Critolaus
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Critolaum Proper-name noun: masculine genitive plural, Proper-name noun: masculine accusative singular of Critolaus
- A peripatetic philosopher, who was sent with Carneades and the Stoic Diogenes as an ambassador to Rome, Cic. de Or. 1, 11, 45; 2, 37, 155; id. Tusc. 5, 17, 51; id. Fin. 5, 5, 14; Gell. 6 (7), 14, 9; 17, 21, 48; Tert. Anim. 5.—
- II A leader of the Achaians, in a war with the Romans, Cic. N. D. 3, 38, 91; Flor. 2, 16, 2.—
- III A Sicilian at Henna, Cic. Verr. 2, 4, 26, § 59.
- 1. peripatetische filosoof, deelnemer aan het beroemde Atheense gezantschap v. filosofen naar Rome (156/155 v. Chr.);
- 2. veldheer v.d. Achaeïsche Bond (in de beslissende strijd met de Romeinen in 147 v. Chr.).
(Κριτόλαος), the Peripatetic philosopher, was a native of Phaselis, a Greek colony in Lycia, and studied philosophy at Athens under Ariston of Ceos, whom he succeeded as the head of the Peripatetic school. The great reputation which Critolaus enjoyed at Athens, as a philosopher, an orator, and a statesman, induced the Athenians to send him to Rome in B. C. 155, together with Carneades the Academic and Diogenes the Stoic, to obtain a remission of the fine of 500 talents which the Romans had imposed upon Athens for the destruction of Oropus. They were successful in the object for which they came; and the embassy excited the greatest interest at Rome. Not only the Roman youth, but the most illustrious men in the state, such as Scipio Africanus, Laelius, Furius, and others, came to listen to their discourses. The novelty of their doctrines seemed to the Romans of the old school to be fraught with such danger to the morals of the citizens, that Cato induced the senate to send them away from Rome as quickly as possible. (Plut. Cat. Ma. 22; Gel. 7.14; Macrob. Saturn. 1.5; Cic. de Orat. 2.37, 38.) We have no further information respecting the life of Critolaüs. He lived upwards of eighty-two years, but died before the arrival of L. Crassus at Athens, that is, before B. C. 111. (Lucian, Macrob. 20; Cic. de Orat. 1.11.)
Critolaus seems to have paid particular attention to Rhetoric, though he considered it, like Aristotle, not as an art, but rather as a matter of practice (τριβή). Cicero speaks in high terms of his eloquence. (Quint. Inst. 2.15.23, 17.15; Sext. Empir. ad v. Mathem. 2.12, p. 291; Cic. de Fin. 5.5.) Next to Rhetoric, Critolaüs seems to have given his chief attention to the study of moral philosophy, and to have made some additions to Aristotle's system (comp. Cic. Tusc. 5.17; Clem. Al. Strom. ii. p. 416), but upon the whole he deviated very little from the philosophy of the founder of the Peripatetic school. (Stahr, Aristotelia, ii. pp. 83, 135; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. ii. p. 483.) Works
A Critolaüs is mentioned by Plutarch (Parall. min. cc. 6, 9) as the author of a work on Epeirus, and of another entitled Φαινόμενα; and Gellius (11.9) also speaks of an historical writer of this name. Whether the historian is the same as the Peripatetic philosopher, cannot be determined. A grammarian Critolaüs is mentioned in the Etymologicum Magnum (s. v. ἦ δ́ ὅς). Further Information
Comp. Voss. de Hist. Graec. p. 422, ed. Westermann. [A.S]
(Κριτόλαος), an Achaean, who succeeded Diaeus, in B. C. 147, as strategus of the Achaeans, and was as bitter an enemy of the Romans as his predecessor. As soon as he entered upon his office, he began insulting the Roman ambassadors and breaking off all negotiations with them. After their departure for Italy, he had recourse to all the demagogic artifices that he could devise, in order to render the rupture between the Romans and Achaeans irremediable. During the ensuing winter he travelled from one town to another, inflaming the people by his furious speeches against the Romans. He tried especially to work upon the populace in the towns of Greece, and resorted to the most iniquitous means to obtain their favour. Thus he extorted a promise from the magistrates of several towns to take care that no debtor should be compelled to pay his debts before the war with Rome should be brought to a close. By these and similar means he won the enthusiastic admiration of the multitude, and when this was accomplished, he summoned an assembly of the Achaeans to meet at Corinth, which was attended by the dregs of the nation, and which conducted its proceedings in the most riotous and tumultuous manner. Four noble Romans, who attended the meeting and tried to speak, were driven from the place of assembly and treated with the grossest insults. It was in vain that the moderate men among the Achaeans endeavoured to bring Critolaus and his partizans to their senses. Critolaüs surrounded himself with a body-guard, and threatened to use force against those who opposed his plans, and further depicted them to the multitude as traitors of their country. The moderate and well-meaning persons were thus intimidated, and withdrew. War was thereupon declared against Lacedaemon, which was under the especial protection of Rome. In order to get rid of all restraints, he carried a second decree, which conferred dictatorial power upon the strategi. The Romans, or rather Q. Caecilius Metellus, the praetor of Macedonia, had shewn all possible forbearance towards the Achaeans, and a willingness to come to a peaceable understanding with them. This conduct was explained by Critolaus as a consequence of weakness on the part of the Romans, who, he said, did not dare to venture upon a war with the Achaeans. In addition to this, he contrived to inspire the Achaeans with the prospect of forming alliances with powerful princes and states. But this hope was almost completely disappointed, and the Achaeans rushed into a war with the gigantic powers of Rome, in which every sensible person must have seen that destruction awaited them. In the spring of B. C. 146, Critolaüs marched with a considerable army of Achaeans towards Thermopylae, partly to rouse all Greece to a general insurrection against Rome, and partly to chastise Heracleia, near mount Oeta, which had abandoned the cause of the Achaeans. Metellus even now offered his hand for reconciliation; but when his proposals were rejected, and he himself suddenly appeared in the neighbourhood of Heracleia, Critolaüs at once raised the siege of the town, quitted his position, and fled southward. Metellus followed and overtook him near the town of Scarphea in Locris, where he gained an easy but brilliant victory over the Achaeans. A great number of the latter fell, and 1000 of them were made prisoners by the Romans. Critolaüs himself was never heard of after this battle. Livy (Liv. Epit. 52) states, that he poisoned himself, but it seems more probable that he perished in the sea or the marshes on the coast. Critolaüs was the immediate cause of the war which terminated in the destruction of Corinth and put an end to the political existence of Greece. His plan of opposing Rome at that time by force of arms was the offspring of a mad brain, and the way in which he proceeded in carrying it into effect shewed what a contemptible and cowardly demagogue he was. (Plb. 38.2, &c., 40.1, &c.; Paus. vii. cc. 14 and 15; Florus, 2.16; Cic. de Nat. Deor. 3.38; Niebuhr, Hist. of Rome, vol. iv. p. 304, &c.) [L.S]
- stirs up Achaeans to make war on Romans: Paus. 2.1.2, Paus. 7.14.4-6
- defeated by Romans and disappears: Paus. 7.15.2-4
- Paus. 10.26.1