Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/936

Rh 924 STRATON. porary Nicocles, king of Salamis (Athen. xii, p. 531), After the conquest of Phoenicia, he was deposed by Alexander on account of the support he had given to Dareius, and his throne conferred upon Abdalonimus, a man in humble circumstances. (Curt. iv. 1. § 16 ; Diod. xvii. 47, erroneously re- presents him as king of Tyre.) 4. A Greek rhetorician, a friend of M. Brutus, who was present with him at the fatal battle of Philippi (b. c. 42), and having fled with him from the held, was induced to render him a last service by dispatching him with his own sword. He was subsequently reconciled with Octavian, who treated him with distinction, and to whom he rendered good service at the battle of Actiura. (Plut. Brut. 52, 53.) [E. H. B.] STRATON i'XrpaTwv), literary. 1. An Athe- nian comic poet of the Middle Comedy, according to Suidas (s, v. who mentions his play entitled otj/i|, which is, no doubt, the same as the <boivi- •ciSrjs, from which a considerable fragment is quoted by Athenaeus (ix, p, 382, e,). From the frequency Avith which the name of the comic poet Strattis occurs corrupted into Siraton, some distinguished scholars have supposed that the fragment in Athe- naeus should be ascribed to Strattis, and that the comic poet Straton owes his existence solely to the errors of transcribers, followed by Suidas. It has, however, been shown by Meineke, from the in- ternal evidence of the fragment itself, that it could hardly have been written by Strattis, or by any other poet of the Old Comedy ; and therefore there is no reason to reject the testimony of Suidas, al- though it may be doubted whether he is strictly correct in ascribing Straton to the Middle Comedy. If the Philetas mentioned in the fragment be, as seems ver}' probable, the celebrated poet of Cos, who flourished about 01, 120, Straton ought rather to be referred to the New than to the Middle Co- medy. The first three verses of the fragment and the beginning of the fourth were appropriated by Philemon, (Ath, xiv. p. 659, b,) Another comic poet of this name is mentioned by Plutarch {Symp. v, 1), as a contemporary. (Fabric. Bill Graec vol, ii. pp. 496, 497 ; Mei- neke, Frag. Com. Graec. vol, i, pp. 426 — 428, vol. iv, pp. 545 — 548, Editio Minor, pp. 1156 — 1158.) 2. The son of Arcesilaus, of Lampsacus, was a distinguished peripatetic philosopher, and the tutor of Ptolemy Philadelphus. He succeeded Theo- phrastus as head of the school in 01, 1 23, B, c. 288, and, after presiding over it eighteen years, was succeeded by Lycon, (Diog. Laert. v. 58.) He devoted himself especially to the study of natural science, whence he obtained, or, as it appears from Cicero, himself assumed the appellation of Physicm {<pv(nK6s). Cicero, while speaking highly of his talents, blames him for neglecting the most ne- cessary part of philosophy, that which has respect to virtue and morals, and giving himself up to the investigation of nature. {Acad. Quaest. i. 9, de Fin. V, 5,) In the long list of his works, given by Diogenes, several of the titles are upon subjects of moral philosophy, but the great majority belong to the department of physical science. The opinions of Straton have given rise to much interesting controversy ; but unfortunately the re- sult has been very unsatisfactory on account of the want of positive information. From the few no- tices of his tenets, which we find in the ancient STRATON. writers, he appears to have held a pantheistic system, the specific character of which cannot however, be determined. He seems to have de- nied the existence of any god out of the material universe, and to have held that every particle of matter has a plastic and seminal power, but with- out sensation or intelligence ; and that life, sensa- tion, and intellect, are but forms, accidents, and affections of matter. Some modern writers have regarded Straton as a forerunner of Spinoza, while others see in his system an anticipation of the hypothesis of monads. He has been charged with atheism by Cudworth, Leibnitz, Bayle, and other distinguished writers, and warmly defended by Schlosser, in his Spicilegium historico-pMlosophicurr de Slratone Lampsaceno, cognomine Physico^ et aihe- ismo vulgo ei tributo, Vitemberg, 1728, 4to, A good account of the controversy, with references to the writers who have noticed Straton, is given by Harless, in his edition of Fabricius. (Bibl. Graec. vol. iii. pp. 506 — 508 ; C. Nauvverck, de Strut. Lamps. Phil. Disquis. Berol. 1 836, 8vo.) 3. Another Peripatetic philosopher of Alexan- dria. (Diog. Laert. v. 61.) 4. An historian, who wrote the exploits of Phi- lip and Perseus in their wars with the Romans, and may therefore be supposed to have lived about B. c, 160. (Diog. Laert, v, 61,) 5. Of Sardis, an epigrammatic poet, and the compiler of an Anthology, which was entitled, from the subject common to all the poems of which it consisted, MoC(ra iraidiK-f}. It is so called in the preface of Constantinus Cephalas to this sec- tion of his Anthology, It was composed partly of epigrams compiled from the earlier anthologies of Meleager and Philip, and from other sources, and partly of poems written by Straton himself. Of the poets comprised in the Garland of Meleager, Straton received thirteen into his collection, name- ly, Meleager, Dioscorides, Polystratus, Antipater, Aratus, Mnasalcas, Evenus, Alcaeus of Messene, Phanias, Asclepiades, Rhianus, Callimachus, and Poseidippus : of those in the Anthology of Philip, he only took two, namely, Tullius Laureas and Automedon ; and to these he added ten others, namely, Flaccus, Alpheius of Mytilene, Julius Leo- nidas, Scythinus, Numenius, Dionysius, Fronto^ Thymocles, Glaucus, and Diodes. The whole number of poems in the collection is 258, of which 98 are by Straton himself. The work formed the last section of the Anthology of Constantino [Pla- NUDEs], and is printed in Jacobs's edition of the Palatine Anthology, c. xii. The time of Straton has been disputed, but it is evident that he lived in the second century of our era ; since, on the one hand, he compiled from the Anthology of Philip, who flourished at the end of the first century, and, on the other hand, he is mentioned by Diogenes Laertius (v, 61), who wrote most probably at the beginning of the third century. A further indication of his date is derived by Schnei- der from his mention of the physician Capito, who flourished under Hadrian. Some of the epigrams of Straton are elegant and clever ; but nothing can redeem the disgrace at- taching to the moral character of his compilation. (Brunck, Anal, vol, ii, pp. 359, foil. ; Jacobs, Anth. Graec. vol. iii, pp, 68, foil,, vol. vi. Proleg. pp. xlvi. — xlix,, vol, xiii, pp. 955, 956,) [P, S,] STRATON (^rpdruu), the name of several physicians : — 1. A physician mentioned by Arift-