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

RHODE. RHODON. 651
Hoffmann, Lex. Bibl. Script. Grace. s. vv. Poetae, bearing the name of Rhode, was one of the Danaids.
Rhianus), and in Gaisford's Poetae Aliinores Graeci; (Apollod. ii. 1. ~ 5.) [L. S.]
and separately edited by Nic. Saal, in an excellent RHODEIA ('Po'eLa), a daughter of Oceanns
monograph, Bonn, 1831, 8vo. (comp. Schneidewin's and Thetys, was one of the playmates of PerseReview in Jahn's Jahkrbiicher for 1833, vol. ix. pp. phone. (Hes. Theog. 351; Hoem. Iymn. in C(er.
129, &c.), and, as already mentioned, in Meineke's 451.) [L. S.]
Analecta Alexandrina, Berol. 1843, 8vo. There RHODOGU'NE. [ARSACES VI. p. 355, a.]
are also Essays on Rhianus by Jacobs (Ephemn. litt. RHODON ('Po'Swv), called, in the Haeresium
Schol. Univ. 1833, Sect. ii. pp. 109, &c.), Meineke Indiculus, extant under the name of Jerome, CORO(Abieandl. d. Berlin. Acad. 1834), and Siebelis, in DON, a Christian writer of the second century. He
a monograph, Budissae, 1829, 4to. [P. S.] was a native of Proconsular Asia, but appears to
RHINTHON ('Pivca,), of Syracuse or Taren- have removed to Rome, where he was instructed
tum, a dramatic poet, of that species of burlesque (.aeOTrseuOes), perhaps converted to Christianity, by
tragedy, which was called pAvaKcoypalia or IAapo- Tatian [TATIANUS]. Nothing more is known of
rpaeyqpia, flourished in the reign of Ptolemy I. his history than that he took an active part against
king of Egypt (Suid. s. v.). When he is placed the heretics of Iis day; being certainly engaged
by Suidas and others at the head of the composers against the Marcionites, with one of whom, Apelles
of this burlesque drama, we are not to suppose [APELLES], he had a personal discussion; and
that he actually invented it, but that he was the probably against the Montanists. Jerome places
first to develope in a written form, and to intro- him in the time of Commodus and Severus, i. e.
duce into Greek literature, a species of dramatic A. D. 180-211.
composition, which had already long existed as a He wrote: —1. Adversus Marcionem Opus.
popular amusement among the Greeks of southern From this work Eusebius, in his account of Rhodon,
Italy and Sicily, and especially at Tarentum. He has given one or two brief citations. It was adwas followed by other writers, such as SOPATER, dressed to one Callistion, and contained Rhodon's
SCIRAs, and BLAESUS. account of his conference with Apelles, which is
The species of drama which Rhinthon cultivated extracted by Eusebius. According to this account
may be described as an exhibition of the subjects Rhodon silenced his antagonist, and held him up
of tragedy, in the spirit and style of comedy. It to ridicule. Certainly he appears to have possessed
is plain, from the fragments of Rhinthon, that the too much of that self-confidence and fondness for
comic licence extended to the metres, which are reviling which has characterized polemical writers.
sometimes even more irregular than in the Attic Marcion is termed by him "the Pontic Wolf." The
comedians (Hephaest. p. 9, Gaisf.). A poet of this fragments of this work of Rhodon are valuable as
description was called (Apa'e. This name, and that showing the diversity of opinions which prevailed
of the drama itself, hAvaeocypampla, seem to have among the Marcionites. 2. Els?5rv;east.uepov 7rodbeen the genuine terms used at Tarentum. uv-r7ua, Commentarius in Hexaanmeron, which Jerome
Of the personal history of Rhinthon we know characterizes as consisting of " elegantes tractatus."
nothing beyond the statement of Suidas, that he 3. Adversum Plhrygas (sc. Cataphrlygas s. Montawas the son of a potter. He is said to have 9aistas) insigne Opus. Jerome thus characterizes a
written thirty-eight dramas (Suid. s. v.; Steph. production of Rhodon, perhaps ascribing to him (as
Byz. s. v. Tdpas), of which we still possess the fol- some have judged, from a comparison of cc. 37 and
lowing titles:'ALepiLTP4WJ,'HpairkAs,'IQptyiveia 39 of his de Vir. Ill.) the work against the Monj ev AMtiAI,'Ib~Ly7'ela E'v Ta6pols,'OpErormss, tanists in three books, addressed to Abercius or
Tj'AEPos. He is several times quoted by Athe- Abircius Marcellus, from which Eusebius has given
naeus, Hesychius, and other Greek writers, and a long citation (Ii. E. v. 16). The work is, howby Cicero (ad Alt. i. 20), and Varro (R. R. iii. 3. ever, ascribed by Rufinus and Nicephorus Callisti,
~ 9). among the older writers, and by Baronius, Baluze,
One of the Greek grammarians tells us that and Le Quien, among the moderns, to Claudius
Rhinthon was the first who wrote comedy in hexa- Apollinaris of Hierapolis [APOLLINARIS, No. 1];
meter verse; the meaning of which probably is, by others to the Apollonius [APOLLONIUS, literary,
that in his dramas the dactylic hexameter was No. 13] mentioned and cited by Eusebius (H. I.
largely used, as well as the iambic trimeter (Io. v. 18), and to whom Tertullian [TERTULLIANUS]
Lydus, de M3agistr. R. i. 41). The same writer replied in his lost work de Ecstasi; and by Valefurther asserts that the satire of Lucilius sprung sius (Not. ad Euseb. H. E. v. 16), Tillemont,
from an imitation of the comedy of Rhinthon, just Ceillier, and others, to Asterius Urbanus [URBAas that of the subsequent Roman satirists was NUS]. The claims of any of these writers to the
derived from the Attic comedians; but to this authorship of the work cited by Eusebius are, we
statement little credit can be attached. think, feeble. Eusebius, according to some MSS.
The Greek anthology (Brunck, Anal. vol. i. p. (for the text is corrupt), cites the author simply as
196, No. 12.) contains an epigram upon Rhinthon rSr, " d certain writer;" and it is quite unaccountby Nossis. (Miiller, Dorier, b. iv. c. 7. ~ 6); able that he should have omitted to mention his
Osann, Anal. Crit. pp. 69, &c.; Reuvens, Collectan. name if he had known it; or that he should have
Litt. pp. 69, &c.; Jacobs, Animndv. in Anth. Grace. omitted all notice of the work in his account of
vol. i. pt. i. p. 421; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. ii. p. Rhodon just before, if he had believed it to be his.
320; Clinton, F. H. vol. iii. p. 486.) [P. S.] That Jerome ascribed the work to Rhodon is only
RHODE ('Pobs), a daughter of Poseidon by an inference: he says, in speaking of Miltiades
Amphitrite, was married to Helios, and became (de Vir. IUustr. c. 39), that he is mentioned by
by him the mother of Phaeton and his sisters Rhodon; and as a notice of Miltiades occurs in
(Apollod. i. 4. ~ 4). It should be observed that the anonymous citation given by Eusebius, it is
the names Rhodos and Rhode are often confounded supposed that Jerome refers to that citation, and
(Diod. v. 55; comp. RHODos). A second person that he therefore supposed it to be from Rhodon.