805 



DIONYSIUS PERIEGETES. 



DIOSCORIDES, PEDACIUS. 



606 



several extracts ; but it was not a poem, as some critics have falsely 

 concluded from the word Carmen; for that word meant something 

 expressed concisely, and did not necessarily imply any metrical 

 arrangement of the words. The work of Cato seems mainly to have 

 consisted of moral precepts, and the existence of such a work may 

 have induced the writer or compiler of these Distichs to attach to it 

 the name of Cato. 



The style of these Distichs is simple, and the language generally 

 pure. During the middle ages they were much used in the schools 

 for the purposes of instruction, both on the continent of Europe and 

 in England, and they have been used in some parts of England even 

 to the present century. 



The great number of editions shows the popularity which this little 

 work once had. The earliest known edition is without date : a copy 

 of it, apparently the only copy known to exist, is in the library of 

 Earl Spencer. One of the latest and best editions is by Arntzenius, 

 Utrecht, 8vo, 1735. There is a Greek translation of the Distichs by 

 Maximus Planudes, which was published at Paris, 4to, 1543, Weigel. 

 There are translations of the Distichs into many of the languages of 

 Europe. Caxton published an English version of the Distichs, which 

 was Djade from the French, folio, 1483. There are several English 

 transl-'.ions from the Latin, the latest of which perhaps is that of 

 N. Bailey, 8vo, London, 1771. 



(Bahr, Qetchicht? Rom. Lit. ; Schweiger, Handbuch der Classischen 

 Bibliographie.) 



DIONY'SIUS OF CO'LOPHON, a celebrated Greek painter, who 

 lived in the time of Pericles. His works were known to Aristotle, 

 who, in speaking of imitation, says, that it must be superior, inferior, 

 or equal to it model, which he exemplifies by the works of three 

 painters. Polygnotus, he says, painted men better than they are, 

 Pauson worse than they are, and Dionysius as they are ; by which we 

 may infer that Dionysius was a good portrait painter. His style was 

 laboured, as we learn from Plutarch, who states that his works had 

 both force and spirit, yet they appeared to be too much laboured. 



Polygnotus and Diony.-ius were contemporaries, and, according to 

 Aelian, painted similar subjects in a similar style, except that Diony- 

 sius painted in small and Polygnotus in large. Aelian, in the passage 

 alluded to, evidently refers to the styles of the two painters, and not 

 their pictures ; he says that Dionysius imitated in every respect, 

 except in size, the art of Polygnotus. Nearly the same might be said 

 of Garofolo with respect to his small works and the art of Raffaelle, 

 without implying that Garofolo copied in small the pictures of 

 RafTaelle, which is the interpretation given by Sillig and others to 

 the words of Aelian, namely, that Dionysius copied in small the 

 pictures of Polygnotus. 



There was another painter of this name, who lived in Rome about 

 the time of the first Roman emperors. Pliny states that his works 

 filled picture-galleries. He was probably the same Dionysius who was 

 called, according to Pliny, the ' Anthropograph,' because he painted 

 nothing but men ; some however think that it was Dionysius of 

 Colophon who was so designated. 



(Aristotle, Poet., c. 2; Plutarch, Timol, 36; Aelian, Far. Hist., 

 iv. 3; Plinv, Hiit. Nat., xxxv. 37, 40.) 



DIONY'SIUS PEKIEGE'TES, the author of a Greek poem in 1186 

 hexameter verses, entitled TTJS Oi'/tov/uVi)! TlepiJrrn<" ! < r ' description 

 of the habitable world.' It is not known where Dionysius was born, 

 nor where he lived. Perhaps the most probable opinion is, that 

 he was a native of Byzantium and belonged to the latter part of 

 the 3rd or the beginning of the 4th century A.D. As a poem the 

 ' Periegesis' is of little value, and as a geographical work, not worth 

 the trouble of reading. The commentary of Eustathius on the 

 Periegesis' possesses some value for the miscellaneous information 

 which is scattered through it. There are two Latin translations of 

 this poem, one by Itufus Festus Avienus, and the other by Priscianus. 

 There are numerous editions of Dionysius. The best edition of the 

 ' PeriegesU ' is by G. Bernhardy, Leipzig, 8vo, 1828, iu the first 

 volume of his ' Geographi Grseci Minorca/ 



DIOPHANTUS, a native of Alexandria, the exact date of whose 

 birth is unknown, some authors asserting that he lived in the reign of 

 Augustus, whilst others place him under Nero, or even the Antonines. 

 The fact is that we do not know when he lived. Ha lived however, as 

 U well ascertained, to eighty-four years of age. 



Diophantus left behind him thirteen books of 'Arithmetical Ques- 

 tions," of which however only six are extant ; but from their distinct 

 and peculiar character, in comparison with all the other writings of 

 the Greek mathematicians, these books have given rise to much dis- 

 cussion. It is however scarcely to he conceived that whilst the 

 cumbrous machinery of common language constituted the sole instru- 

 ment of investigation, the very curious conclusions which we find in 

 this work could have resulted from the researches of one single mind. 

 To suppose that Diophantus was the inventor of the analysis which 

 bears his name, is so contrary to all analogy with experience and the 

 history of mental phenomena, as to be utterly impossible to admit. 

 Still, if we inquire into the history of this branch of analysis, and 

 ask who were the predecessors of Diophantus, or whether they were 

 Greeks or Hindus, no satisfactory answer can be given. The question 

 whether Diophantns was the original inventor, or whether he derived 

 tho original suggestion from India, will be noticed under VIOA GA.NITA. 



Diophantus also wrote a book on ' Polygon Numbers ' (irepl 

 no\vytivuv aptS/nav). Holzmann published at Basel, in 1575, folio, a 

 Latin translation of both the works of Diophantus. The first Greek 

 edition was by Meziriac, Paris. 1621, folio; an improved edition of 

 Meziriac's edition was published by S. de Format, Toulouse, 1670, 

 folio. A valuable translation of the ' Arithmetical Questions ' into 

 German was published by Otto Schulz, Berlin, 1822, 8vo; to which is 

 added Poselger's translation of the work on ' Polygon Numbers.' 



DIOSCO'RIDES, PEDA'CIUS, or PEDA'NIUS, a Greek writer 

 on materia medica, was born at Anazarbus, in Cilieia, and flourished 

 in the reign of Nero, as appears from the dedication of his books to 

 Areus Asclepiadeus, who was a friend of the consul Licinius or 

 Lecanius Bassus. In early life he seems to have been attached to the 

 army ; and either at that time or subsequently he travelled through 

 Greece, Italy, Asia Minor, and some parts of Gaul, collecting plants 

 with diligence and acquainting himself with their properties, real or 

 reputed. He also gathered together the opinions current in his day 

 concerning the medical plants brought from countries not visited by 

 himself, especially from India, which at that time furnished many 

 drugs to the western markets. From such materials he compiled his 

 celebrated work on ' Materia Medica,' in five books, wherein between 

 500 and 600 medicinal plants are named and briefly described. He is 

 moreover reputed the author of some additional books on therapeutics, 

 &c. ; but in the judgment of Sprengel the latter arc spurious, and, 

 from the mixture of Latin and Greek names of plant?, are probably 

 some monkish forgery. 



Few books have ever enjoyed such long and universal celebrity as 

 the 'Materia Mediea' of Dioscorides. For sixteen centuries and more, 

 to use the words of one of his biographers, this work was referred to 

 as the fountain-head of all authority by everybody who studied either 

 botany or the mere virtues of plants. Up to the commencement of 

 the 17th century the whole of academical or private study in such 

 subjects was begun and ended with the works of Dioscorides; and it 

 was only when the rapidly increasing numbers of new plants and the 

 general advance in all branches of physical knowledge compelled 

 people to admit that the vegetable kingdom might contain more things 

 than were dreamt of by the Anaz irbian philosopher, that his authority 

 ceased to be acknowledged. 



This is the more surprising, considering the real nature of theso 

 famous books. The author introduced no order into the arrangement 

 of his matter, unless by consulting a similarity of sound in the names 

 he gave his plants. Thus, medium was placed with epimediuio, 

 altha; cannabina with cannabis, hippophsesturn (cnicus stellatus) with 

 hippophac, and so on ; the mere separation of aromatic and gum- 

 bearing trees, esculents and corn-plants, hardly forms an exception to 

 this statement. Of many of his plants no description is giveu, but 

 they are merely designated by a name. In others the descriptions 

 are comparative, contradictory, or unintelligible. He employs the 

 same word in different senses, and evidently attached no exactness to 

 the terms he made use of. He described the same plant twice under the 

 same name or different name.s ; lie was often exceedingly careless, and 

 he appears to have been ready to state too much upon the authority 

 of others. Nevertheless, his writings are extremely interesting as 

 showing the amount of materia medica knowledge in the author's day, 

 and his descriptions are iu many cases far from bad ; but wo must be 

 careful not to look upon them as evidence of the state of botany at 

 the same period, for Dioscorides has no pretension to be ranked among 

 the botanists of antiquity, considering that the writings of Theo- 

 phrastus, four centuries earlier, show that botany had even at that 

 time begun to be cultivated as a science distinct from the art of the 

 herbal. st. 



The most celebrated manuscript of Dioscorides is one at Vienna, 

 illuminated with rude figures. It was sent by Busbequius, the 

 Austrian ambassador at Constantinople, to Mathiulus, who quotes it 

 under the name of the ' Cantacuzene Codex,' and is believed to have 

 been written in the 6th century. Copies of some of the figures were 

 inserted by Dodoens in his ' Historia Stirpiurn,' and others were 

 " engraved in the reign of the Empress Maria Theresa, under the 

 inspection of Jacquin ; two impressions only of these plates, as far as 

 we can learn, have ever been taken off, as the work was not prosecuted." 

 One of them is now in the Library of the Linnsean Society ; the other 

 is, we believe, with Sibthorp's collection at Oxford. They are of little 

 importance, as the figures are of the rudest imaginable description. 

 Another manuscript of the 9th century exists at Paris, and was used 

 by Salmasius ; this also is illustrated with figures, and has both Arabic 

 and Coptic names introduced, on which account it is supposed to have 

 been written in Egypt. Besides these, there is at Vienna a manuscript 

 believed to be still more ancient than that first mentioned, and three 

 others are preserved at Leydon. 



The first edition of the Greek text of Dioscorides was published by 

 Aldus at Venice, ia 1499, fol. A far better ono is that of Paris, 1549, 

 in 8vo, by J. Goupyl ; but a better still is the folio Frankfurt editjon, 

 of 1598, by Sarracenus. Sprengel laments, " nullum rei herbaria) 

 peritum virum utilissimo huic scriptori operam impendisse." Never- 

 theless, there have been many commentators, of whom some, such as 

 Fuchsius, Amatus Lusitanus, Ruellius, Taberunomontanus, Trajug, and 

 Dalechampius, are of no sort of authority, while others, especially 

 Matthiolus, Maranta, Cordus, John Bauhin, and Tournefort, - 



