Oceanides and Oceanitldes, sea nymphs, daughters of Oceanus, from whom they received their name, and of the goddess Tethys, numbered 3000 ac- cording to ApoUodorus, who mentions the names of seven of them : Asia, Styx, Electra, Doris, Eurynome, Amphitrite, and Metis. Hesiod speaks of the eldest of them, and reckons forty-one: Pitho, Admete, Pr3-nno, lanthe, Rhodia, Hippo, Callirrhoe, Urania, Clymene, Id- yia, Pasithoe, Clythia, Zeuxo, Galuxaure, Plexaure, Per- seis, Pluto, Thoe, Polydora, Melobosis, Dione, Cerceis, Xantha, Acasta, lanira, Telestho, Europa, Menestho, Pe- trea, Eudora, Calypso, Tyche, Ocyroe, Crisia, Amjdiiro, with those mentioned by Apollodorus,exceptAmphitrite. Hyginus mentions sixteen, whose names are almost all different from those of ApoUodorus and Hesiod, which difference proceeds from the mutilation of the original text. The Oceanides, as the rest of the inferior deities, were honored with libations and sacrifices. I'rayers were offered to them, and they were entreated to jiro- tect sailors from storms and dangerous tempests. The Argonauts, before they proceeded on their expedition, made an offering of flour, honey, and oil on the sea- shore to all the deities of the sea, and sacrificed bulls to them, and entreated their protection. When the sacri- fice was made on the sea-shore the blood of tlie victim was received in a vessel, but when it was in the open sea the blood was permitted to run down into the wa- ter. When the sea was calm, the sailors generally of- fered a lamb or a young pig, but if it was agitated by the winds and rough, a black bull was deemed the most acceptable victim (Homer, Od. iii ; Horat. Apollon.; Virg. Geonj. iv, 341; Hesiod, Tkeog. 349; Apollod. i). See Anthon, Class. Diet. s. v. ; VoUmer, Mythol. Worleib. s. V. See Nyjirn.
Oceanus, in ancient mythology, was the powerful divinity of the sea (^hence the name Ocean), which was believed to encircle the earth. According to Hesiod he was the son of LTranus and Gae (heaven and earth). He was married to Tethys, by whom he begot the principal rivers, such as the Alpheus, Peneiis, Strymon, etc., with a munber of daughters who are called from him Oceanides (q. v.). According to Homer, Oceanus was the father of all the gods, and on that account he received frcfjuent visits from the rest of the deities. He is generally represented as an old man with a long flow- ing beard, an<l sitting upon the waves of the sea. He often holds a pike in his hand, while ships under sail appear at a distance, or a sea-monster stands near him. Oceanus presided over every part of the sea. and even the rivers were subjected to his power. The ancients were superstitious in their worship of Oceanus, and re- vered with great solemnity a deity to whose care they intrusted themselves when going on any voyage (He-
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291
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s\oi\, Theoff. ; Ovid, Fas^ v, 81, etc. ; Apollod. i; Cicero, Ue Xaf. 1). iii, 20; Homer, //.). See VoUmcr, Mythol. WOrterh. s. v. ; Smith, Diet, of Greek mid Roman Biog. and Mythol. s. v.
Oceda, Sahuel nEN-IsR.\Ei-, a Jewish savant of note, tloLirished towards the end of tlie 16th centiirj-, and was a pupil of the famous Cabalists Isaac Loria (q. V.) and Chazim Vital. He was a darshan or preach- er at Sal'ed, in Upper Galilee, and wrote a very ex- tensive commentary on the treatise Ahoth, entitled bx^^C D1T3, with special reference to the commen- taries of Gerundi, Abulalia, jMaimonides, Abarbanel, Ber- tinore, Almosino, and others (Venice, 151i», and often) : — a commentary on Lamentations, entitled fl^'^'7 CH5, " the Bread of Sorrow," the Hebrew text and Rashi's commentary (Venice, IGOO, and often) :— a commentary on Ruth, entitled ^Xn':3 ^■;lS^t, " the Letter of Samuel" (Constantinople, 1597, and often; last edition, Zolkiew, 1801). See Fiirst, Bihl. .hid. iii, 44; Wolf, Bihl. llebr. i, 1085; iii, 1070 sq. ; IL Adams, tlistory of the Jews (Boston, 1812), ii, 15; Rossi, Dizionario storico der/li autori Ebrei, p. 254. (B. P.)
Ocellus LUCANU.S (JOKtWog [also "OkeKoQj'QkiK- Xot-, OiKtWoc, OvKiWoQ, "H/cfAof, "EiCK-fXoc, etc.] AtvKai'i'te), a Greek philosopher, was born in Lucania, whence his surname, and, as appears from his works, belonged to the Pythagorean school of philosophers. He flourished probably some five hundred years pre- vious to the Christian sera. Philo, who lived in the 1st century, is the tirst writer who mentions him ; for the letter of Archytas to Plato, and the latter's answer, quoted by Diogenes Laertius, cannot be considered genuine. According to Laertius's statement, Archytas wrote that at Plato's request he had been to Lucania, had found out the descendants of Ocellus, and obtained from them the treatises Ylipi j'ojUou, Tltpi jSayiXiiag, Hfpi utrioTtjTog, Ilipi Trjg tov iravTOQ yii'iijiiog, which he sent to Plato ; and that he had been unable to pro- cure any others, but would send as soon as he had dis- covered them. Plato thanked Archytas for liis invoice, declaring that he had read the works of Ocellus with great pleasure, and that he considered him a worthy descendant of those Trojans who emigrated with Laom- edon. These apocryphal documents only show that in the time of Diogenes Laertius, or of the author of the two spurious letters, there were four treatises attributed to Ocellus Lucanus, the Pythagorean philosopher, and that it was supposed he wrote others which were lost. Among the above-mentioned works there exists at present but the last, which is quite short. It is divided into four chapters. The first treats of the universe in general, to ttuv, or o Koapoc; the second, of the com- position of the universe; the third, of the origin of man; the fourth, of his duties, especially in the married state. Ocellus maintains that the universe has iiad no begin- ning, and can have no end ; that a part of it is eternal and immutable — that is, the heavens, or the whole of the celestial bodies; and another part variable in its form, but immutable in its elements. He maintains also, in accordance with this cosmic theory, that mankind has always existed, and that man, mortal as an individual, is eternal as a species. This immortality of the spe- cies, combined with the mortality of the individuals, leads, with individuals, to the necessity of reproduction. Hence the object of sexual intercourse is not pleasure, but the procreation of children and the perpetuity of the human race. Thus in marriage decency and mod- eration must be observed: fortune and birth are not the only consideration ; but suitability of ages, tastes, mind, etc., must be sought, in order that the union maj' pro- duce healthy children and a happy family ; for the fam- ilies constitute the state, and the welfare of the one in- cludes that of the other. This little treatise of Ocellus, though of no scientific value, is ingeniously conceived, and written with trrcat clearness.