Seventy-two new letters were
Pietro Balbi, which was published at Rome with added from a Vienna and a Vatican MS.
Pietro Balbi, which was published at Rome with added from a Vienna and a Vatican MS.
William Smith - 1844 - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities - a
105 ; Hygin.
whom Wernsdorf has shewn (Poüt.
Lat.
Min.
vol.
F'ul. 13 and 14), who, however, is called by others vi. p. 26, &c. ) to be the same person ns Alcimus,
a son of Polymede, Arne, or Scarphe. (Apollod. i. | the rhetorician in Aquitania, in Gaul, who is spoken
9. $ 8 ; comp. AEsox, Jason. ) (L. S. ] of in terms of high praise by Sidonius Apollinaris,
ALCI'MEDON ('Alkimédww). 1. An Arca-|(Epist. viii. 11, v. 10. ) and Ausonius. (Profess.
dian hero, from whom the Arcadian plain Alcime- Buruial. ii. ) His date is determined by Hiero-
don derived its name. He was the father of nyms in his Chronicon, who says that Alcimus
Phillo, by whom Heracles begot a son, Aechma- and Delplnidius taught in Aquitania in A. D. 360.
goras, whom Alcimedon exposed, but Heracles His poems are superior to most of his time.
siived. (Paus. viii. 12. $ 2. ) (AECHM AGORAS. ) They are printed by Meier, in his “ Anthologia
2. One of the Tyrrhenian sailors, who wanted Latina,” ep. 254. –200, and by Wernsdorf, vol. vi.
to carry off the infant Dionysus from Naxos, but p. 194, &c.
was metamorphosed, with his companions, into a ALCI'NOUS (Axivoos). 1. A son of Nau-
dolphin. (Or. Met. iii. 618 ; Hygin. Fut. 134 ; sithous, and grandson of Poseidon. His name is
comp. ACOETES. )
celebrated in the story of the Argonauts, and still
3. A son of Laerceus, and one of the comman- more in that of the wanderings of Odysseus. In
ders of the Myrmidons under Patroclus. (Hom. II. the former Alcinous is represented as living with
xvi. 197, xvii. 475, &c. )
(L. S. ) his queen Arete in the island of Drepane. The
ALCI'MEDON, an embosser or chaser, spoken Argonauts, on their return from Colchis, came to
of by Virgil (Eclog. ii. 37, 44), who men:ions his island, and were most hospitably received.
some goblets of his workmanship. [C. P. M. ] When the Colchians, in their pursuit of the Argo-
ALCI'MENES ('Annouévms). 1. A son of nauts, likewise arrived in Drepane, and demanded
Glaucus, who was unintentionally killed by his that Medeia should be delivered up to them, Alci-
brother Bellerophon. According to some tradi- nous declared that if she was still a maiden she
tions, this brother of Bellerophon was called Deli- should be restored to them, but if she was already
ades, or Peiren. (Apollod. ii. 3. § 1. )
the wife of Jason, he would protect her and her
2. One of the sons of Jason and Medeia. When husband against the Colchians. The Colchians were
Jason subsequently wanted to marry Glauce, his obliged, by the contrivance of Arete, to depart with-
sons Alcimenes and Tisander were murdered by out their princess, and the Argonauts continued
Medeia, and were afterwards buried by Jason in their voyage homewards, after they had received
the sanctuary of Hera at Corinth. (Diod. iv. 54, munificent presents from Alcinous. (Apollon. Rhod.
55. )
(L. S. ) iv. 990-12:25; Orph. Argon. 1288, &c. ; Apollod.
ÁLCI'MENES ('Alaiuévns), an Athenian comic i. 9. $ 25, 26. ) According to Homer, Alcinous is
poet, apparently a contemporary of Aeschylus. the happy ruler of the Phaeacians in the island of
One of his pieces is supposed to have been the Scheria, who has by Arete five sons and one daugh-
Kon vubwoal (the Female Swimmers). His works ter, Nausicaa. (Od. vi. 12, &c. , 62, &c. ) The
were greatly admired by Tynnichus, a younger description of his palace and his dominions, the
contemporary of Aeschylus.
mode in which Odysseus is received, the enter-
There was a tragic writer of the same name, a tainments given to him, and the stories be related
native of Megara, mentioned by Suidas. (Meineke, to the king about his own wanderings, occupy a
Hist. Crit. Čomicorum Gruec. p. 481; Suid. s. v. considerable portion of the Odyssey (from book vi.
'Αλκιμένης and 'Αλκμάν )
(C. P. M. ) to xiii. ), and form one of its most charming parts.
A'LCIMUS (™AAKIJOS), also called Jacimus, or (Comp. Hygin. Fal. 125 and 126. )
Joachim (ʻláxeruos), one of the Jewish priests, who 2. A son of Hippothoon, who, in conjunction
espoused the Syrian cause. He was made high with his father and eleven brothers, expelled Ica-
priest by Demetrius, about B. c. 161, and was in- | rion and Tyndareus from Lacedaemon, but was
stalled in his office by the help of a Syrian army. afterwards killed, with his father and brothers, by
In consequence of his cruelties he was expelled by Heracles. (Apollod. ii. 10. $ 5. ) [L. S. )
the Jews, and obliged to fly to Antioch, but was A'LCINOUS ('Aakivuvs), a Platonic philoso-
restored by the help of another Syrian army. He pher, who probably lived under the Caesars. No
continued in his office, under the protection of the thing is known of his personal history, but a work
Syrians, till his death, which happened suddenly entitled 'EHITOun Tuv Miátwvos doyudtwv, CON-
(1. c. 159) while he was pulling down the wall of taining an analysis of the Platonic philosophy, as
the temple that divided the court of the Gentiles it was set forth by late writers, has been preserved.
from that of the Israelites. (Joseph. Ant. Jud. xii. The treatise is written rather in the manner of
9. $ 7; 1 Maccab. vii. ix. )
Aristotle than of Plato, and the author has not
ALCIMUS ('Adrios), a Greek rhetorician hesitated to introduce any of the views of other
whom Diogenes Laertius (ii. 114) calls the most philosophers which seemed to add to the complete-
distinguished of all Greek rhetoricians, tiourished ness of the system. Thus the parts of the syllo-
about B. c. 300. It is not certain whether he is gism (c. 6), the doctrine of the mean and of the
one same as the Alcimus to whom Diogenes in élers and evepyciai (c. 2. 8), are attributed to
another passage (iii. 9) ascribes a work #pos 'Apúr. Plato; as well as the division of pliilosophy which
tar. Athenaeus in several places speaks of a Si- was common to the Peripatetics and Stvics. It
## p. 103 (#123) ############################################
ALCIPIIRON.
103
ALCIPPE.
ܪ
:
was impossible from the writings of Plato to get a two (n. 5 and 22) between Lucian and Alciphron ;
system complete in its parts, and hence the temp- now as Aristaenetus is nowhere guilty of any great
liltion of later writers, who sought for system, to historical inaccuracy, we may safely infer that
join Plato and Aristotle, without perceiving the Alciphron was a contemporary of Lucian-an infe-
inconsistency of the union, while everything which rence which is not incompatible with the opinion,
suited their purpose was fearlessly ascribed to the whether true or false, that Alciphron imitated
founder of their own sect. In the treatise of Lucian.
Alcinous, however, there are still traces of the spi- We possess under the name of Alciphron 116
rit of Plato, however low an idea he gives of his fictitious letters, in 3 books, the object of which
own philosophical talent. He held the world and is to delineate the characters of certain classes of
its animating soul to be eternal. This soul of the men, by introducing them as expressing their pe-
universe (v yvxT TOÛ koopov) was not created by culiar sentiments and opinions upon subjects with
God, but, to use the image of Alcinous, it was which they were familiar. The classes of persons
awakened by him as from a profound sleep, and which Alciphron chose for this purpose are fisher-
turned towards himself, " that it might look out men, country people, parasites, and hetaerae or
upon intellectual things (c. 14) and receive forms Athenian couriezans. All are made to express
and ideas from the divine mind. ” It was the first their sentiments in the most gracefui and elegant
of a succession of intermediate beings between God | language, even where the subjects are of a low
and man. The idéai proceeded immediately from or obscene kind. The characiers are thus some-
the mind of God, and were the highest object of what raised above their common standard, without
our intellect; the “form" of matter, the types of any great violation of the truth of reality. The
sensible things, having a real being in themselves. form of these letters is exquisitely beautiful, and
(c. 9. ) He differed from the earlier Platonists in the language is the pure Attic dialect, such as it
confining the idea to general laws: it seemed an was spoken in the best times in familiar but re-
unworthy notion that God could conceive an idea fined conversation at Athens. The scene from
of things artificial or unnatural, or of individuals which the letters are dated is, with a few excep-
or particulars, or of any thing relative. He seems tions, Athens and its vicinity; and the time, wher-
to have aimed at harmonizing the views of Plato ever it is discernible, is the period after the reign
and Aristotle on the idéal, as he distinguished of Alexander the Great. The new Attic comedy
them from the cron, forms of things, which he al- was the principal source from which the author de-
lowed were inseparable: a view which seems ne rived his information respecting the characters and
cessarily connected with the doctrine of the eternity manners which he describes, and for this reason
and self-existence of matter, God, the first foun- these letters contain much valuable information
tain of the idéan, could not be known as he is : it about the private life of the Athenians of that time.
is but a faint notion of him we obtain from nega- It has been said, that Alciphron is an imitator of
tions and analogies: his nature is equally beyond Lucian; but besides the style, and, in a few in-
our power of expression or conception. Below him stances, the subject matter, there is no resemblance
are a series of beings (ồaluoves) who superintend between the two writers: the spirit in which the
the production of all living things, and hold inter- two treat their subjects is totally different. Both
course with men. The human soul passes through derived their materials from the same sources, and
various transmigrations, thus connecting the series in style both aimed at the greatest perfection of the
with the lower classes of being, until it is finally genuine Attic Greek. Bergler has truly remarked,
purified and rendered acceptable to God. It will that Alciphron stands in the same relation to Me
be seen that his system was a compound of Plato nander as Lucian to Aristophanes. The first edi-
and Aristotle, with some parts borrowed from the tion of Alciphron's letters is that of Aldus, in his
east, and perhaps derived from a study of the collection of the Greek Epistolographers, Venice,
Pythagorean system. (Ritter, Geschichte der Philo 1499, 4to. This edition, however, contains only
sophie, iv. p. 249. )
those letters which, in more modern editions, form
Alcinous first appeared in the Latin version of the first two books.
Seventy-two new letters were
Pietro Balbi, which was published at Rome with added from a Vienna and a Vatican MS. by Bergler,
Apuleius, 1469, fol. The Greek text was printed in his edition (Leipzig, 1715, 8vo. ) with notes and
in the Aldine edition of Apuleius, 1521, 8vo. a Latin translation. These seventy-two epistles
Another edition is that of Fell, Oxford, 1667. form the third book in Bergler's edition. J. A.
The best is by J. F. Fischer, Leipzig, 1783, 8vo. Wagner, in his edition (Leipzig, 1798, 2 vols, 8vo. ,
It was translated into French by J. J. Combes with the notes of Bergler), added two new letters
Dounous, Paris, 1800, 8vo. , and into English by entire, and fragments five others.
One long
Stanley in his History of Philosophy. (B. J. ] letter, which has not yet been published entire,
ALCIPHRON ('Arxidpwr), a Greek sophist, exists in several Paris MSS.
(L. S. )
and the most eminent among the Greek epistolo- ALCIPPE ('Αλκίππη). 1. A daughter of
graphers. Respecting his life or the age in which Ares and Agraulos, the daughter of Cecrops. Ha-
he lived we possess no direct information what- lirrhothius, the son of Poseidon, intended to violate
Some of the earlier critics, as La Croze and ber, but was surprised by Ares, and killed, for
J. C. Wolf, placed him, without any plausible which Poseidon bore a grudge against Ares. (Paus.
reason, in the fifth century of our aera. Bergler, i. 21. $ 7 ; Apollod. iii. 14. § 2. )
and others who followed him, placed Alciphron 2. A maiden, who was dishonoured by her own
in the period between Lucian and Aristaenetus, brother, Astraeus, unwittingly: When Astraens
that is between A. D. 170 and 350, while others became aware of his deed, he threw himself into a
again assign to him a date even earlier than the river, which received from him the name of Astme
time of Lucian. The only circumstance that us, but was afterwards called Caucus. (Plut. De
suggests anything respecting his age is the fact, Flur. 21. )
that among the letters cf Aristaenetus there are Other personages of this name arc mentioned in
a
ever.
## p. 104 (#124) ############################################
104
ALCMAEON
ALCWAEON.
.
A pollod. iii. 15. $ 8; Diod. iv. 16; Eustath. ad Hom. I desire to possess the neck lace and pep! us of Har-
p. 776; Hom. Od. iv. 124. (ALCYONIDES. ) (L. S. ) monia, and Alcmaeon, to gratify her wish, went to
ALCIS ('AAKUS), that is, the Strong. 1. A Poophis to get them from Phegeus, under the pre
burname of Athena, under which she was worship text that he intended to dedicate them at Delphi
ped in Macedonia. (Liv. xlii. 51. )
in order to be freed from his madness. Phegeus
2. A deity among the Naharvali
, an ancient complied with his request, but when he heard ihat
German tribe. (Tacit. Germ. 43. ) Grimm (Deut- the treasures were fetched for Calirrhoë, he sent
sche Mythol. p. 39) cousiders Alcis in the passage his sons Pronous and Agenor (Apollod. iii. 7. $6)
of Tacitus to be the genitive of Alx, which, ac- or, according to Pausanias (viii. 24. § 4), Temenus
cording to him, signiñes a sacred grove, and is and Axion, after him, with the command to kill
connected with the Greek éroos. Another Alcis bim. This was done, but the sons of Alcmaeon by
occurs in Apollodorus, ii. 1. $ 5. (L. S. ) Calirrhoë took bloody vengeance at the instigation
ALCI'STHENE, a female painter spoken of hy of their mother. (Apollod. Paus. ll. cc. ; Ov. Met.
Pliny (H. N. xxxv. 11. s. 40), who mentions one ix. 407, &c. )
of her pictures representing a dancer. (C. P. M. ] The story about Alcmaeon furnished rich mate-
ALCI'THOE. (ALCATHOL. ]
rials for the epic and tragic poets of Greece, and
A’LCITHUS ("Anxidos), sent as ambassador by their Roman imitators. But none of these poems
the Achaeans to Ptolemy Philometor, B. C. 169, is Dow extant, and we only know from Apollo-
when they heard that the Anacleteria (see Dict. of dorus (iii. 7. $ 7), that Euripides, in his tragedy
Ant. s. v. ) were to be celebrated in his bonour. “ Alcmaeon," stated that after the full of Tbebes
(Polyb. xxviii. 10, 16. )
he married Manto, tbe daughter of Teiresias, and
ALCMAEON ('Annuaiwr), a son of Amphia- that he had two children by her, Amphilochus and
raus and Eriphyle, and brother of Amphilochus, Tisiphone, whom he gave to Creon, king of Co
Eurydice, and Demonassa. (Apollod. iii. 7. $ 2. ) rinth, to educate. The wife of Creon, jealous of
His mother was induced by the necklace of Har- the extraordinary beauty of Tisiphone, afterwards
monia, which she received from Polyneices, to per- sold her as a slave, and Alcmaeon himself bought
suade her husband Ampbiaraus to take part in the her, without knowing that she was his daughter.
expedition against Thebes. (Hom. Od. xv. 247, (Djod. iv. 66 ; Paus. vii
. 3. $ 2, ix. 33. $ 1. )
&c. ) But before Ampbiaraus set out, he enjoined Alcmaeon after his death was worshipped as a
his sons to kill their mother as soon as they should hero, and at Thebes he seems to have had an altar,
be grown up. (Apollod. iii. 6. & 2 ; Hygin. Fub. near the house of Pindar (Pyth. viii. 80, &c. ), who
73. ) When the Epigoni prepared for a second calls bim his neighbour and the guardian of his
expedition against Thebes, to avenge the death of property, and also seems to suggest that prophetic
their fathers, the oracle promised them success and powers were ascribed to him, as to his father Am-
victory, if they chose Alcmaeon their leader. He phiaraus. At Psophis his tomb was shewn, sur-
was at first disinclined to undertake the command, rounded with lofty and sacred cypresses. (Paus.
as he had not yet takon vengeance on his mother, viii. 24. § 4. ) At Oropus, in Attica, where Am-
according to the desire of his father. But she, phiaraus and Amphilochus were worshipped, Alc-
who had now received from Thersander, the son maeon enjoyed no such honours, because he was a
of Polyneices, the peplus of Harmonia also, in- matricide. (Paus. i. 34. § 2. ) He was represented
duced him to join the expedition. Alcmaeon dis- in a statue at Delphi, and on the chest of Cypse
tinguished himself greatly in in and slew Laoda- lus. (x. 10. § 2, v. 17. $ 4. )
(L. S. )
mus, the son of Eteocles. (Apollod. ii. 7. $ 2, &c. ; ALCMAEON (Alkuaiwv), son of the Megacles
comp. Diod. iv. 66. ) When, after the fall of who was guilty of sacrilege with respect to the fol-
Thebes, he learnt the reason for which his mother lowers of Cimon, was invited by Croesus to Sardis
had urged him on to take part in the expedition, in consequence of the services he had rendered to
he slew her on the advice of an oracle of Apollo, an embassy sent by Croesus to consult the Delphic
and, according to some traditions, in conjunction oracle. On his arrival at Sardis, Croesus made
with his brother Amphilochus. For this deed be him a present of as much gold as he could carry
became mad, and was baunted by the Erinnyes. He out of the treasury. Alcmaeon took the king at
first came to Oïcleus in Arcadia, and thence went his word, by putting on a most capacious dress,
to Phegeus in Psophis, and being purified by the the folds of which (as well as the racant space of
latter, he married his daughter Arsinoe or Alphe- a pair of very wide boots, also provided for the
siboea (Paus. viii. 24. & 4), to whom he gave the occasion) he stuffed with gold, and then filled bis
necklace and peplus of Harmonia. But the coun mouth and bair with gold dust. Croesus laughed
try in which be now resided was visited by scar- at the trick, and presented him with as much again
city, in consequence of his being the murderer of (about 590 B. C. ). The wealth thus acquired is said
his mother, and the oracle advised him to go to to have contributed greatly to the subsequent pros-
Achelous. According to Pausanias, he left Psophis perity of the Alcmaeonidae. (Herod.
F'ul. 13 and 14), who, however, is called by others vi. p. 26, &c. ) to be the same person ns Alcimus,
a son of Polymede, Arne, or Scarphe. (Apollod. i. | the rhetorician in Aquitania, in Gaul, who is spoken
9. $ 8 ; comp. AEsox, Jason. ) (L. S. ] of in terms of high praise by Sidonius Apollinaris,
ALCI'MEDON ('Alkimédww). 1. An Arca-|(Epist. viii. 11, v. 10. ) and Ausonius. (Profess.
dian hero, from whom the Arcadian plain Alcime- Buruial. ii. ) His date is determined by Hiero-
don derived its name. He was the father of nyms in his Chronicon, who says that Alcimus
Phillo, by whom Heracles begot a son, Aechma- and Delplnidius taught in Aquitania in A. D. 360.
goras, whom Alcimedon exposed, but Heracles His poems are superior to most of his time.
siived. (Paus. viii. 12. $ 2. ) (AECHM AGORAS. ) They are printed by Meier, in his “ Anthologia
2. One of the Tyrrhenian sailors, who wanted Latina,” ep. 254. –200, and by Wernsdorf, vol. vi.
to carry off the infant Dionysus from Naxos, but p. 194, &c.
was metamorphosed, with his companions, into a ALCI'NOUS (Axivoos). 1. A son of Nau-
dolphin. (Or. Met. iii. 618 ; Hygin. Fut. 134 ; sithous, and grandson of Poseidon. His name is
comp. ACOETES. )
celebrated in the story of the Argonauts, and still
3. A son of Laerceus, and one of the comman- more in that of the wanderings of Odysseus. In
ders of the Myrmidons under Patroclus. (Hom. II. the former Alcinous is represented as living with
xvi. 197, xvii. 475, &c. )
(L. S. ) his queen Arete in the island of Drepane. The
ALCI'MEDON, an embosser or chaser, spoken Argonauts, on their return from Colchis, came to
of by Virgil (Eclog. ii. 37, 44), who men:ions his island, and were most hospitably received.
some goblets of his workmanship. [C. P. M. ] When the Colchians, in their pursuit of the Argo-
ALCI'MENES ('Annouévms). 1. A son of nauts, likewise arrived in Drepane, and demanded
Glaucus, who was unintentionally killed by his that Medeia should be delivered up to them, Alci-
brother Bellerophon. According to some tradi- nous declared that if she was still a maiden she
tions, this brother of Bellerophon was called Deli- should be restored to them, but if she was already
ades, or Peiren. (Apollod. ii. 3. § 1. )
the wife of Jason, he would protect her and her
2. One of the sons of Jason and Medeia. When husband against the Colchians. The Colchians were
Jason subsequently wanted to marry Glauce, his obliged, by the contrivance of Arete, to depart with-
sons Alcimenes and Tisander were murdered by out their princess, and the Argonauts continued
Medeia, and were afterwards buried by Jason in their voyage homewards, after they had received
the sanctuary of Hera at Corinth. (Diod. iv. 54, munificent presents from Alcinous. (Apollon. Rhod.
55. )
(L. S. ) iv. 990-12:25; Orph. Argon. 1288, &c. ; Apollod.
ÁLCI'MENES ('Alaiuévns), an Athenian comic i. 9. $ 25, 26. ) According to Homer, Alcinous is
poet, apparently a contemporary of Aeschylus. the happy ruler of the Phaeacians in the island of
One of his pieces is supposed to have been the Scheria, who has by Arete five sons and one daugh-
Kon vubwoal (the Female Swimmers). His works ter, Nausicaa. (Od. vi. 12, &c. , 62, &c. ) The
were greatly admired by Tynnichus, a younger description of his palace and his dominions, the
contemporary of Aeschylus.
mode in which Odysseus is received, the enter-
There was a tragic writer of the same name, a tainments given to him, and the stories be related
native of Megara, mentioned by Suidas. (Meineke, to the king about his own wanderings, occupy a
Hist. Crit. Čomicorum Gruec. p. 481; Suid. s. v. considerable portion of the Odyssey (from book vi.
'Αλκιμένης and 'Αλκμάν )
(C. P. M. ) to xiii. ), and form one of its most charming parts.
A'LCIMUS (™AAKIJOS), also called Jacimus, or (Comp. Hygin. Fal. 125 and 126. )
Joachim (ʻláxeruos), one of the Jewish priests, who 2. A son of Hippothoon, who, in conjunction
espoused the Syrian cause. He was made high with his father and eleven brothers, expelled Ica-
priest by Demetrius, about B. c. 161, and was in- | rion and Tyndareus from Lacedaemon, but was
stalled in his office by the help of a Syrian army. afterwards killed, with his father and brothers, by
In consequence of his cruelties he was expelled by Heracles. (Apollod. ii. 10. $ 5. ) [L. S. )
the Jews, and obliged to fly to Antioch, but was A'LCINOUS ('Aakivuvs), a Platonic philoso-
restored by the help of another Syrian army. He pher, who probably lived under the Caesars. No
continued in his office, under the protection of the thing is known of his personal history, but a work
Syrians, till his death, which happened suddenly entitled 'EHITOun Tuv Miátwvos doyudtwv, CON-
(1. c. 159) while he was pulling down the wall of taining an analysis of the Platonic philosophy, as
the temple that divided the court of the Gentiles it was set forth by late writers, has been preserved.
from that of the Israelites. (Joseph. Ant. Jud. xii. The treatise is written rather in the manner of
9. $ 7; 1 Maccab. vii. ix. )
Aristotle than of Plato, and the author has not
ALCIMUS ('Adrios), a Greek rhetorician hesitated to introduce any of the views of other
whom Diogenes Laertius (ii. 114) calls the most philosophers which seemed to add to the complete-
distinguished of all Greek rhetoricians, tiourished ness of the system. Thus the parts of the syllo-
about B. c. 300. It is not certain whether he is gism (c. 6), the doctrine of the mean and of the
one same as the Alcimus to whom Diogenes in élers and evepyciai (c. 2. 8), are attributed to
another passage (iii. 9) ascribes a work #pos 'Apúr. Plato; as well as the division of pliilosophy which
tar. Athenaeus in several places speaks of a Si- was common to the Peripatetics and Stvics. It
## p. 103 (#123) ############################################
ALCIPIIRON.
103
ALCIPPE.
ܪ
:
was impossible from the writings of Plato to get a two (n. 5 and 22) between Lucian and Alciphron ;
system complete in its parts, and hence the temp- now as Aristaenetus is nowhere guilty of any great
liltion of later writers, who sought for system, to historical inaccuracy, we may safely infer that
join Plato and Aristotle, without perceiving the Alciphron was a contemporary of Lucian-an infe-
inconsistency of the union, while everything which rence which is not incompatible with the opinion,
suited their purpose was fearlessly ascribed to the whether true or false, that Alciphron imitated
founder of their own sect. In the treatise of Lucian.
Alcinous, however, there are still traces of the spi- We possess under the name of Alciphron 116
rit of Plato, however low an idea he gives of his fictitious letters, in 3 books, the object of which
own philosophical talent. He held the world and is to delineate the characters of certain classes of
its animating soul to be eternal. This soul of the men, by introducing them as expressing their pe-
universe (v yvxT TOÛ koopov) was not created by culiar sentiments and opinions upon subjects with
God, but, to use the image of Alcinous, it was which they were familiar. The classes of persons
awakened by him as from a profound sleep, and which Alciphron chose for this purpose are fisher-
turned towards himself, " that it might look out men, country people, parasites, and hetaerae or
upon intellectual things (c. 14) and receive forms Athenian couriezans. All are made to express
and ideas from the divine mind. ” It was the first their sentiments in the most gracefui and elegant
of a succession of intermediate beings between God | language, even where the subjects are of a low
and man. The idéai proceeded immediately from or obscene kind. The characiers are thus some-
the mind of God, and were the highest object of what raised above their common standard, without
our intellect; the “form" of matter, the types of any great violation of the truth of reality. The
sensible things, having a real being in themselves. form of these letters is exquisitely beautiful, and
(c. 9. ) He differed from the earlier Platonists in the language is the pure Attic dialect, such as it
confining the idea to general laws: it seemed an was spoken in the best times in familiar but re-
unworthy notion that God could conceive an idea fined conversation at Athens. The scene from
of things artificial or unnatural, or of individuals which the letters are dated is, with a few excep-
or particulars, or of any thing relative. He seems tions, Athens and its vicinity; and the time, wher-
to have aimed at harmonizing the views of Plato ever it is discernible, is the period after the reign
and Aristotle on the idéal, as he distinguished of Alexander the Great. The new Attic comedy
them from the cron, forms of things, which he al- was the principal source from which the author de-
lowed were inseparable: a view which seems ne rived his information respecting the characters and
cessarily connected with the doctrine of the eternity manners which he describes, and for this reason
and self-existence of matter, God, the first foun- these letters contain much valuable information
tain of the idéan, could not be known as he is : it about the private life of the Athenians of that time.
is but a faint notion of him we obtain from nega- It has been said, that Alciphron is an imitator of
tions and analogies: his nature is equally beyond Lucian; but besides the style, and, in a few in-
our power of expression or conception. Below him stances, the subject matter, there is no resemblance
are a series of beings (ồaluoves) who superintend between the two writers: the spirit in which the
the production of all living things, and hold inter- two treat their subjects is totally different. Both
course with men. The human soul passes through derived their materials from the same sources, and
various transmigrations, thus connecting the series in style both aimed at the greatest perfection of the
with the lower classes of being, until it is finally genuine Attic Greek. Bergler has truly remarked,
purified and rendered acceptable to God. It will that Alciphron stands in the same relation to Me
be seen that his system was a compound of Plato nander as Lucian to Aristophanes. The first edi-
and Aristotle, with some parts borrowed from the tion of Alciphron's letters is that of Aldus, in his
east, and perhaps derived from a study of the collection of the Greek Epistolographers, Venice,
Pythagorean system. (Ritter, Geschichte der Philo 1499, 4to. This edition, however, contains only
sophie, iv. p. 249. )
those letters which, in more modern editions, form
Alcinous first appeared in the Latin version of the first two books.
Seventy-two new letters were
Pietro Balbi, which was published at Rome with added from a Vienna and a Vatican MS. by Bergler,
Apuleius, 1469, fol. The Greek text was printed in his edition (Leipzig, 1715, 8vo. ) with notes and
in the Aldine edition of Apuleius, 1521, 8vo. a Latin translation. These seventy-two epistles
Another edition is that of Fell, Oxford, 1667. form the third book in Bergler's edition. J. A.
The best is by J. F. Fischer, Leipzig, 1783, 8vo. Wagner, in his edition (Leipzig, 1798, 2 vols, 8vo. ,
It was translated into French by J. J. Combes with the notes of Bergler), added two new letters
Dounous, Paris, 1800, 8vo. , and into English by entire, and fragments five others.
One long
Stanley in his History of Philosophy. (B. J. ] letter, which has not yet been published entire,
ALCIPHRON ('Arxidpwr), a Greek sophist, exists in several Paris MSS.
(L. S. )
and the most eminent among the Greek epistolo- ALCIPPE ('Αλκίππη). 1. A daughter of
graphers. Respecting his life or the age in which Ares and Agraulos, the daughter of Cecrops. Ha-
he lived we possess no direct information what- lirrhothius, the son of Poseidon, intended to violate
Some of the earlier critics, as La Croze and ber, but was surprised by Ares, and killed, for
J. C. Wolf, placed him, without any plausible which Poseidon bore a grudge against Ares. (Paus.
reason, in the fifth century of our aera. Bergler, i. 21. $ 7 ; Apollod. iii. 14. § 2. )
and others who followed him, placed Alciphron 2. A maiden, who was dishonoured by her own
in the period between Lucian and Aristaenetus, brother, Astraeus, unwittingly: When Astraens
that is between A. D. 170 and 350, while others became aware of his deed, he threw himself into a
again assign to him a date even earlier than the river, which received from him the name of Astme
time of Lucian. The only circumstance that us, but was afterwards called Caucus. (Plut. De
suggests anything respecting his age is the fact, Flur. 21. )
that among the letters cf Aristaenetus there are Other personages of this name arc mentioned in
a
ever.
## p. 104 (#124) ############################################
104
ALCMAEON
ALCWAEON.
.
A pollod. iii. 15. $ 8; Diod. iv. 16; Eustath. ad Hom. I desire to possess the neck lace and pep! us of Har-
p. 776; Hom. Od. iv. 124. (ALCYONIDES. ) (L. S. ) monia, and Alcmaeon, to gratify her wish, went to
ALCIS ('AAKUS), that is, the Strong. 1. A Poophis to get them from Phegeus, under the pre
burname of Athena, under which she was worship text that he intended to dedicate them at Delphi
ped in Macedonia. (Liv. xlii. 51. )
in order to be freed from his madness. Phegeus
2. A deity among the Naharvali
, an ancient complied with his request, but when he heard ihat
German tribe. (Tacit. Germ. 43. ) Grimm (Deut- the treasures were fetched for Calirrhoë, he sent
sche Mythol. p. 39) cousiders Alcis in the passage his sons Pronous and Agenor (Apollod. iii. 7. $6)
of Tacitus to be the genitive of Alx, which, ac- or, according to Pausanias (viii. 24. § 4), Temenus
cording to him, signiñes a sacred grove, and is and Axion, after him, with the command to kill
connected with the Greek éroos. Another Alcis bim. This was done, but the sons of Alcmaeon by
occurs in Apollodorus, ii. 1. $ 5. (L. S. ) Calirrhoë took bloody vengeance at the instigation
ALCI'STHENE, a female painter spoken of hy of their mother. (Apollod. Paus. ll. cc. ; Ov. Met.
Pliny (H. N. xxxv. 11. s. 40), who mentions one ix. 407, &c. )
of her pictures representing a dancer. (C. P. M. ] The story about Alcmaeon furnished rich mate-
ALCI'THOE. (ALCATHOL. ]
rials for the epic and tragic poets of Greece, and
A’LCITHUS ("Anxidos), sent as ambassador by their Roman imitators. But none of these poems
the Achaeans to Ptolemy Philometor, B. C. 169, is Dow extant, and we only know from Apollo-
when they heard that the Anacleteria (see Dict. of dorus (iii. 7. $ 7), that Euripides, in his tragedy
Ant. s. v. ) were to be celebrated in his bonour. “ Alcmaeon," stated that after the full of Tbebes
(Polyb. xxviii. 10, 16. )
he married Manto, tbe daughter of Teiresias, and
ALCMAEON ('Annuaiwr), a son of Amphia- that he had two children by her, Amphilochus and
raus and Eriphyle, and brother of Amphilochus, Tisiphone, whom he gave to Creon, king of Co
Eurydice, and Demonassa. (Apollod. iii. 7. $ 2. ) rinth, to educate. The wife of Creon, jealous of
His mother was induced by the necklace of Har- the extraordinary beauty of Tisiphone, afterwards
monia, which she received from Polyneices, to per- sold her as a slave, and Alcmaeon himself bought
suade her husband Ampbiaraus to take part in the her, without knowing that she was his daughter.
expedition against Thebes. (Hom. Od. xv. 247, (Djod. iv. 66 ; Paus. vii
. 3. $ 2, ix. 33. $ 1. )
&c. ) But before Ampbiaraus set out, he enjoined Alcmaeon after his death was worshipped as a
his sons to kill their mother as soon as they should hero, and at Thebes he seems to have had an altar,
be grown up. (Apollod. iii. 6. & 2 ; Hygin. Fub. near the house of Pindar (Pyth. viii. 80, &c. ), who
73. ) When the Epigoni prepared for a second calls bim his neighbour and the guardian of his
expedition against Thebes, to avenge the death of property, and also seems to suggest that prophetic
their fathers, the oracle promised them success and powers were ascribed to him, as to his father Am-
victory, if they chose Alcmaeon their leader. He phiaraus. At Psophis his tomb was shewn, sur-
was at first disinclined to undertake the command, rounded with lofty and sacred cypresses. (Paus.
as he had not yet takon vengeance on his mother, viii. 24. § 4. ) At Oropus, in Attica, where Am-
according to the desire of his father. But she, phiaraus and Amphilochus were worshipped, Alc-
who had now received from Thersander, the son maeon enjoyed no such honours, because he was a
of Polyneices, the peplus of Harmonia also, in- matricide. (Paus. i. 34. § 2. ) He was represented
duced him to join the expedition. Alcmaeon dis- in a statue at Delphi, and on the chest of Cypse
tinguished himself greatly in in and slew Laoda- lus. (x. 10. § 2, v. 17. $ 4. )
(L. S. )
mus, the son of Eteocles. (Apollod. ii. 7. $ 2, &c. ; ALCMAEON (Alkuaiwv), son of the Megacles
comp. Diod. iv. 66. ) When, after the fall of who was guilty of sacrilege with respect to the fol-
Thebes, he learnt the reason for which his mother lowers of Cimon, was invited by Croesus to Sardis
had urged him on to take part in the expedition, in consequence of the services he had rendered to
he slew her on the advice of an oracle of Apollo, an embassy sent by Croesus to consult the Delphic
and, according to some traditions, in conjunction oracle. On his arrival at Sardis, Croesus made
with his brother Amphilochus. For this deed be him a present of as much gold as he could carry
became mad, and was baunted by the Erinnyes. He out of the treasury. Alcmaeon took the king at
first came to Oïcleus in Arcadia, and thence went his word, by putting on a most capacious dress,
to Phegeus in Psophis, and being purified by the the folds of which (as well as the racant space of
latter, he married his daughter Arsinoe or Alphe- a pair of very wide boots, also provided for the
siboea (Paus. viii. 24. & 4), to whom he gave the occasion) he stuffed with gold, and then filled bis
necklace and peplus of Harmonia. But the coun mouth and bair with gold dust. Croesus laughed
try in which be now resided was visited by scar- at the trick, and presented him with as much again
city, in consequence of his being the murderer of (about 590 B. C. ). The wealth thus acquired is said
his mother, and the oracle advised him to go to to have contributed greatly to the subsequent pros-
Achelous. According to Pausanias, he left Psophis perity of the Alcmaeonidae. (Herod.
