Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/483

Rh POLYXENA. the sect, and was himself succeeded by Dionysiiis. (Diog. Lacrt. x. 25.) Valerius Maxinms relates that Polystratus and Hippocleides were born on the same day, followed the sect of the same master Epicurus, shared their patrimony in common, and supported the school together, and at last died at the same moment in extreme old age. (i. 8. ext. §17.) 2. An epigrammatic poet, who had a place in the Garland of Meleager. There are two of his epigrams in the Greek Anthology, one of which is on the destruction of Corinth, which took place in B. C. 146. He must therefore have lived some time within the seventy or eighty years preceding the time of Meleager, and probably soon after the taking of Corinth. A certain Polystratus, of Leto- polis in Egypt, is mentioned by Stephanus Byzan- tinus (s. V. Atjtovs iroAts), but there is nothing to indicate whether he was the same person as the epigrammatist. (Brunck, Anal. vol. ii. p. 1 ; Jacobs, Anth. Grace, vol. ii. p. 1, vol. xiii. p. 941.) [P-S.] POLY'STRATUS, of Ambracia, a statuary, mentioned only by Tatian, who ascribes to him a statue of Phalaris which stood at Agrigentura, and was very much admired. (Tatian, adv. Graec. 54. p. 118, ed. Worth.) [P.S.] POLYTECHNUS, a mythical artificer (jU- rusv), mentioned by Antoninus Liberalis (ii. pp. 70 — 72 ; R. Rochette, Lettre a M. Schorn, pp. 390, 391). [P.S.] POLYTFMUS, artists. 1, A sculptor, who was evidently a Greek freedman, and who is known by the inscription polytimus lib. on the base of a statue of a young hunter in the Museum of the Capitol. (Welcker, KunslUutt, 1827, No. 83. p. 331 ; R, Rochette, Lettre a M. Schorn^ p. 391.) 2. A gera-engraver. (Villoison, Mem. de Vlnsti- tut de France, vol. ii. p. 1 12.) [P. S.] POLY'XENA {UoKvifvi]), a daughter of Priam and Hecabe (Apollod. iii. 12. § 5). She was beloved by Achilles, and when the Greeks, on their voyage home, were still lingering on the coast of Thrace, the shade of Achilles appeared to them demanding that Polyxena should be sacrificed to him. Neoptolemus • accordingly sacrificed her on the tomb of his father. (Eurip. Hec. 40 ; Ov. Met. xiii. 448, &c.) According to some Achilles appeared to the leaders of the Greeks in a dream (Tzetz. ad Lye. 323), or a voice was heard from the tomb of Achilles demanding a share in the booty, whereupon Calchas proposed to sacrifice Polyxena. (Serv. ad Aen. iii. 322.) For there was a tradition that Achilles had promised Priam to bring about a peace with the Greeks, if the king would give liim his daughter Polyxena in marriage. When Achilles, for the purpose of negotiating the marriage, had gone to the temple of the Thymbraean Apollo, he was treacherously killed by Paris. (Hygin. Fab. 110.) Quite a diflterent account is given by Philostratus {Her. 19. 11 ; corap. Vit. Apollon. iv. l(j), according to whom Achilles and Polyxena fell in love with each other at the time when Hector's body was delivered up to Priam. After the murder of Achilles Polyxena fled to the Greeks, and killed herself on the tomb of her beloved with a sword. The sacrifice of Polyxena was represented in the acropolis of Athens. (Paus. i, 22. § 6, comp. x. 25. § 2.) [L. S.] POLYXENUS. 471 POLYXE'NIDAS (noXu^i/fSas), a Rhodian, who was exiled from his native country, and en- tered the service of Antiochus III., king of Syria. We first find him mentioned in b. c. 209, when he commanded a body of Cretan mercenaries during the expedition of Antiochus into Hyrcania (Polyb. X. 29). But in b. c. 192, when the Syrian king had determined upon war with Rome, and crossed over into Greece to commence it, Polyxenidas ob- tained the chief command of his fleet. After co-ope- rating with Menippus in the reduction of Chalcis, he was sent back to Asia to assemble additional forces during the winter. We do not hear any- thing of his operations in the ensuing campaign, B.C. 191, but when Antiochus, after his defeat at Thermopylae, withdrew to Asia, Polyxenidas was again appointed to command the king's main fleet on the Ionian coast. Having learnt that the pnietor C. Livius was arrived at Delos with the Roman fleet, he strongly urged upon the king the expediency of giving him battle without delay, before he could unite his fleet with those of Eumenes and the Rhodians. Though his advice was followed, ii was too late to prevent the junc- tion of Eumenes with Livius, but Polyxenidas gave battle to their combined fleets off Corycus. The superiority of numbers, however, decided the vic- tory in favour of the allies ; thirteen ships of the Syrian fleet were taken and ten sunk, while Po- lyxenidas himself, with the remainder, took refuge in the port of Ephesus (Liv. xxxv. 50, xxxvi. 8, 41, 43—45 ; Appian, Syr. 14, 21, 22, 23). Here he spent the winter in active preparations for a renewal of the contest ; and early in the next spring (b. c. 190), having learnt that Pausistratus, with the Rhodian fleet, had already put to sea, he conceived the idea of surprising him before he could unite his forces with those of Livius. For this purpose he pretended to enter into negotiations with him for the betrayal into his hands of the Syrian fleet, and having by this means deluded him into a fancied security, suddenly attacked him, and destroyed almost his whole fleet. After this suc- cess he sailed to Samos to give battle to the fleet of the Roman admiral and Eumenes, but a storm pre- vented the engagement, and Polyxenidas withdrew to Ephesus. Soon after, Livius, having been re- inforced by a fresh squadron of twenty Rhodian ships under Eudamus, proceeded in his turn to offer battle to Polyxenidas, but this the latter now declined. L. Aemilius Regillus, who soon after succeeded Livius in the command of the Roman fleet, also attempted without effect to draw Poly- xenidas forth from the port of Ephesus : but at a later period in the season Eumenes, with his fleet, having been detached to the Hellespont while a considerable part of the Rhodian forces were de- tained in Lycia, the Syrian admiral seized the op- portunity and sallied out to attack the Roman fleet. The action took place at Myonnesus near Teos, but terminated in the total defeat of Polyxe- nidas, who lost forty-two of his ships, and made a hasty retreat with the remainder to Ephesus. Here he remained until he received the tidings of the fatal battle of Magnesia, on which he sailed to Patara in Lycia, and from thence proceeded by land to join Antiochus in Syria. (Liv. xxxvii. 8, 10, 11, 13, 16, 26, 28—30, 45 ; Appian, Syr. 24, 25, 27.) After this his name is not again men- tioned. [E. H. B.] POLY'XENUS (noA«;|€j/oy), a son of Agas- H H 4