Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/1034

Rh 1016 DIODORUS. the doctrines of Diodorus we possess only frag- mentary information, and not even the titles of his works are known. It appears, however, cer- tain that it was he who fully developed the dialectic art of the Megarics, which so fre- quently degenerated into mere shallow sophistry. (Cic. Acad. ii. 24, 47.) He seems to have been much occupied with the theory of proof and of hypothetical propositions. In the same manner as he rejected in logic the divisibility of the funda- mental notion, he also maintained, in his physical doctrines, that space was indivisible, and conse- quently that motion was a thing impossible. He further denied the coming into existence and all multiplicity both in time and in space; but he considered the things that fill up space as one wliole composed of an infinite number of indivisible particles. In this latter respect he approached the atomistic doctrines of Democritus and Dijigoras. In regard to things possible, he maintained that only those things are possible which actually are or will be ; possible was, further, with him identical with necessary ; hence everything which is not going to be cannot be, and all that is, or is going to be, is necessary ; so that the future is as certain and defined as the past. This theory approached the doctrine of fate maintained by the Stoics, and Chrysippus is sai^ to have written a work, "Kfpl hvvarwv, against the views of Diodorus. (Diog. Laert. vii. 191 ; Cic. de Fato, 6, 7. 9, ad Fam. ix. 4.) He made use of the false syllogism called Sorites, and is said to have invented two others of the same kind, viz. the iyKCKaXv/xnevos and the Kf/wTivTjs xSyos. (Diog. Laert. ii. 111.) Language was, with him, as with Aristotle, the result of an agreement of men among themselves. (Lerscb, Sprachphilos. der Alt. i. p. 42; Deycks, de Mcgaricoruin Dodrina, p. 64, &c.) 7. Of Croton, a Pythagorean philosopher, who is otherwise unknown. (lamblich. Vit. Pytkig. 35.) 8. Of Elaea, is quoted as the author of elegies by Parthenius {Erot. 15), who relates from him a Btory about Daphne. 9. Of Ephesus, is mentioned by Diogenes LaertiuB (viii. 70) as the author of a work on the life and philosophy of Anaximander, 10. Sumamed Periegetes, was probably a na- tive of Athens, and wrote on topographical and geographical subjects. He lived at the time of and after Alexander the Great ; for it is clear, from some fragments of his works, that he wrote at the time when Athens had only twelve phylae, that is, previous to b. c. 308 ; and Athenaeus (xiii. p. 521 ) states, that Diodorus was acquainted with the rhetorician Anaximenes. We know only of two works of Diodorus Periegetes, viz. 1. Uepl Sij/j-uv, which is frequently quoted by Harpocration and Stephanus of Byzantium, and from which a consi- derable number of statements are preserved in con- sequence. 2. Ilepl nvritmTwv, or on monuments. (Plut. Thenmt. 32, comp. TItes. 36, Cim. 16, Vit. JX Oral. p. 849 ; Athen. xiii. p. 591.) It is not le that he may also be the author of a work on Miletus (irepl VliXrirov (TvyypayLixa., Schol. ad Plut. Menex. p. 380 ; comp. Preller, Polemon. Fragvu p. 170, &c) 11. Of Priknk, is mentioned as a writer upon agriculture, but is otherwise unknown. (V'arro, de R. fi. i.i Columella, i. 1 ; Plin. //. A^ Elench. lib. XV. xvii. &:c.) 12. The Sicilian, usually called Diodorus DIODORUS. SicuLUS, was a contemporary of Caesar and Au- gustus. (Suid. s. t Aiodupos; Euseb. C/iro7i. ad Ann. 1 967.) He was born in the town of Agyriura in Sicilj', where he became acquainted with the Latin language through the great intercourse be- tween the Romans and Sicilians. Respecting his life we know no more than what he himself tells us (i. 4). He seems to have made it the business of his life to write an universal history from the earliest down to his o^vn time. With this object in view, he travelled over a great part of Europe and Asia to gain a more accurate knowledge of nations and countries than he could obtain from previous historians and geographers. For a long time he lived at Rome, and there also he made large collections of materials for his work by study- ing the ancient docmnents. He stjites, that he spent thirty years upon his work, which period probably includes the time he spent in travelling and collecting materials. As it embraced the his- tory of all ages and countries, and thus supplied the place, as it were, of a whole library, he called it BiSKiodT^KT), or, as Eusebius {Praep. Evang. i. 6) says, BiSLoQrKt iaro^iici^. The time at which he wrote his history may be determined pretty accurately from internal evidence : he not only mentions Caesar's invasion of Britain and his crossing the Rhine, but also his death and apo- theosis (i. 4, iv. 19, V. 21,25): he further states (i. 44, comp. 83), that he was in Egypt in 01. 190, that is, a c. 20 ; and ScaWger {Animadv. ad Euaeb. p. 15) has made it highl}' probable that Diodorus wrote his work after the year B. c. 8, when Augus- tus corrected the calendar and introduced the in- tercalation every fourth year. The whole work of Diodorus consisted of forty books, and embraced the period from the earliest mythical ages down to the beginning of J. Caesar's GuUic wars. Diodorus himself further mentions, that the work was divided into three great sec- tions. The first, which consisted of the first six books, contains the history of the mythical times previous to the Trojan war. The first books of this section treat of the mythuses of foreign coun- tries, and the latter books of those of the Greeks. The second section consisted of eleven books, which contained the history from the Trojan war down to the death of Alexander the Great ; and the third section, which contained the remaining 23 books, treated of the history from the death of Alexander down to the beginning of Caesar's Gallic wars. Of this great work considerable portions are now lost. The first five books, which contain the early history of the Eastern nations, the Egyptians, Aethiopians, and Greeks, are extant entire; the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth books are lost; but from the eleventh down to the twentieth the work is complete again, and contains the his- tory from the second Persian war, b. c. 480, down to the year b. c. 302. The remaining portion of the work is lost, with the exception of a consider- able number of fragments and the Excerpta, -which are preserved partly in Photius (Bllil. Cod.. 244), who gives extracts from books 31, 32, 33, 36, 37, 38, and 40, and partly in the Eclogae made at the command of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, from which they have successively been published by H. Stephens, Fulv. Ursnms, Valesius, and A. Mai. {Collect. Nova Script, ii. p. 1, &c., p. 568, &c.) The work of Diodorus is constructed upon the pkin of annals, and the events of each year are placed