Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 12.djvu/496

* LONGICOBN. 438 LONG ISLAND. especially when larvir. The fleshy, short-legged grubs bore into wood and feed there, injuring fruit and limber trees. i LOXOICIIBK. liONGINUS, lon-ji'nus. The Latin name sometimes used by the Polish historian Jan JJlugosz tq.v.). LONGINUS (Lat., from C,k. AottJ""?) (o.213- 73 A.D. ). Dio.NYSius C'ASSius. A Platonic jihi- losopher and rhetorician. He was born, according to some, at Emesa, in Syria, or, according to others, with more probability, at Athens, about A.D. 213. In his earlier years he traveled a great deal in the company of his parents, and made the ac<|uuintanee of many celebrated scholars and philosiipliers. He studied Greek literature at Alexandria, where he was for a considerable time the pu])ii of Ammonius, Plotimis, and Ori- gen, and subsequently settled as a teacher of rhetoric in Alliens, where he soon acquired a great reputation. His knowledge was inunense, but his taste and critical acuteness were no less wonderful. He was probably the best critic of all antiquity. In an age when Platonism was giving jilace to the semi-Oriental mysticism of Xeo-Platonism, Longinus is conspicuous as a genuine disciple of the great master. Clear, calm, rational, yet lofty, he despised the fan- tastic speculation of Plotinus, who consequently would not admit that Longinus was a philos- ojiher, but — since he stooped to criticise the dic- tion and style of Plato — pronounced him a mere philologist. In the latter years of his life he accepted the invitation of Zenobia to undertake the education of her children at Palmyra; but. becoming also her chief political adviser, he was beheaded as a traitor, by command of the Emperor Aurelian, A.D. 273. Longinus was a heathen. Iiut generous and tolerant. Of the greater part of his works only the barest frag- ments have survived. A very important and val- uable work, entitled On the fiiihlime (Jltpl'Txpovs), was attriliuted to Longinus by its fir^rt editor. Robortello ( P)asel. 1.5.54), and was accepted as his without question by all subsequent editors until the nineteenth century. The controversy has not been finally settled, but it is believed by many that the treatise lielongs rather to the first centurj' a.d. See. for the arguments. Koberts, Longinus on the f^ullime (Cambridge. I.'*n0).and Saintsbury. Flixtori/ of f'ritirium and JAtrrnrii Tnatr in Europe, vol. i. (New York. lOOn). The treatise has been edited by Vahlen (Bonn. 1SS7). and by Roberts, with an English translation in the book above quoted. There is also an English translation by Havell (London, 1890). LONGINUS, Gaitts Cassius. A noted Ro- man jurist of the first century a.d. He became Governor of Syria in the reign of Claudius, and niaiiitained a high degree of discijiline and elli- ciency in the troops of that province. Subse- quently at Rome he aroused by his high position of respect and inlluence the suspicions of Nero, who banished him to Sardinia. He was recalled thence by Vespasian. His Lihri Juris Vivilis, ten in number, and his commentaries on Uresius Fero.K and Vitellius are quoted in the Digest, and lield high rank among legal works. LONG ISLAND. An island forming the .southeastern extremity of the State of Xew York, and embracing the four counties of Kings, coextensive with the populous metropolitan bor- ough of Pirooklyn (q.v.). Queens, also part of New Y'ork City, Nassau, and Sull'olk (Map: New York, G 5). It is bounded south and east bv the Atlantic Ocean, north b.y Long Island f5ound. and west by Xew Y'ork Bay and the East River. Its length is about US miles; its widtli. 12 to 23 miles; area. 1G82 square miles; population, in IIMJO. 1.4.52. lill. of whom l.lt;(i.o82 resided in Brooklyn. The coast is in- dented ■with many bays and inlets, and the adja- cent waters abound with shell and other fish, constituting a valuable source of food-supply. Peconic Bay. 30 miles long, divides the eastern end of the island into two parts or projections, the one on the northern side terminating at Orient Point, that on the southern terminating at ^Muntauk Point, 20 miles farther east. On the south side of the island, and .stretching along nearly half its length, is Great South Bay, from two to five miles broad, formed by Fire Island or Great South Beach, a stri]) of white sand from one- foui-lh of .a mile to a mile in width, with occasional openings to the ocean. Xear the western end of the island are Jamaica. Hempstead, Oyster, and Huntington baj's. Shelter. Gardiner, Fishers, and Plum islands, in the adjacent waters, are at- tached politically to Long Island. The coasts, bordering as they do on the track of an immense ocean commerce, are furnished with a large number of lighthouses, and with life-saving sta- tions, equipped with the most modern appliances for rendering assistance to vessels in distress. The surface, though presenting considerable va- riety, is marked by no great elevations. A range of glacial hills extends, with frequent interrup- tions, from the northern boundary of Xew Utrecht in the west almost to the eastern ex- tremity of the island on the north side of Peconic Bay. These hills are considerably nearer to the northern than to the southern margin of the island. The highest elevations are Hempstead, Harbor Hill at Roslyn. and West Hill in Suf- folk County, the last two being 384 feet above the sea. X^orth of the glacial range the surface is uneven and rough, while on the south it gradually slopes toward the sea. and is broken here and there by wide, sandy plains producing only coarse grass and stunted shrubs. Some nf these plains, by the application of manures, have been brought under cultivation. A considerable portion of the island is in forest, from which wibl game has not yet been wholly exterminated. There are numerous springs and small streams, and many ponds, while swamps and marshes abound. The island is estimated to contain more than 100 square miles nf salt marsh. The largest stream is the Peconic. which, after a course of 15 miles, empties into the bay of the same name. It furnishes numerous mill sites.