Polyaenus
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Polyaenos Proper-name noun: masculine accusative plural of Polyaenus
- a mathematician, a friend and follower of Epicurus, Cic. Fin. 1, 6, 20; id. Ac. 2 (Luc.), 33, 106.
(Πολύαινος), historical.
1. One of the leading men at Syracuse, B. C. 214. (Liv. 24.22.)
2. Of Cyparissus, was in the company of Philopoemen, when the latter killed Machianidas in B. C. 207. (Plb. 11.18.2.)
3. An Achaean, belonged to the party of Archon, Polybius, and the more moderate patriots, who thought that the Achaeans ought not to oppose the Romans in their war against Perseus, B. C. 171. (Plb. 28.6.9.)
4. Claudius Polyaenus, probably a freedman of the emperor Claudius, bequeathed a house to this emperor at Prusa. (Plin. Ep. 10.23, s. 75.)
5. Legatus of Bithynia in the time of the younger Pliny. (Plin. Ep. 7.6.6.)
(Πολύαινος), literary.
1. Of Athens, an historical writer, mentioned by Eusebius. (Chron. i. p. 25.)
2. Of Lampsacus, the son of Athenodorus, a mathematician and a friend of Epicurus, adopted the philosophical system of his friend, and, although he had previously acquired great reputation as a mathematician, he now maintained with Epicurus the worthlessness of geometry. (Cic. de Fin. 1.6, Acad. 2.33; D. L. 10.24, 2.105, with the note of Menagius.) It has been supposed that it was against this Polyaenus that the treatise was written, a fragment of which has been discovered at Herculaneum under the title of Δημητρίου πρὸς τὰς Πολυαίνου ἀπορίας. (Schöll, Geschichte d. Griech. Litteratur, vol. ii. p. 209.)
3. Julius Polyaenus, the author of four epigrams in the Greek Anthology (9.1, 7, 8, 9, Tauchnitz), in one of which he is called Polyaenus of Sardis, and in the other three Julius Polyaenus. He must be the same as Polyaenus of Sardis, the sophist, spoken of by Suidas, who says (s. v. Πολύαινος), that he lived in the time of the first Caesar, Caius, that is, in the time of Julius Caesar, and wrote Λόγοι δικανικοὶ καὶ δικῶν ἤτοι συνηγοριῶν ὑποτυπώσεις, and Θριάμβου Παρθικοῦ βιβλία γ́. The latter work probably referred to the victories over the Parthians gained by Ventidius.
4. The Macedonian, the author of the work on Stratagems in war (Στρατηγήματα), which is still extant, lived about the middle of the second century of the Christian aera. Suidas (s. v.) calls him a rhetorician, and we learn from Polyaenus himself that he was accustomed to plead causes before the emperor. (Praef. lib. ii. and lib. viii.) He dedicated his work to M. Aurelius and Verus, while they were engaged in the Parthian war, about A. D. 163, at which time, he says, he was too old to accompany them in their campaigns. (Praef. lib. i.) Works Stratagems (Στρατηγήματα)
Polyaenus' Strategems is divided into eight books, of which the first six contain an account of the stratagems of the most celebrated Greek generals, the seventh of those of barbarous or foreign people, and the eighth of the Romans, and illustrious women. Parts, however, of the sixth and seventh books are lost, so that of the 900 stratagems which Polyaenus described, only 833 have come down to us. The work is written in a clear and pleasing style, though somewhat tinged with the artificial rhetoric of the age. It contains a vast number of anecdotes respecting many of the most celebrated men in antiquity, and has preserved many historical facts of which we should otherwise have been ignorant; but its value as an historical authority is very much diminished by the little judgment which the author evidently possessed, and by our ignorance of the sources from which he took his statements. There is an abridgmenlt of this work in a Greek manuscript in the king's library at Paris, containing only fifty-five chapters, but which serves to elu cidate and explain many passages of the original. Other Works
Polyaenus also wrote several other works, an of which have perished. Suidas has preserved the titles of two, Περὶ Θηβῶν and Τακτικὰ βιβλία γ́ ; and Stobaeus makes a quotation from a work of Polyaenus, Ὑπὲρ τοῦ κοινοῦ τω-ν Μακεδόνων (Florileg. xliii. (or xli.) § 53), and from another entitled Ὑπὲρ τοῦ Συνεδρίου (Ibid. § 41). Polyaenus likewise mentions his intention of writing a work on the memorable actions (Ἀξιομνημόνευτα) of M. Aurelius and L. Verus (Praef. lib. vi.). Editions Latin Edtion
Polyaenus was first printed in a Latin translation, executed by Justus Vulteius, at Basel, 1549, 8vo. Greek Editions
The first edition of the Greek text was published by Casaubon, Lyon, 1589, 12mo.; the next by Pancratius Maasvicius, Leyden, 1690, 8vo.; the third by Samuel Mursinna, Berlin, 1756, 12mo.; and the last by Coray, Paris, 1809. 8vo. Translations
The work has been translated into English by R. Shepherd, London, 1793, 4to.; into German by Seybold, Frankfort, 2 vols. 8vo. 1793 and 1794, and by Blume, Stuttgart, 1834, 16mo. Further Information
Fabric. bric. Bibl. Graec. vol. v. p. 321, &c.; Schöll, Geschichte der Griech. Litteratur, vol. ii. p. 716 ; Kronbiegel, De Dictionis Polyaeneae Virtutibus et Vitiis, Lipsiae, 1770; Droysen, Geschichte des Hellenismus, vol. i. p. 685.
5. Of Sardis. [See No. 3.]
(Πολύαινος). A Greek writer, who was born in Macedonia and lived about the middle of the second century A.D., as a rhetorician and advocate at Rome, under Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus. When the latter was setting out for the war against the Parthians in 162, Polyaenus, being prevented by his age from taking part in the campaign, addressed to him a collection of military stratagems compiled from old writers, under the title Strategica, or Strategemata (Στρατηγήματα), in eight books. In spite of many serious errors, this laborious and copious collection is not without value for purposes of historical research. It is edited by Casaubon (1589); Wölfflin (1860); and Wescher (1867).