Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/50

Rh 36 EPIDAURUS. origin, but iDorn and educated at Carthage, and the son of a Carthaginian mother, his grandfather having been banished by Agathocles, and having settled at Carthage. (Polyb. vii, 2 ; Liv. xxiv. 6.) He served, together with his elder brother Hippo- crates, with much distinction in the army of Hannibal, both in Spain and Italy; and when, after the battle of Cannae, Hieronymus of Syracuse sent to make overtures to Hannibal, that general selected the two brothers as his envoys to Syracuse. They soon gained over the wavering mind of the young king, and induced him to desert the Roman alliance. (Polyb. vii. 2—5; Liv. xxiv. 6—7.) But the murder of Hieronymus shortly after, and the revolution that ensued at Syracuse, for a time deranged their plans : they at first demanded merely a safe-conduct to return to Hannibal, but soon found that they could do more good by their intrigues at Syracuse, where they even succeeded in procuring their election as generals, in the place of Andranodorus and Themistus. But the Roman party again obtained the upper hand ; and Hippo- crates having been sent with a force to Leontini, Epicydes joined him there, and they set at defiance the Syracusan government. Leontini was, indeed, quickly reduced by Marcellus, but his cruelties there alienated the Syracusans, and still more the foreign mercenaries in their service ; a disposition of which Hippocrates and Epicydes (who had made their escape to Erbessus) ably availed themselves, induced the troops sent against them to mutiny, and returned at their head to Syracuse, of which they made themselves masters with little difficultj'-, B. c. 214. (Liv. xxiv. 21 — 32.) Marcellus im- mediately proceeded to besiege Syracuse, the defence of which was conducted with ability and vigour by the two brothers, who had been again appointed generals. When the Roman commander found himself obliged to turn the siege into a blockade, Epicydes continued to hold the city itself, while Hippocrates conducted the operations in other parts of Sicily. The former was, however, unable to prevent the surprise of the Epipolae, which were betrayed into the hands of Marcellus ; but he still exerted his utmost efforts against the Romans,' and co-operated zealously with the army from without under Himilco and Hippocrates. After the defeat of the latter he went in person to meet Bomilcar, who was advancing with a Cartha- ginian fleet to the relief of the city, and hasten his arrival ; but, after the retreat of Bomilcar, he seems to have regarded the fall of Syracuse as in- evitable, and withdrew to Agrigentum. (Liv. xxiv. 33 — 39, XXV. 23 — 27.) Here he appears to have remained and co-operated with the Numidian Mutines, until the capture of Agrigentum (b. c. 210) obliged him to fly with Hanno to Carthage, after which his name is not again mentioned. (Liv. XX vi. 40.) 2. A Syracusan, surnamed Sindon, one of the lieutenants of the preceding, who were left by him in command of Syracuse when he retired to Agri- gentum : he was put to death by the Roman party, together with his colleagues. (Liv. xxv. 28.) 3. Of Olynthus, a general under Ophelias of Cyrene, who took Thimbron prisoner at Teuchira. (Arr. ap. Phot p. 70, a.) [E. H. B.] EPIDAURUS ('ETriSawpos), the mythical foun- der of Epidaurus, a son of Argos and Evadne, but according to Argive legends a son of Pelops, and EPIGENES. nccording to those of Elis a son of Apollo. (Apol- lod. ii. 1.^2; Paus. ii. 26. § 3.) [L. S.] EPI'DIUS, a Latin rhetorician who taught the art of oratory towards the close of the republic, numbering M. Antonius and Octavianus among his scholars. His skill, however, was not sufficient to save him from a conviction for malicious accu- sation (calumnia). We are told that he claimed descent from Epidius Nuncionus (the name is pro- bably corrupt), a rural deity, who appears to have been worshipped upon the banks of the Sarnus. (Sueton. de Ciar. Rhet. 4.) [W. R.] C. EPI'DIUS MARULLUS. [M.rullus.] EPIDO'TES ('EttiScJttjs), a divinity who was worshipped at Lacedaemon, and averted the anger of Zeus Hicesius for the crime committed by Pau- sanias. (Paus. iii. 17. ^ 8.) Epidotes, which means the " liberal giver," occurs also as a sur- name of other divinities, such as Zeus at Mantineia and Sparta (Paus. viii. 9. § 1 ; Hesych. s. v.), of the god of sleep at Sicyon, who had a statue in the temple of Asclepius there, which represented him in the act of sending a lion to sleep (Paus. ii. 10. § 3), and lastly of the beneficent gods, to whom Antoninus built a sanctuary at Epidaurus. (Paus. ii. 27. §7.) [L. S.] EPI'GENES ('E7ri7eV7]s), son of Antiphon, of the demus of Cephisia, is mentioned by Plato among the disciples of Socrates who were with him. in his last moments. Xenophon represents Socrates as remonstrating with him on his neglect of the bodily exercises requisite for health and strength. (Plat. Apol. p. 33, Fhaed. p. 59 ; Xen. Mem. iii. 12.) [E. E.] EPI'GENES ('E7rt76'v77y). 1. An Athenian poet of the middle comedy. Pollux indeed (vii. 29) speaks of him as veav ris ku^ixmwv^ but the terms "middle" and "new," as Clinton remarks (F. H. vol. ii. p. xlix.), are not always very carefully applied. (See Arist. Eth. Nic. iv. 8. § 6.) Epigenes himself, in a fragment of his play called '^vq^idnov {ap. Aih. xi. p. 472, f.) speaks of Pixodarus, prince of Caria, as " the king's son" ; and from this Meineke argues {Bid. Crit. Com. Grctec. p. 354), that the comedy in question musth ave been written while Hecatomnus, the father of Pixoda- rus, was yet alive, and perhaps about B. c. 380. We find besides in Athenaeus (ix. p. 409, d.), that there was a doubt among the ancients whether the play called ''Kpyvpiov a(paviap.6s should be assigned to Epigenes or Antiphanes. These poets therefore must have been contemporaries. [See vol. i. p. 204, b.] The fragments of the comedies of Epigenes have- been collected by Meineke (vol. iii. p. 537 ; comp. Poll. vii. 29 ; Ath. iii. p. 75, c, ix. p. 384, a., xi. pp. 469, c, 474, a., 480, a., 486, c, 502, e.). 2. Of Sicyon, who has been confounded by some with his namesake the comic poet, is men- tioned by Suidas (s. v. ©eairis) as the most ancient writer of tragedy. By the word " tragedy" here we can understand only the old dithyramhic and satyrical rpaytfUa^ into which it is possible that Epigenes may have been the first to introduce other subjects than the original one of the fortunes of Dionysus, if at least we may trust the account which we find in Apostolius, Photius, and Suidas, of the origin of the proverb ovZev irpos rdv Aio- vvaov. This would clearly be one of the earliest steps in the gradual transformation of the old dithyrambic performance into the dramatic tragedy of later times, and may tend to justify the state-