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POLYAENUS

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 17 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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POLYAENUS , a Macedonian, who lived at See also:

Rome as a rhetorician and pleader in the and See also:century A.D. When the See also:Parthian See also:War (162–5) See also:broke out, Polyaenus, too old to See also:share in the See also:campaign, dedicated to the emperors See also:Marcus Aurelius and See also:Lucius Verus a See also:work, still extant, called Strategica or Strategemata, a See also:historical collection of stratagems and See also:maxims of See also:strategy written in See also:Greek and strung together in the See also:form of anecdotes. It is not strictly confined to warlike stratagems, but includes also examples of See also:wisdom, courage and cunning See also:drawn from See also:civil and See also:political See also:life. The work is uncritically written, but is nevertheless important on See also:account of the extracts it has preserved from histories now lost. It is divided into eight books (parts of the See also:sixth and seventh are lost), and originally contained nine See also:hundred anecdotes, of which eight hundred and See also:thirty-three are extant. Polyaenus intended to write a See also:history of the Parthian War, but there is no See also:evidence that he did so. His See also:works on See also:Macedonia, on See also:Thebes, and on See also:tactics (perhaps identical with the Strategica) are lost. His Strategica seems to have been highly esteemed by the See also:Roman See also:plants are quite See also:hardy, and grow best in strong, loamy See also:soil emperors. and to have been handed down by them as a sort of ~ tolerably well enriched with well-decayed dung and See also:leaf-See also:mould; See also:heirloom. From Rome it passed to See also:Constantinople; at the end of the 9th century it was diligently studied by See also:Leo VI., who himself wrote a work on tactics; and in the See also:middle of the loth century See also:Constantine Porphyrogenitus mentioned it as one of the most valuable books in the Imperial library. It was used by See also:Stobaeus, Suidas, and the See also:anonymous author of the work IIepl aai(Tmv (see See also:PALAEPHATus). It is arranged as follows: bks. i., ii., iii., strata-gems occurring in Greek history; bk. iv., stratagems of the Macedonian See also:kings and successors of See also:Alexander the See also:Great; bk. v., strata-gems occurring in the history of See also:Sicily and the Greek islands and colonies; bk. vi., stratagems of a whole See also:people (Carthaginians, Lacedaemonians, Argives), together with some individuals (See also:Philopoemen, See also:Pyrrhus, See also:Hannibal) ; bk. vii., stratagems of the barbarians (See also:Medea, Persians, Egyptians, Thracians, Scythians, Celts) ; bk. viii., stratagems of See also:Romans and See also:women. This See also:distribution is not, however, observed very strictly.

Of the See also:

negligence or haste with which the work was written there are many instances : e.g. he confounds See also:Dionysius the See also:elder and Dionysius the younger, See also:Mithradates See also:satrap of See also:Artaxerxes and Mithradates the Great, Scipio the elder and Scipio the younger, See also:Perseus, See also:king of Macedonia and Perseus the See also:companion of Alexander; he mixes up the strata-gems of See also:Caesar and See also:Pompey; he brings into immediate connexion events which were totally distinct; he narrates some events twice over, with See also:variations according to the different authors from whom he draws. Though he usually abridges, he occasionally amplifies arbitrarily the narratives of his authorities. He never mentions his authorities, but amongst authors still extant he used See also:Herodotus, See also:Thucydides, See also:Xenophon, See also:Polybius, Diodorus, See also:Plutarch, See also:Frontinus and Suetonius; amongst authors cf whom only fragments now remain he See also:drew upon See also:Ctesias, See also:Ephorus, See also:Timaeus, See also:Phylarchus and Nicolaus Damascenus. His See also:style is clear, but monotonous and inelegant. In the forms of his words he generally follows See also:Attic usage. The best edition of the See also:text is Wdlfflin and Melber (Teubner See also:Series, 1887, with bibliography and editio princeps of the Strateemata of the See also:emperor Leo) ; annotated See also:editions by See also:Isaac See also:Casaubon 1589) and A. Coraes (1809); I. Melber, Ueber See also:die Quellen and See also:Werth der Strategemensammlung Polyans (1885); Knott, De fide et fontibus Polyaeni (1883), who largely reduces the number of the authorities consulted by Polyaenus. Eng. trans. by R. Shepherd (1793).

End of Article: POLYAENUS

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POLYANDRY (Gr. iroXus, many, and 6.vi7P, man)

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