Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/594

Rh 576 CALLISTHENES. derogatory to free Greeks and Macedonians ; and it may be that he was the more open in the ex- pression of his sentiments, because of the opposite extreme of supple flattery adopted by his opponent Anaxarchus. V'hen Alexander was overwhelmed with remorse for the murder of Cleitus, both these philosophers were sent to console him ; but the suggestions of Callisthenes, though apparently on this occasion more judicious than usual, were quite eclipsed by the bold adulation of Anaxiirchus, who openly affirmed, that " whatever kings did, must therefore of necessity be lawful and just.'' Seve- ral anecdotes are recorded by Arrian and Plu- tarch, illustrative of the freedom of language in which Callisthenes indulged, and of his coarse and unconciliating demeanour — qualities which, while they alienated the king from him and procured him a number of enemies, rendered him also popu- lar with many who looked on Alexander's inuova- tions with a jealous eye ; and the young men in particular are said to have flocked to hear his dis- courses, regarding him as the only free-spirited man in the royal retinue. It was this which ul- timately proved fatal to him. Wlien the plot of llermolaus and others to assassinate Alexander was discovered, Callisthenes was involved in the charge. Aristobulus and Ptolemy indeed both asserted in their histories that Hermolaus and his accomplices, when under the torture, had named liim as the chief instigator of their attempt ; but this is rendered at least doubtful by a letter on the subject from Alexander himself to Craterus, which is preserved by Plutaixh (Alex, 55), and in ■which the sufferers are expressly said to have denied that any one was privy to their design. It would seem more probable that the suspicions of Alexander were excited or revived, after the death of the traitors, by the suggestions of the enemies of Callisthenes, acting on a mind already exasperated against him. Every rash expression he had ever used, every rhetorical common-place he had ever uttered on the patriotism and glory of regicides, were raked up and made to tell against him. In another letter, written by Alexander to Antipater, subsequently to the one above-men- tioned, and also quoted by Plutarch (/. c.) the king expresses his intention of " punishing the sophist and those who sent him out," the last words being, as Plutarch thinks, a clear allusion to Aristotle. The mode in which Callisthenes was put to death (about B. c. 328) is variously report- ed. Even the contemporary writers, Ptolemy and Aristobulus, ditfered on the point. Aristobulus recorded, that he was carried about in chains and died of disease; Ptolemy, that he was tortured and crucified. The former account, however, seems to agree with that of Chares of Mytilene, who was ciVa77ei;s, or lord-in- waiting, to Alex- ander (see Philol. A/us. i. p. 373, &c.), and who related that he was kept in confinement with the intention of bringing him ultimately to trial in the presence of Aristotle ; but that, after an imprison- ment of seven months, he died of a disgusting dis- ease arising from his excessive corpulence. The accounts preserved in Justin and Diogenes Laer- tins (one of which is a perversion of the other, while the former is clearly a romance) are entitled to less credit. (Arrian, AtuiI). iv. 10 — 14; Plut. Ale.i: 52 — 55, SuU. 3G ; Curt, viii 5 — 8; Freinsh. lid Curt. viii. 5. § 13, 8. § 21 ; Just. xii. 6, 7, xv. 3 ; Diog. La'crt. v. 4, 5, 31) ; Menag. ad Diog. CALLISTHENES. La'tirt. v. 4, 5 ; Suidas, s. v. KaXXiadhrts ; Thirl- wall's Greece, vol. vi. pp. 317 — 325; Blakesley's Life of Aristotle, pp. 56, 73 — 84.) Some manuscripts are still extant, professing to contain writings of Callisthenes ; but they are spurious, and none of his works have come down to us. Besides an account of Alexander's expedi- tion (which he arrogantly said would be the main support of the conqueror's glory, and which is re- ferred to in several places by Plutarch and Slrabo), he also wrote a history of Greece, in ten books, from the peace of Antalcidas to the seizure of the Delphic temple by Philomelus. (b. c. 387 — 357.) Cicero mentions too a work of his on the Trojan war. The loss, however, of his writings we have not much reason to regret, if we ma}' trust the cri- ticisms passed on them by those to whom they were known. Thus Polybius censures him for liis unskilfulness in his relation of military affairs ; Cicero finds fault with his style as fitted rather for rhetorical declamation than for history, and con- trasts it with that of Xenophon ; and Strabo speaks disparagingly of liis accuracy and veracity. He seems indeed to have been far more a rhetori- cian than either a philosopher or a historian, and, even as a rhetorician, to have had more of the spirit of I Socrates than of his own great master. His readiness and fluency, no less than his ex- treme indiscretion, are illustrated by the anecdote given by Plutarch (Alex. 53) of his speaking with great applause in praise of the Macedonians at a banquet, and then, on Alexander's challenging him to take the other side, launcliing forth into the bitterest invective against them. In philosophy he probably followed Aristotle, so far indeed as he threw himself into any system at all. The recen- sion of Homer (t) diro vipd-qKos), kept by Alexan- der in a precious casket, and usually ascribed to Aristotle, was made, according to Strabo (xiii. p. 594), by Callisthenes and Anaxarchus, (Diod. iv. I, xiv. 117, xvi. 14; Cic. ad Fam. v. 15, ad Q. Fratr. ii. 12, de Oral. ii. 14, de Div. i. 34, ii. 25 ; Strab. xi. p. 531, xii. p. 542, xiv. p. G80, xvii. p. 814; Plut. Alex. 27, 33; Polyb. xii. 17—21; Suidas, /. c. ; Fabric. Bibl. Grace. voL iii. p. 480 ; Clint. Fu^t. iii. p. 37 G, note k.) 2. An Athenian orator, and, according to Plu- tarch, one of the eight whom Alexander, after the destruction of Thebes (b. c. 335), required to be de- livered up to him, — on which occasion Demosthenes is said to have quoted the fable of the wolf, who demanded from the sheep the surrender of their dogs. Demades, however, who, it seems, received a fee of five talents for the service, succeeded in propitiating Alexander, and in saving all whose lives were threatened, except the general Charidemus. Arrian gives the number and list somewhat difter- ently, and neither he nor Diodorus mentions Cal- listhenes. (Plut. Dein. 23, Alex. 13; Diod. xvii. 15; Arr. A7iab. i. 10.) 3. A freedman of LucuUus, who, according to Cornelius Nepos (ap. Plut. Lucull. 43), adminis- tered to his master a certain drug (nitended as a charm to increase his aifection for him), which caused the failure of intellect that ho laboured under in his latter vears. f E. E.] CALLl'STHENES (Yio.KKiaQkvts), of Sybtu-is, is mentioned as the author of a history of the Galatians (raAarwa), of which Plutarch (De Fuv. 6) quotes the thirteenth book. But the work must have been of much greater extent, since