Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/1209

NICOMACnUS. the last we have two lines preserved by Stobaews, 'M. 10. (Meineke,vol.v. p. 583; Stob. vol.ii. p. 59, ed. Gaisford.) Athenaeus gives (ii. p. 58, a.) three lines, and (xi. p. 781, f.) one line (Meineke, vol. v. p. 587, &c.), from plays of Nicomachus, whose titles he does not mention. There are several other literary persons of this name. By one of them there is an epigram on an earthquake which desolated Plataea. The point of it lies in the ruins of Plataea, constituting the monument of those that perished. Of the date of the earthquake, or the writer of the epigram, we know nothing. (Atith. Graec. yol. ii. p. 258, ed. Jacobs.) Nor do we know who the Nicomachus is who wrote Trepi ioprwu AiyvirTltov, quoted by Athe- naeus (xi. p. 478, a.), though this work is sometimes attributed to Nicomachus Gerasenus. [W. M.G.] NICO'MACHUS (NiKOfjLaxos Tepaarjuos, or Fepacrii/os), called Gerasenus, from his native place, Gerasa in Arabia, was a Pythagorean, and the writer of a life of Pythagoras, now lost. His date is inferred from his. mention of Thrasyllus, who lived under Tiberius, lie wrote on arithmetic and music, and is the earliest, we believe, of those whose names became bye-words to express skill in com[)utation. In the Philopatris is the phrase " you number like Nicomachus of Gerasa." This Avriter exercised no small influence on European studies, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries ; but indirectly. Boethins, in his arithmetical work, is no more than the abbreviator of the larger work of Nicomachus, now lost. The never-ending dis- tinction of speciiic ratios by names (see Numbers, old appellations of, in the Supplement to the Pennj' Cyclopaedia), is the remote consequence of Nico- machus having been a Pythagorean. Tlie extant works of Nicomachus are: — 1 . 'ApiOjUTjTtKrjs elaaycoyrjs ^iSkla jS, the lesser work on arithmetic. It was printed (Gr.) by Christian Wechel, Palis, 1538, 4to ; also, after the t/ieologumena Arithneticae, attributed to lamblichus, Leipzig, 1817, 8vo. A Latin version by one Appuleius is lost, as also various commentaries, of which only fragments remain. 2. 'E7xe(pt5toi' dp/xouiKris fiiSXia j8, a work on music, first printed (Gr.) by Joh. Meursius, in his collection. Ley den, 1616, 4to, and afterward in the collection of Meibomius, ( Gr. Lat.), Amsterdam, 1652, 4to ; and again in the works of Meursius by Lami, Florence, 1 745, fol. The works which are lost are a collection of Pythagorean dogmata, referred to by lamblichus ; a larger work on music, promised by Nicomachus himself, and apparently referred to by Eutocius in his comment on the sphere and cylinder of Archi- medes ; ^eoAoyov/xcva dpidiu.rjTiK'ns, mentioned by Photius, but a different work from that above alluded to ; rex^V dpiOixTjTiKri, the larger work above noted, distinctively mentioned by Photius ; a work on geometry, to which Nicomachus himself once refers ; irepl eopTtiu Alyinrriwy, mentioned by Athenaeus, but whether by this Nicomachus or another, uncertain. (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. v. p 629 ; Hoffman ; Schweiger.) [A. De M.] NICO'MACHUS (NiKS^axos), artists. 1. A painter, of the highest distinction, was (according to the common text of Pliny) a Theban, the son and discip/e of the painter Aristodemus, the elder brother and teacher of the great painter Aristeides, and the father and teacher of Aristocles. (Plin. H.N. XXXV. 10. s. 36. §22.) We have thus the following stemma : — NICOMACHUS. Aristodemus. 1195 Nicomachus. Aristocles. I Aristeidea. But the names vary in the MSS., and in the Bamberg MS. they are altogether different, giving the following stemma : — Aristiacus. J Nicomachus. I Aristeides. I Ariston. To decide with certainty between the readings is impossible : it may, however, be remarked that there is no other passage in which the names of Aristodemus and Aristocles occur. (Comp. the Kunsiblalt, for 1832, p. 188.) Nicomachus flourished under Aristratus of Sicyon, and Philip of Macedonia. He may there- fore be placed at B. c. 360, and onwards. He was an elder contemporary of Apelles and Protogenes. He is frequently mentioned by the ancient writers in terms of the highest praise. Cicero says that in his works, as well as in those of Eehion, Protogenes, and Apelles, every thing was already perfect. {Brutus, 18.) Plutarch mentions his paintings, with the poems of Homer, as possessing, in addition to their force and grace, the appearance of having been executed with little toil or effort. {Timol. 36.) Vitruvius mentions him as among the artists who were prevented from attaining to the very highest fame, not from any want of skill or industry, but from accidental circumstances (iii. Prooem. § 2). Pliny tells us that Nicomachus was one of the artists who used only four colours (//. N. xxxv. 7. s. 32 ; comp. Diet, of Aiitiq. s. v. Colores), and that, like Parrhasius, he used the Eretrian ochre in his shadows [ibid. 6. s. 21). He was one of the most rapid of painters. As an example, Pliny re- lates that, having been commissioned by Aristratus to paint the monument which he was erecting to the poet Telestes, Nicomachus postponed the com- mencement of the work so long" as to incur the anger of the tyrant, but, at last, beginning it only a few days before the time fixed for its completion, he fulfilled his engagement with no less skill than rapidity. (Plin. H. N. xxxv. 10. s. 36. § 22.) As his works, Pliny mentions, the Rape of Pro- serpine, which once hung above the shrine of Youth {Juventas) in the temple of Minerva, on the Capitol : a Victory with a four-horsed chariot {quadrigam in sublime rapiens), also in the Capitol, where it had been placed by Plancus : Apollo and Diana : Cybele riding on a lion : a celebrated pic- ture of female bacchanals, surprised by satyrs stealing upon them : and a Scylla, at Rome, in the temple of Peace (Plin. I. c). He was the first who painted Ulysses with the pileus (ibid.). Pliny also mentions his unfinished picture of the Tyndaridae, among the examples of unfinished vi'orks by great masters, which were more highly admired than even their perfect paintings. {H. N. xxxv. 11. s. 40. § 41.) His disciples were his brother Aris- teides, his son Aristocles, and Philoxenes of Eretria (Plin. /. c. 36. § 22 ; but compare the commence-