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

970 DEMETRIUS.
man without rank or property (Diog. Laeirt. v. 75;
Aelian, V. H. xii. 43); but notwithstanding this,
he rose to the highest honours at Athens through
his great natural powers and his perseverance. He
was educated, together with the poet Menander,
in the school of Theophrastus. He began his public career about B. c. 325, at the time of the disputes respecting Harpalus, and soon acquired a great
reputation by the talent he displayed in public
speaking. He belonged to the party of Phocion;
and as he acted completely in the spirit of that
statesman, Cassander, after the death of Phocion
in B. C. 317, placed Demetrius at the head of the
administration of Athens. He filled this office for
ten years in such a manner, that the Athenians
in their gratitude conferred upon him the most
extraordinary distinctions, and no less than 360
statues were erected to him. (Diog. LaUrt. 1. c.;
Diod. xix. 78; Corn. Nep. iMiltiad. 6.) Cicero
says of his administration, "Atheniensium rem
publicam exsanguem jam et jacentem sustentavit."
(De Re Publ. ii. 1.) But during the latter period
of his administration he seems to have become
intoxicated with his extraordinary good fortune, and
he abandoned himself to every kind of dissipation.
(Athen. vi. p. 272, xii. p. 542; Aelian, V. IH. ix. 9,
where the name of Demetrius Poliorcetes is a mistake for Demetrius Phalereus; Polyb. xii. 13.) This
conduct called forth a party of malcontents, whose
exertions and intrigues were crowned in B. c. 307,
on the approach of Demetrius Poliorcetes to Athens,
when Demetrius Phalereus was obliged to take
to flight. (Plut. Demet. 8; Dionys. Deinarch. 3.)
His enemies even contrived to induce the people of
Athens to pass sentence of death upon him, in
consequence of which his friend Menander nearly
fell a victim. All his statues, with the exception
of one, were demolished. Demetrius Phalereus
first went to Thebes (Plut. Demetr. 9; Diod. xx.
45), and thence to the court of Ptolemy Lagi at
Alexandria, with whom he lived for many years
on the best terms, and who is even said to have
entrusted to him the revision of the laws of his
kingdom. (Aelian, V. H. iii. 17.) During his stay
at Alexandria, he devoted himself mainly to literary pursuits, ever cherishing the recollection of
his own country. (Plut. de Exil. p. 602, f.) The
successor of Ptolemy Lagi, however, was hostile
towards Demetrius, probably for having advised
his father to appoint another of his sons as his
successor, and Demetrius was sent into exile to
Upper Egypt, where he is said to have died of the
bite of a snake. (Diog. Laert. v. 78; Cic. pro Rabir. Post. 9.) His death appears to have taken
place soon after the year B. c. 283.
Demetrius Phalereus was the last among the
Attic orators worthy of the name (Cic. Brut. 8;
Quintil. x. 1. ~ 80), and his orations bore evident
marks of the decline of oratory, for they did not
possess the sublimity which characterizes those of
Demosthenes: those of Demetrius were soft, insinuating, and rather effeminate, and his style was
graceful, elegant, and blooming (Cic. Brut. 9, 82,
de Orat. ii. 23, Orat. 27; Quintil. x. 1. ~ 33); but
he maintained withal a happy medium between
the sublime grandeur of Demosthenes, and the
flourishing declamations of his successors. His
numerous writings, the greater part of which
he probably composed during his residence in
Egypt (Cic. de Fin. v. 9), embraced subjects of the
most varied kinds, and the list of them given by

DEMETRIUS.
Diogenes Laertius (v. 80, &c.) shews that he was
a man of the most extensive acquirements. These
works, which were partly historical, partly political, partly philosophical, and partly poetical, have
all perished. The work on elocution (7repl epipy?veias) which has come down under his name, is
probably the work of an Alexandrian sophist of the
name of Demetrius. [See above, No. 3.] It is said
that A. Mai has discovered in a Vatican palimpsest
some genuine fragments of Demetrius Phalereus.
For a list of his works see Diogenes Laertius, who
has devoted a chapter to him. (v. 5.) His literary
merits are not confined to what he wrote, for he
was a man of a practical turn of mind, and not a
mere scholar of the closet; whatever he learned or
knew was applied to the practical business of life,
of which the following facts are illustrations. The
performance of tragedy had greatly fallen into disuse at that time at Athens, on account of the great
expenses involved in it; and in order to afford the
people less costly and yet intellectual amusement,
he caused the Homeric and other poems to be recited on the stage by rhapsodists. (Athen. xiv.
p. 620; Eustath. ad Horn. p. 1473.) It is also
believed that it was owing to his influence with
Ptolemy Lagi that books were collected at Alexandria, and that he thus laid the foundation of the
library which was formed under Ptolemy Philadelphus. There is, however, no reason whatever
for calling him the first in the series of librarians
at Alexandria, any more than there is for the belief that he took part in the Greek translation of
the Septuagint. A life of Demetrius Phalereus
was written by Asclepiadas (Athen. xiii. p. 567),
but it is lost. Among the modern works upon
him and his merits, see Bonamy, in the M1imoires
de l'Acad. des Inscript. vol. viii. p. 157, &c.; IH.
Dohrn, De Vita et Rebus Demetrii Phlalerei, Kiel,
1825, 4to.; Parthey, Das Alexandr. Museum, pp.
35, &c., 38, &c., 71; Ritschl, Die Alexand. Biblioth. p. 15.
29. A PLATONIC philosopher who lived in the
reign of Ptolemy Dionysus, about B. c. 85. (Lucian,
de Calumn. 16.) He was opposed to the extravagant luxuries of the court of Ptolemy, and was
charged with drinking water and not appearing in
woman's dress at the Dionysia. Ie was punished
by being compelled publicly to drink a quantity of
wine and to appear in woman's clothes. He is probably the same as the Demetrius mentioned by M,
Aurelius Antoninus (viii. 25), whom Gataker con.
founds with Demetrius Phalereus.
30. Surnamed PGTGIL, a Greek grammarian, is
mentioned as the author of a work repli taXAKTrou
(Etymol. Magn. s. v. jpw'Aw,), and seems also to
have written on Homer. (Apollon. Soph. s. v.
dsraJo'cevos.)
31. Of SAGALAssUs, the author of a work entitled TlapfOovs ucd. (Lucian, de Hlist. Conscrib. 32.)
32. Of SALAMIs, wrote a work on the island of
Cyprus. (Steph. Byz. s. v. Kapararia.)
33. Of SCEPSIS, was a Greek grammarian of
the time of Aristarchus and Crates. (Strab. xiii.
p. 609.) He was a man of good family and an
acute philologer. (Diog. Laert. v. 84.) He was
the author of a very extensive work which is
very often referred to, and bore the title Tpwco's
&idlcoarpos. It consisted of at least twenty-six
books. (Strab. xiii. p. 603 and passim; Athen. iii.
pp. 80, 91; Steph. Byz. s. v. lAhlvSio.) This
work was an historical and geographical commen