Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/98

Rh «4 EVENOR. xxxiii. 12, xxxiv. 5 ; Strab. i. p. 47, ii- pp. 102, 104, vii. p. 299) ; but the ridicule with which he is treated refers almost entirely to his pretending to have visited the island of Panchaea, a sort of Thule of the southern ocean ; whereas his method of treating mythology is passed over unnoticed, and is even adopted. His method, in fact, became so firmly rooted, that even down to the end of the last century there were writers who acquiesced in it. The pious believers among the ancients, on the other hand, called Evemerus an atheist. (Plut. de Plac. Philos. i. 7 ; Aelian, V. II. ii. 31 ; Theo- phil. ad Autolyc. iii. b) The great popularity of the work is attested by the circumstance that Ym- nius made a Latin translation of it. (Cic. de Nat. Deor. i. 42 ; Lactant. de Fals. Relig. i. 11 ; Varro, de Re Rust. i. 48.) The Christian writers often refer to Evemerus as their most useful ally to prove that the pagan mythology was nothing but a heap of fables invented by mortal men. (Hieron. Co- lumna, Prolcgom. in Evemerum, in his Q. Ennii quae supersunt Fragm. p. 482, &c., ed. Naples, 1590 ; Sevin, in the Mtm. de PAcad. des Inscript. viii. p. 107, &c.; Fourmont, ihid. xv. p. 265, ^c. ; Foucher, ibid, xxxiv. p. 435, &c., xxxv. p. 1, &c. ; Lobeck, Aglaoph. i. p. 138, &c.) [L. S.] EVE'NIUS (Eu^vjos), a seer of Apollonia, and father of Deiphonus. He was one of the most dis- tinguished citizens of Apollonia ; and one night, when he was tending the sheep of Helios, which the noble Apolloniatae had to do in turns, the flock was attacked by wolves, and sixty sheep were killed. P^venius said nothing of the occur- rence, but intended to purchase new sheep, and thus to make up for the loss. But the thing be- came known, and Evenius was brought to trial. He was deprived of his office, and his eyes were put out as a punishment for his carelessness and negligence. Hereupon the earth ceased to produce fruit, and the sheep of Helios ceased to produce young. Two oracles were consulted, and the an- swer was, that Evenius had been punished un- justly, for that the gods themselves had sent the wolves among the sheep, and that the calamity under which Apollonia was suffering should not cease until Evenius should have received all the reparation he might desire. A number of citizens accordingly waited. upon Evenius, and without mentioning the oracles, they asked him in the course of their conversation, what reparation he would demand, if the Apolloniatae should be wil- ling to make any. Evenius, in his ignorance of the oracles, merely asked for two acres of the best land in Apollonia and the finest house in the city. The deputies then said that the Apolloniatae would grant him what he asked for, in accordance with the oracle. Evenius was indignant when he heard how he had been deceived ; but the gods gave him a compensation by bestowing upon him the gift of prophecy. (Herod, ix. 92 — 95-^ Conon. Narrat. 30, who calls him Peithenius instead of Evenius.) [L. S.] EVE'NOR, a distinguished painter, was the father and teacher of Parrhasius. (Plin. xxxv. 9. 8. 36. § 1 ; Suid., Harpocr., Phot., s. v.) He flourished about B. c. 420. [P. S.] EVE'NOR (EwTJj/wp), a Greek surgeon, who apparently wrote on fractures and luxations, and who must have lived in or before the third century B. c, as he is mentioned by Heracleides of Tarentum (ap. Galen. Comment, in Ilippocr. ^'- De Artie. iv. EVEN US. 40. vol. xviii. pt. i. p. 736.) He is very possibly the same person who is mentioned by Pliny (//. N. XX. 73, xxi. 105), and whose work entitled "Curationes" is quoted by Caelius Aurelianus. {de Morb. Acut. ii. 16. p. 115 ; de Morb. Chron. iii. 8. p. 478.) ^ [W. A. G.] EVE'NUS (Eurji/os), the name of three mythi- cal personages. (Hes. Tlieog. 345 ; Hom. II. ii. 692, ix. 557 ; Plut. Farall. Min. 40 ; Apollod. i. 7. § 8.) ^ ^ [L. S.] EVE'NUS (EwTjros or Eutji/os, but the former is more correct). In the Greek Anthology there are sixteen epigrams under this name, which are, how- ever, the productions of different poets. (Brunck, Anal. vol. i. pp. 164 — 167 ; Jacobs, Anth. Graec. vol. i. pp. 9G — 99.) 'In the Vatican MS. some of the epigrams are headed 'E.vtvov, the 7th is headed Y-vrivov 'Atr/caAwfiTou, the 12th EviVou ^ KQvivaiov, the 14th Et5r]i/ou Si/ceAiwrow, and the last EuT/j'OLi ypafxfmTiKov. The best known poets of this name are two elegiac poets of Paros, mentioned by Eratosthenes {ap. Harpocrat. s. v. Evrjvos), who says that only the younger was celebrated, and that one of them (he does not say which) was mentioned by Plato. There are, in fact, several passages in which Plato refers to Evenus, somewhat ironically, as at once a sophist or philosopher and a poet. {Apolog. Socr. p. 20, b., Phacd. p. 60, d., Phaedr. p. 267, a.) According to Maxiraus Tyrius {Diss, xxxviii. 4. p. 225), Evenus was the instructor of Socrates in poetry, a statement which derives some counten- ance from a passage in Plato {Pha^d. I. c), from which it may also be inferred that Evenus was alive at the time of Socrates's death, but at such an advanced age that he was likely soon to follow him. P^usebius {Chron. Arm.) places him at the 80th Olympiad (b. c. 460) and onwards. His poetry was gnomic, that is, it formed the vehicle for expressing philosophic maxims and opi- nions. The first six of the epigrams in the Antho- logy are of this character, and may tlierefore be ascribed to him with tolerable certainty. Perhaps, too, the fifteenth should be assigned to him. The other Evenus of Paros wrote 'Epwrt/cci, as we learn from the express testimony of Artemi- dorus (Owerrocr. i. 5), and from a passage of Arrian {Epictet. iv. 9), in which Evenus is mentioned in conjunction with Aristeides. [See vol. i. p. 296.] A few other fragments of his poetry are extant. Among them is a line which Aristotle {Meta- phys. iv. 5, Eth. Eudem. ii. 7) and Plutarch {Moral, ii. p. 1102, c.) quote by the name of Eve- nus, but which is found in one of the elegies of Theognis (vv. 467 — 474), whence it is supposed that that elegy should be ascribed to Evenus. There are also two hexameters of Evenus. (Aris- tot. Eth. Nicom. vii. 1 1.) None of the epigrams in the Anthology are ex- pressly assigned to this Evenus ; but it is not un- likely that the 12th is his. If the 8th and 9th, on the Cnidian Aphrodite of Praxiteles, and the 10th and 11th, on Myron's cow, are his, which seems not improbable, then his date would be fixed. Otherwise it is very difficult to determine whether he lived before or after the other Evenus. As he was certainly less famous than the coutem- porary of Socrates, the statement of Eratosthenes that only the younger was celebrated, would imply that he lived before him : and this view is main- tained, in opposition to the general opinion of