Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/328

310 ARISTON. 4. Of Megalopolis, v/ho, at the outbreak of the war of the Komans against Perseus in B. c. 170, advised the Achaeans to join the Romans, and not to remain neutral between the two belligerent par- ties. In the year following, he was one of the Achaean ambassadors, who were sent to bring about a peace between Antiochus III. and Ptolemy Philopator. (Polyb. xxviii. 6, xxix. 10.) 5. A Rhodian, who was sent, in the spring of B. c. 170, with several others as ambassador to the Roman consul, Q. Marcius Philippus, in Mace- donia, to renew the fiiendship with the Romans, and clear his countrymen from the charges which had been brought against them ly some persons. (Polyb. xxviii. 14.) 6. Of Tyre, who appears to have been a friend of Hannibal. When the latter was staying at the court of Antiochus and meditated a fresh war against the Romans, he despatched Ariston to Car- thage to rouse his friends there. Hannibal, how- ever, lest the messenger should be intercepted, gave him nothing in writing. On Ariston's arrival at Carthage, the enemies of Hannibal soon conjec- tured the object of his presence from his frequent interviews with the men of the other party. The suspicions were at last loudly expressed, and Aris- ton was summoned to explain the objects of his visit. The explanations given were not very sa- tisfactory, and the trial was deferred till the next day. But in the night Ariston embarked and fled, leaving behind a letter which he put up in a pub- lic place, and in which he declared that the com- munications he had brought were not for any pri- vate individual, but for the senate. Respecting the consequences of this stratagem, see Liv. xxxiv. 61, 6*2. Compare Appian, St/r. 8; Justin, xxxi. 4. [L. S.] ARISTON ('Apro-Tftj*/), literary. 1. A son of Sophocles by Theoris. (Suidas, s. v. 'lo<pciiv.) He had a son of the name of Sophocles, who is said to have brought out, in B. c. 401, the Oedipus in Colonus of his grandfather Sophocles. (Argum. ad St^h. Oed. Col. p. 12, ed. Wunder.) Whether he is the same as the Ariston who is called a writer of tragedies (Diog. Laert. vii. 164), and one of whose tragedies was directed against Mnesthenus, cannot be said with any certainty, though Fabri- cius {Bibl. Gr. ii. p. 287) takes it for granted. 2. A friend of Aristotle, the philosopher, to whom he is said to have addressed some letters. (Diog. Laert. v. 27.) 3. A Peripatetic philosopher and a native of the island of Ceos, where his birthplace was the toAvn of Julis, whence he is sometimes called Kelos and sometimes 'ovKi-/itt]s. He was a pupil of Lycon (Diog. Laert. v. 70, 74), who was the successor of Straton as the head of the Peripatetic school, about B. c. 270. After the death of Lycon, about B. c. 230, Ariston succeeded him in the management of the school. Ariston, who was, according to Cicero {de Fin. v. 5), a man of taste and elegance, was yet deficient in gravity and energy, which pre- vented his writings acquiring that popularity which they otherwise deserved, and may have been one of the causes of their neglect and loss to us. In his philosophical views, if we may judge from the scanty fragments still extant, he seems to have followed his master pretty closely. Diogenes Laertius (vii. 163), after enumerating the woriis of Ariston of Chios, says, that Panaetius and Sosicrates attributed all these works, except the ARISTON. letters, to the Peripatetic Ariston (of Ceos). How far this opinion is correct, we cannot, of course, say; at any rate, however, one of those works, ^EpwTiKal diaTpi€ai, is repeatedly ascribed to the Cean by Athenaeus (x. p. 419, xiii. p. 563, xv. p. 674), who calls it 'EpwriKci ofwla. One work of the Cean not mentioned by Diogenes, was en- titled Av/ccoj/ {^Iwi. de Aud. poet. 1), in gratitude to his master. There are also two epigrams in the Greek Anthology (vi. 303, and vii. 457), which are commonly attributed to Ariston of Ceos, though there is no evidence for it. (Compare J. G. Hubmann, Ariston von Keos, der Peripatetikery in Jahn's Jahrb.fur Philol. 3d supplementary vol. Leipz. 1835 ; Fabricius, Bibl. Gr. iii. p. 467, &x. ; Jacobs, ad Anthol. xiii. p. 861.) 4. Of Alexandria, likewise a Peripatetic philoso- pher, was a contemporary of Strabo, and wrote a work on the Nile. (Diog. Laert. vii. 164; Strab. xvii. p. 790.) Eudorus, a contemporary of his, wrote a book on the same subject, and the two works were so much alike, that the authors charged each other with plagiarism. Who was right is not said, though Strabo seems to be inclined to think that Eudorus was the guilty party. (Hubmann, /. c. p. 104.) 5. Of Pella in Palestine, lived in the time of the emperor Hadrian or shortly after, as is inferred from his writing a work on the insurrection of the Jews, which broke out in the reign of this em- peror. (Euseb. H. E. iv. 6 ; Niceph. Callist. Hist. Ecd. iii. 24.) He also wrote a work entitled SiaAe|is YVa-nioKov KoiX 'lao-oi/os, that is, a dialogue between Papiscus, a Jew, and Jason, a Jewish Christian, in which the former became convinced of the truth of the Christian religion. (Origen. c. Ckls. iv. p. 199; Hieronym. JEpisf. cwi Galat. iii. 13.) It was translated at an early time into Latin by one Celsus, but, with the exception of a few fragments, it is now lost. The introduction writ- ten to it by the translator is still extant, and is printed in the Oxford edition of the " Opuscula" of Cyprian (p. 30) and elsewhere. (Hubmann, I. c. p. 105.) 6. Of Alaea ('AAotei/s), a Greek rhetorician who wrote, according to Diogenes Laertius (vii. 164) scientific treatises on rhetoric. Another rhetorician of the same name, a native of Gerasa, is mentioned by Stephanus of Byzantium, (s. v. Fepaaa.) The name of Axiston occurs very frequently in ancient writers, and it has been calculated that about thirty persons of this name may be distinguished ; but of most of them we know nothing but the name. They have often been confounded with one another both by ancient and modem writers, particularly Ariston of Chios and Ariston of Ceos. (Sintenis, ad Plut. Themist. 3, and especially the treatise of Hubmann referred to above.) [L. S.] ARIS'TON ('Apio-Twj'), son of Miltiades, born in the island of Chios, a Stoic and disciple of Zeno, flourished about B. c. 260, and was therefore con- temporary with Epicurus, Aratus, Antigonus Go- natas, and with the first Punic war. Though he professed himself a Stoic, yet he differed from Zeno in several points; and indeed Diogenes Laertius (vii. 160, &c.) tells us, that he quitted the school of Zeno for that of Polemo the Platonist. He is said to have displeased the former by his loquacity, — a quality which others prized so highly, that he acquired the surname of Siren, as a master of persuasive elo- quence. He was also called Phalanius, from his