ALE 



<1am 

 lit 



1, in 1648 ; and in London, witli a new I-atintrannation, 

 i6«S, Hvo. ; liis ComnKtitiiiics on ArUlotk's Topics, 

 An-alytic-s, Mitapliyfics, Phvlics, Rlutoiic, v<!cc. lirll pub- 

 lilhcd' nt Venice, in tlie l6tli century, and many of them 

 aftcnvartls reprinted in different places ; but iince tlie Ihidy 

 of Aridotle ha? been nejletled, liis bell commentator is 

 forsrotten. The principal of his medical works is his 

 " Treatife on Fevers," tranflated into Latin by Valla, of 

 which Haller has given an analyfis ; Bib. Med. Prad. vol. i. 

 p. 22 7. Tabr. liib. Grxc. vol. iv. c. 25. Bruckcr's 

 Philof. by Enfield^ vol. ii. p. 104. 



Alexander, Cornelius, furnamedPoA'/'i/'''"'' °" account 

 of the numerous hillories written by him, a celebrated hillorian 

 and gi-ammarian, was bom, accordin<j to Suidas, at Miletus; 

 but, according to others, at Cotyreiun, a city of Phrjgia.and 

 having been a nave,w;is fold to Cornelius LenluUis, to whom he 

 was preceptor ; and from whom he obtained his freedom and 

 the name of Cornelius. He flouriftied about 80 years before 

 Chrift. From Suidas we learn, that he was the difciple of 

 Crates, and that he was at Rome in and before the time of 

 tiylla. He periihed in tlie flames of hk houfe at Laurentum ; 

 and his wife became dittrafted by the event, and hanged 

 horfelf. Suidas further adds, that he wrote innumerable 

 works ; and particularly five books concerning Rome, in 

 which he fays, that a Hebrew female, called Mofo, was the 

 author of the Hebrew law. His works in hiftory and phi- 

 lofophy are cited by Plutarch, Laertius, and other ancient 

 writers. Clemens Altxaiidrinus (Strom, lib. i. torn. i. p. 

 596, ed. Potteri) cites a book concerning the Jews, in which 

 Alexander mentions letters of Solomon to Vaphres, king of 

 Egypt, and to the king of the Phoenicia of the Tyrians, 

 and their refpeclive anfwers. He refers alfo (tom. i. p. 

 538.) to remarks made by Alexander on the mode of living 

 in ufe among the Indian Brachmans ; he reports (tom. i. p. 

 357.) from a book of Alexander concerning the Pythagoric 

 Symbols, that Pythagoras was a difciple of Nazaratus, an 

 Affyrian, erroneouily fuppofed by fome to be the fame with 

 the prophet Ezekiel, and that he had alfo received inftruftion 

 from the Galli and Brachmans. Eufeblus, (in his Praep. 

 Evang. hb. ix. c. 1 7.) makes a long extraft from Alexander's 

 book concerning the Jews, and extols the author's well- 

 known great ingenuity and various learning. This is pro- 

 bably the work refeiTed to by Juftin Martyr, in his " Ex- 

 hortation to the Greeks," when he mentions thofe who re- 

 pfefent Mofes as the leader of the Jews. Plutarch (de 

 Mufica, Op. tom. ii. p. ii32.)and AthenKus (hb.xi.) fpeak 

 of him as a writer in mufic ; and his acquaintance with na- 

 tural hiftory may be inferred from Phny's frequent references 

 to his works. Fabr. Bib. Grasc. lib. v. c. 38. tom. ix. p. 439. 

 Alexander Pseudomantis, an artful and profligate 

 impoilor, was born at Abonotichos, in Paphlagonia, and 

 praftifed his dclufions in the reign of the emperor Aurelius, 

 towards the clofe of the fecond century. He pofTefled by 

 nature a variety of talents and accompli (hments, by the mif- 

 applicatiou of which he was qualified for impofing upon the 

 credulity of the vulgar. DciUtute of principle, he engaged 

 with a countryman and difciple of Apollonius Tyansus, 

 who, under the mafic of a medical profeffion, exercifed the 

 trade of an impoilor and magician, and deluded thofe who 

 applied to him by pretending to reveal fecrets in concerns of 

 love, and of loll and hidden property. Alexander was an 

 ufeful fervant and an apt fcholar ; and when his mafter died, 

 praftifed his leffons and followed his trade. Such was his 

 fuccefs, that he infatuated a rich Macedonian woman, and 

 incuced her to follow him and his alTociate from Bitliynia to 

 Macedon and to Pella, and to contribute by her fortune to 

 their fupport. Having procured, in tlie iieighbouihood of 



ALE 



Pella, one of thofe large ferpents, which arc perfei'\!y Iiaiw. 

 lefs and very tracleible, ;md with which tliat country abounds, 

 thev determined by means of this animal to ellablilh an 

 oracle, which flu)uld impofe upon thole perfons vvho wtrc 

 eager to gain the knowledge of iuturity, and who by their 

 credulity were futceptible of delulion. In their way to 

 Abonotichos, the propofed fcene of their operations, they 

 vifited Chalcedon and formed a party, by whole aflillance 

 they had accefs to the temple of Apollo, where they hid 

 tablets of brafs on which it was written, that iEfculapius, 

 with his father Apollo, would foon make Abonotichos th« 

 place of their relidence. The inhabitants of this place were 

 fo completely deluded, that they laid the foundation of a 

 temple to jEfcuIapius, with whofe preience they expeftcd 

 foon to be honoured. Alexander, by a pretended oracle, 

 caufed himfelf to be declared a defceiidaut of the hero Per- 

 fius, and the fon of Podalirius, which his ftupid countiymen 

 believed, though they well knew that his father and mother 

 were perfons of the meaneft condition. With a drefs and 

 accompaniments, fuited to this hig'.i original, he entered hii 

 native tovvn. Having hidden a gooie's egg, in which he 

 had put a young ferpcnt, near the foundations of the temple, 

 and having previoufly performed a variety of fuperllitioua 

 ceremonies, he went with a crowd of attendants in fearch oF 

 his egg ; and when he had found it, he declared that jEfcu- 

 lapius, who was worfhipped under that form, was actually 

 arrived, and the people received him with acclamation. 

 Alexander proceeded with his impofture by exhibiting his 

 ferpent, prepared for the purpofe, to the deluded multitude, 

 who believing him pofTelTed of the power of working miracles, 

 and mifledby his affefted enthufiafm, were fuitably difpofed for 

 eveiy thing that followed. From Abotonichos the delufioa 

 fpread through all the neighbouring nations, and the people 

 hallened from Galatia, Bithynia, and Thrace, to fee the 

 new god, whom the prophet called Glycon. Money was- 

 procured to finifli the temple, and the god was to make it 

 the place of his abode, arid to give oracular anfwers to thofe 

 who confulted him. The oracle was confulted by a billet, 

 which Alexander contrived to open fccretly ; and he adapted 

 the anfwer to the purport of its contents. By degrees he 

 made his god pronoimce oracles with his own voice, by the 

 affiilance of a perfon that was concealed behind liim ; and 

 thefe oracles were delivered only to the rich and powerful. 

 This praftice became a gainful trade, and the impoftor de- 

 rived from it a yearly income, which amounted to 7 or 800 

 thoufand drachmas, and which enabled him to live fumptu- 

 oufly, and to purfue thofe debaucheries to which he was 

 inclined, and to which he had been habituated from his youth. 

 It was not long before the reputation of this profligate 

 reached Rome ; and Rutilianus, a fuperftitious fenator of 

 the firft rank, was deceived by him, and thus the number of 

 thofe who confulted him was prodigioufly augmented. Ru- 

 tihanus, who believed the doftrine of the tranfmigration of 

 fouls, dcfirous of being informed under what form he had lived 

 in former ages, and whofe foul he now pofTeflTed, received an 

 anfwer which ferved the impollor's purpofe, and which gave 

 him fuch influence over the credulous fenator, that he con- 

 fented to marry his daughter, and conceived himfelf to be 

 exalted to the rank of the gods. Lucian, who blends 

 fiftion with his humorous account of Alexander's impofl;ures, 

 relates, among other inftances of his delufion, the following 

 incident. Rutilianus, having procured for him accefs to the 

 emperor, he delivered an oracle, commanding that, in the 

 war between Marcus Aurelius and the Qjiadi and Marco- 

 manni, two lions fhould be thrown alive into the Ifter, with 

 fpices and a facrifice, and promiiing, that the confequence 

 would be vidlory, glory and peace. The o)"der was executed, 



and 



