in Greece proper to be attacked by Datis and Artaphernes in 490 B.C. It was utterly ruined on that occasion, and its inhabitants were transported to Persia. Though it was restored after the battle of Marathon, on a site at a little distance from its original position, it never regained its former eminence, but it was still the second city in the island. From this time its neighbour Chalcis, which, though it suffered from a lack of good water, was, as Strabo says, the natural capital from its commanding the Euripus, held an undisputed supremacy. Already, however, this city had suffered from the growing power of Athens. In the year 506, when the Chalcidians joined with the Boeotians and the Spartan king Cleomenes in a league against that state, they were totally defeated by the Athenians, who established 4000 Attic settlers (see Cleruchy) on their lands, and seem to have reduced the whole island to a condition of dependence. Again, in 446, when Euboea endeavoured to throw off the yoke, it was once more reduced by Pericles, and a new body of settlers was planted at Histiaea in the north of the island, after the inhabitants of that town had been expelled. This event is referred to by Aristophanes in the Clouds (212), where the old farmer, on being shown Euboea on the map “lying outstretched in all its length,” remarks,—“I know; we laid it prostrate under Pericles.” The Athenians fully recognized its importance to them, as supplying them with corn and cattle, as securing their commerce, and as guaranteeing them against piracy, for its proximity to the coast of Attica rendered it extremely dangerous to them when in other hands, so that Demosthenes, in the De corona, speaks of a time when the pirates that made it their headquarters so infested the neighbouring sea as to prevent all navigation. But in the 21st year of the Peloponnesian war the island succeeded in regaining its independence. After this we find it taking sides with one or other of the leading states, until, after the battle of Chaeronea, it passed into the hands of Philip II. of Macedon, and finally into those of the Romans. By Philip V. of Macedon Chalcis was called one of the three fetters of Greece, Demetrias on the Gulf of Pagasae and Corinth being the other two.
In modern history Euboea or Negropont comes once more prominently into notice at the time of the fourth crusade. In the partition of the Eastern empire by the Latins which followed that event the island was divided into three fiefs, the occupants of which ere long found it expedient to place themselves under the protection of the Venetian republic, which thenceforward became the sovereign power in the country. For more than two centuries and a half during which the Venetians remained in possession, it was one of the most valuable of their dependencies, and the lion of St Mark may still be seen, both over the sea gate of Chalcis and in other parts of the town. At length in 1470, after a valiant defence, this well-fortified city was wrested from them by Mahommed II., and the whole island fell into the hands of the Turks. One desperate attempt to regain it was made by Francesco Morosini (d. 1694) in 1688, when the city was besieged by land and sea for three months; but owing to the strength of the place, and the disease which thinned their ranks, the assailants were forced to withdraw. At the conclusion of the Greek War of Independence, in 1830, the island was delivered from the Turkish sway, and constituted a part of the newly established Greek state. Euboea at the present time produces a large amount of grain, and its mineral wealth is also considerable, great quantities of magnesia and lignite being exported. In 1899 it was constituted a separate nome (pop. 1907, 116,903).
Bibliography.—H. N. Ulrichs, Reisen und Forschungen in Griechenland, vol. ii. (Berlin, 1863); C. Bursian, Geographie von Griechenland, vol. ii. (Leipzig, 1872); C. Neumann and J. Partsch, Physikalische Geographie von Griechenland (Breslau, 1885); Baedeker’s Greece (3rd ed., Leipzig, 1905); for statistics see Greece: Topography. (H. F. T.)
EUBULIDES, a native of Miletus, Greek philosopher and
successor of Eucleides as head of the Megarian school. Nothing
is known of the events of his life. Indirect evidence shows that
he was a contemporary of Aristotle, whom he attacked with great
bitterness. There was also a tradition that Demosthenes was
one of his pupils. His name has been preserved chiefly by some
celebrated, though false and captious, syllogisms of which he
was the reputed author. Though mainly examples of verbal
quibbling, they serve to show the difficulties of language and of
explaining the relations of sense-given impressions. Eubulides
wrote a treatise on Diogenes the Cynic and also a number of
comedies. (See Megarian School of Philosophy.)
EUBULUS, of Anaphlystus, Athenian demagogue during the
time of Demosthenes. He was a persistent opponent of that
statesman, and was chiefly instrumental in securing the acquittal
of Aeschines (who had been his own clerk) when accused of
treachery in connexion with the embassy to Philip of Macedon.
Eubulus took little interest in military affairs, and was (at any
rate at first) a strong advocate of peace at any price. He devoted
himself to matters of administration, especially in the department
of finance, and although he is said to have increased the revenues
and to have done real service to his country, there is no doubt
that he took advantage of his position to make use of the material
forces of the state for his own aggrandizement. His proposal
that any one who should move that the Theoric Fund should be
applied to military purposes should be put to death may have
gained him the goodwill of the people, but it was not in the
true interest of the state. Later, Eubulus himself seems to have
recognized this, and to have been desirous of modifying or
repealing the regulation, but it was too late; Athens had lost
all feelings of patriotism; cowardly and indolent, she rivalled
even Tarentum in her luxury and extravagance (Theopompus
in Athenaeus iv. p. 166). As one of the chief members of an
embassy to Philip, Eubulus allowed himself to be won over,
and henceforth did his utmost to promote the cause of the
Macedonian. The indignant remonstrances of Demosthenes
failed to weaken Eubulus’s hold on the popular favour, and after
his death (before 330) he was distinguished with special honours,
which were described by Hypereides in a speech (Περὶ τῶν Εὐβούλου δωρεῶν) now lost. Eubulus was no doubt a man of
considerable talent and reputation as an orator, but none of his
speeches has survived, nor is there any appreciation of them in
ancient writers. Aristotle (Rhetoric, i. 15. 15) mentions a speech
against Chares, and Theopompus (in his Philippica) had given
an account of his life, extracts from which are preserved in
Harpocration.
See Demosthenes, De corona, pp. 232, 235; De falsa legatione, pp. 434, 435, 438; Adversus Leptinem, p. 498; In Midiam, pp. 580, 581; Aeschines, De falsa legatione, ad fin.; Index to C. W. Müller’s Oratores Attici; A.D. Schäfer, Demosthenes und seine Zeit (1885).
EUBULUS, Athenian poet of the Middle comedy, flourished
about 370 B.C. Fragments from about fifty of the 104 plays
attributed to him are preserved in Athenaeus. They show that
he took little interest in political affairs, but confined himself
chiefly to mythological subjects, ridiculing, when opportunity
offered, the bombastic style of the tragedians, especially Euripides.
His language is pure, and his versification correct.
Fragments in T. Kock, Comicorum Atticorum fragmenta, ii. (1884).
EUCALYPTUS, a large genus of trees of the natural order
Myrtaceae, indigenous, with a few exceptions, to Australia and
Tasmania. In Australia the Eucalypti are commonly called
“gum-trees” or “stringy-bark trees,” from their gummy or
resinous products, or fibrous bark. The genus, from the evidence
of leaf-remains, appears to have been represented by several
species in Eocene times. The leaves are leathery in texture,
hang obliquely or vertically, and are studded with glands which
contain a fragrant volatile oil. The petals cohere to form a cap[1]
which is discarded when the flower expands. The fruit is surrounded
by a woody cup-shaped receptacle and contains very
numerous minute seeds. The Eucalypti are rapid in growth,
and many species are of great height, E. amygdalina, the tallest
known tree, attaining to as much as 480 ft., exceeding in height
the Californian big-tree (Sequoia gigantea), with a diameter of
81 ft. E. globulus, so called from the rounded form of its cap-like
corolla, is the blue gum tree of Victoria and Tasmania.
The leaves of trees from three to five years of age are large,
sessile and of a glaucous-white colour, and grow horizontally;
- ↑ Whence the name (εὐκάλυπτος, well-covered) given by L’Héritier, 1788.
