270 PLnnr's natueal histoet. [Book III. 



Polyhistor\ Tliucydides^, Theophrastus^ Isidorus'', Theo- 

 pompus^, Metrodorus of Scepsis®, Callicrates^, Xenophon 

 of Lampsacus^, Diodorus of Syracuse ', Nymphodorus^", 

 Calliphanes", and Timagenes^^. 



1 Also called by Pliny Cornelius Alexander. Suidas states that he 

 was a native of Ephesus and a disciple of Crates, and during the war of 

 SyUa in Greece was made prisoner and sold as a slave to C. Lentulus, who 

 made him the tutor of his children, and afterwards restored him to free- 

 dom. Servius however says that he received the franchise from L. Cor- 

 neUus Sylla. He was burnt with his house at Laurentiun. Other writers 

 say that he was a native of Catiseum in Lesser Phrygia. The surname of 

 " Polyhistor" was given to him for his prodigious learning. His greatest 

 work seems to have been a liistorical and geographical account of the 

 world, in forty-two books. Other works of his are frequently mentioned 

 by Plutarch, Photius, and other writers. 



2 The historian of the Peloponnesian war, and the most famous, per- 

 haps, of all the ancient writers in prose. 



3 Of Eresus in Lesbos ; the favourite disciple of Aristotle, and desig- 

 nated by him as his successor in the presidency of the Lyceum. He 

 composed more than 200 works on various subjects, of which only a very 

 few survive. * See end of B. ii. * See end of B. ii. 



8 He is frequently mentioned by Cicero, and was famous for his elo- 

 quence. Pliny informs us in his 31th book, that from his hatred of the 

 Romans he was called the " Roman-liater." It is probable that he was 

 the writer of a Periegesis, or geographical work, from which Pliny seems 

 to quote. 



7 No particulars of this author are known. He probably wrote on 

 geography. 



^ He is again mentioned by Pliny in B. iv. c. 13, and B. vi, c. 31, and 

 by Solinus, c. xxii. 60. It is supposed that he was the author of a Pe- 

 riplus or Circumnavigation of the Earth, mentioned by Pliny B. vii. c. 48 j 

 but nothing further is known of him. 



^ Diodorus Siculus was a native of Agyra or Agyrium, and not of 

 Syracuse, though he may possibly have resided or studied there. It can- 

 not be doubted that he is the person here meant, and Pliny refers in his 

 preface by name to his Bi(3\io9rjKT], " Library," or Universal History. 

 A great portion of this miscellaneous but valuable work has perished. 

 We have but few particulars of his life ; but he is supposed to have 

 written his work after B.C. 8. 



^" Of Syracuse ; an liistorian probably of the time of Philip and Alex- 

 ander. He was the author of a Periplus of Asia, and an account of Sicily 

 and Sardinia. From liis stories in the last he obtained the name of 

 " Thaimiatographus " or " writer of wonders." 



^^ Of Calliphanes the Greographer nothing is known. 



^'^ Probably Timagenes, the rhetorician of Alexandria. He was taken 

 prisoner and brought to Rome, but redeemed from captivity by Faustus, 

 the son of SyUa. He wrote many works, but it is somewhat doubtful 

 whether the " Periplus," in five Books, was written by this Timagenes. He 

 is also supposed to have written a work on the Antiquities of dauL 



