Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/305

ARION. spimcy which was formed against him, and esta- blished him in his kingdom. {Ad Fam. ii. 17, XV. 2, 4, 5, ad Att v. 20; Plut. Cic. 36.) It appears from Cicero that Ariobarzanes was very poor, and that he owed Pompoy and AI. Brutus large sums of money. {Ad Ait. vi. 1 — 3.) In the war between Caesar and Pompey, he came to the assistance of the latter with five hundred horse- men. (Caes. B. C. iii. 4 ; Flor. iv. 2.) Caesar, however, forgave him, and enlarged his territories. He also protected him against the attacks of Phar- naces, king of Pontus. (Dion Cass. xli. 63, xlii. 48; Hirt. Bell. Alex. 34, &c.) He was slain in B.c. 42 by Cassius, because he was plotting against him in Asia. (Dion Cass, xlvii. 33 ; Appian, B. C. iv. 63.) On the annexed coin of Ariobarzanes the inscrip- ARIOVISTUS. 287 ti(m is BA2IAEn2 APIOBAPZANOT ET2EB0T2 KAI *IAOPnMAIOT. (Eckhel, iii. p. 200.) ARIOMARDUS ('AptoVapSos), a Persian word, the latter part of which is the same as the Persian inerd (vir), whence comes merdi (virilitas, virtus). Ario-vmrdus would therefore signify " a man or liero honourable, or entitled to respect." (Pott, Etymologische Forschungen, p. xxxvi.) Respecting the meaning oi Ario., see Ariarathes. 1 The son of Dareius and Parmys, the daughter of Smerdis, commanded the Moschi and Tibareni in the army of Xerxes, (Herod, vii. 78.) 2. The brother of Artuphius, commanded the Caspii in the army of Xerxes. (Herod, vii. 67.) 3. The ruler of Thebes in Egypt, one of the commanders of the Egyptians in the army of Xerxes. (Aesch. Pers. 38, 313.) ARI'ON ('Apjwf). 1. An ancient Greek bard and great master on the cithara, was a native of Methymna in Lesbos, and, according to some ac- counts, a son of Cyclon or of Poseidon and the nymph Oncaea. He is called the inventor of the dithvrambic poetry, and of the name dithyramb. (Herod, i. 23; Schol. ad Find. 01. xiii. 25.) All traditions about him agree in describing him as a contemporan,' and friend of Periander, tyrant of Corinth, so that he must have lived about B. c. 700. He appears to have spent a great part of his life at the court of Periander, but respecting his life and his poetical or musical productions, scarcely anything is known beyond the beautiful story of his escape from the sailors with whom he sailed from Sicily to Corinth. On one occasion, thus runs the story, Arion went to Sicily to take part in some musical contest. He won the prize, and, laden with presents, he embarked in a Corin- thian ship to return to his friend Periander. The rude sailors coveted his treasures, and meditated his murder. Apollo, in a dream, informed his be- loved bard of the plot. After having tried in vain to save his life, he at length obtained permission once more to seek delight in his song and playing on the cithara. In festal attire he placed himself in the prow of the ship and invoked the gods in inspired strains, and then threw himself into the sea. But many song-loving dolphins had assem- bled round the vessel, and one of them now took the bard on its back and carried him to Taenarus, from whence he returned to Corinth in safety, and related his adventure to Periander. When the Corinthian vessel arrived likewise, Periander in- quired of the sailors after Arion, and they said that he had remained behind at Tarentum ; bat Avhen Arion, at the bidding of Periander, came forward, the sailors owned their guilt and were punished according to their desert. (Herod, i. 24 ; Gcllius, xvi. 19 ; Hygin. Fab. 194 ; Paus. iii. 25. ^ 5.) In the time of Herodotus and Pausanias there existed on Taenarus a brass monument, which was dedicated there either by Periander or Arion himself, and which represented him riding on a dolphin. Arion and his cithara (lyre) were placed among the stars. (Hj'gin. I. c. ; Serv. ad Virg. Edog. viii. 54 ; Aelian, H. A. xii. 45.) A fragment of a hymn to Poseidon, ascribed to Arion, is contained in Bergk's Foetae Lynci Graeci^ p. 566, &c. 2. A fabulous horse, which Poseidon begot by Demeter ; for in order to escape from the pursuit of Poseidon, the goddess had metamorphosed her- self into a mare, and Poseidon deceived her by assuming the figure of a horse. Demeter after- wards gave birth to the horse Arion, and a daughter whose name remained unknown to the uninitiated. (Paus. viii. 25. § 4.) According to the poet Antimachus {ap. Paus. I. c.) this horse and Caerus were the offspring of Gaea ; whereas, according to other traditions, Poseidon or Zephyrus begot the horse by a Harpy. (Eustath. ad Horn. p. 1051 ; Quint. Smyrn. iv. 570.) Another story related, that Poseidon created Arion in his con- test with Athena. (Serv. ad Virg. Georg. i. 12.) From Poseidon the horse passed through the hands of Copreus, Oncus, and Heracles, from whom it was received by Adrastus. (Paus, i. c. ; Hesiod. Scut. Here. 120.) [L. S.] ARIOVISTUS, a German chief, who engaged in war against C. Julius Caesar in Gaul, b. c. 58. For some time before that year, Gaul had been distracted by the quaiTels and wars of two parties, the one headed by the Aedui (in the modern Burgundy), the other by the Arverni (Auvergne), and Sequani (to the W. of Jura). The latter called in the aid of the Germans, of whom at first about 15,000 crossed the Rhine, and their report of the wealth and fertility of Gaul soon attracted large bodies of fresh invaders. The number of the Germans in that country at length amounted to 120,000 : a mixed multitude, consisting of mem- bers of the following tribes : — the Harudes, Mar- comanni, Triboci, Vangiones, Nemetes, Sedusii, and Suevi, most of whom had lately occupied the country stretching from the right bank of the Rhine to the Danube, and northwards to the Riesengebirge and Erzgebirge, or even beyond them. At their head was Ariovistus, whose name is supposed to have been Latinized from //cer, " a host," and Furst, " a prince," and who was so powerful as to receive from the Roman senate the title of amicm. They entirely subdued the Aedui, and compelled them to give hostages to the Sequani, and swear never to seek help from Rome. But it fared worse with the conquerors than the con- quered, for Ariovistus first seized a third part of the Sequanian territory, as the price of the triumph which he had won for them, and soon after de- manded a second portion of equal extent. Divi-