Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/1062

1044 DIONYSIUS. ancient commentators. Besides the Periegesis, Eustathius states that other works also were at- tributed to our Dionysius, viz. Atflwo, dpvidiKci, and fiacraapiKOL. Concerning the first, compare the Scholiast on v, 714 ; Maxim, ad Dionys. Areopag. de Myst. Tlieol. 2 ; and Bemhardy (l. c), p. 502. Respecting the opvidiKa, which some attribute to Dionysius of Philadelphia, see Bemhardy, p. 503. The iScwro-aptKo, which means the same as Aioi'i;- (riaKd (Suid. s. r. ^.anripixos) is very often quoted by Stephanus of Byzantium. (See Bemhardy, pp. 507, &c. and 515.) 39. Bishop of Rome, is called a Xoyios re koI bav/idaios dvrip by his contemporar}', Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria. (Ap. Euseb. H. E. vii. 7.) He is believed to have been a Greek by birth, and after having been a presbyter, he was made bishop of Rome in a. d. 259, and retained this high dig- nity for ten years, till a. d. 269. During his administration of the Roman diocese, some bishops brought before him charges against Dionysius, bi- shop of Alexandria, for being guilty of heretical opinions in his controversies with Sabellius, The bisliop of Rome therefore convoked a synod, and with its consent he declared, in a letter to the accused, that he was guilty of heresies, and gave hira a gentle reprimand. A fragment of this letter is preserved in Athanasius {de Decrct. Synod. Ni- caen. p. 421), and it was this letter which induced Dionysius of Alexandria to write his work against Sabellius, which was addressed to the bishop of Rome. (Cave, m^t. Lit. i. p. 97.) 40. Sumamed Scvtobrachion. See No. 34. 41. Of SiDON, a Cireek grammarian, who is some- times simply called Sidonius, (Schol, Venct. ad Horn. II. i. 424, xiv. 40.) lie seems to have lived shortly after the time of Aristarchus, and to have founded a school of his own. (Schol. ad II. i. 8.) He is frequently referred to in the Venetian Scholia, and also by EustJithius on Homer, as one of tlie critical commentators of the poet. (Comp. Varro, de L. L. X. 10, ed. MiiUer ; Villoison, Proley. ad Horn, II. p. xxix.) 42. Of SiNOPK. See below. 43. A Stoic philosopher, against whom Clny- sippus wrote a work, but who is otherwise un- known. (Diog. Laiirt. vi. 43; Eudoc. p. 138.) 44. Sumamed Thrax, or the Thracian, a cele- brated Greek grammarian, who unquestionably derived his surname from the fact of his father Teres being a Tiimcian (Suidas) ; and it is absurd to believe, with the author of the Etymologicum Magnum (p. 277. 53), that he received it from his rougli voice or any other circumstance. He him- self was, according to some, a native of Alexandria (Suidas), and, according to others, of Byzantium ; but he is also called a Rhodian, because at one time he resided at Rhodes, and gave instmctions there (Sti-ab. xiv. p. 655 ; Athen. xi. p. 489), and it was at Rhodes that Tyrannion was among the pupils of Dionysius. Dionysius also staid for some time at Rome, where he was engaged in teaching, about B. c. 80. Further particulars about his life are not known. He was the author of numerous grammatical works, manuals, and commentaries. We possess under his name a tcx^tj ypa/xfiaTtiai, a small work, which however became the basis of all subsequent grammars, and was a standard book m grammar schools for many centuries. Under such circumstances we cannot wonder that, in the course of time, such a work was much interpolated, DIONYSIUS. sometimes abridged, and sometimes extended or otherwise modified. The form therefore, iu which it has come down to us, is not the original one, and hence its great difference in the different MSS. It was first printed in Fabricius, Bibl. Gr. iv. p. 20 of the old edition. Villoison {Anecd. ii. 99) then added some excerpta and scholia from a Venetian MS., together with which the grammar was after- wards printed in Fabricius, BM. Gr. vi. p. 31 1 of Harles's edition, and somewhat better in Bekker's Anccdota, ii. p. 627, &c. It is remarkable that an Amienian translation of this grammar, which has recently come to light, and was probably made in the fourth or fifth century of our era, is more com- plete than the Greek original, having five addi- tional chapters. This translation, which was published by Cirbied in the iMemoires et Disser- tations sur Ics AntujuUes mttionalcs et tlratiyeres, 1824, 8vo., vol. vi., has increased the doubts about the genuineness of our Greek text ; but it would be going too far to consider it, with Giittling, {Frucf. ud Tlieculos. Gram. p. v. &c.; comp. Lersch, die Sprachphilos. dcr Altai., ii. p. 64, &;c.) as a mere compilation made by some Byzantine grammarian at a very late period. The groundwork of what we have is unquestionably the production of Dio- nj'sius Thrax. The interpolations mentioned above appear to liave been introduced at a very early time, and it was probably owing to them that some of the ancient commentators of the grammar found in it things which could not have been written by a disciple of Aristarchus, and that therefore they doubted its geimineness. Dionysius did much also for the explanation and criticism of Homer, as may be inferred from the quotations in the Vene- tian Scholia {ad Hum. It. ii. 262, ix. 460, xii. 20, xiii. 103, XV. 86, 741, xviii. 207, xxiv. 110), and Eustathius. {Ad Horn, pp.854, 869, 1040, 1299.) He does not, however, appear to have written a regular commentary, but to have inserted his re- marks on Homer in several other works, such as that against Cnites, and the irepi ■noaoTriTwv. (Schol. Ven. ad Horn. IL ii. 3.) In some MSS. there exists a treatise irepX rovov irepKrircopLevuv^ which has been wrongly attributed to our gram- marian : it is, further, more than doubtful whetlier he wrote a conmientary on Euripides, as has been inferred from a quotation of the Scholiast on that poet. His chief merit consists in the impulse he gave to the study of systematic grammar, and in what he did for a correct understanding of Homer. The Etymol. M. contains several examples of his etymological, prosodical, and exegetical attemjUs. (pp. 308. 18, 747. 20, 365. 20.) Dionysius is also mentioned as the author of /licActoi and of a work on Rhodes. (Steph. Byz. «. v. Tapaos ; comp. Grafenhan, Gesch. der Klass. Vhilol. i. p. 402, &c.) 45. A son or disciple of Tryphon, a Greek grammarian, who lived about B. c. 50. (Steph. Byz. s. i'.^Oa, Myp/Jij/oCis, &c.) He was the author of a work Tre/^i ouofj.dTut', which consisted of at least eleven books, and is often referred to by Ste- phanus of Byzantium and Harpocration. (Comp. Athen. vi. p. 255, xi, p. 503, xiv. p. 641.) [L. S.] DIONY'SIUS (Aioi/ucrtoyjjof SixoPE, an Athe- nian comic poet of the middle comedy. (Athen. xi. pp. 467, d., 497, c, xiv. p. 615, e. ; Schol. Hom. //. xi. 515.) He appears, from indications in the fragments of his plays, to have been younger than Archestratus, tc have flourished about the same time as Nicostratus, the son of Aristophanes, and