A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

2. Of ALABANDA, surnamed ὁ Μαλακὸς, was some years older than Apollonius Molon, with whom he has sometimes been confounded. He was a rhetorician, and went from Aiabanda to Rhodes, where he taught rhetoric. (Strab. xiv. p.655.) Scaevola in his praetorship saw him and spoke with him in Rhodes. He was a very distinguished teacher of rhetoric, and used to ridicule and despise philosophy. (Cic. de Orat. 1.17.) Whenever he found that a pupil had no talent for oratory, he dismissed him, and advised him to apply to what he thought him fit for, although by retaining him he might have derived pecuniary advantages. (Cic. de Orat. 1.28; comp. Spalding, ad Quintil. i. p. 430, ii. p. 453, iv. p. 562; Clinton, F. H. vol. ii. p. 147, &c.)