A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

LAMACHUS. LAMIA. 713: 5; Plut. vol. ii. p. 767, e.; Athen. xiii. p. 589, their first arrival, in which Nicias proposed a return
b.) According to the scholiast on Aristophanes to Athens and Alcibiades negotiation, Lamachus,
(Plut. 179), a pestilence ensued, which did not while preferring of these two plans the latter,
abate till a temple was dedicated to Aphrodite urged, as his own judgment, an immediate attack
Anosia. She was buried on the banks of tile Peneus. on Syracuse, and the occupation of Megara, as the
The inscription on her monument is preserved by base for future attempts, advice which in him may
Athenaeus (xiii. p. 589). [C. P.M.] have been prompted less by counsel than courage,
LAIUS (Ailos). 1. A son of Labdacus, and but which undoubtedly was the wisest, and would
father of Oedipus. After his father's'death he \vas almost certainly have been attended with complete
placed under the guardianship of Lycus, and on the success. In the following year, soon after the indeath of the.latter, Laius was obliged to take re- vestment was commenced, he fell in a sally of the
fuge with Pelops in Peloponnesus. But when besieged, in advancing against which he had enAmphion and Zethus, the murderers of Lycus, who tangled himself amongst some dykes, and got parted
had usurped his throne, had lost their lives, Laius from his troops. The loss of his activity and
returned to Thebes, and ascended the throne of his vigour must have been severely felt: his death was
father. He married Jocaste (Homer calls her one of those many contingencies, each one of which
Epicaste), and became by her the father of Oedi- may be thought to have singly turned the scale in
pus, by whom he was slain without being known the Syracusan contest. (Thuc. vi. 8, 49, 101,)
to him. His body was buried by Damasistratus, Lamachus appears amongst the dramatis perking of Plataeae. (Herod. v. 59; Paus. ix. 5. ~ sonae of Aristophanes (Ach. 565, &c. 960, 1070,
2; Apollod. iii. 5. ~ 5, &c.; Diod. v. 64; comp. &c.) as the brave and somewhat blustering soldier,
*OEDIPUS.) delighting in the war, and thankful, moreover, for
2. A Cretan, who, together with Aegolius, Ce- its pay. Plutarch, in like manner, describes him as
leus, and Cerberus, entered the sacred cave of bees brave and honest, and a hero in the field; but so
in Crete, in order to steal honey. They succeeded poor, and so ill-provided, that on every fresh apin their crime, but perceived the cradle of the in- pointment he used to beg for money from the
fant Zeus, and that instant their brazen armour government to buy clothing and shoes; and this
broke to pieces. Zeus thundered, and wanted to dependent position he thinks made him backward
kill them by'a flash of lightning; but the Moerae to take a part of his own, and deferential to his
and Themis prevented him, as no one was allowed colleagues-Nicias, perhaps, in especial. (Plut.
to be killed on that sacred spot, whereupon the Nic. 16, cf. ib. 12, 13, and Alcib. 18, 20, 21.)
thieves were metamorphosed into birds. (Anton. Plato also speaks of his valour. (Lach. p. 198.)
Lib. 19; Plin. H.N. x. 60, 79.) [L. S.] If we may trust a passage of Plutarch (Pericles,
LALA, of Cyzicus, a female painter, who lived 20), Lamachus, in an expedition made by Pericles
at Rome at the time when M. Varro was a young into the Euxine, was left there in charge of 13
man (about B. C. 74). She painted with the pencil, ships, to assist the people of Sinope against their
and also practised encaustic painting on ivory with tyrant, Timesilaus; after the expulsion of whom
the cestrum. Her subjects were principally pictures the town received 600 Athenian colonists. The
of women, among which was her own portrait, precise date of this occurrence can hardly be estapainted at a mirror. No painter surpassed her in blished: in Plutarch's narrative, it is previous to the
speed. Her works were so highly esteemed as to Thirty Years' Peace of'B. c. 445. He must therebe preferred to those of Sopolis and Dionysius, fore have been an old man at the time of his last
whose pictures filled the galleries at Rome. She command. [A. H. C.]
was never married. (Plin. H. N. xxxv. 11. s. 40. LA'MEDON (ACawovy), a son of Coronus, and
~ 43.) It is useless to discuss the inferences drawn husband of Pheno, by whom he became the father
from the various reading, inventa for juventa, as of Zeuxippe. He was the successor of Epopeus in
there is no authority in any MS. for that reading; the kingdom of Sicyon. (Pausan. ii. 5, in fin., 6,
and it can hardly be made to give a good mean- 2.) [L. S.]
ing. [P. S.] LA'MIA (Aayqa). 1. A daughter of Poseidon,
LA'LAGE. Under the name of Lalage two became by Zeus the mother of the Sibyl Herophile.
distinct persons are intended by Horace. In one (Paus. x. 12. ~ 1; Plut. de Pyth. Orac. 9.)
ode (i. 22, 10) a wolf appears to the poet as he is 2. A female phantom, by which children were
singing of his Lalage; but in another ode (ii. 5, 1 ) frightened. According to tradition, she was orian unnamed friend is advised to defer making love ginally a Libyan queen, of great beauty, and a
to Lalage until she is older. It is evidently not a daughter of Belus. She was beloved by Zeus, and
personal name, but the Greek hahaAay, prattling, Hera in her jealousy robbed her of her children.
chattering (Oppian, Hal..i. 135), used as a term Lamia, from revenge and despair, robbed others of
of endearment, "little prattler," which accords with their children, and murdered them; and the savage
the tender age of the Horatian damsel. [W. B. D.] cruelty in which she now indulged rendered her
LA'MACHUS (AdlaXos), son of Xenophanes, ugly, and her face became fearfully distorted. Zeus
in the 8th year of the Peloponnesian war, B.C. gave her the power of taking her eyes out of her
424, with a detachment of 10 ships from the head, and putting them in again. (Diod. xx. 41;
tribute-collecting squadron, sailed into the Euxine; Suidas, s. v.; Plut. de Curios. 2; Schol. ad Arisand coming to harbour at the mouth of the Calex, toph. Pac. 757; Strab. i. p. 19.) Some ancients
near Heracleia, had his ships destroyed by a sudden called her the mother of Scylla. (Eustath. ad Hom.
flood. He succeeded in making his way by land p. 1714; Arist. de Mor. vii. 5.) In later times
to Chalcedon. (Thuc. iv. 75.) His name recurs in Lamiae were conceived as handsome ghostly wothe signatures to the treaties of B. C. 421. And men, who by voluptuous artifices attracted young
in the 17th year B. C. 415 he appears as colleague men, in order to enjoy their fresh, youthful, and
of Alcibiades and Nicias, in the great Sicilian ex- pure flesh and blood. They were thus in ancient
pedition. In the consultation held at Egesta on times what the vampires are in modern legends.