Ari'stocles

3. Of Messene, a Peripatetic philosopher, whose age is uncertain, some placing him three centuries before and others two centuries after Christ. But if the statement is correct, that he was the teacher of Alexander Aphrodisias (Cyrill. c. Jul. ii. p. 61), he must have lived about the beginning of the third century after Christ.

Works

According to Suidas (s. v.) and Eudocia (p. 71), he wrote several works :-- 1. Πότερον σπουδαιότερος Ὀμηρος ἢ Πλάτων.2. Τέχναι ῥητορικαί.3. A work on the god Serapis.4. A work on Ethics, in ten books.5. A work on Philosophy, likewise in ten books. The last of these works appears to have been a history of philosophy, in which he treated of the philosophers, their schools, and doctrines. Several fragments of it are preserved in Eusebius.

Further Information

Praep. Evang. 14.17-21, 15.2, 14; Comp. Theodoret. Therap. Serm. 8, and Suidas, who also mentions some other works of his.