he is best known for his investigations in electricity, more especially as to the so-called Lichtenberg figures, which are fully described in two memoirs Super nova methodo motum ac naturam fluidi electrici investigandi (Göttingen, 1777–1778). These figures, originally studied on account of the light they were supposed to throw on the nature of the electric fluid or fluids, have reference to the distribution of electricity over the surface of non-conductors. They are produced as follows: A sharp-pointed needle is placed perpendicular to a non-conducting plate, such as of resin, ebonite or glass, with its point very near to or in contact with the plate, and a Leyden jar is discharged into the needle. The electrification of the plate is now tested by sifting over it a mixture of flowers of sulphur and red lead. The negatively electrified sulphur is seen to attach itself to the positively electrified parts of the plate, and the positively electrified red lead to the negatively electrified parts. In addition to the distribution of colour thereby produced, there is a marked difference in the form of the figure, according to the nature of the electricity originally communicated to the plate. If it be positive, a widely extending patch is seen on the plate, consisting of a dense nucleus, from which branches radiate in all directions; if negative the patch is much smaller and has a sharp circular boundary entirely devoid of branches. If the plate receives a mixed charge, as, for example, from an induction coil, a “mixed” figure results, consisting of a large red central nucleus, corresponding to the negative charge, surrounded by yellow rays, corresponding to the positive charge. The difference between the positive and negative figures seems to depend on the presence of the air; for the difference tends to disappear when the experiment is conducted in vacuo. Riess explains it by the negative electrification of the plate caused by the friction of the water vapour, &c., driven along the surface by the explosion which accompanies the disruptive discharge at the point. This electrification would favour the spread of a positive, but hinder that of a negative discharge. There is, in all probability, a connexion between this phenomenon and the peculiarities of positive and negative brush and other discharge in air.
As a satirist and humorist Lichtenberg takes high rank among the German writers of the 18th century. His biting wit involved him in many controversies with well-known contemporaries, such as Lavater, whose science of physiognomy he ridiculed, and Voss, whose views on Greek pronunciation called forth a powerful satire, Über die Pronunciation der Schöpse des alten Griechenlandes (1782). In 1769 and again in 1774 he resided for some time in England and his Briefe aus England (1776–1778), with admirable descriptions of Garrick’s acting, are the most attractive of his writings. He contributed to the Göttinger Taschenkalender from 1778 onwards, and to the Göttingisches Magazin der Literatur und Wissenschaft, which he edited for three years (1780–1782) with J. G. A. Forster. He also published in 1794–1799 an Ausführliche Erklärung der Hogarthschen Kupferstiche.
Lichtenberg’s Vermischte Schriften were published by F. Kries in 9 vols. (1800–1805); new editions in 8 vols. (1844–1846 and 1867). Selections by E. Grisebach, Lichtenbergs Gedanken und Maximen (1871); by F. Robertag (in Kürschner’s Deutsche Nationalliteratur (vol. 141, 1886); and by A. Wilbrandt (1893). Lichtenberg’s Briefe have been published in 3 vols. by C. Schüddekopf and A. Leitzmann (1900–1902); his Aphorismen by A. Leitzmann (3 vols., 1902–1906). See also R. M. Meyer, Swift und Lichtenberg (1886); F. Lauchert, Lichtenbergs schriftstellerische Tätigkeit (1893); and A. Leitzmann, Aus Lichtenbergs Nachlass (1899).
LICHTENBERG, formerly a small German principality on the west bank of the Rhine, enclosed by the Nahe, the Blies and the Glan, now belonging to the government district of Trier, Prussian Rhine province. The principality was constructed of parts of the electorate of Trier, of Nassau-Saarbrücken and other districts, and lay between Rhenish Bavaria and the old Prussian
province of the Rhine. Originally called the lordship of Baumholder, it owed the name of Lichtenberg and its elevation in 1819 to a principality to Ernest, duke of Saxe-Coburg, to whom it was ceded by Prussia, in 1816, in accordance with terms agreed upon at the congress of Vienna. The duke, however, restored it to Prussia in 1834, in return for an annual pension of £12,000 sterling. The area is about 210 sq. m.
LICINIANUS, GRANIUS, Roman annalist, probably lived in
the age of the Antonines (2nd century A.D.). He was the author
of a brief epitome of Roman history based upon Livy, which he
utilized as a means of displaying his antiquarian lore. Accounts
of omens, portents, prodigies and other remarkable things
apparently took up a considerable portion of the work. Some
fragments of the books relating to the years 163–178 B.C. are
preserved in a British Museum MS.
Editions.—C. A. Pertz (1857); seven Bonn students (1858); M. Flemisch (1904); see also J. N. Madvig, Kleine philologische Schriften (1875), and the list of articles in periodicals in Flemisch’s edition (p. iv.).
LICINIUS [Flavius Galerius Valerius Licinianus], Roman emperor, A.D. 307–324, of Illyrian peasant origin, was born probably about 250. After the death of Flavius Valerius Severus he was elevated to the rank of Augustus by Galerius, his former friend and companion in arms, on the 11th of November
307, receiving as his immediate command the provinces of
Illyricum. On the death of Galerius, in May 311, he shared the
entire empire with Maximinus, the Hellespont and the Thracian
Bosporus being the dividing line. In March 313 he married
Constantia, half-sister of Constantine, at Mediolanum (Milan),
in the following month inflicted a decisive defeat on Maximinus
at Heraclea Pontica, and established himself master of the
East, while his brother-in-law, Constantine, was supreme in
the West. In 314 his jealousy led him to encourage a treasonable
enterprise on the part of Bassianus against Constantine. When
his perfidy became known a civil war ensued, in which he was
twice severely defeated—first near Cibalae in Pannonia (October
8th, 314), and next in the plain of Mardia in Thrace; the outward
reconciliation, which was effected in the following December,
left Licinius in possession of Thrace, Asia Minor, Syria and
Egypt, but added numerous provinces to the Western empire.
In 323 Constantine, tempted by the “advanced age and unpopular
vices” of his colleague, again declared war against him,
and, having defeated his army at Adrianople (3rd of July 323),
succeeded in shutting him up within the walls of Byzantium.
The defeat of the superior fleet of Licinius by Flavius Julius
Crispus, Constantine’s eldest son, compelled his withdrawal
to Bithynia, where a last stand was made; the battle of
Chrysopolis, near Chalcedon (18th of September), finally resulted
in his submission. He was interned at Thessalonica and executed
in the following year on a charge of treasonable correspondence
with the barbarians.
See Zosimus ii. 7-28; Zonaras xiii. 1; Victor, Caes. 40, 41; Eutropius x. 3; Orosius vii. 28.
LICINIUS CALVUS STOLO, GAIUS, Roman statesman, the
chief representative of the plebeian Licinian gens, was tribune in 377 B.C., consul in 361. His name is associated with the Licinian or Licinio-Sextian laws (proposed 377, passed 367), which practically ended the struggle between patricians and plebeians. He was himself fined for possessing a larger share of the public land than his own law allowed.
See Rome: History, II. “The Republic.”
LICINIUS MACER CALVUS, GAIUS (82–47 B.C.), Roman
poet and orator, was the son of the annalist Licinius Macer. As a poet he is associated with his friend Catullus, whom he followed in style and choice of subjects. As an orator he was the leader of the opponents of the florid Asiatic school, who took the simplest Attic orators as their model and attacked even Cicero as wordy and artificial. Calvus held a correspondence on questions connected with rhetoric, perhaps (if the reading be correct) the commentarii alluded to by Tacitus (Dialogus, 23; compare also Cicero, Ad Fam. xv. 21). Twenty-one speeches by him are mentioned, amongst which the most famous were those delivered against Publius Vatinius. Calvus was very short of stature, and is alluded to by Catullus (Ode 53) as Salaputium disertum (eloquent Lilliputian).
For Cicero’s opinion see Brutus, 82; Quintilian x. I. 115; Tacitus, Dialogus, 18. 21; the monograph by F. Plessis (Paris, 1896) contains a collection of the fragments (verse and prose).
