Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/893

Rh SOSIBIUS. same fate (Polyb. v. 34—39, xv. 25 ; Pint. Cleom. 33 — 35), While the young king gave himself up to luxury and debauchery, the whole administration of the kingdom appears to have been left to Sosi- bius, who allowed both the finances and military defences to fall into a state of the greatest decay, so that when Antiochus the Great declared war against Ptolemy, and invaded Coele-Syria, it was some time before the Egyptian monarch or his ministers could muster an army to oppose him. Sosibius, however, displayed some dexterity in de- laying the progress of Antiochus by negotiation until he had time to organis^e a mercenary force : and when, in B. c. 218, Ptolemy at length took the field in person, Sosibius acccompanied him, and was present at the decisive battle of Raphia. After the close of the campaign he found a more con- genial occupation in negotiating the terms of the treaty of peace, which Ptolemy commissioned him to arrange with Antiochus. (Polyb. v. 63, 65, 66, 83, 87.) During the remainder of the reign of Ptolemy Sosibius seems to have retained his power, without opposition, though sharing it in some degree with the infamous Agathocles, but we have very little information with regard to the latter years of his rule. We are told, however, that he was once more the minister of Ptolemy in putting to death his wife and sister Arsinoe, as he had previously been in the murder of his other relations (Polyb. XV. 25). But great as was the address of Sosibius in all the arts and intrigues of a courtier, he was no match for his yet baser colleague Agathocles ; and although, after the death of Philopator (b. c. 205), the two ministers at first assumed in con- junction the guardianship of the young king, Pto- lemy Epiphanes, Sosibius seems to have been soon supplanted and put to death by his insidious rival. All particulars of these events are, however, lost to us. (Polyb. XV. 25, 34 ; and Schweigh. ad he.) 3. A sou of the preceding, who held the office of body-guard (Soraatophylax) to the young king, Ptolemy Epiphanes ; a post which Agathocles suifered him to retain (probably on account of his youth) even after the death of his father. In the tumidt which led to the destruction of Agathocles, Sosibius took a decisive part, by appealing to the infant monarch himself to give up his hated fa- vourites to the populace ; and it was probably on this account that he subsequently obtained the guardianship of the young king's person, with the custody of the royal signet. These duties he dis- charged in a manner that gave general satisfaction ; but the intrigues of his more turbulent and am- bitious brother, Ptolemy, having involved him in an open rupture with Tlepolemus, who was at the head of the administration, the latter obtained the advantage, and compelled Sosibius to resign his office ; from which time we hear no more of him. (Polyb: XV. 32, xvi. 22.) [E. H. B.] SOSI'BIUS (2a>(r/§tos), literary. I. A philoso- pher mentioned by Diogenes Laertius (ii. 46) as having opposed the opinions of Anaxagoras ; but it does not follow necessarily that he was contempo- rary with Anaxagoras. Nothing more is known of him. 2. A distinguished Lacedaemonian grammarian, who flourished in the reign of Ptolemy Philadel- phus (about B. c. 251), and was contemporary with Callimachns. (Ath. xi. p. 493, f., iv. p. 144. e.) He was one of those writers who employed VOL. in SOSICLES. 881 themselves i)i solving the difficulties met with in the ancient autliors, and who were therefore called vTiKoi or eTriAvTiKoij in opposition to the evaran- Kof, who employed their ingenuity in proposing pro- blems for olhers to solve. (Suid. s. v. ; Ath. xi. p. 493, f.) The following works of his are quoted: — 1. riept AAK/jLoivos (Ath. iii. p. 115, a., xiv. p. 646, a., p. 648, b.) 2. Uepl tcHu h AaKsSalfjiovi ^vcriait/ (Ath. XV. p. 674, a,, p. 678, b.) 3. '0/xoi6TT]Tis (Ath. XV. p. 690, e.) 4. A Chronography, entitled irepl xpovwv (Ath. xiv. p. 635, f.) or ^povwv dva- 7pa</)7j (Clem. Alex. Strom, vol. i. p. 327, c. ) One of his works, but we are not told which, contained inforaiation respecting the ancient Dorian Comedy of the Dicelistae and the Mimes. (Suid. s. vv. '2wai€ios, AiKT)i(XTcov, Ath. xiv. p. 621). Besides the passages now referred to, there are several other quotations from his writings. (Fabric. BibL Graec. vol. vi. p. 379 ; Vossius, de Bint. Graec. pp. 136, 137, ed. Westermann ; Clinton, £.11. vol. iii. p. 508.) 3. A grammarian, who lived under Claudius, and was the tutor of Britannicus. (Tacit. Ann. xi. 1.) 4. Respecting the supposed tragic poet of this name, see Sositheus. [P. S.] SOSI'BIUS (:S.u}ai€ios), an Athenian sculptor, known as the maker of a vase about two feet high, in the Louvre, adorned with eight figures in relief, of which two are those of Artemis and Hermes, and the remaining six represent a sacrifice. The two figures of divinities are in the archaic style, but the others display a freedom and grace, which has led Waagen to suppose it not improbable that the artist lived in the time of Pheidias. The archi- tectural ornaments on the vase are quite in the style of that age. (Clarac, pi. 126, No. 332 ; Bou- illon, iii. 79 ; Waagen, Kunstwerke u. Kiinstler in J^aris, p. 101 ; Nagler, Kunstler-Leocicon, s. v. Sosibius.) [P. S.] SOSICLES (2ajo-i/cA.7js), a Corinthian deputy, at that remarkable congress of the allies of Spai'ta, before which the Spartans laid their proposal for restoring Hippias to the tyranny of Athens. So- sicles remonstrated with indignant vehemence against the measure, and set forth the evils which Corinth had endured under the successive tyrannies of Cypselus and Periander. His appeal was suc- cessful with the allies, and the project was aban- doned. (Herod, v. 92, 93.) [E.E.J SO'SICLES (5«o-t/cA^s), is mentioned by Fa- bricius, on the authority of Suidas and Eudocia, as a tragic poet of the time of Philip and Alexander the Great. It appears, however, from the best MSS. of Suidas, that the name is erroneously in- troduced, owing to the text of Suidas being misread by some of his copyists, as well as by Eudocia. According to the true reading of Suidas, Sosicles is simply mentioned as the father of the tragic poet Sosiphanes. (Suid. s. v. 'XwaKpdvris, ed. Kuster ; Eudoc. p. 384 ; Westermann, Vitai-um Script. Graec. Min. p. 152, n. 6b ; Fabric. BibL Graec. vol. ii. p. 322.) [P. S.] SO'SICLES (2«<riK^s), artists. 1, A sculptor of unknown age and country, whose name is found inscribed on a statue of an Amazon in the Capitoline Museum. {Mtis. Cap. vol. iii. pi. 46.) The exe- cution of the statue, we are told by Raoul Rochette, is very good, although the fonn of the letters of the inscription belongs to the later Koman empire. 6 L