A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

Smith, William

A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. William Smith, LLD, ed. 1890

2. Of Pergamus, a sophist and rhetorician, who lived in the time of the emperors Trajan and Hadrian. He spent the early part of his life upon the study of the Peripatetic philosophy, and during this period he completely neglected his outward appearance. But afterwards he was seized by the desire of becoming a rhetorician, and went to Rome, where he enrolled himself among the pupils of Herodes Atticus. After his return to Pergamus, he made a complete change in his mode of life, and appears to have enjoyed a great reputation as a teacher of rhetoric. His declamations are praised for their perspicuity and for the purity of the Attic Greek; but they were wanting in passion and animation, and resembled philosophical discussions. Suidas ascribes to him a work on rhetoric (τέχνη ῥητορική), letters, declamations, &c. (Philostr. Vit. Soph. 2.3; Suidas, s. v. Ἀριστοκλῆς; Eudoc. p. 66.)