Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, page 204 (v. 1) (original) (raw)

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On this page: Antiphanes – Anttpater

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ANTIPHANES.

putation, that he confined himself to writing; whence he was called Ka\a/jLo§6as. (Pint. Mor. p. 514, d.; Euseb. de Praep. Evang. xiv. 8.) He taught be­ lief in God as " a Being blessed, incorruptible, and of goodwill to men," and blamed those who ascrib­ ed to the gods " generation and corruption," which is said to have been the doctrine of Chrysippus. (Plut. de Stoic. Rep. p. 192.) Besides this treatise 44 on the gods," he also wrote two books on Divi­ nation, a common topic among the Stoics, in which he proved the truth of the science from the fore­ knowledge and benevolence of the Deity, explained dreams to be supernatural intimations of the future, and collected stories of divination attributed to Socrates. (Cic. de Divin. i. 3, 20, 39, 54.) He is said to have believed that Fate was a god, though it is not clear what was implied in this expression (Stob. de Fate) 16); and it appears from Athe- naeus that he wrote a treatise entitled Ilepi Aettn- d&iuovias. (viii. p. 346.) Of his labours in moral philosophy nothing remains but a few scattered no­ tices, just sufficient to shew that the science had begun to decline; the questions which are treated being points of detail, and such as had more to do with the application of moral precepts than with the principles themselves : such as they were, how­ ever, he took higher ground in solving them than his master Diogenes. (Cic. de Off. iii. 12, 13, 23.) Compare Varro, de Ling. Lat. vi. 1. p. 184, Fragm, p. 289, ed. Bip. [C. E. P.] ' ANTF PATER ('Az/TtVarpos), of thessalonica, the author of several epigrams in the Greek Antho­ logy, lived, as we may infer from some of his epi­ grams, in the latter part of the reign of Augustus (b. c. 10 and onwards), and perhaps till the reign of Caligula. (a. d. 38.) He is probably the same poet who is called, in the titles of several epigrams, "Antipater Macedo." (Jacobs, Antliol. xiii. pp.848, 849.) [P. S.]

**ANTTPATER ^^vrlirarpos). 1. Of tyre, a Stoic philosopher, and a contemporary of Cato the Younger, whose friend Antipater is said to have been when Cato was yet a young man. (Plut. Cat. Min. 4.) He appears to be the same as the Anti­pater of Tyre mentioned by Strabo. (xvi. p. 757.)

2. Of tyre, likewise a Stoic philosopher, but unquestionably of a later date than the for­ mer, though Vossius (de Hist. Gr. p. 392, ed. Westermann) confounds the two. He lived after, or was at least younger than, Panaetius, and Cicero (de Off. ii. 24), in speaking of him, says, that lie died lately at Athens, which must mean shortly before B. c. 45. From this pas­ sage we must infer that Antipater wrote a work on Duties (de Officiis)^ and Diogenes Laertius (vii. 139, 140,142,148) refers to a work of Anti­ pater on the Universe (irepl /cooy-iou), of which he quotes the eighth book. [L. S.]

**ANTIPHANES (*A.vTuj>dves), of argos, a sculptor, the disciple of Pericleitus, and teacher of Cleon. Since Cleon nourished b. c. 380, Anti- phanes may be placed at 400 b. c. Pausanias mentions several of his works, which were at Del­ phi, especially a horse in bronze. (Pausan. v. 17, x. 9.) [P. S.]

**ANTIPHANES ('AvTiQdvns), of berga in Thrace, a Greek writer on marvellous and incredi­ble things. (''ATTicrra, Scymnius Chius, 657, &c.) From the manner in which he is mentioned by Strabo (i. p. 47, ii. pp. 102, 104; comp. Polyb. xx xiii. 12), it would seem that he wrote his sto-

ANTIPHANES.

ries with a view that they should be believed as history, and that consequently he was an impostor. It was owing to Antiphanes that the verb Pepya'i- £etv was used in the sense of telling stories. (Steph. Byz. s. v. Bep7?7, who however confounds our An­ tiphanes with the comic writer of Rhodes; comp. Clem. Alex. Strom. i. p. 133; Phot. Cod. 166.) Most writers agree in believing, that Antiphanes of Berga is the same as the Antiphanes who wrote a work on courtezans (rrepl eraip£n>)f and whom some writers call Antiphanes the Younger. (Athen. xiii. p. 586 ; Harpocrat. s. vv. Namof, 'Az/Ti/cupa; Suid. s. v. Naj/jov.) [L. S. j

**ANTIPHANES (*Aj/T/cJ>c^s), a comic poet, the earliest and one of the most celebrated Athenian poets of the middle comedy, was born, according to Suidas (s. #.), in the 93rd Olym­piad, and died in the 112th, at the age of 74. But Athenaeus (iv. p. 156, c.) quotes a fragment in which Antiphanes mentions " King Seleucus," and Seleucus was not king till 01. 118. 2. The true explanation of the difficulty is in all probability that suggested by Clinton, namely, that in this instance, as in others, Antiphanes has been con­founded with Alexis, and that the fragment in Athenaeus belongs to the latter poet. (Clinton, in the Philological Museum^ i. p. 607 ; Meineke, Frag, Com. i. pp. 304-7.) The above dates are given us in Olympiads, without the exact years being speci­fied, but we may safely place the life of Antiphanes between 404 and 330 b. c.; and his first exhibition about b. c. 383.

The parentage and birthplace of Antiphanes are doubtful. His father's name was Demophanes, or Stephanus, probably the latter, since he had a son named Stephanus, in accordance with the Athenian custom of naming a child after his grandfather. As his birthplace are mentioned Cios on the Helles­pont, Smyrna, Rhodes, and Larissa; but the last statement deserves little credit. (Meineke, i. 308.)

Antiphanes was the most highly esteemed writer of the middle comedy, excepting Alexis, who shared that honour with him. The fragments which remain prove that Athenaeus was right in praising him for the elegance of his language (pp. 27, 156, 168), though he uses some words and phrases which are not found in older writers. (See for examples Meineke, i. p. 309.) He was one of the most fertile dramatic authors that ever lived, for his plays amounted, on the largest computation, to 365. on the least to 260. We still possess the titles oi about 130. It is probable, however, that some oJ the comedies ascribed to him were by other writers, for the grammarians frequently confound him, no1 only, as remarked above, with Alexis, but alst with Antiphon, Apollophanes, Antisthenes, anc Aristophanes. Some of his plays were on mytho­logical subjects, others had reference to particula: persons, others to characters, personal, professional and national, while others seem to have beei wholly occupied with the intrigues of private life In these classes of subjects we see, as in all th comedians of the period, the gradual transition o the middle comedy into the new. The fragment of Antiphanes are collected by Clinton (Philoi Mus. I. c.), and more fully by Meineke (Fra^ Comic, vol. iii.). He gained the prize 30 times.

Another Antiphanes, of Berge in Thrace, i mentioned by Stephanus Byzantinus as a comi poet (s. v. Bepyq); but this was the writer cite by Strabo (p. 102) and Antonius Diogenes (aj