Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/1204

Rh 1190 NICOCLES. Aristophanes (Siiidas, s. v. NtKoxaf"??), and of the ward KvSad-^vaiou (Staph. Byz. s. v. KvSadi^uaiov). If the conjecture of Bockh be correct {Corp. Inscript. vol. i. p. 354), he was alive so far down as B. c. 354. The names of his plays, as enume- rated by Suidas (/. c), are, 'Aixvfxciv% IleAo;//, FaAareia, 'HpaKhrjs yajuLu/u, 'HpaKXijs x^P^T^^? KprJTfS, AaKuves, AtJ/j-i/mi^ KeVraupoj, Xeipoyd- (TTopes. Meineke {Com. Graec. Frag. vol. i. p. 253) ingeniously conjectures that the two first are but different names for the same comedy, from the fact that neA.o(/ does not occur in its alpha- betical place, like the rest, and from the name Oenomaiis occurring in a quotation from the 426, e.). Of the Galatea two small fragments are preserved. (Pollux, x. 93 ; Schol. in Aristoph. Plut. vv. 179,303.) To "Heracles marrying," •reference is made, Pollux vii. 40, x. 1 35. In the former passage the play is spoken of eV 'Hpa/cAcT ya/xov/xSycp ; this use of the verb, perhaps, like the Latin wwio, indicating the hero's unhusband-like subjection to Omphale. And in the latter passage the poet is spoken of thus : Kara NiKox^p^v. Of the Lacones, we learn from the Argument to the Plutus III. of Aristophanes, that it was represented B. c. 388, in competition with the IIovtos j8'. of Aristophanes. Reference is made to it, A then. xv. p. 667, e. Of the Lemniae, the subject of which seems to have been the loves of Jason and Hyp- sipyle, we have two lines preserved by Athenaeus (vii. p. 328, e.). Other short fragments, but with- out the names of the plays, are preserved by Athenaeus (as i. p. 34, d.), Pollux, and others. From these fragments we can only infer that he treated in the style of the Old Comedy — sometimes rising into tragic dignity — the legends and local traditions of his country, no doubt ridiculing the peculiarities of the neighbouring states. (Mei- neke, /. c. and vol. ii. p. 842 ; Athen. Suid. Steph. Byz. U. cc. ; Clinton, F. H. vol. ii. pp. 42, 101 ; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. ii. 471.) Aristotle mentions {Art. Poet. ii. 7) one Nico- chares as the author of a poem called the Ar^hids, in which he represents men as worse than they are Whether the comic Nicochares be the author or not, as Aristotle mentions this poem in connection with the parody of Hegemon, and, im- mediately after, expressly distinguishes between the characters represented in tragedy and in comedy as a separate illustration, the Deliad can- not have been a comedy, as Fabricius (Bibl. Graec. vol. ii. p. 471) inadvertently states. AetAms, " the Poltroniad," has been suggested as the probable name. But, looking at the practice of the comic poet to amuse himself with local peculiarities, it Beems probable enough that he wrote a satirical extravaganza on the inhabitants of Delos. ( Aristot. he; Twining's transl. vol. i. p. 266, 2d ed,; Mei- neke, Com. Graec. Fr. vol. i. p. 256 ; Fabric. Bill. Graec. I.e.) [W. M. G.] NICOCLES (NjkokAtjs), historical. 1. King of Salamis in Cyprus, was the son and successor of Evagoras I. Some authors have supposed that he had participated in the conspiracy to which his father Evagoras fell a victim ; but there is no authority for this supposition, which^as indeed been adopted only by way of explaining the strange error into which Diodorus has fallen, who represents Nicocles himself as the eunuch by whom Evagoras was assassinated (Diod. xv. 47, intpp. ad loc). It is NICOCLES. certainly incredible that had this been the case, Isocrates should have addressed to him a long panegyric upon his father's virtues, in which he also dwells particularly upon the filial piety of Nicocles, and the honours paid by him to the memory of Evagoras (Isoc. Evag. init). Scarcely any particulars are known of the reign of Nicocles, but it appears to have been one of peace and prosperity. If we may trust the state- ment of his panegyrist Isocrates (who addressed to him two of his orations, and has made him the subject of another), he raised the cities under his rule to the most flourishing condition, replenished the treasury, which had been exhausted by his father's wars, witliout oppressing his subjects by ex- orbitant taxes, and exhibited in all respects the model of a mild and equitable ruler (Isocr, Nicocl. p. 32, &.C.). The same author extols him also for his attachment to literature and philosophy (id. Evag. p. 207), of which he afforded an ad- ditional proof by rewarding Isocrates himself for his panegyric with the magnificent present of twenty talents ( Vit. X. Orat. p. 838, a.). The orator also praises him for the purity of his domestic relations ; but we learn from Theopompus and Anaximenes (ap. Allien, xii. p. 531), that he was a person of luxurious habits, and used to vie with Straton, king of Sidon, in the splendour and refine- ment of his feasts and other sensual indulgences. According to the same authorities he ultimately perished by a violent death, but neither the period nor circumstances of tliis event are recorded. The annexed coin may be safely assigned to this Nicocles. See Borrell, Notice sur quelques medailles Grecques des Rois de Chypre, 4to., Paris, 1836. COIN OF NICOCLES, OF SALAMIS. 2. Prince or ruler of Paphos, in Cyprus, during the period which followed the death of Alexander. He was at first one of those who took part with Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, against Antigonus (Diod. xix. bd ; Droysen, Hellemismus^ vol. i. p. 339), but at a subsequent period, B.C. 310, after Ptolemy had established his power over the whole island, Nicocles appears to have changed his views, and entered into secret negotiations with Antigonus. Hereupon, the Egyptian monarch, alarmed lest the spirit of disaffection should spread to the other cities, immediately despatched two of his friends, Argaeus and Callicrates, to Cyprus, Avho surrounded the palace of the unhappy prince with an armed force, and commanded him to put an end to his own life, an order with which, after a vain attempt at explanation, he wjis obliged to comply. His ex- ample was followed by his wife Axiothea, as well as by his brothers and their wives, so that the whole family of the princes of Paphos perished in this catastrophe (Diod. xx. 21 ; Polyaen. viii. 48). Wesseling {ad Diod. I. c.) has erroneously identified this Nicocles with Nicocreon, king of Salamis [Nicocreon], from whom he is certainly distinct. (See Droysen, vol. i. p. 404, not.) A coin of this prince, bearing the inscription NIKOKAEOTS
 * Aixvjiuvi]^ given by Athenaeus (two lines, x. p.