Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/1033

Rh DIODORUS. he commanded an anny. In order to please the king, he caused all the senators of liis native place to be massacred. He afterwards accompanied Mithridates to Pontus, and, after the fall of the king, Diodonis received the punishment for his cnielty. Charges were brought against him at Adramyttium, and as he felt that he could not clear himself, he starved himself to death in des- pair. (Strab. xiii. p. 614.) 2. Of Alexandria, sumamed Valerius PoUio, was a son of Pollio and a disciple of Telecles. He wrote, according to Suidas (s. v. UuXiwv) and Eu- docia (p. 136), a work entitled i^T^yqa-is ruu ^riTovfievwv irapd to7s I (>riTop<riv^ and another 'Attj/ct) Aefis. He lived in the time of the em- peror Hadrian, and is perhaps the same as the Theodorua who is mentioned by Athenaeus (xiv. p. 646, comp. XV. pp. 677, 678J 691; Phot. Bibl. Cod. 149) as the author of ^AttikoI ra(T(rcu. 3. Of Antioch, an ecclesiastical writer who lived during the latter part of the fourth century after Christ, and belonged to a noble family. Dur- ing the time that he was a presbyter and archi- mandrita at Antioch, he exerted himself much in introducing a better discipline among the monks, and also wrote several works, which shewed that he was a man of extensive acquirements. When Meletius, the bishop of Antioch, was sent into exile in the reign of the emperor Valens, Diodonis too had to suffer for a time ; but he continued to exert himself in what he thought the good cause, and frequently preached to his flock in the open fields in the neighbourhood of Antioch. In A. D. 378 Meletius was allowed to return to his see, and one of his first acts was to make Diodorus bishop of Tarsus. In A. D. 381 Diodorus attended the council of Constantinople, at which the general superintendence of the Eastern churches was en- trusted to him and Pelagius of Laodiceia. (Socrat. V. 8.) How long he held his bishopric, and in what year he died, are questions which cannot be answered with certainty, though his death appears to have occurred previous to a. d. 394, in which y^ear his successor, Phalereus, was present at a council at Constantinople. Diodorus was a man of great learning (Facund. iv. 2) ; but some of his writings were not considered quite orthodox, and are said to have favoured the views which were afterwards promulgated by his disciple, Nestorius. His style is praised by Photius {Bibl. Cod. 223, where he is called Theodoras) for its purity and simplicity. Respecting his life, see Tillemont, Hist, des Emp. viii. p. 558, &c., and p. 802, &c., ed. Paris. Diodorus was the author of a numerous series of works, all of which are now lost, at least in their original language, for many are said to be still ex- tant in Syriac versions. The following deserve to be noticed : 1 . Kord fl/jLap/xemriSy in 8 books or 53 chapters, was written against the theories of the astrologers, heretics, Bardesanes, and others. The whole work is said to be still extant in Syriac, and considerable Excerpta from it are preserved in Photius. (/. c.) 2. A work against Photinus, Malchion, Sabellius, Marcellus, and Ancyranus. (TheodoreL de Haeret. Fab. ii. in fin.) 3. A work against the Pagans and their idols (Facund. iv. 2), which is perhaps the same as the Korci TlKaruivos ■Ktpi bfov Koi ^f&v. (Hieronym. Ca<u<. 119.) 4. XpoviKdv Siop9ovfx6vov rd fTcpaXfta EvafSiov rod nafi<piov TTfpi Tulj' xpovu^i that is, on chrouolo- DIODORUS. 1015 gical errors committed by Eusebius. (Suid. s. v. Aiodcapos.) 5. Ufpl roO (h &f6s iv TpidSi, wom directed against the Arians or Eunomians, and is Niid to be still extint in Syriac. 6. Upos TpaTjo- yov K((pdaia, (Facund. iv. 2.) 7. Ufpl Trjs 'Itt- ndpxov (T<palpas. This Hipparchus is the Bithy- nian of whom Pliny {H. N. ii. 26) speaks. 8. Tlepl irpovoiaSf or on Providence, is said to exist still in Syriac. 9. Upds Ev<pp6viov <piao<pov, in the form of a dialogue. (IJasil. Epist. 167; Facund. iv. 2.) 10. Korel Vlavixaiuv^ in 24 books, of which some account is given by Photius. {DM. Cod. 85 ; comp. Theodoret. i. in fin.) The work is believed to be extant in Syriac. 11. Ilepl tou dylov vvetifmTos. (Phot. Bibl. Cod. 102 ; Leontius, de Seciis, pp. 448.) 12. Upos toi)s Suvoixrtao'Tds, a work directed against the ApoUinaristae. Some fragments of the first book are preserved in Leon- tius. {Bibl. Pair. ix. p. 704, ed. Lugdun.) This work, which is still extant in Syriac, seems to have been the principal cause of Diodorus being looked upon as heretical ; for the Nestorians appealed to it in support of their tenets, and Cy- rillus wrote against it. 13. A commentary on most of the books of the Old and New Testament. This was one of his principal works, and in his in- terpretation of the Scriptures he rejected the alle- gorical explanation, and adhered to the literal meaning of the text. (Suidas, I. c. ; Socrat. vi. 2 ; Sozonien. viii. 2; Hieronym. Caial. 119.) The work is frequently referred to by ecclesiastical writers, and many fragments of it have thus been preserved. (Cave, Hist. Lit. i. p. 217, ed. London ; Fabric. Bibl. Gr. iv. p. 380, ix. p. 277, &c.) 4. Of AscALON, a Greek grammarian, who wrote a work on the poet Antiphanes. {Ufpl 'Airri- (pdvovs Kal TTJs TTopa to'is veurepois (jmttvtjs ; Athen. xiv. p. 662.) 5. Of AsPENDUS, a Pythagorean philosopher, who probably lived after the time of Plato, and must have been still alive in 01. 1 04, for he was an acquaintance of Stratonicus, the musician, who lived at the court of Ptolemy Lagi.' Diodorus is said to have adopted the Cynic mode of living, (lamblich. Vit. Fythag. 36; Athen. iv. p. 163; Bentley, PMar. p. 62, ed. London, 1777.) 6. Sumamed Cronus, a son of Ameinias of lasus in Caria, lived at the court of Alexan- dria in the reign of Ptolemy Soter, who is said to have given him the surname of Cronus on account of his inability to solve at once some dialectic problem proposed by Stilpo, when the two philosophers were dining with the king. Diodorus is said to have taken that disgrace so much to heart, that after his return from the re- past, and writing a treatise on the problem, he died in despair. (Diog. Laert. ii. 111.) Ac- cording to an account in Strabo (xiv. p. 658, xvii. p. 838), Diodorus himself adopted the surname of Cronus from his teacher, Apollonius Cronus. Further particulars respecting his life are not known. He belonged to the Megaric school of philosophy, and was the fourth in the succession of the heads of that school. He was particulaily celebrated for his great dialectic skill, for which he is called 6 SioK^ktikos^ or SiaAeKTjKWTOTos. (Strab. /. c; Sext. Empir. adv. Gram. i. p. 310 ; Plin. //. N. u. 54.) This epithet afterwards assumed the chjiracter of a surname, and de- scended even to his five daughters, who were like* wise distinguished as dialecticians. Respecting