Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/270

Rh 358 PHERECYDES. meets the obvious objection, that the term fjnadv- Ooanroi^ which Plato applies to the Chorus, is not suitable to describe Satyrs or Centaurs, by changing it into "nixidvOpwiroi {Demonstratio et Restitutio loci corrupti e Platonis Protagora, Kiliae, 1813, and also in his work Epimenides aus Creta, 4"c. pp. 188, 192, toll.). The same view is adopted by Ast and Jacobs, but with a less violent change in Plato's text, namely, ijLi^dvdptoiroi. The common reading is, however, successfully defended by Meineke, who shows that there is no sufficient reason for sup- posing that Cheiron appeared in the "Ayptoi at all, or that the Chorus were not really what the title and the allusion in Plato would naturally lead us to suppose, namely, wild men. Tlie play seems to have been a satire on the social corruptions of Athens, through the medium of the feelings excited at the view of them in men who are uncivilized themselves and enemies to the civilized part of mankind. The play was acted at the Lenaea, in the month of February, B. c. 420 (Plat. I.e.; Ath. v. p. 218, d.). The subjects of the remaining plays are fully dis- cussed by Meineke. The name of Pherecrates is sometimes confounded with Crates and with Plie- recydes. (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. ii. pp. 473 — 476 ; Meineke, Frag. Com. Graec. vol. i. pp. QQ — 86, vol. ii. pp. 252 — 360 ; Bergk, Reliq. Comoed. Att. Aniiq. pp. 284—306). [P. S.] PHEREC Y'DES (^epe/cvSTjs), the name of two Greek writers, one a philosopher of Syros, and another a logographer of Athens, who are frequently confoTmded with one another. Suidas, indeed, mentions a third Pherecydes of Leros, but he is the same person as the Athenian, as is shown below. 1. Of Syros, one of the Cyclades, was a son of Babys. The name of his birthplace, coupled with the traditions respecting the Eastern origin of his philosophical opinions, led many writers to state thai he was born in Syria or Assyria. There is some difference respecting his date. Suidas places hira in the time of Alyattes, king of Lydia, Diogenes Laertius (i. 121) in the 59th Olympiad B.C. 544. Now as Alyattes died in the 54th Olympiad, both these statements cannot be correct, and the attempt of Mr. Clinton to reconcile them {F. H. ad ann. 544), cannot be admitted, as Miiller has shown {Fragm. Hist. Graec. p. xxxiv,). The date of Diogenes is the more probable one, and is supported by the authority of Cicero, who makes Pherecydes a contemporary of Servius Tullius(7Msc. i. 16). According to the concurrent testimony of anti- quity, Pherecydes was the teacher of Pythagoras. It is further stated by many later writers, such as Clemens Alexandrinus, Philo Byblius, &c., the references to whom are all given in the work of Sturtz quoted below, that Pherecydes did not receive instruction in philosophy from any master, but obtained his knowledge from the secret books of the Phoenicians. Diogenes Laertius relates (i. 116, ii.46) that Pherecydes heard Pittacus,and was a rival of Thales ; which latter statement also occurs in Suidas. It is further related, that, like Thales and Pythagoras, Pherecydes was a disciple of the Egj'ptians and Chaldaeans, and that he travelled in Egypt. (Joseph, c. Apion. p. 1034, e. ; Ce- drenus, i. p. 94, b. ; Theodorus Meliteniota, Prooem. in Astron. c. 12.) But all such state- ments cannot, from the nature of the case, rest on any certain foundation. The other particulars related of Pherecydes are not worth recording PHERECYDES. here : those who are curious in such matters will find some details in the sections devoted to him in Diogenes Laertius (i. 116 — 122). It jnay just be mentioned that, according to a favourite tradition in antiquity, Pherecydes died of the lousy disease or Morbus Pediculosus ; though others tell us that he put an end to his life by throwing himself down from a rock at Delphi, and others again give other accounts of his death. Pherecydes was, properly speaking, not a philo- sopher. He lived at the time at which men began to speculate on cosmogony and the nature of the gods, but had hardly yet commenced the study of true philosophy. Hence he is referred to by Aristotle {Met. xiii. 4) as partly a mythological writer ; and Plutarch {Suit. 36) as well as many other writers give him the title of Theologus. The most important subject which he is said to have taught was the doctrine of the Metem- psychosis, or, as it is put by other writers, the doctrine of the immortality of the soul (Suidas ; Cic. Tusc. i. 16). He gave an account of his views in a work, which was extant in the Alex- andrian period. It was written in prose, which he is said to have been the first to employ in the explanation of philosophical questions : others go even so far as to state that he was the first who wrote any thing in prose, but this honour, however, must be reserved for Cadmus of Miletus. The title, which Pherecydes himself gave to his work, seems to have been 'ETrra^uxoy, though others called it 0eo/fparr(a, and others again 0eo7oi'i'a or 06oAo7ia. Suidas says that it was in two books ; and there is no reason for rejecting this statement on account of its title 'Y.^rTa^Jivxos., since this title has evident reference to the nature of its contents. He main- tained that there were three principia (Zeus or Aether, Chthona or Chaos, and Cronos or Time), and four elements (fire, earth, air, and water), from which were formed every thing that exists. 2. Of Athens, was one of the most celebrated of the early logographers. Suidas speaks of a Pherecydes of Leros, who was likewise an his- torian or logographer ; but Vossius {De Hist. Graecis, p. 24, ed. Westermann) has shown that this Pherecydes is the same as the Athenian. He is called a Lerian from having been born in the island of Leros, and an Athenian from having spent the greater part of his life at Athens ; and it may be added that, except in Suidas, we find men- tion of only one historical writer of this name. (Comp. Diog. Laert. i. 119 ; Strab. x. p. 487, b.) Suidas also makes a mistake in calling him older than his namesake of Syros ; but the exact time at which he lived is difterently stated. Suidas places him before the 75th Olympiad, b. c. 480 ; but Eusebius and the Chronicon Paschale in the 81st Olympiad, b. c 456, and Isidorus {Orig. i. 41) in the 80th Olympiad. There can be no doubt that he lived in the former half of the fifth century b. c, and was a contemporary of Hel- lanicus and Herodotus. He is mentioned by Lucian as one of the instances of longevity, and is said to have attained the age of 85 years. (Lucian, de Macroh. 22, where he is erroneously called d Suptos instead of 6 Aepios.) Suidas ascribes several works to the Athenian or Lerian Pherecydes. This lexicographer relates that some looked upon Pherecydes as the collector of the Orphic writings ; but this statement has reference to the philosopher. He also mentions a