2. Of Smyrna, a distinguished philosopher, surnamed by the ancient writers the Callimacheian (ὁ Καλλιμάχειος). From this title it may be inferred that he was a disciple of Callimachus about the middle of the third century B. C., while the fact of his having written the life of Chrysippus proves that he lived to about the end of the century. His writings seem to have been of very great importance and value. (Joseph. c. Apion. 1.22; Hieronym. de Vir. Illustr. Praef.) They are repeatedly referred to by the ancient writers, under many titles, of which, however, most, if not all, seem to have been chapters of his great biographical work, which is often quoted under the title
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of Βίοι. It can scarcely be doubted that the following were portions of that work: Περὶ τῶν ἐν Παιδείᾳ λαμψάντων (Westermann believes this to have been the title of the whole work),--Περὶ τῶν ἑπτὰ Σοφῶν,--Περὶ τῶν Νομοθετῶν,--Βίοι τῶν Φιλοσόφων, of which a great portion was occupied with the life of Pythagoras, and which also contained lives of Empedocles, Heracleitus, Democritus, Zeno, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Antisthenes, Diogenes, Stilpo, Epicurus, Theophrastus, Heracleides, Demetrius Phalereus, Chrysippus, and others,--Βίοι τῶν Ῥητόρων, under which, again, may be included the titles Περὶ Γοργίον, Περὶ Ἰσοκράτους, Περὶ τῶν Ἰσοκράτους Μαθητῶν. The work seems aiso to have contained lives of historians (Marcell. Vit. Thuc. 18), and of poets, for we have the title Περὶ Ἱππώνακτος. It is not improbable that the treatise Περὶ τῶν διαπρεψάντων ἐν Παιδείᾳ Δούλων also belonged to the same great work, but the subject creates a suspicion that it may belong to Hermippus of Berytus. There is more uncertainty about the work Περὶ Μάγων, and about several miscellaneous quotations on points of geography, music, and astronomy. If the Hermippus whom Athenaeus quotes under the surname of ὁ ἀστρολογικός (xi. p. 478a.) be a different person, the work Περὶ Μάγων and the astronomical quotations would naturally be referred to him. Lastly, Stobaeus (Serm. 5) quotes from the work of a certain Hermippus, Συναγωγὴ τῶν καλῶς ἀναφωνηθέντων ἐξ Ὁμήρου. Perhaps this work should be assigned to Hermippus of Berytus. (Vossius, de Hist. Graec. pp. 138-140, ed. Westermann; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. iii. p. 495; Lozynski, Hermippi Smyrnaei Peripatetici Fragmenta, Bonn, 1832, 8vo.; Preller, in Jahn's Jahrbücher für Philologie, vol. xvii. p. 159; Clinton, Fast. Hellen. vol. iii. p. 518.)