Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/872

Rh 858 LYCURGUS. was equally unsuccessful in the same year, in an attempt which he made on the citadel of Tegea, and also in his endeavour to intercept and defeat Philip in the passes of tlie Menelaion, on his return from his invasion of Laconia. Not long after, he was falsely accused to the Ephori of revolutionary designs, and was obliged to flee to Aetolia for safety. In the following year, however (b. c. 217), the Ephori discovered the groundlessness of the charge and recalled him ; and soon after he made an inroad into Messenia, in which he was to have been joined by Pyrrhias, the Aetolian general, but the latter was repulsed in his attempt to pass the frontier, and Lycurgus returned to Sparta without having effected any thing. He died about B. c. 210, and Machanidas then made himself tyrant. (Pol. iv. 2, 35—37, 60, 81, v. 5, 17, 21—23, 29, 91, 92 ; Pans. iv. 29 ; Liv. xxxiv. 26.) Lycurgus left a son named Pelops, who was put to death by Nabis, B. c. 205. (Diod. Exc. de Virt. et Vit. p. 570 ; Vales, and Wess. ad loc.) [E. E.] LYCURGUS {AvKovpyos)^ an Attic orator, was born at Athens about B. c. 396, and was the son of Lycophron, who belonged to the noble family of the Eteobutadae. (Plut. Vit. X. Orat. p. 841 ; Suidas, s. V. AvKovpyos ; Phot. BiU. Cod. 268, p. 496, &c.) In his early life he devoted himself to the study of philosophy in the school of Plato, but afterwards became one of the disciples of Iso- cnites, and entered upon public life at a compara- tively early age. He was appointed three successive times to the office of Tafxias rijs koiuvs irpoaoSov, i. e. manager of the public revenue, and held his office each time for five years, beginning with B. c. 337. The conscientiousness with which he dis- charged the duties of this office enabled him to raise the public revenue to the sum of 1200 talents. This, as well as the unwearied activity with which he laboured both for increasing the security and splendour of the city of Athens, gained for him the universal confidence of the people to such a degree, that when Alexander the Great demanded, among the other opponents of the Macedonian interest, the surrender of Lycurgus also, who had, in con- junction with Demosthenes, exerted himself against the intrigues of Macedonia even as early as the reign of Philip, the people of Athens clung to him, and boldly refused to deliver him up. (Plut. Phot. IL cc.) He was further entrusted with the super- intendence {(pvaK-/i) of the city and the keeping of public discipline ; and the severity with which he watched over the conduct of the citizens be- came almost proverbial. (Cic. ad Att. i. 13; Plut. Flamin. 12 ; Amm. Marc. xxiL 9, xxx. 8.) He had a noble taste for every thing that was beautiful and grand, as he showed by the buildings | he erected or completed, both for the use of the i citizens and the ornament of the city. His inte- ! grity was so great, that even private persons de- posited with him large sums of money, which they wished to be kept in safety. He was also the au- thor of several legislative enactments, of which he enforced the strictest observance. One of his laws forbade women to ride in chariots at the celebration of the mysteries ; and when his own wife trans- gressed this law, she was fined ( Aelian, V. H. xiii. 24) ; another ordained that bronze statues should be erected to Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, that copies of their tragedies should be made and preserved in the public archives. The Lives of the Ten Orators ascribed to Plutarch (p. 842, &c.) are LYCUS. full of anecdotes and characteristic features of Lycurgus, from which we must infer that he was one of the noblest specimens of old Attic virtue, and a worthy contemporary of Demosthenes. He often appeared as a successful accuser in the Athe nian courts, but he himself was as often accused by others, though he always, and even in the last days of his life, succeeded in silencing his enemies. Thus we know that he was attacked by Philinu? ( Harpocrat. s. v. ^ewpiKd)^ Deinarchus (Dionys. Dinarch. 10), Aristogeiton, Menesaechmns, and others. He died while holding the office of ctti- ararris of the theatre of Dionysus, in B. c. 323. A fragment of an inscription, containing the account which he rendered to the state of his administration of the finances, is still extant. At his death he left behind three sons, by his wife Callisto, who were severely persecuted by Menesaechmus and Thra- sycles, but were defended by Hyperides and De- mocles. (Plut. I. c. p. 842, &c.) Among the honours which were conferred upon him, we may mention, that the archon Anaxicrates ordered a bronze statue to be erected to him in the Cera- meicus, and that he and his eldest son should be entertained in the prytaneiura at the public ex- pense. The ancients mention fifteen orations of Ly- curgus as extant in their days (Plut. I. c: p. 843 ; Phot. /. c. p. 496, b), but we know the titles of at* least twenty. (Westermann, Geseh. d. Griech. Beredt, Beilage vi. p. 296.) With the exception, however, of one entire oration against Leocrates, and some fragments of others, all the rest are lost, so that our knowledge of his skill and style as an orator is very incomplete. Dionysius and other ancient critics draw particular attention to the ethical tendenc)'^ of his orations, but they censure the harshness of his metaphors, the inaccuracy in the arrangement of his subject, and his frequent digressions. His style is noble and grand, but neither elegant nor pleasing. (Dionys. Vet. Sci'ipt. cens. V, 3 ; Hermogen. De Form. Orat. ii. p. 500 ; Dion Chrysost. Or. xviii. p. 256, ed. Mor.) His works seem to have been commented upon by Di- dymus of Alexandria. (Harpocrat. s. vv. xeAavoy, irpoKwvia, (TTpwrrip.) Theon {Progymn. pp. 71, 77) mentions two declamations, '^Kivr]s iyKci/xiov and EvpvSdrov ^oyos, as the works of Lycurgus ; but this Lycurgus, if the name be correct, must be a diflferent personage from the Attic orator. The oration against Leocrates, which was delivered in B. c. 330 (Aeschin. adv. Ctesiph. § 93), is printed in the various collections of the Attic orators by Aldus, Stephens, Gruter, Reiske, Dukas, Bekker, Baiter, and Sauppe. Among the separate editions, the following deserve to be mentioned — that of J. Taylor (Cambridge, 1743, 8vo., where it is printed together with Demosthenes' speech against Mei- dias),C. F. Heinrich (Bonn, 1821, 8vo.), G. Pinzger (Leipzig, 1824, 8vo., with a learned introduction, notes, and a German translation), A. G, Becker (Magdeburg, 1821, 8vo.) The best editions are those of Baiter and Sauppe (Turici, 1834, 8vo.), and E. Maetzner (Berlin, 1836, 8vo.). Compare G. A. Blume, Narratio de Lycurgo Oratore, Pots- dam, 1834, 4to. ; A. F. Nissen, De Lycurgi Ora- t'oris Vita et Rebus Gestis Disseiiatio^ Kiel, 1833, 8vo. [L.S.] LYCUS (Autfos). 1. One of the sons of Aegyp- tus. (Apollod. ii. 1. § 5.) 2. A son of Poseidon and Colaeno, who was