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

368! HEGESIAS. HEGESIAS.
Lysias and Charisius [CHARISIUS]. Cicero and HEGE'SIAS ('HTy-7qoas) and HE'GIAS ('H?4
Dionysius of Halicarnassus agree in thinking the as), two Greek statuaries, whom many scholars
man himself a thorough blockhead, and in describ- identify with one another, and about whom, at all
ing his style as utterly destitute' of vigour and dig- events, there are great difficulties. It is therefore
nity, consisting chiefly of childish conceits and the best course to look at the statements respecting
minute prettinesses. (Cic. Brut. 83, Orat. 67, 69; both of them together.
Dionys. de Compos. Verb. 4, 18.) Specimens of Pausanias (viii. 42. ~ 4, or ~ 10, ed. Bekker)
his style are given by Dionysius and by Photius mentions Hegias of Athens as the contemporary-of
(Cod. 250. p. 446, ed. Bekker.) Varro had rather Onatas and of Ageladas the Argive.
an admiration for it. (Cic. ad Att. xii. 6.) The Lucian (Rhet. Praec. 9, vol. iii. p. 9) mentions
history of Alexander the Great was the theme Hegesias, in connection with Critios and Nesiotes,
which he selected to dilate upon in his peculiar as belonging to the ancient school of art (ris wrafashion. As regards the subject-matter of his NaL&s epyaafas), the productions of which were
history, Gellius (ix. 4) classes him with those constrained, stiff, harsh, and rigid, though accurate
writers who deal rather plentifully in the marvel- in the outlines (dareo(rqyjuepva Kal Vevp~c.r8 Kae
lous. Plutarch (Alex. 3) makes rather a clumsy oVc-pa Kal dKcpmzfs cro~'raze'va'raats ypauttais).
pun in ridicule of a joke of his about Diana not It seems necessary here to correct the mistake of
being at liberty to come to the protection of her the commentators, who suppose that Lucian is
temple at Ephesus, when it was set on fire on the speaking of the rhetorician Hegesias. Not only is
day on which Alexander the Great was born. the kifid of oratory which Lucian is describing not
(Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. iii. p. 43, vol. ii. pp. 762, at all like that of Hegesias, but also the word ep873; Voss. de Hist. Gr. p. 115, &c., ed. Wester- yao-tas, and the mention of Critios and Nesiotes
mann; Ruhnken, ad Rutil. Lup. i. 7.) (for the true reading is dpypl KpirLov cal N7T7LWCTI-V;
2. HEGESIAS (called Hegesinus by Photius, comp. CRITIAS, p. 893, b.), sufficiently prove that
Cod. 239. p. 319, ed. Bekker), a native of Sala- this is one of the many passages in which Lucian
mis, supposed by some to have been the author of uses the fine arts to illustrate his immediate subthe Cyprian poem, which, on better authority, is ject, though, in this case, the transition from the
ascribed to Stasinus. (Athen. xv. p. 682 e.; Fa- subject to the illustration is not very clearly
bric. Bibl. Graee. vol. i. p. 382.) [. C. P. M.] marked. A similar illustration is employed by
HEGE'SIAS ('Hyrolias), a Cyrenaic philoso- Quintilian (xii. 10. ~ 7), who says of Hegesias and
pher, said by Diogenes Laertius (ii. 86, &c.) to Callon, that their works were harsh, and resembled
have been the disciple of Paraebates. He was the the Etruscan style: he adds, "jam minus rigida
fellow-student of Anniceris, from whom, however, Calamis."
he differed by presenting in its most hateful form The testimony of Pliny is very important. After
the system which Anniceris softened and improved. placing Phidias at 01. 84, or about A. u. c. 300, he
[ANNICERIS.] He followed Aristippus in con- adds, " quo eodem tempore aemuli ejus fuere Alcasidering pleasure the object of man's desire; but, menes, Critias (i. e. Critios), Nestocles (i. e. Nesibeing probably of a morose and discontented turn otes), Hegias" (xxxiv. 8. s. 19). Again (ibid.
of mind, the view which he took of human life was ~~ 16, 17): —" Hegiae Minerva Pyrrhusque rex
of the gloomiest character, and his practical infer- laudatur: et Celetizontes pueri, et Castor et Pollux
ences from the Cyrenaic principles were destructive ante aedem Jovis Tonantis, Hegesiae. In Pario
alike to goodness and happiness. The latter he colonia Hercules Isidori. Eleuthereus Lycius Mysaid could not be the aim of man, because it is not ronis discipulus fuit." So stands the passage in
attainable, and therefore concluded that the wise Harduinus, and most of the modern editions. There
man's only object should be to free himself from is, even at first sight, something suspicious in the
inconvenience, thereby reducing the whole of human position of the names Hegesiae -and Isidori at the
life to mere sensual pleasure. Since, too, every end of the two sentences, while all the other names,
man is sufficient to himself, all external goods both before and after, are put at the beginning of
were rejected as not being true sources of pleasure, their sentences, as it is natural they should be, in
and therefore all the domestic and benevolent affec- an alphabetical list of artists; and there is also
tions. Hence the sage ought to regard nothing something suspicious in the way in which the word
but himself; action is quite indifferent; and if ac- Eleuthereus (which is explained of Eleutherae) is
tion, so also is life, which, therefore, is in no way inserted. This last word is an emendation of Camore desirable than death. This statement (Tr7P saubon's. Most of the MSS. give Buthyreus,
Te io s ire Ka' rbv'idarroY aipe'Yv) is, however, butfhyres, or butires; the Pintian and Bamberg
less strong than that of Cicero (Tusc. i. 34), who give bythytes. We have therefore no hesitation in
tells us that Hegesias wrote a book called cbromcap- accepting Sillig's reading, " Hegiae, &c., pueri, et,
TepCir, in which a man who has resolved to starve &c. Tonantis: Hagesiae" (the MSS. vary greatly
himself is introduced as representing to his friends in the spelling of this name) " in Pario colonia
that death is actually more to be desired than life, Hercules: Isidori buthytes " (the last word meanand that the gloomy descriptions of human misery ing a person sacrificing an ox).
which this work contained were so overpowering, From the above testimonies, it follows that Hethat they drove many persons to commit suicide, gias and Hegesias were both artists of great celein consequence of which the author received the brity, and that they flourished at about the same
surname of Peisithanatos. - This book was pub- time, namely, at the period immediately preceding
lished at Alexandria, where he was, in consequence, that of Phidias. For Hegias was a contemporary
forbidden to teach by king Ptolemy. The date of of Onatas and Ageladas, and also of Alcamenes,
Hegesias is unknown, though Ritter thinks that he Critios, Nesiotes, and Phidias; and Hegesias of
was contemporaneous with Epicurus. (Geschichte Critios, Nesiotes, Callon, and Calamis. The inder Philosophie, viii. 1, 3; see also Val. Max. viii. terval between the earliest and the latest of these
9.) [G. E. L. C.] artists is not too great to allow those who lived in