GRASS OF PARNASSUS

grass of parnassus, in botany, a small herbaceous plant known as _parnassia palustris_ (natural order _saxifragaceae_), found on wet moors and bogs in britain but less common in the south. the white regular flower is rendered very attractive by a circlet of scales, opposite the petals, each of which bears a fringe of delicate filaments ending in a yellow knob. these glisten in the sunshine and look like a drop of honey. honey is secreted by the base of each of the scales. [illustration: grass of parnassus (_parnassia palustris_). 1, one of the gland-bearing scales enlarged.] grate (from lat. _crates_, a hurdle), the iron or steel receptacle for a domestic fire. when coal replaced logs and irons were found to be unsuitable for burning the comparatively small lumps, and for this reason and on account of the more concentrated heat of coal it became necessary to confine the area of the fire. thus a basket or cage came into use, which, as knowledge of the scientific principles of heating increased, was succeeded by the small grate of iron and fire-brick set close into the wall which has since been in ordinary use in england. in the early part of the 19th century polished steel grates were extensively used, but the labour and difficulty of keeping them bright were considerable, and they were gradually replaced by grates with a polished black surface which could be quickly renewed by an application of black-lead. the most frequent form of the 18th-century grate was rather high from the hearth, with a small hob on each side. the brothers adam designed many exceedingly elegant grates in the shape of movable baskets ornamented with the paterae and acanthus leaves, the swags and festoons characteristic of their manner. the modern dog-grate is a somewhat similar basket supported upon dogs or andirons, fixed or movable. in the closing years of the 19th century a "well-grate" was invented, in which the fire burns upon the hearth, combustion being aided by an air-chamber below. gratian (flavius gratianus augustus), roman emperor 375-383, son of valentinian i. by severa, was born at sirmium in pannonia, on the 18th of april (or 23rd of may) 359. on the 24th of august 367 he received from his father the title of augustus. on the death of valentinian (17th of november 375) the troops in pannonia proclaimed his infant son (by a second wife justina) emperor under the title of valentinian ii. (q.v.). gratian acquiesced in their choice; reserving for himself the administration of the gallic provinces, he handed over italy, illyria and africa to valentinian and his mother, who fixed their residence at milan. the division, however, was merely nominal, and the real authority remained in the hands of gratian. the eastern portion of the empire was under the rule of his uncle valens. in may 378 gratian completely defeated the lentienses, the southernmost branch of the alamanni, at argentaria, near the site of the modern colmar. when valens met his death fighting against the goths near adrianople on the 9th of august in the same year, the government of the eastern empire devolved upon gratian, but feeling himself unable to resist unaided the incursions of the barbarians, he ceded it to theodosius (january 379). with theodosius he cleared the balkans of barbarians. for some years gratian governed the empire with energy and success, but gradually he sank into indolence, occupied himself chiefly with the pleasures of the chase, and became a tool in the hands of the frankish general merobaudes and bishop ambrose. by taking into his personal service a body of alani, and appearing in public in the dress of a scythian warrior, he aroused the contempt and resentment of his roman troops. a roman named maximus took advantage of this feeling to raise the standard of revolt in britain and invaded gaul with a large army, upon which gratian, who was then in paris, being deserted by his troops, fled to lyons, where, through the treachery of the governor, he was delivered over to one of the rebel generals and assassinated on the 25th of august 383. the reign of gratian forms an important epoch in ecclesiastical history, since during that period orthodox christianity for the first time became dominant throughout the empire. in dealing with pagans and heretics gratian, who during his later years was greatly influenced by ambrose, bishop of milan, exhibited severity and injustice at variance with his usual character. he prohibited heathen worship at rome; refused to wear the insignia of the pontifex maximus as unbefitting a christian; removed the altar of victory from the senate-house at rome, in spite of the remonstrance of the pagan members of the senate, and confiscated its revenues; forbade legacies of real property to the vestals; and abolished other privileges belonging to them and to the pontiffs. for his treatment of heretics see the church histories of the period. authorities.--ammianus marcellinus xxvii.-xxxi.; aurelius victor, _epit._ 47; zosimus iv. vi.; ausonius (gratian's tutor), especially the _gratiarum actio pro consulatu_; symmachus x. epp. 2 and 61; ambrose, _de fide_, prolegomena to _epistolae_ 11, 17, 21, _consolatio de obitu valentiniani_; h. richter, _das westromische reich, besonders unter den kaisern gratian, valentinian ii. und maximus_ (1865); a. de broglie, _l'eglise et l'empire romain au iv^e siecle_ (4th ed., 1882); h. schiller, _geschichte der romischen kaiserzeit_, iii., iv. 31-33; gibbon, _decline and fall_, ch. 27; r. gumpoltsberger, _kaiser gratian_ (vienna, 1879); t. hodgkin, _italy and her invaders_ (oxford, 1892), vol. i.; tillemont, _hist. des empereurs_, v.; j. wordsworth in smith's _dictionary of christian biography_. (j. h. f.)