He is
supposed
to have lived about
the commencement of the second century of our era.
the commencement of the second century of our era.
Charles - 1867 - Classical Dictionary
The mythic mode of in-
dicating this was by a statue, representing Taras, the
son of Neptune, and original founder of the place,
seated on a dolphin's back, as if in the act of crossing
the sea from Tenants to Tarentum. This was placed
on the Tenarian promontory. In process of time,
however, the legend ceased to be applied to Taras,
and Arion became the hero of the tain, the order of the
voyage being reversed; and the love of music, which
the dolphin was fabled by the ancients to possess, be-
came a means of adding to the wonders of the story.
(Miller, Doner, vol. 2, p. 369, nol. --Plehn, Lesbiac,
p. 166. )--II. A celebrated steed, often mentioned in
? ? fable, which not only possessed a human voice (Pro-
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? r
ARI
subject would seem to favour the supposition that the
author of" the work in question never bore the name
o{ Arist:i-notiis; this being the appellation given by
the writer to the fictitious personage who is supposed
to have written the first letter in the collection. And
it may so have happened, that the copyists mistook
this name for that of the author himself. This last
opinion has been adopted by Merrier, Bergler, Pauw,
and Boissonade. The work of Aristametus is a col-
lection of Erotic Epistles, entitled 'E7riaro? ,al tpurt-
tai. The greater part of these pieces are only, in
fact, so far to be regarded as letters, as bearing a su-
perscription which gives them somewhat of an epis-
tolary form; they- are, in truth, a species of tales, or
exercises on imaginary subjects. In one of them, a
lover draws the portrait of his mistress; in another,
we have a description of the artifices practised by a
coquet; in a third, a tale after the manner of Boc-
r i. -i '. dec. These letters are divided into two books,
of which the first contains twenty-eight pieces; and
the second, which is not complete, twenty-two. The
style of Aristssnetus, which is almost uniformly of a
declamatory character, is frequently wanting in nature
and taste. It is filled with phrases borrowed from
the poets. The best editions of this writer are, that
of Abresch, Zveollae, 3 vols. 13mo, the third volume
containing the notes and conjectures of various schol-
ars; and that of Boissonade, Paris, 1822, 8vo. This
Utter edition is, on the whole, the better one of the
two. On the merits of Abresch's edition, consult the
remarks of Bast, in his Specimen cd. nov. Epist. Ar-
iv'. -. . p. 9, seqq. . and on those of Boissonade's the
observations of Hoffmann, Lex. Bibl. , vol. 1. p. 253.
(Compare SchiiU, Hist. Lit. Gr. , vol. 6, p. 248, scqq )
AaisTJsns, son of Apollo and the nymph Cyrene,
was born in the part of Libya afterward named from
his mother, and brought up by the Seasons, who fed
hhn on nectar and ambrosia, and thus rendered him
immortal. According to the prediction of the centaur
Chiron, as made to Apollo respecting him, he was to
be called "Jove. '7 and " holy Apollo," and " Agreus"
(Hunter), and " Noniios" (Herdsman); and also Aris-
t<<as. (Pind. , Pyth. , 9, 104, seqq. ) The invention
of th>> culture of the olive, and of the art of managing
bees, was ascribed to him; and Aristotle (ap. Schol
cd Tkeocr. , 5, 63) says he was taught them by the
nymphs who had reared him. Tradition also related,
that one time, when the isle of Ceos was afflicted by
a droutrht. caused by the excessive heat of the dog-
days, the inhabitants invited Aristajus thither; and,
on his erecting an altar to Jupiter Icmams (the Motst-
(wr), the Etesian breezes breathed over the isie, and
the evil departed. -After his death he was deified by
the people of Ceos. (. Apoll. Kh. , 2, 506, seqq. --
Schol. ad ApoU. Rh. , 2, 498. --Serv. ad Yirg. , Gcorg. ,
1. 14. ) Virgil has elegantly related the story of the
love of Aristsus for Eurydice the wife of Orpheus,
his pursuit of her, and her unfortunate death by the
sting of the serpent ; on which the Napa? an nymphs
destroyed all his bees ; and the mode adopted by him,
on the advice of his mother, to stock once more his
hives. (Gcorg. , 4, 282, seqq. --Compare Ovid, Fast. ,
I, 363, seqq. ) Aristieus married Autonoe, daughter
of Cadmus, by whom he became the father of Actsson.
(Kagkilcy's 'Mythology, id cd. , p. 330. ) Thus much
for the legend. Aristseus would seem in reality to have
keen an early deitv of Arcadia, whence the Parrhasii
? ? carried his worship into the island of Ceos; of Thes-
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? ARI
ARISTIDES.
ed with advantage in relation to this astronomer:
Histoire d'Aristarque de Samos, suivie de la traduc-
tion de son outrage sur les distances du soldi de la
tunc, &c, par M. de F\ortta d'Urban). Paris,
1810, 8vo.
Aristeas, I. a poet of ProconneBUs, who, as Herod-
otus relates, appeared seven years after his death to
his countrymen, and composed a poem on the Arimas-
pians. He then disappeared a second time, and, after
the lapse of three hundred and forty years, appeared
in the city of Mctapontum in Magna Grrccia, and di-
rected the inhabitants to erect an altar to Apollo, and
a statue by that altar, which should bear the name of
Aristeas the Proconnesian. He informed them also
that he attended this god, and was at such times a
crow, though now he went under the name of Aristeas.
Having uttered these words he vanished. (Herod. ,
4, 15--Compare the somewhat different account giv-
en by Pliny, 7, 52. ) The poem alluded to above
was epic in its character, and in three books. The
subject of it was the wars between Griffons and Ari-
maspians. Longinus (Y 10) has recorded six of the
verses of Aristeas, which he justly considers more
florid than sublime; and Tzetzes (Chil. , 7, 688) has
preserved six more. (Larcher, ad Herod. , 1. c. )--Hit-
ter has made this singular legend the basis of some
profound investigations. He sees in Aristeas a priest
of the Sun (the Koros or Buddha of the early nations
of India); and he compares with this the remark of
Porphyry (de Abstinent. , 4, p. 399, ed. Lugd. Bat. ,
1620), that, among the magi, a crow was the symbol
of a priest of the sun. He discovers also in the ear-
lier name of that part of Italy where Mctapontum was
situate, namely, Bottiaa, an obscure reference to the
worship of Buddha. Whatever our opinion of his
theory may be, the legend of Aristeas Certainly in-
volves the doctrines of the metempsychosis. (Bitter,
Vorhalle, p. 278, seqq. )--II. An officer under Ptole-
my Philadelphus, to whom is ascribed a Greek work
still extant, entitled, " A History of the Interpreters of
Scripture," giving an account of the manner in which
the Septuagint was written. The best edition is that
printed at Oxford in 1692, in 8vo. It is found also,
with a very learned refutation, in a work entitled Ho-
dii de Bibliorum tcxtibus onginalibus liliri iv. , Oxon. ,
1705, fol. ; and likewise in the second volume of
Havercamp's edition of Josephus; and at the end of
Van Dale's Dissertation, de LXX. Intcrpretibus super
Aristeam, Amstelod. , 1705, 4to. As to other works
by Aristeas, consult Scbard (Arg. , sub Jin. --Joseph. ,
ed. Han. , vol. 2, p. 102).
Aristbba, an island lying to the southeast of the
peninsula of Argolis, in the Sinus Hermionicus. (Pau-
san. , 2, 34. )
AkistTdks, I. a celebrated Athenian, son of Lysim-
achus, and a contemporary of Themistocles. He
entered upon public affairs at a comparatively early
age, and distinguished himself so much by his integ-
rity, that, although inclined to the aristocracy, he nev-
ertheless received from the people the remarkable ap-
pellation of the Just. His conduct at Marathon did
no less honour to his military talents than to his dis-
interestedness. Of the ten Athenian generals, he
was the only one who agreed with Miltiades upon the
propriety of risking a battle; and, rcnouncinghis day of
command in favour of this commander, he prevailed
upon the other generals to do the same. After ser-
? ? vices so important as these, he was, nevertheless,
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? ARI
ARI
lUe ancients assigned to Aristides the invention of
painting on wax. (Sitttg, Diet. Art. , >>. >>) -- IV. A
Greek orator, born at Hadrianopolis in Bithynia, about
AD. 129, according to the common opinion; but more
correctly in A. D. 117. After having applied himself,
with extraordinary ardour, to the study of eloquence,
he travelled in Asia, Greece, and Egypt, leaving be-
hind him everywhere a high opinion of his talents and
virtues. Many cities erected statues to him, one of
which is still preserved in the Vatican. On finishing
his travels, he took up his residence at Smyrna, where
he continued to live until his death, holding a station
in a temple of . Esculapius. Aristides, by a diligent
perusal of Demosthenes and Plato, was able to avoid
the errors of the declaimcrs of his time. His com-
patriots ranked him equal to the Athenian orator; an
nonoar, however, to which he had no just claims.
His discourses are distinguished for thought and argu-
ment. His style is strong, but often wanting in grace.
We have fifty-four declamations of Aristides remain-
ing at the present day, most of them celebrating some
divinity, or else the Emperor Marcus Aurclius and
other personages. One of these discourses is in the
form of a letter to the emperor, on the destruction of
Smyrna by an earthquake, A. D. 178. The monarch
was so much affected by it, that he immediately gave
orders for rebuilding the city. There exists, also from
the pen of this orator, a work on the style that is adapt-
ed to pablic affairs, and that suited to plain and sim-
ple topics (-rrepi ttoXitikov nai utfiehovr Xoyov). Among
th? discourses of Aristides there are five, and the bc-
ginnrhg of a sixth, which were regarded by the an-
cients as the fruit of imposture, or of a credulity un-
worthy a ni-iii of so much general credit. Some of
them appear to touch on animal magnetism. --The Abbe
Mai found, not many years ago, a palimpsest manu-
script of A ristides in the Vatican Library, containing
come unedited fragments of this orator. The best
editions of Aristides are that of Jebb, Oxon. , 1722-30,
4to; and that of LHndorf, Lips. , 3 vols. 8vo. The lat-
ter in decidedly the better of the two, the text having
been more carefully corrected by MSS. Rciske com-
plains heavily of the former, on account of the want of
care in collating MSS. , Ate. --V. A Platonic philoso-
pher, bom at Athens. He became a convert to Chris-
tianity, and presented to the Emperor Hadrian an
"Apology" for the new religion, which, it is said, in-
duced the monarch to pass his edict, by which no one
was to be put to death without a regular accusation
and conviction. This edict was directly favourable
to the Christians. The Apology is lost, but is highly
praised by St. Jerome, who had read it. --VI. A Greek
writer on music.
He is supposed to have lived about
the commencement of the second century of our era.
His work is in three books, and the best edition of it
is that contained in the collection of Mcibomius, In-
tujuj- Muxictt Scriptores, Amstcl. , 1652, 4to.
Aristippis. I. a philosopher of Cyrene, disciple to
Socrates, and founder of the Cyrenaic sect, who flour-
ished about 392 B. C. Socrates, however, with whom
he remained till his execution (Hal. , Pkad. , p. 59),
does not appear to have cured him of his inclination
for pleasure. For although there is little consistency
in the notice* we have of his life and conduct, it is
nevertheless clear, from a variety of anecdotes, that,
notwithstanding he was able to endure privations and
ratferings with equanimity and dignity, his serenity of
? ? mind arose principally from the readiness with which
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? ARI
ARI
during the second Messenian war. and being the cause
of the defeat of his Messenian allies, B. C. 682. (Id.
ibid. )
Arostodkmus, I. son of Aristomachus, of the race
of the HeraclidiB, who, together with his brothers
Tomenus and Cresphontes, conquered the Peloponne-
s;i s. He wan the father of twin sons, Eurysthencs and
Procles, and was, consequently, the parent-stem of
the Eurysthenidffi and Proclida, the two royal lines at
Sparta. Herodotus mentions the traditionary belief
prevalent among the Lacedemonians, that this mon-
arch had led their forefathers into Laconia (6, 62),
whereas the poetic account made him to have died
by lightning while preparing to invade the Peloponne-
sus. This latter account is followed by Apollodorus
(2, 8) and Pausanias (3, 1). Compare the remarks
of Heyne (ad Apollod. , I. c. ) and Bdhr (ad Herod. , I.
c). -- II. A Messenian leader, the successor of Eu-
phaes on the throne of Messcnia. He signalized his
valour in the war against the Spartans. An account
of him will be found in the remarks under the article
Messenia. -- III. A painter, born in Caria, and the
contemporary and host of Philostratus the elder. He
wrote a treatise on eminent painters, on the cities in
which the art of painting had been most cultivated,
and on the kings who had patronised it. (Philoalr. ,
proasm. Icon. , p. 4, ed. Jacobs. -- Sillig, Diet. Art. ,
s. v. )
Abistooiton, I. the friend of Harmodius, who, to-
gether with the latter, slew Hipparchus, one of the
sons of Pisistratus. Consult the account given under
the article Harmodius. --II. A Thcban statuary, who,
in connection with Hypatodorus, made the presents
dedicated by the Argives at Delphi. (Pauaan. , 10,
10. ) He is supposed to have exercised his art from
Olymp. 90 to 102. (Sillig, Did. Art. , s. e. ) -- III.
An Athenian orator, surnamed 6 kvuv, the dog, from
his consummate effrontery. He U the same with the
Aristogiton against whom Demosthenes and DinarchuB
both pronounced discourses. (Schbll, Hist. Lit. Gr. ,
vol. 2, p. 270. )
Ahistomachus, I. son of Cleodcus, grandson of
Hyllus, and great-grandson of Hercules. He was the
father of Aristodemus, Temenus, and Cresphontes,
the three Heraclids that conquered the Peloponnesus.
He himself had previously made the same attempt, but
fell in battle. (Apollod. , 2,8. --Pauaan. , 2,7. --Herod. ,
6, 52. )--II. A native of Soli in Cilicia, who devoted
fifty-eight years of his life to studying the habits of
bees. (Ptin. , 11, 9. ) -- III. A tyrant of Argos, suc-
cessor to Aristippus, who resigned the sovereign pow-
er at the instigation of Aratus, and caused Argos to
join the Achcan league. (Pauaan. , 2, 8. )
Aristomenes, a celebrated Messenian leader, who
signalized his valour against the Spartans. A full ac-
count of him will be found in the remarks under the
article Messenia. --II. An Acarnanian, who lived at
Alexandrea, and was appointed, by the Roman com-
mander yKmilius, tutor to the young king Ptolemy
Epiphanes. He executed this task with wisdom and
talent, but was eventually put to death by his un-
grateful pupil, when the latter had come to the throne,
B. C. 196.
Ariston, I. the son of Agasiclcs, king of Sparta.
He repudiated two wives in succession on account
of their sterility, and then married a third, said to
have been the most beautiful woman in Sparta. She
? ? bore him a son, Demaratus, whom he at the moment
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? L
ARISTOPHANES.
peutdforthe first time on the stage, his face smear-
ed with wine-lees. His success was complete. --The
&me of Aristophanes was not confined to his own city.
Konysim of Syracuse -would gladly have admitted the
popular dramatist to his court and" patronage, but his
invitations were steadily refused by the independent
Athenian. In B. C. 423, the Sophists felt the weight
of his lash, for in that year he produced, though un-
HKcewfuUy, his Nube*. The vulgar notion that the
exhibition of Socrates in this play was an intentional
prelude to his capital accusation in the criminal court,
and that Aristophanes was the leagued accomplice of
Meiilus, has of late years been frequently and satis-
factorily refuted. (See particularly Mr. Mitchell's
elegant and able introduction to his translation of Aris-
tophanes. ) The simple consideration that twenty-four
years intervened between the representation of the
Stilus and the trial of Socrates, affords a sufficient
answer to any such charge. In fact, after the per-
formance of this very comedy, we find Socrates and
Aristophanes become acquainted, and occasionally
meeting together on the best terms. (Plato, Sympos. )
An imperfect knowledge of Socrates at the time, his
reputed doctrines, his face, figure, and manners, so
well adapted- to comic mimicry, were doubtless the
main reasons for the selection of him as the sophistic
CoiyphaMis. --In the Peace and the Lysistrata, Aris-
tophanes again reverts to politics and the Peloponne-
sisn war; in the Wasps, the Birds, and the Ecclcsi-
a:au<z, he takes cognizance of the internal concerns
of the state; in the The*mophoriazouste and the Rarue,
he attacks Euripides, and discusses the drama; while
in the Pin/its he presents us with a specimen of the
middle comedy. Eleven of his comedies are still ex-
tant out of upward of sixty. (Fab. , Bibl. Gr. , s. r.
Aristopluau*. ) Their Greek titles are as follows: 1.
;: 2. 'Isnrric: 3. Ne^<<A<u: 4. SQqKCf: 5.
6. 'OpviOef: 7. Qeafio^opiafovaai: 8. Aw-
j: 9. Bdrpaxot: 10. 'EKKAqautfovoai: 11.
f. -- The Ackarntans ('Axapvelf) was repre-
sented B. C. 425. In this piece the object which the
poet proposes to himself is to engage the Athenians to
become reconciled with the Lacedemonians, by ma-
king them see, through the aid of an allegory, that
peace is preferable to ? war. He feigns that an Achar-
aian, called Dicieopolis (the just city), had found the
means of separating his cause from that of his fellow-
citizens, by making peace, as far as it regarded him-
self, with the enemy; while the rest of the Acharnians,
led astray by the suggestions of their generals, are
suffering all the calamities of war. --The Equitcs or
KnifhLs ('lirirtic) was represented B. C. 424, a year
after the Acnamians. The professed object of this
singular composition is the overthrow of that power-
ful demagogue, the vainglorious and insolent Cleon,
whom the author had professed in his Acharnians that
it was his intention, at some future day, to "cut into
ahoe-leather;" and his assistants on the occasion are
the very persons for whose service the exploit was to
take place, the rich proprietors, who among the Athe-
nians constituted the cjass of horsemen or knights.
For this purpose Athens is here represented as a
bouse; Demus (a personification of the Athenian peo-
ple) is the master of it; Nicias and Demosthenes are
his slaves, and Cleon is his confidential servant and
slave-driver. The levelling disposition of the Athe-
nians could not have been presented with a more
? ? agreeable picture. If the drarrCatis persona are few,
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? ARISTOPHANES.
ARISTOPHANES.
of the Styx, over which stream Bacchus passes, in or-
der to bring back to earth the poet -Eschylus, in prefer-
ence to Euripides. --The Females met in Assembly
('EKK^aut^ovaai), represented 13. C. 392, is directed
against the demagogues that disturbed the tranquillity
of the state. It contains also some attacks levelled at
the republic of Plato, and, above all, at the community
of goods, of women, and of children, which formed the
basis of Plato's system. The wife of one of the lead-
ing men in the state forms a plot with her female com-
panions, the object of which is to force the people to
give the reins of government into their hands. They
succeed by a stratagem, and pasa some absurd laws,
which are a parody on those in existence at Athens. --
The Hutus (IIXoiiTOf) appears to have been first rep-
resented B. C. 409. It was re-exhibited twenty years
after this. It would seem that our present text is made
up of these two editions of the play. The play has no
parabasis. and belongs to the Middle Comedy. A cit-
izen of Athens meets with a blind man, and entertains
him at his house. This blind personage is Plutus, the
god of riches. Having recovered his sight by sleep-
ing in the temple of yteculapius, he is made to take
the place of the ruler of Olympus, which affords the
poet an opportunity of satirizing the cupidity and cor-
ruption of his countrymen. -- " Never," observes
Schlcgel, "did a sovereign power, for such was the
Athenian people, show greater good-humor in permit-
ting the boldest truths to be spoken of it; nay, more,
jestingly thrown in its teeth, than in the case of Aris-
tophanes. Even though the abuses of government
might not be corrected thereby, yet it was a mark of
magnanimity to permit this unsparing ex posure of them.
Besides, Aristophanes shows himself throughout to be
a zealous patriot: he attacks the powerful misleaders
of the people, the same who are represented as so de-
structive by the grave Thucydides: he advises them
to conclude that internal war which irreparably de-
stroyed the prosperity of Greece; he recommends the
simplicity and rigour of ancient manners. --But I hear
it asserted that Aristophanes was an immoral buffoon.
Why, yes; among other things he was this too; nor
do I mean to justify him for sinking so low with all
his great qualifications, whether he was incited to it
by natural coarseness, or whether he thought it ne-
cessary to gain over the mob, in order to be able to
tell the people such bold truths. At any rate, he boasts
of having striven for the laughter of the commonalty,
by merely sensual jests, much less than any of his com-
petitors, and of having thus contributed to the perfec-
tion of his art. To be reasonable, we mustiudge him,
in those things which give us so much oflence, from
the point of view of a contemporary. The ancients
had, in certain respects, a completely different and much
freer system of morals than we have. This was de-
rived from their religion, which was really the worship
of nature, and which had hallowed many public usages
grossly offensive to decency. Moreover, since, from
the retired manner in which the women lived, the men
were almost always by themselves, the language of
social intercourse had obtained a certain coarseness,
which always seems to be the case under similar cir-
cumstances Since the age of chivalry, women have
given the tone to society in modern Europe, and we
are indebted to the homage which is paid them for the
sway of a loftier morality in speech, in the line arts,
and in poetry. Lastly, the ancient comic writer, who
? ? took the world as it was, had a very corrupted state of
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dicating this was by a statue, representing Taras, the
son of Neptune, and original founder of the place,
seated on a dolphin's back, as if in the act of crossing
the sea from Tenants to Tarentum. This was placed
on the Tenarian promontory. In process of time,
however, the legend ceased to be applied to Taras,
and Arion became the hero of the tain, the order of the
voyage being reversed; and the love of music, which
the dolphin was fabled by the ancients to possess, be-
came a means of adding to the wonders of the story.
(Miller, Doner, vol. 2, p. 369, nol. --Plehn, Lesbiac,
p. 166. )--II. A celebrated steed, often mentioned in
? ? fable, which not only possessed a human voice (Pro-
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? r
ARI
subject would seem to favour the supposition that the
author of" the work in question never bore the name
o{ Arist:i-notiis; this being the appellation given by
the writer to the fictitious personage who is supposed
to have written the first letter in the collection. And
it may so have happened, that the copyists mistook
this name for that of the author himself. This last
opinion has been adopted by Merrier, Bergler, Pauw,
and Boissonade. The work of Aristametus is a col-
lection of Erotic Epistles, entitled 'E7riaro? ,al tpurt-
tai. The greater part of these pieces are only, in
fact, so far to be regarded as letters, as bearing a su-
perscription which gives them somewhat of an epis-
tolary form; they- are, in truth, a species of tales, or
exercises on imaginary subjects. In one of them, a
lover draws the portrait of his mistress; in another,
we have a description of the artifices practised by a
coquet; in a third, a tale after the manner of Boc-
r i. -i '. dec. These letters are divided into two books,
of which the first contains twenty-eight pieces; and
the second, which is not complete, twenty-two. The
style of Aristssnetus, which is almost uniformly of a
declamatory character, is frequently wanting in nature
and taste. It is filled with phrases borrowed from
the poets. The best editions of this writer are, that
of Abresch, Zveollae, 3 vols. 13mo, the third volume
containing the notes and conjectures of various schol-
ars; and that of Boissonade, Paris, 1822, 8vo. This
Utter edition is, on the whole, the better one of the
two. On the merits of Abresch's edition, consult the
remarks of Bast, in his Specimen cd. nov. Epist. Ar-
iv'. -. . p. 9, seqq. . and on those of Boissonade's the
observations of Hoffmann, Lex. Bibl. , vol. 1. p. 253.
(Compare SchiiU, Hist. Lit. Gr. , vol. 6, p. 248, scqq )
AaisTJsns, son of Apollo and the nymph Cyrene,
was born in the part of Libya afterward named from
his mother, and brought up by the Seasons, who fed
hhn on nectar and ambrosia, and thus rendered him
immortal. According to the prediction of the centaur
Chiron, as made to Apollo respecting him, he was to
be called "Jove. '7 and " holy Apollo," and " Agreus"
(Hunter), and " Noniios" (Herdsman); and also Aris-
t<<as. (Pind. , Pyth. , 9, 104, seqq. ) The invention
of th>> culture of the olive, and of the art of managing
bees, was ascribed to him; and Aristotle (ap. Schol
cd Tkeocr. , 5, 63) says he was taught them by the
nymphs who had reared him. Tradition also related,
that one time, when the isle of Ceos was afflicted by
a droutrht. caused by the excessive heat of the dog-
days, the inhabitants invited Aristajus thither; and,
on his erecting an altar to Jupiter Icmams (the Motst-
(wr), the Etesian breezes breathed over the isie, and
the evil departed. -After his death he was deified by
the people of Ceos. (. Apoll. Kh. , 2, 506, seqq. --
Schol. ad ApoU. Rh. , 2, 498. --Serv. ad Yirg. , Gcorg. ,
1. 14. ) Virgil has elegantly related the story of the
love of Aristsus for Eurydice the wife of Orpheus,
his pursuit of her, and her unfortunate death by the
sting of the serpent ; on which the Napa? an nymphs
destroyed all his bees ; and the mode adopted by him,
on the advice of his mother, to stock once more his
hives. (Gcorg. , 4, 282, seqq. --Compare Ovid, Fast. ,
I, 363, seqq. ) Aristieus married Autonoe, daughter
of Cadmus, by whom he became the father of Actsson.
(Kagkilcy's 'Mythology, id cd. , p. 330. ) Thus much
for the legend. Aristseus would seem in reality to have
keen an early deitv of Arcadia, whence the Parrhasii
? ? carried his worship into the island of Ceos; of Thes-
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? ARI
ARISTIDES.
ed with advantage in relation to this astronomer:
Histoire d'Aristarque de Samos, suivie de la traduc-
tion de son outrage sur les distances du soldi de la
tunc, &c, par M. de F\ortta d'Urban). Paris,
1810, 8vo.
Aristeas, I. a poet of ProconneBUs, who, as Herod-
otus relates, appeared seven years after his death to
his countrymen, and composed a poem on the Arimas-
pians. He then disappeared a second time, and, after
the lapse of three hundred and forty years, appeared
in the city of Mctapontum in Magna Grrccia, and di-
rected the inhabitants to erect an altar to Apollo, and
a statue by that altar, which should bear the name of
Aristeas the Proconnesian. He informed them also
that he attended this god, and was at such times a
crow, though now he went under the name of Aristeas.
Having uttered these words he vanished. (Herod. ,
4, 15--Compare the somewhat different account giv-
en by Pliny, 7, 52. ) The poem alluded to above
was epic in its character, and in three books. The
subject of it was the wars between Griffons and Ari-
maspians. Longinus (Y 10) has recorded six of the
verses of Aristeas, which he justly considers more
florid than sublime; and Tzetzes (Chil. , 7, 688) has
preserved six more. (Larcher, ad Herod. , 1. c. )--Hit-
ter has made this singular legend the basis of some
profound investigations. He sees in Aristeas a priest
of the Sun (the Koros or Buddha of the early nations
of India); and he compares with this the remark of
Porphyry (de Abstinent. , 4, p. 399, ed. Lugd. Bat. ,
1620), that, among the magi, a crow was the symbol
of a priest of the sun. He discovers also in the ear-
lier name of that part of Italy where Mctapontum was
situate, namely, Bottiaa, an obscure reference to the
worship of Buddha. Whatever our opinion of his
theory may be, the legend of Aristeas Certainly in-
volves the doctrines of the metempsychosis. (Bitter,
Vorhalle, p. 278, seqq. )--II. An officer under Ptole-
my Philadelphus, to whom is ascribed a Greek work
still extant, entitled, " A History of the Interpreters of
Scripture," giving an account of the manner in which
the Septuagint was written. The best edition is that
printed at Oxford in 1692, in 8vo. It is found also,
with a very learned refutation, in a work entitled Ho-
dii de Bibliorum tcxtibus onginalibus liliri iv. , Oxon. ,
1705, fol. ; and likewise in the second volume of
Havercamp's edition of Josephus; and at the end of
Van Dale's Dissertation, de LXX. Intcrpretibus super
Aristeam, Amstelod. , 1705, 4to. As to other works
by Aristeas, consult Scbard (Arg. , sub Jin. --Joseph. ,
ed. Han. , vol. 2, p. 102).
Aristbba, an island lying to the southeast of the
peninsula of Argolis, in the Sinus Hermionicus. (Pau-
san. , 2, 34. )
AkistTdks, I. a celebrated Athenian, son of Lysim-
achus, and a contemporary of Themistocles. He
entered upon public affairs at a comparatively early
age, and distinguished himself so much by his integ-
rity, that, although inclined to the aristocracy, he nev-
ertheless received from the people the remarkable ap-
pellation of the Just. His conduct at Marathon did
no less honour to his military talents than to his dis-
interestedness. Of the ten Athenian generals, he
was the only one who agreed with Miltiades upon the
propriety of risking a battle; and, rcnouncinghis day of
command in favour of this commander, he prevailed
upon the other generals to do the same. After ser-
? ? vices so important as these, he was, nevertheless,
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? ARI
ARI
lUe ancients assigned to Aristides the invention of
painting on wax. (Sitttg, Diet. Art. , >>. >>) -- IV. A
Greek orator, born at Hadrianopolis in Bithynia, about
AD. 129, according to the common opinion; but more
correctly in A. D. 117. After having applied himself,
with extraordinary ardour, to the study of eloquence,
he travelled in Asia, Greece, and Egypt, leaving be-
hind him everywhere a high opinion of his talents and
virtues. Many cities erected statues to him, one of
which is still preserved in the Vatican. On finishing
his travels, he took up his residence at Smyrna, where
he continued to live until his death, holding a station
in a temple of . Esculapius. Aristides, by a diligent
perusal of Demosthenes and Plato, was able to avoid
the errors of the declaimcrs of his time. His com-
patriots ranked him equal to the Athenian orator; an
nonoar, however, to which he had no just claims.
His discourses are distinguished for thought and argu-
ment. His style is strong, but often wanting in grace.
We have fifty-four declamations of Aristides remain-
ing at the present day, most of them celebrating some
divinity, or else the Emperor Marcus Aurclius and
other personages. One of these discourses is in the
form of a letter to the emperor, on the destruction of
Smyrna by an earthquake, A. D. 178. The monarch
was so much affected by it, that he immediately gave
orders for rebuilding the city. There exists, also from
the pen of this orator, a work on the style that is adapt-
ed to pablic affairs, and that suited to plain and sim-
ple topics (-rrepi ttoXitikov nai utfiehovr Xoyov). Among
th? discourses of Aristides there are five, and the bc-
ginnrhg of a sixth, which were regarded by the an-
cients as the fruit of imposture, or of a credulity un-
worthy a ni-iii of so much general credit. Some of
them appear to touch on animal magnetism. --The Abbe
Mai found, not many years ago, a palimpsest manu-
script of A ristides in the Vatican Library, containing
come unedited fragments of this orator. The best
editions of Aristides are that of Jebb, Oxon. , 1722-30,
4to; and that of LHndorf, Lips. , 3 vols. 8vo. The lat-
ter in decidedly the better of the two, the text having
been more carefully corrected by MSS. Rciske com-
plains heavily of the former, on account of the want of
care in collating MSS. , Ate. --V. A Platonic philoso-
pher, bom at Athens. He became a convert to Chris-
tianity, and presented to the Emperor Hadrian an
"Apology" for the new religion, which, it is said, in-
duced the monarch to pass his edict, by which no one
was to be put to death without a regular accusation
and conviction. This edict was directly favourable
to the Christians. The Apology is lost, but is highly
praised by St. Jerome, who had read it. --VI. A Greek
writer on music.
He is supposed to have lived about
the commencement of the second century of our era.
His work is in three books, and the best edition of it
is that contained in the collection of Mcibomius, In-
tujuj- Muxictt Scriptores, Amstcl. , 1652, 4to.
Aristippis. I. a philosopher of Cyrene, disciple to
Socrates, and founder of the Cyrenaic sect, who flour-
ished about 392 B. C. Socrates, however, with whom
he remained till his execution (Hal. , Pkad. , p. 59),
does not appear to have cured him of his inclination
for pleasure. For although there is little consistency
in the notice* we have of his life and conduct, it is
nevertheless clear, from a variety of anecdotes, that,
notwithstanding he was able to endure privations and
ratferings with equanimity and dignity, his serenity of
? ? mind arose principally from the readiness with which
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? ARI
ARI
during the second Messenian war. and being the cause
of the defeat of his Messenian allies, B. C. 682. (Id.
ibid. )
Arostodkmus, I. son of Aristomachus, of the race
of the HeraclidiB, who, together with his brothers
Tomenus and Cresphontes, conquered the Peloponne-
s;i s. He wan the father of twin sons, Eurysthencs and
Procles, and was, consequently, the parent-stem of
the Eurysthenidffi and Proclida, the two royal lines at
Sparta. Herodotus mentions the traditionary belief
prevalent among the Lacedemonians, that this mon-
arch had led their forefathers into Laconia (6, 62),
whereas the poetic account made him to have died
by lightning while preparing to invade the Peloponne-
sus. This latter account is followed by Apollodorus
(2, 8) and Pausanias (3, 1). Compare the remarks
of Heyne (ad Apollod. , I. c. ) and Bdhr (ad Herod. , I.
c). -- II. A Messenian leader, the successor of Eu-
phaes on the throne of Messcnia. He signalized his
valour in the war against the Spartans. An account
of him will be found in the remarks under the article
Messenia. -- III. A painter, born in Caria, and the
contemporary and host of Philostratus the elder. He
wrote a treatise on eminent painters, on the cities in
which the art of painting had been most cultivated,
and on the kings who had patronised it. (Philoalr. ,
proasm. Icon. , p. 4, ed. Jacobs. -- Sillig, Diet. Art. ,
s. v. )
Abistooiton, I. the friend of Harmodius, who, to-
gether with the latter, slew Hipparchus, one of the
sons of Pisistratus. Consult the account given under
the article Harmodius. --II. A Thcban statuary, who,
in connection with Hypatodorus, made the presents
dedicated by the Argives at Delphi. (Pauaan. , 10,
10. ) He is supposed to have exercised his art from
Olymp. 90 to 102. (Sillig, Did. Art. , s. e. ) -- III.
An Athenian orator, surnamed 6 kvuv, the dog, from
his consummate effrontery. He U the same with the
Aristogiton against whom Demosthenes and DinarchuB
both pronounced discourses. (Schbll, Hist. Lit. Gr. ,
vol. 2, p. 270. )
Ahistomachus, I. son of Cleodcus, grandson of
Hyllus, and great-grandson of Hercules. He was the
father of Aristodemus, Temenus, and Cresphontes,
the three Heraclids that conquered the Peloponnesus.
He himself had previously made the same attempt, but
fell in battle. (Apollod. , 2,8. --Pauaan. , 2,7. --Herod. ,
6, 52. )--II. A native of Soli in Cilicia, who devoted
fifty-eight years of his life to studying the habits of
bees. (Ptin. , 11, 9. ) -- III. A tyrant of Argos, suc-
cessor to Aristippus, who resigned the sovereign pow-
er at the instigation of Aratus, and caused Argos to
join the Achcan league. (Pauaan. , 2, 8. )
Aristomenes, a celebrated Messenian leader, who
signalized his valour against the Spartans. A full ac-
count of him will be found in the remarks under the
article Messenia. --II. An Acarnanian, who lived at
Alexandrea, and was appointed, by the Roman com-
mander yKmilius, tutor to the young king Ptolemy
Epiphanes. He executed this task with wisdom and
talent, but was eventually put to death by his un-
grateful pupil, when the latter had come to the throne,
B. C. 196.
Ariston, I. the son of Agasiclcs, king of Sparta.
He repudiated two wives in succession on account
of their sterility, and then married a third, said to
have been the most beautiful woman in Sparta. She
? ? bore him a son, Demaratus, whom he at the moment
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? L
ARISTOPHANES.
peutdforthe first time on the stage, his face smear-
ed with wine-lees. His success was complete. --The
&me of Aristophanes was not confined to his own city.
Konysim of Syracuse -would gladly have admitted the
popular dramatist to his court and" patronage, but his
invitations were steadily refused by the independent
Athenian. In B. C. 423, the Sophists felt the weight
of his lash, for in that year he produced, though un-
HKcewfuUy, his Nube*. The vulgar notion that the
exhibition of Socrates in this play was an intentional
prelude to his capital accusation in the criminal court,
and that Aristophanes was the leagued accomplice of
Meiilus, has of late years been frequently and satis-
factorily refuted. (See particularly Mr. Mitchell's
elegant and able introduction to his translation of Aris-
tophanes. ) The simple consideration that twenty-four
years intervened between the representation of the
Stilus and the trial of Socrates, affords a sufficient
answer to any such charge. In fact, after the per-
formance of this very comedy, we find Socrates and
Aristophanes become acquainted, and occasionally
meeting together on the best terms. (Plato, Sympos. )
An imperfect knowledge of Socrates at the time, his
reputed doctrines, his face, figure, and manners, so
well adapted- to comic mimicry, were doubtless the
main reasons for the selection of him as the sophistic
CoiyphaMis. --In the Peace and the Lysistrata, Aris-
tophanes again reverts to politics and the Peloponne-
sisn war; in the Wasps, the Birds, and the Ecclcsi-
a:au<z, he takes cognizance of the internal concerns
of the state; in the The*mophoriazouste and the Rarue,
he attacks Euripides, and discusses the drama; while
in the Pin/its he presents us with a specimen of the
middle comedy. Eleven of his comedies are still ex-
tant out of upward of sixty. (Fab. , Bibl. Gr. , s. r.
Aristopluau*. ) Their Greek titles are as follows: 1.
;: 2. 'Isnrric: 3. Ne^<<A<u: 4. SQqKCf: 5.
6. 'OpviOef: 7. Qeafio^opiafovaai: 8. Aw-
j: 9. Bdrpaxot: 10. 'EKKAqautfovoai: 11.
f. -- The Ackarntans ('Axapvelf) was repre-
sented B. C. 425. In this piece the object which the
poet proposes to himself is to engage the Athenians to
become reconciled with the Lacedemonians, by ma-
king them see, through the aid of an allegory, that
peace is preferable to ? war. He feigns that an Achar-
aian, called Dicieopolis (the just city), had found the
means of separating his cause from that of his fellow-
citizens, by making peace, as far as it regarded him-
self, with the enemy; while the rest of the Acharnians,
led astray by the suggestions of their generals, are
suffering all the calamities of war. --The Equitcs or
KnifhLs ('lirirtic) was represented B. C. 424, a year
after the Acnamians. The professed object of this
singular composition is the overthrow of that power-
ful demagogue, the vainglorious and insolent Cleon,
whom the author had professed in his Acharnians that
it was his intention, at some future day, to "cut into
ahoe-leather;" and his assistants on the occasion are
the very persons for whose service the exploit was to
take place, the rich proprietors, who among the Athe-
nians constituted the cjass of horsemen or knights.
For this purpose Athens is here represented as a
bouse; Demus (a personification of the Athenian peo-
ple) is the master of it; Nicias and Demosthenes are
his slaves, and Cleon is his confidential servant and
slave-driver. The levelling disposition of the Athe-
nians could not have been presented with a more
? ? agreeable picture. If the drarrCatis persona are few,
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? ARISTOPHANES.
ARISTOPHANES.
of the Styx, over which stream Bacchus passes, in or-
der to bring back to earth the poet -Eschylus, in prefer-
ence to Euripides. --The Females met in Assembly
('EKK^aut^ovaai), represented 13. C. 392, is directed
against the demagogues that disturbed the tranquillity
of the state. It contains also some attacks levelled at
the republic of Plato, and, above all, at the community
of goods, of women, and of children, which formed the
basis of Plato's system. The wife of one of the lead-
ing men in the state forms a plot with her female com-
panions, the object of which is to force the people to
give the reins of government into their hands. They
succeed by a stratagem, and pasa some absurd laws,
which are a parody on those in existence at Athens. --
The Hutus (IIXoiiTOf) appears to have been first rep-
resented B. C. 409. It was re-exhibited twenty years
after this. It would seem that our present text is made
up of these two editions of the play. The play has no
parabasis. and belongs to the Middle Comedy. A cit-
izen of Athens meets with a blind man, and entertains
him at his house. This blind personage is Plutus, the
god of riches. Having recovered his sight by sleep-
ing in the temple of yteculapius, he is made to take
the place of the ruler of Olympus, which affords the
poet an opportunity of satirizing the cupidity and cor-
ruption of his countrymen. -- " Never," observes
Schlcgel, "did a sovereign power, for such was the
Athenian people, show greater good-humor in permit-
ting the boldest truths to be spoken of it; nay, more,
jestingly thrown in its teeth, than in the case of Aris-
tophanes. Even though the abuses of government
might not be corrected thereby, yet it was a mark of
magnanimity to permit this unsparing ex posure of them.
Besides, Aristophanes shows himself throughout to be
a zealous patriot: he attacks the powerful misleaders
of the people, the same who are represented as so de-
structive by the grave Thucydides: he advises them
to conclude that internal war which irreparably de-
stroyed the prosperity of Greece; he recommends the
simplicity and rigour of ancient manners. --But I hear
it asserted that Aristophanes was an immoral buffoon.
Why, yes; among other things he was this too; nor
do I mean to justify him for sinking so low with all
his great qualifications, whether he was incited to it
by natural coarseness, or whether he thought it ne-
cessary to gain over the mob, in order to be able to
tell the people such bold truths. At any rate, he boasts
of having striven for the laughter of the commonalty,
by merely sensual jests, much less than any of his com-
petitors, and of having thus contributed to the perfec-
tion of his art. To be reasonable, we mustiudge him,
in those things which give us so much oflence, from
the point of view of a contemporary. The ancients
had, in certain respects, a completely different and much
freer system of morals than we have. This was de-
rived from their religion, which was really the worship
of nature, and which had hallowed many public usages
grossly offensive to decency. Moreover, since, from
the retired manner in which the women lived, the men
were almost always by themselves, the language of
social intercourse had obtained a certain coarseness,
which always seems to be the case under similar cir-
cumstances Since the age of chivalry, women have
given the tone to society in modern Europe, and we
are indebted to the homage which is paid them for the
sway of a loftier morality in speech, in the line arts,
and in poetry. Lastly, the ancient comic writer, who
? ? took the world as it was, had a very corrupted state of
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