mind. His object was not to amuse or dazzle the reader with interesting narratives or rhetorical colouring, but to impart solid instruction, and to convey lessons of political and moral wisdom. Connected with these merits is the only great fault with which he is chargeable—a want of imagination. Hence his descriptions are sometimes deficient in clearness from his lack of picturesque power, and he sometimes fails to make us fully understand events and characters because he had not a vivid life-like conception of them in his own mind. But he was perhaps the only writer of antiquity who correctly discerned the proper functions of history. He lays it down distinctly that the business of the historian is not to astonish the reader, nor to seek after speeches which might have been delivered, nor to enumerate possible consequences of events which did not happen, like the writers of tragedy, but to record only those things which were really done and said. The ends of tragedy and history, he adds, are not similar, but diverse: that of the former is to move and delight the hearer at the present moment by such dialogues as seem probable; that of the latter is to instruct the student by real acts and words for all future time. No other ancient historian, not even Thucydides or Tacitus, rejected the introduction of imaginary speeches into historical composition. We may add that, though all that remains of Polybius is valuable, he is less implicitly to be followed for the early history of Rome than for that of his own times, as to which latter almost unconditional confidence may safely be placed in him. The most convenient edition of Polybius is by Bekker, Berlin, 2 vols., 1844, but the labours of Casaubon and Schweighauser have done more for the elucidation of this author than those of any modern scholar.—G.
POLYBUS or POLYBIUS, an early Greek physician, was the son-in-law and pupil of Hippocrates of Cos, and must, therefore, have lived about the end of the fifth century b.c. He was the most celebrated of the family of the great physician. Galen calls him the disciple of Hippocrates and successor in his school, and adds, that he made no innovations on the doctrines of his teacher. Aristotle attributes to him the treatise on the Nature of Man, and according to Galen, some of the early commentators assigned to him that on Diet in Health. These two works are referred to Polybus by M. Littré. Certain also of the other Hippocratic writings have been supposed to be his, e.g. Περὶ γονῆς and Περὶ φύσιος παιδίου.—F. C. W.
POLYCARP, Bishop of Smyrna, one of the apostolical fathers, has left an imperishable name in the history of the church; but, strange to say, little is known with certainty of his own personal history. Nothing is known of his birth, family, education, or early life; but it is in the highest degree probable that he was a native of Asia Minor, and that he was born there in the latter half of the first century, of a family which had been converted from heathenism, and in the bosom of which he was early instructed in the holy scriptures. It is certain that he became a disciple of the apostle John, by whom he was led into a deeper knowledge of the gospel; and that he was appointed in after life bishop of Smyrna, where he continued to labour till the year 168 or 169, when he suffered martyrdom under the persecution of Lucius Verus. Eusebius informs us that, having occasion to visit Rome on church affairs when Anicetus was bishop of that see, Polycarp defended against the Roman bishop and the practice of the Western church the usage of the Eastern church regarding Easter, which was to keep the fourteenth day of the moon (in the month Nisan) for the festival of the Saviour's passover, and to conclude their fast on that day, on whatever day of the week it might happen to fall; whereas the Western church deemed it not proper to terminate their fast on any other but the day of the Resurrection. Another interesting incident of Polycarp's visit to Rome is mentioned by Irenæus, viz., "that he turned many there from following the heresies of Valentine and Marcion, by proclaiming the one and only true faith that he had received from the apostles; and the same Polycarp," he continues, "once coming and meeting Marcion, who said, 'Acknowledge us,' replied, 'I acknowledge the firstborn of Satan.'" A minute account of Polycarp's martyrdom is contained in a letter of the Smyrnean christians, addressed to the church of Pontus, the substance of which is incorporated by Eusebius in his history, and, bating a few miraculous circumstances, is undoubtedly authentic. "Revile Christ," demanded the Roman governor, when the venerable bishop was placed before his tribunal in the stadium in presence of a vast multitude. "Eighty and six years," nobly replied the martyr, "have I served him, and he never did me wrong, and how can I now blaspheme my king that saved me?" The governor sent a herald to proclaim in the midst of the stadium, "Polycarp confesses that he is a christian." Whereupon all the multitude, gentiles and Jews, dwelling in Smyrna, cried out, "This is that teacher of Asia, the father of the christians, the destroyer of our gods, he that teaches multitudes not to sacrifice, nor to worship." Then they all cried out together that Polycarp should be burnt by fire. These things were no sooner said than done. "The crowd forthwith collected wood and straw from the shops and baths, and the Jews as usual most freely offered their services for this purpose." When the sacrifice was complete, "we took up his bones," continue the devout christians of his bereaved flock, "more precious than precious stones, and more tried than gold, and deposited them where it was fit they should be laid. There also the Lord will grant us to assemble and celebrate the birthday of his martyrdom in joy and gladness, both in commemoration of those who have already finished their course, and to exercise and prepare those who shall hereafter do likewise." The "Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians" is a venerable monument of this primitive bishop, and of the very early age of the church in which he flourished. Only the first half of the Greek text has been preserved; the rest exists in the form of an ancient Latin translation. Its genuineness has been the subject of much controversy among scholars and historians since the Reformation, down to our own day. The Magdeburg centuriators, Daillè, Semler, Baur, and Schwegler, have all cast doubts upon it; but to others, including Neander, Gieseler, Möhler, and the most learned of our Anglican divines, the grounds upon which these doubts have been supported do not appear adequate, or sufficient to set aside the uniform testimony of the historians and other ecclesiastical writers of antiquity. A third class of critics acknowledge the epistle to be genuine in the main, but suspect that the text has been in some places corrupted by interpolations. Among these is Professor Ritschl of Bonn, the able antagonist of the school of Baur, which appeals to the contents of this epistle as yielding support to its peculiar theory of the dogmatic development of the church in the second century. But the hostile criticism which has attacked the claims of this valuable document, has in every instance proceeded, more or less, from dogmatic or ecclesiastical prepossessions; and there is really no sufficient reason, either on internal or external grounds, to regard it with suspicion. Polycarp's epistle and his personality form two interesting and important links, by which the chain of subsequent times is connected with the teaching and personality of the apostles of the Lord.—P. L.
POLYCLETUS or POLYCLEITUS, one of the most celebrated of the Greek statuaries and sculptors, was born at Sicyon or Argos, and was the scholar of Ageladas. Though younger he was the contemporary of Phidias, whom he survived some years. He may have been born about 470 b.c., or earlier, being already a distinguished sculptor about 430 b.c. There was, however, another Polycletus of Argos, the pupil of Naucydes, who lived about a generation later. Little is positively known about these sculptors, and there appears to have been another of the name. The elder was the more celebrated, and was chiefly distinguished for his great seated chryselephantine image of Juno at Argos, though some of his bronze or marble figures were greatly renowned, as his Doryphorus, called the Canon, so exquisite were considered its proportions; an Amazon, and two naked boys playing at dibs (astragalizontes), were also very celebrated, besides numerous others. Lysippus is reported to have made his chief model the Doryphorus, or the statue called the Canon, of Polycletus: it is not certain that they were one and the same We may assume that the generic style of art became more natural and individual in the hands of Polycletus, who holds a middle place between Phidias and Lysippus. Polycletus used the bronze of Ægina. He was also an architect, and he wrote on symmetry.—(Junius, Catalogus Artificum; Sillig, Cat. Art.)—R. N. W.
POLYCRATES, Tyrant of Samos, in the sixth century before Christ, became ruler of the island with the help of his two brothers, with whom he divided the power at first, but afterwards banished one and put the other to death. He raised a formidable fleet, proceeded to conquer islands and cities, attacked Miletus, and defeated the Lesbians. The alliance between him and Amasis of Egypt is well known from Herodotus, who relates the apocryphal story of the ring thrown into the sea and recovered in a fish. The alliance was broken off by Polycrates, who sent
