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

742 -'LEO. LEO.
wrote many other letters, which are extant in MS. following works, now lost: J. KaplKIctCv ]Aia 8',
in various European libraries, and are cited by De rebus Cariec Libri quat or; 2. AuKtaw d?rAllatius in his De Consensu Eccles. Orient. et Occi- ABigALols /3', De rebus Lyciae, Libri duo; 3.'0 iepas:
dent.; by Beveridge in his Codex Canonum; by Er6XAeos 4PWKfWV Kcal BoaTZrv, Bellum Sacrueu inter
Alexis Aristenus in his S3ynopsis Epistolarunm Phocenses et Boeotos; 4. Te'Xvn, Ars (sc. RhietoCanonicerumn; and by Nic. Comnenus Papadopoli rica);'and 5. Ilepl aOrceEv, De Statibus, or )De
in his Praenotiones Mystagogicae. (Fabric. Bibl. Seditionibes. In Villoison's edition of Eudocia
Gr. vol. vii. p. 715; Cave, Hist. Litt. vol. ii. p. the last two works are mentioned as one, the title
138, ed. -Oxon, 1740; Oudin, De Scriptorib. et of which is Te'Xvq?repl. atda'Ewv, Ars de Statibus.
Scriptis Eccles. vol. ii. col. 603.) If the above list of the works of Leo be correct, we
3. AEGYPTIUS, or the EGYPTIAN. The early may conjecture that he lived not far from the time
Christian writers, in their controversy with the of Alexander the Great, that is, after the close of
heathens, refer not unfrequently to a Leo or the Sacred War, of which he wrote the' history;
Leon, as —having admitted that the deities of the and before the local history of Caria and Lycia.
antient gentile world had been originally men, had lost its interest by the absorption of those proagreeing in this respect with Evemerus [EVEME- vinces in the Syrian and Pergamenian kingdoms,
RUS], with whom he was contemporary, or perhaps and subsequently in the Roman empire. It is to
rather earlier. Augustin (De Consestsu Evangel. be observed, however, that the authority of the
i. 33, and De Civ. Dei, viii. 5), who is most ex- Sacred War and of the work De Statibus is doubtplicit in his notice of him, says he was an Egyptian ful, as Suidas and Eudocia enumerate works under.
priest of high rank, "magnus antistes, " and ex- those titles among those of Leo of Byzantium..
pounded the popular mythology to Alexander the [No. 7.] Vossius supposes that either Leo of
Great, in a manner which, though differing from Alabanda or Leo of Byzantium is the writer rethose. rationalistic explanations received in Greece, ferred to by Hyginus (Astron. Poetic. c. 20), as
accorded with them in making the gods (including having written a work on the history of Egypt.
even the dii majorum gentium) to have been [See No. 3.] (Suidas, s. v. Agewv'AhaCav8evs;
originally men. Augustin refers to an account of Eudocia, Violetum, s. v. Awev'AXacavsvs'*;Fabric..
the statements of Leo contained in a letter of Alex- Bibl. Graec. vol. vi. p. 132, vol. vii. p. 713; Voss.
ander to his mother. It is to be observed, that de Hist. Graec. Lib. iii. p. 179.)
although Leon was high in his priestly rank at the 5. AsINus.('Aar bs). [No. 15.]
time when Alexander was in Egypt (B. c. 332- 6. Of BULGARIA. [See No. 2.]
331), his name is Greek; and Arnobius (Adv. 7. Of BYZANTIUM, a rhetorician and historical
Gentes, iv. 29) calls him Leo Peilaeus, Leo of Pella, writer of the age of Philip, and perhaps of Alexan epithet which Fabricius does not satisfactorily ander the Great. Philostratus says he was a disexplain. Worth (Not. ad Tatian. p. 96, ed. Ox- ciple of Plato; but according to Suidas and Eudocia
ford, 1700.) would identify our Leo with Leo of some statements made him the disciple of Aristotle;
Lampsacus, the husband of Themista or Themisto, and both Suidas and Eudocia call him a Peripathe female Epicurean (Diog. Laert. x. 5. 25). But tetic. He appears to have occupied a leading
the husband of Themista was more correctly called position in the Byzantine commonwealth at the
Leonteus, while the Egyptian is never called by time it was attacked by Philip of Macedon. Acany other name' than Leo. Arnobius speaks in cording to Hesychius of Miletus, he was strategos or
such a way as to lead us to think that in his general of the Byzantines. Philostratus has recorded
days the writings of Leon on the human origin a curious anecdote in reference to this invasion. Leo
of the gods were extant and accessible; but it sent to demand of Philip the reason of the invais possible that he refers, like Augustin, to Alex- sion; and when Philip replied that the beauty of
ander's letter. The reference to Leon in Clemens the city had made him fall in love with it, and
Alexandrinus is not more explicit. (Strozatau, i. 21. that he came as a suitor, Leo retorted, that weapons
~ 106. p. 139, ed, Sylburg. p. 382, ed. Pott. vol. ii. of war were not the usual instruments employed
p. 75, ed., Klotz, 12mo. Lipsiae, 1831.) But Tatian's by lovers. The city was almost taken by Philip;
distinct mention of the'Tro!rIj-Lara, or Commenta- but the obstinate resistance of the citizens, and the
ries of Leo, shows that his system had been com- arrival of succours from Athens, under Chares
mitted to writing by himself; and Tertullian (DeCo- (B. c. 340), and subsequently under Phocion, comrona, c. 7) directs his readers to " unrol the writings pelled him to withdraw. Leo was sent as ambasof Leo the Egyptian." Hyginus (Poeticon Astrono- sador to Athens, whether during the siege or at
m/icon, c. 20) refers to Leon in terms which seem some other time is not clear; and an anecdote reto intimate that he wrote a history of Egypt, " Qui corded by Philostratus and Suidas in connection
res Aegyptiacus scripsit;" and the scholiast on with this embassy shows the same ready wit as his
Apollonius Rhodius (iv. 262) gives a reference reply to Philip. The dissensions of the Athenians
here to what Leon had said respecting the antiquity retarded their movements; and when Leo, on his
of the Egyptians, " in the first (of the books or appearance in their assembly, was received with
letters?) to his mother,"'" But' we suspect the last shouts of laughter, on account of his corpulence,
referenee is to the statements of Leon already "What do you laugh at, Athenians?" said he;
mentioned, as given by Alexander the Great in "Is it because I am fat, and of such a size? I
his letter to his mother; and perhaps the reference have a wife fatter than myself; yet when we agree
of Hyginus is to the same document, for the sub- the bed will hold us; but when we disagree, the
ject of it belongs to the mythic period of history. whole house will not." Plutarch (Praecepta Po(Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. vii. pp, 713, 719, vol. xi, litica. Opera, vol.ix. p. 207, ed. Reisk.) relates the
p. 664; Voss. De iust. Grace. lib, iii. p, 179, ed. anecdote with a variation, which makes Leo reAmsterdam, 1699.) markable, not for his corpulence, but for his dimi4.: Of: ALABANDA, in Caria, a rhetorical and nutive stature: and Athenaeus (xii. pp. 550, 551),
historical writer of uncertain date. He wrqte the relates the story of another Byzantine, Pytho,