Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/756

 744 ETEOCLES the St. Croix, and were between the Abena- quis proper and the Micmacs, though in later times they were generally treated as part of the Abenaqui nation. They now number about 1,000, half of them Penobscots on islands in the river of that name, and the remainder Passama- quoddies on the western shore of the bay of that name and on the Schoodic lakes. They are Roman Catholics, and have churches and schools, and a fund arising from land sold to the state ; but they are declining from intes- tine divisions, and from the intermarriage of near kindred, the laws of Maine not permitting an Indian to marry a white. ETEOCLES and POLYNICES, mythical kings of Grecian Thebes, sons of (Edipus and Jocaste. After the flight of their father, the brothers agreed to govern the kingdom alternately ; but Eteocles refusing on the expiration of his term to surrender the sceptre, Polynices retired to the court of Adrastus, king of Argos, who gave him one of his daughters in marriage, and un- dertook to sustain him in the enforcement of his rights. They organized that confederacy of Peloponnesian chiefs whom ^Eschylus has immortalized, and whose expedition, under- taken to restore Polynices, is known as that of " the seven against Thebes." In the sieges which followed the success of the belligerents was various, and many warriors were slain, when the brothers, to prevent further effusion of blood, resolved to decide the contest by single combat, in which both perished. (See ANTIGONE.) ETESIAN WINDS (Gr. krijaiai, from Srof, year), the name given by the ancients to the N.E. trade winds which blow for about six weeks during the summer throughout the countries adjacent to the Mediterranean, especially 'its eastern portion. On the' sea they are called by the fishermen meltem, probably from mal temps, in reference to the fury with which they blow, and the dangerous weather which they create for their small craft. On land they are equal- ly salutary to men, beasts, and birds, and like- wise beneficial to vegetation, by moderating the violent heat of the weather during the season of the dog days. In the Levant they commence toward the middle of July about 9 in the morning, continuing only in the day- time. The sun at that season is powerfully heating the surface under the tropic of Cancer, and rarefying the atmosphere south of the Mediterranean. Currents of air are thus drawn in over the desert of Sahara; but though in their passage across the Mediterranean they must become charged with moisture, the clouds are dispersed as they pass the margin of the hot sands, and the vapor dissipated in the rare- fied air is swept on, to be again collected to- gether and precipitated in a cooler region. ETEX, Antolne, a French sculptor, painter, and architect, born in Paris, March 20, 1808. He studied under Ingres, and after the produc- tion in 1829 of his " Hyacinth killed by Apollo.," he spent some time in Italy and visited other ETHELBERT countries at the expense of government. Re- turning to Paris, he exhibited in 1833 a colossal group of "Cain," which procured him orders from the government, and he has since pro- duced many statues and architectural designs. He also excels as a painter and draughtsman. In 1864 he exhibited paintings entitled "The Ancient Slave" and "The Modern Slave." He has published Essai sur le lean (Paris, 1851), and Cours elementaire de dessin (3d ed., 1859). ETHELBALD, king of Wessex, son of Ethel- wulf, king of the Anglo-Saxons, obtained the throne of "Wessex, about 856, and died in 860. While Ethelwulf was making a journey to Rome, on his way back from which he married Judith, the young daughter of the French mon- arch, Ethelbald formed the project of seizing the throne. A civil war was prevented only by the moderation of Ethelwulf, who resigned to his son the dominion of Wessex, and con- firmed that portion of the kingdom to him in his will. The reign of Ethelbald was peaceful, but he excited general disapprobation by mar- rying, contrary to the canonical law, his step- mother Judith. Ecclesiastical and popular dis- pleasure forced him to a separation, and Judith returning to France eloped from a convent with Baldwin, called Bras de Fer, afterward count of Flanders. From this union descended Matilda, wife of William the Conqueror, and through her the race of Engl^h sovereigns. ETHELBERT, king of Kent, born about 545", ascended the throne in 560, and died in 616. As the representative of Hengist, he claimed su- periority among the Saxon states, but was twice defeated in the early part of his reign by Ceaw- lin, king of Wessex. About 589 he had acquired the dignity of bretwalda, or leading chief of the Anglo-Saxons, Ceawlin being deposed by his subjects, and dying a few years later. The most remarkable event of his reign was the in- troduction of the Christian religion into Britain. His queen Bertha, a daughter of Charibert, king of Paris, professed this faith, and through her it had already become somewhat known to the king and to a portion of the people, when in 596 a company of Italian and French monks, sent by Pope Gregory the Great, under the conduct of Augustin, landed on the isle of Thanet. They were received by the king be- neath an oak, the sacred tree of the druids, where it was supposed any magical spell would be without influence ; and after a conference he gave them permission to preach without molestation, though he himself had then no in- tention of abandoning the gods of his fathers. The queen prepared a residence for the new apostles, and in 597 Ethelbert received the sacrament of baptism, and his example was followed by 10,000 of his subjects. About 600 he issued the earliest remaining code of Anglo- Saxon laws, consisting of 89 enactments, rela- ting principally to the amount of pecuniary fines payable for various transgressions. ETHELBERT, third king of the Anglo-Saxons, son of Ethelwulf, died in 865 or 866. He in-