Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/292

274 ARCHYTAS. no less admired for his integrity and virtue, both in public and in private life. Little is known of his history, since the lives of him by Aristoxenus and Aristotle (Athen. xii. p. 545) are lost. A brief account of him is given by Diogenes Laertius. (viii. 79 — 83.) His father's name was Mnasar- chus, Mnesagoras, or Histiaeus. The time when he lived is disputed, but it was probably about 400 B. c, and onwards, so that he was contemporary with Plato, whose life he is said to have saved by his influence withjhe tyrant Dionysius (Tzetzes, Cldl. X. 359, xi. 362 ; Suidas, s. v. ^hpx^ras)^ and with whom he kept up a familiar intercourse. (Cic. de Sened. 12.) Two letters v/hich are said to have passed between them are preserved by Dio- genes (/. c. ; Plato, Ep. 9). He was seven times the general of his city, though it was the custom for the office to be held for no more than a year, and he commanded in sevei-al campaigns, in all of which he was victorious. Civil affairs of the greatest consequence were entrusted to him by his fellow-citizens. After a life which secured to him a place among the very greatest men of antiquity, he was drowned while upon a voyage on the Adriatic. (Hon Carm. i. 28.) He was greatly admired for his domestic virtues. He paid par- ticular attention to the comfort and education of his slaves. The interest which he took in the education of children is proved by the mention of a child's rattle (7rA.aTa77i) among his mechanical in- ventions. (Aelian, V. H. xiv. 19; Aristot. Fol. viii. 6. § 1.) As a philosopher, he belonged to the Pythagorean school, and he appears to have been himself the founder of a new sect. Like the Pythagoreans in general, he paid much attention to mathematics. Horace {I.e.) calls him "maris et terrae numeroque carentis arenae Mensorem." He solved the pro- blem of the doubling of the cube, (Vitruv. ix. praef.) and invented the method of analytical geometry. He was the first who applied the principles of mathematics to mechanics. To his theoretical sci- ence he added the skill of a practical mechanician, and constructed various machines and automatons, among which his wooden flying dove in particular was the wonder of antiquity. (Gell. x. 12.) He also applied mathematics with success to musical science, and even to metaphysical philosophy. His influence as a philosopher was so great, that Plato was undoubtedly indebted to him for some of his views ; and Aristotle is thought by some writers to have borrowed the idea of his categories, as well as some of his ethical principles, from Archytas. The fragments and titles of works ascribed to Archytas are very numerous, but the genuineness of many of them is greatly doubted. Most of them are found in Stobaeus. They relate to phy- sics, metaphysics, logic, and ethics. A catalogue of them is given by Fabricius. (5«6. G'ra<3c. i. p. 833.) Several of the fragments of Archytas are published in Gale, Opusc. Mythol. Cantab. 1671, Amst. 1688. A work ascribed to him "on the 10 Categories," was published by Camerarius, in Greek, under the title ^Pi.p-x}iTov <p(p6jx€voi S^Ka yoL KadoKiKoi^ Lips. 1564; and in Greek and Latin, Ven. 1571. A full collection of his fragments is promised in the Teniamen de A rchytae Tareniini vita aique operibus., a Jos. Navarro, of which only one part has yet ap- peared, Hafn. 1820. From the statement of lamblichus ( Vit Pyth. 23), tbAt Archytas was a hearer of Pythagoras, some ARDALUS. writers have thought that there were two Pytha- gorean philosophers of this name. But lamblichas was undoubtedly mistsiken. (Bentley's Pluilaris.) The writers of this name on agriculture (Diog Laert. I c; Varro, B. 7?. i. 1 ; Columella, R. R. i. 1 ), on cookery {o-^uprvriKa, lamblich, Vit. Pyth. 29, 34; Athen. xii. p. 516, c), and on architecture (Diog. I. c; Vitruv. vii. praef.), are most probably identical with the philosopher, to whom the most various attainments are ascribed. Busts of Archytas are engraved in Gronovius' Thesaur. Antiq. Grace, ii. tab. 49, and in the Anli- chita dErcolano, v. tab. 29, 30. (Schmidii Dissert, de Archyta Tarent. Jenae, 1683 , Vossius, de Seient. Math. 48. § 1 ; Montucla, Hist. Matlies. vol. i. pt. i. 1. iii. p. 137; Ritter, Geschichte der Pytliag. Philos. p. 65.) [P. S.] ARCTI'NUS ('Ap/fTtros), of Miletus, is called by Dionysius of Halicarnassus {A. R. i. 68, &c.) the most ancient Greek poet, whence some writers have placed him even before the time of Homer ; but the ancients who assign to him any certain date, agree in placing him about the commence- ment of the Olympiads. We know from good authority that his father's name was Teles, and that he was a descendant of Nautes. (Suid. s. v. 'ApKTlvos ; Tzetzes, Chi/, xiii. 641.) He is called a disciple of Homer, and from all we know about him, there was scarcely a poet in his time who deserved this title more than Arctinus. He was the most distinguished among the so-called cyclic poets. There were in antiquity two epic poems belonging to the cycle, which are unanimously attributed to him. 1. The Aethiopis (Aldioitis), in five books. It was a kind of continuation of Homer's Iliad, and its chief heroes were Memnon, king of the Ethiopians, and Achilles, who slew him. The substance of it has been preserved by Proclus. 2. The Destruction of Jlion ('liov irepo-i's), in two books, contained a description of the taking and destruction of Troy, and the sub- sequent events until the departure of the Greeks. The substance of this poem has likewise been pre- served by Proclus. A portion of the Little Hiad of Lesches was likewise called 'liou irepais, but the account which it gave differed materially from that of Arctinus. [Lesches.] A third epic poem, called Ttraj/Ojuaxia, that is, the fight of the gods with the Titans, and which was probably the first poem in the epic cycle, was ascribed by some to Eumelus of Corinth, and by others to Arctinus. (Athen. i. p. 22, vii. p. 277.) The fragments of Arctinus have been collected by Diintzer (Die Fragm. der ep. Poes. his auf Alex. pp. 2, &c., 16, &c., 21, &c., Naehtrag, p. 16) and Diibner. {Homeri Carm. et Cycli Epici Reliquiae., Paris, 1837.) Cora- pare C. W. Miiller, De Cyclo Graecorum Epieo . Welcker, Der Episclie Cyclus., p. 211, &c. ; Bode, Gesch. der Ep, Dichtkunst der Hellen. pp. 276, &c., 378, &c. [L.S.] ARC YON ('ApKuwv), or, as others read, Alcyon ('AAkucji/), a surgeon at Rome, mentioned by Jose- phus (Ant. xix. 1) as having been called in to attend to those persons who had been wounded at Caligula's assassination, a. d. 41. [W. A. G.] A'RDALUS ("ApSaXos), a son of Hephaestus, who was said to have invented the flute, and to have built a sanctuary of the Muses at Troezen, who derived from him the surname Ardalides or Ardaliotides. (Paus. ii. 31. §3; Hesych. s. v. 'ApSoAtSes.^ [L. S.J