(5.) Not less influential was its moral and educa- tional power. Isocrates speaks of the care which it took of good manners and good order (t)]q tvKoaplae, evraZiao). Quintilian relates that the Areopagus condemned a boy for plucking out the eyes of a quail ■ — a sentence which has been both misunderstood and misrepresented {Penny Cyclop, s. v.), but which its original narrator approved, assigning no insufficient reason, namely, that the act was the sign of a cruel disposition, likely in advanced life to lead to baneful actions (Quint, v, 9). The court exercised a salutary influence in general over the Athenian youth, their educators and their education.
(G.) Its financial position is not well understood; most probably it varied more than any other part of its administration with the changes which the consti- tution of the city underwent. It may suffice to men- tion, on the authority of Plutarch (Themis, c, 10), that in the Persian war the Areopagus had the merit of completing the number of men required for the fleet by paying eight drachma; to each. — Kitto, s. v.
In the following works corroboration of the facts stated in this article, and further details, with discus- sions on doubtful points, may be found : Sigonius, Be Rep. Ath. iii, 2, p. 1568; De Canaye, Pecherches sur VAreopage, p. 273-316; Mem. de PA cad. des Inscr. x; Schwab, Num quod Areop. inplebiscita aut confirmanda aut rejicienda jus exercuerit legitimum (Stutt. 1818) ; the treatises, De Areopago, of Hauer (Ilafn. 1708), Meursius (Lugd. B. 1624, and in Gronov. Thes. v, 207), Schedius (Viteb. 1677, and in Iken. Thes. ii, 674 sq.), and Bockh (Barl. 1826); Forbiser, Handb. d. alt. Geogr. iii ; Meier, Von der Blutgeriehtsbarkeit des A reo- pag.; Matthia, De Jud. Ath. in Misc. Philol. ; Krebs, De Ephetis ; Potter, Gr. Antiq. bk. i, ch. xix ; Smith's Diet, of Class. Ant. s. v. Areiopagus ; Grote's Hist, of Greece (Am. ed.), iii, 73, 79, 122 ; iv, 141 ; v., 352-366. See Mars' Hill.
Areopolis. See Ar ; Aroer.
A'res ('Apfc), one of those whose " sons" (to the number of 656) are said (1 Esdr. v, 10) to have returned from Babylon ; evidently the Arah (q. v.) of the genuine texts (Ezra ii, 5 ; Neh. vii, 10).
Ar'etas ('Aperac; Arab, charresh, Pococke, Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 58, or, in another form, chaurish = D"|Hn, graver, Pococke, i, 70, 76, 77, 89), the common name of several Arabian kings (see Diod. Sic. xiv, 70; comp. Wesseling ; Michaelis, in Pctt's Syllog. iii, 62 sq.).
1. The first of whom we have any notice was a contemporary of the. Jewish high-priest Jason and of Antiochus Epiphanes, about B.C. 170 (2 Maec. v, 8): " In the end, therefore, he (Jason) had an unhappy re- turn, being accused before Aretas, the king of the Ara- bians."
2. Josephus (Ant. xiii, 13, 3) mentions an Aretas, king of the Arabians (surnamed Obedas, 'Gfiic'ac., Ant. xiii, 13, 5), contemporary with Alexander Jannams (died B.C. 79) and his sons. After defeating Antio- chus Dionysus, he reigned over Coele-Syria, " being called to the government by those that held Damas- cus (icXiiOeic. elg rijv apxfjv i'ltb rw rt)i' Aapamcbv iX<>vrwv) by reason of the hatred they bore to Ptole- my Mennams" (Ant. xiii, 15, 2). He took part with Hyrcanus, who had taken refuge with him (War, i, 6, 2), in his contest (Ant. xiv, 1, 4) for the sovereign- ty with his brother Aristobulus (q. v.), and laid siege to Jerusalem (B.C. 65), but, on the approach of the Eo-
Bn
man general Scaurus, he retreated to Philadelphia (War, i, 6, 3). Hyrcanus and Aretas were pursued and defeated by Aristobulus at a place called Papyron, and lost above 6000 men (Ant. xiv, 2, 3). After Pom- pey had reduced Syria to a Roman province, Aretas submitted to him again, B.C. 64 (see Dion Cass. xxxvii, 15 ; Appian, Mithr. 166 ; Plut. Pomp. 39, 41). Three or four years after, Scaurus, to whom Pompey had committed the government of Ccele-Syria, invaded Petraja, but, finding it difficult to obtain provisions for his army, he consented to withdraw on the offer of 300 talents from Aretas (Josephus, Ant. xiv, 5, 1; War, i, 8, 1). This expedition is commemorated on a coin. See Scaurus. The successors of Scaurus in Syria also prosecuted the war with the Arabs (Appian, Syr. 50) — Kitto, s. v.
Probable Coin of Aretas II, with the (Greek) Inscription, "Of King Aretas Philellenos" [Lover of the Greeks] — an epithet perhaps, assumed by him on acquiring his dominion.
3. Aretas, whose name was originally ./Eneas (Ai- vilac), succeeded Obodas (Josephus, Ant. xvi. 9, 4). He was the father-in-law of Herod Antipas. The lat- ter made proposals of marriage to the wife of his half- brother Herod-Philip, Herodias, the daughter of Aris- tobulus, their brother, and the sister of Agrippa the Great. (On the apparent discrepancy between the Evangelists and Josephus, in reference to the name of the husband of Herodias, see Lardner's Credibility, etc., ii, 5 ; Works, 1835, i, 408-416.) In consequence of this the daughter of Aretas returned to her father, and a war (which had been fomented by previous dis- putes about the limits of their respective countries, see Joseph. Ant. xvii, 10, 9) ensued between Aretas and Herod. The army of the latter was totally de- stroyed ; and on his sending an account of his disaster to Rome the emperor immediately ordered Vitellius to bring Aretas prisoner alive, or, if dead, to send his head (Joseph. Ant. xviii, 5, 1). But while Yitellius was on his march to Petra, news arrived of the death of Tiberius (A.D. 37), upon which, after administer- ing the oath of allegiance to his troops, he dismissed them to winter-quarters and returned to Rome (Jo- seph. Ant. xviii, 5, 3). The Aretas into whose do- minions /Elius Gellius came in the time of Augustus (Strabo, xvi, 781) is probably the same. There is