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

SEXTUS. SEXTUS. 813
phorianus Champerius, 4to. Lyon, 1507, under the stated to be the place of publication: it is probable
title of Enchiridion Sixti Philosoplsi Pythagorici. that some copies were printed with Paris on the
The volume contains various pieces, of which the title page, and others with Geneva. The second
first is the work of Champerius, de Quadruplici Vita. edition was that of J. A. Fabricius, Leipzig, 1718,
This edition is incorrectly described by Fabricius fol. which contains the Latin version and some
as entitled Six/i s. Xysti Annulus. The title An- emendations; but the text has not yet been revised
nulus was given to the work by Rufinus, as equi- with sufficient care. The edition of J. G. Mund
valent to the Greek Enchiridion (Ihand-book), is a reprint of the text of Fabricius, with a combecause it should be always "in manibus," in (or mentary; but only one part has appeared, which
on) the hands. The text of Champerius is said by contains the text of the Hypo/yposes, Halle, 1796,
Fontanini to be from one of the best MSS. The Sen- 4to. Buhle translated the Hypotyposes, Lemgo,
tentiae were again printed at Wittenberg, 4to. 1514, 1801, 8vo. There is a French translation of the
with the Aurea Carmina of Pythagoras; and again Hypotyposes, in 1725, 12mo., which was probably
with various other pieces, by Beatus Rhenanus, 4to. published at Amsterdam. The anonymous transBasil. 1516, under the title of Xysti Pytllagorici lator is said to be the Sieur Huart, a teacher of
Sententiae. Various editions followed, but they mathematics; but the translation is not highly
omitted Rufinus's Prologue. The work was also spoken of.
comprehended in the various editions of De la None of the medical works of Sextus are extant,
Bigne's Bibliotheca Patrumn, where it appears as though it appears from his own writings that he
the work of Pope Sixtus, down to the Lyon edition did write on medical subjects.
of 1677. It was included, still without the Pro- Sextus is the only Greek sceptic whose complete
logue, in the Opuscula Mythologica, Ethica, et Phy- works we possess; and we may probably assume
sica of Gale, 12mo. Cambridge, 1670, 8vo. Amster- that he has collected all that could be said against
dam, 1688. The text of Rhenanus was reprinted, the Dogmatici, and all that the Sceptici had to say
with Observationes, designed to vindicate the title for themselves. He does not present what he says
of Pope Sixtns II. to the authorship, by ITrbanus as his own, but as the exposition of the sceptical
Godofredus Siberus, 4to. Lipsiae, 1725. The ori- school. Ritter(Gescl. de? Philosophie, vol. iv.p. 299.
ginal Greek of some of the Sententiae has been &c.) has a long dissertation on Sextus, which as
traced in Origen, Nilus, Maximus, in the Sententiae usual is not favourable. His philosophy of negaof Demophilus and Democrates, and in Stobaeus. tions is certainly not satisfactory, nor is Ritter's
An edition of the Latin text with a French version judgment on Sextus. Much that he finds fault
was published, 12mo. Paris, 1843, by Le Comte with, is precisely that which some thinkers will
C. P. de Lastayrie, with the view of showing that set a value on. The chief objection that Ritter
as pure and elevated morality was to be found else- makes against him is, that he does not keep his
where as in the Christian Scriptures: the editor exposition of Scepticism free from such assertions
seems to have forgotten that the unsettled author- as destroy Scepticism itself. He "'denies that
ship of the work, and the interpolations of Rufinus there is any general moral rule of life which can be
rendered the work unsuitable for his purpose. prescribed (Adv. Math. xi. 208), because every
(Fabricius, Bibl. Graec. vol. i. p. 870, &c.; Fonta- man must order his life according to chance and
nini, Brucker, ll. cc.; Gale, Prcefat. ad Opusc. My- circumstances, whereas, however, this general rule
thologica, Wc.) [J. C. M.] of life is excepted, that a man must direct himself
SEXTUS EMPI'RICUS, was a physician, according to circumstances." But it seems no conand received his name Empiricus from belonging tradiction to say that there is no general rule to
to the school of Empirici. He was a pupil of He- guide us in all circumstances, and yet to say that
rodotus of Tarsus (Diog. Laert. ix.; Timon), who we must do as well as we can without such a rule.
was a physician, and apparently a contemporary of Sextus maintains that scepticism alone can make a
Galen. Sextus may, therefore, have lived in the man happy, because it teaches that nothing is
first half of the third century of the Christian aera. naturally ((QpieL) good or bad (Ada. e/ath. xi.
Nothing is known of his life. He belonged to the 208). The meaning of the proposition depends on
Sceptici. the meaning that is to be given to Nature, that
Two works of Sextus are extant. The reippc- much abused word. Nature is nothing more than
Tyla'TiroT7rosr'eLs a cLKer'mKI JU7royVa'=L7Ua, contains the constitution of all things by the will of God;
the doctrines of the Sceptici, in three books. The and the notion of good and bad, which is a notion
second work, entitled, IIpo'rs'os paOe7aa'Kcovls of limited practical application, is not applicable to
aYdMppOT-KOc, against the Mathematici, in eleven the general constitution of all things. Such conbooks, is an attack upon all positive philosophy. tradictions as these, however, though in truth they
The first six books are a refutation of the six do not necessarily involve contradictions, Ritter
sciences of grammatic, rhetoric, geometry, arith- observes, are only in part to be attributed to the
metic, astrology, and music. The remaining five unskilfulness of Sextus: the greater part are to be
books are directed against logicians, physical philo- attributed to the direction that Greek scepticism in
sophers, and ethical writers, and form, in fact, a general took, or to its tendency particularly among
distinct work, which may be viewed as belonging the later Sceptici.
to the'Tsro'v7rco~irse. The two works are a great Ritter considers that the old sceptical objections
repository of doubts; the language is as clear and were mainly designed to oppose the reasons founded
perspicuous as the subject will allow. on the intellect to the purely sensuous viewof things.
H. Stephens published the first Latin translation But the objections of the Sceptici, as they appear
of the Hypotyposes, in 1562, 8vo. The first Latin in Sextus, are solely directed against philosophical
translation of the work against the Mathematici is systems: the Sceptici are disposed to consider
by G. Hervet, Antwerp and Paris, 1569,1601, fol. phaenomena as true for practical purposes, but to
Tihe first edition of the Greek text of both works reject all scientific investigation of them as idle inwas that of Paris, 1621, fol.; but Geneva is often quiries. Accordingly, they assume a kind of prac