Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/879

Rh LYSIAS. and reduced him to such straits for provisions, that the fortress must have quickly fallen had not the news of the approach of Philip induced Lysias to grant a peace to the Jews on favourable terms, in order that he might hasten to oppose his rival. Philip was quickly defeated, and put to death. (Joseph. Ant. xii. 7. § 2—5, 9, § 1— 7 ; 1 Mac- cab, iii. iv. V. 1 — 35, vi. 2 Mace. x. xi. xiii.) Lysias now possessed undisputed authority in the kingdom ; and the Romans, the only power whom he had cause to fear, were disposed to favour Anti- ochus on account of his youth, and the advantages they might hope to derive from his weakness. They, however, despatched ambassadors to Syria, to enforce the execution of the treaty formerly con- cluded with Antiochus the Great ; and Lysias did not venture openly to oppose the arbitrary pro- ceedings of these deputies, but was supposed to have connived at, if he did not command, the murder of Octavius, the chief of the embassy. [Leptines.] He indeed immediately sent am- bassadors to Rome to disclaim all participation in the deed, but did not offer to give up or punish the assassin. Meanwhile, the young prince, Demetrius, made his escape from Rome, where he had been de- tained as a hostage and landed at Tripolis in Syria. The people immediately declared in his favour ; and Lysias, as well as the young Antiochus, was seized by the populace, and given up to Demetrius, who ordered them both to be put to death, b. c. 162. (Joseph. Ant. xii. 10. § 1 ; 1 Mace. vii. ; 2 Mace. xiv. 1,2; Appian. Si/r. 46, 47 ; Polyb. xxxi. 15, 19 ; Liv. J£pit. xlvi ; Euseb. Arm. p. 166, fol. edit.) 5. A native of Tarsus in Cilicia, called by Athe- naeus an Epicurean philosopher, who raised himself to the position of tyrant of his native city. (Athem V. p. 215. b.) [E. H. B.] LY'SIAS (AufTtas), an Attic orator, was bom at Athens in b. c. 458 ; he was the son of Cepha- lus, who was a native of Syracuse, and had taken up his abode at Athens, on the invitation of Pericles. (Dionys. Li/s. 1 ; Plut. Vit. X. Orat. p. 835 ; Phot. Bill. Cod. 262, p. 488, &c. ; Suid. s. v. Au- ar'ias ; Lys. c. Eratosth. § 4 ; Cic. Brut. 16.) When /le was little more than fifteen years old, in B.C. 443, Lysias and his two (some say three) brothers joined the Athenians who went as colonists to Thurii in Italy. He there completed his education under the instruction of two Syracusans, Tisias and Ni- cias, and afterwards enjoyed great esteem among the Thurians, and even seems to have taken part in the administration of the young republic. From a passage of Aristotle (ap. Cic. Brut. 12), we learn that he devoted some time to the teaching of rhetoric, though it is uncertain whether he entered upon tliis profession while yet at Thurii, or did not commence till after his return to Athens, where we know that Isaeus Avas one of his pupils. (Plut. /. c. p. 839 ; Phot. Bihl. Cod. p. 490, a.) In B. c. 41 1, when he had attained the .age of fort}-- Boven, after the defeat of the Athenians in Sicily, all persons, both in Sicily and in the south of Italy, who were suspected of favouring the cause of the Athenians, were exposed to persecutions ; and Lysias, together with 300 others, was expelled by the Spartan party from Thurii, as a partisan of the Athenians. He now returned to Athens ; but there too great misfortunes awaited him, for during the rule of the Thirty Tyrants, after the battle of Aegospotami, he was looked upon as an enemy of VOL. IL LYSIAS. 865 the government, his large property was confiscated, and he was thrown into prison, with a view to be put to death. But he escaped from Athens, and took re- fuge at Megara. (Plut. P/ito^.Z/.cc.) Hisattnchment to Athens, however, was so great, that when Tlira- sybulus, at the head of the patriots, marched trom Phyle to liberate their country, Lysias joyfully sacrificed all that yet remained of his fortune, for he sent the patriots 2000 drachmas and 200 shields, and engaged a band of 302 mercenaries. Thrasy- bulus procured him the Athenian franchise, as a reward for his generosity ; but Archinus afterwards induced the people to declare it void, because it had been conferred without a probuleuma ; and Ly- sias henceforth lived at Athens as an isoteles, oc- cupying himself, as it appears, solely with writing judicial speeches for others, and died in b. c. 378; at the age of eighty. (Dionys. Lys. 12 ; Plut. I. c. p. 836 ; Phot. /. c. p. 490.) Lysias was one of the most fertile Avriters of orations that Athens ever produced, for there were in antiquity no less than 425 orations which were current under his name, though the ancient critics were of opinion that only 230 of them were genuine productions of Lysias. (Dionys. Lys. 17 ; Plut. /. c. p. 836; Phot. I. c. p. 488; Cic. Brut. 16.) Of these orations 35 only are extant, and even among these some are incomplete, and others are probably spurious. Of 53 others we possess only a few fragments. Most of these orations, only one of which (that against Eratosthenes, b. c. 403) he delivered himself in court, were composed after his return from Thurii to Athens. There are, however, some among them which probably belong to an earlier period of his life, when Lysias treated his art more from a theoretical point of view, and they must therefore be regarded as rhetorical exercises. But from the commencement of the speech against Eratosthenes we must conclude that his real career as a writer of orations began about b. c. 403. Among the lost works of Lysias we may mention a maimal of rhetoric (tcxi't? }T)Topuc-/i), probably one of his early productions, which, however, is lost. How highly the orations of Lysias were valued in antiquity may be inferred from the great number of persons that wrote commentaries upon them, such as Caecilius Calactinus, Zosimus of Gaza, Zeno of Cittium, Harpocration, Paullus Germinus, and others. All the works of these critics liave perislied. The only criticism of any importance upon Lysias that has come down to us is that of Dionysiua of Halicarnassus, in his Tlepi tcov dpxo-icou pr]T6p<i}v inofxvT]yLaTiapLi., the tuv dpxo-i^ov izpiais^ and in his account of Lysias, to which we may add the remarks of Photius. According to the judg- ment of Dionysius, and the accidental remarks of others, which are borne out by a careful examina- tion of the orations still extant, the diction of Lysias is perfectly pure, and may be looked upon as the best canon of the Attic idiom ; his language is natural and simple, but at the same time noble and dignified (Dionys. X?/s. 2, 3, Demosth. 13; Cic. Brut. 82 ; Quintil. xii'. 10. § 21, comp. ix. 4. <j 17) ; it is always clear and lucid ; the copious- ness of his style does not injure its precision ; nor can his rhetorical embellishments be considered as impairing the charming simplicity of his style. (Dionys. Lys. 4, &c.) His delineations of cha- racter are always striking and true to life. (Dionys. Lys. 7 ; Quintil. iii. 8. § 51 ; Phot. I. c. p. 488.) But what characterises his orations above those of 3k