Ariston (Ἀρίστων), literary.
Ariston
1. A son of Sophocles by Theoris. (Suidas,
s. v. Ἰοφῶν.)
He had a son of the name of Sophocles, who is said to have brought out, in B. C. 401, the Oedipus in Colonus of his grandfather Sophocles. (Argum.
ad Soph. Oed. Col. p. 12, ed. Wonder.) Whether he is the same as the Ariston who is called a writer of tragedies (
D. L. 7.164), and one of whose tragedies was directed against Mnesthenus, cannot be said with any certainty, though Fabricius (
Bibl. Gr. ii. p. 287) takes it for granted.
Ariston
2. A friend of Aristotle, the philosopher, to whom he is said to have addressed some letters. (
D. L. 5.27.)
Ariston
3. A Peripatetic philosopher and a native of the island of Ceos, where his birthplace was the town of Julis, whence he is sometimes called
Κεῖος and sometimes
Ἰουλιήτης.
He was a pupil of Lycon (
D. L. 5.70,
74), who was the successor of Straton as the head of the Peripatetic school, about B. C. 270.
After the death of Lycon, about B. C. 230, Ariston succeeded him in the management of the school. Ariston, who was, according to Cicero (
de Fin. 5.5), a man of taste and elegance, was yet deficient in gravity and energy, which prevented his writings acquiring that popularity which they otherwise deserved, and may have been one of the causes of their neglect and loss to us.
In his philosophical views, if we may judge from the scanty fragments still extant, he seems to have followed his master pretty closely.
Works
Works mentioned by Diogenes Laertius
Diogenes Laertius (7.163), after enumerating the works of Ariston of Chios, says, that Panaetius and Sosicrates attributed all those works, except the letters, to the Peripatetic Ariston (of Ceos). How far this opinion is correct, we cannot, of course, say; at any rate, however, one of those works,
Ἐρωτικαὶ διατριβαί, is repeatedly ascribed to the Cean by Athenaeus (x. p. 419, xiii. p. 563, xv. p. 674), who calls it
Ἐρωτικὰ ὁμοῖα. One work of the Cean not mentioned by Diogenes, was entitled
Λύκων (Plut.
de Aud. poet. 1), in gratitude to his master.
Epigrams in the Greek Anthology
There are also two epigrams in the Greek Anthology (
6.303, and 7.457), which are commonly attributed to Ariston of Ceos, though there is no evidence for it.
Further Information
Compare J. G. Hubmann,
Ariston von Keos, der Peripatetiker, in Jahn's
Jahrb. für Philol. 3d supplementary vol. Leipz. 1835; Fabricius,
Bibl. Gr. iii. p. 467, &c. ; Jacobs,
ad Anthol. xiii. p. 861.
Ariston
4. Of Alexandria, likewise a Peripatetic philosopher, was a contemporary of Strabo, and wrote a work on the Nile. (
D. L. 7.164;
Strab. xvii. p.790.) Eudorus, a contemporary of his, wrote a book on the same subject, and the two works were so much alike, that the authors charged each other with plagiarism. Who was right is not said, though Strabo seems to be inclined to think that Eudorus was the guilty party. (Hubmann,
l.c. p. 104.)
Ariston
5. Of Pella in Palestine, lived in the time of the emperor Hadrian or shortly after.
Works
His date is inferred from his writing a work on the insurrection of the Jews, which broke out in the reign of this emperor. (
Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 4.6; Niceph. Callist.
Hist. Eccl. 3.24.)
He also wrote a work entitled
διάλεξις Παπίσκου καὶ Ἰάσονος, that is, a dialogue between Papiscus, a Jew, and Jason, a Jewish Christian, in which the former became convinced of the truth of the Christian religion. (Origen.
c. Cels. iv. p. 199; Hieronym.
Epist. ad Galat. 3.13.)
Editions
It was translated at an early time into Latin by one Celsus, but, with the exception of a few fragments, it is now lost.
The introduction written to it by the translator is still extant, and is printed in the Oxford edition of the " Opuscula" of Cyprian (p. 30) and
elsewhere.
Further Information
Hubmann,
l.c. p. 105.
Ariston
6. Of Alaea (
Ἀλαιεύς), a Greek rhetorician who wrote, according to Diogenes Laertius (7.164) scientific treatises on rhetoric. Another rhetorician of the same name, a native of Gerasa, is mentioned by Stephanus of Byzantium. (
s. v. Γέρασα.)
The name of Ariston occurs very frequently in ancient writers, and it has been calculated that about thirty persons of this name may be distinguished ; but of most of them we know nothing but the name. They have often been confounded with one another both by ancient and modern writers, particularly Ariston of Chios and Ariston of Ceos. (Sintenis,
ad Plut. Themist. 3, and especially the treatise of Hubmann referred to above.)
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