renity, supported by habitual piety, never deserted him; and these qualities, with an ardent love of virtue, and disdain of meanness and vice, are beautifully displayed in his latest let ters. Returning to his house in London, he died, February 27, 1734-5. Biog. Brit.-A.

ARC, JOAN OF, called the Maid of Orleans, one of the most extraordinary heroines mentioned in history, was the daughter of a peasant named James d'Arc, of Domremi, near Vaucouleurs in Lorrain, where she was born about the beginning of the 15th century. She was put to service at a small inn, in which she was accustomed to tend horses, ride them to water without a saddle, and perform other offices more commonly assigned to the other sex. When When she was of the age, probably, of twenty-seven or twenty-nine, at a time when king Charles VII. was reduced to the lowest condition by the English, who possessed the greatest part of his kingdom, Joan fancied that she saw visions in which she was commanded by St. Michael to go to the relief of Orleans, then closely pressed by the English, and afterwards to cause the king to be consecrated at Rheims. She was taken by her parents, in February 1429, to Baudricourt, governor of Vaucouleurs, who at first treated her pretended inspiration as an idle tale; but at length, moved by her repeated and urgent solicitations, he sent her to the king, then at Chinon. Charles, either in earnest or from collusion, proposed to try her by introducing her before a large company in which he was undistinguished from his nobles by any marks of dignity; and it is affirmed that she immediately recognised him, and acquainted him with secrets which he had never communicated to any one. She promised boldly to fulfil the two objects of her mission, and demanded to be arined with a consecrated sword, kept in the church of St. Catharine of Fierbois, the marks of which she described, though she had never seen it. Her manner inspired confidence: she was committed to matrons for proof of her virginity, and to the doctors of the church for inquiry into her inspiration. Their report was favourable; but the parliament, to whom she was next consigned, treated her as insane, and asked her for a miracle. She replied that she had none then to exhibit, but that she soon would perform one at Orleans. In fine she was completely armed, mounted, and sent to join the army destined to the relief of Orleans. She here displayed a consecrated banner, purged the camp of licentiousness, and, by her whole demeanour, infused into the soldiers that enthusiasm with which she herself was animated.

She entered Orleans, introduced a convoy, attacked the English in their forts, defeated and dismayed them, and raised the siege. In all these actions she showed an heroic courage, and the dignity of a superior mind. Other successes rapidly followed, and the panic-struck English every where fled from a foe whom a short time before they had despised. Joan now thought it time to fulfil her other promise of crowning the king at Rheims; and, accompanied by her, he marched without opposition across the kingdom, receiving the submission of the towns as he passed. Rheims sent him its keys, and admitted him with transport. He was crowned and anointed with the holy oil of Clovis, the maid standing by his side in complete armour, and displaying her consecrated banner. Charles testified his gratitude for her extraordinary services, by ennobling her family, and giving it the name of du Lys (probably in allusion to the lilies of her banner), with a suitable estate in land. Joan, now that the two objects of her mission were obtained, proposed to retire; but the general, Dunois, sensible of the advantages he derived from the idea of her supernatural commission, persuaded her to remain in arms till the English should be finally expelled. By his advice she threw herself into Compeigne, then besieged by the duke of Burgundy and the English; where, on a sally, after having driven the enemy from their entrenchments, she was deserted by her friends, surrounded, and taken prisoner. The English indulged a malignant triumph on the capture of one who had caused such a reverse in their affairs, and resolved to show her no mercy. The regent duke of Bedford purchased her from the captors, and instituted a criminal prosecution against her on the charges of sorcery, impiety, and magic. The clergy in his interest, and the university of Paris, joined in the accusation. She was brought in irons before an ecclesiastical commission at Rouen, where a number of captious interrogatories were put to her during the space of a four months' trial, to which she replied with firmness and dignity. Among other questions, it was asked her why she assisted with her standard in her hand at the coronation of Charles. "Because (she nobly replied) the person who shared in the danger had a right to share in the glory." Her pretended visions and inspirations were the most dangerous points of the attack, and the weakest of her defence. Urged on these grounds with the crimes of heresy and impiety, she appealed to the pope, but her appeal was disallowed. length she was solemnly condemned as a sorceress and blasphemer, and delivered over to the

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cut off before him. Arcadius lived a few years longer, an insensible spectator of the calamities which were gathering round the eastern empire. At length, in his thirty-first year, after a nominal possession of the throne between thirteen and fourteen years, he died, A. D. 408. He left one son, Theodosius, in the eighth year of his age; and four daughters. A very improbable tale is related by Procopius alone, of his appointing Jesgederd, king of Persia, guardian to the young prince. "It is impossible (says Mr. Gibbon) to delineate the character of Arcadius; since, in a period very copiously furnished with historical materials, it has not been possible to remark one action that properly belongs to the son of the great Theodosius." Univers. Hist. Gibbon.-A.

ARCESILAUS, or ARCECILAS, a Greek philosopher, the founder of the middle academy, was born at Pitane in Æolia, in the fourth year of the 134th Olympiad, or 316 years before Christ. His first preceptor was his countryman Autolycus the mathematician, whom he followed to Sardis. He afterwards went to Athens, where he studied music under Xanthus, geometry under Hipponicus, and philosophy first under Theophrastus, and afterwards under Polemon and Crantor: he formed an intimate friendship with the latter. Poetry was his favourite amusement, and he took so much delight in Homer, that it was his practice, every night before he went to sleep, to read a portion of his works. His studies, however, were chiefly devoted to philosophy. After the death of Crates, Arcesilaus took the charge of the Academy, and introduced innovations, which gave rise to a new school, called, in reference to the school of Plato, the Second Academy, and, with respect to a subsequent innovation by Carneades, the Middle Academy.

The school of Arcesilaus was founded upon the principle of the uncertainty of knowledge, and was instituted in opposition to the Dogmatists, particularly the Stoics, who taught with great confidence a system different from that of Plato. Arcesilaus was jealous of the rising fame of Zeno, his fellow-disciple under Polemon, and employed great ingenuity and eloquence in controverting the axioms and reasonings of his school. He did not choose to avow, in its full extent, the doctrine of universal scepticism, as taught by Pyrrho, at this time, in his new school; but, under the sanction of Socrates, who had confessed that the only thing which he knew was that he knew nothing, and of Plato, who had taught that no certain knowledge can be obtained from the varying forms of

physical bodies, he taught, that, although there may be a real certainty in the nature of things, every thing is uncertain to the human understanding. He taught his disciples not to assert their own opinions, but to controvert those of others: he suspended his own judgment in every thing, and disputed only to convince himself that opposite opinions may be supported by arguments of equal weight. "Arcesilaus (says Cicero) denied that any thing could be known, even that which Socrates had excepted. Thus the philosophers of his school were of opinion, that every thing lay concealed, and that nothing could be perceived, or understood; and hence they inferred, that no one ought to affirm or assert any thing, but, by suspending their decision, always to avoid the discredit of giving a rash judgment, and assenting to propositions which are either false or unknown; nothing being more disgraceful, than to suffer assent to precede knowledge and perception." (Cic. Acad. Quæst. lib. i. c. 12.) Arcesilaus maintained, that truth has no certain characters, by which it may be distinguished from error; and, on this point, according to Cicero, turned the dispute between the Academics and the Dogmatists. (Ib. c. 24.)

The school of Arcesilaus appears to have been a field of unprofitable contention. The master, who possessed great skill in disputation, and captivating powers of address, permitted his disciples and hearers to propound and maintain their opinions: he then refuted them with so much subtlety of argument, and such persuasive eloquence, that his antagonist was overcome, and the audience were astonished; (Numenius, apud Euseb. Præp. Ev. lib. xiv. c. 6.) and the point in dispute seemed determined, till the same ingenuity was employed on the opposite side of the question. Arcesilaus has been compared to Tiberius Gracchus, as a disturber of the peace, who endeavoured to overturn the established philosophy; but he had not, like that political reformer, the merit of attempting the correction of abuses and errors, for he brought the world of science into a worse state of confusion than he found it. (Cic. Acad. Quæst. lib. iv. c. 5-12. De Fin. lib. ii. c. I. lib. v. c. 31.)

The sceptical doctrine of Arcesilaus seems necessarily to destroy the foundations of virtue, and to introduce uncertainty and indifference with respect to the obligations of morality. Accordingly, one of the adversaries of this philoso pher reproached him with living according to his principles. Cleanthes, who was present, though a stoic, took his part, and said, "You

Archelaus died a violent death, they differ as to the cause, and to the length of his reign. It seems most probable that the conspiracy against him was planned by one Craterus, who had been his minion, in revenge of an affront. The duration of his reign is estimated by different writers at twenty-four, sixteen, fourteen, and seven years. The authors of the Univers. Hist. prefer fourteen years; and Bayle, seven, who places his death, B. C. 399.-A.

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ARCHELAUS, a Greek philosopher, disciple of Anaxagoras, was, according to some writers, a native of Miletus, according to others, of Athens. Having attended Anaxagoras at Lampsacus, he occupied the chair of that philosopher after his death, and was the last teacher in that school. He afterwards went to Athens, and taught philosophy: he was therefore, as Diogenes Laërtius asserts, the person who removed the school of Thales from Ionia to Athens; and Clemens Alexandrinus was mistaken in asserting (Stromat. lib. ii.) that this was done by Anaxagoras; perhaps Clemens Alexandrinus may be understood to mean, that Anaxagoras was the first person of the sect of Jonia who taught at Athens. Archelaus acquired high reputation at Athens, and had many scholars, among whom is reckoned Socrates.

Archelaus made but little alteration in the doctrine of his master. He probably held, with him, that similar parts were the material principles of all things, and that a superintendent mind, by collecting and uniting these, formed natural bodies. (August. de Civit. Dei, lib. viii. c. 2.) He taught that the universe is infinite; that heat and cold are the immediate causes of production, and that animals were produced from the earth, which was at first a muddy mass. Like his predecessors, he chiefly applied his attention to physical questions concerning the origin and nature of things, but he also taught some doctrines on moral subjects. His fundamental principle in ethics was, that the distinction between right and wrong is not founded in nature, but in positive institution; and consequently, that all actions are indifferent, till human laws declare them to be good or evil. A principle so destructive of all moral obligation could obtain little credit: it soon yielded to the purer and wiser doctrine of Socrates. Diog. Laërt. Plut. de Placit. Phil. Bayle. Brucker. Stanley.-E.

ARCHELAUS, a Christian divine, bishop of Mesopotamia, flourished under Probus, about the year 278. He was a zealous champion for the catholic faith against the Manichæans. Jerom speaks of a work written by him in the

Syriac language, which related "A Conference or Dispute which he held with Mani at his coming out of Persia." This work was translated from Syriac into Greek, and thence into Latin. The Latin translation remains; but it is uncertain at what time it was made, and it is thought not to be complete. The work, as it comes down to us, contains two disputes; one held at Caschar, or Carchar, a city in Mesopotamia, with Mani; the other with one of his disciples, the presbyter of Diodoris, a small town in the same country: it also contains an account of the life and death of Mani, with some other articles. Various opinions are entertained concerning the author and the authenticity of this work. Photius (Cod. 85.) writes, that Heracleon, bishop of Chalcedon, in his book against the Manichees, ascribed it to Hegemonius, an author whose age is unknown. Fabricius conjectures that this writer published an abridgment of the original work. However this was, there are in the work many things which do not well agree with other accounts of Mani, and which favour the opinion of Beausobre, that it contains some truths, but mixed with falsehoods, and that it was written by some Greek in the fourth century. From a MS. of the Latin translation, found at Cassino, together with some fragments of the Greek in Cyril (Catachis. 6.) and in Epiphanius, (Hæres. 66. n. 25-32.) the work was edited, in 4to. by Zacagni, in his "Collectanea Monumentorum Vet. Rom." in 1698. Fabric. Bibl. Græc. lib. v. c. I. § 31. Cave, Hist. Lit. Dupin. Lardner's Cred. part ii. c. 62, 63.-E.

ÁRCHIAS, AULUS-LICINIUS, a Greek poet, is chiefly known from the eloquent oration made by Cicero, about B. C. bo, to defend his right to the citizenship of Rome. From that we learn that he was a native of Antioch, and that he obtained in early youth such a reputation for his poetical talents, that his arrival was expected with impatience in all the Greek cities of Asia and Europe which he visited. He came to Rome, B. C. 102, where he was first. a guest in the Lucullan family, and was afterwards highly favoured by the Metelli, Catuli, Crassi, and other noble houses in Rome. Cicero was peculiarly his friend, and speaks with admiration of his powers, which probably consisted rather in facility and copiousness of versifying, than in the higher qualities of a poet. "How often (says the orator) have I heard him, without writing a word, pour out a number of excellent verses extempore on an occasional topic, and then repeat the same ideas in different words and sentences !" He adds, that