Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/1143

TIMAEUS. compositione verborum non impolitus, magnam elo- quentiam ad scribendum attulit, sed nullum usuin lorensem." (Comp. Cic. Brut. 95.) In addition to the Sicilian history and the Objm- pionicae, Suidas assigns two other works to Ti- maeus, neither of which is mentioned by any other writer, namely, An Account of Syria, its cities and kings, in three books (irepl ^vpias koI toSv avrrjs ■ir6euv Kol fiaaiXewu ^StgAia 7'), and a collection of rhetorical arguments in sixty-eight books CSuWoyh ^VTopiKwu a(popiJ.o^ which was more probably written, as Ruhnken has remarked, by Timaeus the sophist. The fragments of Timaeus have been collected bv Goller, in his De Situ et Origine Syracusaruin^ Lips. 1818, pp. 209—306, and by Car. andTheod. Miiller, in the Frogmenta Historicorum Graecorum^ Paris, 1841, pp. 193 — 233, both of which works also contain dissertations on the life and writings of Timaeus. (Compare Vossius, De Historicis Graecis, pp. 117 — 120, ed. Westermann ; Clinton, Fast. Hell. vol. iii. pp. 489, 490.) 2. Of LocRi, in Italy, a Pythagorean philoso- pher, is said to have been a teacher of Plato. (Cic. de Fin. v. 29, de Re Pull. i. 1 0.) There is an ex- tant work, bearing his name, written in the Doric dialect, and entitled trepl rpvx^s k6(tixov kou (pvaios ; but its genuineness is very doubtful, and it is in all probability nothing more than an abridgment of Plato's dialogue of Timaeus. This work was first printed in a Latin translation by Valla, along with several other works, Venice, 1488 and 1498. It was first printed in Greek at Paris, 1555, edited by Nogarola. It is also printed in many editions of Plato, and in Gale's Opuscula Mythologica, Fhy- sica et Ethiea, Cambridge, 1671, and Amsterdam, 1688. The Greek text was published with a French translation by the Marquis d'Argens, Ber- lin, 1762. The last and best edition is by J. J. de Gelder, Leyden, 1836. (Comp. Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. iii. p. 93, foil.) Suidas says (s.v.) that Ti- maeus wrote the life of Pythagoras, but as no other writer mentions such a work by the Locrian Ti- maeus, it is not improbable that this life of Py- thagoras was simply a portion of the history of Timaeus of Tauroraenium, who must have spoken of the philosopher in that portion of his work which related to the early history of Italy. 3 and 4. Of Crotona and Paros, Pythago- rean philosophers. (lamblich. Vit. Fyth. cap. extr.; Clem. Alex. Strom, p. 604 ; Theodoret. ii. Therup. p. 36.) 5. Of Cyzicus, a disciple of Plato, endeavoured to seize the supreme power in the state (Athen. xi. p. 509, a.). Diogenes Laertius (iii. 46) men- tions Timolaus of Cyzicus and not Timaeus among the disciples of Plato ; and hence it has been con- jectured that there is a corruption in the name, either in Athenaeus or Diogenes. 6. The Sophist, wrote a Lexicon to Plato, ad- dressed to a certain Gentianns, which is still extant. The time at which this Timaeus lived is quite uncertain. Ruhnken places him in the third cen- tury of the Christian aera, which produced so many ardent adminvrs of the Platonic philosophy, such as Porphyry, Longinus, Plotinus, <!^c. The Lexicon is very brief, and bears the title Tifiaiov aotpiarov 4k twv tov n>OT«i/os Ae|6«j/, from which it might have been inferred that it is an extract from a larger work, had not Photius (Cod. 151), who had r-.ad it, described it as a very short work (^potX" TIMAGENES. 1131 ■Koi-n^iaTiov eV kv Koyw). It is evident, however, that the work, as it stands, has received several interpo- lations, especially in explanations of words occurring in Herodotus. Notwithstanding these intei-polations the work is one of great value, and the explanations of words are some of the very best which have come down to us from the ancient grammarians. It was printed for the first time, from a manuscript at Paris, edited by Ruhnken, Leyden, 1754, with a very valuable commentary, and again, with many improvements, Leyden, 1789. There are also two more recent editions by Koch, Leipzig, 1828, and 1833. The work on rhetorical arguments in sixty-eight books {'S.vKKo'y)] p-qropiKSiv acpopixwv ) which Suidas assigns to Timaeus of Tauromenium, was more probably written by Timaeus, the author of the Lexicon to Plato, as has been already remarked. (Ruhnken's Preface to his edition of the Lexicon.) 7. The Mathematician, is quoted by Pliny (II. N. V. 9, xvi. 22, ii. 8). Suidas says that Timaeus, the Locrian [No. 2] wrote Ma67]fj.aTiKd^ but whether this was really the work of the Locrian or not, cannot be determined. The fragment on the Pleiades, preserved by the Scholiast on the Iliad (xviii. 486), and usually assigned to Timaeus of Tauromenium, is supposed by Goller to belong to the mathematician. TIMA'GENES {Tifxayeprts). Three persons of this name are mentioned by Suidas. 1. Timagenes, the rhetorician {p^Twp of Alexandria, the son of the king's banker, was taken prisoner by Gabinius (b. c. 55), and brought to Rome, where he was redeemed from captivity by Faustus, the son of Sulla. He taught rhetoric at Rome in the time of Pompey, and afterwards under Augustus, but losing his school on account of his freedom of speech, he retired to an estate at Tusculum. He died at Dabanum, a town of Osrhoene in Mesopo- tamia. He wrote many books, the titles of which are not given by Suidas. 2. Timagenes, the his- torian, wrote a Periplus of the whole sea, in five books. 3. Timagenes or Timogenes, of Miletus, an historian or an orator, wrote on the Pontic lle- racleia and its distinguished men, in five books, and likewise epistles. Besides these three persons, we have mention of a fourth (4), Timagenes, the Syrian, who wrote on the hjstory of the Gauls. (Plut. de Fluv. c. 6.) Of these four writers it is probable that the rhetorician, the historian who wrote the Periplus, and the Syrian, are the same. [Nos. 1, 2 and 4.] Of the historian we have an account given us by the two Senecas, which diifers from what Suidas says respecting the gram- marian, but does not really contradict the statement of the lexicographer. It is related by the Senecas that Timagenes after his captivity first followed the trade of a cook, and afterwards of a litter or sedan bearer {lecticarius but rose from these humble occupations to be the intimate acquaintance of Augustus. He afterwards offended the emperor by some caustic remarks on his wife and family, and was in consequence forbidden the imperial palace. Timagenes in revenge burnt his historical works, in one of which he gave an account of the deeds of Augustus, and which he had probably written at the request of the emperor. Augustus, iiowever, did not punish him any further, but allowed him to retain the protection of the powerlui friends he had formerly enjoyed. He found an asylum in the house of Asinius Pollio. (M. Senec.