LEGEND
329
LEGION
On the origin of these legends there is a great diver- sity of opinion among the learned. Some trace it to the northern Skalds, who, accompanying the army of Kollo in his warlike migrations southward, carried with them the lays of their own mythology, but replaced their pa- gan heroes by Christian kings and warriors. Salmasius adopted the theory, which was indorsed by Warton, that the germs of romantic fiction originated with the Sara- cens and Arabians, and ascribes its introduction into Eu- rope to the effects of the Crusades, or, according to War- ton himself, to the Arab conquests in Spain ; that from thence they passed into France, and took deepest root in Brittany. Others, again, have seen in the tales of chiv- alry only a new development of the classic legends of Greece and Italy. As Christianity unquestionably bor- rowed and modified to its own use many of the outward ceremonies of paganism, so they held that the Christian iroureiir only adopted and transmuted the heroes of classical poetry. The researches of count Villemarque and lady Charlotte Schreiber, however, to which the at- tention of the learned world had been directed before by Leyden, Douce, and Sharon Turner, conclusively prove that the true theory as to their origin is that they are Cymric or Armorican, or both. The wealth of the old Cymric literature in this particular respect was never even suspected until lady Charlotte Schreiber, with the aid of an eminent Welsh scholar, the Kev. Thomas Price, brought to light in their original form, accompanied by an English version, the collection of early Cymric tales known as the Mabinorjion. M. de la Villemarque, for his own side of the Channel, not only confirms the evidence of lady Schreiber, but brings forward additional items of proof, from fragments of Breton songs and poems, that the roots of their renowned fiction lie deep in their lit- erature also. Their very form — the eight - syllabled rhyme, in which the French metrical version is written — he claims, and apparently with justice, as Cymric. See Chambers, Cyclop, s. v. ; C'ljvlop. Brit. s. v. ; Herzog, Reul-Kncijl: viii, 274 sq. ; Vogel, lersMc/i. einer Gesch. v. Wuriliguiirj der Ler/enden, in lllgeu's Hist, theol. Ahhandl. (Lpz. lS"24),p. 141 sq.; Mrs. Jameson, Lf^ew/s oftheMo- ncistic Orders, and her Legends of the Madonna. See Myth. (E. de P.)
Legend, Golden. A renowned collection of le- gends written in the loth century by Jacob de Voragine (q. v.). See Legend.
Leger, Antoine (1), a French Protestant divine, was burn in Savoy in 1594. He was professor of theol- ogy and Oriental languages at Geneva from llJ45 until his death in 1G61. He edited the Greek text of the New Testament (1G38).
Leger, Antoine (2), son of the preceding, was born at Geneva in 1652. He also became a Protestant minister, and afterwards filled the chair of philosophy for twenty-four years at Geneva with eminent success.
He died in 1719. He published several scientific trea- tises and many sermons.
Leger, Jean, a French Protestant minister, was born in Savoy in 1615. He was pastor of a Church of the Waldenses, but fortunately escaped from the mas- sacre of 1655. He afterwards went to France, and so- licited the intervention of the court for his countrj'men. In 1G63 he went to Holland, and became pastor of a '\\'aUoon Church in Leyden. He died in 1670. Leger wrote a I/istoii/ of the Churches of the Vcdleys of Pied- mont (1669 ). See Wai.dexses. Legerdemain. See Magic. Le'gion (\tytm', GrKcizcd from the Latin legio'), a main division of the Koraan army, correspondmg nearly to the modern rec/iment. It always comprised a large body of men, but the number varied so much at differ- ent times that there is considerable discrepancy in the statements with reference to it. The legion appears to have originally contained about 3000 men, and to have risen gradually to twice that number, or even more. In and about the time of Christ it seems to have consisted of 6000 men, and this was exclusive of horsemen, who usually formed ao additional body amountuig to one tenth of the infantry. As all the divisions of the Ro- man army are noticed in Scripture, we may add that each legion was divided into ten cohorts or regiments, each cohort into three maniples or bands, and each man- iple into two centuries or companies of 100 each. This smaller division into centuries or hundreds, from the form in which it is exhibited as a constituent of the larger divisions, clearly shows that GOOO had become at least the formal number of a legion. See Smith's Diet, of Class. A nt. s. v. Army, Roman.
The word legion came to be used to express a great number or multitude (e. g. of angels, Matt, xxvi, 53). Thus the unclean spirit (Mark v, 9; compare 15), when asked his name, answers, " jMy name is Legion, for we are many." Many illustrations of tlys use of the word might be cited from the Rabbinical writers, who even apply it ("i'l"?^ or "i'^sb) to inanimate objects, as when they speak of ''a legion of olives," etc. (see Lightfoot, Nor. Ifebr. et rtz/w. ; Buxtorf, Lex. Tulm. s. v.).— Kitto. See Ai4MV.
Legion, Theban, according to Eucherlus, was a legion of 6600 men (the usual number) which had come from the East to render assistance to Maximian. The latter having issued orders to his whole army to perse- cute the Christians, this legion alone refused to obey. The emperor was in the neighborhood, at Octodurum (Martinach, at the foot of Mount St. Bernard) ; irri- tated when he heard of the refusal of the Theban le- gion, he had it decimated twice, and finally, as he fail- ed to secure its members to join in persecuting their Christian brethren, he ordered their extermmation by