Lyons, James Gilbourne, D.D., LL.D., an epis- copal clergyman and educator, a native of England, em- igrated to America in 1844, and began his clerical labors at St. Mary's Church, Burlington, N. J. In 1846 he re- moved to Philadelphia, and established himself as a teacher of the classics. His educational success secured him the position of principal of Haverford Classical School, which he held until his death, Feb. 3, 1868.
Lyra (also Lyrcmus), Nicholas i>e, so called from LjTe, in Normandy, the place of his nativity, was bom about 1270. He entered the Order of the Franciscans at Verneuil in 1291, and completed his studies in Paris. Here he studied successfully, was admitted to the de- gree of doctor, and became a distinguished lecturer on the Bible. Besides his studies at the university, he pri- vately devoted himself to the acquisition of a thorough knowledge of Hebrew, and his association Avith converts of Jewish faith at this time has probably given rise to the opinion, even now held by some, that Nicholas de Lyra was born of Jewish parents, and was himself a convert to Christianity. His own writings, however, flatlj^ contradict tliis report, as has been shown by "Wolf [Bibliothecu, i and iii, s. v.) ; and Nicholas himself tells us, in one of his works (the polemical treatise), that he had but little association with Jews, and depended main- ly upon the experience of other Christians for his delin- eation of Jewish character and customs (compare Gratz, Gesch. d. Juden, vii, 513). His great learning, refined taste, and. eminent worth, raised him to the jmncipal offices of his order, and secured him the friendship of the most illustrious persons of his age. He died at Paris October 23, 1340. It is especially as a writer that Lyra is justly celebrated, and, as has been frequently as- serted, he became, by his thorough expositions of the Scriptures, one of the greatest aids of the reformers of the 16th centurj-. whence the couplet on Luther's exegetical labors by the enemies of the great German reformer : " Si Lyra non lyrasset Luthcrus non saltasset." Nicholas de Lyra's chef d'ccuvre is his Postillce perpetuce in xtniversa Biblia (Rome, 1471-72,5 vols, fol.; best edit. Antw. 1634, 6 vols, fol.), which brought him the title of " doctor planus et utUis" — or, better, which immortalized the name of Lyra. The great merit of this commentary consists in the embodiment of the sober-spirited and in- genious explanations of Rashi, whose mode of interpre- tation Lyra regarded as his model, as he frankly states, "Similiter intendo non solum dicta doctorum Catholi- corum, sed ctiam Hebneorum maxirae rabbi Salomouis, qui inter doctores Hebroeos locutus est rationalibus, ad declarationem sensus literalis inducere." De Lyra even adopts the well-known Jewish four modes of inteqircta- tion denominated fiTIS^TlD, mystical; ClTI, alle- gorical ; 1-1, spiritual ; li'il'S, literal, which he thus ex- presses in verses in the same prologue (i. e. the first), from which the former quotation is made.
" Litem gesta docet, quid credas allegoria, Moralis quid agas, quo tendas auagogia." He gives, however, the preference to the literal sense.
LYRE
589
LYSANIAS
"All of them, says he, in the second prologue, "pre- suppose the literal sense as the foundation. As a build- ing declining from the foundation is likely to fall, so the mystic exposition which deviates from the literal sense must be reckoned unbecoming and unsuitable." Even in the interpretation of the X. T., where Eashi failed him, acquaintance with the Eabbinical writings and Jewish antiquities enabled him to illustrate largely by allusion to the maimers and customs of the Hebrews. He also wrote a treatise in defence of Christianity, and against J udaism, entitled Tractatus fratris Nicolai de Lyra de Messia cjiisque advenfu, taia cum responsione ad Judceo- rum ar(jumenta quatuordecim contra verttatem Eeanr/e- liorum, which he finished in 1309. It is generally ap- pended to his commentary, and is also given in the po- lemical work entitled the JfebrceomasHx of Hieronymus de Sancta-fide (Frankf. 1G02, p. 148 sq.). For the differ- ent editions of De Lyra's works and translations into French and German, see Griisse, Tresor des Livres i-ai-es et precieux, s. v. ; see also Davidson, Sacred Hermeneu- tics (ed. 1843), p. 175 sq. ; Dr. Adam Clarke, Sacred Lit. s. V. ; Kitto, Cyclop. Bill. Lit. ii, s. v.
Lyre. See Harp.
Lysa'nias {Xvaaviac, a common Greek name) is mentioned by Luke, in chap, iii, 1, as tetrarch of Abilene, on the eastern slope of the anti-Lebanon, near Damas- cus, at the time when .John the Baptist began his min- istry, A.D. 25. See Abila. It happens, however, that Josephus speaks of a prince named Lysanias who ruled over a territory in the neighborhood of Lebanon in the time of Antony and Cleopatra, and that he also mentions Abilene as associated with the name of a tetrarch Ly- sanias, while recounting events of the reigns of Calig- ula and Claudius. These circumstances have given to Strauss and others an opportunity for accusing the evan- gelist of confusion and error, but we shall see that this accusation rests on a groundless assumption.
(o.) What Josephus says of the L3-sanias who was contemporary with Antony and Cleopatra (i. e. who lived sixty years before the time referred to by Luke) is, that he succeeded his father Ptolemy, the son of Memiseus, in the government of Chalcis, under JMt, Lebanon ( War, i, 1.'}, 1; Ant. xiv, 7,4), and that he was put to death at tlie instance of Cleopatra (^Ant. xv, 4,1), who seems to have received a good part of his territory. It is to be observed that Abila is not specified here at all, and that Lysanias is not called tetrarch.