Dictionary of Phrase and Fable—E

Empedocles

(4 syl.) of Sicily. A disciple of Pythagoras According to Lucian, he threw himself into the crater of Etua, that persons might suppose he was returned to the gods, but Etna threw out his sandal, and destroyed the illusion. (Horacc Ars Poetica, 404.) (See Cleombrotos.)

He who, to be deemed
A god, leaped fondly into Etna flames,
Empedocles.

Milton: Paradise Lost, iii. 471

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
Emperor
Empannel
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