Eudemus

• a Greek proper name, Cic. Div. 1, 25, 53.—Also a Greek physician, Tac. A. 4, 3 al.

(Εὔδημος).

1. One of Alexander's generals, who was appointed by him to the command of the troops left in India. (Arrian, Arr. Anab. 6.27.5.) After Alexander's death he made himself master of the territories of the Indian king Porus, and treacherously put that monarch to death. He by this means became very powerful, and in 317 B. C. brought to the support of Eumenes in the war against Antigonus a force of 3.500 men and 125 elephants. (Diod. 19.14.) With these he rendered him active service in the first battle in Gabiene, but seems nevertheless to have been jealous of him, and joined in the conspiracy of Antigenes and Teutamos against him, though he was afterwards induced to divulge their plans. After the surrender of Eumenes, Eudemus was put to death by order of Antigonus, to whom he had always shewn a marked hostility. (Diod. 19.15, 27, 44; Plut. Eum. 100.16.)

2. Son of Crateras and brother of Pithon, was appointed by his brother satrap of Parthia in the stead of Philip, whom he displaced. (Diod. 19.14.) [E.H.B]

(Εὔδημος).

1. An historical writer, a native of either Naxos or Paros, who lived before the time of the Peloponnesian war. (Dionys. Jud. de Thuc. 100.5; Clem. Alex. Strom. 6.2, 26, p. 267; Vossius, de Hist. Gr. p. 440, ed. Westermann.)

2. A writer, apparently on natural history, who is frequently quoted by Aelian, in his History of Aimals (3.21, 4.8, 43, 45, 56, 5.7).

3. A writer on the history of astronomy and geometry, mentioned by Clemens Alexandrinus (Stroim. i. p. 130), Diogenes Laertius (1.23), and Proclus (in Euclid. 1.4).

4. A rhetorician, who lived probably in the fourth century after Christ. Works On Rhetorical Words περὶ Λέξεων Ῥητορικῶν)

Eudemus was the author of a lexicon, περὶ Λέξεων Ῥητορικῶν, manuscripts of which are still extant at Paris, Vienna, and other places. His work appears to have been diligently used by Suidas, and is mentioned with praise by Eudocia. Further Information

Suidas, s. v. Εὔδημος; Eudocia, p. 165; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. vi. pp. 245, 632. [C.P.M]

(Εὔδημος).

1. Of Cyprus, to whom Aristotle dedicated the dialogue Εὔδημος ἢ περὶ ψυχῆς, which is lost, and known to us only by some fragments preserved in Plutarch (Consolat. ad Apollon. p. 115b.), and a few other writers. (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. iii. pp. 393, 599; lonsius, De Script. Historiae Philosoph. 1.15. 3; Wyttenbach, ad Plut. l.c. p. 765; and the commentators on Cic. de Divin. 1.25.)

2. Of Rhodes, a contemporary and disciple of Aristotle. We have no particulars of his life; but that he was one of the most important of Aristotle's numerous disciples may be inferred from the anecdote of Gellius (13.5, where Eudemo must be read instead of Menedemo), according to which Eudemus and Theophrastus were the only disciples whom the Peripatetic school esteemed worthy to till the place of Aristotle after his death. Simplicius makes mention of a biography of Eudemus, supposed to be the work of one Damas or Damascius. (Simplic. ad Aristot. Phys. 6.216.) Works Philosophical Works

Eudemus was one of those immediate disciples of Aristotle who closely followed their master, and the principal object of whose works was to correct, amplify, and complete his writings and philosophy. It was owing to this circumstance. as we learn from the ancient critics, that Aristotle's writings were so often confounded with those of other other authors. Thus, for instance, Eudemus and his contemporaries and fellow-disciples, Theophrastus and Phanias, wrote works with the same titles and on the same subjects as those of Aristotle. The works of Eudemus of this kind were--1. On the Categories. 2. Περὶ Ἑρμηνείας. 3. Ἀναλυτικά. 4. Φυσικά, a work of which Simplicius in his commentary has preserved some fragments, in which Eudemus often contradicts his master. In this treatise, or in some other, he seems to have also treated on the nature of the human body. (Appul. Apolog. p. 463.) But all these works are lost, and likewise another of still more importance, in which lie treated of the history of geometry and astronomy (ἡ περὶ τῶν Ἀστρολογουμένων Ἱστορία, D. L. 1.23; or Ἀστρολογικὴ Ἱστορία, Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. iii. p. 432.) As commentator on Aristotle

Eudemus, however, is of most importance to us as an editor of and commentator upon the Aristotelian writings. How closely he followed Aristotle in his work on Physics, is shewn by the circumstance of later commentators referring to Eudemus in matters of verbal criticism. (Stahr, Aristotelia, ii. p. 82.) Indeed Eudemus followed the Aristotelian system so closely, that modern scholars, as Brandis for instance, do not hesitate to ascribe to Eudemus some writings which are generally attributed to Aristotle. (Brandis, in Rhein. Museum, 1.4. pp. 283, 284.) Aristotle died in his 63rd year, without having published even half of his writings; and the business of arranging and publishing his literary relics devolved upon his nearest friends and disciples. Simplicius has preserved a passage of the work of Andronicus of Rhodes on Aristotle and his writings, which contains a fragment of a letter of Eudemus, which he wrote to Theophrastus, asking for an accurate copy of a manuscript of the fifth book of the Aristotelian Physics. (Simplic. ad Arist. Phys. fol. 216, a., lin. 7.) In the same manner the Aristotelian Metaphysics in their present form seem to have been composed by Eudemus or his successors; for we learn from Asclepius of Tralles [Asclepius], who has preserved many valuable notices from the works of the more ancient commentators, that Aristotle committed his manuscript of the Metaphysics to Eudemus, by which the publication of the work was delayed; that on the death of Aristotle some parts of the manuscript were missing, and that these had to be completed froio the other writings of Aristotle by the survivors of Aristotle (οἱ μεταγενέστεροι). (Asclepius, Prooem. in Arislot. Metaph. libr. A. p. 519, in Brandis, Schol. p. 589.) That we are indebted to Eudemus and his followers for the preservation of this inestimable work may also be inferred from the fact, that Joannes Philoponus states that Pasicrates (or Pasicles) of Rhodus, brother of Eudemus and likewise a disciple of Aristotle, was, according to the opinion of some ancient critics, the author of the second book of the Metaphysics (the book á). (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. iii. p. 256 ; Syrian. ad Aristol. Metaph. B. p. 17; Alexand. Aphrodis. pp. 55, 82, ad Sophist. Elench. ii. p. 69, ed. Venet. 1529.) Eudemus and the Ethics of Aristotle

For the Ethics of Aristotle we are also probably indebted more or less to Eudemus. We have, under the name of Ethics, three works ascribed to Aristotle of very unequal value and quality. [Aristoteles, pp. 330, 331.] One of these bears even the name of Eudemus (Ἠθικὰ Εὐδήμεια), and was in all probability a recension of Aristotle's lectures edited by Eudemus. What share, however, Eudemus had in the composition of the chief work (the Ἠθικὰ Νικομάχεια) remains uncertain after the latest investigation of the subject. Further Information

Pansch, de Moralibus magnis subditicio Aristotelis libro, 1841. [A.S]

(Εὔδημος), the name of several Greek physicians, whom it is difficult to distinguish with certainty. [Eudamus.]

1. A druggist, who apparently lived in the fourth or third century B. C. He is said by Theophrastus (Hist. Plant. 9.17. 2), to have been eminent in his trade, and to have professed to be able to take hellebore without being purged.

2. A celebrated anatomist, who lived probably about the third century B. C., as Galen calls him a contemporary of Herophilus and Erasistratus. (Comment. in Hippocr. " Aphor." 6.1, vol xviii. pt. 1. p . 7.) He appears to have given particular attention to the anatomy and physiology of the nervous system. (Galen, de Locis. Affect. 3.14, vol. viii. p. 212.) He considered the metacarpus and metatarsus each to consist of five bones (Galen, de Usu Part. 3.8, vol. iii. p. 203 ), on which point Galen differed from him, but modern anatomists agree with him. He, however, fell into the error of supposing the acromion to be a distinct and separate bone. (Rufus Ephes. de Appell. Part. Corp. Hum. p. 29.)

3. A physician at Rome, who was the parnamour of Livia (or Livilla), the wife of Drusus Caesar, the son of the emperor Tiberius, and who joined her and Sejanus in their plot for poisoning her husband, A. D. 23. (Plin. Nat. 29.8; Tac. Ann. 4.3.) IIe was afterwards put to the torture. (Tac. ibid. 100.11.) He is supposed to be the same person who is said by Caelius Aurelianus (de Morb. Acut. 2.38, p. 171) to have been one of the followers of Theniison, and whose medical observations on hydrophobia and some other diseases are quoted by him. He appears to be the same physician who is mentioned by Galen (de Meth. Med. 1.7. vol. x. p. 53) among several others as belonging to the sect of the Methodici.

4. A contemporary and personal acquaintance of Galen, in the latter part of the second century after Christ. (Galen, de Meth. Med. 6.6. vol. x. p. 454.)

5. The name is also found in Galen, de Compos. Medic. sec. Locos, 9.5, vol. xiii. p. 291, de Antid. 2.14, vol. xiv. p. 185; Athen. ix. pp. 369, 371 ; Cramer's Anecd. Graeca Paris. vol. iii., and in other places. [W.A.G]

(Εὔδημος). A native of Rhodes and noted as a peripatetic philosopher and disciple of Aristotle, many of whose works he edited. One of these bears the name of Eudemus (Ἠθικὰ Εὐδήμεια), in seven books, probably a recension of all Aristotle's ethical lectures arranged by Eudemus. See Gell. xiii. 5, and the article Aristoteles.