Maximus of Tyre

Maximus of Tyre (Greek: Μάξιμος; fl. late 2nd century AD), also known as Cassius Maximus Tyrius, was a Greek rhetorician and philosopher who lived in the time of the Antonines and Commodus, and who belongs to the trend of the Second Sophistic. His writings contain many allusions to the history of Greece, while there is little reference to Rome; hence it is inferred that he lived longer in Greece, perhaps as a professor at Athens. Although nominally a Platonist, he is really a sophist rather than a philosopher, although he is still considered one of the precursors of Neoplatonism. Quotes Ἐπιδειξαμένου γὰρ αὐτῷ τοῦ Μυρρινουσίου Φαίδρου λόγον ὑπὸ Λυσίου τοῦ Κεφάλου συγγεγραμμένον ἐρωτικόν, οὐκ ἔφη θαυμάζειν, πλῆρες τὸ στῆθος ἔχων ὥσπερ ἀγγεῖον ἀλλοτρίων ναμάτων, ἤ που Σαπφοῦς τῆς καλῆς (οὕτω γὰρ αὐτὴν ὀνομάζων χαίρει διὰ τὴν ὥραν τῶν μελῶν, καίτοι μικρὰν οὖσαν καὶ μέλαιναν), ἢ Ἀνακρέοντος, φησίν, τοῦ σοφοῦ. For when the Myrrinusian Phædrus showed him [Socrates] an amatory oration, composed by Lysias the son of Cephalus, he says, that he is not struck with admiration, in consequence of having his breast full like a vessel, of foreign streams, derived from "the beautiful Sappho" (for thus he is pleased to call her, from the elegance of her verses, though she was short and of a dark complexion) or "the wise Anacreon". Dissertations, no. 8 (18), sec. 7 (ed. William H. Race, 1997; tr. Thomas Taylor, 1804). Compare: Swinburne, "On the Cliffs", Songs of the Springtides (1880). For the French "une petite brunette", see Antoine Furetière (ed.) Dictionnaire universel, 2nd ed. (1701) vol. 1, s.v. Brunet External links Category:Philosophers from Greece Category:People from Tyre, Lebanon