Minucianus

(Μινουκιανός).

1. A Greek rhetorician, was a contemporary of the celebrated rhetorician Hermogenes of Tarsus (fl. A. D. 170), with whom he was at variance. This we learn from the Scholiast on Hermogenes, and thus the difficulty which Fabricius experienced (Bibl. Graec. vol. vi. p. 107). is removed, as it is evident that this Minucianus was a different person from the one following. (Schol. ad Hermog. pp. 26, 48, 49, 71, 77, 99, 177, 179, 180, 181, 200, 287; comp. Schol. ad Aphthon. p. 226, Spengel; Westermann, Gesichichte der Griech. Beredtsamkeit, § 95, n. 10.)

2. An Athenian, the son of Nicagoras, was also a Greek rhetorician, and lived in the reign of Gallienus (A. D. 260-2681). Works

Suidas (s. v.) tells us that Minucianus was the author of Τέχνη ῥητορική, προγυμνάσματα, and Λογοί διάφοροι.

The Τεχνη was commented on by the sophist Pancratius (Suidas, s. v. Παγκρ.; Eudoc. p. 301), and is also referred to by Tzetzes (Chil. 4.693, 6.739, 12.570), but, as Westermann suggests, it may have been written by the elder Minucianus [No. 1]. A portion of this work, entitled Περὶ ἐπιχειρημάτων, is extant, and bears the title Μινουκιανοῦ ἢ νικαγόρου. Editions

It was published along with Alexander Numenius and Phoebammon, accompanied with a Latin version, by L. Normann. Upsal. 1690, 8vo., and is also printed in the Aldine collection of Greek rhetoricians, pp. 731-734, and in the ninth volume of Walz's Rhetores Graeci. Προγυμνάσματα

The work of Minucianus, entitled Προγυμνάσματα, was commented on by Menander of Laodiceia (Suidas, s. v. Μενανδ.). Assessment

The eloquence of Minucianus is praised by Himerius. Further Information

Ecl. vii. p. 166, Or. xxiii. p. 802, ed. Wernsdorf.; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. vi. pp. 107, 108; Westermann, Ibid, § 98, n. 15.

a friend and neighbour of the younger Pliny, who calls him "ornamentum regionis meae, sen dignitate, seu moribus," and speaks of him in other very laud atory terms in a letter addressed to Falco, in which he requests the latter to confer the rank of military tribune upon Minucianus (Ep. 7.22). Three of Pliny's letters (3.9, 4.11, 8.12) are addressed to this Minucianus.

(Μινουκιανός). An Athenian, son of Nicagoras, and known as a rhetorician. He flourished under the Roman emperor Gullienus (A.D. 260-263), and wrote several works in Greek. A portion of his Τέχνη Ῥητορική still exists and is included in Walz's Rhetores Graeci (Stuttgart, 1832-36).