Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/621

PYRRHON. have attached himself closely to Anaxarchus, a disciple of the Democritean Metrodorus, and with him to have joined the expedition of Alexander the Great (Diog. Laert. //. cc. ix. 63 ; Suid. s. v. Aristocles describes Anaxarchus as his teacher, l.c. and on the expedition to have become acquainted with the Magians and the Indian gymnosophists. That his sceptical theories originated in his inter- course with them was asserted by Ascanius of Abdera (a writer with whom we are otherwise un- acquainted), probably without any reason (Diog. Laert. ix. 61). It is more likely that he derived from them his endeavours after imperturbable equa- nimity, and entire independence of all external circumstances, and the resistance of that mobility which is said to have been natural to him {ib. 62, 63, comp. 66, 68 ; Timon, ibid. c. 65). It is mani- fest, however, that his biographer Antigonus had already invented fables about him. (Diog. Laert. /. c. ; Aristocl. ap. Euseb. p. 763 ; Plut. de Prof, in Virt c. 9.) A half insane man, such as he de- picts him, the Eleans assuredly would never have chosen as high priest (Diog. Laert. ix. 64 ; comp. Hesych. Miles, p. 50, ed. Orell.) ; and Aeneside- mus, to confute such stories, had already maintained that Pyrrlion had indeed in philosophising refrained from decision, but that in action he by no means blindly abandoned himself to be the sport of cir- cumstances. (Diog. Laert. ix. 64.) The young Nausiphanes (probably a later contemporary of Epicurus) Pyrrhon won over, not indeed to his doctrine, but to his disposition (Smflecrts), to which Epicurus also could not refuse a lively recognition. (Diog. Laert. ix. 64.) Pyrrhon 's disciple Timon, who, in his Python, had detailed long conversations which he had with PyiThon (Aristocl. I. c. p. 761 ; comp. Diog. Laert. ix. 67), extolled with admira- tion his divine repose of soul, his independence of all the shackles of external relations, and of all de- ception and sophistical obscurity. He compared him to the imperturbable sun-god, who hangs aloft over the earth (ib. 65, comp. 67 ; Sext. Emp. adv. Math. i. 305 ; Aristocl. ap. Euseb. I. c. p. 761, &c.). What progress he had made in laying a scientific foundation for his scepsis cannot be de- termined with accuracy, but it is probable that Timon, who, as it appears, was more a poet than a philosopher [Timon], was indebted to him for the essential features of the reasons for doubt which were developed by him. Just as later sceptics saw the beginnings of their doctrines in the expressions of the poets and most ancient philosophers on the insufficiency of human knowledge and the uncer- tainty of life, so Pyrrhon also interpreted lines of his favourite poet Homer in the sceptical sense. (Diog. Laert. ix. 67 ; comp. Sext. Emp. adv. Math. i. 272, 281.) That dogmatic convictions lay at the foundation of the scepticism of Pyrrhon, was main- tained only by Numcnius. (Diog. Laert. ix. 68.) Still more groundless, without doubt, is the state- ment of . the Abderite Ascanius, that Pyrrhon would recognise neither Beautiful nor Ugly, Right nor Wrong, and maintained that as nothing is ac- cording to truth, so the actions of men are deter- mined only by law and custom. (Diog. Laert. ix. 61 ; comp. Aristocl. ap. Euseb. I. c. p. 761.) That, on the contrary, he left the validity of moral re- quirements unassailed, and directed his endeavours to the production of a moral state of disposition, is attested not only by individual, well-authenticated traits of character (Diog. Laert. ix. 66, after Era- voL. m. PYRRHUS. b*09 tosthenes, comp. c. 64) and expressions (ib. 64), but also by the way in which Timon expressed himself with respect to the moral (Sext. Emp. aiiv. Math. X. 1 ), and by the respect which the Pyr- rhonians cherished for Socrates (ib. 2 ; comp. Cic. de Orat. iii. 17). The conjecture is not improbable that Pyrrhon regarded the great Athenians as his pattern. The statement that the Athenians con- ferred upon Pyrrhon the rights of citizenship sounds suspicious on account of the reason which is ap- pended, for according to the unanimous testimony of the ancients. Python, the disciple of Plato, had slain the Thracian Cotus (Diog. Laert. ix. 65, ib. Menage) ; it probably rests upon some gloss. No books written by Pyrrhon are quoted (comp. Aristocl. /. c. p. 763, c), except a poem addressed to Alexander, which was rewarded by the latter in so royal a manner (Sext. Emp. adv. Math. i. 282 ; Plut. de Alex. Fortuna, i. 10), that the statements respecting the poverty of the philosopher's mode of life are not easily reconcilable with it. We have no mention of the year either of the birth or of the death of Pyrrhon, but only that he reached the age of 90 years (Diog. Laert. ix. 62) ; nor do we learn how old he was when he took part in Alexander's expedition. But Arcesilas, who in his turn was late enough to be quoted by Timon, is said to have been one of his associates {a>fxir}K(i)s Ilv^puivi. Numen. in Euseb. Praep. Evang. xii. 6). Among the disciples of Pyrrhon, besides those already men- tioned, were also Eurylochus, Philo the Athenian, and Hecataeus of Abdera. (Diog. Laert. ix. 68, 69 ; comp. Lucian, Vib. Aud. 27.) The Eleans honoured the memory of their philosophical coun- tryman even after his death. Pausanias saw his likeness (a bust or statue) in a stoa by the agora of Elis, and a monument dedicated to him outside the city (vi. 24, § 5). [Ch. A. B.] PYRRHON, artists. Besides the celebrated philosopher of Elis, who was also distinguished as a painter, there was an Ephesian sculptor, the son of Hecatoleos, whose name occurs on an inscription as the maker of a statue of honour, of the Roman age. (Bockh, Corj). hiscr.., No. 2987 ; R. Rochette, Letlre a M.Schorn, p. 395, 2d edit.) [P. S.] PYRRHUS, mythological. [Nkoptolemus.] PYRRHUS, artists. 1. An architect, of un- known age, who, with his sons Lacrates and Her- mon, built the treasury of the Epidamniaiis at Olympia. (Pans. vi. 19, § 5. s. 8.) 2. A statuary, who is mentioned in the list of Pliny as the maker of bronze statues of Hvgia and Minerva. (//. N. xxxiv. 8. s. 19. §20.) Pliny tells us nothing more of the artist ; but, in the year 1840, a base was found in the Acropolis at Athens, bearing the following inscription — A0ENAIOITEIA0ENAIAITEITriEIAI rTPPO2EFOIH2ENA0ENAIO2, and near it were the remains of another base. It can scarcely be doubted that these bases belonged to the statues of Hygieia, the daughter of Ascle- pius, and of Athena surnamed Hygieia, which Pausanias mentiojis (i. 24. § 4. s. 5) as among the most remarkable works of art in the Acropolis, and as standing in the very place where these bases were found ; and further, that the statues are the same as those referred to by Pliny ; and that his Pyrrhus is the same as Pyrrhus the Athenian, who is mentioned in the above inscription as the maker of the statue of Athena Ilygieiiv, which was do- K K