Diocles
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Dioclen Proper-name noun: masculine accusative singular of Diocles
(Διοκλῆς), the son of Orsilochus and father of Crethon and Orsilochus, was a king of Phere. (Hom. Il. 5.540, &c., Od. 3.488; Paus. 3.30.2.) [L.S]
(Διοκλῆς), a Syracusan, celebrated for his code of laws. No mention of his name occurs in Thucydides, but according to Diodorus he was the proposer of the decree for putting to death the Athenian generals Demosthenes and Nicias. (Diod. 13.19.) He is called by Diodorus upon this occasion the most eminent of the demagogues at Syracuse, and appears to have been at this time the leader of the popular or democratic party, in opposition to Hermocrates. The next year (B. C. 412), if the chronology of Diodorus be correct, a democratic revolution took place, and Diodes was appointed with several others to frame and establish a new code of laws. In this he took so prominent a part, that he threw his colleagues quite into the shade, and the code was ever after known as that of Diodes. We know nothing of its details, but it is praised by Diodorus for its conciseness of style, and the care with which it distinguished different offences and assigned to each its peculiar penalty. The best proof of its merit is, that it continued to be followed as a civil code not only at Syracuse, but in many others of the Sicilian cities, until the island was subjected to the Roman law. (Diod. 13.35.)
The banishment of Hermocrates and his party (B. C. 410; see Xen. Hell. 1.1.27) must have left Diocles undisputed leader of the commonwealth. The next year he commanded the forces sent by Syracuse and the other cities of Sicily to the relief of Himera, besieged by Hannibal, the son of Gisco. He was, however, unable to avert its fate, and withdrew from the city, carrying off as many as possible of the inhabitants, but in such haste that he did not stay to bury those of his troops who had fallen in battle. (Diod. 13.59_61.) This circumstance probably gave rise to discontent at Syracuse, which was increased when Hermocrates, having returned to Sicily and obtained some successes against the Carthaginians, sent back the bones of those who had perished at Himera with the highest honours. The revulsion of feeling thus excited led to the banishment of Diocles, B. C. 408. (Diod. 13.63, 75.) It does not appear whether he was afterwards recalled, and we are at a loss to connect with the subsequent revolutions of Syracuse the strange story told by Diodorus, that he stabbed himself with his own sword, to shew his respect for one of his laws, which he had thoughtlessly infringed by coming armed into the place of assembly. (Diod. 13.33.) A story almost precisely similar is, however, told by the same author (12.19) of Charondas [Charondas], which renders it at least very doubtful as regarduig Diocles. Yet it is probable that he must have died about this time, as we find no mention of his name in the civil dissensions which led to the elevation of Dionysius. (Hubmann, Diokles Gesetzgeber der Syrakusier, Amberg, 1842.) [E.H.B]
(Διοκλῆς).
1. A brave Athenian, who lived in exile at Megara. Once in a battle he protected with his shield a youth whom he loved, but he lost his own life in consequence. The Megarians rewarded the gallant man with the honours of a hero, and instituted the festival of the Diocleia, which they celebrated in the spring of every year. (Theocrit. 12.27, &c.; Aristoph. Ach. 774; Plut. Thes. 10; Dict. of Ant. s. v. Διόκλεια.)
2. The name of three wealthy Sicilians who were robbed by Verres and his satellites. (Cic. in Verr. 3.56, 40, 5.7, 4.16.) [L.S]
(Διοκλῆς), literary.
1. Of Athens. See below.
2. Of Cnidus, a Platonic philosopher, who is mentioned as the author of Διατριβαί, from which a fragment is quoted in Eusebius. (Praep. Evany. xiv. p. 731.)
3. A Greek Grammarian, who wrote upon the Homeric poems, and is mentioned in the Venetian Scholia (ad Il. 13.103) along with Dionysius Thrax, Aristarchus, and Chaeris on the subject of Greek accents. A dream of his is related by Artemidorus. (Oneir. 4.72.)
4. Of Magnesia, was the author of a work entitled ἐπιδρομὴ τῶν φιλοσόφων, and of a second on the lives of philosophers (περὶ βίων φιλοσόφων), of both of which Diogenes Laertius appears to have made great use. (2.82, 6.12, 13, 20, 36, 87, 91, 99, 103, 7.48, 162, 166, 179, 181, 9.61, 65, 10.12.)
5. Of Peparethus, the earliest Greek historian, who wrote about the foundation of Rome, and whom Q. Fabius Pictor is said to have followed in a great many points. (Plut. Rom. 3, 8; Fest. s. v. Romam.) How long he lived before the time of Fabius Pictor, is unknown. Whether he is the same as the author of a work on heroes (περὶ ἡρώων σύνταγμα), which is mentioned by Plutarch (Quaest. Graec. 40), and of a history of Persia (Περσικά), which is quoted by Josephus (Ant. Jud. 10.11.1), is likewise uncertain, and it may be that the last two works belong to Diocles of Rhodes, whose work on Aetolia (Αἰτωλικά) is referred to by Plutarch. (De Flum. 22.)
6. Of Sybaris, a Pythagorean philosopher (Iamb. Vit. Pyth. 36), who must be distinguished from another Pythagorean, Diodes of Phlius, who is mentioned by Iamblichus (Vit. Pythag. 35) as one of the most zealous followers of Pythagoras. The latter Diocles was still alive in the time of Aristoxenus (D. L. 8.46), but further particulars are not known about him. [L.S]
(Διοκλῆς), of Athens, or, according to others, of Phlius, and perhaps in fact a Phliasian by birth and an Athenian by citizenship, was a comic poet of the old comedy, contemporary with Sannyrion and Philyllius. (Suid. s. v.) The following plays of his are mentioned by Suidas and Eudocia (p. 132), and are frequently quoted by the grammarians : Βάκχαι, Θάλαττα, Κύκλωπες (by others ascribed to Callias), Μέλιτται. The Θυέστης and Ὄνειροι, which are only mentioned by Suidas and Eudocia, are suspicious titles. He seems to have been an elegant poet. (Meineke, Frag. Com. Graec. i. pp. 251-253, ii. pp. 838-841.) [P.S]
(Διοκλῆς), a geometer of unknown date, who wrote περὶ πύριων, according to Eutocius who has cited from that book (Comm. in Sph. et Cycl. Archim. lib. ii. prop. v.) his method of dividing a sphere by a plane in a given ratio. But he is better known by another extract which Eutocius (Op. Cit. lib. ii. prop. ii.) has preserved, giving his mode of solving the problem of two mean proportionals by aid of a curve, which has since been called the cissoid, and is too well known to geometers to need description. [A. De M.]
(Διοκλῆς ὁ Καρύστιος), a very celebrated Greek physician, was born at Carystus in Euboea, and lived in the fourth century B. C., not long after the time of Hippocrates, to whom Pliny says he was next in age and fame. (H. N. 26.6.) He belonged to the medical sect of the Dogmatici (Gal. de Aliment. Facult. 1.1, vol. vi. p. 455).
Some persons have attributed to Diocles the honour of first explaining the difference between the veins and arteries; but this does not seem to be correct, nor is any great discovery connected with his name. Works
Diocles wrote several medical works, of which only the titles and some fragments remain, preserved by Galen, Caelius Aurelianus, Oribasius, and other ancient writers. Letter to King Antigonus
The longest of these fragments is a letter to king Antigonus, entitled Ἐπιστολὴ Προφυλακτική, A Letter on Preserving Health, which is inserted by Paulus Aegineta at the end of the first book of his medical work, and which, if genuine, was probably addressed to Antigonus Gonatas, king of Macedonia, who died B. C. 239, at the age of eighty, after a reign of forty-four years. It resembles in its subject matter several other similar letters ascribed to Hippocrates (see Ermerins, Anecd. Med. Graeca, praef. p. xiv.), and treats of the diet fitted for the different seasons of the year. Editions
It is published in the various editions of Paulus Aegineta, and also in several other works : e. g. in Greek in Matthaei's edition of Rufus Ephesius, Mosquae, 1806, 8vo.; in Greek and Latin in the twelfth volume of the old edition of Fabricius, Biblioth. Graeca; and in Mich. Neander's Syllogae Physicae, Lips. 1591, 8vo.; and in Latin with Alexander Trallianus, Basil. 1541, fol.; and Meletius, Venet. 1552, 4to. &c. Translation
There is also a German translation by Hieronymus Bock, in J. Dryander's Practicirbüchlein, Frankfort, 1551, 8vo. Further Information
Further information respecting him may be found in the different histories of medicine, and also in Fabricius, Biblioth. Graeca, vol. xii. p. 584, ed. vet.; A. Rivinus, Programma de Diode Carystio, Lips. 1655, 4to.; C. G. Gruner, Bibliothek der Alten Aerzte, Leipz. 1781, 8vo. vol. ii. p. 605; C. G. Kühn, Opuscula Academ. Med. et Philolog. Lips. 1827, 8vo. vol. ii. p. 87. In these works are quoted most of the passages in ancient authors referring to Diocles; he is also mentioned by Soranus, de Arte Obstetr. pp. 15, 16, 67, 99, 124, 210, 257, 265; and in Cramer's Anecd. Graeca Paris. vol. i. p. 394, and vol. iv. p. 196. [W.A.G]
(Ἰούλιος Διοκλῆς), of Carystus, the author of four epigrams in the Greek Anthology. (Brunck, Anal. 2.182; Jacobs, 2.167.) His name implies that he was a Greek, and had obtained the Roman civitas. Reiske supposed him to be the same person as the rhetorician Diodes of Carystus, who is often mentioned by Seneca. Others suppose him to be the same as the physician. The name of the poet himself is variously written in the titles to his epigrams. (Jacobs, 13.882, 883.) [P.S]
- mysteries of Eleusis revealed to D. by Demeter: Paus. 2.14.3
- Paus. 4.1.4, Paus. 4.30.2