Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/768

 762 LYSIMACHUS LYTHRUM whorls in fours and fives, and with graceful, yel- low flowers protruding from their axils ; it is the L. quadrifolia, common in moist or sandy soils. Another, with an erect stem, growing 2 or 3 ft. high, with opposite, heart-oval leaves supported upon ciliate footstalks, and with large showy flowers, is L. ciliata. A south- ern species somewhat similar, but with leaves and flowers not more than half the size, is the L. radicans; it grows upon swampy river banks in western Virginia and southward. The long-leaved loosestrife (L. longifolid) is to be found from western New York to Wiscon- sin. The native species are all easy of cultiva- tion, and most of them are pretty garden bor- der flowers. The common name, loosestrife, is applied to the wild and some of the culti- vated species of this, as well as to ly thrum; according to one of the derivations above given, the name should properly belong to this ; Pliny is quoted as authority for the statement that the common European loosestrife (L. vul- garis), if laid upon the yoke of quarrelling oxen, will quiet them. LYSIMACHUS, a Greek general, king of Thrace, born in Pella, Macedonia, about 360 B. 0., slain in battle in 281. He was the son of Aga- thocles, a Thessalian, and was early distinguish- ed for valor, activity, and bodily strength. On the division of the provinces, after the death of Alexander (323), Thrace and the region bordering on the Danube were allotted to him. In 315 he joined the coalition formed against Antigonus by Ptolemy, Seleucus, and Oassan- der. In 306 he assumed the title of king. In 302 he invaded Asia Minor, overran Phrygia, and reduced several of the Hellespontine cities. On the approach of Antigonus, however, he retired into Bithynia, where he was joined by Seleucus, and the two confederates advanced in the spring of 301 against Antigonus and his son Demetrius. At the battle of Ipsus, which ensued soon after, Lysimachus and Seleucus, aided by the forces of Ptolemy and Cassander, completely vanquished their antagonists, and shared between them the dominions of Antigo- nus. Of the territory which accrued to the king of Thrace in consequence of this vic- tory, he retained possession almost until his death, rebuilding the cities in it that had been ruined during the war, and so improving and enlarging New Ilium and the Mysian Alexan- dria that he came to be regarded as their founder. In 292 he undertook an expedition against the Getae north of the lower Danube, and was compelled by famine to surrender with his whole army, but was soon set at lib- erty. In 288 he formed a confederacy with Ptolemy, Seleucus, and Pyrrhus against De- metrius Poliorcetes (who had invaded Thrace during his absence and captivity), the result of which was that the latter lost his kingdom of Macedonia, and that Lysimachus presently got possession of it. Having consented to the death of his son Agathocles at the instigation of Arsinoe, daughter of Ptolemy, whom he had recently married, his Asian subjects re- belled ; and Seleucus, to whose court the widow of Agathocles had fled, marched to their aid. The hostile monarch s (the two last survivors of the generals of Alexander, and both almost octogenarians) met on the plain of Oorus, in Phrygia, and in the battle which ensued Ly- simachus was defeated and slain. LYSIPPUS, a Greek sculptor, of Sicyon in the Peloponnesus, flourished in the latter part of the 4th century B. 0. He was originally a workman in bronze. Alexander the Great or- dered that no one should paint him but Apelles, no one make his statue but Lysippus. He made statues of Alexander at all periods of his life, and in various positions, and the eques- trian statues of 25 Macedonian chieftains who fell at the battle of the Granicus. There is a tradition that the celebrated horses of Venice formed a part of this group. Lysippus prob- ably worked exclusively in bronze, and accord- ing to Pliny executed 1,500 pieces of all kinds. Among the most celebrated were several stat- ues of Jupiter, including the colossal one at Tarentum, 60 ft. in height ; several of Hercules, one of which is supposed to have been the original from which the " Farnese Hercules " was made by Glycon ; the sun drawn in a chariot by four horses at Rhodes; "Opportu- nity," a youth with wings on his ankles, in the act of flying from the earth ; and a statue rep- resenting a bather scraping himself with a stri- gil, called Apoxyomenos, which the emperor Tiberius caused to be removed from the baths of Agrippa to his own palace. Lysippus de- parted in various particulars from the propor- tions observed by his predecessors, giving his figures smaller heads and more slender bodies. In the elaboration of individual parts he was unsurpassed, and particularly in the execution of the hair. LTTHRl M (Gr. Mdpov, gore, from the color of the flowers in some species), a genus of her- baceous plants belonging to the natural or- der lythracece, generally with opposite, entire leaves, no stipules, axillary or whorled flowers ; seeds many, without albumen, and enclosed in a two-celled pod. The lythrums are usually called loosestrifes, a name which they share with the lysimachias, though the two are bo- tanically very distinct. The purple loosestrife (L. salicaria, Linn.) is a native of Europe, but is to be found in some of the older states in wet meadows; it is a. fine, tall, more or less downy plant, with large purple flowers. It is remarked abroad that the color of the flowers varies there from crimson to purple, and that the foliage, though usually smooth and green, becomes hoary and downy if the plant grows in dry places ; its stature also is much dwarfed in consequence. It is sometimes cultivated for its beauty, blossoming in midsummer. There are several North American species. The L. hyssopifolia, or hyssop-leaved loosestrife, with a low stem 6 to 10 in. high, numerous oblong- linear leaves, and inconspicuous pale purple