The following brief notes are intended to supply the bare amount of
information necessary for an understanding of the text. The
pronunciation marks are, of course, added only for the sake of those who
have no Greek. An accent marks the syllable which should bear the stress
in the English pronunciation, and the signs [ă ĕ ĭ ŏ ŭ] and [ā ē ī ō ū],
imply that the vowels are short or long respectively. q.v. = see the
note on that name.
=Ábaris=: a legendary Scythian or ‘Hyperborean’ priest of Apollo, to
whom miraculous powers were attributed in the way of cures and prophecy.
=Aeolians=: inhabitants of Aeolis, the NE. coast of the Aegean, with the
island of Lesbos.
=Aeschĭnes=: (1) a philosopher, pupil of Socrates (hence Aeschines
Socraticus). In the eyes of Plato he was a sophist, for the reason that
he took fees. His character was not of the highest. Like Plato, he
visited Syracuse during the philosophic pose of the elder Dionysius.
(2) Athenian orator, constant opponent of Demosthenes, who charged him
with being bribed by Philip. Died in exile 314 B.C.
=Aeschylus=: the first in date and most severe in style of the three
great Attic tragedians, 525-466 B.C. A master of condensed and sonorous
language and of powerful situations.
=Aesop=: the famous writer (or promulgator) of fables, _c._ 620-564 B.C.
Said to have been an emancipated slave, who spent some time at the court
of Croesus and was sent by him on a mission to Delphi to distribute
largess. Practically nothing definite is known of him. His fables were
most probably of Indo-Persian origin. Those which now pass under his
name are a comparatively late compilation from various sources.
=Agésilāus=: Agesilaus II, king of Sparta, 398-361 B.C.; the most
important man in the Greek world of his day. His wars were numerous, the
most important being with the Thebans. His character was noble, his
ability great, but his physique and appearance poor.
=Agis=: (1) Agis II, king of Sparta, 427-399 B.C.; commander against the
Athenians in the Peloponnesian War, his greatest exploit being the
victory of Mantinea.
(2) Base and toadying poet of Argos, who accompanied Alexander into
Asia. The histories of the expedition agree with Plutarch as to his
character.
=Alcibíades=: a handsome noble of Athens; a type of ostentatious,
ambitious, and unscrupulous brilliancy. After a measure of military and
political prominence he was banished from Athens for sacrilege (415
B.C.). Becoming hostile to his country he first found a home at Sparta,
thence migrated to Asia Minor and joined the Persian satrap,
Tissaphernes, whom he endeavoured to bring over to the Athenian side as
a means to his own recall. He returned to Athens for a brief space in
407 B.C., then removed to Thrace, and thence again to the Persian
satrap.
=Alcméōn=: son of Amphiaraus (q.v.), who avenged his father by putting
to death his mother Eriphyle.
=Alexander=: (1) the Great, of Macedon.
(2) of Pherae, a despot who dominated Thessaly from 369 B.C. A cruel
tyrant, assassinated through the agency of his wife.
=Alexis=: poet of the ‘Middle Comedy’, who had migrated from South Italy
to Athens. Plutarch says that he lived to the age of 106, and Suidas
that his plays numbered 245.
=Alyáttes=: king of Lydia and father of Croesus, carried on wars with
the Greeks of the Aegean coast of Asia Minor and had apparently some
designs upon the islands.
=Amásis=: an insurgent Egyptian general who secured the throne (569
B.C.). His rule was beneficent and prosperous, and he cultivated the
friendship of the Greeks, handing over to them the town of Naucratis (q.
v.). When reproached with his humble origin he converted his bronze
foot-pan into the effigy of a deity by way of instructive parable. He
was visited by Solon and had amicable relations with Croesus.
=Ammónius=: Peripatetic philosopher from Attica, teacher of Plutarch,
who speaks elsewhere of his great erudition.
=Amphiaráus=: legendary seer of Argos, who accompanied the ‘Seven’ in
their expedition against Thebes. A pious and just man, who was led into
this false step by the persuasions of his wife, who had been bribed.
=Amphíctyons=: members of a religious Council meeting at Delphi and
representing the older Greek communities.
=Amphídămas=: ‘hero’ (i. e. demigod) of Chalcis in Euboea, conceived as
a historical personage.
=Amphitrítë=: wife of Poseidon and queen-goddess of the sea.
=Anacharsis=: Scythian prince (of N. Thrace). To Greek literature he is
the type of the observant and critical visitor from abroad. A pattern of
the simple life and direct thinking. Said to have visited Athens about
600 B.C.
=Anaxarchus=: an easy-going and witty philosopher of the school of
Democritus (q. v.); in the suite of Alexander on his Asiatic expedition.
=Antígŏnus=: a general of Alexander. On the partition of the empire he
received Phrygia, Lycia, and Pamphylia, but afterwards extended his rule
over all the Asiatic portion. He fell before a combination of the other
Diadochi in 301 B.C.
=Antímăchus=: epic poet of Colophon, who wrote at great length on the
story of Thebes. He also composed a voluminous elegy on ‘Lyde’. Both
pieces were crammed with mythological and other learning, and Plutarch
appears to treat him as a type of the diffuse. He was a contemporary of
Plato.
=Antípăter=: (1) regent of Macedonia during the Asiatic expedition of
Alexander and after his death (334-320 B.C.). A war with a Greek league
headed by Athens ended in the submission of the latter.
(2) A Stoic philosopher of Tyre; a friend of Cato the younger, about the
middle of the first century B.C.
=Antiphōn=: several persons were so named, e. g.:
(1) an orator of the fifth century B.C.
(2) An Athenian tragic poet, put to death by the elder Dionysius at
Syracuse.
(3) A sophist, epic poet, and antagonist of Socrates.
=Apéllēs=: (1) of Colophon or Cos, _fl._ _c._ 335-305 B.C. The greatest
painter of antiquity, especially favoured by Alexander the Great. His
maxim for draughtsmen _nulla dies sine linea_ is famous.
(2) Of Chios, apparently unknown beyond Plutarch.
=Appius Claudius= (=Caecus=): Roman censor 312 B.C., originator of the
Appian Way.
=Aráspēs=: a Mede, friend of Cyrus, who became enamoured of Panthea (q.
v.).
=Arcĕsiláus=: latter part of third century B.C.; first a disciple of
Theophrastus (q. v.), but took an independent line in philosophy as
founder of the sceptical New Academy. A man of amiable character and a
wit.
=Archeláus=: king of Macedonia 413-399 B.C.; a lover of art and
literature and a patron of Euripides and other Athenian men of letters.
=Archidámus=: Archidamus II, king of Sparta, 469-427 B.C. There were
several other kings of the name.
=Archílŏchus=: of Paros, _fl._ _c._ 710-675 B.C. A lyrist of whom only
fragments are extant; particularly famous for his iambic lampoons.
=Archimédes=: the Newton of antiquity; an eminent scientist of Syracuse
287-212 B.C.; student of astronomy, applied mathematics, and
engineering. He served as mechanical engineer in defending his city from
the Romans, by whose soldiers he was killed in ignorance.
=Archytas=: of Tarentum, in the early part of the fourth century B.C.,
noted as a mathematician and philosophic statesman of the Pythagorean
order. Both in generalship and civil business of state he was eminently
successful and was trusted with extraordinary powers.
=Arēs=: the Greek War-God, answering generally to the Roman Mars.
=Arȋdaeus= (=Arrhidaeus=): (1) feeble half-witted king of Macedonia
after his brother Alexander’s death.
(2) A general of Alexander, joint regent in 321 B.C., afterwards
governor on the Hellespont.
=Aríōn=: _c._ 600 B.C.; the famous bard and harp-player of Lesbos, and
supposed inventor of the dithyramb. His favourite abode was at the court
of Periander.
=Aristarchus=: the prince of Greek grammarians and critics; flourished
at Alexandria 181-146 B.C. Chiefly known for his commentaries on the
language and matter of Homer, and his recension of the divergent
manuscripts.
=Aristeides= (=Aristídes=): with the sobriquet of ‘the Just’; a noble of
Athens, statesman and general, who figures in the stirring times of the
war with Persia. Died _c._ 470 B.C.
=Aristíppus=: of Cyrene, disciple, but not imitator, of Socrates. A
student and teacher of ethics, and founder of the Cyrenaic philosophy
and its cult of pleasure: _fl._ _c._ 380-366 B.C. For a time he was at
the court of Dionysius (q. v.) of Syracuse.
=Arísto=: (1) the chief bearer of the name was a philosopher who became
head of the Peripatetic school about 230 B.C. Anciently considered a
writer of more elegance than weight.
(2) A son of Sophocles, and probably himself a tragedian.
=Aristómĕnes=: practically regent of Egypt from 202 B.C.; a sound
adviser of the young Ptolemy Epiphanes (q. v.), who put him to death for
his frankness in 192 B.C.
=Aristóphănes=: of Athens, 444-380 B.C.; by far the greatest comic poet
of antiquity. His comedy was of the ‘Old’, or personal-political type.
Eleven of his plays are extant.
=Arístŏphōn=: painter, brother of Polygnotus (who _fl._ _c._ 420 B.C.).
=Aristotle=: of Stageira, but commonly domiciled in Athens or in
Macedonia. Pupil of Plato and subsequently tutor of Alexander. Founder
of the Peripatetic school, with its head-quarters in the Lyceum (q. v.).
His whole tone of mind is strikingly unlike that of his teacher, being
eminently precise, logical, and scientific. His writing is without
literary charm. He aimed at sound and comprehensive knowledge as the
basis of right principles in society, conduct, and the arts (384-322
B.C.).
=Asclépius=: (= Aesculapius), the Greek ‘hero’ of medicine, converted by
legend into a son of Apollo and ultimately into a god.
=Atreides= (=Atrídes=): = ‘son of Atreus’, a title of Agamemnon and
Menelaus.
=Áttălus= (brother of Eumenes): Attalus Philadelphus, king of Pergamus,
allied with the Romans in the middle of the second century B.C.
Philopoemen was his controlling minister.
=Bacchýlȋdes=: lyric poet of Ceos, _fl._ _c._ 470 B.C., principally at
the court of Hiero of Syracuse. In general he may be called a smoother
and weaker Pindar.
=Bagóas=: a handsome young eunuch of Darius, afterwards taken into the
service and affections of Alexander.
=Báthycles=: an artist in metal-work, of uncertain date, but probably to
be placed in the early part of the age of the Seven Sages.
=Bato=: comic poet of Athens, _fl._ _c._ 280 B.C.; satirized
philosophers.
=Bias=: of Priene; precise date unknown, but _fl._ _c._ 550 B.C. He is
invariably included in the list of the Seven Sages.
=Biōn=: _fl._ _c._ 250 B.C., a philosopher from Olbia on the Black Sea,
who settled at Athens, tried various systems, and ended by being a
Peripatetic. He was noted for his keen sententious sayings, but was of
dissolute character. Has been called ‘the Greek Voltaire’.
=Brīséïs=: captive woman assigned to Achilles, but taken from him by
Agamemnon when he surrendered Chryseis.
=Busírites=: the people of Busiris (modern Abousir), about the middle of
the Delta; one of the traditional birthplaces of Osiris.
=Calchas=: the seer of the Achaean army before Troy.
=Callísthĕnes=: philosopher and rhetorician; accompanied Alexander into
Asia, where he used over-bold language in reproving him. Put to death
328 B.C. He wrote an account of the expedition and other historical
works.
=Calýpso=: nymph, on whose island the shipwrecked Odysseus was detained
for seven years.
=Carnĕădes=: of Cyrene, 213(?)-129 B.C.; a student of Stoicism, but
leader of the Academics. He was ambassador on behalf of Athens (155
B.C.) to Rome, where he delivered striking discourses on ethics. His
cardinal doctrine was the ‘withholding of assent’ to doctrines.
=Cato=: (1) the elder (or ‘the Censor’), 234-149 B.C. The type of severe
old-fashioned Roman morality; soldier, statesman, orator, and writer.
(2) The younger (or ‘Uticensis’), 95-46 B.C.; modelled himself on his
great-grandfather in respect of the moral and simple life, but was much
inferior in gifts. Committed suicide 46 B.C., when the struggle against
the domination of Julius Caesar had become hopeless.
=Cĕbēs=: of Thebes, a pupil of Socrates and a _persona_ in Plato’s
_Phaedo_. He is chiefly known for his (if it is his) symbolic picture or
‘table’ of human life.
=Cĕrămeicus (-í-)=: a suburb without, and a broad street within, the
west walls of Athens.
=Cercópes=: mythical gnomes, mischievous and thievish, who annoyed
Heracles by their monkey-like tricks.
=Chábrȋas=: Athenian commander at various times between 392 and 357
B.C., gaining some successes by land and sea against the Spartans. An
able tactician, adventurous, but of somewhat dissolute life.
=Chalcis=: chief town of Euboea (Negropont), once a most important
commercial centre.
=Charēs=: Athenian general, of whose various operations we have records
for 367-333 B.C. A man of little principle. He effected little against
the Macedonians, and often followed independent and useless lines of
action.
=Chármȋdes=: uncle of Plato, who names one of his Socratic dialogues
after him. At the supposed date he was a beautiful and charming youth,
and the discussion is upon ‘self-control’.
=Chīlōn=: of Lacedaemon: _fl._ _c._ 600-570 B.C. Poet and coiner of
maxims, and shrewd man of affairs.
=Chryséïs=: captive woman assigned to Agamemnon; surrendered by him at
the bidding of Apollo, in order to check a pestilence.
=Cimōn=: son of Miltiades, became prominent as a commander against the
Persians in 477 B.C. His chief exploit was the victory of Eurymedon, 466
B.C. A handsome, liberal, affable, but somewhat self-indulgent person.
=Cīnésias=: Athenian dithyrambic poet, much satirized by Aristophanes
and others. His verse, music, and character appear all to have been of
an inferior order.
=Claudia=: Roman maiden, who, in full vindication of her chastity, was
enabled to move the vessel containing the image of Cybele when it stuck
fast in the Tiber.
=Cleánthes=: Stoic philosopher, pupil and successor of Zeno (q. v.) 263
B.C. The only fragment of his writing still extant is from a Hymn to
Zeus.
=Cleárchus=: (1) of Heraclea on the Black Sea; availed himself of
faction to make himself despot and tyrant (365 B.C.). Despite the
precautions described by Plutarch he was assassinated in 353 B.C.
(2) Of Sparta, leader of the 10,000 Greeks in the expedition of Cyrus
the Younger against Babylon; decoyed and put to death by the Persians,
401 B.C. The retreat was led by Xenophon (q.v.).
=Cleisthĕnes=: Athenian noble, who adopted the popular cause and made
important democratic changes in the constitution; _fl._ from 510 B.C.
=Cleitus= (=Clītus=): a Macedonian commander under Alexander, whose life
he saved at the battle of Granícus (334 B.C.). He was killed (328 B.C.)
by Alexander with a spear-thrust, after a quarrel at a carousal, in
which he had spoken with excessive freedom to his chief.
=Cleobulínë=: daughter (as the name implies) of Cleobulus (q.v.). Though
her father is said to have named her Eumetis (‘sagacious’), the word may
be suspected of being an afterthought.
=Cleobúlus=: _c._ 610-560 B.C. A citizen of Lindus in Rhodes, who became
its despot. His position may have been similar to that of Pittacus
(q.v.).
=Cleómĕnes=: Cleomenes III, high-minded king of Sparta, 240-222 B.C. On
his defeat by the Achaeans he fled to Ptolemy Euergetes, with whom he
was in alliance. The next Ptolemy (Philopator) suspected and imprisoned
him.
=Cleōn=: a tanner of Athens; an able but coarse-grained leader of the
popular party 428-422 B.C. A special enemy of Aristophanes (q.v.), whose
fiercest political attacks are delivered against him. A self-sufficient
amateur in military operations, in one of which he was slain.
=Clódius=: P. Clodius Pulcher; a daring and unscrupulous person, who
became quaestor in 61 B.C. and tribune of the plebs in 59 B.C. The
notorious and relentless enemy of Cicero. Killed by Milo on the high
road 52 B.C.
=Colónus=: a suburb of Athens outside the north wall, with a small hill,
grove, and sanctuary.
=Cólophōn=: Greek town of Asia Minor, near the Aegean coast, about ten
miles north of Ephesus.
=Cornelia=: daughter of Scipio Africanus; the famous ‘mother of the
Gracchi’; the type of matronly virtue, dignity, cultivation, and high
example.
=Crátĕrus=: a noble type of Macedonian; one of Alexander’s generals.
After the death of his chief (323 B.C.) he became colleague with
Antipater in the Graeco-Macedonian portion of the empire. See also under
Eumenes.
=Cratēs=: of Thebes; pupil of Diogenes (q.v.) at Athens; _fl._ _c._ 320
B.C. A Cynic philosopher in practice as well as theory, he renounced his
wealth and led the simple life in a cheerful manner. A philosophic
writer and a tragic poet.
=Croesus=: king of Lydia 560-546 B.C. A wealthy and powerful ruler, who
made war upon the Persians when their empire was growing rapidly under
Cyrus. Was defeated and carried off in the train of the conqueror. While
in power he was in friendly or hostile relations with various Greek
states, and was particularly noted for his liberality to the Delphian
oracle. Whether Solon ever actually had the famous interview with
Croesus is chronologically doubtful, but it is not impossible.
=Cyáxares=: king of Media, appears in Xenophon’s _Cyropaedia_ as uncle
of Cyrus the Great, but the whole book is something of a romance.
=Cýpsĕlus=: father of Periander, established himself as despot of
Corinth _c._ 656 B.C. His name was commonly associated with _cypsele_
(‘chest’). The designs upon him in his infancy were those of a
Corinthian noble house, and were made in consequence of an oracle
foretelling danger from the child.
=Cyrus=: (1) the elder: the famous Persian monarch, founder of the
empire, and subjugator of Babylon. The stories told of him in the
_Cyropaedia_ of Xenophon are largely romance.
(2) the younger: satrap of Lydia, Phrygia, &c., who sought, but failed,
to dispossess his brother Artaxerxes with the assistance of a Greek
force (401 B.C.). This was the expedition related in Xenophon’s
_Anabasis_.
=Daphnūs=: a river running into the Corinthian Gulf on the north side
not far from the entrance.
=Dāríus=: (1) Darius I; strong and able king of Persia (521-485 B.C.),
previously satrap under Cyrus the Great. This is the Darius mentioned in
connexion with Gobryas.
(2) Darius II (Ochus or Nothus), or Darius the Younger, a weak monarch
endangered by perpetual rebellions, 424-405 B.C.
(3) Darius Codomannus, overthrown by Alexander. Died 330 B.C.
=Délos=: central island of the south half of the Aegean, with a temple
of Apollo, the gathering-place of a great religious confederacy of
Ionians.
=Dēmarátus=: of Corinth, in friendly relations with Philip and a
mediator between him and Alexander after their quarrel in 337 B.C.
=Dēmétrius=: (1) Demetrius I (or Poliorcetes), king of Macedonia. His
father Antigonus, king of Asia, sent him in 307 B.C. to annex Greece,
then under Cassander and Ptolemy. It was at this time that he took
Megara and met with Stilpo (q. v.).
(2) Demetrius Phaléreus: Athenian orator and writer (345-283 B.C.); an
able and cultivated man, put in charge of Athens by the Macedonians, 317
B.C. First highly honoured, then expelled, he made his way to Thebes and
subsequently to Alexandria.
(3) The name of several Macedonian officers in the army of Alexander.
=Dēmócrȋtus=: _c._ 460-360 B.C. Of Abdēra in Thrace. A great traveller
and student, who developed (though he did not invent) the ‘Atomic
Theory’. Ethically his aim was cheerfulness of mind (hence ‘the laughing
philosopher’). His character was of the highest for truth and
simplicity.
=Dicaeárchus=: philosopher from Massana in Sicily; writer on history and
geography. A follower of Aristotle, _fl._ _c._ 300 B.C.
=Díŏcles=: the narrator of the Dinner of the Seven Sages: professional
seer, and interpreter and expiator of omens and dreams. Nothing is known
of such a person outside Plutarch.
=Diógĕnes=: (1) the Cynic philosopher of Sinope, who migrated to Athens,
and after being captured by pirates was sold as a slave to a Corinthian.
Whether or not he ever lived in the famous (earthenware) ‘tub’ is
doubtful. He was distinguished for his plainness of life, his shrewd
good sense, his independence, and his caustic tongue.
(2) Tragic poet of Athens, _c._ 404 B.C.
=Diōn=: of Syracuse, brother-in-law of the elder Dionysius (q. v.). On
the visit of Plato to Sicily he became a disciple of that philosopher.
The younger Dionysius resented his reputation and his harshness. Dion
therefore removed to Athens and other parts of Greece, whence he
returned with a force, expelled Dionysius, and was himself appointed
practically dictator. Assassinated 353 B.C.
=Dionysius=: (i) the elder: despot of Syracuse (‘sole general’) 405-367
B.C. He extended its power over a great part of Sicily, and strongly
fortified the city itself. In the end he became a veritable tyrant. Like
many other despots he affected literature and philosophy, and himself
wrote bad verses. After inviting Plato to Syracuse he quarrelled with
and dismissed that philosopher.
(2) the younger, who succeeded his father. For a time he was under the
influence of Dion (q.v.) assisted by Plato. Of weaker character and more
licentious than his father, he was compelled to abandon Syracuse after a
rule of eleven years. Insecurely restored ten years later he was again
driven out by Timoleon (343 B.C.). The remainder of his life was spent
in poverty at Corinth, where he is said to have taught an elementary
school.
=Dōdóna=: in Epirus, near the modern Janina; a very ancient seat of the
worship of Zeus.
=Dolōn=: a Trojan in the _Iliad_, who undertakes to penetrate the
Achaean camp as a spy, but is slain in the attempt.
=Dryópians=: a people of Central Greece.
=Elephantínë= = Djesiret-el-Sag; a garrisoned island in the Nile (First
Cataract) opposite the modern Assouan; the frontier town of Egypt
towards Ethiopia.
=Empédŏcles=: Sicilian physical and practical philosopher of Acragas (=
Girgenti); _fl._ _c._ 450 B.C. His studies of nature specially qualified
him for the cure or ‘purification’ of epidemics due to insanitary
conditions. His travels took him to Athens and other parts of Greece.
The legend went that he threw himself into the crater of Etna.
=Eōs=: = Aurora, dawn-goddess; wife of Tithonus; mother of Memnon, the
opponent of Achilles.
=Epáminōndas=: a type of patriotism, particularly to his compatriot
Plutarch. The greatest of Theban commanders and statesmen, especially
famous for his victory over the Spartans at Leuctra (371 B.C.). So far
as he applied any philosophy to life, it was that of Pythagoras.
=Éphŏrus=: historian of Cumae, _fl._ _c._ 340 B.C. His history, once
very famous and much discussed, covered a period of 750 years.
=Epichármus=: _c._ 540-450 B.C.; the great comic poet of Sicily, chiefly
associated with the court of Hiero I (q.v.) at Syracuse.
=Epicúrus=: 342-270 B.C. Athenian philosopher and founder of the
Epicurean school, of which the aim was ‘peace of mind’ or ‘freedom from
emotional disturbance’. His own life (as his tenets required) was simple
and wholesome, and the self-indulgence of the sect in later days was
either a parody or a misconception of his teachings. A voluminous writer
on physics and ethics, but with a bad style.
=Epiménȋdes=: priest-prophet and bard of Crete, with peculiar knowledge
of medicine and methods of purification. Many fables were current
concerning him (e.g. of his sleep of fifty-seven years). He was called
in by the Athenians (_c._ 596 B.C.) to cleanse their city of a plague.
=Epimétheus=: brother of Prometheus (q.v.). The name was taken to mean
‘After-thinker’, and hence arose a notion that he ‘thought too late’.
=Erasístrătus=: a very distinguished physician in the earlier part of
the third century B.C. He practised and taught in Syria and Alexandria.
An eminent student of anatomy.
=Eratósthĕnes=: librarian of Alexandria under the Ptolemies; a writer on
mathematical geography, history, and grammar. Died about 196 B.C.
=Érĕsus=: a town on the south-west coast of Lesbos (Mytilene);
birthplace of Theophrastus.
=Erétria=: the second town of Euboea, a little south of Chalcis. See
Lelantum.
=Erínys=: a spirit of vengeance sent up from the underworld to punish
unnatural crimes and offences.
=Éteŏcles=: (legendary): son of Oedipus, joint king of Thebes with
Polyneices, whom he expelled through a selfish desire to rule alone.
=Euénus=: two poets of Paros are so named, one of the date of Socrates
and one earlier. It is, and was anciently, difficult to distinguish
between the two.
=Eúmĕnes=: an eminent and very able general (and also secretary) of
Alexander, after whose death he obtained (322 B.C.) the chief command in
Asia. His subordinate Neoptolemus, governor of Armenia, made head
against him with the help of Craterus. Their defeat, mentioned in the
article on Garrulity, took place in Cappadocia in 321 B.C.
=Eúpŏlis=: one of the three chief poets of the ‘old’ comedy of Athens, a
contemporary of Aristophanes (q.v.).
=Eurípides=: 480-406 B.C.; third in date of the three great Athenian
tragedians. His works were numerous and uneven. His poetical merits were
(and are) variously estimated.
=Fabius Maximus=: the best known person of the name was Q. Fabius
Maximus Cunctator, who saved Rome by his waiting tactics against
Hannibal; but the one who was associated with Polybius, as pupil and
patron, was Q. F. M. Aemilianus, consul in 145 B.C., who served against
Macedonia and in Spain.
=Góbryes=: one of the seven Persian nobles (Darius being another) who
conspired against the usurper Smerdis the Mage. Darius was raised to the
throne and Gobryes became one of his lieutenants.
=Górgȋas=: of Leontini in Sicily: orator, rhetorical teacher, and
sophist, who visited Athens 427 B.C. and subsequently. His style, which
was highly artificial, was widely imitated. He is the Gorgias of Plato’s
dialogue.
=Gorgo=: of Sparta; wife of Leonidas and daughter of Cleomenes I.
Stories of her wisdom and sagacity are told by Herodotus (6. 49, 7.
239).
=Gylippus=: Spartan general who came to the rescue of Syracuse and
chiefly caused the utter collapse of the Athenian attack upon that city.
After the fall of Athens (404 B.C.) it was his business to convey to
Sparta the 1,500 talents of booty. He opened the seams of the sacks,
filched about one-fifth of the amount, but was betrayed by the
inventories enclosed.
=Harmódius=: a handsome youth of Athens associated with Aristogeiton
(the older man) in the assassination of Hipparchus, brother of the
despot Hippias in 514 B.C. Though Athens was not liberated till four
years later, these tyrannicides were canonized as saviours of their
country.
=Hecuba=: the aged wife of Priam, and mother of Hector.
=Hephaestus=: practically the Greek equivalent of the Latin Vulcan or
Fire-God. He is represented as a lame, but sturdy and somewhat humorous
deity, a master of smithcraft.
=Hēracleides= (=Héraclides=): It is not clear to which person of the
name Plutarch refers. The best known was Heracleides Ponticus, a pupil
of Plato and a miscellaneous writer.
=Hēracleitus= (=Hēraclítus=): physical philosopher of Ephesus, _fl._
_c._ 515 B.C. Famous for the compression of his style, which became so
cryptic that he earned the title of the ‘Obscure’. He was something of a
hermit and favoured the simple vegetarian life. The ‘weeping
philosopher’.
=Hermíŏne=: daughter of Menelaus and Helen; married to Neoptolemus (son
of Achilles) and jealous of Andromache, whom she tried to put to death.
=Hēródŏtus=: _c._ 484-400 B.C.; the so-called ‘Father of History’. He
travelled widely in the East and in the Grecian world, and wrote on
Lydia, Babylonia, Egypt, Persia, and the great Persian war. His desire
is to get at the facts, but he displays a naïve fondness for
story-telling and for wonders and miracles.
=Hēróphȋlus=: of Chalcedon; a most eminent physician and a discoverer in
anatomy and physiology; _fl._ _c._ 300 B.C.
=Hiero I=: or the Magnificent, despot of Gelon and Syracuse (478-467
B.C.), and most powerful Sicilian of his day. Poets at one time or other
associated with his court were Epicharmus, Xenophanes, Simonides,
Aeschylus, Pindar, and Bacchylides.
=Hierónymus=: tragic and dithyrambic poet of Athens and apparently a
writer on poets.
=Hippócrătes=: of Cos; the ‘father of medicine’; the most renowned
physician and medical teacher and writer of antiquity: _c._ 460-357 B.C.
=Hypereides= (=Hyperídes=): Attic orator; patriot, contemporary and, for
the most part, supporter of Demosthenes in his anti-Macedonian policy.
Put to death by Antipater (q.v.), 322 B.C. An elegant speaker, of
dubious private life.
=Íbycus=: of Rhegium, _fl._ _c._ 540 B.C. at the court of the despot of
Samos; a lyric poet of the erotic type. The proverb, ‘the cranes of
Ibycus’, arose from the story that, when being murdered by brigands near
Corinth, he invoked a flock of cranes, then flying past, to avenge his
death. Plutarch tells the sequel (_Garrulity_).
=īno=: or Leucóthea; a mythological personage, daughter of Cadmus and
wife of Athamas. One story went that, when she leapt into the sea, she
was carried to Corinth by a dolphin. Hence the allusion in the story of
Arion.
=īphícrătes=: Athenian general in early part of the fourth century B.C.
An innovator in tactics and military equipment, noted for his prudence
and foresight.
=Ischómăchus=: a character of the name appears in Xenophon’s
_Oeconomicus_ as lecturing his wife upon the principles of domestic
management. Such a philosophically disposed person may be the associate
of Socrates mentioned by Plutarch.
=Ithacans=: the people of Odysseus, king of Ithaca, one of the Ionian
islands, south of Corfu.
=Ixíon=: mythical Thessalian king, who made illicit love to Hera, wife
of Zeus, and was punished by being fastened to a perpetually revolving
wheel in Hades.
=Laelius=: C. Laelius Sapiens, friend of Scipio Africanus Minor. Consul
140 B.C. Cicero’s _De Amicitia_ is otherwise named his _Laelius_.
Philosopher, orator, and scholar.
=Laértes=: aged father of Odysseus; superannuated king of Ithaca.
=Lĕchaeum=: the port of Old Corinth, with which it was connected by
walls one and a half miles in length.
=Lēlántum=: a river of Euboea, flowing through the fertile Lelantine
plain (between Chalcis and Eretria), which was long a bone of contention
between the two cities.
=Leónȋdas=: the famous Spartan king, who so stubbornly held the pass of
Thermopylae against the Persians with his ‘Three Hundred’, 480 B.C.
=Leptis=: a town in Africa near the modern Tripoli; a Phoenician
settlement and afterwards a Roman colony.
=Lesches=: one of the post-Homeric (‘Cyclic’) poets, and writer of the
_Little Iliad_; a native of Lesbos, _fl._ _c._ 705 B.C.
=Leuctra=: Boeotian village; the scene of the great defeat of the
Spartans by Epaminondas, 371 B.C.
=Livia=: Livia Drusilla, 56 B.C.-A.D. 29. Her first husband was Tiberius
Claudius Nero, by whom she was the mother of Tiberius, the future
emperor. Married to Augustus (then Octavianus) in 38 B.C., and having no
children by him, she was anxious to keep the succession in her own
family. A woman of strong character, she exerted a tactful control over
Augustus and attempted one more imperious over Tiberius, but failed.
=Locri=: Locri Epizephyrii, an important Greek town of South Italy,
about the modern Gerace. Its constitutional code was often regarded as a
model.
=Locris=: a Greek community lying along the north side of the middle of
the Corinthian Gulf.
=Loxias=: Apollo as God of Oracles. The name was commonly interpreted as
‘Riddling’ or ‘Indirect’.
=Lucullus=: Roman conqueror of Mithridates, succeeded in his command by
Pompey, 66 B.C. Famous for his wealth and luxury, and particularly for
his lavish feasts. A byword for self-indulgence.
=Lycéum=: an exercise ground with terraces (‘walks’) and colonnades just
outside the wall to the east of Athens. It was here that Aristotle
discoursed on the ‘Walk’ (_peripatos_), whence the name ‘Peripatetic’
became applied to his school.
=Lycurgus=: (1) the more or less legendary lawgiver and
constitution-maker of Sparta. His date and personality are quite
uncertain, and he is not improbably as mythical as Heracles.
(2) son of Dryas, a legendary Thracian king who resisted the worship of
Dionysius and hacked down his sacred plant, the vine. Dionysius punished
him with madness, during which he killed his own son, thinking him a
vine. The story is much varied in particulars.
=Lysander=: Spartan admiral, who won the battle of Aegospotami against
the Athenians and concluded the reduction of Athens in 404 B.C. He was
afterwards distinguished for his ostentation and arrogance.
=Lysias=: orator and professional rhetorician of Athens, distinguished
for the purity and lucidity of his diction and his grace of style: _fl._
_c._ 403 B.C. The majority of his 230 speeches were written for
litigants.
=Lysímăchus=: of Macedonia; became king of Thrace on the partition of
Alexander’s empire. A man of powerful physique and an able soldier.
Later his territory included the western half of Asia Minor. Killed in
battle 281 B.C.
=Masinissa=: king of Numidia; first a supporter, then an enemy, of
Carthage, he lent great assistance to the Romans from 204 B.C. to 148.
His reign was long and he died at ninety.
=Meidias= (=Mídias=): an Athenian citizen and bitter enemy of
Demosthenes, one of whose best known speeches is a violent, and possibly
a rather scurrilous, attack upon him.
=Melánthius=: of Athens: an inferior tragic and elegiac poet of
worthless character: a contemporary of Aristophanes and Plato.
=Meleáger=: legendary prince of Calydon. Having slain his mother’s
brothers, he was cursed by her, and thereupon refused to take further
part in the war against the Curetes. No offers could induce him to leave
his chamber and rout the enemy, until he yielded to the prayers of his
wife Cleopatra.
=Menander=: chief poet of the Athenian New Comedy (or comedy of
manners), 342-291 B.C.; a polished and easy-tempered man of the world.
His sententious writings lent themselves to quotation and were much read
in schools. To moralizing critics of a later age he was to comedy what
Homer was to epic.
=Mĕnedémus=: philosopher and statesman of Euboea, of the ‘Megarian’
school. Died _c._ 277 B.C.
=Méropë=: the name of several mythological semi-goddesses, mostly
connected with the heavenly bodies.
=Metellus=: Q. Caecilius Metellus, who successfully conducted the
Numidian War against Jugurtha (109 B.C.) until superseded by Marius. A
man of high character, military ability, and intellectual culture.
=Mētrodórus=: favourite pupil of Epicurus (q.v.) and almost co-master of
his school. Died 277 B.C.
=Mithridátes=: Mithridates VI, or the Great, king of Pontus 120-63 B.C.,
a Hellenized oriental famed for his physical and intellectual ability,
his ambition and daring; of importance in history for his wars with the
Romans under Lucullus and Pompey. He made a special study of poisons and
their antidotes.
=Mnēsíphȋlus=: Athenian statesman of sound practical ability, taken by
Themistocles as his model. It was he who urged Themistocles to force on
the battle of Salamis (480 B.C.). In the _Dinner-Party_ Plutarch borrows
the name for an imaginary friend of Solon.
=Molycréa=: a town just inside the entrance to the Corinthian Gulf on
the north side.
=Myrōn=: Boeotian sculptor; _fl._ 430 B.C. Best known by his Discobolus
and his ‘Cow’. His work included animal forms, and human figures in a
state of muscular activity or tension.
=Mýrsȋlus=: see Pittacus.
=Naucrătis=: a Greek town in the Delta of Egypt, thirty miles from the
sea. At first only a trading-station, it was granted privileges of
internal self-government by Amasis (q.v.).
=Neoptólĕmus=: see Eumenes.
=Nestor=: the typical wise old man of the _Iliad_.
=Nicander=: poet and physician of Colophon; _fl._ in earlier half of
second century B.C. Two of his poems are extant: the _Theriaca_ on
venomous animals, and the _Alexipharmaca_ (or ‘_Antidotes_‘) on poisons
and their remedies. The verse in itself is poor.
=Nícias=: (1) Athenian general in the calamitous expedition against
Syracuse (415-413 B.C.). A man of wealth, but religious to the point of
disastrous superstition; a commander of experience, though wanting in
promptitude and self-reliance. He was put to death by the victors.
(2) painter of Athens, _fl._ _c._ 310 B.C., particularly noted for his
chiaroscuro and for improvements in encaustic painting.
=Nilóxĕnus=: a character probably invented by Plutarch, with a name
geographically suitable.
=Numa=: Numa Pompilius, second king of Rome, famed for his piety and the
excellence of his legislation. Much of his history is legendary.
=Olympias=: wife of Philip (q.v.) and mother of Alexander. An imperious
and vindictive woman, with good reasons for jealousy, who often figures
in Macedonian feuds.
=Olynthus=: a Greek town on the Chalcidic peninsula, south of
Thessalonica.
=Ómphălë=: queen of Lydia, to whom Heracles was for a time enslaved and
for whom he played an effeminate part. In a sense she played the Delilah
to his Samson.
=Orchómĕnus=: a very ancient town in Boeotia.
=Oromazdes=: = Ahuramazda, the great God of the Zoroastrians; deity of
light and good, as opposed to Ahrimanes.
=Pándărus=: a Lycian warrior on the Trojan side, famous for his skill as
an archer.
=Panthéa=: beautiful wife of Abradatas, king of Susa. Cyrus, who had
captured her, showed her such respect that Abradatas came over to his
side.
=Parménȋdes=: philosopher and legislator of Elea, _fl._ _c._ 476 B.C.
His writings were in the hexameter verse then usual as the vehicle of
literary philosophy.
=Parménio=: general under Philip and Alexander, and right-hand
lieutenant of the latter. Accused of taking part in a conspiracy against
his chief, he was assassinated at the age of seventy in 330 B.C.
=Parrhásius=: painter of Ephesus, domiciled at Athens, _c._ 400 B.C.;
famed for his accurate drawing and proportion. As a man he was arrogant
and luxurious.
=Pāsíphaë=: (legendary): wife of Minos of Crete; enamoured of a bull and
mother of the Minotaur.
=Patróclus=: the ‘squire’ and beloved friend of Achilles. Killed by
Hector in battle, and avenged by Achilles.
=Peísistrătus=: a younger relative of Solon; intrigued himself into the
position of despot of Athens 560 B.C. He was twice expelled, but
re-established himself. A highly capable ruler, beautifier of Athens,
and a lover of literature.
=Pēleides= (-=ī=-): (i.e. ‘son of Peleus’) = Achilles.
=Péleus=: aged father of Achilles; superannuated king in Thessaly.
=Periander=: despot of Corinth, _c._ 625-585 B.C. An able and powerful
ruler, patron of literature and art, generally (but not invariably)
included among the Seven Sages. His early mildness is commonly reported
to have passed into tyranny (see Thrasybulus). His wife was Melissa.
Pericles: the highest name among what may be called ‘Prime Ministers’ of
Athens. His career may be dated 470-429 B.C., but his leadership became
most pronounced about 444 B.C. A man of large conceptions, brilliant
oratorical powers, and philosophic tastes, but of an aristocratic and
exclusive temperament.
=Perséphŏnë=: daughter of Demeter, wife of Pluto, and therefore, in one
of her aspects, Queen of the Dead.
=Perseus=: king of Macedonia, on whom the Romans made war in 171 B.C. At
first victorious or equal, he was defeated at Pydna by L. Aemilius
Paulus 168 B.C. He was carried to Rome and lived for some years at Alba.
A weak, vacillating and parsimonious monarch.
=Petrónius=: Titus (or Gaius) Petronius, the famous ‘arbiter of taste’
under Nero and director of his pleasures. Whether he was the author of
the famous _Satyricon_ is doubtful.
=Phaeácians=: seafaring inhabitants of the rich and fertile island of
Phaeacia, traditionally identified with Corfu, but possibly Crete. When
Odysseus arrived at the island on his raft he was hospitably entertained
by King Alcinous and sent home to Ithaca by him on a ship.
=Phaedra=: wife of Theseus and step-mother of Hippolytus, of whom she
became enamoured. The allusion in Plutarch refers to the fondness of
Hippolytus for hunting.
=Phálăris=: despot of Agrigentum in Sicily _c._ 570 B.C. His name was in
some legends proverbial for cruelty, and with him is associated the
legend of roasting his victims in a brazen bull. Put he is sometimes
represented otherwise and as a student of letters and philosophy.
=Pheidias= (=Phíd=-) of Athens, the most eminent sculptor of antiquity:
died 432 B.C. He is best known for his work upon the Parthenon and his
colossal statue of Zeus at Olympia.
=Phérae=: a town in Thessaly, somewhat west of the modern Volo, which
became dominant under the despots Jason and Alexander (q.v.).
=Philadolphus=: see Ptolemy (1).
=Philémōn=: Athenian poet of the New Comedy, reckoned second only to
Menander. Lived _c._ 360-262 B.C., and wrote ninety-seven plays.
=Philétas=: of Cos, _c._ 300 B.C.; elegiac poet and critic, tutor of
Ptolemy II. His thinness was a matter of jest for the comedians.
=Philip=: 382-336 B.C. king of Macedon, father of Alexander, and, in a
large measure, conqueror of Greece. Demosthenes’ _Philippics_ and other
speeches were directed against him. An able, hard-working, ambitious,
and rather unscrupulous man; a hard drinker and a sensualist, especially
fond of rude jest, but with intellectual tastes.
=Philíppȋdes=: one of the better Athenian poets of the New Comedy; _fl._
_c._ 335 B.C. At first he attacked the Macedonian rulers, but later
became a friend of Lysimachus (q.v.).
=Philóchŏrus=: Athenian writer on the history, antiquities, and legends
of his country, and on miscellaneous subjects: _fl._ _c._ 300-260 B.C.
=Philócrătes=: Athenian orator, first a supporter, then an opponent, of
Demosthenes. His policy was consistently to abet the pretensions of
Philip of Macedon, who had bribed him lavishly, to the detriment of
Athens. He was ultimately impeached and compelled to go into exile, 330
B.C.
=Philoctétos=: Greek hero (in the expedition to Troy) left desolate on
the island of Lemnos, where he suffered deprivations and the agonies of
a gangrened foot.
=Philopoemen=: (1) the most distinguished Greek soldier of his day; head
of the Achaean League several times from 208 B.C.; a man of culture and
high character.
(2) controlling minister of Attalus II (q.v.).
=Philótas=: there were several Macedonians of the name in the service of
Alexander. The two chief were (1) the son of Parmenio, a favourite of
Alexander, but found guilty of conspiracy and executed; (2) a general
who subsequently became governor of Cilicia.
=Philotímus=: a distinguished physician and writer on medicine of the
date of Erasistratus and Herophilus (q.v.), _c._ 300 B.C.
=Philóxĕnus=: a dithyrambic poet of high repute: _fl._ at Athens 400
B.C. He thence moved to the court of Dionysius (q.v.), by whom he is
said to have been imprisoned for his scathing criticism on the despot’s
verses.
=Phóciōn=: 402-317 B.C. An upright Athenian general and statesman, who
favoured, though probably not in an unpatriotic spirit, the submission
of Athens to the Macedonian power under Alexander (335) and Antipater
(q.v.). He was frequently opposed to Demosthenes, and was put to death
by his countrymen on a charge of treason.
=Phōcýlȋdes=: epic and elegiac poet of Miletus, _fl._ _c._ 530 B.C. Many
of his lines passed into current maxims, and were so intended.
=Phoenix=: a fugitive kindly received by Peleus and entrusted with the
bringing-up of his son Achilles. He had quarrelled with his own father,
whose young mistress he had corrupted at the request of his jealous
mother.
=Pindar=: of Thebes, the most eminent lyrist of Greece, composer of
songs, choral and processional odes, dirges, &c.; lived _c._ 522-442
B.C.
=Píttăcus=: of Mytilene, _c._ 650-569. Contemporary of Sappho. During
the struggles of the oligarchical and popular parties he was appointed
by the latter ‘elective autocrat’ and legislator. The chief
representative on the other side had been Myrsilus. A philosophic poet
and the originator of moral maxims.
=Plato=: the aristocratic and cultured philosopher of Athens, follower
of Socrates, founder of the Academy, and writer of the Dialogues which
go under his name.
=Pólĕmo=: (1) of Athens, who in his youth abandoned profligate habits
for the cult of the Platonic philosophy under the influence of
Xenocrates (q.v.), whom he succeeded 315 B.C.
(2) a Stoic philosopher, traveller, and geographer, who wrote copiously
on inscriptions, &c.; _fl._ _c._ 195 B.C.
=Polýbius=: Greek historian from Arcadia, carried to Italy by the Romans
167 B.C., and taken under the patronage of Q. Fabius Maximus and Scipio
Aemilianus. He accompanied Scipio against Carthage and in Spain. Wrote a
sound, useful, unimaginative history of the years 220-146 B.C. A
practical statesman and a student of the military art.
=Polycleitus= (-=clít=-): of Argos, _fl._ _c._ 450-412 B.C.; a sculptor
of the first rank, particularly distinguished for his representation of
human forms, to which he imparted his ideals of strength and beauty
according to a ‘canon of proportions’. These were best typified in his
_Doryphorus_ (‘spear-bearer’), which was itself sometimes called ‘the
Canon’. His chief colossal statue was the chryselephantine Hera of
Argos.
=Pontus=: in two senses: (1) the Black Sea; (2) a province or region on
the eastern half of the south coast of that sea.
=Praxítĕles=: the second greatest name in Athenian sculpture; _fl._ _c._
365 B.C. He is the head of the ‘later’ (or more graceful) Attic school,
Pheidias (q.v.) representing the earlier, more massive and majestic. He
particularly excelled with his statues of Aphrodite (e.g. the ‘Venus of
Cnidos’).
=Priam=: aged king of Troy, father of Hector, whose dead body he came to
Achilles to ransom.
=Priénë=: an Ionian Greek town in Asia Minor a little south of Ephesus;
the home of Bias.
=Pródȋcus=: of Ceos, sophist and rhetorical teacher; a contemporary of
Plato and a frequent visitor to Athens. His bodily weakness was
notorious.
=Prométheus=: mythical semi-deity, gifted with great foresight; a
benefactor of mankind by giving them fire stolen from heaven (an offence
for which he was cruelly punished by Zeus), and by the invention of the
civilizing arts. His name was commonly interpreted ‘Fore-thinker’.
=Ptolemy=: (1) Ptolemy II (Philadelphus), king of Egypt 285-247 B.C.
(2) Ptolemy III (Euergetes), king of Egypt 247-222 B.C.
(3) Ptolemy IV (Philopator), king 222-205 B.C.; a vicious and sensual
monarch, ruled by his minister Sosibius.
(4) Ptolemy V (Epiphanes), king 205-181 B.C. See _Aristomenes_. It was
in the early part of his reign that Egypt became a Roman protectorate.
He came to the throne at the age of four.
=Publius Nigidius=: contemporary of Cicero; a man of great scientific
and mathematical learning, as became a Pythagorean.
=Pūpius Piso=: Roman orator, and consul in 61 B.C.; a supporter of
Clodius and therefore hostile to Cicero.
=Pyrrhus=: king of Epirus, called in by the people of Tarentum against
the Romans. After a dearly won victory in 280 B.C. he sent his eloquent
minister to Rome to offer humiliating terms of peace. These were
rejected, and after a practically equal contest he retired from Italy.
=Pythagoras=: of Samos, _fl._ _c._ 540-520 B.C. He had apparently
travelled in the East and acquired, besides mathematical knowledge (in
which he made some advances), mystical theological views and probably
also his doctrine of the transmigration of souls. He migrated to Croton
in South Italy, and there became the founder of a close and aristocratic
philosophical brotherhood, to whom the word of the master was sufficient
(_ipse dixit_). Many legends gathered about him and a mystical
interpretation was put upon his rather compressed maxims.
=Pythian=: = ‘belonging to Pytho’, i.e. to Delphi, the seat of the chief
oracle of Apollo.
=Rhium=: the promontory on the south side of the mouth of the Corinthian
Gulf, the north promontory being Antirrhium.
=Rusticus=: L. Junius Arulenus Rusticus, a Roman noble of the Stoic
school and champion of liberty, so far as that was possible under the
Roman emperors. Put to death by Domitian (emperor A.D. 81-96).
=Samius=: lyrist and writer of epigrams at the Macedonian court, _c._
300 B.C.
=Scipio=: (1) P. Cornelius Scipio Africanus Major; the brilliant and
almost ideal Roman general who conquered Hannibal in 202 B.C.
(2) P. Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus Africanus Minor, who completed the
conquest of Carthage 146 B.C.; a student of letters and philosophy.
=Scirōn=: a spot on the Sacred Way from Athens to Eleusis.
=Scyros=: island in the Aegean off north-east of Euboea. Here Achilles
was for a time hidden by his mother in woman’s dress, and occupied in
feminine tasks to keep him from the dangers of Troy.
=Seleucus=: called Callinicus (the ‘Victorious’); king of Syria 246-226
B.C. He was defeated by Antiochus with the help of Gauls (= Galatians)
at Ancyra, and it was for a time thought that he had perished in the
rout. He managed, however, to retain his kingdom.
=Silániōn=: Athenian portrait sculptor _c._ 324 B.C. His _Jocasta_
represented her as dying, her pallor being realistically rendered by the
unworthy device of mixing silver with bronze.
=Siléni=: a class of tipsy satyrs associated with Dionysus. _The_
Silenus was in a sense the Falstaff of Greek legend.
=Simónȋdes=: a most distinguished poet of Ceos, writer of elegies,
choral and processional odes, epigrams, and drinking songs (556-467
B.C.). He spent part of his life as a kind of court poet in Thessaly and
at Syracuse, and visited Athens. His compositions were of a high order,
and his moral maxims much in vogue, but he was notorious for worldliness
and a love of money.
=Sísyphus=: legendary king of Corinth; type of fraudulent and criminal
cunning; punished in Hades by being compelled to roll a stone up a hill
for ever and never establishing it at the top.
=Socrates=: the Athenian philosopher (468-399 B.C.), from whose thinking
most of the later schools were in some way descended. His object was to
bring philosophy down to earth, and to arrive at true and universal
definitions. His simple character, his whimsical irony, and his
dialectical skill formed the groundwork for many stories. His method was
conversational and non-didactic. He wrote nothing, and what we know of
him is due to his disciples Plato and Xenophon, and to later writers.
=Solōn=: of Athens, _c._ 638-558 B.C.; aristocrat, trader, traveller,
poet and thinker. Chosen at a time of political and financial crisis as
mediator between parties in Attica, and as constitution-maker, he
behaved with strict impartiality and self-effacement. We may believe
that he visited Egypt, but his intercourse with Croesus (q.v.) is of
doubtful warrant. Author of much proverbial wisdom.
=Sophocles=: 496-406 B.C.; second in date, and perhaps in merit, of
three great Athenian tragedians; a genial and practical man of the
world.
=Sótădes=: a poet at Alexandria _c._ 280 B.C. He wrote songs and satires
of a lascivious kind. One account states that in consequence of his
abuse he was thrown into the sea in a leaden chest.
=Speusippus=: of Athens, nephew and disciple of Plato, and his successor
as head of the Academy (347-339 B.C.); a writer on ethical and
dialectical subjects. His character is said to have excelled his
intellect.
=Spínthărus=: the best known person of the name was an inferior tragic
poet of Heraclea on the Black Sea satirized by Aristophanes and other
comedians.
=Stilpo=: a high-minded and sane philosopher of great dialectical
acuteness. Founder of the Megarian school, which made a cult of virtue
while denying the possibility of knowledge. See also under Demetrius.
=Sulla=: the distinguished Roman general, 138-78 B.C. He took charge of
the war against Mithridates in 87 B.C., his capture of Athens taking
place in the next year. His love of pleasure resulted in the pimpled
face referred to in Plutarch’s article on _Garrulity_. Caecilia Metella
was his fourth wife.
=Sýbăris=: the oldest Greek settlement in the southernmost part of
Italy, once large, prosperous, and a by-word for effeminate luxury
(whence ‘sybarite’); afterwards completely overthrown and destroyed, its
place being taken by Thurii (q.v.).
=Taenărum=: now Matapan; cape at the end of the middle prong of the
Peloponnese.
=Télĕphus=: king of Mysia at the time of the Trojan war. He was wounded
by Achilles, and could only be cured by ‘that which had wounded him’.
The remedy turned out to be the rust of Achilles’ spear.
=Tháïs=: a witty and beautiful courtesan of Athens, first associated
with Alexander during his Asiatic campaigns and then with Ptolemy in
Egypt.
=Thales=: of Miletus, _c._ 635-555 B.C. Famous as a physical
philosopher, mathematician, and shrewd practical man. He is regularly
mentioned first among the Seven Sages.
=Theaetétus=: a high-minded Athenian youth, eager for knowledge, who
plays his part in Plato’s dialogue of that name.
=Theágĕnes=: Theban general at Chaeronea (338 B.C.).
=Theánō=: wife or pupil (or both) of Pythagoras (q.v.), herself a writer
on philosophy and a pattern of virtue.
=Themistŏcles=: became political leader at Athens 483 B.C., and
commanded the Athenian contingent at the battle of Salamis. Subsequently
(471 B.C.) this extremely able, but apparently not extremely honest, man
was ostracised. His last days were spent in the service of Persia. His
son Diophantus is of no note.
=Theócritus=: of Chios, rhetorician and sophist, noted for his caustic
wit. The Antigonus who put him to death was Antigonus the ‘One-Eyed’.
=Theógnis=: elegiac poet of the sententious order. He flourished at
Megara _c._ 550-540 B.C. Amid the feuds of his country he sides with the
aristocrats, and allusions to political injustice are frequent. Many
current maxims of proverbial wisdom were fathered on ‘Theognis’ as a
matter of course.
=Theōn=: painter of Samos, contemporary of Apelles (q.v.) and Alexander;
spoken of by Pliny as ‘next to the first’.
=Theophrastus=: of Lesbos and afterwards of Athens; disciple and
successor of Aristotle as head of the Peripatetics (322 B.C.). An
encyclopaedic writer on logic, physics, history, biology, zoology, &c.
His best-known work is his _Characters_.
=Theopompus=: king of Sparta, _fl._ _c._ 750 B.C. To his reign belonged
the change of the form of government by the establishment of the popular
‘ephors’ to control the royal power.
=Thersítes=: misshapen and virulent demagogue in the Greek army before
Troy.
=Thĕtis=: sea-goddess; mother of Achilles.
=Thrasybúlus=: despot of Miletus, contemporary and friend of Periander
(q.v.), over whom he exercised a bad influence, as in advising him to
‘cut down the tall poppies’.
=Thúrii=: Greek city in South Italy on the west side of the Gulf of
Tarentum, noted for its special democratic system.
=Tīmágĕnes=: an Alexandrian or Syrian rhetorician and historian. He
taught and wrote at Rome under Augustus, whose friendship he obtained,
losing it, however, through his caustic freedom.
=Tīmocléa=: of Thebes. Plutarch tells of her noble and daring spirit in
his _Life of Alexander_ (c. 12).
=Tīmomăchus=: painter of Byzantium, first century B.C.; particularly
famed for his _Ajax_ and _Medea_, which were bought by Julius Caesar.
Medea was represented meditating the murder of her children.
=Timóthëus=: (1) an able and spirited Athenian general, who obtained
several rather roving successes, chiefly against the Lacedaemonians.
Something of a free lance; of popular character and considerable
culture; _fl._ 378-354 B.C.
(2) poet and musician of Miletus, settled at Athens; _fl._ _c._ 400-360
B.C. His poems were mainly dithyrambs (high-flown and wordy
compositions) or cognate lyrics. His music, at first ill received on
account of its vulgarizing innovations, became immensely popular.
=Tissaphernes=: Persian satrap of lower Asia Minor. See Alcibiades.
=Tīthónus=: a mortal beloved of Eos (Aurora), who obtained for him
immortality, but forgot to obtain him immortal youth.
=Troezen=: a town in the east of the Peloponnese near the entrance of
the Saronic Gulf.
=Tyndareus’ sons=: Castor and Pollux, the traditional preservers of
seamen.
=Typhōn=: = Set; Egyptian malignant deity; brother, enemy, and slayer of
Osiris.
=Xenócrătes=: 396-314 B.C.: philosopher from Chalcedon, disciple of
Plato, and philosophic teacher and writer. His earnestness of character
and application to study atoned for his lack of the Graces. Became head
of the Academic school next but one after Plato.
=Xenóphănes=: philosopher of Colophon, and afterwards of Elea in Italy,
in later part of sixth century B.C. Noted for his high conception of a
Deity as neither anthropomorphic nor subject to human passions. His
doctrines were embodied in hexameter verse.
=Xenophōn=: of Athens; the well-known historian, and leader of the
retreat of the ‘Ten Thousand’ as recorded in his _Anabasis_. A
philosophical adherent of Socrates and a voluminous writer. Lived _c._
444-359 B.C.
=Zacýnthus= = Zante, the southernmost of the Ionian islands.
=Zéno=: (1) of Citium in Cyprus and subsequently of Athens; founder of
the Stoic philosophy; a man of simple, if rather dour, character, and
capable of an apt retort: _fl._ _c._ 270 B.C. A writer on ethical,
physical, and other philosophic subjects.
(2) Philosopher of Elea; disciple of Parmenides (q.v.); upholder of
popular liberty against a usurping despot.
APPENDIX
NOTES ON THE GREEK TEXT
4 D ἐνίοτε γὰρ εἰδότες αἰσθομένοις μᾶλλον αὐτοῖς τοῦτο λεγόντων. Read
... εἰδότες, (ἢ) αἰσθόμενοι ἢ καὶ ἄλλων αὐτοῖς τοῦτο λεγόντων.
5 C ἵνα μάθῃς ὅτι τῶν ἀναξίων τὰ τίμια οὐδὲν διαφέρει. The sense
requires ἀξίων ‘cheap’.
6 C πρὸς δὲ τούτοις τί ἄν τοὺς παῖδας ... καλὸν γάρ τοι κτλ. The cause
of the lacuna is obvious if we read τί ἄν τοὺς παῖδας (καλὸν
διδάσκοιεν;) καλὸν γάρ τοι κτλ.