He has been employed by the French government in various philological missions, and takes high rank as a decipherer of the cuneiform inscriptions. Among his later works are his "Inscriptions Cunéiformes déchiffrées une seconde fois," and a Sanscrit grammar. Oppert was one of the orientalists to whom was sent the cuneiform inscription of Tiglath-Pileser I., with the result mentioned in the memoir of Sir Henry Rawlinson—(see that name).—F. E.  OPPIAN, a Greek poet, in the second century after Christ, who, according to an anonymous life written in Greek, was a native of Cilicia, son of Agesilaus and Zenodota. He was educated in all the liberal sciences, particularly music, geometry, and grammar, under the inspection of his father. When Agesilaus was banished to Melita by the Emperor Severus, for apparent neglect in doing homage to the latter on a visit to the native city of Oppian's father, he was accompanied by his son. Here the latter wrote his poems, the "Cynegetica" and "Ixeutica," which he took to Rome after the emperor's death and presented to his son Caracalla, who was greatly pleased with them, and gave the poet a golden stater for each verse. The sentence of his father's exile was also repealed. Soon after returning to his native place, Oppian died of a contagious disease at the age of thirty. A monument was raised to his memory, with five verses inscribed on it, deploring his untimely death. Three works have been usually ascribed to Oppian, viz., two Greek hexameter poems on fishing and hunting ; and a paraphrase in prose on hawking. The first is divided into five books, consisting of three thousand five hundred lines. The zoological knowledge presented by the author, is interspersed with fabulous and silly materials. The poetry is of a high order for the time at which it appeared. The "Cynegetica" is divided into four books, and consists of two thousand one hundred lines. The last book is imperfect. It is much inferior in merit to the other poem. The "Ixeutica" is not extant. It consisted of five books, three of which remain in a Greek prose paraphrase by Eutecnius. Schneider was the first critic who supposed that the three proceeded from different persons. His arguments are too long to be repeated here, but deserve attention though they have been controverted by different scholars. He appears to prove very clearly that the authors of the "Halieutica" and "Cynegetica" were born at different places—the former at Corycus; the latter at Apamia or Pella in Syria. The date of the one is about 170-80; of the latter about 198-211. If Schneider's opinion be adopted, the particulars of the anonymous Greek life belong to both, and cannot now be distributed between them with certainty. The same critic assigns the poem on hawking to Dionysius.—(See Schneider's edition, Greek and Latin, with notes, Argentor. 1776, 8vo. The second edition, 1813, 8vo, is unfinished. There is also a Paris edition by Lehrs, 1846, 8vo.)—S. D.  ORCAGNA,, one of the ablest of the old Florentine painters, sculptors, and architects, was born about 1315. His father. Clone, was a distinguished goldsmith, and having taught his son the first elements of his art, he placed him with the celebrated sculptor, Andrea Pisano. Oreagna or Orgagna is supposed by Rumohr to be a corruption of the artist's proper name, L'Areagnuolo. He, however, signed himself simply Andrea di Clone, adding scultore on his pictures, and pittore on his sculpture. His earliest works are some wall paintings in fresco, in the Strozzi chapel in Santa Maria Novella at Florence, which are still preserved. He there painted, together with his brother Bernardo, Heaven and Hell, from Dante; and they afterwards executed some similar works in the Campo Santo at Pisa; Andrea painting the "Triumph of Death" and the "Last Judgment." He painted also some large altarpieces in tempera, of which one of his masterpieces is now in the National gallery, representing the "Coronation of the Virgin." It was painted about 1360 for the church of San Pietro Maggiore in Florence, where it stood over the high altar for three centuries. It is one of the most important works of Italian art of the fourteenth century, and is fortunately still in a fine state of preservation, and contains altogether upwards of a hundred figures. The execution is, of course, hard and conventional, the eyes of the figures being disagreeably elongated; but the colouring is rich, and the whole effect is very ornamental: it is arranged in a Gothic framework, in nine compartments. As an architect, Orcagna built the church and tabernacle of Or San Michele in 1359; and he planned in 1356 the famous "Loggia de' Lanzi" of the Granducal Place at Florence, which was, however, not built until 1377, after Andrea's death, he having died the previous year, 1376. He left several unfinished works, which were completed by his brothers; Bernardo finishing the pictures and Jacopo the sculpture.—(Rumohr, Italienische Forschungen; Gaye, Carteggio d'Artisti.)—R. N. W.  ORDERICUS VITALIS was born in 1075 at Atcham, near Shrewsbury, of which latter place his father was priest. His education after the age of five years was conducted by a priest named Siward, from whose care he was removed in his tenth year to the hands of Raynald, a monk, who carried the child to Normandy, and dedicated him to a monastic life in the abbey of Ouche, Lisieux. His progress in learning and in the favour of his elders and brethren was remarkable. On receiving the tonsure in 1086 on the day of St. Vitalis, he adopted the name Vitalis in preference to his own, Ordericus. He was made priest in 1107. Next to his priestly duties the collection of materials for his celebrated history seems to have occupied his attention; and it is known that when he visited England he consulted the records of Croyland abbey and Worcester. His death is supposed to have occurred about 1143. He wrote a history of his time under the title of "Historiæ Ecclesiasticæ" libri xiii., which has great value in the eyes of students. The earlier part of the work, consisting of a chronicle from the birth of Christ to his own time, is for the most part taken from known authorities. Books iii.-vi. contain a history of the wars of the Normans in England, France, and Apulia down to the death of William the Conqueror. The third part of the work, books vii.-xiii., has all the value belonging to contemporaneous history, being a narrative of events from the death of William to 1141. The first edition of this valuable chronicle was published by Duchesne in his collection of Historiæ Normann. Scriptores, 1619. It was also printed by the Historical Society of France in 2 vols. 8vo, 1840. A translation into French by Dubois, 4 vols. 8vo, appeared in 1825-27.—R. H.  ORELLANA,, a Spanish adventurer, the first European who descended the river Amazon. He early attached himself to the fortunes of the Pizarros, and took a part in the conquest of Peru. In 1539 Gonzalez Pizarro being appointed to the government of Quito, appointed Orellana his lieutenant-general in his celebrated expedition eastward. After following the course of the river Napo for some days, they resolved to construct a vessel, the shoes from their dead horses serving as nails, and the clothes of their dead comrades for oakum. They were informed that, a few days' journey farther, the stream joined a larger river flowing eastward, and Orellana was despatched with fifty cavaliers in the vessel in quest of provisions, leaving his chief to await his return. He arrived in three days at the confluence with the Amazon; and here, leaving his comrades to their fate, he resolved to explore and conquer the rich territory through which the river passes. One of his companions, Sanchez de Vargas, remonstrating against this treachery, was cruelly left to perish, but, after many adventures, reached the camp of Pizarro. Orellana experienced on his voyage difficulties of all kinds from the hostility of some of the Indian tribes, and from the rapidity of the currents and the dangers of the navigation. He fell in with the Amazons, with whom he engaged in some 