Part 332

OBTUS, Fr. Obtuse.

Angle OBTUS, Fr. Obtuse angle.

OBTUSANGULAR, having angles larger than right angles.

OBUS, Fr. Hobits. Howitzer. A species of small mortar, resembling a mortar in every thing but the carriage, which is made in the form of that belonging to a gun, only shorter. It has been frequently used at sieges; and is well calculated to sweep the covert way, and to fire ricochet shots. They were usually loaded with cartouches. Belidor writes upon the subject at some length in his Bombardier Francois, page 39. See HOWITZER.

OCCASIO, L., Opportunity, among the Romans, an allegorical divinity, the goddess of time, who presides over the most favorable moment for success in any enterprise. She is represented stark naked, with a long lock of hair upon her forehead, and bald behind. And also standing on a wheel, with wings on her feet, and is said to turn herself very swiftly round; by which is intimated, that we should lay hold of the present opportunity. Among modern nations no people pay greater attention to the instruction which is conveyed by this allegory than the French do. It is common among them to say:--L’occasion est chauve. Occasion or opportunity is bald--Alluding to the Roman allegory; and in the same figure, il faut prendre l’occasion par les cheveux. You must seize time (by which is meant occasion or opportunity) by the forelock; meaning the forelock of hair alluded to.

OCCASION, Fr. has the same signification, in military matters, that affair bears among the French.

Une OCCASION bien chaude, Fr. a warm contest, battle, or engagement.--It further means, as with us, the source from whence consequences ensue. Les malheurs du peuple sont arrivés a l’occasion de la guerre. The misfortunes of the people have been occasioned by the war, or the war has been the occasion of the people’s misfortunes. The French make a nice distinction which may hold good in our language, between cause and occasion, viz. Il n’en est pas la cause--Il n’en est que l’occasion, l’occasion innocente.--He is not the cause, he is only the occasion, the innocent occasion of it. Il s’est faché pour une legére occasion; he took offence, or grew angry on a very slight occasion.

Se servir de l’OCCASION, Fr. to take advantage, or make a proper use of time and opportunity. A French writer has very properly observed, that to seize with dexterity occasions as they occur, is a certain proof of courage and ability, especially in the general of an army. Opportunity or occasion, according to Tacitus, is the mother of events. Opportunos magnis conatibus transitas rerum. One complete and decisive victory leads us to a multiplicity of enterprises and great designs, all of which grow out of the first triumph.

A full and decisive victory, by which the country is left entirely at the mercy of the conqueror, must necessarily throw the inhabitants into confusion, and open fresh avenues to conquest; for one opportunity or occasion well embraced and executed upon, becomes the source of many others. There is not, perhaps, in human contingencies any thing which spreads itself so rapidly, or ought to be so little neglected. An enterprise which grows out of another, though it be in reality more arduous to get through than the one which produced it, becomes more easy in its execution: and yet, how many brave and skilful generals have existed, who could not make a proper use of opportunity? In reading over their gallant exploits, one would be led to believe, that all their knowlege consisted in merely knowing how to fight. We have seen them, with unexampled intrepidity, doing every thing that man dares to do, in the field of battle: we have seen them make a decisive blow, and place victory within their grasp; and when they were in the actual possession of all they fought for, we have seen them suddenly relax, give their enemies time to breathe, and finally lose all the fruits of their victory. The courage and promptitude which they manifested in a decisive battle, were the effects of a transitory impulse which was soon wasted and extinguished.

Hannibal, so much celebrated for his bold enterprise against the Romans, was guilty of this error. After the battle of Cannæ it rested entirely with himself to march to Rome. He had only to follow up his first blow, to take advantage of the consternation of the Romans, and to pursue them to their capitol. By so doing he would have made use of the glorious occasion which fortune had thrown into his hands by the first victory, and would not have been driven to the necessity of endeavoring to obtain the original object of his enterprise, by fighting several battles that proved abortive of it. Adherbal on this account, after having failed in his attempt to persuade Hannibal to pursue his first good fortune, and to march to the gates of Rome, is recorded to have used the following expression: Vincere scis, Hannibal; sed victoriâ uti nescis. Hannibal, thou knowest how to conquer, but thou dost not know how to make use of a victory.

Gustavus Adolphus made the same mistake. Had he, after having won the battle of Leipsic, hung upon the rear of the discomfited Imperialists, pushed and harassed them to the gates of Vienna, there is little doubt of the consequences which must have ensued.

The emperor Ferdinand was as weak in effective forces at the capital as the Romans were at Rome, and the same consternation prevailed among the inhabitants. Had Gustavus profited by his first success, and converted the means, which so glorious an occasion offered, into prompt and vigorous pursuit, he would not indeed have reaped additional laurels in the plains of Outzen, where he fell at the head of his victorious Swedes, but he must have reached Vienna, and there have dictated his own terms.

Carthalon, among the ancients, was on the contrary, an instance of how much may be done by acting up to circumstances, and by judiciously making use of fortune as occasions offer. He was not satisfied with having surprised the Roman fleet, taken off a considerable number of ships, and burned others, but he instantly availed himself of his first good fortune, attempted another enterprise, and succeeded.

The British generals who made war in the American revolution, were as unfortunate in their never taking proper advantage of occasion; their retreat from Princeton, and their subsequent stupor, while the American army of only 4000 men lay hutted at Valley Forge; while they held Philadelphia within 20 miles of them, with 17000 men, is a striking instance. An important occasion was also lost by them after the battle of Brandywine; where the American dispositions and subsequent retreat were alike unsuited to the occasion. The campaign was a series of the most extravagant blunders that can be conceived. The campaign that ended with the capitulation at York Town, was as brilliant on the part of the American arms, as on the English side eggregiously injudicious and unsuitable to the occasion.

OCCASIONAL, (elle, Fr.) This adjective is used in a different sense among the French, to what it is with us, viz. Cause occasionally; any thing that occasions an event.

OCCIDENT, Fr. The west.

OCCUPE, Fr. to be taken possession of. Les environs furent occupés par des troupes légéres; the neighboring places were taken possession of by some light troops.

To OCCUPY, is to take possession of any work or post.

OCTAEDRE, Fr. Octahedron, one of the five regular bodies which is terminated by eight equilateral equal triangles.

OCTAGON, (Octogone, Fr.) a figure or polygon that has eight equal sides, which likewise form eight equal angles. The octagon, in fortification, is well calculated in its ground for the construction of large towns, or for such as have the advantage of neighboring rivers, especially if the engineer can so place the bastions, that the entrance and outlet of the rivers may be in some of the curtains. By means of this disposition no person could come in or go out of the garrison without the governor’s or commandant’s permission, as the centinels must have a full view from the flanks of the neighboring Bastions.

OCTAVION, (one, Fr.) any male or female that is born of a quarteron and a white woman, or of a white man and a quarterone.

OCTONS, Fr. a mathematical instrument, which contains 45 degrees or the eighth part of a circle.

OCTOEDRICAL, having eight sides.

OCTOSTYLE, the face of a building containing eight columns.

ODA. The different corps or companies into which the janizaries are divided, bear this appellation. The word itself means a room, and the companies are so called from messing separately.

ODEN, ODIN, or WODEN, a deity so called in ancient times among the Swedes, and Goths. He was their god of war in the same manner that they acknowleged Thor to be their Jupiter, and Freya their Venus.

ODOMETER, (Odometre, Fr.) an instrument by which you may ascertain how much ground you go over on foot, or in conveyance.

OEIL, Fr. in architecture, any round aperture, which is made in a building.