Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 12.djvu/583

* liUCIAN. 517 LUCIFER. great Roman families as tutor. Toward the close of liis life he himself accepted a lucrative post in the Roman administration of Egjpt. A charm- ing apology explains the inconsistency, or rather explains that there is none. Of Lucian as a literary artist there can he but one opinion. He is one of the world's great- est writers of prose. His (Jreek syntax will not bear the microscope of the professional gram- marian, but for literary purposes he writes cor- rect enough Attic. And his command of the resources of what was to liim a dead language is amazing. He has every word and phrase of Plato, Aristophanes, and Demosthenes at his pen's end, and for purposes of literary allusion is master of all Greek literature and liistory. But he uses this scholarship as an artist and not as a pedant. He describes and narrates with incomparable vividness and vivacity, and his in- genuity, fancy, fertility of invention, and inex- haustible variety in vocabulary, allusion, and turn of idiomatic phrase never allow the atten- tion to flag. Estimates of Lucian as a man and a thinker will depend on the philosopliy of the critic. Lucian's temper is essentially negative and destructive. ^Ye maj- plead that he was a satirist and that, with the exception of Chris- tianity, which it was impossil)le for him to esti- mate, he mocked only at follr or superstition. We may add that his denials imply a very strong positive belief in common sense, common honesty, good taste, and the great tradition of Greek art and literature. But to most readers this will seem a very small residuum of positive faith and enthusiasm among so many negations. Espe- cially will Lucian be suspeet to all those who take metaphysics seriously, or who, with Bacon, had rather ijelieve all the fal)les of the Talmud than risk rejecting the kernel with the .shell. The religion at which he mocked was either the outworn Hellenic mythology or the degrading Oriental superstitions which were competing for its place. The philosophers whom he satirized were unworthy successors of Plato and Zeno. But the Hermotimus (well paraphrased in an interesting chapter of Pater's Jlarii(s) sliows that his skepticism went deeper, and that he had systematically closed his mind against all attempts of either philosophj- or religion to tran- scend the world of sense and common sense. Renan praises him as the one man who in an age when even JIarcus Aurelius coquetted with superstition remained unaffected by the taint. We may go further and say that there is no other example of a great writer (in contradis- tinction to a mere thinker) so utterly un<lis- turbed by any visitings of vague yearnings, mis- givings, sudden touches, thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls. There is a certain hard- ness, his warmest admirers must admit, in the brilliance of Lucian. He lacks the natural, human touch. BiBLiOGR.pnT. Lucian is generally read in the convenient three-volume Teubner text, edited by Jacobitz. wlio also edited the chief annotated edition (Leipzig, 1830-41). The i<cl<'rlcil Trans- lations by Emily James Smith (Harpers) are eminently readable. Professor Gildersleeve, in Essni/s and fftiidies. devotes a witty and enter- taining chapter to Lucian: while Croiset's Esxai sur la vie et left ceurres de Liicien (Paris. 1882) contains the fullest and best exposition and criticism. LTJCIAN, Saixt ( ?-312 j. A presbyter of An- tioch. He was born at Samosata in Hie third century. Entering the ministry at Antioch, he founded and conducted a theological school. He became greatly celebrated as an ecclesiastic and biblical scholar. In the reign of Diocletian, by order of ila.ximin, he was arrested in Antioch, transported to Nicomedia, and tortured to death in prison, January 7, .312. He appears to have made a recension of the text of the Bible, which was much used in Greece and Asia Minor. Je- rome speaks of him as also the author of sev- eral epistles and theological tracts. There has been dispute respecting his views of the Trinity, and it is a fact that Arius and the other found- ers of Arianism were liis pupils, and that he lived apart from the Church during the episco- pates of three successive bishops of -Antioch. After his death he was enrolled in the calendar of the Church as a saint and martyr. His creed is given in Ilefele, History of the Councils (Eng. trans., vol. i., Edinburgli, 1871 sqq.). LirCIANI, li5o-ch:i'ne, Sebastiaxo. See Se- BA.STIA.NO DEL PlOMUO. LUCID INTERVAL (Lat. lucidus, bright, from lucere, to shine). The true definition of lucid interval, according to the alienist, is: A period of time, of from an hour's to a few days' duration, during which an insane per- son appears sane in speech and act, and in general manner and conduct. The forms of in- sanity in which a lucid interval occurs are gen- erally characterized by exaltation or perversion. There may thus be a cessation or suspension of the fury in niania ; there cannot be repair or en- lightenment of the obscurity in idiocy or demen- tia. It may consist in the mere substitution of clearness and cahnness for violence and eon- fusion: in the occasional recognition of his actual condition and external relations by the lunatic: or in the reestablishment of intelligence and natural feeling so perfect and complete as to difl'er from sanity solely in the want of perma- nence. There invariably exists an under-current of unsoundness. It is found to be extremely dif- ficult to distinguish this state from real and trustwortliy restoration to reason, except by ref- erence to duration. Legally, these conditions have been held to be identical. A will executed during a lucid interval, although that was ex- tremely transitory, and although the testatrix unloosed the straps by which her hands had been confined, in order to execute the document, has been held to be valid: all that appears to be required, under such circumstances, is to prove that the conduct of the individual bore the aspect of rationality and hcaltli. It has been observed that, immediately before death, a small propor- tion of the insane regain lucidity, and die in pos- session of comparative sense and serenity. This change is supposed l>y some to depend upon the failing powers of the "circulation. Consult: Shel- ford, A Practical Trealisc on the Laic Coticeni- ing Lumilics, Idiots, and Persons of rnsoiind Mind (London, 18.33): Taylor, The Princi/des and Practice of Medical Jurisprudence (London, 1873) ; Reese, Medical Jurisprudence and Toii- cologv (Philadelphia, 1002) : 8pitzka, Manual of insaniti/ (Xew York. 18S7) : Hamilton, .i Manual of Medical Jurisprudence (Xew York, 1887). Sec IXSAXITY, LU'CIFER (?-371). Bishop of Cagliari, in Sardinia, and a zealous opponent of Arianism.