Hermarchus

Hermarchus (in Greek E?????o?), sometimes, but incorrectly, written Hermachus. He was a son of Agemarchus, a poor man of Mytilene (in insular Greece), and was at first brought up as a rhetorician, but afterwards became a faithful disciple of Epicurus, who left to him his garden, and appointed him his successor as the head of his school, about 270 BC.{{rf|1|laer_10.17_24}} He died in the house of Lysias at an advanced age, and left behind him the reputation of a great philosopher. Cicero{{rf|2|cic1_2.30}} has preserved a letter of Epicurus addressed to him. Hermarchus was the author of several works, which are characterised by Diogenes Laertius{{rf|3|laer_10.24}} as ????????, viz. Against Empedocles (??o? E????o????), in 22 books, On the mathematicians (???? ??? ?????????), Against Plato (??o? ???????), and Against Aristotle (??o? A????o?????); but all of them are lost, and we know nothing about them but their titles. But from an expression of Cicero{{rf|4|cic2_1.33}}, we may infer that his works were of a polemical nature, and directed against the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle, and on Empedocles.{{rf|5|cic3_2.30_athen_13_phot_167}}

Related Topics:
Greek - Mytilene - Greece - Rhetoric - Epicurus - 270 BC - Lysias - Cicero - Plato - Aristotle - Empedocles

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~