Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/330

312 to Rome to adorn the triumph of Aquillius, and was then beheaded. (Justin, xxxvi. 4; Liv. Epit. 59; Vell. Pat. ii. 4; Flor. ii. 20; Oros. v. 10; Sall. Hist. 4; Appian, Mithrid. 12, 62, de Bell. Civ. i. 17; Val. Max. iii. 4. §5; Diod. Fragm. lib. 34, p. 598; Cic. de Leg. Agr. ii. 33, Philip. xi. 8; Ascon. ad Cic. pro Scaur. p. 24, ed. Orelli.)

3. A eunuch of Ptolemy Epiphanes, who had been brought up with the king from his early youth. Polybius speaks of him in terms of high praise, as a man of a generous and warlike disposition, and skilled in political transactions. In B. C. 185, when the king had to fight against some discontented Egyptians, Aristonicus went to Greece and engaged a body of mercenaries there. (Polyb. xxiii. 16, 17.)

4. Of Alexandria, a contemporary of Strabo (i. p. 38), distinguished himself as a grammarian, and is mentioned as the author of several works, most of which related to the Homeric poems.—1. On the wanderings of Menelaus (Strab, l. c.). 2. On the critical signs by which the Alexandrine critics used to mark the suspected or interpolated verses in the Homeric poems and in Hesiod's Theogony. (, Etym. M. s. vv., and ; Suidas, s. v. ; Eudoc. p. 64; Schol. Venet. ad Hom. Il. ix. 397.) 3. On irregular grammatical constructions in Homer, consisting of six books (Suidas, l. c.). These and some other works are now lost, with the exception of a few fragments preserved in the passages above referred to. (Villoison, Proleg. ad Hom. p. 18.)

5. Of Tarentum, the author of a mythological work which is often referred to. (Phot. Cod. 190; Serv. ad Aen. iii. 335; Caes. Germ, in Arat. Phaen. 327; Hygin. Poët. Astr. ii. 34.) He is perhaps the same as the one mentioned by Athenaeus (i. p. 20), but nothing is known about him. (Roulez, ad Ptolem. Hephaest. p. 148.) [L. S.]

 ARISTONIDAS, a statuary, one of whose productions is mentioned by Pliny (H. N. xxxiv. 14. s. 40) as extant at Thebes in his time. It was a statue of Athamas, in which bronze and iron had been mixed together, that the rust of the latter, showing through the brightness of the bronze, might have the appearance of a blush, and so might indicate the remorse of Athamas. [C. P. M.]

 ARISTONIDES, a painter of some distinction, mentioned by Pliny (xxxv. 11. s. 40), was the father and instructor of Mnasitimus. [C. P. M.]

 ARISTO′NOUS. 1. Of Gela in Syracuse, one of the founders of the colony of Agrigentum, B. C. 582. (Thuc. vi. 4.)

2. Of Pella, son of Peisaeus, one of the bodyguard of Alexander the Great, distinguished himself greatly on one occasion in India. On the death of Alexander, he was one of the first to propose that the supreme power should be entrusted to Perdiccas. He was subsequently the general of Olympias in the war with Cassander; and when she was taken prisoner in B. C. 316, he was put to death by order of Cassander. (Arrian, Anab. vi. 28, ap. Phot. Cod. 92, p. 69, a. 14. ed. Bekker; Curt. ix. 5, x. 6; Diod. xix. 35, 50, 51.)

 ARISTO′NOUS, a statuary, a native of Aegina, made a statue of Zeus, which was dedicated by the Metapontines at Olympia. (Paus. V. 22. §5; Müller, Aegin. p. 107.) [C. P. M, ]

 ARISTO′NYMUS, a comic poet and contemporary of Aristophanes and Ameipsias. (Anonym. in Vit. Aristoph.; Schol. ad Platon. p. 331, Bekker.) We know the titles of only two of his comedies, viz. Theseus (Athen. iii. p. 87), and (Athen. vii. pp. 284, 287), of which only a few fragments are extant. Schweighäuser and Fabricius place this poet in the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus, an error into which both were led by Suidas (s.v.), who, if the reading is correct, evidently confounds the poet with some grammarian. If there had ever existed a grammarian of this name, and if he had written the works attributed to him by Suidas, he would assuredly have been mentioned by other writers also. This is not the case; and as we know that Aristophanes of Byzantium was the successor of Apollonius as chief librarian at Alexandria (which Suidas says of Aristonymus), Meineke conjectures with great probability, that the name of Aristophanes has dropped out in our text of Suidas. (Meineke, Hist. Crit. Com. Gr. p. 196, &c.)

An Athenian, of the name of Aristonymus, who was a contemporary of Alexander the Great, but not a grammarian, is mentioned by Athenaeus. (x. p. 452, xii. p. 538.) There were also two writers of this name, but neither of them appears to have been a grammarian, (Plut. de Flum. p. 1165; Stobaeus, passim.) [L. S.]

 ARISTO′PHILUS, a druggist, of Plataea in Boeotia, who lived probably in the fourth century B. C. He is mentioned by Theophrastus (Hist. Plant. ix. 18. §4) as possessing the knowledge of certain antaphrodisiac medicines, which he made use of either for the punishment or reformation of his slaves. [W. A. G.]

 ARISTO′PHANES, the only writer of the old comedy of whom any entire works are left. His later extant plays approximate rather to the middle comedy, and in the Cocalus, his last production, he so nearly approached the new, that Philemon brought it out a second time with very little alteration.

Aristophanes was the son of Philippus, as is stated by all the authorities for his life, and proved by the fact of his son also having that name, although a bust exists with the inscription, which is, however, now generally allowed to be spurious. He was an Athenian of the tribe Pandionis, and the Cydathenaean Demus, and is said to have been the pupil of Prodicus, though this is improbable, since he speaks of him rather with contempt. (Nub. 360, Av. 692, Tagenist. Fragm. xviii. Bekk.) We are told (Schol. ad Ran. 502), that he first engaged in the comic contests when he was, and we know that the date of his first comedy was B. C. 427: we are therefore warranted in assigning about B. C. 444 as the date of his birth, and his death was probably not later than B. C. 380. His three sons, Philippus, Araros, and Nicostratus, were all poets of the middle comedy. Of his private history we know nothing but that he was a lover of pleasure (Plat. Symp. particularly p. 223), and one who spent whole nights in drinking and witty conversation. Accusations (his anonymous biographer says, more than one) were brought against him by Cleon, with a view to deprive him of his civic rights, but without success, as indeed they were merely the fruit of revenge for his attacks on that demagogue. They <section end="Aristophanes 1." />