Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/913

Rh CRITON. for his love and affection for his master, whom he ' penerously supported with hia fortune (Diog. Laert. ii. 20, 1*21), than as a philosopher himself. Accordingly, whenever he is introduced in Plato's dialogues, his attachment to Socrates is extolled, and not his philosophical talents. It was Criton who had made every arrangement for the escape of Socrates from prison, and who tried, in vain, to persuade him to fly, as we see from Plato's dia- logue named after him ; and it was ('riton also who closed the eyes of the dying philosopher. ( Plat. P/medon, p. 1 1 8, a.) Criton applied his great riches, which are mentioned by Socrates in a jocose way in the Euthydemus of Plato (p. 304, c), to the noblest purposes. His sons, of whom he pos- sessed four according to Diogenes Laertius (ii. 121), and two according to Plato (Euthydem. j). 360, with HeindorTs note), were likewise disciples of Socrates. The eldest of them was Critobulus. [Critobulus.] Criton wrote seventeen dialogues on philoso- phical subjects, the titles of which are given by Diogones Laertius (/. c). Among these there was one " On Poetics" {Uepl Uoirrriidjs), which is the only work on this subject mentioned in the history of Greek literature before the work of Aristotle. (The passages in Plato's writings, in which Criton is mentioned, are collected in Groen van Prinsterer, Prosopographia Platonica, p. 200, &c., Lugd. Bat. 1 823 ; comp. Hermann, Gesch. und System der Platon. Philosophies i. p. 633.) [A.S.] CRITON {Kpirwv). 1. Of Aegae, a Pytha- gorean philosopher, a fragment of whose work, TTfpt irpovoias KoHi ayaQis tvx'')^^ is preserved by Stobaeus. {Serm. 3; Fabric. Bill. G'raec. i, pp. 840, 886.) 2. Of Athens a comic poet of the new comedy, of very little note. Of his comedies there only remain a few lines and three titles, AIto>oI, *iXo- irpdynov^ and Meaffiivia. (Pollux, ix. 4. 15, x. 7. 35 ; Ath. iv. p. 173, b.; Meineke, Fraff. Com. Uraec. i. p. 484, iv. pp. 537, 538.) 3. Of Naxus. [Eudoxus.] 4. Of PiERiA, in Macedonia, wrote historical and descriptive works, entitled TlaW-nviKd^ 'S.vpa- KQvrrwv KTiais, TlepaiKo^ 2i«fAtKa, l^vpaKOvcruv TTcpiT^Tjais, and irepl rrjs dpxvs rwv MaKeSovwv. (Suid. s. V.) Immediately before, Suidas has the entry, Kp'iTuv ^ypa/eu fv to7s reriKois. (Comp. Suid. s. V. y€<Toi ; Steph. Byz. reria.) Whether this was the same person is not known. (Voss. Hist Grace, p. 423, Westermann ; Ebert, de Cri- tme Pierioia in Diss. Sic. i. p. 138.) [P. S.] CRITON (Kplruv). 1. A physician at Rome in the first or second century after Christ, attached to the court of one of the emperors (Gal. De Compns. Medicam. sec. Locos, i. 3, vol. xii. p. 445), probably Trajan, a. d. 98 — 117. He is perhaps the person mentioned by Martial. {Epigr. xi. 60. 6.) He wrote a work on Cosmetics {KocrixijriKci) in four books, which were verj' popular in Galen's time (ibid. p. 446) and which contained almost all that had been written on the same subject by Heracleides of Tarentum, Cleopatra, and others. The contents of each chapter of the four books have been preserved by Galen (ilnd. by whom the work is frequently quoted, and have been in- serted by Fabricius in the twelfth volume of the «tld edition of his Biblioih. Graeca. He wrote also a work on Simple Medicines (Tlepl twv 'AttXwv ^aofjAKuv) of which the fourth book is quoted by CRIUS. 895 Galen {De Compos. Medicam. sec. Gen. ii. 11, vi. 1, vol. xiii. pp. 516, 862); he is also quoted by Aetius and Paulus Aegineta, and may perhaps be the person to whom one of the letters of Apollo- nius of Tyana is addressed. {Ep. xvii. ed. Colon. Agripp. 1623, 8vo.) None of his works are ex- tant, except a few fragments preserved by other authors. He is perhaps the author of a work on Cookery, mentioned by Athenaeus. (xii. p. 516.) 2. Another physician of the same name is men- tioned by Galen as having belonged to the sect of the Empirici in the fourth or third century be- fore Christ. {De Suhfig. Empir. c. 1, vol. ii. p. 340, ed. Chart.) [W. A. G.J L. CRITO'NIUS, a Roman, who was aedilia cerealis in B. c. 44. This office had been instituted by J. Caesar, and Critonius and M. Fannius were the first who filled it Appian {B. C. iii. 23) re- lates the following occurrence respecting Critonius. When the Cerealia were celebrated, shortly after the murder of Caesar, and Octavianus erected the golden sella with a crown in honour of Caesar, — a distinction which had been conferred upon the dictator by a senatusconsultum, — Critonius declared that he would not suffel' Caesar to be thus ho- noured in the games for which he (Critonius) him- self had to pay the expenses. This conduct of a man who had belonged to the party of Caesar, and had been promoted by him (comp. Cic. ad Att. xiii. 21 ), is indeed surprising ; but it may have been the consequence of a strong republican enthusiasm. Another more serious difficulty is contained in the fact, that the Cerealia, at which Octavianus is here represented to have been present, were celebrated in the early part of April {Did. of Ant. s.v. Cereor lia), that is, before the time at which Octavianus is known to have returned to Rome. Unless, there- fore, we suppose that there is some blunder in the account of Appian, we must believe that the cele- bration of the games in that year was postponed on account of the great confusion that followed after the murder of Caesar. (Drumann, Gesch. Roms, i. p. 123.) The annexed coin refers to this Critonius. It bears on the obverse the head of Ceres, and on the reverse two men sitting, with the legend, M. Fan. L. Crit., and it was doubtless struck by order of M. Fannius and L. Critonius in the year that they were aediles cereales. [L. S.] CRIUS or CREIUS (KpTos), a son of Uranus and Ge, and one of the Titans, who was the fa- ther of Astraeus, Pallas, and Perses, (Hesiod. T/teog. 375 ; Apollod. i. 1. § 3, 2. § 2.) [L. S.] CRIUS (Kptos), son of Polycritus, and one of the chief men of Aegina. When the Aeginetans, in B. c. 491, had submitted to the demand of Dareius Hystaspis for earth and water, Cleomenes I., king of Sparta, crossed over to the island to apprehend those who had chiefly advised the mea- sure, but was successfully resisted by Crius on the ground that he had not come with authority from the Spartan government, since his colleague Dema-