Argonauts, he
attempted
to get rid of Aeson hy
viii.
viii.
William Smith - 1844 - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities - a
28.
& 1), but the god himself frequently ap
Zeus placed Aesculapius among the stars. (Hygin. peared in the form of a serpent. (Paus. iii. 23.
Poet. Astr. ii. 14. ) Aesculapius is also said to $ 4; Val. Max. i. 8. $ 2; Liv. Epit. 11; compare
have taken part in the expedition of the Argonauts the account of Alexander Pseudomantis in Lucian. )
and in the Calydonian hunt. He was married to Besides the temple of Epidaurus, whence the wor-
Epione, and besides the two sons spoken of by ship of the god was transplanted to various other
Homer, we also find mention of the following chil- parts of the ancient world, we may mention those
dren of his: Janiscus, Alexenor, Aratus, Hygieia, of Tricca (Strab. ix. p. 437), Celaenae (xiii
. p. 603),
Aegle, laso, and Panaceia (Schol. ad Pind. Pyths between Dyme and Patrae (viii. p. 386), near
iii. 14; Paus. ii. 10. § 3, i. 34. & 2), most of whom Cyllene (viii. p. 337), in the island of Cos (xiii.
are only personifications of the powers ascribed to p. 657; Paus. iii
. 23. & 4), at Gerenia (Strab. viii.
their father.
p. 360), near Caus in Arcadia (Steph. Byz. s. v. ).
These are the legends about one of the most in- at Sicyon (Paus. ii. 10. $ 2), at Athens (i. 21. 87),
teresting and important divinities of antiquity. near Patrae (vii. 21. $ 6), at Titane in the terri-
Various hypotheses bave been brought forward to tory of Sicyon (vii. 23. & 6), at Thelpusa (viii. 25.
explain the origin of his worship in Greece ; and, & 3), in Messene (iv. 31. § 8), at Phlius (ii. 13.
ere descended
Aesculapius
corroborated
was identi
pius is ம
Apollo. The
d, were the
se described
chalia (11
od Home
Stilbe, and
thes. This
me ground-
Aescu apins
dangbuer di
Lapides
בנה ,14 i
as follow
polla, sbe
Arcadian
Ten, which
to Pindar,
his mistet
rdingir da
Lacerea in
- (Comp
ad (Mei
40), it was
ad Ischrs
774Apolicy
5), Herze,
## p. 46 (#66) ##############################################
46
AESON.
AESOPUS.
1
& 3), Argos (ii. 23. & 4), Aegium (ii
. 23. $ 5), / dae, and we still possess the oath which every one
Pellene (vii. 27. § 5), Asopus (iii. 22. § 7), was obliged to inke when he was put in possession
Pergamum (iii. 26. & 7), Lebene in Crete, of the medical secrets. (Galen, Anut. ii. p. 128 ;
Smyrna Balagrae (ii. 26. $ 7), Ambracia (Liv. Aristid. Orat. i. p. 80; comp. K. Sprengel, Gesch.
xxxviii. 5), at Rome and other places. At Rome der Medicin. vol. i. )
(L. S. )
the worship of Aesculapius was introduced from A ESERNI'NUS. (MARCELLUS. )
Epidaurus at the command of the Delphic oracle AEʻSION (Aiolwv), an Athenian orator, was a
or of the Sibylline books, in B. c. 293, for the contemporary of Demosthenes, with whom he was
purpose of averting a pestilence. Respecting the educated. (Suidas, s. v. Aquoo Berns. ) To what
miraculous manner in which this was effected see party he belonged during the Macedonian time is
Valerius Maximus (i. 8. $2), and Ovid. (Met. uncertain. When he was asked what he thought
XV. 620, &c. ; comp. Niebuhr, Hist. of Rome, of the orators of his time, he said, that when he
iii. p. 408, &c. ; Liv. x. 47, xxix. 11; Suet. heard the other orators, he admired their beautiful
Cluud. 25. )
and sublime conversations with the people, but
The sick, who visited the temples of Aescula- that the speeches of Demosthenes, when read, ex-
pius, had usually to spend one or more nights in celled all others by their skilful construction and
his sanctuary (kadeudeur, incubare, Paus. ii. 27 their power. (Hermippus, ap. Plut. Dem. 10. )
§ 2), during which they observed certnin rules Aristotle (Rhet. iii. 10) mentions a beautiful ex-
prescribed by the priests. The god then usually pression of Aesion.
(L. S. )
revealed the remedies for the disease in a dream. AESON (Arow), a son of Cretheus, the founder
(Aristoph. Plut. 662, &c. ; Cic. De Dir. ii. 59; 1 of lolcus, and of Tyro, the daughter of Salmoneus.
Philostr. Vita Apollon. i. 7; Jambl. De Myst. iii. He was excluded by his step-brother Pelias from
2. ) It was in allusion to this incubatio that many ! bis share in the kingdom of Thessaly. He was
temples of Aesculapius contained statues repre• father of Jason and Promachus, but the name
Benting Sleep and Dream. (Paus. ii. 10. § 2. ) of his wife is differently stated, as Polymede,
Those whom the god cured of their disease offered ! Alcimede, Amphinome, Polypheme, Polymele,
a sacrifice to him, generally a cock (Plat. Phaed. Are, and Scarphe. (Apollod. i. 9. & 1 1 and & 16;
p. 118) or a goat (Paus. x. 32. $ 8 ; Serv. ad Virg. Hom. Od. xi. 258; Tzetz. ad Lycophr. 872; Diod.
Georg. ii. 380), and hung up in his temple a iv. 50; Schol. ad Apollon. i. 45; Schol. ad Hom.
tablet recording the name of the sick, the disease, Od. xii. 70. ) Pelias endeavoured to secure the
and the manner in which the cure had been throne to himself by sending Jason awav with the
effected. The temples of Epidauris, Tricca, and Argonauts, but when one day he was surprised
Cos, were full of such votive tablets, and several of and frightened by the news of the return of the
them are still extant. (Paus. ii. 27. $ 3; Strab.
Argonauts, he attempted to get rid of Aeson hy
viii. p. 374 ; comp. Dict. of Ant. p. 673. ) Re force, but the latter put an end to his own life.
specting the festivals celebrated in honour of Aes. (Apollod. i. 9. $ 27. ) According to an account in
culapius see Dict. of Ant. p. 103, &c. The various Diodorus (iv. 50), Pelias compelled Aeson to kill
surnames given to the god partly describe him as himself by drinking ox's blood, for he had received
the healing or saving god, and are partly derived intelligence that Jason and his companions had
from the places in which he was worshipped. perished in their expedition. According to Ovid
Some of his statues are described by Pausanias. (Met. vii. 163, 250, &c. ), Aeson survived the
(ii. 10. § 3, x. 32. & 8. ) Besides the attributes return of the Argonauts, and was made young
mentioned in the description of his statue at Epi- again by Medeia. Jason as the son of Aeson is
daurus, he is sometimes represented holding in one called Aesonides. (Orph. Arg. 55. ) (L. S. ]
hand a phial, and in the other a staff ; sometimes A ESO'NIDES. (Aesox. ]
also a boy is represented standing by his side, who A ESOʻPUS (ATOWTOs), a writer of Fables, a
is the genius of recovery, and is called Telesphorus, species of composition which has been defined
Euamerion, or Acesius. (Paus. ii. 11. $ 7. ) We " analogical narratives, intended to convey some
still possess a considerable number of marble moral lesson, in which irrational animals or objects
statues and busts of Aesculapius, as well as many are introduced as speaking. ” (Philolog. Museum, i.
representations on coins and gems. (Böttiger, p. 280. ) Of his works none are extant, and of
Amalthea, i. p. 282; ii. p. 361; Hirt. Mythol. his life scarcely anything is known. He appears
Bilderb. i. p. 84; Müller, Handb. der Archäol. to have lived about B. c. 570, for Herodotus (ü. 134)
p. 597, &c. 710. )
mentions & woman named Rhodopis as a fellow-
There were in antiquity two works which went slave of Aesop's, and says that she lived in the
under the name of Aesculapius, which, however, time of Amasis king of Egypt, who began to reign
were no more genuine than the works ascribed to B. c. 569. Plutarch makes him contemporary with
Orpheus. (Fabricius, Bill. Graec. i. p. 55, &c. ) Solon (Sept. Sap. Conv. p. 152, c. ), and Laertius
The descendants of Aesculapius were called by (i. 72) says, that he flourished about the 52th
the patronymic name Asclepiadae. ('Aokinniáda. . ) Olympiad. The only apparent authority against
Those writers, who consider Aesculapius as a real this date is that of Suidas (s. v. AlowTos); but
personage, must regard the Asclepiadae as his real the passage is plainly corrupt, and if we adopt the
descendants, to whom he transmitted his medical correction of Clinton, it gives about B. C. 620 for
knowledge, and whose principal seats were cos the date of his birth ; his death is placed B. C. 564,
and Cnidus. (Plat. de Re Publ. iii. p. 405, &c. ) but may have occurred a little later. (See Clinton,
But the Asclepiadae were also regarded as an Fast. Hell. vol. i. pp. 213, 237, 239. )
order or caste of priests, and for a long period Suidas tells us that Samos, Sardis, Mesembria
the practice of medicine was intimately connected in Thrace, and Cotiæum in Phrygia dispute the
with religion. The knowledge of medicine was honour of having given him birth. We are told
regarded as a sacred secret, which was transmitted that he was originally a slave, and the reason of
from father to son in the families of the Asclepia- his first writing fables is given by Phaedrus. (iü.
1
1
## p. 47 (#67) ##############################################
AESOPUS.
47
AESOPUS.
66
a
Prolog. 33, &c. ) Among his masters were two to win his favour by repeating to him fables, and
Samians, Xanthus and ladmon, from the latter of some Aloúrov tí géolov. Two specimens of
whom he received his freedom. Upon this he these gérola or drolleries may be read in the
vieited Croesus (where we are told that be re- Vespas, 1401, &c. , and in the Aves, 651, &c. The
proved Solon for discourtesy to the king), and latter however is said by the Scholiast to be the
afterwards Peisistratus at Athens. Plutarch (de composition of Archilochus, and it is probable that
sera Num. Vind. p. 556) tells us, that he was sent many anecdotes and jests were attributed to
to Delphi by Croesus, to distribute among the Aesop, as the most popular of all authors of the
citizens four minae a piece. But in consequence kind, which really were not his. This is favour-
of some dispute arising on the subject, he refused able to Bentley's theory, that bis fubles were not
to give any money at all, upon which the enraged collected in a written form, which also derives
Delphians threw him from a precipice. Plagues additional probability from the fact that there is a
were sent upon them from the gods for the offence, variation in the manner in which ancient authors
and they proclaimed their willingness to give a quote Aesop, even though they are manifestly
compensation for his death to any one who could referring to the same fable. Thus Aristotle (De
claim it. At length ladmon, the grandson of his Part. Anim. iii. 2) cites from him a complaint of
old master, received the compensation, since no Momus, “ that the bull's horns were not placed
nearer connexion could be found. (Herod. ii. 134. ) about his shoulders, where he might make the
There seems no reason to doubt this story about strongest push, but in the tenderest part, his
the compensation, and we have now stated all the head,” whilst Lucian (Nigr. 32) makes the fault
circumstances of Aesop's life which rest on any au- to be “ that his horns were not placed straight
thority. But there are a vast variety of anecdotes before his eyes. ” A written collection would have
and adventures in which he bears the principal part, prevented such a diversity.
in a life of him prefixed to a book of Fables purport- Besides the drolleries above mentioned, there
ing to be his, and collected by Maximus Planudes, were probably fables of a graver description, since,
a monk of the 14th century. This life repre- as we have seen, Socrates condescended to turn
sents Aesop as a perfect monster of ugliness and them into verse, of which a specimen has been
deformity ; a notion for which there is no authority preserved by Diogenes Laertius. Again, Plato,
whatever. For be is mentioned in passages of though he excluded Homer's poems from his
classical authors, where an allusion to such per- imaginary Republic, praises the writings of Aesop.
sonal peculiarities would have been most natural, By hiun they are called uudo(Phaed. pp. 60, 61),
without the slightest trace of any such allusion. though an able writer in the Philological Museum
He appears for instance in Plutarch's Convivium, (i. p. 281) thinks that the more ancient name for
where though there are many jokes on his former such fictions was alvos, a word explained by
condition as a slave, there are none on bis ap- Buttmann (Letilogus, p. 60, Eng. transl. ),
pearance, and we need not imagine that the an- speech full of meaning, or cunningly imagined
cients would be restrained from such jokes by any (Hom. Od. xiv. 508), whence Ulysses is called
feelings of delicacy, since the nose of Socrates Totalvos in reference to the particular sort of
furnishes ample matter for raillery in the Sympo speecbes which mark his character. In Hesiod
sium of Plato. Besides, the Athenians caused (Op. el Dies, 200), it has passed into the sense of
Lysippus to erect a statue in his honour, which a moral fable. The alvol or pūbol of Aesop were
had it been sculptured in accordance with the certainly in prose :- they are called by Aristo
above description, would have been the reverse of phanes abyou, and their author (Herod. ii. 134) is
ornamental.
Αίσωπος ο λογόποιος, λόγος being the peculiar
The notices however which we possess of Aesop word for Prose, as fan was for verse, and includ.
are so scattered and of such doubtful authority, ing both fable and history, though afterwards
that there have not been wanting persons to deny restricted to oratory, when that became a separate
his existence altogether. "In poetical philosophy," branch of composition.
says Vico in his Scienza Nuova, “ Aesop will be Following the example of Socrates, Demetrius
found not to be any particular and actually exist- Phalereus (B. C. 320) tumed Aesop's fables into
ing man, but the abstraction of a class of men, or poetry, and collected them into a book! and after
a poetical character representative of the companions him an author, whose name is unknown, pube
and attendants of the heroes, such as certainly lished them in Elegiacs, of which some fragments
existed in the time of the seven Sages of Greece. " are preserved by Suidas. But the only Greek
This however is an excess of scepticism into which versifier of Aesop, of whose writings any whole
it would be most unreasonable to plunge: whether fables are preserved is Babrius, an author of no
Aesop left any written works at all, is a question mean powers, and who may well take his place
which affords considerable room for doubt, and to amongst Fabulists with Phaedrus and La Fon-
which Bentley inclines to give a negative. Thus taine. His version is in Choliambics, i. e. lame,
Aristophanes (Vesp. 1259) represents Philocleon as halting iambics (xãos, Yaubos), verses which fol-
learning his Fables in conversation and not out of a low in all respects the laws of the lambic Tri-
book, and Socrates who turned them into poetry meter till the sixth foot, which is either a spondee
versified those that “ he knew, and could most or trochee, the fifth being properly an iambus.
readily remember. ” (Plat. Phaed. p. 61, b; Bent- This version was made a little before the age of
ley, Dissertation on the Fables of Aesop, p. 136. ) Augustus, and consisted of ten Books, of which a
However this may be, it is certain that fables, few scattered fables only are preserved. Of the
bearing Aesop's name, were popular at Athens in Latin writers of Aesopean fables, Phaedrus is the
its most intellectual age. We find them frequently most celebra'ed.
noticed by Aristophanes. One of the pleasures of The fables now extant in probe, bearing the name
a dicast (Vesp. 566) was, that among the candi- of Aesop, are unquestionably spurious. Of these
dates for his protection and vote some endeavoured there are three principal collections, the one con-
## p. 48 (#68) ##############################################
48
AESOPUS.
AESOPUS.
taining 136 fables, published first A. D. 1610, from A ESO'PUS, & Greek historian, who wrote a
MSS. at Heidelberg. This is so clumsy a forgery, life of Alexander the Great. The original is lost,
that it mentions the orator Demades, who lived 200 but there is a Latin translation of it by Julius
years after Acsop, and contains a whole sentence Valerius (VALERIUS), of which Franciscus Juretus
from the book of Job (youvol yap v Alouev oi had, he says (ad Symmach. Ep. X. 54), a manu-
Távtes, youvol oùv åmea evoóueda). Some of the script. It was first published, however, by A. Mai
passages Bentley bas shewn to be fragments of from a MS.
Zeus placed Aesculapius among the stars. (Hygin. peared in the form of a serpent. (Paus. iii. 23.
Poet. Astr. ii. 14. ) Aesculapius is also said to $ 4; Val. Max. i. 8. $ 2; Liv. Epit. 11; compare
have taken part in the expedition of the Argonauts the account of Alexander Pseudomantis in Lucian. )
and in the Calydonian hunt. He was married to Besides the temple of Epidaurus, whence the wor-
Epione, and besides the two sons spoken of by ship of the god was transplanted to various other
Homer, we also find mention of the following chil- parts of the ancient world, we may mention those
dren of his: Janiscus, Alexenor, Aratus, Hygieia, of Tricca (Strab. ix. p. 437), Celaenae (xiii
. p. 603),
Aegle, laso, and Panaceia (Schol. ad Pind. Pyths between Dyme and Patrae (viii. p. 386), near
iii. 14; Paus. ii. 10. § 3, i. 34. & 2), most of whom Cyllene (viii. p. 337), in the island of Cos (xiii.
are only personifications of the powers ascribed to p. 657; Paus. iii
. 23. & 4), at Gerenia (Strab. viii.
their father.
p. 360), near Caus in Arcadia (Steph. Byz. s. v. ).
These are the legends about one of the most in- at Sicyon (Paus. ii. 10. $ 2), at Athens (i. 21. 87),
teresting and important divinities of antiquity. near Patrae (vii. 21. $ 6), at Titane in the terri-
Various hypotheses bave been brought forward to tory of Sicyon (vii. 23. & 6), at Thelpusa (viii. 25.
explain the origin of his worship in Greece ; and, & 3), in Messene (iv. 31. § 8), at Phlius (ii. 13.
ere descended
Aesculapius
corroborated
was identi
pius is ம
Apollo. The
d, were the
se described
chalia (11
od Home
Stilbe, and
thes. This
me ground-
Aescu apins
dangbuer di
Lapides
בנה ,14 i
as follow
polla, sbe
Arcadian
Ten, which
to Pindar,
his mistet
rdingir da
Lacerea in
- (Comp
ad (Mei
40), it was
ad Ischrs
774Apolicy
5), Herze,
## p. 46 (#66) ##############################################
46
AESON.
AESOPUS.
1
& 3), Argos (ii. 23. & 4), Aegium (ii
. 23. $ 5), / dae, and we still possess the oath which every one
Pellene (vii. 27. § 5), Asopus (iii. 22. § 7), was obliged to inke when he was put in possession
Pergamum (iii. 26. & 7), Lebene in Crete, of the medical secrets. (Galen, Anut. ii. p. 128 ;
Smyrna Balagrae (ii. 26. $ 7), Ambracia (Liv. Aristid. Orat. i. p. 80; comp. K. Sprengel, Gesch.
xxxviii. 5), at Rome and other places. At Rome der Medicin. vol. i. )
(L. S. )
the worship of Aesculapius was introduced from A ESERNI'NUS. (MARCELLUS. )
Epidaurus at the command of the Delphic oracle AEʻSION (Aiolwv), an Athenian orator, was a
or of the Sibylline books, in B. c. 293, for the contemporary of Demosthenes, with whom he was
purpose of averting a pestilence. Respecting the educated. (Suidas, s. v. Aquoo Berns. ) To what
miraculous manner in which this was effected see party he belonged during the Macedonian time is
Valerius Maximus (i. 8. $2), and Ovid. (Met. uncertain. When he was asked what he thought
XV. 620, &c. ; comp. Niebuhr, Hist. of Rome, of the orators of his time, he said, that when he
iii. p. 408, &c. ; Liv. x. 47, xxix. 11; Suet. heard the other orators, he admired their beautiful
Cluud. 25. )
and sublime conversations with the people, but
The sick, who visited the temples of Aescula- that the speeches of Demosthenes, when read, ex-
pius, had usually to spend one or more nights in celled all others by their skilful construction and
his sanctuary (kadeudeur, incubare, Paus. ii. 27 their power. (Hermippus, ap. Plut. Dem. 10. )
§ 2), during which they observed certnin rules Aristotle (Rhet. iii. 10) mentions a beautiful ex-
prescribed by the priests. The god then usually pression of Aesion.
(L. S. )
revealed the remedies for the disease in a dream. AESON (Arow), a son of Cretheus, the founder
(Aristoph. Plut. 662, &c. ; Cic. De Dir. ii. 59; 1 of lolcus, and of Tyro, the daughter of Salmoneus.
Philostr. Vita Apollon. i. 7; Jambl. De Myst. iii. He was excluded by his step-brother Pelias from
2. ) It was in allusion to this incubatio that many ! bis share in the kingdom of Thessaly. He was
temples of Aesculapius contained statues repre• father of Jason and Promachus, but the name
Benting Sleep and Dream. (Paus. ii. 10. § 2. ) of his wife is differently stated, as Polymede,
Those whom the god cured of their disease offered ! Alcimede, Amphinome, Polypheme, Polymele,
a sacrifice to him, generally a cock (Plat. Phaed. Are, and Scarphe. (Apollod. i. 9. & 1 1 and & 16;
p. 118) or a goat (Paus. x. 32. $ 8 ; Serv. ad Virg. Hom. Od. xi. 258; Tzetz. ad Lycophr. 872; Diod.
Georg. ii. 380), and hung up in his temple a iv. 50; Schol. ad Apollon. i. 45; Schol. ad Hom.
tablet recording the name of the sick, the disease, Od. xii. 70. ) Pelias endeavoured to secure the
and the manner in which the cure had been throne to himself by sending Jason awav with the
effected. The temples of Epidauris, Tricca, and Argonauts, but when one day he was surprised
Cos, were full of such votive tablets, and several of and frightened by the news of the return of the
them are still extant. (Paus. ii. 27. $ 3; Strab.
Argonauts, he attempted to get rid of Aeson hy
viii. p. 374 ; comp. Dict. of Ant. p. 673. ) Re force, but the latter put an end to his own life.
specting the festivals celebrated in honour of Aes. (Apollod. i. 9. $ 27. ) According to an account in
culapius see Dict. of Ant. p. 103, &c. The various Diodorus (iv. 50), Pelias compelled Aeson to kill
surnames given to the god partly describe him as himself by drinking ox's blood, for he had received
the healing or saving god, and are partly derived intelligence that Jason and his companions had
from the places in which he was worshipped. perished in their expedition. According to Ovid
Some of his statues are described by Pausanias. (Met. vii. 163, 250, &c. ), Aeson survived the
(ii. 10. § 3, x. 32. & 8. ) Besides the attributes return of the Argonauts, and was made young
mentioned in the description of his statue at Epi- again by Medeia. Jason as the son of Aeson is
daurus, he is sometimes represented holding in one called Aesonides. (Orph. Arg. 55. ) (L. S. ]
hand a phial, and in the other a staff ; sometimes A ESO'NIDES. (Aesox. ]
also a boy is represented standing by his side, who A ESOʻPUS (ATOWTOs), a writer of Fables, a
is the genius of recovery, and is called Telesphorus, species of composition which has been defined
Euamerion, or Acesius. (Paus. ii. 11. $ 7. ) We " analogical narratives, intended to convey some
still possess a considerable number of marble moral lesson, in which irrational animals or objects
statues and busts of Aesculapius, as well as many are introduced as speaking. ” (Philolog. Museum, i.
representations on coins and gems. (Böttiger, p. 280. ) Of his works none are extant, and of
Amalthea, i. p. 282; ii. p. 361; Hirt. Mythol. his life scarcely anything is known. He appears
Bilderb. i. p. 84; Müller, Handb. der Archäol. to have lived about B. c. 570, for Herodotus (ü. 134)
p. 597, &c. 710. )
mentions & woman named Rhodopis as a fellow-
There were in antiquity two works which went slave of Aesop's, and says that she lived in the
under the name of Aesculapius, which, however, time of Amasis king of Egypt, who began to reign
were no more genuine than the works ascribed to B. c. 569. Plutarch makes him contemporary with
Orpheus. (Fabricius, Bill. Graec. i. p. 55, &c. ) Solon (Sept. Sap. Conv. p. 152, c. ), and Laertius
The descendants of Aesculapius were called by (i. 72) says, that he flourished about the 52th
the patronymic name Asclepiadae. ('Aokinniáda. . ) Olympiad. The only apparent authority against
Those writers, who consider Aesculapius as a real this date is that of Suidas (s. v. AlowTos); but
personage, must regard the Asclepiadae as his real the passage is plainly corrupt, and if we adopt the
descendants, to whom he transmitted his medical correction of Clinton, it gives about B. C. 620 for
knowledge, and whose principal seats were cos the date of his birth ; his death is placed B. C. 564,
and Cnidus. (Plat. de Re Publ. iii. p. 405, &c. ) but may have occurred a little later. (See Clinton,
But the Asclepiadae were also regarded as an Fast. Hell. vol. i. pp. 213, 237, 239. )
order or caste of priests, and for a long period Suidas tells us that Samos, Sardis, Mesembria
the practice of medicine was intimately connected in Thrace, and Cotiæum in Phrygia dispute the
with religion. The knowledge of medicine was honour of having given him birth. We are told
regarded as a sacred secret, which was transmitted that he was originally a slave, and the reason of
from father to son in the families of the Asclepia- his first writing fables is given by Phaedrus. (iü.
1
1
## p. 47 (#67) ##############################################
AESOPUS.
47
AESOPUS.
66
a
Prolog. 33, &c. ) Among his masters were two to win his favour by repeating to him fables, and
Samians, Xanthus and ladmon, from the latter of some Aloúrov tí géolov. Two specimens of
whom he received his freedom. Upon this he these gérola or drolleries may be read in the
vieited Croesus (where we are told that be re- Vespas, 1401, &c. , and in the Aves, 651, &c. The
proved Solon for discourtesy to the king), and latter however is said by the Scholiast to be the
afterwards Peisistratus at Athens. Plutarch (de composition of Archilochus, and it is probable that
sera Num. Vind. p. 556) tells us, that he was sent many anecdotes and jests were attributed to
to Delphi by Croesus, to distribute among the Aesop, as the most popular of all authors of the
citizens four minae a piece. But in consequence kind, which really were not his. This is favour-
of some dispute arising on the subject, he refused able to Bentley's theory, that bis fubles were not
to give any money at all, upon which the enraged collected in a written form, which also derives
Delphians threw him from a precipice. Plagues additional probability from the fact that there is a
were sent upon them from the gods for the offence, variation in the manner in which ancient authors
and they proclaimed their willingness to give a quote Aesop, even though they are manifestly
compensation for his death to any one who could referring to the same fable. Thus Aristotle (De
claim it. At length ladmon, the grandson of his Part. Anim. iii. 2) cites from him a complaint of
old master, received the compensation, since no Momus, “ that the bull's horns were not placed
nearer connexion could be found. (Herod. ii. 134. ) about his shoulders, where he might make the
There seems no reason to doubt this story about strongest push, but in the tenderest part, his
the compensation, and we have now stated all the head,” whilst Lucian (Nigr. 32) makes the fault
circumstances of Aesop's life which rest on any au- to be “ that his horns were not placed straight
thority. But there are a vast variety of anecdotes before his eyes. ” A written collection would have
and adventures in which he bears the principal part, prevented such a diversity.
in a life of him prefixed to a book of Fables purport- Besides the drolleries above mentioned, there
ing to be his, and collected by Maximus Planudes, were probably fables of a graver description, since,
a monk of the 14th century. This life repre- as we have seen, Socrates condescended to turn
sents Aesop as a perfect monster of ugliness and them into verse, of which a specimen has been
deformity ; a notion for which there is no authority preserved by Diogenes Laertius. Again, Plato,
whatever. For be is mentioned in passages of though he excluded Homer's poems from his
classical authors, where an allusion to such per- imaginary Republic, praises the writings of Aesop.
sonal peculiarities would have been most natural, By hiun they are called uudo(Phaed. pp. 60, 61),
without the slightest trace of any such allusion. though an able writer in the Philological Museum
He appears for instance in Plutarch's Convivium, (i. p. 281) thinks that the more ancient name for
where though there are many jokes on his former such fictions was alvos, a word explained by
condition as a slave, there are none on bis ap- Buttmann (Letilogus, p. 60, Eng. transl. ),
pearance, and we need not imagine that the an- speech full of meaning, or cunningly imagined
cients would be restrained from such jokes by any (Hom. Od. xiv. 508), whence Ulysses is called
feelings of delicacy, since the nose of Socrates Totalvos in reference to the particular sort of
furnishes ample matter for raillery in the Sympo speecbes which mark his character. In Hesiod
sium of Plato. Besides, the Athenians caused (Op. el Dies, 200), it has passed into the sense of
Lysippus to erect a statue in his honour, which a moral fable. The alvol or pūbol of Aesop were
had it been sculptured in accordance with the certainly in prose :- they are called by Aristo
above description, would have been the reverse of phanes abyou, and their author (Herod. ii. 134) is
ornamental.
Αίσωπος ο λογόποιος, λόγος being the peculiar
The notices however which we possess of Aesop word for Prose, as fan was for verse, and includ.
are so scattered and of such doubtful authority, ing both fable and history, though afterwards
that there have not been wanting persons to deny restricted to oratory, when that became a separate
his existence altogether. "In poetical philosophy," branch of composition.
says Vico in his Scienza Nuova, “ Aesop will be Following the example of Socrates, Demetrius
found not to be any particular and actually exist- Phalereus (B. C. 320) tumed Aesop's fables into
ing man, but the abstraction of a class of men, or poetry, and collected them into a book! and after
a poetical character representative of the companions him an author, whose name is unknown, pube
and attendants of the heroes, such as certainly lished them in Elegiacs, of which some fragments
existed in the time of the seven Sages of Greece. " are preserved by Suidas. But the only Greek
This however is an excess of scepticism into which versifier of Aesop, of whose writings any whole
it would be most unreasonable to plunge: whether fables are preserved is Babrius, an author of no
Aesop left any written works at all, is a question mean powers, and who may well take his place
which affords considerable room for doubt, and to amongst Fabulists with Phaedrus and La Fon-
which Bentley inclines to give a negative. Thus taine. His version is in Choliambics, i. e. lame,
Aristophanes (Vesp. 1259) represents Philocleon as halting iambics (xãos, Yaubos), verses which fol-
learning his Fables in conversation and not out of a low in all respects the laws of the lambic Tri-
book, and Socrates who turned them into poetry meter till the sixth foot, which is either a spondee
versified those that “ he knew, and could most or trochee, the fifth being properly an iambus.
readily remember. ” (Plat. Phaed. p. 61, b; Bent- This version was made a little before the age of
ley, Dissertation on the Fables of Aesop, p. 136. ) Augustus, and consisted of ten Books, of which a
However this may be, it is certain that fables, few scattered fables only are preserved. Of the
bearing Aesop's name, were popular at Athens in Latin writers of Aesopean fables, Phaedrus is the
its most intellectual age. We find them frequently most celebra'ed.
noticed by Aristophanes. One of the pleasures of The fables now extant in probe, bearing the name
a dicast (Vesp. 566) was, that among the candi- of Aesop, are unquestionably spurious. Of these
dates for his protection and vote some endeavoured there are three principal collections, the one con-
## p. 48 (#68) ##############################################
48
AESOPUS.
AESOPUS.
taining 136 fables, published first A. D. 1610, from A ESO'PUS, & Greek historian, who wrote a
MSS. at Heidelberg. This is so clumsy a forgery, life of Alexander the Great. The original is lost,
that it mentions the orator Demades, who lived 200 but there is a Latin translation of it by Julius
years after Acsop, and contains a whole sentence Valerius (VALERIUS), of which Franciscus Juretus
from the book of Job (youvol yap v Alouev oi had, he says (ad Symmach. Ep. X. 54), a manu-
Távtes, youvol oùv åmea evoóueda). Some of the script. It was first published, however, by A. Mai
passages Bentley bas shewn to be fragments of from a MS.
