person
Aristarchus of Samothrace
Aristarchus
also: Aristarchus
The great Alexandrian grammarian and Homeric critic (2nd c. BC), proverbial for athetizing (rejecting as spurious) any Homeric line he judged unworthy. Cicero invokes him jokingly in Fam. 3.11.5 to disown any unpolished letter attributed to him.
Reading notes
- Ad Atticum 1.14 §3 of which you are the Aristarchus
Aristarchus of Samothrace was the great Alexandrian critic and editor of Homer, a byword for exacting literary judgement; Cicero flatters Atticus as the discerning critic of his speeches.
- Ad Familiares 3.11 §5 as Aristarchus pronounces any line he does not approve to be not Homer's
Aristarchus of Samothrace, the Alexandrian critic famous for marking (athetizing) Homeric verses he judged spurious; Cicero jokes that Appius may likewise disown any clumsy letter as not really his.
- Ad Familiares 9.10 §1 the other, a second Aristarchus, marks them with an obelus
Cicero turns the lawsuit into a literary joke: Aristarchus of Samothrace was the great Alexandrian editor of Homer who marked spurious or doubtful verses with an obelus (a dagger-like sign). Vidius, disputing the two lines of Nicias's account-book, plays the role of an Aristarchus athetizing verses, and Cicero the critic who must judge whether they are genuine.