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

310 ARISTON.
4. Of Megalopolis, who, at the outbreak of the
war of the Romans against Perseus in B. c. 170,
advised the Achaeans to join the Romans, and not
to remain neutral between the two belligerent parties. In the year following, he was one of the
Achaean ambassadors, who were sent to bring
about a peace between Antiochus III. and Ptolemy
Philopator. (Polyb. xxviii. 6, xxix. 10.)
5. A Rhodian, who was sent, in the spring of
B. c. 170, with several others as ambassador to
the Roman consul, Q. Marcius Philippns, in Macedonia, to renew the friendship with the Romans,
and clear his countrymen from the charges which
had been brought against them 1y some persons.
(Polyb. xxviii. 14.)
6. Of Tyre, who appears to have been a friend
cf Hannibal. When the latter was staying at the
court of Antiochus and meditated a fresh war
against the Romans, he despatched Ariston to Carthage to rouse his friends there. Hannibal, however, lest the messenger should be intercepted,
gave him nothing in writing. On Ariston's arrival
at Carthage, the enemies of Hannibal soon conjectured the object of his presence from his frequent
interviews with the men of the-other party. The
suspicions were at last loudly expressed, and Ariston was summoned to explain the objects of his
visit. The explanations given were not very satisfactory, and the trial was deferred till the next
day. But in the night Ariston embarked and fled,
leaving behind a letter which he put up in a public place, and in which he declared that the communications he had brought were not for any private individual, but for the senate. Respecting
the consequences of this stratagem, see Liv. xxxiv.
61, 62. Compare Appian, Syr. 8; Justin, xxxi.
4. [L. S.]
ARISTON ('Apieco-r), literary. 1. A son of
Sophocles by Theoris. (Suidas, s. v. 'IoC^pv.) He
had a son of the name of Sophocles, who is said to
have brought out, in B. c. 401, the Oedipus in
Colonus of his grandfather Sophocles. (Argum. ad
Soph. Oed. Col. p. 12, ed. Wunder.) Whether he
is the same as the Ariston who is called a writer
of tragedies (Diog. Laert. vii. 164), and one of
whose tragedies was directed against Mnesthenus,
cannot be said with any certainty, though Fabricius (Bibl. Gr. ii. p. 287) takes it for granted.
2. A friend of Aristotle, the philosopher, to
iwlhomn he is said to have addressed some letters.
(Diog. Lart. v. 27.)
3. A Peripatetic philosopher and a native of the
island of Ceos, where his birthplace was the town
of Julis, whence he is sometimes called Keios and
sometimes 'lovAn-rOsj. He was a pupil of Lycon
(Diog. Laert. v. 70, 74), who was the successor of
Straton as the head of the Peripatetic school, about
B. c. 270. After the death of Lycon, about B. c.
230, Ariston succeeded him in the management of
the school. Ariston, who was, according to Cicero
(de Fin. v. 5), a man of taste and elegance, was
yet deficient in gravity and energy, which prevented his writings acquiring that popularity which
they otherwise deserved, and may have been one
of the causes of their neglect and loss to us. In
his philosophical views, if we may judge from the
scanty fragments still extant, he seems to have
followed his master pretty closely. Diogenes
Laertius (vii. 163), after enumerating the works
of Ariston of Chios, says, that Panaetius and
Sosicrates attributed all these works, except the

ARISTON.
letters, to the Peripatetic Ariston (of Ceos). IIHow
far this opinion is correct, we cannot, of course,
say; at any rate, however, one of those works,
'EpwurKcal 8aCTpigai, is repeatedly ascribed to the
Cean by Athenaeus (x. p. 419, xiii. p. 563, xv.
p. 674), who calls it 'Epwrrcda d6uoe. One work
of the Cean not mentioned by Diogenes, was entitled Adecuw (Plut. de Aud. poet. 1), in gratitude
to his master. There are also two epigrams in the
Greek Anthology (vi. 303, and vii. 457), which
are commonly attributed to Ariston of Ceos,
though there is no evidence for it. (Compare J.
G. Hubmann, Ariston von Keos, der Peripatetiker,
in Jahn's Jahrb. fiir Philol. 3d supplementary vol.
Leipz. 1835; Fabricius, Bibl. Gr. iii. p. 467, &c.;
Jacobs, ad Anthol. xiii. p. 861.)
4. Of Alexandria, likewise a Peripatetic philosopher, was a contemporary of Strabo, and wrote a
work on the Nile. (Diog. La;srt. vii. 164; Strab.
xvii. p. 790.) Eudorus, a contemporary of his,
wrote a book on the same subject, and the two
works were so much alike, that the authors charged
each other with plagiarism. Who was right is not
said, though Strabo seems to be inclined to think
that Eudorus was the guilty party. (Hubmann,
1. c. p. 104.)
5. Of Pella in Palestine, lived in the time of
the emperor Hadrian or shortly after, as is inferred
from his writing a work on the insurrection of the
Jews, which broke out in the reign of this emperor. (Euseb. H. E. iv. 6; Niceph. Callist. Hist.
Eccl. iii. 24.) He also wrote a work entitled
idAehts Hra7riericov ical 'Iadovos, that is, a dialogue
between Papiscus, a Jew, and Jason, a Jewish
Christian, in which the former became convinced
of the truth of the Christian religion. (Origen. c.
Cels. iv. p. 199; Hieronym. LEpist. ad Galat. iii.
13.) It was translated at an early time into Latin
by one Celsas, but, with the exception of a few
fragments, it is now lost. The introduction written to it by the translator is still extant, and is
printed in the Oxford edition of the " Opuscula"
of Cyprian (p. 30) and elsewhere. (Hubmann,
1. c. p. 105.)
6. Of Alaea ('AAaE'se), a Greek rhetorician who
wrote, according to Diogenes Laertius (vii. 164)
scientific treatises on rhetoric. Another rhetorician
of the same name, a native of Gerasa, is mentioned
by Stephanus of Byzantium. (s. v. I'paoa.)
The name of Ariston occurs very frequently in
ancient writers, and it has been calculated that about
thirty persons of this name may be distinguished;
but of most of them we know nothing but the
namie. They have often been confounded with
one another both by ancient and modern writers,
particularly Ariston of Chios and Ariston of Ceos.
(Sintenis, ad Plit. Themist. 3, and especially the
treatise of Hubmann referred to above.) [L. S.]
ARIS'TON ('Apiarwvi), son of Miltiades, born
in the island of Chios, a Stoic and disciple of Zeno,
flourished about B. c. 260, and was therefore contemporary with Epicurus, Aratus, Antigonus Gonatas, and with the first Punic war. Though h(
professed himself a Stoic, yet he differed from Zenu
in several points; and indeed Diogenes Laertius (vii
160, &c.) tells us, that he quitted the school of Zen(
for that of Polemo the Platonist. Hie is said to havi
displeased the former by his loquacity,-a qualit,
which others prized so highly, that he acquired th.
surname of Siren, as a master of persuasive ela
quence. He was also called Phalantus, from hi