SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LESS KNOWN WRITERS
MENTIONED IN THE TREATISE ON THE SUBLIME
AMMONIUS.--Alexandrian grammarian, carried on the school of Aristarchus
previously to the reign of Augustus. The allusion here is to a work on
the passages in which Plato has imitated Homer. (Suidas, _s.v._; Schol.
on Hom. Il. ix. 540, quoted by Jahn.)
AMPHIKRATES.--Author of a book _On Famous Men_, referred to by
Athenaeus, xiii. 576, G, and Diog. Laert. ii. 101. C. Muller, _Hist. Gr.
Fragm._ iv. p. 300, considers him to be the Athenian rhetorician who,
according to Plutarch (_Lucullus_, c. 22), retired to Seleucia, and
closed his life at the Court of Kleopatra, daughter of Mithridates and
wife of Tigranes (Pauly, _Real-Encyclopaedie der classischen
Alterthumswissenschaft_). Plutarch tells a story illustrative of his
arrogance. Being asked by the Seleucians to open a school of rhetoric,
he replied, "A dish is not large enough for a dolphin" (+hos oude lekane
delphina choroie+), v. _Luculli_, c. 22, quoted by Pearce.
ARISTEAS.--A name involved in a mist of fable. According to Suidas he
was a contemporary of Kroesus, though Herodotus assigns to him a much
remoter antiquity. The latter authority describes him as visiting the
northern peoples of Europe and recording his travels in an epic poem, a
fragment of which is given here by Longinus. The passage before us
appears to be intended as the words of some Arimaspian, who, as
belonging to a remote inland race, expresses his astonishment that any
men could be found bold enough to commit themselves to the mercy of the
sea, and tries to describe the terror of human beings placed in such a
situation (Pearce ad. l.; Abicht on Hdt. iv. 12; Suidas, _s.v._)
BAKCHYLIDES, nephew and pupil of the great Simonides, flourished about
460 B.C. He followed his uncle to the Court of Hiero at Syracuse, and
enjoyed the patronage of that despot. After Hiero's death he returned to
his home in Keos; but finding himself discontented with the mode of life
pursued in a free Greek community, for which his experiences at Hiero's
Court may well have disqualified him, he retired to Peloponnesus, where
he died. His works comprise specimens of almost every kind of lyric
composition, as practised by the Greeks of his time. Horace is said to
have imitated him in his _Prophecy of Nereus_, c. I. xv. (Pauly, as
above). So far as we can judge from what remains of his works, he was
distinguished rather by elegance than by force. A considerable fragment
on the Blessings of Peace has been translated by Mr. J. A. Symonds in
his work on the Greek poets. He is made the subject of a very bitter
allusion by Pindar (Ol. ii. s. fin. c. Schol.) We may suppose that the
stern and lofty spirit of Pindar had little sympathy with the "tearful"
(Catullus, xxxviii.) strains of Simonides or his imitators.
CAECILIUS, a native of Kale Akte in Sicily, and hence known as Caecilius
Kalaktinus, lived in Rome at the time of Augustus. He is mentioned with
distinction as a learned Greek rhetorician and grammarian, and was the
author of numerous works, frequently referred to by Plutarch and other
later writers. He may be regarded as one of the most distinguished Greek
rhetoricians of his time. His works, all of which have perished,
comprised, among many others, commentaries on Antipho and Lysias;
several treatises on Demosthenes, among which is a dissertation on the
genuine and spurious speeches, and another comparing that orator with
Cicero; "On the Distinction between Athenian and Asiatic Eloquence"; and
the work on the Sublime, referred to by Longinus (Pauly). The criticism
of Longinus on the above work may be thus summed up: Caecilius is
censured (1) as failing to rise to the dignity of his subject; (2) as
missing the cardinal points; and (3) as failing in practical utility. He
wastes his energy in tedious attempts to define the Sublime, but does
not tell us how it is to be attained (I. i.) He is further blamed for
omitting to deal with the Pathetic (VIII. i. _sqq._) He allows only two
metaphors to be employed together in the same passage (XXXII. ii.) He
extols Lysias as a far greater writer than Plato (_ib._ viii.), and is a
bitter assailant of Plato's style (_ib._) On the whole, he seems to have
been a cold and uninspired critic, finding his chief pleasure in minute
verbal details, and incapable of rising to an elevated and extensive
view of his subject.
ERATOSTHENES, a native of Cyrene, born in 275 B.C.; appointed by Ptolemy
III. Euergetes as the successor of Kallimachus in the post of librarian
in the great library of Alexandria. He was the teacher of Aristophanes
of Byzantium, and his fame as a man of learning is testified by the
various fanciful titles which were conferred on him, such as "The
Pentathlete," "The second Plato," etc. His great work was a treatise on
geography (Luebker).
GORGIAS of Leontini, according to some authorities a pupil of
Empedokles, came, when already advanced in years, as ambassador from his
native city to ask help against Syracuse (427 B.C.) Here he attracted
notice by a novel style of eloquence. Some time after he settled
permanently in Greece, wandering from city to city, and acquiring wealth
and fame by practising and teaching rhetoric. We find him last in
Larissa, where he died at the age of a hundred in 375 B.C. As a teacher
of eloquence Gorgias belongs to what is known as the Sicilian school, in
which he followed the steps of his predecessors, Korax and Tisias. At
the time when this school arose the Greek ear was still accustomed to
the rhythm and beat of poetry, and the whole rhetorical system of the
Gorgian school (compare the phrases +gorgieia schemata+, +gorgiazein+)
is built on a poetical plan (Luebker, _Reallexikon des classischen
Alterthums_). Hermogenes, as quoted by Jahn, appears to classify him
among the "hollow pedants" (+hupoxuloi sophistai+), "who," he says,
"talk of vultures as 'living tombs,' to which they themselves would best
be committed, and indulge in many other such frigid conceits." (With the
metaphor censured by Longinus compare Achilles Tatius, III. v. 50, ed.
Didot.) See also Plato, _Phaedrus_, 267, A.
HEGESIAS of Magnesia, rhetorician and historian, contemporary of Timaeus
(300 B.C.) He belongs to the period of the decline of Greek learning,
and Cicero treats him as the representative of the decline of taste. His
style was harsh and broken in character, and a parody on the Old Attic.
He wrote a life of Alexander the Great, of which Plutarch (_Alexander_,
c. 3) gives the following specimen: "On the day of Alexander's birth the
temple of Artemis in Ephesus was burnt down, a coincidence which
occasions Hegesias to utter a conceit frigid enough to extinguish the
conflagration. 'It was natural,' he says, 'that the temple should be
burnt down, as Artemis was engaged with bringing Alexander into the
world'" (Pauly, with the references).
HEKATAEUS of Miletus, the logographer; born in 549 B.C., died soon after
the battle of Plataea. He was the author of two works--(1) +periodos
ges+; and (2) +geneelogiai+. The _Periodos_ deals in two books, first
with Europe, then with Asia and Libya. The quotation in the text is from
his genealogies (Luebker).
ION of Chios, poet, historian, and philosopher, highly distinguished
among his contemporaries, and mentioned by Strabo among the celebrated
men of the island. He won the tragic prize at Athens in 452 B.C., and
Aristophanes (_Peace_, 421 B.C.) speaks of him as already dead. He was
not less celebrated as an elegiac poet, and we still possess some
specimens of his elegies, which are characterised by an Anacreontic
spirit, a cheerful, joyous tone, and even by a certain degree of
inspiration. He wrote also Skolia, Hymns, and Epigrams, and was a pretty
voluminous writer in prose (Pauly). Compare the Scholiast on Ar.
_Peace_, 801.
KALLISTHENES of Olynthus, a near relative of Aristotle; born in 360, and
educated by the philosopher as fellow-pupil with Alexander, afterwards
the Great. He subsequently visited Athens, where he enjoyed the
friendship of Theophrastus, and devoted himself to history and natural
philosophy. He afterwards accompanied Alexander on his Asiatic
expedition, but soon became obnoxious to the tyrant on account of his
independent and manly bearing, which he carried even to the extreme of
rudeness and arrogance. He at last excited the enmity of Alexander to
such a degree that the latter took the opportunity afforded by the
conspiracy of Hermolaus, in which Kallisthenes was accused of
participating, to rid himself of his former school companion, whom he
caused to be put to death. He was the author of various historical and
scientific works. Of the latter two are mentioned--(1) _On the Nature of
the Eye_; (2) _On the Nature of Plants_. Among his historical works are
mentioned (1) the _Phocian War_ (read "Phocicum" for v. l. "Troikum" in
Cic. _Epp. ad Div._ v. 12); (2) a _History of Greece_ in ten books; (3)
+ta Persika+, apparently identical with the description of Alexander's
march, of which we still possess fragments. As an historian he seems to
have displayed an undue love of recording signs and wonders. Polybius,
however (vi. 45), classes him among the best historical writers. His
style is said by Cicero (_de Or._ ii. 14) to approximate to the
rhetorical (Pauly).
KLEITARCHUS, a contemporary of Alexander, accompanied that monarch on
his Asiatic expedition, and wrote a history of the same in twelve books,
which must have included at least a short retrospect on the early
history of Asia. His talents are spoken of in high terms, but his credit
as an historian is held very light--"probatur ingenium, fides
infamatur," Quint. x. 1, 74. Cicero also (_de Leg._ i. 2) ranks him very
low. That his credit as an historian was sacrificed to a childish
credulity and a foolish love of fable and adventure is sufficiently
testified by the pretty numerous fragments which still remain (Pauly).
Demetrius Phalereus, quoted by Pearce, quotes a grandiloquent
description of the wasp taken from Kleitarchus, "feeding on the
mountainside, her home the hollow oak."
MATRIS, a native of Thebes, author of a panegyric on Herakles, whether
in verse or prose is uncertain. In one passage Athenaeus speaks of him
as an Athenian, but this must be a mistake. Toup restores a verse from
an allusion in Diodorus Siculus (i. 24), which, if genuine, would agree
well with the description given of him by Longinus: +Eraklea kaleesken,
hoti kleos esche dia Heran+ (see Toup ad Long. III. ii.)
PHILISTUS of Syracuse, a relative of the elder Dionysius, whom he
assisted with his wealth in his attack on the liberty of that city, and
remained with him until 386 B.C., when he was banished by the jealous
suspicions of the tyrant. He retired to Epirus, where he remained until
Dionysius's death. The younger Dionysius recalled him, wishing to employ
him in the character of supporter against Dion. By his instrumentality
it would seem that Dion and Plato were banished from Syracuse. He
commanded the fleet in the struggle between Dion and Dionysius, and lost
a battle, whereupon he was seized and put to death by the people. During
his banishment he wrote his historical work, +ta Sikelika+, divided into
two parts and numbering eleven books. The first division embraced the
history of Sicily from the earliest times down to the capture of
Agrigentum (seven books), and the remaining four books dealt with the
life of Dionysius the elder. He afterwards added a supplement in two
books, giving an account of the younger Dionysius, which he did not,
however, complete. He is described as an imitator, though at a great
distance, of Thucydides, and hence was known as "the little Thucydides."
As an historian he is deficient in conscientiousness and candour; he
appears as a partisan of Dionysius, and seeks to throw a veil over his
discreditable actions. Still he belongs to the most important of the
Greek historians (Luebker).
THEODORUS of Gadara, a rhetorician in the first century after Christ;
tutor of Tiberius, first in Rome, afterwards in Rhodes, from which town
he called himself a Rhodian, and where Tiberius during his exile
diligently attended his instruction. He was the author of various
grammatical and other works, but his fame chiefly rested on his
abilities as a teacher, in which capacity he seems to have had great
influence (Pauly). He was the author of that famous description of
Tiberius which is given by Suetonius (_Tib._ 57), +pelos haimati
pephuramenos+, "A clod kneaded together with blood."[1]
[Footnote 1: A remarkable parallel, if not actually an imitation,
occurs in Goethe's _Faust_, "Du Spottgeburt von Dreck und Feuer."]
THEOPOMPUS, a native of Chios; born 380 B.C. He came to Athens while
still a boy, and studied eloquence under Isokrates, who is said, in
comparing him with another pupil, Ephorus, to have made use of the image
which we find in Longinus, c. ii. "Theopompus," he said, "needs the
curb, Ephorus the spur" (Suidas, quoted by Jahn ad v.) He appeared with
applause in various great cities as an advocate, but especially
distinguished himself in the contest of eloquence instituted by
Artemisia at the obsequies of her husband Mausolus, where he won the
prize. He afterwards devoted himself to historical composition. His
great work was a history of Greece, in which he takes up the thread of
Thucydides's narrative, and carries it on uninterruptedly in twelve
books down to the battle of Knidus, seventeen years later. Here he broke
off, and began a new work entitled _The Philippics_, in fifty-eight
books. This work dealt with the history of Greece in the Macedonian
period, but was padded out to a preposterous bulk by all kinds of
digressions on mythological, historical, or social topics. Only a few
fragments remain. He earned an ill name among ancient critics by the
bitterness of his censures, his love of the marvellous, and the
inordinate length of his digressions. His style is by some critics
censured as feeble, and extolled by others as clear, nervous, and
elevated (Luebker and Pauly).
TIMAEUS, a native of Tauromenium in Sicily; born about 352 B.C. Being
driven out of Sicily by Agathokles, he lived a retired life for fifty
years in Athens, where he composed his History. Subsequently he returned
to Sicily, and died at the age of ninety-six in 256 B.C. His chief work
was a _History of Sicily_ from the earliest times down to the 129th
Olympiad. It numbered sixty-eight books, and consisted of two principal
divisions, whose limits cannot now be ascertained. In a separate work he
handled the campaigns of Pyrrhus, and also wrote _Olympionikae_,
probably dealing with chronological matters. Timaeus has been severely
criticised and harshly condemned by the ancients, especially by
Polybius, who denies him every faculty required by the historical writer
(xii. 3-15, 23-28). And though Cicero differs from this judgment, yet it
may be regarded as certain that Timaeus was better qualified for the
task of learned compilation than for historical research, and held no
distinguished place among the historians of Greece. His works have
perished, only a few fragments remaining (Luebker).
ZOILUS, a Greek rhetorician, native of Amphipolis in Macedonia, in the
time probably of Ptolemy Philadelphus (285-247 B.C.), who is said by
Vitruvius to have crucified him for his abuse of Homer. He won the name
of Homeromastix, "the scourge of Homer," and was also known as +kuon
rhetorikos+, "the dog of rhetoric," on account of his biting sarcasm;
and his name (as in the case of the English Dennis) came to be used to
signify in general a carping and malicious critic. Suidas mentions two
works of his, written with the object of injuring or destroying the fame
of Homer--(1) _Nine Books against Homer_; and (2) _Censures on Homer_
(Pauly).
[The facts contained in the above short notices are taken chiefly
from Luebker's _Reallexikon des classischen Alterthums_, and the
very copious and elaborate _Real-Encyclopaedie der classischen
Alterthumswissenschaft_, edited by Pauly. I have here to acknowledge
the kindness of Dr. Wollseiffen, Gymnasialdirektor in Crefeld, in
placing at my disposal the library of the Crefeld Gymnasium, but for
which these biographical notes, which were put together at the
suggestion of Mr. Lang, could not have been compiled.
CREFELD, _31st July 1890_.]