Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/38

Rh 24 EPAPHRODITUS. the noble mind of one like Epaminondas. We do indeed find hira rising above it, as, for instance, in his preservation of Orchomenus ; but this was in spite of the system under which he lived, and which, while it checked throughout the full expan- sion of his character, sometimes (as in his vindica- tion of the outrage at Tegea) seduced him into positive injustice. At the best, amidst all our ad- miration of his genius and his many splendid qua- lities, we cannot forget that they were directed, after all, to the one petty object of the aggrandize- ment of Thebes. In the ordinary cliaracters of Grecian history we look for no more than this ; — it comes before us painfully in the case of Epami- nondas. (Ael, V. H. vii. 14 ; Cic. de Orat. iii. M, deFin. ii. ^ Brut. 13, Tusc. Disp. i. 2 ; Polyb. vi. 43, ix. 8, xxxii. 8, Fragm. Hist. 15; C. Nep. Epam. 1 ; Aesch. de Fals. Leq. p. 42.) [E. E.] EPAPHRODI'TUS('E7ra4)fj(i8iTos). 1. Afreed- man of Caesar Octavianus ; he was sent by Octa- vianus, together with C. Proculeius, to queen Cleopatra to prepare her for her fate. The two emissaries, however, made the queen their prisoner, and kept her in strict custody, that she might not make away with herself ; but she nevertheless suc- ceeded in deceiving her gaolers. (Dion Cass. li. 11, 13.) 2. A freedman and favourite of the emperor Nero, who employed him as his secretary. During the conspiracy which put an end to Nero's rule, Epaphroditus accompanied his master in his flight, and when Nero attempted to kill himself, Epa- phroditus assisted him. For this service, however, he had afterwards to pay with his own life, for Domitian first banished and afterwards ordered him to be put to death, because he had not exerted himself to save the life of Kero. The philosopher Epictetus was the freedman of this Epaphroditus ; but whether he is the same as the Epaphroditus to whom Josephus dedicated his "Jewish Antiquities," and on whom he pronounces in his preface a high eulogium for his love of literature and history, is very uncertain, and it is generally believed that Josephus is speaking of one Epaphroditus who lived in the reign of Trajan and was a freedman and procurator of this emperor. (Tac. Ann. xv. 55; Sueton. A^ero, 49, Domit 14; Dion Cass. Ixiii. 27, 29, Ixvii. 14 ; Arrian, Dissert. Epict. i. 26 ; Suidas, s. v. 'Ettikttjtos ; comp. the commen- tators on Josephus.) From all these persons of the name of Epaphroditus, we must distinguish the one whom the Apostle Paul mentions as his com- panion. (Philipp. ii. 25, iv. 18.) [L. S.] EPAPHRODITUS, M. ME'TTIUS, of Chae- roneia, a Greek grammarian. He was a disciple of Archias of Alexandria, and became the slave and afterwards the freedman of Modestus, the praefect of Egypt, whose son Pitelinus had been educated by Epaphroditus. After having obtained his liberty, he went to Rome, where he resided in the reign of Nero and down to the time of Nerva, and enjoyed a very high reputation for his learning. He was extremely fond of books, and is said to have collected a library of 30,000 valuable books. He died of dropsy at the age of seventy-five. Suidas (s. v. 'Ena^pSiiTos), from whom this ac- count is derived, does not specify any work of our grammarian, but concludes his article by merely saying that he left behind him many good works. We know, however, from other sources, the titles of some grammatical works and commentaries : for EPEIUS. example, on Homer's Iliad and Odyssey (Steph. Byz. s. V. AwScovT] ; Etym. M. s. vv. awpot, Keipa- Xt]via)., an (:E,riyr](Tis ^is "Op.ripov Koi Uivdapov (Eudoc. p. 128), a commentary on Ilesiod's " Shield of Heracles," and on the Mria of Callimachus, which is frequently referred to by Stephanus of Byzantium and the Scholiast on Aeschylus. He is also mentioned several times in the Venetian Scholia on the Iliad. (Comp. Visconti, Iconograph. Grecq. i. p. 266.) [L. S.] E'PAPHUS ("E7ra(|)os), a son of Zeus and lo, who was born on the river Nile, after the long wan- derings of his mother. He was then concealed by the Curetes, by the request of Hera, but lo sought and afterwards found him in Syria. Epaphus, who subsequently became king of Egypt, married Mem- phis, the daughter of Nilus, or according to others, Cassiopeia, and built the city of Memphis. He had one daughter Libya, from whom Libya (Africa) received its name, and another bore the name of Lysianassa. (Apollod. ii. 1. §§ 3, 4, 5. § 11 ; Hygin. Fah. 145, 149, 275 ; comp. Herod, iii. 27, 28.) Another mythical being of this name is mentioned by Hyginus. {Fab. init.) [L. S.] E'PAPHUS, is called a vir peritissimus, and seems to have Avritten a work on Delphi, of which the seventeenth book is quoted. Servius {ad Aen. iii. 89) and Macrobius {Sat. iii. 6) both quote the same statement from his work. [L. S.] EPA'RCHIDES ('E7rapxiS77s), is mentioned as a writer by Athenaeus in two passages (i. p. 30, ii. p. 61), both of which relate to Icarus, but it is impossible to conjecture the nature of the work of Eparchides. [L. S.] EPEIGEUS ('E7r€t7€us), a Myrmidone and son of Agacles, who having killed his father, was obliged to flee from Budeion. He took refuge in the house of Peleus who sent him with Achilles to Troy, where he was killed b}"^ Hector. (Hom. £1. xvi. 570.) [L. S.] EPEIUS ('ETretJs), 1. A son of Endymion. [Endymion.] 2. A son of Panopeus, called the artist, who went with thirty ships from the Cyclades to Troy. (Diet. Cret. i. 17.) About the close of the Trojan war, he built the wooden horse under the protec- tion and with the assistance of Athena. {Od. viii. 492, xi. 523 ; 11. xxiii. 664, &c., 840 ; Pans. ii. 29. § 4.) According to Justin (xx. 2) the inhab- itants of Metapontum, which he was believed to have founded, shewed in a temple of Athena the tools which he had used in constructing the horse. In the Homeric poems he appears as a mighty and gallant warrior, whereas later traditions assign to him an inferior place among the heroes at Troy. Stesichorus {ap. Eustuth. ad Hom. p. 1323 ; Athen. X. p. 457) called him the water-bearer of the At- reidae, and as such he was represented in the tem- ple of Apollo at Carthea. His cowardice, further, is said to have been so great, that it became pro- verbial. (Hesych. s. v.) According to Virgil {Aen. ii. 264), Epeius himself was one of the Greeks concealed in the wooden horse, and another tradi- tion makes him the founder of Pisa in Italy. (Serv. ad Aen. x. 179.) There were at Argos very ancient carved images of Hermes and Aphro- dite, which were believed to be the works of Epeius (Pans. ii. 19. $ 6), and Plato {Ion, p. 533, a.) mentions him as a sculptor along with Daedalus and Theodorus of Samos. Epeius himself was painted by Polygnotus in the Lesche of Delphi in