Diels 2 (1907) 58; G.A. Lindeboom, “Luke the Evangelist and the ancient Greek writers on medicine,”
Janus 52 (1965) 143–148; G. Del Guerra and A. Scapini, “S. Luca era medico?” Scientia veterum
106 (1967) 3–78.
Alain Touwaide
Loxos (400 – 350 BCE?)
Mentioned by Origen contra Celsum 1.53 as physiognomist (together with Z and
P) and eight times by the anonymous P L (§1) when
he refers to “Loxos the physician” as one of his three sources, together with “A
the philosopher and Polemo ̄n the rhetor.” The Origen quotation provides a terminus ante
quem of ca 220 CE; and the fact that the Physiognomista Latinus, when he mentions his
sources in order (§1, 48, 80), puts Loxos before “Aristotle” (meaning, the A
C P), has led to the assumption (e.g. by Misener) that he was older
than Aristotle. Boys-Stone (58–64) argues that Loxos “is a writer of clear Peripatetic
affiliation” (59).
The Physiognomista Latinus employs Loxos for the chapters on the eyes and pupils (§81)
and hair of the ears and nose (§ 82) and especially for the animal analogies (§ 118 – 131). He
quotes Loxos for a physiological explanation of the relation between body signs and character
traits: the blood is the seat of the soul, and its greater or lesser fluidity and free or obstructed
passages cause the differences in signs of the body and its parts, signifying different char-
acter types (§2, 12). And he attributes to Loxos and Polemo ̄n the belief that physiognomy
can be a method of divining the future (§133).
G. Misener, “Loxus, Physician and Physiognomist,” CP 18 (1923) 1–22; Jacques André, Traité de
physiognomonie: anonyme latin (CUF 1981) 24–26; G. Boys-Stones, “Physiognomy and Ancient Psycho-
logical Theory,” in Swain (2007) 19–124.
Sabine Vogt
L ⇒ (1) A L; (2) O L
T. Lucretius Carus (65 – 55 BCE)
Roman poet and Epicurean, author of the philosophical poem De Rerum Natura (On the
Nature of Things), one of our main sources for details of E’ atomic theory. Little is
known about Lucretius’ life. He was born sometime in the 90s BCE and probably died ca
50 BCE. His poem is addressed to Memmius, probably to be identified with C. Memmius,
the patron of the poet Catullus.
De Rerum Natura, approximately 7,400 lines in length, and divided into six books, is a
didactic epic, designed to instruct the reader in a memorable poetic style about the elements
of Epicurus’ atomic system. Lucretius’ poetic model for versifying natural philosophy
was the Pre-Socratic philosopher and poet E, whom he praised explicitly
(1.705–741). His chief, and perhaps sole, philosophical source was Epicurus, from whom he
received his philosophical inspiration and doctrines. Lucretius drew heavily on Epicurus’
writings, particularly his major work in 37 books, Peri Phuseo ̄s (On Nature), which is now
preserved only in fragments. Lucretius tried to present Epicurus’ doctrines as accurately and
memorably as he could.
The six books of Lucretius’ poem describe the atomic nature of the world, moving
gradually from the atomic level to the workings of the universe as a whole. Books 1 and 2
LOXOS