Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/714

Rh 69Ci CHOERILUS. a war with Julian, afterwards emperor, and then Caesar, who succeeded in stopping the progress of the Alenianni in Gaul, and who defeated them completely in the following year, 337, in a battle near Argentora turn, now Strassburg. Chnodoma- rius had assembled in his camp the contingents of six chiefs of the Alemanni, viz. Vestralpus, Urius, Ursicinus, Suomarius, Hortarius, and Serapio, the son of Chnodomarius' brother Mederichus, whose original name was Agenarichus ; but in spite of their gallant resistance, they were routed, leaving six thousand dead on the field. Obliged to cross the Rhine in confusion, they lost many thousands more who were drowned in the river. Ammianus Marcellinus says, that the Romans lost only two hundred and forty-three men, besides four officers of rank, but this account cannot be relied upon. Chnodomarius fell into the hands of the victors, and being presented to Julian, was treated by him with kindness, and afterwards sent to Rome, where he was kept a prisoner in the Castra Pere- grina on Mount Caelius. There he died a natural death some time afterwards. Ammianus Marcel- linus gives a detailed account of the battle of Strassburg, which had the most beneficial effect apon the tranquillity of Gaul. (Amm. Marc. xvi. 12; Aurel. Vict. Epit. c. 42; Liban. Orat. 10, 12.) [W. P.] CHOE'RILUS {XoiplKos or XoipiWos). There were four Greek poets of this name who have been frequently confounded with one another. They are treated of, and properly distinguished, by A. F. Nake, Clioerili Samii quae supersufity Lips, 1817, 8vo. 1. Choerilus of Athens, a tragic poet, contem- porary with Thespis, Phrynichus, Pratiiias, Aes- chylus, and even with Sophocles, unless, as Welc- ker supposes, he had a son of the same name, who was also a tragic poet. (Welcker, Die Griech. Tra- g'wl. p. 892.) His first appearance as a competitor for the tragic prize was in B. c. 523 (Suid. s. v.), in the reign of Hipparchus, when Athens was be- coming the centre of Greek poetry by the residence there of Simonides, Anacreon, Lasus, and others. This was twelve years after the first appearance of Thespis in the tragic contests ; and it is therefore not improbable that Choerilus had Thespis for an antagonist. It was also twelve years before the first victory of Phrynichus. (b. c. 511.) After another twelve years, Choerilus came into competition with Aeschylus, when the latter first exhibited (b. c. 499) ; and, since we know that Aeschylus did not carry off a prize till sixteen years afterwards, the prize of this contest must have been given either to Choerilus or to Pratinas. (Suid. s. vv. AtVxvAos, UpaTlvas.) Choerilus was still held in high esti- mation in the year 483 B. c. after he had exhibited tragedies for forty years. (Cyrill. Julian, i. p. 13,b.; Euseb. Chron. sub. 01. 74. 2 ; Syncell. p. 254, b.) In the statement in the anonj'mous life of Sopho- cles, that Sophocles contended with Choerilus, there is very probably some mistake, but there is no impossibility ; for when Sophocles gained his first victory (a. c. 468), Choerilus would be just 80, if we take 25 as the usual age at which a tragic poet first exhibited. (Compare Welcker, /. c. and Niike, p. 7.) Of the character of Choerilus we know little more than that, during a long life, he retained a good degree of popular favour. The number of his tragedies was 150, of his victories 13 (Suid. s. v.). CHOERILUS. behig exactly the number of victories assigned to Aeschylus. The great number of his dramas not only establishes the length of his career, but a much more important point, namely, that the exhi- bition of tetralogies commenced early in the time of Choerilus ; for new tragedies were exhibited at Athens only twice a year, and at this early period we never hear of tragedies being written but not exhibited, but rather the other way. In fact, it is the general opinion, that Choerilus was the first who composed written tragedies, and that even of his plays the greater number were not written. Some writers attributed to him the invention or great improvement of masks and theatrical costume (toIs Trpocrcimeiois Koi rf} <TK(vr) ruu (rrokwv hre- XetpT70'€ are the words of Suidas, s. v.). These inventions are in fact ascribed to each of the great tragedians of this age ; and it is remarkable that the passages on the authority of which they are usually attributed to Aeschylus imply not so much actual invention as the artistic perfection of what previously existed in a rude form. It is evident, moreover, that these great improvements, by whom- soever made, must have been adopted by all the tragedians of the same age. The poetical character and construction of the plays of Choerilus probably differed but little from those of Thespis, until the period when Aeschylus introduced the second actor — a change which Choerilus of course adopted, for otherwise he could not have continued to compete with Aeschylus. The same remark applies to the separation made by Pratinas of the satyric drama from the regular tragedy. It is generally supposed that Choerilus had some share in eft'ecting this im- provement, on the authority of a line from an un- known ancient poet {ap. Flotium de JMetiis, p. 2633, ed. Putsch.), •flvlKa ftev )3a(riAei)s ^v Xoipios qv 'Zarvpois. But it seems more natural to take the words ev SaTupots to mean i/ie tragic Chorus, at the time when the persons composing it retained the cos- tume of satyrs. The name of Choerilus is mentioned in a very curious fragment of the comic poet Alexis, from his play Linus. (Athen. iv. p. 164, c; Meineke, i^ro^. Com. Grace, iii. p. 443.) Linus, who is instructing Hercules, puts into his hand some books, that he may choose one of them to read, saying, XoLpios, "O/xTjpos, ^Eirixapfji.os, avyypd^ixara iravToSaird. Here we have a poet for each sort of poetry : Orpheus for the early mystic hymns, Hesiod for the didactic and moral epos. Homer for the heroic epos, Epicharmus for comedy ; but what are rpo- ycf>Ua, XoipiXos ? The usual answer of those cri- tics who abstain from evading the difficulty by an alteration of the text is, Tragedy and the Satyric Drama : but the question is a very difficult one, and cannot be discussed here. (See Nake, p. 5.) Possibly the passage may refer, after all, to the epic poet, Choerilus of Samos, and there may be some hit at his 6/o(pa'Yia (see below) in the choice of Hercules, who selects a work on dpapTV(TLa. Of all the plays of Choerilus we have no rem- nant except the statement by Pausanias (i. 14. § 2) of a mythological genealogy from his play called 'AAOTTT?. The Latin grammarians mention a metre whioh they call Choerilian. It was (
 * Op(pevs eueariv, 'H<rio5os, rpaycvdia,