Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/323

Rh r ARISTODEMUS. tion with him respecting sjicrificos and divination, which Aristodenuis despised. (Xen. Memor. Socr. i. 4. § 2, &c.) fie wsis a great admirer of Socrates, whose society he sought as much as possible. He always walked barefoot, which he seems to have done in imitiition of Socrates. (Plat.iV/wjotis.p. 173, Pliaed. p. 229.) 4. A tragic actor of Athens in the time of Philip of Macedonia and Demosthenes. He took a pro- minent part in the political affairs of his time, and belonged to the party who saw no safety except in peace with Macedonia. (Dem. de Coron. p. 2.32, de Fals. Lee;, pp. .344, 371.) Pemosthenes (c. Phi- lip, iii. p. 150) therefore treats him as a traitor to his country. He was employed by the Athenians in their negotiations with Philip, who was fond of him on account of his great talent for acting, and made use of him for his own purposes. (Dem. de Fals. Leg. p. 442 ; comp. Cic. de Re Pull. iv. 11; Plut. Vit. X. Orut.; Schol. ad Lucian., vol. ii. p. 7.) There was a tragic actor of the same name at Syracuse in the time of the first Punic war. (Liv. xxiv. 24.) 5. Of Miletus, a friend and flatterer of Anti- gonus, king of Asia, who sent him, in B.C. 315, to Peloponnesus with 1000 talents, and ordered him to maintain friendly relations with Polysper- chon and his son Alexander, to collect as large a body of mercenaries as possible, and to conduct the war against Cassander. On his arrival in Laconia, he obtained permission from the Spartans to en- gage mercenaries in their countrj^ and thus raised in Peloponnesus an army of 8000 men. The friendship with Polysperchon and his son Alexan- der was confirmed, and the former was made governor of the peninsula. Ptolemy, who was allied with Cassander, sent a fleet against the general and the allies of Antigonus, and Cassander made considerable conquests in Peloponnesus. Af- ter his departure, Aristodemus and Alexander at first endeavoured in common to persuade the towns to expel the garrisons of Cassander, and recover their independence. But Alexander soon allowed himself to be made a traitor to the cause he had hitherto espoused, and was rewarded by Cassander with the chief command of his forces in the Pelo- ponnesus. In B. c. 314, Aristodemus invited the Aetolians to support the cause of Antigonus ; and having raised a great number of mercenaries among them, he attacked Alexander, who was besieging Cyllene, and compelled him to raise the siege. He then restored several other places, such as Patrae in Achaia and Dymae in Aetolia, to what was then called freedom. After this, b.c. 306, Aristode- mus occurs once more in history. (Died. xix. 67—66 ; Plut. Demetr. 16, 17.) 6. Tyrant of Megalopolis in the reign of Anti- gonus Gonatas, and shortly before the formation of the Achaean league. He was a native of Phi- galea and a son of Artyla. He was one of those tyrants who were set up at that time in various parts of Greece through Macedonian influence. He was honoured by the surname XgT](n6s. In his reign, Cleomenes of Sparta and his eldest son Acrotatus invaded the territory of Megalopolis. A battle was fought, in which Aristodemus de- feated the enemy and Acrotatus was slain. (Pans, viii, 27. § 8.) Aristodemus was assjissinated after- wards by the emissaries of Ecdemus and Derao- phanes, two patriotic citizens of Megalopolis, and friends of young Philopoemen. (Plut. Philop. 1.) ARISTODEMUS. 305 His sepulchral mound in the neighbourhood of Megalopolis was seen as late as the tijne of Pau- sanias, (viii. 36. § 3.) [L. S.] ARISTODE'MUS (^ hpurro^-nfios), literary. 1. Of Nysa in Caria, was a son of Menecrates, and a pupil of the celebrated grammarian, Aristar- chus. (Schol. ad Find. Ncm. vii. I ; Strab. xiv. p. 650.) He himself was a celebrated grammarian, and Strabo in his youth was a pupil of Aristodemus at Nysa, who was then an old man. It is not im- probable that the Aristodemus whom the Scholiast on Pindar {^Islh. i. 1 1 ) calls an Alexandrian, is the same as the Nysaean, who must have resided for some time at Alexandi*ia. 2. Of Nysa, a relation {ai'(yii6s) of the former, He was younger than the former, distinguished himself as a grammarian and rhetorician, and is mentioned among the instructors of Pompey the Great. During the earlier period of his life he taught rhetoric at Nysa and Rhodes ; in his later years he resided at Rome and instructed the sons of Pompey in grammar. (Strab. xiv. p. 650.) One of these two grammarians wrote an historical work (tVTogj'at), the first book of which is quoted by Parthenius {Erot. 8), but whether it was the work of the elder or the younger Aristodemus, and what was the subject of it, cannot be decided. (Comp, Varr. de Ling. Lat. x. 75, ed. Miiller ; Schol. ad Horn. II. ix. 354, xiii. 1.) 3. Of Elis, a Greek writer, who is referred to by Hai'pocration (s. v. 'EKKavodiKai) as an autho- rity respecting the number of the Hellanodicae. He is probably the same as the one mentioned by Tertullian (c/e An. 46) and Eusebius. {p/iron. i. p. 37 ; comp. Syncellus, p. 370, ed. Dindorf.) An Aristodemus is mentioned by Athenaeus (xi. p. 495) as the author of a commentary on Pindar, and is often referred to in the Scholia on Pindar, but whether he is the Elean or Nysaean, cannot be decided. 4. Of Thebes (Schol. ad Tlieocnt. vii. 103), wrote a work on his native city (©TjgaiVa), which is often referred to by ancient authors, and appears to have treated principally of the antiqui- ties of Thebes. Suidas (s. r. oixoXdios Zeus, where the name ' Api(xro(pdvTi)s has been justly corrected into 'ApKT-Tot-rifxos) quotes the second book of this work. (Compare Schol. ad Eurip. Phoen. 162, 1120, 1126, 1163; Schol. ad Apollon. JUtod. ii. 906 ; Valckenaer, ad Schol. ad Eurip. PJioen. 1 120, p. 732.) There are many passages in ancient authors in which Aristodemus occurs as the name of a writer, but as no distinguishing epithet is added to the name in those passages, it is impossible to say whether in any case the Aristodemus is identical with any of those mentioned above, or distinct from them. Plutarch {Parallel. Miti. 35) speaks of an Aristodemus as the author of a collection of fables, one of which he relates. A second, as the author of 76Aora STro/LivTjjuoj'eu^uaTa, is mentioned by Athenaeus (vi. p. 244, viii. pp. 338, 345, xiii. p. 585). A third occurs in Clemens Alexandrinus {Strom, i. p. 133) as the author of a work irtgi iifyqtxdroiVy and a fourth is mentioned as the epito- mizer of a work of Herodian, which he dedicated to one Danaus. (Suidas, s. v. 'Apta-TdS-n/xos.) A Platonic philosopher of the same name is mentioned by Plutarch {adv. Colot. init.) as his contem- porary. [L. S.] ARISTODE'MUS ( 'Apio-ro'STjuos )» artists.