Polyaenus

:"For the wasp genus, see "Polyaenus (wasp)

Polyaenus (in Greek Πoλυαινoς) was a 2nd century Macedonian author, known best for his "Stratagems in War" (in Greek, Στρατηγηματα), which has been preserved. The "Suda"rf|1|suda calls him a rhetorician, and Polyaenus himself writes that he was accustomed to plead causes before the emperor.rf|2|pol_2p_8p He dedicated "Stratagems in War" to Marcus Aurelius (161–180) and Verus (161–169), while they were engaged in the Parthian war (162–165), about 163 CE, at which time he was too old to accompany them in their campaigns.rf|3|pol_1p

This work is divided into eight books, of which the first six contain an account of the stratagems of the most celebrated Greek generals, the seventh of those of foreign people, and the eighth of the Romans, and illustrious women. Parts, however, of the sixth and seventh books are lost, so that of the 900 stratagems which Polyaenus described, only 833 have survived.

The book has survived through a single copy of the 13th century, which once belonged to Michel Apostolios and is now in the Laurentian Library in Florence. The work is written in a clear and pleasing style, though somewhat tinged with the artificial rhetoric of the age. It contains a vast number of anecdotes respecting many of the most celebrated men in antiquity, and has uniquely preserved many historical facts.

There are no less than five Byzantine abridgments of this work, the most important in the same library of the original, the Laurentian. This compendium, titled Yπoθεσεις εκ των στρατηγικων πραξεων, contains fifty-eight chapters and three hundred fifty-four stratagems and is useful to elucidate and explain many passages of the original, lost or not. Despite the existence of the abridgements, Polyaenus' treatise was not popular in the Middle Ages. The original is rarely cited by Byzantine sources, which suggests that it had ceased to circulate, and that the abridgements had replaced it. To this it must be added that only the Yπoθεσεις derives directly from the original, while the other four versions seem to be summaries of the first.

Polyaenus also wrote several other works, all of which have perished. The "Suda" has preserved the titles of two, "On Thebes" (Περι Θηβων) and "Tactics", in three books (Τακτικα); and Stobaeus makes a quotation from a work of Polyaenus, Υπερ τoυ κoινoυ των Mακεδoνωνrf|4|stob_43.53, and from another entitled Υπερ τoυ Συνεδριoυrf|5|stob_43.41. Poly­aenus likewise mentions his intention of writing a work on the memorable actions of M. Aurelius and L. Verus.rf|6|pol_6p

Polyaenus was first printed in a Latin trans­lation, executed by Justus Vulteius, at Basel, 1549. The first edition of the Greek text was published by Isaac Casaubon, Lyon, 1589; the next by Pancratius Maasvicius, Leyden, 1690; the third by Samuel Mursinna, Berlin, 1756; the fourth by Coray, Paris, 1809. The work has been translated into English by R. Shepherd, London, 1793; into Ger­man by Seybold, Frankfurt, 1793-94, and by Blume, Stuttgart, 1834.

References

*Bayle, Pierre; "Dictionnaire historique et critique", Amsterdam, (1740), [http://colet.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/BAYLE.sh?PAGEIDENT=3:768 "Polyænus"]
*Dain, A.; " [http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/Visualiseur?Destination=Gallica&O=NUMM-69253Les Cinq adaptations Byzantines de les "Stratagèmes" de Polyen] ", ("Revue des études anciennes"), pp. 321-46
* [http://28.1911encyclopedia.org/P/PO/POLYAENUS.htm "Polyaenus"] from the "Encyclopædia Britannica" (1911)
*Polyen, " [http://remacle.org/bloodwolf/erudits/polyen/index.htm Ruses de guerre] ", Gui-Alexis Lobineau (traducteur), Paris, (1840)
*Seyffert, Oskar; "Dictionary of Classical Antiquities", [http://www.ancientlibrary.com/seyffert/0502.html "Polyænus"] , (1894)
*Smith, William; "Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology", [http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/2775.html "Polyaenus (2)"] , Boston, (1867)

Notes

ent|1|suda "Suda", s.v. [http://www.stoa.org/sol-bin/search.pl?db=REAL&search_method=QUERY&login=guest&enlogin=guest&user_list=LIST&page_num=1&searchstr=pi+1956&field=any&num_per_page=100 "Polyainos"] ent|2|pol_2p_8p Polyaenus, praef. lib. ii, praef. lib. viiient|3|pol_1p Ibid., praef. lib. ient|4|stob_43.53 Stobaeus, xlviii. 43ent|5|stob_43.41 Ibid., 53 ent|6|pol_6p Polyaenus, praef. lib. vi

External links

* [http://www.livius.org Livius] , [http://www.livius.org/pn-po/polyaenus/polyaenus.htm Polyaenus] by Jona Lendering
* [http://websfor.org/alexander/polyaenus/intro.asp Polyaenus, "Stratagems of War", Translated by E. Shepherd, 1793] (excerpts: those stratagems concerning Alexander and some of the Diadochi)
* [http://www.attalus.org/translate/polyaenus.html "Stratagems of War"] (substantial excerpts)
* [http://www.archive.org/details/polyaenistratege00polyuoft Eduard von Woelffin 1887 edition at the Internet Archive]

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