Lapide. See Steen,
Lapithae {Xa-Ki^ai), in mythical geography, a peo- ple of Thessaly, chiefly known to us from their fabled contests with the Centaurs. The battle between the Centaurs and the Lapithie has been minutely described by Hcsiod and Ovid. — Brande and Cox, ii, 317.
Laphria (Aa^p/n), a surname of Artemis or Diana among the Calydonians, from which tlie worship of the goddess was introduced at Naupactus and Patrre, in Achaia. At the latter place it was not established till the time of Augustus, but it became the occasion of a great annual festival (Pausanias, iv, 31, § 6 ; vii, 18, § 6, etc. ; Schol. ad Eurip. Orest. 1087). The name Laphria was traced back to a hero, Laplirius, son of Castalius, who was said to have instituted her worship at Calydon. Laphria was also a surname of Athene or IMinerva (Ly- cophron, 356).— Smith, Diet, of Greeh and Roman Bi- oyraphy and Mythohxjy, vol. ii, s. v.
Lapides Judaici {Jewish Stones). In the chalky beds which surround in some parts the summit of Mount Carmcl are found numerous hollow stones, lined in the inside with a variety of sparry matter, which, from some distant resemblance, are supposed by the natives to be petrified olives, melons, peaches, and other fruit. These are considered not only as curiosities, Ijut as antidotes against several diseases. Those Avhich bear some re- V.-Q
semblance to the olive have been designated Lapides Judaici, otherwise " Elijah's Melons," and are supersti- tiously regarded as an infallible remedy for stone and gravel when dissolved in the juice of lemons. Those supposed petrified fruits are, however, as Dr. Shaw states, only so many different-sized flint-stones, beautified with- in by sparry and stalagmitical knobs, which are fanci- fully taken for seeds and kernels. See Caksiel.
Lap'idoth (Hebrew Laj^jndoth', r:*,~l'^^b, torches; Sept. Aa0(t')ai3), the husband of Deborah the prophetess (Judg. iv, 4). lie may have resided with her at the time of her public services as female judge (ver. 5), or more probably he was deceased, and she is named as his widow. B.C. ante 1409. Prom the fact that the name is in the form of a fem. plur., some have talcen it to mean her place of residence (r'lIJN, woman of, being under- stood before it), but without probabUity (Bertheau, ad loc). By others the term lappidoth has been under- stood to denote merely her character (q. d. " woman of splendors," i. e. noble, brilliant), or even her occupation merely (q. d. lump-trimmer) ; but all these are equally nugatory suppositions. See Deborah.
La Pilonniere, Francois de, an eminent French writer, was born in the second half of the 17th century. After remaining for some time a member of the Order of the Jesuits, he was converted to Protestantism, and on this account was obliged to flee the country. He took refuge first in Holland, then in England, where he was w-elcomed by bishop Hoadly. The precise time of his death is not ascertained. He wrote VAtheisme de- couvertpar le P. IIardouin,Jesuite, dans les ecrits de tons les Peres de VErjlise et des philosophes modeimes (1715, 8vo ; and in St. Hyacinthe, Memoires Litteraires, 1716) : — UAbus des Confessions de Foi (1716, 8vo): — An An- swer to the R. D. Snape's A ccusation, containing an ac- count of his behavior and suffeiing amongst the Jesuits (Lond. 1717, 8vo ; transl. into Latin in 1718) : it is a sort of autobiography: — Defense des Principes de la Tole- rance (London, 1718, 8 vo) : — Further Account of himself (Lond. 1729, 8 vo). He translated also into French Pope's Essay on Criticism (1717) ; Plato's Republic (1725, 8vo) ; Burnet's Bistoire des dernieres Revolutions d'Angleterre (La Haye, 1725, 2 vols. 4to; London, 3 vols. 12mo; latest edit. La Haye, 1735) ; antl some works of bishop Bau- ger and of Steele. See Adelung, Suppl. z. Jocher ; H aag, La France Protestante ; Iloefer, Kouv. Biog. Generale, xxix, 527, (J. N. P.)
Lapis (the stoi2e'), a surname of Jupiter at Rome, as is evident from the expression "Jovem Lapidem" (Cice- ro, ad Fam. vii, 12 ; Gellius, i, 21 ; Polybius, iii, 26). It was formerly believed that Jupiter Lapis was a stone statue of the god, or originally a rude stone serving as a symbol, around which people assembled for the pur- pose of worshipping Jupiter. But it is now generally acknowledged that the pebble or flint-stone was regard- edTis a symbol of lightning, and that therefore, in some representations of Jupiter, he held a stone in his hand instead of the thunderbolt (Arnobius, adv. Gent, iv, 25). Such a stone (" lapis Capitolinus," August. De Civ. Dei, ii, 29) was even set up as a symbolic representation of the god himself (Scrv.rtfi.fi'n.viii, 641). When a treaty was to be concluded, the sacred symbols of Jupiter were taken from his temple, viz. his sceptre, the pebble and grass from the district of the temple, for the purpose of swearing by them ("per Jovem Lapidem jurare," Livy, i, 24; XXX, 43). A pebble or flint-stone was also used by the Romans in killing the animal when an oath was to be accompanied by a sacrifice, and this custom was probably a remnant of very early times, when metal in- struments were not yet used for such purposes. — Smith, Diet. Greek and Rom. Biog. ami Mythol. s. v.