Page:The Natural History of Pliny.djvu/183

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Chap. 113.] FOEEIG>' AUTHOES QUOTED. 149 rean^ Pliilosophers, Posidoniiis-, Anaximander^, Epigenes^ tlie philosopher who ^vi^ote on Gnomonics, Euclid^ Coera- uus^ the philosopher, Eiidoxus, Democritus^, Critodemus^ Thrasylliis'", Serapion^^ Dicaearchus^', Archimedes ^^, Onesi- ^ "Pythagoricis" here may cither mean the works of the followers of Pythagoras of Samos, or the books which were written by that philoso- pher. Pliny, in Books 19, 20, and 24, speaks of several vTituags of Py- thagoras, and Diogenes Laertius mentions others ; but it is more gene- rally supposed that he wrote nothing, and that everything that passed by his name in ancient times was spurious. 2 A Stoic philosopher of Apamea in Syria. He was the mstructor of Cicero, and the friend of Pompey. He wrote works on history, divina- tion, the tides, and the nature of the gods. Some fragments only have survived. 3 Of Miletus, was born B.C. 610, and was the successor of Thales, the fomider of the Ionian school of philosophy. He is said to have first taught the obhquity of the echptic and the use of the gnomon. ^ A philosopher of Rhodes or Byzantium. Seneca says that he boasted of havuig studied astronomy among the Chaldeans. He is mentioned by Yarro and Colmnella as having written on rural matters, and is praised by Censorinus.

  • Of Alexandria, thr> great geometrician, and instructor of Ptolemy I.

He was the founder o. the mathematical school of Alesandi'ia. ^ He was a Greek by bfrth, and hved in the time of Nero. He is extolled by Tacitus, B. 14, for his superlative wisdom, beyond which notlung is known of him. 7 Of Cnidus, an astronomer and legislator who flourished B.C. 366. He was a fr'iend and disciple of Plato, and said to have been the first who taught in Greece the motions of the planets. His works on astronomy and geometry are lost, but his Phsenomena have been preserved by Aratus, who turned his prose into verse. 8 Bora at Abdera in Thrace, about B.C. 460. He was one of the founders of the atomic theoi*y, and looked upon peace of mind as thesummnm honum of mortals. He wi-ote works on the natm-e and organization of the world, on physics, on contagious maladies, on the chameleon, andon other subjects. ^ A Grecian astronomer. A work of his, called " Apotelesmatica," is said to be presei-ved in the Imperial Library at Vienna. 1° An astrologer of Rhodes, patronized by Augustus and Tiberius. He wrote a work on Stones, and a History of Egypt. Tacitus, in his 'Annals, B. vi., speaks highly of his skill in astrology. ^^ A geogi'apher of Antioch, and an opponent of the views of Erato- sthenes. Cicero declares that he liimseli" was unable to miderstand a thousandth part of liis work. ^2 A Peripatetic philoso})her and geographer, of Messuia in Sicily. He studied vmder Aristotle and wrote several works, the principal of which was an account of the history, geogi-aphy, and moral and rehgious con- dition of Greece. A few fragments only arc extant. ^3 Of Syracuse, the most famous mathematician of antiquity, born B.C.