Roderic
"the last of the Goths," whose tragic death, coincident with the downfall of the Visigothic monarchy in Spain, has inspired poets and romancers (Scott, Southey, Geibel, Dahn) to throw round him a halo of glory. According to the commonly accepted legend he was the son of a noble who was blinded by King Witiza. A conspiracy having been formed against the hated Witiza by the clergy and the nobles of Roman blood, Roderic was elevated to the throne (710). The sons of Witiza, however, bided their time, meanwhile submitting to the usurnobles per. At length certain malcontent were engaged in a plot to dethrone Roderic by Count Julian, the governor of Ceuta (in north Africa), whose daughter had been outraged by the Visigothic king. Julian brought over with him a Moorish chief named Tarik at the head of 12,000 men. Roderic met the invading army on the banks of the Guadalete, near Xeres de la Frontera, on July 26, 711. The battle raged six days; but the sons of Witiza, who commanded the wings of the Christian army, deserted during the contest, and the rout of the Visigoths was complete. Roderic either died on the field or was drowned in the Guadalete while attempting to swim his horse across. A third version, however, relates that he escaped and passed the rest of his life as a pious hermit. By this victory the Arabs became masters of southern Spain.
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Roderick Dhu
rod'er-ik du, one of the principal characters in Scott's Lady of the Lake. See Lady Of The Lake
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Rodin
AUGUSTE, a French sculptor; born in Paris, France, in 1840, studied under Barye, and began to exhibit in the Salon in 1875. He has produced great scriptural and symbolical groups, but is best known by his portrait AUGUSTE RODIN busts and statues, notably the busts of Victor Hugo and Balzac; though his "Apollo," "Young Girl," "The Kiss," and his panels are equally great. He is represented in the Metropolitan Museum, New York, by "The Hand of God," "The Bather," a bust of St. John and 18 other pieces. In 1904 he succeeded Whistler as President of the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Engravers. He died Nov. 17, 1917.
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Rodman
HUGH, an American naval officer, born at Frankfort, Ky., in 1859. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1880 and from the Naval War College in 1907. Having been promoted ensign, junior grade, in 1883, he gradually rose to the rank of rearadmiral in 1917. In the Spanish-American War he served on the "Ra "Raleigh." Besides service on various United States vessels his assignments included service with the light-house department, at the Navy Yard, Mare Island, Cal., etc. From 1914 to 1915 he was superintendent of transportation, Panama Canal. From 1915 to 1916 he was in command of the "New York," and from 1916 to 1917 he was a member of the general board of the Navy Department. During the World War he was successively in command of division 3, Atlantic Fleet; squadron 1, Battleship force, Atlantic Fleet; division REAR-ADMIRAL HUGH RODMAN 3, Battleship force 1, Atlantic Fleet; division 9, Battleship force, on duty with British Grand Fleet; and of United States battleships. He was a director of battleships. the Panama Railroad Co. He received the Battle of Manila Bay and Spanish- American War medals, the D. S. medal, and from Great Britain, the K. C. B., for services in the World War.
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Rodriguez
or RODRIGUES, a hilly volcanic island (1,760 feet), 13 miles long by 7 broad, 370 miles E. by N. of Mauritius, of which it is a dependency. Rodriguez is cable station. The a soil is fertile, and agriculture is the chief occupation. Hurricanes often cause great damage to the island, which is encircled by a coral reef. It was discovered by the Portuguese in 1645, and has been a British colony since 1810. The chief port is Port Mathurin. Owing to its isolation this island is particularly interesting to the botanist and the zoologist. Till near the close of the 17th century it was the home of the solitaire, now an extinct bird.
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Roebuck
. See Deer
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Roentgen Rays
. See X-Rays
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Rogers, Randolph
Randolph (1825-1892), an American sculptor. He was born at Waterloo, New York . He took up his residence in Italy in 1855 and died at Rome. He is best known by the bronze doors of the capitol at Washington and by various statues of noted men at Richmond, Providence, and Detroit.
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Roget
PETER MARK, an English physician; born in London, England, Jan. 18, 1779; was educated at Edinburgh; became physician to the Manchester Infirmary in 1804; and in 1808 settled in London, where he became physician to the Northern Dispensary; F. R. S. (1815), and afterward for over 20 years its secretary; Fullerian Professor of Physiology at the Royal Institution; and an original member of the senate of the University of London. He wrote one of the "Bridgewater Treatises"-"On Animal and Vegetable Physiology Considered with Reference to Natural Theology" G-Cyc (1834), and the more famous "Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases" (1852). He died in Malvern, Sept. 17, 1869.
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Roggeveld Mountains
a range in the S. W. division of Cape Colony, running N. W. to S. E. with an average height of 5,000 feet.
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Rogue
an idle, slothful, inactive person; in the legal sense, a vagrant; a vagabond; a sturdy beggar. A knave; a rascal; a wilfully dishonest person; a cheat; a trickster. A name of slight tenderness or endearment for one who is mischievous or frolicsome; as, a wicked rogue (in irony).
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Rohilkhand
or ROHILCUND, a division of the provinces of Agra and Oude in British India; area, 10,885 square miles; pop. about 5,345,000. The surface is a plain, with a gradual slope S., in which direction its principal streams, Ramganga, Deoha, and others, flow to the Ganges. It takes its name from the Rohillas, an Afghan tribe, who gained possession of it early in the 18th century.
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Rolfe
JOHN CAREW, an American educator, born in Lawrence, Mass., in 1859, the son of William J. Rolfe. He graduated from Harvard University in 1881 and took post-graduate studies in Cornell and in Athens. From 1882 to 1885 he was instructor of Latin in Cornell, and he occupied the same post at Harvard in 1889-90. From 1890 to 1902 he was on the faculty of the University of Michigan, and from 1902 was professor of the Latin language and literature at the University of Pennsylvania. He edited various text-books and was a frequent contributor to scientific magazines. WILLIAM ROLFE, JAMES, an American editor; born in Newburyport, Mass., Dec. 10, 1827. He was a distinguished Shakespearian scholar, and published many editions of Shakespeare, annotated; among them "The Friendly Edition," in 20 volumes (1870-1883), n," in 40 volumes. and a "School Edition,' He also published: "Shakespeare, the Boy," annotated editions of selections from Tennyson, Scott, Browning, Wordsworth, Gray, Goldsmith other English poets, and "Tales from English History." He died July 7, 1910.
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