1. Of NICAEA, or according to others, of MYRLEA, but more probably of the former, since both Suidas (s. v.
Νέστωρ) and Stephanus Byzantinus (s.
v. Νίκαια) make him a native of that town, and the
ancient grammarians generally speak of him as the Nicaean. He was the son of Heracleides and
Eudoranor, as Hermippus stated, of Tetha; and Suidas further relates that he was taken
prisoner by Cinna, in the Mithridatic war, was afterwards manumitted on account of his
learning, and lived to the reign of Tiberius. The accuracy of this statement has been called
in question, since there were seventy-seven years from the death of Mithridates to the
accession of Tiberius; but if Parthenius was taken prisoner in his childhood, he might have
been about eighty at the death of Augustus.
Works
Parthenius' literary activity must at all events be placed in the reign of Augustus. He
dedicated his extant work to Cornelius Gallus, which must, therefore, have been written
before B. C. 26, when Gallus died. We know, moreover, that
Parthenius taught Virgil Greek (Macrob. 5.17), and a line in the Georgics (1.437) is
expressly stated both by Macrobius (l.c.) and A. Gellius (13.26), to have been borrowed from Parthenius. He seems to have been
very popular among the distinguished Romanas of his time; we are told that the emperor
Tiberius also imitated his poems, and placed his works and statues in the public libraries,
along with the most celebrated ancient writers (Suet. Tib.
70).
Suidas calls Parthenius an elegiac poet, and the author of verses in various kinds of
measures (ἐλεγειοποιὸς καὶ μέτρων διαφόρων
ποιητής); and although his only extant work is in prose, it was as a poet that he
was best known in antiquity. The following are the titles of his principal works:--
1.
Ἐλεγεῖα εὶς Ἀφροδίτην(Suid.) for whith we ought probably to read ἐλεγείαι,
Ἀφροδίτη, as two separate works, and this conjecture is supported by the way
in which these works are quoted by the ancient writers(comp. Steph. Byz. s.v.
Ἀκαμάντιον ; Artemid. 4.63). 2.
Ἀρήτης ἐπικήδειον, a dirge on his wife Arete
(Suid.). 3. Ρ̓ήτης ἐγκώμιον, in three books (Suid.).
Either to this work or the former may be referred the quotation in the Scholiast on Pindar
(ἐν τῇ Ἀρήτῃ, Isthm.
2.63).
4.
Ἀνθίππη(Steph. Byz. s. vv.. Κρανιδες,
Λάμπεια).
5.
Εἰς Ἀρχελαΐδα ἐπικήδειον(Hephaest. p. 9).
6.
Εἰς Αὐξίθεμιν ἐπικήδειον(Steph. Byz. s. v.
Γαλλήσιον
7.
Βίας(Schol. ad Il. ix. 446).
8.
Δῆλος(Steph. s. v.
Βεληδόνιοι, Γρύνοι)
9.
Ἡρακλῆς(Steph. s. vv.
Ἴσσα, Οἰνώνη; Etymol. s. v.
αὐρόσχας).
10.
Ἴφικολς(Steph. s. v.
Ἀράφεια).
11.
Κριναγόρας(Etym. s. v.
ἅρπυς).
12.
Λευκαδίαι(Steph. s. v.
Ἰβηρίαι)
13.
Προπεμπτικόν(Steph. s. v.
Κώρυκος).
14.
Moretum.It is stated in the Ambrosian manuscript of Virgil that Parthenius wrote a work in Greek
under this title, which was imitated by Virgil.
15.
ΜεταμορφώσειςWhether Parthenius was the author of this work or not is doubtful. Suidas (s. v.
Νέστωρ), in one passage, ascribes it to Parthenius of
Nicaea; but in another (s. v.
Παρθένιος), he attributes it to Parthenius of Chios
[No. 2]. Since, however, the words in the latter passage are wanting in the old editions and
in most manuscripts of Suidas, it is probable that they were not written by him, but were
made up by some one from the passage on Nestor, and then inserted under Parthenius in their
wrong place. This work is likewise referred to by Eustathius (ad
Dionys. 420); and it must be admitted, as Clinton has remarked, that the expression of
Eustathius stems to imply that another Parthenius was intended. It is not improbable that
Ovid may have borrowed from this work in his
Metamorphoses.16.
Περὶ ἐρωτικῶν παθημάτων.The Περὶ ἐρωτικῶν παθημάτων is the only one of
the writings of Parthenius that has come down to us. It is written in prose, and contains
thirty-six brief love-stories, which ended in an unfortunate manner. It is dedicated, as has
been already remarked, to Cornelius Gallus, and was compiled for his use, that he might
avail himself of the materials in the composition of epic and elegiac poems. The work is of
some interest to us, as Parthenius gives in most cases the names of the writers from whom he
derived his narratives, and thus extends our acquaintance with some Greek writers of whom we
have very few fragments extant. Of this work we have only one manuscript, written in the
tenth century, and preserved at present at Heidelberg.
Editions
It was first printed at Basel, 1531, edited by Comarius.
The principal editions are :--by Gale, in Historiae Poeticae
Scriptores Antiqui, Paris, 1675; by Heyne, appended to his edition of
Conon, Göttingen, 1798; by Passow, Leipzig, 1824; and by
Westermann, in Μυθογράφοι: Scriptores Poeticae Historiae Brunswick, 1843.
Further Information
Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol iv. p. 305, &c.; Voss. De
Hist. Graec. p. 208, &c. ed Westermann ; Clinton, F. H. vol.
iii. p. 548, &c.; Lebeau, Sur les Auteurs dont Parthenius a tiré
ses Narrations, in M:ém. de l' Acad. d. Inscrip. vol.
xxxiv. p. 63, &c.; Eckstein, in Ersch and Gruber's Encyclopädie, art. Partdenius.