Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/1061

Rh DIONYSIUS. Dionysius of Mytilenp. Snidas ascribes to the Mile- itian, "Troica," in thrt'e books **Mythica," an ** His- torical Cycle," in «evi'n l)Ooks and a ** Perirgesis of the whole world," all of which, however, pro- bably belong to ditferent authors. (Nilzach, Hvtt. JHotneri, i. p. 88 ; llornhardy, in his edition of Dumifti. Perieff. p. 498, &c,, and ad Suidnm, i. p. 1395; Ix)beck,^^/aop/i.ii. p.990,&c; Welcker, Der Epiache Ci/ctit.s p. 75, &c.) 33. Of Miletus, a sophist of the time of the emperor Hadrian. He was a pupil of Isaeiis the Assyrian, and distinguished for the elegance of his orations. He was greatly honoured by the cities of Asia, and more especially by the empe- ror Hadrian, who made him pniefect of a con- siderable province, raised him to the rank of a Roman eques, and assigned to him a place in the museum of Alexandria. Notwithstanding these distinctions, Dionysius remained a modest and un- assuming person. At one time of his life he taught rhetoric at Lesbos, but he died at Ephesus at an advanced age, and was buried in the market- place of Ephesus, where a monument was erected to him. Philostratus has preserved a few speci- mens of his oratory. ( Vit. Soph. i. 20. § 2, c. 22 ; Dion Cass. Ixix. 3 ; Eudoc. p. 130 ; Suidas.) 34. Of Mytilenk, was surnamed Scytobra- chion, and seems to have lived shortly before the time of Cicero, if we may believe the report that he instructed M. Antoniiis Gnipho at Alexandria (Suet, de Illustr. Gram. 7), for Suetonius expresses a doubt as to its correctness for chronological rejisons. Artemon (a/). J//t€«. xii. p. 415) states, that Dionysius Scytobracliion was the author of the historical work which was commonly attri- buted to the ancient historian X an thus of Lydia, who lived about b. c. 480. From this it has been inferred, that our Dionysius must have lived at a much earlier time. But if we conceive that Dio- nysius may have made a revision of the work of Xanthus, it does not follow that he must needs have lived very near the age of Xanthus. Suidas attributes to hira a metrical work, the expedition of Dionysus and Athena (t} Aionicrou Koi 'Ad7}vds arpariay, and a prose work on the Argonauts in six books, addressed to Parmenon. He was pro- bably also the author of the historic Cycle, which Suidas attributes to Dionysius of Miletus. The Argonautica is often referred to by the Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, who likewise several times confounds the Mytilenean with the Milesian (i. 1298, ii. 207, 1144, iii. 200,242, iv. 119, 223, 228, 1153), and this work was also consulted by Diodorus Siculus. (iii. 52, 66.) See Bemhardy, ad Dionys. Perieij. p. 490 ; Welcker, Der Ep. Cyclus^ p. 87. 35. A writer on J|/opTi;Tj«a, who is men- tioned by Athenaeus (vii. p. 326, xi. p. 516). 36. Of Pergamts, surnamed Atticus, a rheto- rician, who is characterized by Strabo (xiii. p.625) as a clever sophist, an historian, and logographer, that is, a writer of orations. He was a pupil of Apollodorus, the rhetorician, who is mentioned among the teachers of Augustus. (Comp. Senec. Controv. i. 1.) Weiske {ad lAinyin. p. 218) con- siders him to be the author of the work irepl vy^ovs commonly attributed to Longinus; but there is very little, if anything, to support this view. (Westermann, Gesch. d. Griech. Beredls. § 98, note 9.) 37. Of Phaselis, is mentioned in the scholia on DIONYSIUS. 104.) Pindar, and was probably a grammarian who wrote on Pindar. The anonymous author of the liff? of Nicander speaks of two works of his, viz. **on the Poetry of Antimachus," and ** on Poets." (Sthol. ad Find. Nem. xi. p. 787, ed. Hfyne ; ad PyUi. iL 1.) 38. Surnamed Pbrixgktrs, from his being the author of a irtpti^yriffif t^j yijs, in hexameter verse, which is still extant. Respecting the age and country of this Dionysius the most different opinions have been entertained, though all critics are agreed in placing him after the Christian era, or in the time of the Roman emperors, as must indeed be necessarily inferred from passages of the Periegesis itself, such as v. 355, where the author speaks of his divoKT€s, that is, his sovereigns, which can only apply to the emperors. But the question as to which emperor or emperors Diony- sius there alludes, has been answered in the most different ways : some writers have placed Diony- sius in the reign of Augustus, others in that of Nero, and others again under M. Aurelius and L. Verus, or under Septimius Severus and his sons. Eustathius, his commentator, was himself in doubt about the age of his author. But these uncertain- ties have been removed by Bemhardy, the last editor of Dionysius, who has made it highly pro- bable, partly from the names of countries and na- tions mentioned in the Periegesis, partly from the mention of the Huns in v. 730, and partly from the general character of the poem, that its author must have lived either in the latter part of the third, or in the beginning of the fourth, century of our era. With regard to his native country, Sui- das infers from the enthusiastic manner in which Dionysius speaks of the river Rhebas (793, &c), that he was bom at Byzantium, or somewhere in its neighbourhood; but Eustathius (a</ w. 7) and the Scholiast (ad v. 8) expressly call him an Afri- can, and these authorities certainly seem to deserve more credit than the mere inference of Suidas. The Periegesis of Dionysius contains a description of the whole earth, so far as it was known in his time, in hexameter verse, and the author appears chiefly to follow the views of Eratosthenes. It is written in a terse and neat style, and enjoyed a high degree of popularity in ancient times, as we may infer from the fact, that two translations or paraphrases of it were made by Romans, one by Rufus Festus Avienus [Avienus], and the other by the grammarian Priscian. [Priscianus.] Eu- stathius wrote a very valuable commentary upon it, which is still extant, and we further possess a Greek paraphrase and scholia. The first edition of the Periegesis appeared at Fermni, 1512, 4to , with a Latin translation. A. Manutius printed it at Venice, 1513, 8vo., together with Pindar, Cal- limachus, and Lycophron. H. Stephens incorpo- rated it in his " Poetae PrincipesHcroiciCarminis," Paris, 1566, fol. One of the most useful among the subsequent editions is that of Edw. Thwaites, Oxford, 1697. 8vo., with the commentarj' of Eus- tathius, the Greek scholia and paraphrase. It is also printed in the fourth volume of Hudson's Geoi^r. Minor. 1712, 8vo., from which it was re- printed separately, Oxford, 1710 and 1717, 8vo. But all the previous editions are superseded by that of G. Bemhardy (Leipzig, 1828, 8vo.), which forms vol. i. of a contemplated collection of the minor Greek geographers ; it is accompanied by a very excellent and learned dissertation and the 3x2