A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

1042

DIONYSIUS.

ness, and to sliew that Rome had not become great
by accident or mere good fortune, but by the virtue and wisdom of the Romans themselves. With
this object in view, he discusses most carefully
everything relating to the constitution, the religion,
the history, laws, and private life of the Romans;
and his work is for this reason one of the greatest
importance to the student of Roman history, at
least so far as the substance of his discussions is
concerned. But the manner in which he dealt
with his materials cannot always be approved of:
he is unable to draw a clear distinction between a
mere mythus and history; and where he perceives
inconsistencies in the former, he attempts, by a
rationalistic mode of proceeding, to reduce it to
what appears to him sober history. It is however
a groundless assertion, which some critics have
made, that Dionysius invented facts, and thus
introduced direct forgeries into history. He had,
moreover, no clear notions about the early constitution of Rome, and was led astray by the nature
of the institutions which he saw in his own day;
and he thus transferred to the early times the notions which he had derived from the actual state
of things-a process by which he became involved
in inextricable difficulties and contradictions. The
numerous speeches which he introduces in his
work are indeed written with great artistic skill,
but they nevertheless shew too manifestly that
Dionysius was a rhetorician, not an historian,
and still less a statesman. He used all the
authors who had written before him on the early
history of Rome, but he did not always exercise a
proper discretion in choosing his guides, and we
often find him following authorities of an inferior
class in preference to better and sounder ones.
Notwithstanding all this, however, Dionysius contains an inexhaustible treasure of materials for
those who know how to make use of them. The
style of Dionysius is very good, and, with a few
exceptions, his language may be called perfectly
pure. See Ph. F. Schulin, de Dionys. Hal. Historico, praecipuo Historiae Juris Fonte, Heidelberg,
1821, 4to.; An Inquiry into the Ciredit due to Dionuys. of Hal. as a Critic and Historian, in the Class.
Journ. vol. xxxiv.; Kriiger, Praefaot. ad Historiogr.
p. xii.; Niebuhr, Lectures on the Hist. of/Rome, i.
pp. 46-53, ed. Schmitz.
The first work of Dionysius which appeared in
print was his Archaeologia, in a Latin translation
by Lapus Biragus (Treviso, 1480), from a very
good Roman MS. New editions of this translation, with corrections by Glareanus, appeared at
Basel, 1532 and 1549; whereupon R. Stephens
first edited the Greek original, Paris, 1546, fol.,
together with some of the rhetorical works. The
first complete edition of the Archaeologia and the
rhetorical works together, is that of Fr. Sylburg,
Frankfurt, 1586, 2 vols. fol. (reprinted at Leipzig,
1691, 2 vols. fol.) Another reprint, with the introduction of a few alterations, was edited by Hudson,
(Oxford, 1704,2 vols. fol.) which however is a very
inferior performance. A new and much improved
edition, though with many bad and arbitrary emendations, was made by J. J. Reiske, (Leipzig, 1774,
&c.) in 6 vols. 8vo., the last of which was edited
by Morus. All the rhetorical works, with the exception of the TEXVq ' PqropcK) and the 7rep1 rovvOle-ews
dooc^drwv, were edited by E. Gros, (Paris, 1826,
&c.) in 3 vols. 8vo. (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. iv. p. 382,
&c.; Westermann, Geschs. t. Griech. Bercdts. ~ 88.)

DIONYSIUS.
26. Of HELIOPOLIS in Egypt, is mentioned by
Artemidorus (Oneir. ii. 71) as the author of a
work on dreams.
27. Of HERACLEIA, a son of Theophantus. In
early life he was a disciple of Heracleides, Alexinus,
and Menedemus, and afterwards also of Zeno the
Stoic, who appears to have induced him to adopt
the philosophy of the porch. At a later time he
was afflicted with a disease of the eyes, or with a
nervous complaint, and the unbearable pains which
it caused him led him to abandon the Stoic philosophy, and to join the Eleatics, whose doctrine,
that r)ov{i and the absence of pain was the highest
good, had more charms for him than the austere
ethics of the Stoa. This renunciation of his former
philosophical creed drew upon him the nickname of
e-ra7el/oei'oY, i. e. the renegade. During the time
that he was a Stoic, he is praised for his modesty,
abstinence, and moderation, but afterwards we find
him described as a person greatly given to sensual
pleasures. He died in his eightieth year of voluntary starvation. Diogenes LaiSrtius mentions a
series of works of Dionysius, all of which, however, are lost, and Cicero censures him for having
mixed up verses with his prose, and for his want
of elegance and refinement. (Diog. Laert. vii.
166, 167, v. 92; Athen. vii. p. 281, x. p. 437;
Lucian, Bis Accus. 20; Censorin. 15; Cic. A cad.
ii. 22, de Fin. v. 31, Tuoscl. ii. 11, 35, iii. 9.)
28. A disciple of HERACLEITUS, is mentioned
by Diogenes Laertius (ix. 15) as the author of a
commentary on the works of his master.
29. An HISTORIAN, who seems to have lived in
the later period of the Roman empire, and is
quoted by Jornandes. (De Reb. Get. 19.)
30. Surnamed IAMBUS, that is, the iambic poet,
is mentioned by Suidas (s. v. 'Apirarocpdcves) among
the teachers of Aristophanes of Byzantium, from
which we may infer the time at which he lived.
Clemens Alexandrinus (Stronzm. v. p. 674) quotes
an hexameter verse of his, and according to Athenaeus (vii. p. 284), he also wrote a work on
dialects. Plutarch (de Mus. 15) quotes him as an
authority on harmony, from which it has been inferred that he is the author of a work on the
history of music, of which Stephanus of Byzantium
(s. v. 'TSpsa) quotes the 23rd book.
31. Of MAGNESIA, a distinguished rhetorician,
who taught his art in Asia between the years B. c.
79 and 77, at the time when Cicero, then in his
29th year, visited the east. Cicero on his excursions in Asia was accompanied by Dionysius,
Aeschylus of Cnidus, and Xenocles of Adranmyttium, who were then the most eminent rhetoricians
in Asia. (Cic. Brut. 91; Plut. Cic. 4.)
32. Of MILETUS, one of the earliest Greek historians, and according to Suidas (s.. v. 'Eca-raos),
a contemporary of Hecataeus, that is, hie lived
about B. c. 520; he must, however, to judge from
the titles of his works, have survived B. c. 4185,
the year in which Dareins died. Dionysius of
Miletus wrote a history of Dareius Hystaspis in
five books. Suidas further attributes to him a
work entitled rd uerca Aappeiov in five books, and
also a work IIEpoe-L, in the Ionic dialect. Whether
they were actually three distinct works, or whether
the two last were the same, and only a continuation of the first, cannot be ascertained on account
of the inextricable confusion which prevails in the
articles ALouvri-os of Suidas, in consequence of
which our Dionysius has often been confounded with