in Mythology, the name of a goddess, which Cicero, in his book Of the Gods, represents as the daughter of Jupiter and Ceres. Ovid in his Fasti says that the name was given by Bacchus to Ariadne. Libera is exhibited on medals as a kind of female Bacchus, crowned with vine leaves.

LIBERAL arts, are such as depend more on the labour of the mind than on that of the hands; or, that consist more in speculation than operation; and have a greater regard to amusement and curiosity than to necessity.

The word comes from the Latin liberalis, which among the Romans signified a person who was not a slave; and whose will, of consequence, was not checked by the command of any master.

Such are grammar, rhetoric, painting, sculpture, architecture, music, &c. The liberal arts used formerly to be summed up in the following Latin verse:

Lingua, Tropus, Ratio, Numerus, Tonus, Angulus, Affra.

And the mechanical arts, which, however, are innumerable, under this:

Rus, Nemus, Arma, Faber, Vulnera, Lana, Rates.

See ARTS.