Arcesilaus

“ Nevertheless, Arcesilaus, who 232 as we said was the leader and chief of the Middle Academy, seems to me to have very much in common with the Pyrrhonean teachings, so that his school and ours are almost one. For neither does one find that he expressed an opinion about the existence or non-existence of anything, nor does he prefer one thing to another as regards trustworthiness or untrustworthiness; he suspends his judgment regarding all things, and the aim of his philosophy is ἐποχή, which is accompanied by ἀταραξία, and this agrees with what we have said. ”

“ He was the first of Plato's followers who wrote commentaries on the works of his master. He died of dropsy, and left Arcesilaus his heir.
Arcesilaus, or Arcesilas, flourished about b.c. 280; he was born at Pitane, but came to Athens and became the pupil of Theophrastus and of Crantor, and afterwards of some of the more sceptical philosophers. On the death of Crantor he succeeded to the chair of the Academy, in the doctrines of which he made so many innovations that he is called the founder of the New Academy. ”

“ Meanwhile Arcesilaus was in Samos, gathering all men that he could and promising them a new division of land; and while a great army was thus mustering, he made a journey to Delphi, to enquire of the oracle concerning his return. The priestess gave him this answer: “For the lives of four named Battus and four named Arcesilaus, to wit, for eight generations of men, Loxias grants to your house the kingship of Cyrene; more than this he counsels you not so much as to essay. ”

“ Although during the time of Arcesilaus and Carneades the difference was so slight as to seem a mere matter of form of expression, yet the different foundations on which the two schools stood was always recognisable. On the one hand there was the germ of idealism which was destined to awake to a new life, and on the other, the attempt at absolute negation which was to result in the final extinction of Pyrrhonism. We find in both, it is true, especially in the time of Arcesilaus, the aim of ἐποχή. ”

“ And why, insignificant thing that you are, do you puff yourself out like a simpleton? [45]
And yet for all that he was modest enough to recommend his pupils to hear other philosophers. And when a certain youth from Chios was not well pleased with his lectures and preferred those of the above-mentioned Hieronymus, Arcesilaus himself took him and introduced him to that philosopher, with an injunction to behave well. ”

“ For Arcesilaus, son of Battus the lame and Pheretima, refused to submit to the arrangements of Demonax the Mantinean, and claimed all the powers of his forefathers. In the contention which followed Arcesilaus was worsted, whereupon he fled to Samos, while his mother took refuge at Salamis in the island of Cyprus. Salamis was at that time ruled by Evelthon, the same who offered at Delphi the censer which is in the treasury of the Corinthians, a work deserving of admiration. Of him Pheretima made request that he would give her an army whereby she and her son might regain Cyrene. ”

“ His constitution was so vigorous, that he could easily go without his dinner. And they say, that once when he saw Arcesilaus passing through the forum of the Cercopes, he said, “What are you doing here, where we freemen are?” And he used constantly to quote to those who invoked the testimony of their intellects to judge of the senses:—
Attagas and Numenius are met. ”

“ Sometimes also he joins action to word, as Menedemus sobered the profligate and disorderly son of his friend Asclepiades, by shutting him out of his house, and not speaking to him. And Arcesilaus forbade Bato his school, 166when he wrote a line in one of his plays against Cleanthes, and only got reconciled with him after he repented and made his peace with Cleanthes. For we ought to give our friend pain if it will benefit him, but not to the extent of breaking off our friendship; but just as we make use of some biting medicine, that will save and preserve the life of the patient. ”

“ Arcesilaus in like manner excluded Battus out of his school, and would not suffer him to enter, because in a comedy that he composed, he had made one verse against Cleanthes; but afterwards, Battus repenting of that he had done, and making satisfaction unto Cleanthes, was pardoned and received again into his favour. For a man may offend his friend with intention to do him good ”

“ Moving from thence, he besieged the city of Erbita [1] ; but not succeeding there, he made peace with them, and led away his army against Catana; for Arcesilaus the governor had promised to betray it: and in accomplishment of his treachery, about midnight let him in within the walls, and so he gained the city. Then he disarmed all the citizens, and placed there a sufficient garrison. Afterwards Procles, the general of the Naxians, (won over by promises of great rewards) , betrayed the city to Dionysius. ”

“ This is a statue of Artemis and its cost two hundred Parian drachmas, which bear a goat for their device. It was made by Arcesilaus, the worthy son of Aristodicus, well practised in the arts of Athena.
According to Apollodorus in his Chronology, the philosopher described in the foregoing flourished about the 120th Olympiad. [48]
Bion 46. Bion was by birth a citizen of Borysthenes [Olbia] ; who his parents were, and what his circumstances before he took to philosophy, he himself told Antigonus in plain terms. For, when Antigonus inquired:
Who among men, and whence, are you? ”

“ Vol. i. p. 283, note. Aratus, the younger, son of the last, 2, 51; 4, 37, 60, 67, 70, 72, 82; 5, 1; 7, 11; 24, 6, 10 Araxus, promontory of Achaia, 4, 59, 65 Arbo, a city in Illyria, 2, 11 Arbucala, a city of the Vaccaei in Spain, 3, 14 Arcades, a city in Crete, 4, 53 Arcadia and the Arcadians, 2, 38, 54, 56, 62; 4, 17, 20, 21, 33, 70-77; 12, 4; 18, 14; 39, 7; practice of music in, 4, 20, 21 Arcas, the ancestor of the Arcadians, 4, 77 Arcesilas of Pitane, academical philosopher, 10, 22 Arcesilaus, ambassador of the Lacedaemonian exiles, 23, 6 Arcesilaus of Megalopolis, 28, 6 ”

“ Archelaus professing his abhorrence of such treason, Sylla proceeded: "So you, Archelaus, a Cappadocian, and slave, or if it so please you, friend, to a barbarian king, would not, upon such vast considerations, be guilty of what is dishonorable, and yet dare to talk to me, Roman general and Sylla, of treason? as if you were not the selfsame Archelaus who ran away at Chæronea, with few remaining out of one hundred and twenty thousand men; who lay for two clays in the fens of Orchomenus, and left Bœotia impassable for heaps of dead carcasses." ”

“ Great deeds in arms did Arcalaus then atchieve, like one who was valiant and strong, and at that hour you might have seen wonders done by King Cildadan, and Norandel, and Don Guilan, and Cendil of Ganota; for they were the shield and rampart of the army; but all would have been of no avail, for the enemies were so many and fresh, if King Lisuarte, who never in any danger, how great soever, failed to do his duty, had not advanced; he, desirous rather to die than fail in his devoir, pricked forward before his men. ”

“ They being thus in doubt which way to turn themselves, Archelaus, the commander of Antigonus's troops, having a great number of soldiers with him, made up towards the castle with great shouts and noise of trumpets to fall upon Aratus's people, and passed by the three hundred, who, as if they had risen out of an ambush, immediately charged him, killing the first they encountered, and so affrighted the rest, together with Archelaus, that they put them to flight and pursued them until they had quite broke and dispersed them about the city. ”

“ It opens with magnificent compliments to Arcesilas and Cyrenè; it proceeds to set forth in the most vivid and picturesque form a series of heroic legends recalling all the proudest memories of the house of Battus; it sketches a noble ideal of the true hero-king, and finds in Arcesilas the realisation of that ideal, the physician of his state, the restorer of times which are out of joint, the creator of that civil order which a fool can disturb, but which a wise man only can birng into being. ”

“ Things growing to a tumult, king Charilaus, apprehending that it was a conspiracy against his person, took sanctuary in the temple of Minerva of the Brazen House; but, being soon after undeceived, and having taken an oath of them that they had no designs against him, he quitted his refuge, and himself also entered into the confederacy with them; of so gentle and flexible a disposition he was, to which Archelaus, his brother-king, alluded, when, hearing him extolled for his goodness, he said, "Who can say he is anything but good? he is so even to the bad." ”

“ At length, in a district called Leukôn, the fugitives found an opportunity of attacking him at such prodigious advantage, that they almost destroyed the Kyrenæan army, seven thousand hoplites (as has been before intimated) being left dead on the field. Arkesilaus did not long survive this disaster. He was strangled during sickness by his brother Learchus, who aspired to the throne; but Eryxô, widow of the deceased prince, [91] avenged the crime, by causing Learchus to be assassinated. ”

“ So when Antipater had made this speech, and had confirmed what he had said by producing many witnesses from among Archelaus's own relations, he made an end of his pleading. Upon which Nicolaus arose up to plead for Archelaus, and said, "That what had been done at the temple was rather to be attributed to the mind of those that had been killed, than to the authority of Archelaus; for that those who were the authors of such things are not only wicked in the injuries they do of themselves, but in forcing sober persons to avenge themselves upon them. ”

“ On these terms he proceeded by the way of Thessaly and Macedon towards the Hellespont, having Archelaus with him, and treating him with great attention. For Archelaus being taken dangerously ill at Larissa, he stopped the march of the army, and took care of him, as if he had been one of his own captains, or his colleague in command. This gave suspicion of foul play in the battle of Chæronea; as it was also observed that Sylla had released all the friends of Mithridates taken prisoners in war, except only Aristion the tyrant, who was at enmity with Archelaus, and was put to death by poison ”

“ Archelaus, the former commander in Bœotia under Mithridates, who afterwards deserted him and accompanied the Romans, protested to Lucullus that, upon his bare coming, he would possess himself of all Pontus. But he answered, that it did not become him to be more cowardly than huntsmen, to leave the wild beasts abroad, and seek after sport in their deserted dens. ”

“ As to Archelaus, he made his defense for himself, that he had promised to receive the young men, because it was both for their own and their father's advantage so to do, lest some too severe procedure should be gone upon in that anger and disorder they were in on occasion of the present suspicions; but that still he had not promised to send them to Caesar; and that he had not promised any thing else to the young men that could show any ill-will to him. ”

“ When Turbo had made this statement, Archelaus was intensely excited; but Marcellus remained unmoved, for he expected that God would come to the help of His truth. Archelaus, however, had additional cares in his anxiety about the people, like the shepherd who becomes concerned for his sheep when secret perils threaten them from the wolves. Accordingly Marcellus loaded Turbo with the most liberal gifts, and instructed him to remain in the house of Archelaus the bishop. ”

“ Next morning, however, Archelaus suddenly made his appearance at this residence [1] in which Diodorus was staying, before any one was yet stirring abroad. Manes accordingly, all unconscious of the fact that Archelaus was now on the spot again, challenged Diodorus publicly to engage in a disputation with him; his intention being to crush him with a verbal display, because he perceived that he was a man of a simple nature, and not very deeply learned in questions concerning the Scriptures. For he had now had a taste of the doctrine of Archelaus. ”

“ On hearing the accusation Cæsar was indignant and sent for the agent of Archelaus’s affairs in Rome, whose name also was Archelaus, and, disdaining to write to Archelaus, said to him, “Take ship at once and bring him to us without delay.” The agent accordingly embarked forthwith, reached Judæa, found Archelaus feasting with his friends, communicated Cæsar’s will and hurried him off. On his arrival, Cæsar, after hearing his defence in the presence of certain of his accusers, sent him into banishment, appointing Vienne, a city of Gaul, as his place of exile, and confiscated his property.... ”

“ Sylla liked the business so well as to desire a speedy conference with Archelaus in person, and a meeting took place on the sea-coast near Delium, where the temple of Apollo stands. When Archelaus opened the conversation, and began to urge Sylla to abandon his pretensions to Asia and Pontus, and to set sail for the war in Rome, receiving money and shipping, and such forces as he should think fitting from the king, Sylla, interposing, bade Archelaus take no further care for Mithridates, but assume the crown to himself, and become a confederate of Rome, delivering up the navy. ”

“ Now Archelaus thought there was no way to preserve the entire government but by cutting off those who made this attempt upon it; so he sent out the whole army upon them, and sent the horsemen to prevent those that had their tents without the temple from assisting those that were within the temple, and to kill such as ran away from the footmen when they thought themselves out of danger; which horsemen slew three thousand men, while the rest went to the neighboring mountains. Then did Archelaus order proclamation to be made to them all, that they should retire to their own homes ”