APOLLONIUS OF

See also:

• RHODES
• RHODES, CECIL JOHN (1853-1902)
• RHODES, JAMES FORD

RHODES (RHOD1us)  , a Greek epic poet and grammarian, of Alexandria, who flourished under the Ptolemies Philopator and Epiphanes (222-181 B.C.) . He was the pupil of Callimachus, with whom he subsequently quarrelled . In his youth he composed the work for which he is known-Argonautica, an epic in four books on the legend of the Argonauts . When he read it at Alexandria, it was rejected through the influence of Callimachus and his party . Disgusted with his failure, Apollonius withdrew to Rhodes, where he was very successful as a rhetorician, and a revised edition of his epic was well received . In recognition of his talents the Rhodians bestowed the freedom of their city upon him—the origin of his surname . Returning to Alexandria, he again recited his poem, this time with general applause . In 196, Ptolemy Epiphanes appointed him librarian of the Museum, which office he probably held until his death . As to the Argonautica, Longinus' (De Sublim. p . 54, 19) and Quintilian's (Instil. x . 1, 54) verdict of mediocrity seems hardly deserved; although it lacks the naturalness of Homer, it possesses a certain simplicity and contains some beautiful passages . There is a valuable collection of scholia .

The work, highly esteemed by the

Romans, was imitated by Virgil (Aeneid, iv.), Varro Atacinus, and Valerius Flaccus . Marianna (about A.D . Soo) paraphrased it in iambic trimeters . Apollonius also wrote epigrams; grammatical and critical works; and KrlcraS (the foundations of cities) . Editio Princeps (Florence, 1496) ; Merkel-Keil (with scholia, 1854) Seaton (1900) . English translations: Verse, by Greene (178o); Fawkes (1780); Preston (1811); Way (1901); Prose by Coleridge (1889); see also Couat, La Poesie alexandrine; Susemihl, Geschichte der griech . Lit. in der alexandrinischen Zeit .