Listed 2 sub titles with search on: Biographies for wider area of: "ARLES SUR RHONE Town FRANCE" .
ARLES SUR RHONE (Town) FRANCE
Gallicanus, a rhetorician mentioned by Fronto, where, however, A. Mai remarks that the word Gallicanus may be a mere adjective to designate a rhetorician of Gaul, and that Fronto may allude to Favorinus, the Gallic sophist of Arles. Whether Mai is right or not cannot be decided, but the Squilla Gallicanus to whom one of Fronto's letters (Ad Amic. i. 28) is addressed, must, at all events, be a different person. The latter is mentioned in the Fasti as consul, in A. D. 127, in the reign of Hadrian. Whether this M. Squilla Gallicanus, again, is the same as the one who occurs in the Fasti as consul in A. D. 150, is uncertain, as under the latter date the Fasti are incomplete, and have only the name Gallicanus.
Favorinus (Phaborinos), a philosopher and sophist of the time of the emperor Hadrian.
He was a native of Arles, in the south of Gaul, and is said to have been born
an Hermaphrodite or an eunuch (Philostr. Vit. Soph. i. 8.1; Lucian, Eunuch. 7;
Gell. ii. 22). On one occasion, however, a Roman of rank brought a charge of adultery
against him. He appears to have visited Rome and Greece at an early age, and he
acquired an intimate acquaintance of the Greek and Latin languages and literature.
These attainments combined with great philosophical knowledge, very extensive
learning, and considerable oratorical power, raised him to high distinctions both
at Rome and in Greece. For a time he enjoyed the friendship and favour of the
emperor Hadrian, but on one occasion he offended the emperor in a dispute with
him, and fell into disgrace, whereupon the Athenians, to please the emperor, destroyed
the bronze statue which they had previously erected to Favorinus. He used to boast
of three things: that being a eunuch lie had been charged with adultery, that
although a native of Gaul he spoke and wrote Greek, and that he continued to live
although he had offended the emperor (Philostr. l. c.; Dion Cass. lxix. 3; Spartian.
Hadr. 16). Favorinus was connected by intimate friendship with Demetrius of Alexandria,
Demetrius the Cynic, Cornelius Fronto, and especially with Plutarch, who dedicated
to him his treatise on the principle of cold (peri ton protou Psuchron), and among
whose lost works we have mention of a letter on friendship, addressed to Favorinus.
Herodes Atticus, who was likewise on intimate terms with him, looked up to him
with great esteem, and Favorinus bequeathed to hill his library and his house
at Rome. Favorinus for some time resided in Asia Minor; and as he was highly honoured
by the Ephesians, he excited the envy and hostility of Polemon, then the most
famous sophist at Smyrna. The two sophists attacked each other in their declamations
with great bitterness and animosity. The oratory of Favorinus was of a lively,
and in his earlier years of a very passionate kind. He was very fond of displaying
his learning in his speeches, and was always particularly anxious to please his
audience. His extensive knowledge is further attested by his numerous works, and
the variety of subjects on which he wrote.
None of his works, however, has come down to us, unless we suppose
with Emperius, the late editor of Dion Chrysostomus (in a dissertation de Oratione
Corinthiaca falso Dioni Chrys. adscripta, Brunsvig. 1832), that the oration on
Corinth, commonly printed among those of Dion Chrysostomus, is the work of Favorinus.
The following are the titles of the principal works ascribed to him:
1. Peri tes kataleptikes Phantasias, probably consisting of three books, which
were dedicated respectively to Hadrian, Dryson, and Aristarchus. (Galen, vol.
i.)
2. Alkibiaoes. (Galen, iv.)
3. A work addressed to Epictetus, which called forth a reply from Galen (iv.).
4. A work on Socrates, which was likewise attacked by Galen (iv.).
5. Ploutarchos e peri tes Akademikes Diatheseos. (Galen, i.)
6. Peri platonos. (Suidas.)
7. Peri tes Homerou Philosophias. (Suidas.)
8. Purroneioi tropoi, in ten books, seems to have been his principal work (Philostr.
Vit. Solh. i. 8.4; Gell. xi. 5). Favorinus in this work showed that the philosophy
of Pyrrhon was usefil to those who devoted themselves to pleading in the courts
of justice.
9. Pantodape Historia, consisting of at least eight books, probably contained
historical, geographical, and other kinds of information (Diog. Laert. iii. 24,
viii. 12, 47).
10. Apomnemoneumata, of which the third hook is quoted. (Diog. Laert. iii. 40).
11. Gnomologika. Philostratus (comp. Gell. xvii. 12) mentions several orations,
but we have no means of judging of their merit. Besides the two principal sources,
Philostratus and Suidas, see J. F. Gregor, Commentatio de Favorino, Laub. 1755;
Forsmann, Dissertatio de Favorino, Abo, 1789.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Dec 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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