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ZEISE-ZELL.

added. In 1781 the Wyandots fell upon the settlement of the Christian Indians at Gnadenhutten and massacred many of them. This was a death blow to the Moravian mission among the Indians. With a small remnant Zeisberger built an Indian town, in what is now the State of Michigan, but in 1786, at the head of a small band of followers, he returned to Ohio, and in the following year commenced a new settlement, which he called New Salem, in Huron County. In 1791 the hostility of other Indians obliged them to emigrate to Canada, where they founded Fairfield, on the river Thames. In 1798 the United States Congress having granted to the Moravian Indians the tract of land in Ohio upon which they had formerly been settled, Zeisberger returned to that country with some of his converts, and near the ruins of their once flourishing towns established a new station, to which he gave the name of Goshen. There he preached until the close of his life. His published works are: a Delaware and English Spelling Book (1776); A Collection of Hymns in Delaware (1803); Sermons to Children,' in Delaware (1803). In recent years have appeared his 'Dictionary in German and Delaware (1887); 'Diary of David Zeisberger 1781-98 (1888); and 'Essay toward an Onondaga Grammar (1888). Consult Schweinitz, 'Life and Times of David Zeisberger) (1870).

Zeise, tsi'sě, Heinrich, German poet: b. Altona (province of Schleswig-Holstein, Prussia) 19 April 1822. He was an apothecary successively in Altona and Copenhagen, and from 1863 to his retirement in 1875 was proprietor of a chemical manufactory at Altona. He finally settled in Grossflotbek, near Altona, During an extended journey through Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, he familiarized himself with Scandinavian literature, and subsequently he translated the writings of Oehlenschläger, Andersen, Holst, Jörgen, Moe and others, and works of natural history by Schouw and Qersted. Zeise's original verse is often careless in diction, but has generally a pleasing quality, and reaches a stirring note in his patriotic songs, many of which are among the more valuable in his collection of 'Deutsche Kriegs- und Siegeslieder' (1864). Among his volumes are: Reiseblätter aus dem Norden (1848); Gedichte' (2d ed. 1852); Neuere Gedichte' (1850); Kampf- und Schwertlieder) (1849); Kleine Lieder) (1871); (Aus dem Leben und den Erinnerungen eines Nord-Deutschen Poeten' (1888); and Natur- und Lebensbilder) (1892).

Zeising, tsi'sing, Adolf, German writer on æsthetics: b. Ballenstedt (Anhalt) 24 Sept. 1810; d. Munich 27 April 1876. He wrote Neue Lehre von den Proportionen des menschlichen Körpers' (1854); Esthetische Forschungen (1855); 'Religion und Wissenschaft' (1873); and several works of fiction. For a time he held a professorship in the Bernburg (Anhalt) gymnasium, but after 1853 devoted himself to letters, residing generally in Munich.

Zeitun, za-toon', or Zeitan, Asiatic Turkey, a town in the province of Aleppo, 25 miles northwest of Marash, in an iron-mining district, inhabited chiefly by Armenian Christians. The district is fertile but mountainous. The people,

distinguished by their martial spirit and their immunity from crimes of violence, are descendants of the Armenian kingdom which existed in Cilicia from the 11th to the 14th century. A sanguinary conflict with Turkish troops soon after the Crimean war drew European attention to the community, and it was stopped by the intervention of the British and French consuls. In 1878, 1890, and 1895 they defended themselves successfully from Turkish oppression, securing favorable conditions of peace. Pop. 20,000.

Zeitz, tsits, Germany, a town in the province of Saxony, Prussia, on the Weisse Elster, 23 miles by rail southwest of Leipsic. A gymnasium, and a library in a former Franciscan monastery are among its educational institutions. It is a busy industrial centre with manufactures of woolens, cottons, calicoes, leather, hosiery, mineral oil, sugar, pianofortes, cycles,

etc.

in the Pontus, where Julius Cæsar defeated Zela, zē'la, an ancient town of Asia Minor, Pharnaces, king of Pontus and son of Mithridates, and announced his victory to the Roman Senate, in the famous brief despatch, Veni, vidi, vici— “I came, I saw, I conquered." This battle ended the war; Pharnaces escaped into Bosporus, where he was slain by his lieutenant, Asander; Pontus was made a Roman province, and Bosporus was given to Mithridates of Pergamus, 47 B.C.

Zelaya, tha-lä'yä, Jose Santos, Nicaraguan statesman: b. Managua, Nicaragua, about 1845. Educated in England, he entered the Nicaraguan army and was made a general in 1885. He became the leader of the Liberal party and united with Joaquin Zavala in the revolt of April-June 1893, which resulted in the overthrow of President Sacaza. When Zavala was made provisional president Zelaya rebelled and Zavala was obliged to resign. A new constitution was then proclaimed, under which Zelaya next year he invaded the Mosquito territory was elected president 17 Sept. 1893. In_the and in May 1895 an English force held the port of Corinto for a short time until Nicaragua agreed to pay indemnity for the murder of an English subject.

Zelaya, Mexico, a town of Guanajuato, on the Rio Grande de Santiago, 120 miles northwest of Mexico City. It is a cotton manufacturing centre. The chief buildings are a large and elegant cathedral and several convents. Pop. 10,000.

Zelko'na Tree, a large elm-like tree (Planera richardi), native to the Orient. The timber is much prized, the heartwood when dry being exceedingly hard, capable of a fine polish, and an excellent furniture wood.

Zell, tsěl, Karl, German philologist and archæologist: b. Mannheim, Baden, 8 April 1793; d. Freiburg-im-Breisgau, Baden, 21 Jan. 1873. He studied in Heidelberg, Göttingen, and Breslau, was made professor of philology at Freiburg in 1821, and, as representative of the university in the first Baden chamber in 1831-5, secured a reorganization of the system of higher education in the grand duchy. He was made a member of the council for higher studies, with the title of ministerial councillor. From 1846

ZELLER- ZEND

until his retirement in 1855, he was professor of archæology at Heidelberg, where his lectures were very inclusive in their scope. His scholarship is amply shown by his studies of Aristotle and the Aristotelian philosophy. He was prominent in the Catholic Church, and president of the assemblies of the Catholic Union in 1852 and 1853. Among his writings are: 'Observationes Critica de Aristotele (1817); Ethica Nicomachea (1820); a translation (1834) of the Organon'; 'Bilder aus der Gegenwart' (1855); and some opuscula academica.

Zeller, tsěl'ler, Eduard, German theologian and historian of Greek philosophy; b. Kleinbottwar, Würtemberg, 22 Jan. 1814. He studied at Tübingen and Berlin, and was made privatdocent at Tübingen in 1840. Though bitterly opposed by the more orthodox, he became professor of theology at Bern in 1847, and at Marburg in 1849. Appointed to the chair of philosophy at Heidelberg in 1862, he went to Berlin in 1872 and retired in 1895. He early forsook theology and his Hegelianism for historical work which reveals the most impartial and eclectic spirit. Among his writings the following are the most important: Platonische Studien (1839); 'Die Philosophie der Griechen, his greatest work (1844-52; 4th ed. 1876-81); Das Theologische System Zwinglis (1853); Die Apostelgeschichte kritisch Untersucht (1854: English trans. 1875-76); Vorträge und Abhandlungen' (1865; 2d ed. 1875-77-84); (Staat und Kirche' (1873); 'David Friedrich Strauss (1874); 'Geschichte der deutschen Philosophie seit Leibnitz' (1872); Friedrich der Grosse als Philosph' (1886). His work on Greek philosophy has been translated into English under the titles 'Socrates and the Socratic Schools (1868); 'Stoics, Epicureans, and Sceptics (1870); Plato and the Older Academy (1876); The Pre-Socratic Philosophy) (1881); The Eclectics (1883); 'Aristotle' (1897).

Zeller, zěl-lär, Jules Sylvain, French historian: b. Paris 23 April 1820; d. there 25 July 1900. After study in Paris and afterward in Germany, he held the chair of history successively in the lycées of Rennes, Bordeaux, and Strasburg, in the faculty of Aix, and in the Paris normal school. In 1863 he was made professor of history in the Ecole Polytechnique, in 1874 member of the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences, and in 1876 inspector-general of higher education. His works include: Les Empereurs Romains) (1863); Entretiens sur l'Histoire (1865); Pie IX. et Victor Emanuel' (1879); 'Histoire de l'Allemagne) (1872-91); and Histoire Resumée de l'Allemagne) (1888). Zemstvo, or zemskiya uchrejderiya (district institutions), a Russian political body, originally designating the country people, but now used for the province and its representative body, comparing favorably with our State legislatures. The Zemstvo was first mentioned by Alexander II. in the imperial edict of 1859, and after years of labor in perfecting it, in January 1864, was officially recognized by him as an institution. Its original intent was the greatest possible development of local home rule, the members of the district assemblies or zemstvos being elected by three different electoral classes the land owners, the city people and the country inhabi

tants - thereby introducing for trial a sort of constitutional representation. Before long, however, dissensions arose, the central government accusing the zemstvos of assuming too much authority, of becoming too liberal, and by several edicts the orderly development of these districts was checked. Finally by the edict of June 1890 the zemstvo representation was limited to two classes of citizens- the hereditary and personal nobility and the burghers of the cities- thus depriving the peasants entirely of their elective franchise, their representatives now being selected by the governors and by members of the volost assemblies.

Zenana Mission, a mission founded in 1852 under the auspices of the Protestant missionary societies in India, with the object (1) of sending the Gospel to the women of India by means of female missionaries; (2) of alleviating their sufferings in sickness, and ministering to their spiritual need; and (3) of promoting education, based on Holy Scripture, especially among women of the higher classes. See INDIA.

Zend, more correctly Avestan, an ancient Iranian language, in which the Zend-Avesta is composed. This language was first introduced to notice by Anquetil Duperron, and the accurate knowledge of it has been developed among others by Rask, Burnouf, Bopp, and Haug. It is now recognized to be a coæval and cognate dialect with the Vedic Sanskrit. It embraces two dialects called Bactrian, in contradistinction to the ancient languages of Media and Persia, which are called the Western Iranian, while the Zend or Bactrian dialects are called the East

ern Iranian dialects. The two Zend dialects consist of an earlier and a later, analogous to the Vedic and classic Sanskrit or to the Homeric and classic Greek. The period of transition between them is perhaps from 100 to 200 years. The earlier dialect is called the Gatha, from the mains of it; the later is that in which the Gâthas or sacred songs which form the only regreater part of the Zend-Avesta or Zoroastrian sacred writings are found. They differ both in highly cultivated languages, and rich in inflecgrammar and pronunciation, they are both tions, but the earlier is richer in inflections and the later in compounds. The earlier is distinguished by long vowel terminations, probably produced by transcribing the singing pronunciation of the gâthas. The present alphabet is comparatively modern, and is probably derived from the Syriac. There are 12 simple vowels, by separate characters. The roots are mostly 14 diphthongs, and 29 consonants, represented monosyllabic, some consisting only of a single vowel, others of a vowel and consonant or a vowel between two consonants. These primitive roots are modified by articulate additions, which extend or limit their meaning after the manner of prefixes and suffixes, thus dâ, to make, with the addition of th, becomes dath, to place. Verbal roots undergo modifications producing three distinct forms, the causal, the desiderative, and the intensive. Verbs have three voices, active, middle (reflective), and passive; and four moods, indicative, subjunctive, potential, and imperative. Some of these moods are double. The tenses include one for the present, four for the past, and two for the future. Nouns are

ZENITH-ZENO OF CITIUM

formed from roots by means of suffixes. There are three genders, masculine, feminine, and neuter. There are also three numbers, singular, dual, and plural, with eight inflections in the first and last and five in the middle number. The forms of the declensions closely resemble those of Sanskrit; and there are many other analogies between the Gâtha dialect and the Vedic Sanskrit. See SANSKRIT LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.

Ze'nith, the vertical point of the heavens at any place, that is, the point right above a spectator's head, and from which a line drawn perpendicular to the plane of the horizon would, if produced, pass through the earth's centre, supposing the earth a perfect sphere. Each point on the surface of the earth has therefore its corresponding zenith. The zenith distance of a heavenly body is the arc intercepted between the body and the zenith, being the same as the co-altitude of the body.

astronomical instru

Zenith Sector, an ment, consisting of a telescope swinging upon pivots, and having attached to it an arc graduated into degrees and minutes. It is used for the same purpose as the mural circle, namely, to ascertain the zenith distance of the several stars. Zenith Telescope, an instrument used in field astronomy for the determination of latitudes, by the measurement of the difference of meridian-zenith distance of two stars, one culminating north of the zenith, and the other at so nearly the same distance south that that difference can be measured by a filar micrometer in the field of the telescope when the latter is revolved 180° round a vertical axis between the two culminations.

Zenjun, zěn-jŭn', or Zinjan, Persia, a town in the province of Khamseh, 170 miles northwest of Teheran, on the highway to Tabriz. It has manufactures of carpets, woolen cloths, and arms. Pop. 20,000.

Zenkoji, zen-kō'je, Japan. See NAGANO. Zeno, zēnō, Emperor of the East (Byzantine empire) from 474 to 491 A.D. An Isaurian by birth, he married the daughter of Leo I., commanded the imperial guards and armies, and was elevated to the consulship in 469; procured the assassination of Aspar, the minister of Leo, in 471, and usurped the crown on the death of Leo in 474. He was driven out of his capital by Basilicus, who was proclaimed emperor in 475, but regained Constantinople in 477 by buying over Harmatius, the nephew and general of Basiliscus, who was deposed and died shortly afterward. In 478 a Gothic invasion was bought off; in 479 a revolt in Constantinople was put down by corrupting the troops engaged; a second Gothic invasion was bought off, and a third was repelled by purchasing the aid of an opposing party among the Goths, one of whose chieftains, afterward Theodoric the Great, was made consul in 484. Having quarreled with Theodoric. Zeno, anxious to save himself and his capital, proposed to him to invade Italy, and expel Odoacer and the Heruli. Among the more important events of his reign was the publication of the so-called 'Henoticon) (482), or 'Decree of Union,' intended to adjust the controversy between the Monophysites (q.v.) and the Orthodox Church.

Zeno, dzā'nō, Apostolo, Italian dramatist and literary historian: b. Venice 11 Dec. 1668; d. there 11 Nov. 1750. He was a founder (1710) of the critical periodical Giornale de' Letterati d'Italia,' in 1718-29 was at Vienna as court-poet, and made his reputation in Italian literature by libretti for the musical drama, which in his work attained real literary rank. For many years he was the chief dramatic poet of Italy. He was also a scholar, antiquary, and well-known numismatist. His collected dramas appeared in 1744. Among his further writings is the 'Dissertazioni Istorico-Critiche e Letterarie) (1752-3). Consult the Life by Negri (1816).

Zeno, Nicolò and Antonio, Venetian navigators of the late 14th and early 15th centuries. Antonio about 1390 fitted a ship with which he sailed northward on the Atlantic. He was wrecked on one of the Faroe islands. Here he would have been killed by the Scandinavian natives had he not been opportunely rescued by Earl Sinclair, whom Hacon VI. of Norway had invested with the Orkneys and Caithness. He and in 1393 or 1394 sailed with three ships to was made commander of the earl's small fleet, Greenland, where he spent some time. He died in the Faroes about 1395. Antonio went out to the Faroes in 1391, and was in Sinclair's service for 14 years, dying at Venice in 1406. After Nicolo's death he was commander of the fleet; and on one occasion, to verify fishermen's reports of land some 1,000 miles westward, he undertook a voyage of discovery in the Atlantic. He described his adventures in a letter, and on this letter and some others and a sailing-chart, probably made by Antonio, is based a work containing matter of some interest in connection with pre-Columbian discovery in the New World. The letters were worked into a narrative, and, with a copy of the map, appeared in fisherman, returning to the Faroes after a 26 book-form in 1558. The narrative says that a

years' absence, told of a land called Estotiland, where there was much gold and forest. The people built small boats and traded with Greenland. The description of Estotiland is vague, and contains little to suggest North America. But a voyage was undertaken from Estotiland to a region southward, called Drogio. There, said the fishermen, the people were cannibals. "They have no kind of metal. They live by hunting, and carry lances of wood, sharpened at the point." Farther south, "they have cities and temples," as well as "some knowledge and use of gold and silver." The honesty of the Zeno narrative has been sufficiently well established; but whether or no the fisherman had the experiences he narrated in Drogio, and whether that may be identified with North America, are questions that have been much debated. Consult: Major, The Voyages of Nicolò and Antonio Zeno' (Hakluyt Society, 1873), with a translation of the narrative and a copy of the map; and Fiske, The Discovery of America,' Vol. I. (1892).

Zeno (ze'nō) (Gk. Zńvwv), of Citium, ancient Greek philosopher: b. Citium, island of Cyprus. He flourished in the late 4th and early 3d century B.C., and was the founder of the Stoic school of philosophy (see STOICS). The circumstances of his life are not well known. Tradition says that after suffering shipwreck near

ZENO OF ELEA-ZENOBIA

the Peiræus, and according to one account losing his all, while by another his wealth amounted to 1,000 talents, he settled at Athens. There he early made himself remarked for the virtues of moderation and contentment, and during his long life he so acquired the esteem of the citizens that they voted him a crown of gold and a public burial in the Ceramicus. He is said to have declined the citizenship of Athens from fidelity to his native country. He first resorted to the teaching of the Cynic Crater, and by this school his own views, especially in the earlier period of his career, were much influenced. It may seem surprising that Zeno, who rejected both the contempt for established usages and for general knowledge which distinguished the Cynics, should have attached himself to that school, but the central point of every true system of philosophy is its ethics, and he was attracted to the Cynics by their doctrines of moral obligation, which he made the foundation of his own system. Contrary to the advice of Crater he afterward studied under Stilpo the Megarian. Among his subsequent advisers or teachers are enumerated the Megarians Cronus and Philon, and the Academics Xenocrates and Polemon. Of the last two he is said to have been a pupil. He maintained a friendship with Antogonus Gonatas, king of Macedon, of whom his disciples Persæus and Philonides were companions. About 310 B.C. he opened his school in the Ποικίλη Στοά (Stoa), or "Painted Porch." This place, which was adorned with paintings by Polygnotus, had formerly been the resort of a school of poets, who were from this circumstance called Stoics, and the name was now transferred from them to the disciples of Zeno, who at first had been called Zenonians. All the works of Zeno are lost. They were numerous, and include treatises (On the State' (early and of cynical tendencies); 'On the Ethics of Crater); On Life According to Nature'; 'On Impulse); 'On the Nature of Man'; "On the Affections'; 'On the Becoming' (or Fitting); On Law'; and On Grecian Education'; various treatises on physics, logic, and poetry, and a work on the Pythagorean doctrine. Concerning the doctrines of Zeno, which employed very largely the ethics of the Cynic school, as well as the physics of Heraclitus and Pythagoras, consult the article STOICS referred to above; also Zeller, Stoics, Epicureans, and Skeptics (1870); Ueberweg, 'History of Philosophy (Eng. trans. 1887); and Ritter and Preller, 'Historia Philosophiæ Græcæ' (8th ed. 1898).

Zeno (Gk. Zhvwv) of Elea, ancient Greek philosopher: b. Elea (Velia), Lucania, southern Italy, about 488 B.C. He was the favorite disciple of Parmenides, whose opinions he defended, and whose ethico-political schemes he shared. He appears to have lived for a considerable time in Athens, where he taught for remuneration, and had distinguished pupils, as Pericles and Callias. He is said, on unsatisfactory evidence, to have engaged in an enterprise on behalf of his native land against the tyrant Nearchus. Whether he perished in this attempt or survived is not known. None of his writings are extant, but his opinions are referred to by Aristotle, who attempted to confute some of them, and who has distinguished

him as the inventor of dialectic. As a defender of the Eleatic doctrine of the unity of the existent, he was the first to lay down the problems of skepticism in regard to the real existence of the phenomenal world, and has thus exercised an important influence on philosophy. He is said to have directed four arguments against the reality of motion, first from the impossibility of a moving body arriving at a place without passing through an infinite number of intermediate places; second, from the contradictoriness of relative notions of speed, based on the same reason; third, from the fact that each body at each particular moment must occupy one particular portion of space, and is therefore at rest; fourth, from the contradictoriness of relative notions of time in respect to motion, the same portion of time being regarded as long or short, according as it is measured by different standards. He is also credited with an argument against the veracity of sensuous impressions, which rests merely on an imperfect knowledge of physics. It is in this form. If a measure of millet-grains in falling produces a sound, each single grain, and each fraction of a grain, however minute, must also produce a sound; for as the results of the motion of the whole mass is but the sum of the results of the motion of its parts, if no sound is produced by the smallest of the parts, no sound can be produced by the whole. Aristotle, in his Physics' (VI.), pointed out the fallacies in the arguments against the reality of motion. Consult: Zeller, Pre-Socratic Philosophy, Vol. I. (1881); Ueberweg, History of Philosophy,' Eng. trans. Vol. I. (1887); Ritter and Preller, 'Historia Philosophiæ Græcæ' (8th ed. 1898); and Zeller, Philosophie der Griechen,' Vol. I. (4th ed. 1900).

Zenobia, zě-no'bi-a, queen of Palmyra (q.v.). She was instructed in the sciences by the celebrated Longinus, and made such progress that besides her native tongue she spoke the Latin, Greek, Coptic, and Syrian languages. She also patronized learned men, and herself formed an epitome of Egyptian history. She was married to Odenathus, king of Palmyra, accompanied him both in the war and the chase, and the success of his military expedition against the Persians is, in a great degree, attributed to her prudence and courage. Gallienus, in return for services which tended to preserve the East to the Romans after the capture of Valerian by Sapor, king of Persia, acknowledged Odenathus as emperor, and on his death, 267 A.D., she assumed the sovereignty, under the title of Queen of the East. She preserved the provinces which had been ruled by Odenathus, and was preparing to make other conquests, when the succession of Aurelian to the purple led to a remarkable change of fortune. That martial prince, disgusted at the usurpation of the richest provinces of the East by a female, determined to make war upon her: and having gained two battles, Antioch and Emesa, besieged her in Palmyra, where she defended herself with great bravery. At length, finding that the city would be obliged to surrender, she quitted it privately; but the emperor, having notice of her escape, caused her to be pursued with such diligence that she was overtaken just as she got into a boat to cross the Euphrates, in 272. Aurelian spared her life, but made her serve to grace his

ZENOBIA - ZEPHYRUS

triumph. The Roman soldiers demanded her life; and according to Zosimus she purchased her safety by sacrificing her ministers, among whom was the distinguished Longinus. She was allowed to pass the remainder of her life as a Roman matron; and her daughters were married by Aurelian into families of distinction. Her only surviving son retired into Armenia, where the emperor bestowed on him a small principality. Consult: Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall (ed. Bury. 1896-1900); 'Life of Aurelian' by Vopiscus in Augustæ Historiæ Scriptores' (Eng. trans. Bernard, 1740); Ware, Zenobia, or The Fall of Palmyra' (1836).

Zenobia, or The Fall of Palmyra, a noted historical novel, first issued in 1836 in the Knickerbocker Magazine, and then entitled 'Letters from Palmyra.'

Zenos, zēnos, Andrew Constantinides, American educator: b. of Greek parentage, Constantinople, Turkey, 13 Aug. 1855. He was graduated at Robert College, Constantinople, in 1872, studied theology at Princeton Seminary and was pastor of a Presbyterian church in Brandt, Pa., 1881-3. From 1883 to 1888 he was professor of Greek in Lake Forest University and of New Testament exegesis at Hartford Theological Seminary 1888-91. In 1891 he was made professor of church history in McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, and in 1894 was transferred to the chair of Biblical theology in that institution, a position he still (1904) holds. He wrote: "Elements of Higher Criticism'; Compendium of Church History (1896), etc.; and edited Xenophon's 'Anabasis (with F. W. Kelsey' (1888).

Zenta, zěn'tō, Hungary, a town in the county of Bács-Bodrog, on the Theiss, 120 miles southeast of Budapest. Here, 11 Sept. 1697, the Germans under Prince Eugene, defeated the Turks, a victory which led to the peace of Carlowitz, ratified January 1699. Pop. about

30,000.

Ze'olite, a name given to a group of hydrated silicate minerals commonly found in cavities in igneous rocks, from which they are derived through secondary alteration. They include thompsonite, natrolite, scolecite, analcite, chabazite, gmelinite, phillipsite, harmotome, stillite, and heulandite. The name is derived from the boiling reaction before the blowpipe.

Zephaniah, zěf-a-ni'a, the ninth in order of the Scriptural writers known as the minor prophets. His pedigree is traced back for four generations. He is the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hizkiah, and he is supposed to have been of noble, if not of royal, ancestry. His brief but pregnant prophecy was delivered just after the time of the first appearance of Jeremiah (626 B.C.)—that is, in the first half of the reign of Josiah. The next preceding prophet was Micah, who died in the early part of the reign of Manasseh. But the condition of the whole of western Asia, including Palestine, portended a speedy upheaval. Above all, Nineveh was beginning its memorable decline after the death of its king, Assur-banipal (668-626 B.C.). Morally and religiously the Jewish nation had improved but little since the degeneracy that had followed the death of Hezekiah, and Josiah's reform (621 B.C.) had not yet begun, if we may

judge the invectives of the prophet against idolatrous practices. Zephaniah was apparently a descendant of King Hezekiah.

The Prophet's Message.- Zephaniah spoke and wrote primarily for the correction and warning of Judah and Jerusalem, though he draws illustrations from the sins and fates of other peoples. The culmination of these is found in the iniquities, the pride, and the speedy fall of Nineveh. A division into four parts is as follows:

The threatening: ch. i. 1, the whole worldthat is, the Semitic world is to undergo exemplary punishment, particularly Jerusalem and its apostates from Jehovah (ver. 1-6). (2) The classes of people who are to be thus visited the royal house, the nobles, the wealthy traders, the careless and defiant generally are characterized, and their chastisement set forth in language largely figurative (ver. 7-18).

The lessons from the nations: ch. ii. God's own people are warned to repent in time (ver. 1-3), and so avoid the doom that is about to fall upon the Philistines (ver. 4-7), Moab (ver. 8-11), Egypt, under the name of Ethiopia (ver. 12), and finally Assyria and Nineveh (ver.

13-15).

The remonstrance: ch. iii. 1-7. Rebellious and obstinate Jerusalem is urged to repent by the righteous and reasonable God, in view of coming woes; for the lesson of the fate of other nations has so far been unheeded. The promised redemption: ch. iii. 8-20-1. The faithful remnant is bidden to wait and trust. It shall survive the ruin of the nations, be joined by exiled brethren from far and near, and rest in quiet content (ver. 8-13). (2) Joyous thanksgiving is now in place, for Jehovah is in the midst of Jerusalem, to comfort and bless his people. Their reproach is taken away; dispersion and captivity are at an end.

Zeph ́yr, a soft, cool, agreeable wind; in Greece the west, or rather west-southwest wind. The Greek name, according to the etymology, signifies life-bringing, because at the time when this wind begins to blow, the plants are restored to life by the balmy spring air.

Zephyran'thes, a genus of Liliacea, indigenous to the warmer regions of America, and most commonly represented by the atamasco lily (q.v.). The species are bulbous, and are not hardy in the Northern States, but make charming summer-blooming window and greenhouse plants, resting in the winter. The foliage is linear, springing from the bulb, and a scape, appearing at the same time, is crowned by a regular, 3-merous corolla which is nearly, or quite, erect, from 1 to 3 inches across, and red, yellow, or white in color. Z. candida is one of the white-flowered species, and is also one of the hardiest and thriftiest. It is a lovely, crocus-like plant, with pure-white blossoms opening out flat in the sunshine, and evergreen foliage.

Zephyrus, zěf'i-rus, in Greek mythology, a son of Eolus, or of Astræus and of Aurora, a lover of Chloris or Flora. By the harpy Podarge he was the sire of the swift horses of Achilles, Xanthos, and Balios. His love being rejected by Hyacinthus, he was the cause of his death by blowing Apollo's quit against his head. Some make him the husband of one of the Hours. Flowers and fruits are under his

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