=Aristonīcus=, son of Eumenes by a concubine of Ephesus, 126 B.C., invaded Asia and the kingdom of Pergamus, which Attalus had left by his will to the Roman people. He was conquered by the consul Perpenna, and strangled in prison. _Justin_, bk. 36, ch. 4.――_Florus_, bk. 2, ch. 20.――――A musician of Olynthus.――――A grammarian of Alexandria, who wrote a commentary on Hesiod and Homer, besides a treatise on the museum established in Alexandria by the Ptolemies. =Aristonĭdes=, a noble statuary. _Pliny_, bk. 34, ch. 14. =Aristŏnus=, a captain of Alexander’s cavalry. _Curtius_, bk. 9, ch. 5. =Aristony̆mus=, a comic poet under Philadelphus, keeper of the library at Alexandria. He died of a retention of urine, in his 77th year. _Athenæus._――――One of Alexander’s musicians. _Plutarch_, _Alexander_. =Aristophănes=, a celebrated comic poet of Athens, son of Philip of Rhodes. He wrote 54 comedies, of which only 11 are come down to us. He lived in the age of Socrates, Demosthenes, and Euripides, B.C. 434, and lashed the vices of his age with a masterly hand. The wit and excellence of his comedies are well known; but they abound sometimes too much with obscenity; and his attack upon the venerable character of Socrates has been always censured, and with justice. As a reward for his mental greatness, the poet received a crown of olive, in a public assembly; but if he deserved praise, he merited blame for his licentiousness, which spared not even the gods, and was so offensive to his countrymen, that Alcibiades made a law at Athens, which forbade the comic writers from mimicking or representing on the stage any living character by name. Aristophanes has been called the prince of ancient comedy, as Menander of the new. The play called _Nubes_ is pointedly against Socrates, and the philosopher is exposed to ridicule, and his precepts placed in a most ludicrous point of view by the introduction of one of his pupils in the characters of the piece. It is said that St. Chrysostom used to keep the comedies of Aristophanes under his pillow, on account of the brilliancy of the composition. Plutarch has made a comparison between the princes of the new and old comedy, which abounds with many anecdotes concerning these original characters. The best editions of the works of Aristophanes are, Kuster’s, folio, Amsterdam, 1710, and the 12mo, Leiden, 1670, and that of Brunck, 4 vols., 8vo, Strasbourg, 1783, which would still be more perfect did it contain the valuable scholia. _Quintilian_, bk. 10, ch. 1. ――_Paterculus_, bk. 1, ch. 16.――_Horace_, bk. 1, satire 4, li. 1. ――――A grammarian of Byzantium, keeper of the library of Alexandria under Ptolemy Evergetes. He wrote a treatise on the harlots of Attica. _Diogenes Laërtius_, _Plutarch_ & _Epicurus_.――_Athenæus_, bk. 9.――――A Greek historian of Bœotia, quoted by _Plutarch_, _de Herodoti Malignitate_.――――A writer on agriculture.