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

LTJUCIANUS. LUCIANUS. 81
-through life a natural taste for the fine arts, as VOS, 7TYraf2aicida, a declamation. A man intendmay be inferred from the many lively descriptions ing to kill a tyrant, but not finding him, leaves
of pictures and statues interspersed through his his sword in the body of his son. At this sight
works.- That he was a warm admirer of dancing the tyrant slays'himself; whereupon the murderer
appears from his treatise rlEpl JpXnoTews. claims a reward, as having killed him. This
In giving an account of Lucian's numerous and piece is perhaps spurious.'A7roKePVTT0'ursos, A.miscellaneous writings, it is difficult to class them dicatus. This- declamation is attributed to Liunder distinct heads with accuracy. Yet an at- banius. 4alXap~s 7rp'TOS cal bstvrepos, -Phalaris
tempt at arrangement seems preferable to going- prior et alter. The authenticity of these two
through them in the confused order in which they declamations, on' the subject of the tyrant of
stand in the editions, which has not even the merit - Agrigentum, has likewise been doubted.' Mvias
of being chronological. The main heads under E7-ymtoo, Encomium- Muscae, a playful and -ingeniwhich his pieces may be classed, and which are, ous little piece, describing the nature and habits of
perhaps, accurate enough for general purposes, are, the fly. IIal-pgios'EyKco ulov, Patriae' Encormium;.
1. the Rhetorical; 2. the Critical; 3. the Biogra- The title indicates the subject of this declamation.
phical; 4. Romances; 5. Dialogues; 6. Miscella- 2. CRITICAL WORKS.. AcK77 cWY 7v'siV-TW, Judineous pieces; 7. Poems. By some writers Lucian cium tVocaliunm, was probably a juvenile performhas also been called an historian, a mathematician, ance, in which,a brings a complaint of ejection
-a physical philosopher, &c. But the works for against -. The suit is conducted after the Athewhich these appellations have been bestowed upon nian manner, the vowels being the dicasts. Aesphim are either not his, or fall more properly under paQ'ves, Lexiphanzes, a humorous dialogue, written
one of the preceding divisions. to ridicule the affectation of strange and obsolete
1. RHETORICAL MWORKS. Lucian's rhetorical diction. By some it has been considered as
pieces were no doubt for the most part the first directed against the Ononmasticon of Pollux; by
productions of his pen, for we have already seen others, against Athenaeus; but in both cases prothat he did not lay aside that profession, and apply bably without foundation. After Lexiphanes has
himself to a different style of writing, till he had been made to vomit up the strange farrago with
reached the age of forty. Of all his pieces they which he has overloaded himself, Lucian prescribes
are the most unimportant, and betray least of his the following course of wholesome diet, in order to
real character and genius, and therefore require but complete a cure. First, to lead the Greek poets
a passing notice.. They may be divided into then the orators; next Thucydides and Plato, with
Trpooiaeatl or introductory addresses, delivered the dramatic authors. The piece concludes with
in literary assemblies, and more regular rhetorical some sound critical advice. fIlcs es lowropai,'
pieces in the demonstrative and deliberative kind. avuyypdiperv, Quornodo Historia sit conscribenda, is
Among the 7rpoorAaAma may be reckoned fIepl ToU the best of Lucian's critical works. The former
vurVviou, Somnnium sen Vita Luciani, the closing portion is employed in ridiculing the would-be
sentence of which shows it to have been addressed historians of the day, whilst the latter contains
to some assembly of his countrymen, apparently some excellent critical precepts. The 41st section
after his return from his travels. This piece, in particular is admirable. The historian Du Thou
which is valuable for the anecdotes it contains of thought so much' of this essay, that he drew the
Lucian's life, has been already mentioned. The rules for historical writing in the preface to his'HpoTboos, Herodotus sive A4'tion, seems to have work principally from it.'Pr'dPCsV b8mdacaXos,
been addressed to some Macedonian assembly. Rh7etorum Preceptor, is a piece of critical irony,
Of Aition the painter an account is elsewhere pretending to point out a royal road to oratory.
given. [AETION.] From the picture described It also contains a bitter personal attack upon some
in this piece, Raphael is said to have taken one apparently Egyptianorator. YVeudoAoyroI's,Pseudo;
of his frescoes. Zestms, Zeuxis sive Antioclsus, loyista, a iolent attack upon a brother sophist who
also contains the description of a picture which had ignorantly asserted that the word adroqpais,
Sulla carried off from Athens, and which was lost used by Lucian, was un-Attic. Axvto-Odvo vu
on its voyage to Rome, but of which a copy was'E7yKimov, Demostizenis Encomium, a critical'diaextant in the time of Luciam.'Apxoveib1sr, Has- logue on the merits of Demosthenes. This piece
monides, which, however, is called by-Marcilius a has been reckoned spurious by many critics, but
aoramrs, or Commnendatio, contains an anecdote of perhaps on insufficient grounds. The concluding
Timotheus and his pupil Harmnonides. ZciOVX f part contains some interesting particulars of the
Ilpoevos, Scythla, turns on the visit of Anacharsis death' of the great orator. PVevnooocp' —7S, Pseudoto Athens, and his meeting Toxaris, a fellow- sophlista, a dialogue on Attic solecisms, has also
countryman, there, who introduces him to the been abjudicated, and on more certain grounds.
friendship of Solon.'I7r7rias l BaXavetov, Hippias Several phrases are given out as solecisms which are
sea Balneum, is the description of a bath. Icpoo- not really so, and which have even been used by
Aacafa j AJvuoVos, Bacchus, turns on the conquests Lucian himself.
of Bacchus. fIpooAaAhia f'HpaKXAis, Hercules 3. BIOGRAPHICAL WORKS. The pieces which
Gallicus. An account of the Gallic Hercules. entitle Lucian to be called a biographer are the
N'pl p'rov -X4c'fK rpOU 4 rv V KVKYWV, De Electro sea'AAe4avcpos I Tevlsuavr's, Alexander sea Pseu(Cpgnis. This was probably an early piece, as in domantis; AlJuSvaKCros 0osu, Vita Densonactis; and
~ 2 the author mentions a recent visit to the Po, rlepl riS nrlpeypivou 7Eke vr7S, De Morte Perein which he inquired for the poplars that distilled grini. They are, however, rather anecdotical
amber, and the singing swans; but without success. memoirs (d7ros'f7jv oeuul.'aT4a), like Xenophon's
nIeps TO O kcOV, De Domo, contains a description of Memorabilia Secratis, than regular biographies.
a house, or rather apartment. Ilep! TrCV 8nidavy, De Of the first piece the chief contents are given
Dipsadibus. An account of certain Libyan serpents. elsewhere. [ALEXANDER, Vol. I. p. 123.1 An
More regular rhetorical pieces are TvpaVyotscTr- account of Demonax will also b; found.under the