gargles, one with saffron, kostos, roses, and sumac, the other with rush-flower, alum,
cassia, saffron, Illyrian iris, Indian nard, and myrrh, both in honey.
RE 15.1 (1931) 504 (#4), R. Hanslik.
PTK
Melior (d. 144 CE)
Calculator who wrote notebooks (commentarii) of everything he knew. Melior, possibly a home-
bred slave (Russell 214), died at age 13 and was honored by his grieving teacher (Sex.
Aufustius Agreus) with an epitaph (ILS 7755: Ostia) proclaiming his recall and knowledge
(scientia; he apparently had mastered the names of all things from antiquity to the day of his
death), which would “fill a volume rather than an inscription.” Russell (214) hesitates over
authenticity, probably in view of the unusual and precise death-date.
D.A. Russell, “Arts and Sciences in Ancient Education,” G&R 36 (1989) 210–225.
GLIM
Melissos of Samos (ca 480 – 430 BCE)
Born ca 500, admiral who defeated the Athenian fleet at Samos in 441 BCE. The argument of
his lost work can be reconstructed from extensive fragments, the brief account of A,
and a more detailed paraphrase by the anonymous O M, X
G. Melissos revives the arguments of P in prose, with some change.
By insisting that the only Being is infinite, argues Aristotle (Physics 1.2), he gave Parmenide ̄s
a materialistic interpretation. He is especially interested in the theory of motion, void (a
necessary condition of motion according to Melissos) and mixture, excluding the possibility
of all three. Sense perception and “common mind” are delusory. A late source adduces a
fragment claiming incorporeality for his only being, but the authenticity and the context
of the statement is highly problematic.
D.N. Sedley in Long (1999) 390–441; DPA 4 (2005) 391–393, R. Goulet.
István M. Bugár
On Melissos, Xenophane ̄s, and Gorgias (“MXG”) (300 – 50 BCE)
Transmitted by MSS under the name of A or T, consisting of
three treatises dedicated to a pre-Socratic philosopher each. Each treatise first provides a
reconstruction of the main tenets and arguments of the philosopher in question, followed
by a detailed analysis of the validity of their reasoning. The three philosophers treated are
related to the Eleatic school, the central figure of which was P.
The textual tradition is very poor, and the text badly needs a critical edition, since the
century-old editions of Apelt and Diels are over-emended, while that of Cassin follows the
most puzzling readings. There is already confusion about the titles in the MSS. Some supply
the following title: On Xenophane ̄s, Ze ̄no ̄n and Gorgias, others reverse the order of the first two
names. However, the first treatise begins with an accurate account of M’ phil-
osophy, and the second can only be related to X. The transmitted title and
some cross-references in the work – which support a single author-editor for the three
treatises – make it likely that a treatise on Z E has been lost.
Like the account of Melissos, the G treatise appears more reliable on doctrine
MELIOR