FLA-FLA MS. the names Setinus Balbus are appended, whence it is | nation zcal. In 1544 he became professor of Old Testament literature at Wittenberg, and soon began to take an probable that he was born at Setia in Campania. The sole notice of him found in classical authors is a short sentence active and prominent part in the theological discussions of He strenuously opposed the Augsburg Interim of Quintilian (Inst., x. 1, 90), “Multum in Valerio I'lacco the time. nuper amisimus," whence we gather that he must have died and also the compromise of Melanchthon, known as the before 90 A.D., though it does not follow, as is commonly Leipsic Interim, and was compelled on that account to stated, that he was cut off by an untimely death. If resign his professorship. From Wittenberg he proceeded wo turn for information to his only known work, the to Magdeburg, and in 1557 he was appointed professor of Argonautica, we learn from the dedication, which is theology at Jena, but soon became involved in a controversy addressed to Vespasian, that it was written during the with his colleague Strigel on the power of the human will The in conversion. Being a strong upholder of the doctrine of siege or shortly after the fall of Jerusalem, 70 A.D. man's natural inability, he was induced by controversial Argonautica is an epic on the quest of the golden fleece The poem is unfinished, the eighth book terminating straits to fall unwittingly into the Manichæan heresy of abruptly with the request of Medea to accompany Jason on affirming that original sin was not an accident in human his homeward voyage. It is a free imitation and in parts nature, but now belonged to its substance; and as ho a translation of the work of Apollonius of Rhodes, which would not submit to ecclesiastical censure, he was compelled had already been made familiar to the Romans by the in 1562 to resign his office. After staying for five years in popular version of Varro Atacinus. Various estimates have retirement at Ratisbon, he accepted the charge of a conbeen formed of the genius of Flaccus, and some competent gregation in Antwerp, but was soon compelled by religious critics, such as Scaliger, Heinsius, and Weichart, have ranked persecution to leave that city for Strasburg. Here his him above his original. His diction is pure, his style correct, views regarding original sin again exposed him to ecclehis versification smooth though monotonous, and he has siastical censure, and he went to Frankfort-on-the-Maine, some descriptive power, as is shown in the storm of the in the hospital of which city he died in 1575, having spent eighth book, and the picture of the dragon lulled to sleep the latter years of his life in great poverty. Though the On the other hand, he is wholly with- keen and uncompromising controversial spirit of Flacins by Medea's charms. ultimately deprived him of the sympathy of almost all his out originality, and his poetry reads as if made to order. It is free from glaring defects, but is rendered all but friends, he is better known to posterity for his labours in worthless by its monotony, artificiality, and elaborate dul- hermeneutics and church history than as a controversialist. He deserves, no less than Silius Italicus, to be called He may almost be called the founder of the science ef the ape of Virgil. One instance will suffice to show how hermeneutics, and in the department of church history he The desertion of rendered important service by tracing to their scurce the he has vulgarized the great poet. Hypsipyle by Jason in the second book is closely modelled legends and superstitious traditions by which, in the annals on the desertion of Dido by Æneas, but instead of "Si quis of the church, truth had in a great measure been either mihi parvulus aula luderet Encas," we have "Per hunc concealed or superseded. Among his numerous works may be mentioned his Claris Scripturæ Sacræ, and the utero quem linquis Iasona nostro"; instead of "Quem sese ore gerens," &c., "Tales humeros ea terga relinquit." The Catalogus Testium Veritatis, which he contributed to the corruptions of the text, and the obscurity of the mythologi Magdebury Centuries. cal and geographical allusions, have attracted commentators and critics, but few except professed scholars will care to read a second-rate copy of a second-rate poet. ness. Bibliography.—The Argonautica was unknown till the first three books and half of the fourth were discovered by Poggio at St Gall when attending the council of Constance. The editio princeps was published at Bologna, 1474, from the Vatican MS. 3277. Among See Ritter, Flacius's Leben und Tod, Frankfort, 1725; Twesten, Matth. Flacius Illyricus, Berlin, 1844; Preger, Matth. Flocius Illyricus und seine Zeit, 2 vols. Erlangen, 1859-61; and Mattia Flacio Istriano di Albone, notizie e documenti, Pola, 1869. FLACOURT, ÉTIENNE DE (16071660), a French When he was named governor of Madagascar by the East governor of Madagascar, was born at Orleans in 1607. India Company in 1648, the French troops had mutinied Flacourt soon against the former governor, and a large number of them had also been massacred by the natives. restored order among the soldiers, but in his dealings with the natives he was less successful, and their intrigues and attacks kept him in continual harassinent during all his term of office. As ho was in uncertainty regarding the affairs of the company, he returned in 1655 to France. Not long after he was appointed director general of the company; but, having again returned to Madagascar, he was drowned on his voyage home, 10th June 1660. Several unknown districts of Madagascar and some small islands in its neighbourhood were explored by the orders of Flacourt, and he also in 1649 took possession of the island of Mascareigne, which he named Bourbon. He is the author of a Histoire de la grande isle Madagascar (1st edition 1658, 2d edition 1661), which is divided into two parts,-the first containing an account of the island, its inhabitants, and its natural history, and the second detail Of this work the only portion of much ing the history of the events connected with its (ccupation by the French. value is the natural history section, which gives evidence of a considerable amount of minute and careful observation: He published also in 1658 a dictionary of the language of the island, which, however, is very incomplete and full of other editions we may mention Burmann's Variorum, Leyden, 1724; J. A. Wagner's, Göttingen, 1805; G. Thilo's, Halle, 1863 (the first careful collation of the Vatican MS.); C. Schenkl's, Berlin, 1871; and the 8th book annotated by A. Weichert, Meissen, 1817. There are translations into French prose by J. J. A. Caussin de Perceval in the Bibliothèque Latine-Française; into French verse by Dureau de la Malle, Paris, 1811; and into Spanish verse by D. J. de Leon Bendicho y Quilty, Madrid, 1868; into Italian by Pindemonte, Verona, 1776; into German by Wunderlich, Erfurt, 1805. Warton speaks doubtfully of an English version: "We seem to have had a version of Valerius Flaccus in 1565; for in that I know not if in verse or prose, was entered to Purfoote "The year, story of Jason, how he gotte the golden flece, and how he did begyle Media, out of Latin into Englische, by Nycholas Whyte.' The book is not recorded by Watt, nor is it in the British Museum. FLACIUS (in German VLACICH), MATTHIAS, surnamed Myricus (1520-1575), a celebrated German theologian of the time of the Reformation, was born at Albona in Illyria in 1520. Having lost his father in early childhood, he owed his education almost wholly to his own unaided At the age of seventeen he had resolved to perseverance. enter a convent in order to devote his life to sacred learning; but on the advice of one of his relations, who had imbibed Reformation principles, he abandoned his intention, and pursued his studies successively at Basel, Tubingen, and Wittenberg. At Wittenberg he fell for a time into religious despondency, and sought the advice of Martin was successful not only in removing his Luther, who doubts, but in inspiring him with much of his own Refor-mistakes. FLAG. It is probable that almost as soon as men began to collect together for common purposes some kind of conspicuous object was used, as the symbol of the common sentiment, as the rallying point of the common force. In military expeditions where any degree of organization and discipline prevailed, objects of such a kind would be necessary to mark out the lines and stations of encampment, and to keep in order the different bands when marching or in battle. And, in addition to all this, it cannot be doubted that flags or their equivalents have often served, by reminding men of past resolves, past deeds, past heroes, to rally to enthusiasm those sentiments of esprit de corps, of family pride and honour, of personal devotion, patriotism, or religion, upon which, as well as upon good leadership, discipline, and numerical force, success in warfare depends. Among the remains of that people which has left the earliest traces of civilization, the records of the forms of objects used as ensigns are frequently to be found. From their carvings and paintings, supplemented by ancient writers, it appears that the several companies of the Egyptian army had their own particular standards. These were formed of such objects as there is reason to believe were associated in the minds of the men with feelings of awe and devotion. Sacred animals, boats, emblems, or figures, a tablet bearing a king's name, fan and feathershaped symbols, were raised on the end of a staff as standards, and the office of bearing them was looked upon as one of peculiar privilege and honour (fig. 1). Some Fra. 1.-Egyptian Standards, what similar seem to have been the customs of the Assyrians and Jews. Among the sculptures unearthed by Layard and others at Nineveh, only two different designs have been noticed for standards; one is of a figure drawing a bow and standing on a running bull, the other of two bulls running in opposite directions (fig. 2). These, says Layard, Mr Birch supposes may resemble the emblems of war and peace which were attached to the yoke of Darius's chariot, They are borne upon and attached to chariots, which method of bearing these objects was the custom also of the Persians, and prevailed during the Middle Ages. No representations of Egyptian or Assyrian I naval standards have been found, but the sails of ships were embroidered and ornamented with devices, which was also a custom during the Middle Ages. In both Egyptian and Assyrian examples, the staff bearing the emblem is frequently ornamented immediately below with flag-like streamers. Rabbinical writers have assigned the different devices of the different Jewish tribes, but the authenticity ii. 2). "Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?" (Cant. vi. 10). See also Num. ii. 10, x 14; Ps. xx. 5, lx. 4; Cant. ii. 4; Is. v. 26, x. 18, lix. 19; Jer. iv. 21. The Persians bore an eagle fixed to the end of a lance, and also represented the sun, as their divinity, upon their standards, which appear to have been formed of some kind of textile, and were guarded with the greatest jealousy by the bravest men of the army. The Carian soldier who slew Cyrus, the brother of Artaxerxes, was allowed the honour of carrying a golden cock at the head of the army, it being the custom of the Carians to wear that bird as a crest on their helmets. The North American Indians carried poles fledged with feathers from the wings of eagles, and similar customs seem to have prevailed among other semi-savage peoples. The Greeks bore a piece of armour on a spear in early times; afterwards the several cities bore sacred emblems or letters chosen for their particular associations,-the Athenians the olive and the owl, the Corinthians a pegasus, the Thebans a sphinx, in memory of Edipus, the Messenians their initial M, and the Lacedæmonians A. A purple dress was placed on the end of a spear as the signal to advance. The Dacians carried a standard representing a contorted serpent, while the dragon was the military sign of many peoples,-of the Chinese, Dacians, and Parthians among others, and was probably first used by the Romans as the ensign of barbarian auxiliaries (see fig. 3). The question of the signa militaria of the Romans is a wide and very important one, having direct bearing on the history of heraldry, and on the origin of national, family, and personal devices. With them the custom was reduced to system. "Each century, or at least each maniple," says Meyrick, "had its proper standard and standard-bearers." In the early days of the republic a handful of hay was borne on a pole, whence probably came the name manipulus. The forms of standards in later times were very various; sometimes a cross piece of wood was placed at the end of a spear and surmounted by the |