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 704 ERASTUS ERBIUM translated into German and illustrated by Holbein ; the latest edition is that of Havre (1839). His other most important works are the Copia Verborum ; the Adagiorum Collec- tanea ; the treatise De Libero Arbitrio, which was answered by Luther; the Paraclesis, an exhortation to the study of Christian philos- ophy; the volume of Epigrammata ; the Anti- barbarorum Liber ; Lingua, a satirical work ; an explanation of the Apostles' creed ; Eccle- siastce, sive de Ratione Concinandi, in 4 books ; and the immense collection of "Epistles," which show the character of the man. Of his purely classical works, there are editions of Seneca, Suetonius, Aurelius Victor, Ammianus Marcellinus, Eutropius, Quintus Curtius, Cicero De Officiis, the "Tusculan Questions," Pliny the Elder, Livy, and Terence, who was his favorite among the Latins, as Plutarch and Lucian were among the Greeks. He also pub- lished translations from Xenophon, Isocrates, Euripides, and Libanius, and issued editions of Ptolemy, Demosthenes, and Aristotle. Among his works are.also many controversial apologies, Scriptural expositions, and liturgical treatises. The life of Erasmus has been written by Beatus Rhenanus, Melchior Adam, Merula, Scriverius, and Gaye, in Latin ; by Henke and M tiller in Ger- man ; by L6vesque de Burigny, Bayle, Bullart, and Nisard, in French ; and by Jortin, Knight, Charles Butler, and R. B. Drummond (2 vols., London, 1873), in English. See also Erasme, predecesseur et initiateur de Vesprit moderne, by Durand de Laur (2 vols., Paris, 1872). ERASTUS, Thomas, a Swiss physician and the- ological polemic, who exchanged his original name of Lieber for its Greek equivalent, born in Baden, Sept. 7, 1524, died in Basel, Dec. 31, 1583. He studied theology and literature in Basel and medicine in Bologna, practised his profession with success, and after being for many years professor of physic at Heidelberg, obtained in 1580 the chair of ethics at Basel. A skilful practitioner, relying on induction from experience rather than on dogmas and theories, he was a formidable opponent of the fancies of Paracelsus and his disciples. His principal theological controversies were in the confer- ences of Lutheran and reformed divines at Heidelberg and Maulbronn on the Lord's sup- per, in which he maintained that the reference to the body and blood is figurative. He also had a controversy with Dathenus and Beza concerning the doctrine of excommunication. He held that ecclesiastical censures should ex- tend only to divergences in theological opinion, and not at all to vices and immorality, which were civil offences, and properly punishable only by temporal magistrates. In some of his writings he seems to favor the principle that all ecclesiastical authority is subordinate to the civil power, which is the doctrine commonly recognized as Erastianisra. His treatise De Cana Domini (1565) was translated by Shute (London, 1578) ; his theses on excommunica- tion, written in 1568, were first published in 1589 by Castelvetro, who married his widow-. An English translation of his theses was pub- lished in 1669, and was reedited by the Rev. Robert Lee (London, 1845). ERATII, a N. E. central county of Texas, watered by affluents of the Brazos river ; area, 1,000 sq. in. ; pop. in 1870, 1,801, of whom 89 were colored. The surface is generally un- dulating, with some eminences on the S. and N. E. borders. The soil in the valleys is excel- lent; the uplands are less fertile, but afford good pasturage. Timber of various kinds cov- ers about one third of the surface. The chief productions in 1870 were 9,931 bushels of wheat, 78,109 of Indian corn, 6,533 of oats, and 167 bales of cotton. There were 1,703 horses, 57,609 cattle, 2,312 sheep, and 7,935 swine. Capital, Stephensville. ERATO (Gr. 'Epar, the lovely), one of the nine muses, daughters of Jupiter and Mnemo- syne. In the theogony of Hesiod she holds the sixth place among them. She was the protec- tress of nuptial ceremonies, and the muse of erotic poetry. She disputed with Mercury the honor of having invented the lyre. ERATOSTHENES, a Greek astronomer, geom- eter, geographer, poet, and philosopher, born in Cyrene about 276 B. C., died about 196. He was variously named by his contemporaries the " cosmographer," the "measurer of the universe," the " second Plato," and the "pen- tathlete " or victor in five contests. He had for masters Ariston the philosopher, Lysanias the grammarian, and Callimachus the poet, and he completed his education in Athens. Ptol- emy III. invited him to Alexandria and intrust- ed to his care the renowned library of that city. He is said to have died of voluntary starvation, to which he was led by regret for the loss of his sight. His most important work, the Fewypa^/ca, treated of the nature and form of the earth, which he supposed to be a motionless globe, of its magnitude, and of its countries, towns, lakes, rivers, and mountains. He was the founder of geodesy, and was the first to compute the magnitude of the earth by the astronomical method still in use. He is supposed to have suggested the construction of the large armillce, or fixed circular instru- ments, which were long in use in Alexandria. He devised a method for discovering the prime numbers, and resolved the problem of the du- plication of the cube. Among his works was one of universal chronology, the fragments of which form the basis of the system adopted by Bunsen in his work on Egypt. He also wrote verses on numerous scientific subjects, a commentary on the astronomical poem of Aratus, and treatises on comedy and on the Homeric poems. A number of other works are attributed to him upon doubtful grounds. Only a few brief fragments of his writings remain ; but Strabo "and other later writers made great use of his geographical works. ERBIUM, a metal supposed by Mosander to exist, together with terbium and yttrium, in