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

(Διοφάνης).

1. Of Mytilene, one of the most distinguished Greek rhetoricians of the time of the Gracchi. For reasons unknown to us, he was obliged to quit his native place, and went to Rome, where he instructed Tiberius Gracchus, and became his intimate friend. After T. Gracchus had fallen a victim to the oligarchical faction, Diophanes and many other friends of Gracchus were also put to death. (Cic. Brut. 27; Strab. xiii. p.617; Plut. T. Gracch. 8, 20.) Another much later rhetorician of the same name occurs in Porphyry's life of Plotinus.