Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/718

Rh roo CHRYSIPPUS. 4. A son of Poseidon and Chrvsogeneia, and father of Minyas. (Paus. ix. 36. § 3".) [L. S.] CHRYSES (Xpva-ns), of Alexandria, a skilful mechanician, flourished about the middle of the sixth century after Christ. (Procop. de Aedif. Jtis- tin. iii. 3.) [P. S.] CHRYSIPPUS (Xpwo-tmros), a son of Pelops by the nymph Axioche or by Danais (Plut. Pa- ralL Hist. Gr. et Rom. 33), and accordingly a step- brother of Alcathous, Atreus, and Thyestes. While still a bo}', he was carried off by king Laius of Thebes, who instructed him in dri ng a chariot. (Apollod. iii. 5. § 5.) According to others, he was carried off by Theseus during the contests cele- brated by Pelops (Hj-gin. Fab. 271) ; but Pelops recovered him by force of arms. His step-mother Hippodameia hated him, and induced her sons Atreus and Thyestes to kill him ; whereas, ac- cording to another tradition, Chrysippus was killed by his father Pelops himself. (Paus. vi. 20. § 4 ; Hygin. Fab. 85 ; Schol. ad Thucyd. i. 9.) A second mythical Chrysippus is mentioned by Apollodorus (ii. 1. § 5). [L. S.] CHRYSIPPUS (Xpvcrnnros). 1. Of Tyana, a learned writer on the art of cookery, or more properly speaking, on the art of making bread or sweetmeats, is called by Athenaeus <ro(p6s ircix/jLO- ToK6yo5., and seems to have been little known be- fore the time of the latter author. One of his works treated specially of the art of bread-making, and was entitled 'AproKOiriKos. (Athen. iii. p. 1 ] 3, xiv. pp. 647, c, 648, a. c.) 2. The author of a work' entitled 'IroAt/co. (Plut. ParalL Min. c. 28.) CHRYSIPPUS, a learned freedman of Cicero, who ordered him to attend upon his son in B. c. 52 ; but as he left young Marcus without the knowledge of his patron, Cicero determined to declare his manumission void. As, however, we find Chrysippus in the confidence of Cicero again in B. c. 48, he probably did not carry his threat into effect. (Cic. ad Q. Fr. iii. 4, 5, ad Att. vii. 2,5,11.) CHRYSIPPUS, VE'TTIUS, a freedman of the architect Cyrus, and himself also an architect. (Cic. ad Fam. vii. 14, ad Att. xiii. 29, xiv. 9.) CHRYSIPPUS (Xpuo-iTTTTos), a Stoic philoso- pher, son of Apollonius of Tarsus, but bom himself at Soli in Cilicia. When young, he lost his pater- nal property, for some reason unknown to us, and went to Athens, where he became the disciple of Cleanthes, who was then at the head of the Stoical school. Some say that he even heard Zeno, a pos- sible but not probable statement, as Zeno died B.C. 264, and Chrysippus was born B. c. 280. He does not appear to have embraced the doctrines of the Stoics without considerable hesitation, as we hear that he studied the Academic philosophy, and for some time openly dissented from Cleanthes. Dis- liking the Academic scepticism, he became one of the most strenuous supporters of the principle, that knowledge is attainable and may be established on certain foundations. Hence, though not the founder of the Stoic school, he was the first person who based its doctrines on a plausible system of reason- ing, so that it was said, "if Chrysippus had not existed, the Porch could not have been" (Diog. Laert. vii. 183), and among the later Stoics his opinions had more weight than those of either Zeno or Cleanthes, and he was considered an authority from which there was no appeal. He died B. c. CHRYSIPPUS. 207, aged 73 (Laert. ^. c), though Valerius Maxi- mus (viii. 7. § 10) says, that he lived till past 80. Various stories are handed down by tradition to account for his death — as that he died from a fit ol laughter on seeing a donkey eat figs, or that he feL sick at a sacrificial feast, and died five days after. With regard to the worth of Chrysippus as a philosopher, it is the opinion of Ritter that, in spite of the common statement that he differed in some points from Zeno and Cleanthes (Cic. Acad. ii. 47), he was not in truth so much the author of any new doctrines as the successful opponent of those who dissented from the existing Stoic system, and the inventor of new arguments in its support. With the reasoning of his predecessors he appears to have been dissatisfied, from the story of his tell- ing Cleanthes that he only wished to learn the principles of his school, and would himself provide arguments to defend them. Besides his struggles against the Academy, he felt very strongly the dangerous influence of the Epicurean system ; and in order to counterbalance the seductive influence of their moral theory, he seems to have wished in some degree to popularize the Stoic doctrine, and to give to the study of ethics a more prominent place than was consistent with his statement, that physics (under which he included the whole science of theology, or investigations into the nature of God) was the highest branch of philosophy. This is one of the contradictions for which he is re- proached by Plutarch, whose work De Stoicorum Jiepuff7ianiiis is written chiefly against his incon- sistencies, some of which are important, some merely verbal. The third of the ancient divisions of philosophy, logic (or the theory of the sources of human knowledge), was not considered by Chry- sippus of the same importance as it had appeared to Plato and Aristotle ; and he followed the Epi- cureans in calling it rather the organum of philoso- phy than a part of philosophy itself. He was also strongly opposed to another opinion of Aristotle, viz. that a life of contemplative solitude is best suited to the wise man — considering this a mere pretext for selfish enjoyment, and extolling a life of energy and activity. (Plut. de Stoic. Rep. ii.) Chrysippus is pronounced by Cicero {de Nat. Dcor. iii. 10) " homo sine dubio versutus, et calli- dus," and the same character of quickness and sagacity was generally attributed to him by the ancients. His industry was so great, that he is said to have seldom written less than 500 lines a-day, and to have left behind him 705 works. These however seem to have consisted very largely of quotations, and to have been undistinguished for elegance of style. Though none of them are extant, yet his fragments are much more numerous than those of his two predecessors. His erudition was profound, he is called by Cicero ( Tusc. i. 45) "in omni historia curiosus," and he appears to have overlooked no branch of study except mathematics and natural philosophy, which were neglected by the Stoics till the time of Posidonius. His taste for analysing and refuting fallacies and sophistical subtleties was derived from the Megarians (Plut. Stoic. Hep. X.) : in the whole of this branch of reasoning he was very successful, and has left nu- merous treatises on the subject, e.g. nepl rctf nevre TTTCDaewv, Trepl Ae^ewi', K. t. A. (Diog, Laert. vii. 192, 193.) He was the inventor of the kind of argument called Sorites. {Chrysippi acervus, Pers. Sat. vi. 80.) In person he was so slight, that hL?