Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/1060

Rh 1042 DIONYSIUS. ness, and to shew that Rome had not become great by accident or mere good fortune, bat by the A'ir- tue and wisdom of the Romans themselves. With this object in view, he discusses most carefully everything relating to the constitution, the religion, the history, laws, and private life of the Romans ; and his work is for this reason one of the greatest importance to the student of Roman history, at least so far as the substance of his discussions is concerned. But the manner in which he dealt with his materials cannot always be approved of : he is unable to draw a clear distinction between a mere mythus and history; and where he perceives inconsistencies in the former, he attempts, by a rationalistic mode of proceeding, to reduce it to what appears to him sober history. It is however a groundless assertion, which some critics have made, that Dionysius invented facts, and thus introduced direct forgeries into history. He had, moreover, no clear notions about the early consti- tution of Rome, and was led astray by the nature of the institutions which he saw in his own day ; and he thus transferred to the early times the no- tions which he had derived from the actual state of things — a process by which he bwame involved in inextricable difficulties and contradictions. The numerous speeches which he introduces in his work are indeed written with great artistic skill, but they nevertheless shew too manifestly that Dionysius was a rhetorician, not an historian, and still less a statesman. He used all the authors who had written before him on the early history of Rome, but he did not always exercise a proper discretion in choosing his guides, and we often find him following authorities of an inferior class in preference to better and sounder ones. Notwithstanding all this, however, Dionysius con- tains an inexhaustible treasure of materials for those who know how to make use of them. The style of Dionysius is very good, and, with a few exceptions, his language may be called perfectly pure. See Ph. F. Schulin, de IHcmys. Hal, Hisio- rico, praecipuo Historiae Juins Fonte, Heidelberg, 1821, 4to. ; An Inquiry into the Credit due to Dio- nys. of Hal. as a Critic and Historian, in the Class. Journ. vol. xxxiv. ; Kriiger, Praefat. ad Historio(jr. p. xii. ; Niebuhr, Lectures on tJie Hist, of Rome, i. pp. 46—53, ed. Schmitz. The first work of Dionysius which appeared in print was his Archaeologia, in a Latin transLition by Lapus Biragus (Treviso, 1480), from a very good Roman MS. New editions of this transla- tion, with corrections by Glareanus, appeared at Basel, 1532 and 1549; whereupon R. Stephens first edited the Greek original, Paris, 1546, foL, together with some of the rhetoriciil works. The first complete edition of the Archaeologia and the rhetorical works together, is that of Fr. Sylburg, Frankfurt, 1586, 2 vols. fol. (reprinted at Leipzig, 1691, 2 vols, fol.) Another reprint, with the intro- duction of a few alterations, was edited by Hudson, (Oxford, 1 704, 2 vols, fol.) which however is a very inferior performance. A new and much improved edition, though with many bad and arbitrarj' emen- dations, was made by J. J. Reiske, (Leipzig, 1774, &c.) in 6 vols. 8vo., the last of which was edited by Moms. All the rhetorical works, with the excep- tion of the r^x^ pT)TopiK-fi and the Trepi avvQea^ws ouo/xdrtDV, were edited by E. Gros, (Paris, 1826, &c.) in 3 vols. 8vo. (Fabric. Bi/)l. Graec. iv. p. 382, &.C. ; Westermann, Gesc/i. d. Griech. Bcredts. § 88.) DIONYSIUS. 26. Of Heliopolis in Egypt, is mentioned by Artemidorus (Oneir. ii. 71) as the author of a work on dreams. 27. Of Heracleia, a son of Theophantus. In early life he was a disciple of Heracleides, Alexinus, and Menedemus, and afterwards also of Zeno the Stoic, who appears to have induced him to adopt the philosophy of the porch. At a later time he was afflicted with a disease of the eyes, or with a nervous complaint, and the unbearable pains which it caused him led him to abandon the Stoic philo- sophy, and to join the Eleatics, whose doctrine, that 7j5oK»{ and the absence of pain was the liighest good, had more charms for him than the austere etlycs of the Stoa. This renunciation of his former philosophical creed drew upon him the nickname of fxeTaOifxevos, i. e. the renegade. During the time that he was a Stoic, he is praised for his modesty, abstinence, and moderation, but afterwards we find him described as a person greatly given to sensual pleasures. He died in his eightieth year of volun- tary starvation. Diogenes Laertius mentions a series of works of Dionysius, all of which, how- ever, are lost, and Cicero censures him for having mixed up verses with his prose, and for his want of elegance and refinement. (Diog. Laert. vii. 166, 167, V. 92; Athen. vii. p. 281, x. p. 437; Lucian, Ji is A ecus. 20 ; Censorin. 15 ; Cic. Acad. ii. 22, de Fin. v. 31, Tuscicl ii. 11, 35, iii. 9.) 28. A disciple of Heracleitus, is mentioned by Diogenes Laertius (ix. 15) as the author of a commentary on the works of his master. 29. An Historian, who seems to have lived in the later period of the Roman empire, and is quoted by Jomandes. (De Reh. Get. 19.) 30. Sumamed Iambus, that is, the iambic poet, is mentioned by Suidas (s. v. 'Api(rTocpdur}s) among the teachers of Aristophanes of Byzantium, from which we may infer the time at which he lived. Clemens Alexandrinus (Siroin. v. p. 674) quotes an hexameter verse of his, and according to Athe- naeus (vii. p. 284), he also wrote a work on dialects. Plutarch (de Mus. 15) quotes him as an authority on harmony, from which it has been in- ferred that he is the author of a work on tlie history of music, of which Stephanus of Byzantium (s. r. 'TSpei'a) quotes the 23rd book. 31. Of Magnesia, a distinguished rhetorician, who taught his art in Asia between the years B. c. 79 and 77, at the time when Cicero, then in his 29th year, visited the east. Cicero on his excur- sions in Asia was accompanied by Dionysius, Aeschylus of Cnidus, and Xcnocles of Adramyt- tium, who were then the most eminent rhetoricians in Asia. (Cic. Brut. 91 ; Plut. Cic. 4.) 32. Of ^Miletus, one of the earliest Greek his- torians, and according to Suidas (s. v. 'EKaraTos), a contemporary of Hecataeus, that is, he lived about B. c. 520 ; he must, however, to judge from the titles of his works, have survived b. c. 485, the year in which Dareius died. Dionysius of Miletus wrote a history of Dareius Hystaspis in five books. Suidas further attributes to him a work entitled to li^rd Aape7ov in five books, and also a Avork nepcriAca, in the Ionic dialect. Whether they were actually three distinct works, or whether the two last were the same, and only a continua- tion of the first, cannot be ascertained on account of the inextricable confusion which prevails in tlie articles Aiovvtrios of Suidas, in consequence of which our Dionysius has often been confounded with J