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

ASCLEPIUS.
of that country. In B. c. 328, he led reinforcements from Syria to Alexander in eastern Asia,
and there became involved in the conspiracy which
was formed by Hermolaus against the life of the
king. (Arrian, Anab. iv. 13, Ind. 18; Curtius, vii.
10, viii. 6.) He seems to be the same as the one
whom Antigonus, in B. c. 317, made satrap of
Persia (Diod. xix. 48); but he must be distinguished from an Asclepiodorus, a general of Cassander, mentioned by Diodorus. (xix. 60.)
2. The author of a small work on tactics (,rac"rtiKic e<pQAtai), who is in some MSS. called
Asclepiodotus. His work exists in several MSS.
at Leyden, Paris, and Rome, but has not yet been
published. [L. S.]
ASCLEPIODO'RUS. 1. An Athenian painter,
a contemporary of Apelles, who considered him to
excel himself in the symmetry and correctness of
his drawing. (Plin. H. N. xxxv. 10. s. 36. ~ 21.)
Plutarch (de Gloria Athen. 2) ranks him with
Euphranor and Nicias.
2. A statuary, famed for statues of philosophers.
(Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 19. ~ 26.) [C. P. M.]
ASCLEPIO'DOTUS ('Ao-.TXqrtdo-ros.) 1.
The author of an epigram which seems to have
been taken from the base of a statue of Memnon.
(Anthol. Graec. Append. No. 16, ed. Tauchnitz.;
comp. Brunck. Analect. i. p. 490; Letronne in the
Transactions of the R. Society of Literature, vol. ii.
1, part i. 1832.)
2. Of Alexandria, the most distinguished among
the disciples of Proclus, and the teacher of Damascius, was one of the most zealous champions of
Paganism. He wrote a commentary on the Timaeus of Plato, which however is lost. (Olympiod.
Mleteorolog. 4; Suidas, s. v. 'A-KATriOOTos; Damascius, Vid. Isid. ap. Phot. pp. 344, b. 345, b.).
3. An author who lived in the time of Diocletian, and seems to have written a life of this emperor. (Vopise. Aurelian. 44.) He seems to be
the same as the one who is mentioned as a general
in the reign of Probus. (Vopisc. Prob. 22.)
4. A pupil of Posidonius, who, according to
Seneca (Nat. Quaest. vi. 17), wrote a work called
" Quaestionum Naturalium causae."
5. A commander of the Gallic mercenaries in the
army of Perseus, king of Macedonia. (Liv. xlii.
51, xliv. 2.) [L. S.]
ASCLEPIO'DOTUS ('AncA7nrToo'r-os), a physician, who was also well versed in mathematics
and music, and who grew famous for reviving the
use of white hellebore, which in his time had
grown quite out of vogue. He lived probably
about the end of the fifth century after Christ, as
he was the pupil of Jacobus Psychrestus, and is
mentioned by Damascius. (Damascius, ap. Phot.
Cod. 242, p. 344, b., ed. Bekk.; Suidas, s. v.
wcopavos; Freind's Hist. of Physic.) [W. A. G.]
ASCLEPIO'DOTUS, CA'SSIUS, a man of
great wealth among the Bithynians, shewed the
same respect to Soranus, when he was under
Nero's displeasure, as he had when Soranus was in
prosperity. He was accordingly deprived of his
property and driven into exile, A. D. 67, but was
restored by Galba. (Tac. Ann. xvi. 33; Dion
Cass. 1xii. 26.)
ASCLE'PIUS ('AricAr'os7). 1. A fabulous
personage, said to have been a disciple of Hermes,
the Egyptian Thot, who was regarded as the father
of all wisdom and knowledge. There existed in
antiquity a Greek dialogue (A'yos re'Aeos) be

ASCLETARIO. 383
tween Asclepius and Hermes on God, man, and
the universe; we now possess only a Latin translation of it, which in former times used to be attributed to Appuleius. It is entitled " Hermetis
Trismegisti Asclepius, seu de Natura Deorum
Dialogus," and is evidently the production of a very
late time, that is, of the age in which a reconciliation was attempted between the polytheism of antiquity and Christianity through the medium of
the views of the New Platonists. (Bosscha in
Oudendorp's edition of Appuleius, iii. p. 517; H ildebrand, de Vita et Scriptis Appuleii, p. 28, &c.)
To the same Asclepius is also ascribed a work still
extant, entitled opos 'AocATrlor vposs Atosvca
/aoIAeda, which is printed together with a Latin.
translation by A. Turnebus in his edition of the
Poemander ascribed to Hermes Trismegistus (Paris,
1554, 4to.), and in F. Patricius's Nova de Universis Philosophia, Ferrara, 1591, fol. The Latin
translation of the work is contained in vol. ii. of
the works (Opera) of Marsilius Ficinus, Basel,
1561.
2. A Greek grammarian of uncertain date, who
wrote commentaries upon the orations of Demosthenes and the history of Thucydides; but both
works are now lost. (Ulpian, ad Dem. Philip.
I; Schol. Bavar. ad Dem. de fals. leg. pp. 375,
378; Marcellin. Vit. Thucyd. 57; Schol. ad
Thucyd. i. 56.)
3. Of Tralles, a Peripatetic philosopher and a
disciple of Ammonius, the son of Hermias. He
lived about A. D. 500, and wrote commentaries on
the first six or seven books of Aristotle's Metaphysics and on the dpiOprriKr'j of Nicomachus of
Gerasa. These commentaries are still extant in MS.,
but only a portion of them has yet been printed in
Brandis, Scholia Graeca in Aristot. lMetaphys. p.
518, &c.; comp. Fabr. Bibl. Grace. iii. p. 258;
St. Croix in the 1Magasin.. Encyclop. Cinquieme
Annee, vol. iii. p. 359. [L. S.]
ASCLE'PIUS ('AscAx4ifros), a physician, who
must have lived some time in or before the second
century after Christ, as he is mentioned by Galen.
(De DiTfer. JMorb. c. 9. vol. vi. p. 869.) A person
of the same name is quoted by the Scholiast on
Hippocrates (Dietz, Schol. in Hippocr. et Gal. vol.
ii. p. 458, n., 470, n.) as having written a commentary on the Aphorisms, and probably also on
most of the other works of Hippocrates, as he is
said to have undertaken to explain his writings by
comparing one part with another. (Ibid.; Littre,
Oeuvres d'Hippocr. vol. i. p. 125.) Another physician of the same name is said by Fabricius to be
mentioned by Aetius. [W. A. G.]
ASCLETA'RIO, an astrologer and mathematician in the time of Domitian. On one occasion he
was brought before the emperor for some offence.
Domitian tried to put the knowledge of the astrologer to the test, and asked him what kind of
death he was to die, whereupon Ascletario answered, " I know that I shall soon be torn to
pieces by the dogs." To prevent the realisation of
this assertion, Domitian ordered him to be put to
death immediately, and to be buried. When his
body lay on the funeral pile, a vehement wind
arose, which carried the body from the pile, and
some dogs, which had been near, immediately
began devouring the half-roasted body. Domitian,
on being informed of this, is said to have been
more moved and perplexed than he had ever been
before. This tale, which is related in all its sim