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With An English Translation By
Formerly Fellow Of Jesus College, Cambridge
1912
Much has been written about the chronology of Alexandrian literature andthe famous Library, founded by Ptolemy Soter, but the dates of the chiefwriters are still matters of conjecture. The birth of Apollonius Rhodiusis placed by scholars at various times between 296 and 260 B.C., whilethe year of his death is equally uncertain. In fact, we have very littleinformation on the subject. There are two "lives" of Apollonius in theScholia, both derived from an earlier one which is lost. From these welearn that he was of Alexandria by birth,[1] that he lived in the timeof the Ptolemies, and was a pupil of Callimachus; that while still ayouth he composed and recited in public his Argonautica, and that thepoem was condemned, in consequence of which he retired to Rhodes; thatthere he revised his poem, recited it with great applause, and hencecalled himself a Rhodian. The second "life" adds: "Some say that hereturned to Alexandria and again recited his poem with the utmostsuccess, so that he was honoured with the libraries of the Museum[2] andwas buried with Callimachus." The last sentence may be interpreted bythe notice of Suidas, who informs us that Apollonius was a contemporaryof Eratosthenes, Euphorion and Timarchus, in the time of PtolemyEuergetes, and that he succeeded Eratosthenes in the headship of theAlexandrian Library. Suidas also informs us elsewhere that Aristophanesat the age of sixty-two succeeded Apollonius in this office. Many modernscholars deny the "bibliothecariate" of Apollonius for chronologicalreasons, and there is considerable difficulty about it. The date ofCallimachus' Hymn to Apollo, which closes with some lines (105-113)that are admittedly an allusion to Apollonius, may be put with muchprobability at 248 or 247 B.C. Apollonius must at that date have been atleast twenty years old. Eratosthenes died 196-193 B.C. This would makeApollonius seventy-two to seventy-five when he succeeded Eratosthenes.This is not impossible, it is true, but it is difficult. But thedifficulty is taken away if we assume with Ritschl that Eratosthenesresigned his office some years before his death, which allows us to putthe birth of Apollonius at about 280, and would solve otherdifficulties. For instance, if the Librarians were buried within theprecincts, it would account for the burial of Apollonius next toCallimachus—Eratosthenes being still alive. However that may be, it israther arbitrary to take away the "bibliothecariate" of Apollonius,which is clearly asserted by Suidas, on account of chronologicalcalculations which are themselves uncertain. Moreover, it is moreprobable that the words following "some say" in the second "life" are aremnant of the original life than a conjectural addition, because thefirst "life" is evidently incomplete, nothing being said about the endof Apollonius' career.
[Footnote 1: "Or of Naucratis," according to Aelian and Athenaeus.]
[Footnote 2: [Greek: hôs