Timaeus or Timaeus the Sophist
6. The SOPHIST.
Works
Lexicon to Plato
He wrote a Lexicon to Plato, addressed to a certain Gentianus, which is still extant.
The time at which this Timaeus lived is quite uncertain. Ruhnken places him in the third century of the Christian aera, which produced so many ardent admirers of the Platonic philosophy, such as Porphyry, Longinus, Plotinus, &c. The Lexicon is very brief, and bears the title
Τιμαίου σοφιστοῦ ἐκ τῶν τοῦ Πλάτωνος λέξεων, from which it might have been inferred that it is an extract from a larger work, had not Photius (
Phot. Bibl. 151), who had read it, described it as a very short work
βραχὺ ποιημάτιον ἐν ἑνὶ λόγψ̓.
It is evident, however, that the work, as it stands, has received several interpolations, especially in explanations of words occurring in Herodotus. Notwithstanding these interpolations the work is one of great value, and the explanations of words are some of the very best which have come down to us from the ancient grammarians.
Editions
It was printed for the first time, from a manuscript at Paris, edited by Ruhnken, Leyden, 1754, with a very valuable commentary, and
again, with many improvements, Leyden, 1789.
There are also two more recent editions by Koch, Leipzig, 1828, and 1833.
On Rhetorical Arguments
The work on rhetorical arguments in sixty-eight books (
Συλλογὴ ῥητορικῶν ἀφορμῶν) which Suidas assigns to Timaeus of Tauromenium, was more probably written by Timaeus, the author of the Lexicon to Plato, as has been already remarked. (Ruhnken's Preface to his edition of the Lexicon.)
