Advocate

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

(1) Originally one whose aid was called in or invoked; one who helped in any business matter; (2) In law, at first, one who gave his his legal aid in a case, without, however, pleading, this being the function of the patronus; (3) The advocatus fisci, who attended to the interests of the fiscus, or the emperor's privy purse. In the old German empire, a person appointed by the emperor to do justice. In the Mediæval Church, one appointed to defend the rights and revenues of a church or monastery. The word advocate, in the sense of a defender of the Church, was ultimately superseded by that of patron, but it still lingers in the term advowson. In English law, originally one who pleaded a cause in a civil, but not in a criminal, court. Now, in English and American law, one who pleads a cause in any court, civil or criminal. It is not, properly speaking, a technical word, but is used only in a popular sense, as synonymous with barrister or counsel. In the army the judge-advocate is the officer through whom prosecutions before courts-martial are conducted. There is also a judge-advocate-general for the army at large. In Scotch law an advocate is a member of the faculty of advocates, or Scottish bar. ÆDILE, in ancient Rome magistrates who had charge of public and private buildings, of aqueducts, roads, sewers, weights, measures, the national worship, and, specially, when there were no censors, public morality. There were two leading divisions of ædiles-cereales and curule. Their insignia of office were like those of the old kings-the toga prætexta (a purple robe), and the sella curulis, or curule chair, ornamented with ivory. ÆDUI (īd'wē or ed-ū'ē), one of the most powerful tribes in Gaul at the time of Cæsar's arrival (58 B. C.). They formed an alliance with Cæsar, who freed them from the yoke of Ariovistus, but they joined the rest of the Gauls under Vercingetorix in the great and final struggle for independence. After his victory, Cæsar treated them leniently for the sake of their old alliance. Their principal town was Bibracte. ÆGEAN ISLANDS. See ARCHIPELAGO, ÆGEAN SEA ÆGEAN SEA (ē-jē'an or ī'ga-an), the old name of the gulf between Asia Minor and Greece, now usually called the Grecian Archipelago. ÆGEUS (ig'ös or ēj'us), a king of Athens, son of Pandion, and father of Theseus. When the latter sailed to Crete to deliver Athens from the intolerable burden of the tribute due to the Minotaur, he promised his father to hoist white sails on his return as a signal of safety. But the hero forgot his promise in the joy of triumph; and his father, who was anxiously watching for the sign of victory, seeing only the black sails of his son's ship as it approached the coast of Attica, believed that he had perished, and flung himself into the sea, which from him was named the Ægean. ÆGINA (ē-ji'na), a Greek island about 40 square miles in area, in the Gulf of Ægina (the ancient Saronicus Sinus). It is mountainous, with deep valleys and chasms. The modern town of Ægina Ægina stands on the site of the ancient town, at the N. W. end of the island. The island contains about 8,000 inhabitants. The most ancient name of the island was Enone, and the Myrmidons dwelt in its valleys and caverns. For a century before the Persian war it was a prosperous state; during this period it was also the chief seat of Greek art. Its sailors covered themselves with glory at Salamis. Æginetan Sculptures. - Ægina holds an important position in the history of Greek art. On an eminence in the eastern part of the island stand the ruins of a temple of Pallas Athene. Among these ruins a series of statues were ex-gil and other Latin authors, he was sailcavated in 1811, which are now the most remarkable ornaments of the Glyptothek at Munich. One group represents a combat of Greeks and Trojans for the body of Achilles. The figures are true to nature, with the structure of bones, muscles, and even veins, distinctly marked, but there is no individuality, all the faces having that uniform forced smile which is characteristic of all sculpture before the time of Phidias. Probably they date from not more than fifty years before Phidias. ÆGIS (e'jis or i'gis), the shield of Zeus, which had been fashioned by Hephæstus (Vulcan). ALOIS LEXA,