Part 27

Gervinus's autobiography (_G. G. Gervinus' Leben, von ihm selbst_) was published by his widow in 1893. It does not, however, go beyond the year 1836. See E. Lehmann, _Gervinus, Versuch einer Charakteristik_ (1871); R. Gosche, _Gervinus_ (1871); J. Dorfel, _Gervinus als historischer Denker_ (1904).

GERYON (GERYONES, GERYONEUS), in Greek mythology, the son of Chrysaor and Callirrhoe, daughter of Oceanus, and king of the Island of Erytheia. He is represented as a monster with three heads or three bodies (_triformis_, _trigeminus_), sometimes with wings, and as the owner of herds of red cattle, which were tended by the giant shepherd Eurytion and the two-headed dog Orthrus. To carry off these cattle to Greece was one of the twelve "labours" imposed by Eurystheus upon Heracles. In order to get possession of them, Heracles travelled through Europe and Libya, set up the two pillars in the Straits of Gibraltar to show the extent of his journey, and reached the great river Oceanus. Having crossed Oceanus and landed on the island, Heracles slew Orthrus together with Eurytion, who in vain strove to defend him, and drove off the cattle. Geryon started in pursuit, but fell a victim to the arrows of Heracles, who, after various adventures, succeeded in getting the cattle safe to Greece, where they were offered in sacrifice to Hera by Eurystheus. The geographical position of Erytheia is unknown, but all ancient authorities agree that it was in the far west. The name itself (= red) and the colour of the cattle suggest the fiery aspect of the disk of the setting sun; further, Heracles crosses Oceanus in the golden cup or boat of the sun-god Helios. Geryon (from [Greek: geryo], the howler or roarer) is supposed to personify the storm, his father Chrysaor the lightning, his mother Callirrhoe the rain. The cattle are the rain-clouds, and the slaying of their keepers typifies the victory of the sun over the clouds, or of spring over winter. The euhemeristic explanation of the struggle with the triple monster was that Heracles fought three brothers in succession.

See Apollodorus ii. 5. 10; Hesiod, _Theogony_, 287; Diod. Sic. iv. 17; Herodotus iv. 8; F. Wieseler in Ersch and Gruber, _Allgemeine Encyclopadie_; F. A. Voigt in Roscher's _Lexikon der Mythologie_; L. Preller, _Griechische Mythologie_; article "Hercules" in Daremberg and Saglio, _Dictionnaire des antiquites_.

GESENIUS, HEINRICH FRIEDRICH WILHELM (1786-1842), German orientalist and biblical critic, was born at Nordhausen, Hanover, on the 3rd of February 1786. In 1803 he became a student of philosophy and theology at the university of Helmstadt, where Heinrich Henke (1752-1809) was his most influential teacher; but the latter part of his university course was taken at Gottingen, where J. G. Eichhorn and T. C. Tychsen (1758-1834) were then at the height of their popularity. In 1806, shortly after graduation, he became _Repetent_ and _Privatdozent_ in that university; and, as he was fond of afterwards relating, had Neander for his first pupil in Hebrew. In 1810 he became professor extraordinarius in theology, and in 1811 ordinarius, at the university of Halle, where, in spite of many offers of high preferment elsewhere, he spent the rest of his life. He taught with great regularity for upward of thirty years, the only interruptions being that of 1813-1814 (occasioned by the War of Liberation, during which the university was closed) and those occasioned by two prolonged literary tours, first in 1820 to Paris, London and Oxford with his colleague Johann Karl Thilo (1794-1853) for the examination of rare oriental manuscripts, and in 1835 to England and Holland in connexion with his Phoenician studies. He soon became the most popular teacher of Hebrew and of Old Testament introduction and exegesis in Germany; during his later years his lectures were attended by nearly five hundred students. Among his pupils the most eminent were Peter von Bohlen (1796-1840), A. G. Hoffmann (1769-1864), Hermann Hupfeld, Emil Rodiger (1801-1874), J. F. Tuch (1806-1867), W. Vatke (1806-1882) and Theodor Benfey (1809-1881). In 1827, after declining an invitation to take Eichhorn's place at Gottingen, Gesenius was made a _Consistorialrath_; but, apart from the violent attacks to which he, along with his friend and colleague Julius Wegscheider, was in 1830 subjected by E. W. Hengstenberg and his party in the _Evangelische Kirchenzeitung_, on account of his rationalism, his life was uneventful. He died at Halle on the 23rd of October 1842. To Gesenius belongs in a large measure the credit of having freed Semitic philology from the trammels of theological and religious prepossession, and of inaugurating the strictly scientific (and comparative) method which has since been so fruitful. As an exegete he exercised a powerful, and on the whole a beneficial, influence on theological investigation.

Of his many works, the earliest, published in 1810, entitled _Versuch uber die maltesische Sprache_, was a successful refutation of the widely current opinion that the modern Maltese was of Punic origin. In the same year appeared the first volume of the _Hebraisches u. Chaldaisches Handworterbuch_, completed in 1812. Revised editions of this appear periodically in Germany, e.g. that of H. Zimmern and F. Buhl (1905). The publication of a new English edition was started in 1892 under the editorship of Professors C. A. Briggs, S. R. Driver and F. Brown. _The Hebraische Grammatik_, published in 1813 (27th edition by E. Kautzsch; English translation from 25th and 26th German editions by G. W. Collins and A. E. Cowley, 1898), was followed in 1815 by the _Geschichte der hebraischen Sprache_ (now very rare), and in 1817 by the _Ausfuhrliches Lehrgebaude der hebraischen Sprache_. The first volume of his well-known commentary on Isaiah (_Der Prophet Jesaja_), with a translation, appeared in 1821; but the work was not completed until 1829. The _Thesaurus philologico-criticus linguae Hebraicae et Chaldaicae V. T._, begun in 1829, he did not live to complete; the latter part of the third volume is edited by E. Rodiger (1858). Other works: _De Pentateuchi Samaritani origine, indole, et auctoritate_ (1815), supplemented in 1822 and 1824 by the treatise _De Samaritanorum theologia_, and by an edition of _Carmina Samaritana_; _Palaographische Studien uber phonizische u. punische Schrift_ (1835), a pioneering work which he followed up in 1837 by his collection of Phoenician monuments (_Scripturae linguaeque Phoeniciae monumenta quotquot supersunt_); an Aramaic lexicon (1834-1839); and a treatise on the Himyaritic language written in conjunction with E. Rodiger in 1841. Gesenius also contributed extensively to Ersch and Gruber's _Encyclopadie_, and enriched the German translation of J. L. Burckhardt's _Travels in Syria and the Holy Land_ with valuable geographical notes. For many years he also edited the Halle _Allgemeine Litteraturzeitung_. A sketch of his life was published anonymously in 1843 (_Gesenius: eine Erinnerung fur seine Freunde_), and another by H. _Gesenius, Wilhelm Gesenius, ein Erinnerungsblatt an den hundertjahrigen Geburtstag_, in 1886. See also the article in the _Allgemeine deutsche Biographie_.

GESNER, ABRAHAM (1797-1864), Canadian geologist, was born in Nova Scotia in 1797. He qualified as a doctor of medicine in London in 1827. Returning to the Dominion, he published in 1836 _Remarks on the Geology and Mineralogy of Nova Scotia_, and continuing his researches he was enabled in 1843 to bring before the Geological Society of London "A Geological Map of Nova Scotia, with an accompanying Memoir" (_Proc. Geol. Soc._ iv. 186). In 1849 he issued a volume on the industrial resources of the country. He dealt also with the geology and mineralogy of New Brunswick and Prince Edward's Island. Devoting himself to the economic side of geology in various parts of North America, he was enabled to bring out in 1861 _A Practical Treatise on Coal, Petroleum and other Distilled Oils_. He died at Halifax, N.S., on the 29th of April 1864.

GESNER, JOHANN MATTHIAS (1691-1761), German classical scholar and schoolmaster, was born at Roth near Ansbach on the 9th of April 1691. He studied at the university of Jena, and in 1714 published a work on the _Philopatris_ ascribed to Lucian. In 1715 he became librarian and conrector (vice-principal) at Weimar, in 1729 rector of the gymnasium at Ansbach, and in 1730 rector of the Thomas school at Leipzig. On the foundation of the university of Gottingen he became professor of rhetoric (1734) and subsequently librarian. He died at Gottingen on the 3rd of August 1761. His special merit lies in the attention he devoted to the explanation and illustration of the subject matter of the classical authors.

His principal works are: editions of the _Scriptores rei rusticae_, of Quintilian, Claudian, Pliny the Younger, Horace and the Orphic poems (published after his death); _Primae lineae isagoges in eruditionem universalem_ (1756); an edition of B. Faber's _Thesaurus eruditionis scholasticae_ (1726), afterwards continued under the title _Novus linguae et eruditionis Romanae thesaurus_ (1749); _Opuscula minora varii argumenti_ (1743-1745); _Thesaurus epistolicus Gesnerianus_ (ed. Klotz, 1768-1770); _Index etymologicus latinitatis_ (1749). See J. A. Ernesti, _Opuscula oratoria_ (1762), p. 305; H. Sauppe, _Gottinger Professoren_ (1872); C. H. Pohnert, _J. M. Gesner und sein Verhaltnis zum Philanthropinismus und Neuhumanismus_ (1898), a contribution to the history of pedagogy in the 18th century; articles by F. A. Eckstein in _Allgemeine deutsche Biographie_ ix.; and Sandys, _Hist. of Class. Schol._ iii. (1908), 5-9.

GESNER [improperly GESSNER; in Latin, GESNERUS], KONRAD VON (1516-1565), German-Swiss writer and naturalist, called "the German Pliny" by Cuvier, was born at Zurich on the 26th of March 1516. The son of a poor furrier, he was educated in that town, but fell into great need after the death of his father at the battle of Kappel (1531). He had good friends, however, in his old master, Myconius, and subsequently in Heinrich Bullinger, and he was enabled to continue his studies at the universities of Strassburg and Bourges (1532-1533); he found also a generous patron in Paris (1534), in the person of Joh. Steiger of Berne. In 1535 the religious troubles drove him back to Zurich, where he made an imprudent marriage. His friends again came to his aid, enabled him to study at Basel (1536), and in 1537 procured for him the professorship of Greek at the newly founded academy of Lausanne (then belonging to Berne). Here he had leisure to devote himself to scientific studies, especially botany. In 1540-1541 he visited the famous medical university of Montpellier, took his degree of doctor of medicine (1541) at Basel, and then settled down to practise at Zurich, where he obtained the post of lecturer in physics at the Carolinum. There, apart from a few journeys to foreign countries, and annual summer botanical journeys in his native land, he passed the remainder of his life. He devoted himself to preparing works on many subjects of different sorts. He died of the plague on the 13th of December 1565. In the previous year he had been ennobled.

To his contemporaries he was best known as a botanist, though his botanical MSS. were not published till long after his death (at Nuremberg, 1751-1771, 2 vols, folio), he himself issuing only the _Enchiridion historiae plantarum_ (1541) and the _Catalogus plantarum_ (1542) in four tongues. In 1545 he published his remarkable _Bibliotheca universalis_ (ed. by J. Simler, 1574), a catalogue (in Latin, Greek and Hebrew) of all writers who had ever lived, with the titles of their works, &c. A second part, under the title of _Pandeclarium sive

## partitionum universalium Conradi Gesneri Ligurini libri xxi._, appeared

in 1548; only nineteen books being then concluded. The 21st book, a theological encyclopaedia, was published in 1549, but the 20th, intended to include his medical work, was never finished. His great zoological work, _Historia animalium_, appeared in 4 vols. (quadrupeds, birds, fishes) folio, 1551-1558, at Zurich, a fifth (snakes) being issued in 1587 (there is a German translation, entitled _Thierbuch_, of the first 4 vols., Zurich, 1563): this work is the starting-point of modern zoology. Not content with such vast works, Gesner put forth in 1555 his book entitled _Mithridates de differentiis linguis_, an account of about 130 known languages, with the Lord's Prayer in 22 tongues, while in 1556 appeared his edition of the works of Aelian. To non-scientific readers, Gesner will be best known for his love of mountains (below the snow-line) and for his many excursions among them, undertaken partly as a botanist, but also for the sake of mere exercise and enjoyment of the beauties of nature. In 1541 he prefixed to a singular little work of his (_Libellus de lacte et operibus lactariis_) a letter addressed to his friend, J. Vogel, of Glarus, as to the wonders to be found among the mountains, declaring his love for them, and his firm resolve to climb at least one mountain every year, not only to collect flowers, but in order to exercise his body. In 1555 Gesner issued his narrative (_Descriptio Montis Fracti sive Montis Pilati_) of his excursion to the Gnepfstein (6299 ft.), the lowest point in the Pilatus chain, and therein explains at length how each of the senses of man is refreshed in the course of a mountain excursion.

Lives by J. Hanhart (Winterthur, 1824) and J. Simler (Zurich, 1566); see also Lebert's _Gesner als Arzt_ (Zurich, 1854). A part of his unpublished writing, edited by Prof. Schmiedel, was published at Nuremberg in 1753.

GESSNER, SOLOMON (1730-1788), Swiss painter and poet, was born at Zurich on the 1st of April 1730. With the exception of some time (1749-1750) spent in Berlin and Hamburg, where he came under the influence of Ramler and Hagedorn, he passed the whole of his life in his native town, where he carried on the business of a bookseller. He died on the 2nd of March 1788. The first of his writings that attracted attention was his _Lied eines Schweizers an sein bewaffnetes Madchen_ (1751). Then followed _Daphnis_ (1754), _Idyllen_ (1756 and 1772), _Inkel and Yariko_ (1756), a version of a story borrowed from the _Spectator_ (No. 11, 13th of March 1711) and already worked out by Gellert and Bodmer, and _Der Tod Abels_ (1758), a sort of idyllic pastoral. It is somewhat difficult for us now to understand the reason of Gessner's universal popularity, unless it was the taste of the period for the conventional pastoral. His writings are marked by sweetness and melody, qualities which were warmly appreciated by Lessing, Herder and Goethe. As a painter Gessner represented the conventional classical landscape.

Collected editions of Gessner's works were repeatedly published (2 vols. 1777-1778, finally 2 vols. 1841, both at Zurich). They were translated into French (3 vols., Paris, 1786-1793), and versions of the _Idyllen_ appeared in English, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish and Bohemian. Gessner's life was written by Hottinger (Zurich, 1796), and by H. Wolfflin (Frauenfeld, 1889); see also his _Briefwechsel mit seinem Sohn_ (Bern and Zurich, 1801).

GESSO, an Italian word (Lat. _gypsum_), for "plaster of Paris" especially when used as a ground for painting, or for modelling or sculpture.

GESTA ROMANORUM, a Latin collection of anecdotes and tales, probably compiled about the end of the 13th century or the beginning of the 14th. It still possesses a twofold literary interest, first as one of the most popular books of the time, and secondly as the source, directly or indirectly, of later literature, in Chaucer, Gower, Shakespeare and others. Of its authorship nothing certain is known; and there is little but gratuitous conjecture to associate it either with the name of Helinandus or with that of Petrus Berchorius (Pierre Bercheure). It is even a matter of debate whether it took its rise in England, Germany or France. The work was evidently intended as a manual for preachers, and was probably written by one who himself belonged to the clerical profession. The name, _Deeds of the Romans_, is only partially appropriate to the collection in its present form, since, besides the titles from Greek and Latin history and legend, it comprises fragments of very various origin, oriental and European. The unifying element of the book is its moral purpose. The style is barbarous, and the narrative ability of the compiler seems to vary with his source; but he has managed to bring together a considerable variety of excellent material. He gives us, for example, the germ of the romance of "Guy of Warwick"; the story of "Darius and his Three Sons," versified by Occleve; part of Chaucer's "Man of Lawes' Tale"; a tale of the emperor Theodosius, the same in its main features as that of Shakespeare's _Lear_; the story of the "Three Black Crows"; the "Hermit and the Angel," well known from Parnell's version, and a story identical with the _Fridolin_ of Schiller. Owing to the loose structure of the book, it was easy for a transcriber to insert any additional story into his own copy, and consequently the MSS. of the _Gesta Romanorum_ exhibit considerable variety. Oesterley recognizes an English group of MSS. (written always in Latin), a German group (sometimes in Latin and sometimes in German), and a group which is represented by the vulgate or common printed text. The earliest editions are supposed to be those of Ketelaer and de Lecompt at Utrecht, of Arnold Ter Hoenen at Cologne, and of Ulrich Zell at Cologne; but the exact date is in all three cases uncertain.

An English translation, probably based directly on the MS. Harl. 5369, was published by Wynkyn de Worde about 1510-1515, the only copy of which now known to exist is preserved in the library of St John's College, Cambridge. In 1577 Richard Robinson published a revised edition of Wynkyn de Worde, and the book proved highly popular. Between 1648 and 1703 at least eight impressions were issued. In 1703 appeared the first vol. of a translation by B. P., probably Bartholomew Pratt, "from the Latin edition of 1514." A translation by the Rev. C. Swan, first published in 2 vols. in 1824, forms part of Bonn's antiquarian library, and was re-edited by Wynnard Hooper in 1877 (see also the latter's edition in 1894). The German translation was first printed at Augsburg, 1489. A French version, under the title of _Le Violier des histoires romaines moralisez_, appeared in the early part of the 16th century, and went through a number of editions; it has been reprinted by G. Brunet (Paris, 1858). Critical editions of the Latin text have been produced by A. Keller (Stuttgart, 1842) and Oesterley (Berlin, 1872). See also Warton, "On the Gesta Romanorum," dissertation iii., prefixed to the _History of English Poetry_; Douce, _Illustrations of Shakespeare_, vol. ii.; Frederick Madden, Introduction to the Roxburghe Club edition of _The Old English Versions of the Gesta Romanorum_ (1838).

GETA, PUBLIUS SEPTIMIUS (189-212), younger son of the Roman emperor Septimius Severus, was born at Mediolanum (Milan). In 198 he received the title of Caesar, and in 209 those of Imperator and Augustus. Between him and his brother Caracalla there existed from their early years a keen rivalry and antipathy. On the death of their father in 211 they were proclaimed joint emperors; and after the failure of a proposed arrangement for the division of the empire, Caracalla pretended a desire for reconciliation. He arranged a meeting with his brother in his mother's apartments, and had him murdered in her arms by some centurions.

Dio Cassius lxxvii. 2; Spartianus, _Caracalla_, 2; Herodian iv. 1.

GETAE, an ancient people of Thracian origin, closely akin to the Daci (see DACIA). Their original home seems to have been the district on the right bank of the Danube between the rivers Oescus (Iskr) and Iatrus (Yantra). The view that the Getae were identical with the Goths has found distinguished supporters, but it is not generally accepted. Their name first occurs in connexion with the expedition of Darius Hystaspis (515 B.C.) against the Scythians, in the course of which they were brought under his sway, but they regained their freedom on his return to the East. During the 5th century, they appear as furnishing a contingent of cavalry to Sitalces, king of the Odrysae, in his attack on Perdiccas II., king of Macedon, but the decay of the Odrysian kingdom again left them independent. When Philip II. of Macedon in 342 reduced the Odrysae to the condition of tributaries, the Getae, fearing that their turn would come next, made overtures to the conqueror. Their king Cothelas undertook to supply Philip with soldiers, and his daughter became the wife of the Macedonian. About this time, perhaps being hard pressed by the Triballi and other tribes, the Getae crossed the Danube. Alexander the Great, before transporting his forces into Asia, decided to make his power felt by the Macedonian dependencies. His operations against the Triballi not having met with complete success, he resolved to cross the Danube and attack the Getae. The latter, unable to withstand the phalanx, abandoned their chief town, and fled to the steppes ([Greek: Getia he eremos], north of the Danube delta), whither Alexander was unwilling to follow them. About 326, an expedition conducted by Zopyrion, a Macedonian governor of Thrace, against the Getae, failed disastrously. In 292, Lysimachus declared war against them, alleging as an excuse that they had rendered assistance to certain barbarous Macedonian tribes. He penetrated to the plains of Bessarabia, where his retreat was cut off and he was forced to surrender. Although the people clamoured for his execution, Dromichaetes, king of the Getae, allowed him to depart unharmed, probably on payment of a large ransom, great numbers of gold coins having been found near Thorda, some of them bearing the name of Lysimachus. When the Gauls made their way into eastern Europe, they came into collision with the Getae, whom they defeated and sold in large numbers to the Athenians as slaves. From this time the Getae seem to have been usually called Daci; for their further history see DACIA.

The Getae are described by Herodotus as the most valiant and upright of the Thracian tribes; but what chiefly struck Greek inquirers was their belief in the immortality of the soul (hence they were called [Greek: athanatizontes]) and their worship of Zalmoxis (or Zamolxis), whom the euhemerists of the colonies on the Euxine made a pupil of Pythagoras. They were very fond of music, and it was the custom for their ambassadors the priests to present themselves clad in white, playing the lyre and singing songs. They were experts in the use of the bow and arrows while on horseback.

See E. R. Rosler, "Die Geten und ihre Nachbarn," in _Sitzungsberichte der k. Akad. der Wissenschaften, philosophisch-historische Classe_, xliv. (1863), and _Romanische Studien_ (Leipzig, 1871); W. Tomaschek, "Die alten Thraker," in above _Sitzungsberichte_, cxxviii. (Vienna, 1893); W. Bessel, _De rebus Geticis_ (Gottingen, 1854); C. Mullenhoff in Ersch and Gruber's _Allgemeine Encyclopadie_; T. Mommsen, _Hist. of Rome_ (Eng. trans.), bk. v. ch. 7.

GETHSEMANE (Hebr. for "oil-press"), the place to which Jesus and His disciples withdrew on the eve of the Crucifixion. It was evidently an enclosed piece of ground, a plantation rather than a garden in our sense of the word. It lay east of the Kidron and on the lower slope of the mount of Olives, at the foot of which is the traditional site dating from the 4th century and now possessed by the Franciscans. The Grotto of the Agony, a few hundred yards farther north, is an ancient cave-cistern, now a Latin sanctuary. (See further JERUSALEM.)