Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/222

204  that he confined himself to writing; whence he was called, (Plut. Mor. p. 514, d. ; Euseb. de Praep. Evang. xiv. 8.) He taught be- lief in God as " a Being blessed, incorruptible, and of goodwill to men," and blamed those who ascribed to the gods " generation and corruption," which is said to have been the doctrine of Chrysippus, (Plut. de Stoic. Rep. p. 192.) Besides this treatise "on the gods," he also wrote two books on Divination, a common topic among the Stoics, in which he proved the truth of the science from the foreknowledge and benevolence of the Deity, explained dreams to be supernatural intimations of the future, and collected stories of divination attributed to Socrates. (Cic. de Dimn. . 3, 20, 39, 54.) He is said to have believed that Fate was a god, though it is not clear what was implied in this expression (Stob. de Fato., 16); and it appears from Athenaeus that he wrote a treatise entitled ITepi Aeitr* daifiovias. (viii. p. 346.) Of his labours in moral philosophy nothing remains but a few scattered notices, just sufficient to shew that the science had begun to decline; the questions which are treated being points of detail, and such as had more to do with the application of moral precepts than with the principles themselves: such as they were, however, he took higher ground in solving them than his master Diogenes. (Cic. de Of. iii. 12, 13, 23.) Compare Varro, de Ling. Lat. vi. 1. p. 184, Fragra, p. 289, ed. Bip.

 ANTI′PATER, of , the author of several epigrams in the Greek Anthology, lived, as we may infer from some of his epigrams, in the latter part of the reign of Augustus (B.C. 10 and onwards), and perhaps till the reign of Caligula, (a. d. 38.) He is probably the same poet who is called, in the titles of several epigrams, "Antipater Macedo." (Jacobs, ^n^/. xiii. pp.848, 849.)

 ANTI′PATER. 1. Of, a Stoic philosopher, and a contemporary of Cato the Younger, whose friend Antipater is said to have been when Cato was yet a young man.(Plut. Cat. Min. 4.) He appears to be the same as the Antipater of Tyre mentioned by Strabo. (xvi. p. 757.)

2. Of, likewise a Stoic philosopher, but unquestionably of a later date than the former, though Vossius (de Hist. Or. p. 392, ed. Westennann) confounds the two. He lived after, or was at least younger than, Panaetius, and Cicero (de Off. ii. 24), in speaking of him, says, that he died lately at Athens, which must mean shortly before B.C. 45. From this passage we must infer that Antipater wrote a work on Duties (de Offciis), and Diogenes Laertius (vii. 139, 140, 142, 148) refers to a work of Antipater on the Universe (irepl kSo-ijlov), of which he quotes the eighth book.

 ANTI′PHANES, of , a sculptor, the disciple of Pericleitus, and teacher of Cleon. Since Cleon flourished B. c. 380, Antiphanes may be placed at 400 B. C. Pausanias mentions several of his works, which were at Delphi, especially a horse in bronze. (Pausan. v. 17, z. 9.)

 ANTI′PHANES, of in Thrace, a Greek writer on marvellous and incredible things. {^Airia-Ta, Scymnius Chius, 657, &c.) From the manner in which he is mentioned by Strabo (i. p. 47, ii. pp. 102, 104; comp. Polyb. xxiii. 12), it would seem that he wrote his stories with a view that they should be believed as history, and that consequently he was an impostor. It was owing to Antiphanes that the verb fiepydi:-^€iv was used in the sense of telling stories. (Steph. Byz. s. V. Bep77j, who however confounds our Antiphanes with the comic writer of Rhodes; comp. Clem. Alex. Stroni. i. p. 133; Phot. Cod. 166.) Most writers agree in believing, that Antiphanes of Berga is the same as the Antiphanes who wrote a work on courtezans (irfpl eraipwu), and whom some writers call Antiphanes the Younger. (Aihen. xiii. p. 586 ; Harpocrat. s. vt>. Ndvuiov^ 'AvriKvpa ; Suid. s. V. Nafioi'.)

 ANTI′PHANES, a poet, the earliest and one of the most celebrated Athenian poets of the middle comedy, was born, according to Suidas (s. v.), in the 93rd Olympiad, and died in the 112th, at the age of 74. But Athenaeus (iv. p. 156, c.) quotes a fragment in which Antiphanes mentions "King Seleucus," and Seleucus was not king till Ol. 118. 2. The true explanation of the difficulty is in all probability that suggested by Clinton, namely, that in this instance, as in others, Antiphanes has been confounded with Alexis, and that the fragment in Athenaeus belongs to the latter poet. (Clinton, in the Philological Museum, p. 607; Meineke, Frag. Com. i. pp. 304–7.) The above dates are given us in Olympiads, without the exact years being specified, but we may safely place the life of Antiphanes between 404 and 330 B. C., and his first exhibition about B. C. 383.

The parentage and birthplace of Antiphanes are doubtful. His father's name was Demophanes, or Stephanus, probably the latter, since he had a son named Stephanus, in accordance with the Athenian custom of naming a child after his grandfather. As his birthplace are mentioned Cios on the Hellespont, Smyrna, Rhodes, and Larissa; but the last statement deserves little credit. (Meineke, i. 308.)

Antiphanes was the most highly esteemed writer of the middle comedy, excepting Alexis, who shared that honour with him. The fragments which remain prove that Athenaeus was right in praising him for the elegance of his language (pp. 27, 156, 168), though he uses some words and phrases which are not found in older writers. (See for examples Meineke, i. p. 309.) He was one of the most fertile dramatic authors that ever lived, for his plays amounted, on the largest computation, to 365, on the least to 260. We still possess the titles of about 130. It is probable, however, that some of the comedies ascribed to him were by other writers, for the grammarians frequently confound him, not only, as remarked above, with Alexis, but also with Antiphon, Apollophanes, Antisthenes, and Aristophanes. Some of his plays were on mythological subjects, others had reference to particular persons, others to characters, personal, professional, and national, while others seem to have been wholly occupied with the intrigues of private life. In these classes of subjects we see, as in all the comedians of the period, the gradual transition of the middle comedy into the new. The fragments of Antiphanes are collected by Clinton (Philol. Mus. l. c.), and more fully by Meineke (Frag. Comic. vol. iii.). He gained the prize 30 times.

Another Antiphanes, of Berge in Thrace, is mentioned by Stephanus Byzantinus as a comic poet (s. v. ); but this was the writer cited by Strabo (p. 102) and Antonius Diogenes (ap. 