Attalus (Stoic)

Attalus (Greek: Ἄτταλος) was a Stoic philosopher in the reign of Tiberius (c. 25 AD), who was defrauded of his property by Sejanus, and reduced to cultivating the ground.^[1] He taught the philosopher Seneca,^[2] who frequently quotes him, and speaks of him in the highest terms.^[3] The elder Seneca describes him^[1] as a man of great eloquence, and by far the acutest philosopher of his age. We have mention of a work of his on lightning;^[4] and it is supposed that he may be the author of the Proverbs referred to by Hesychius^[5] as written by one Attalus.

Notes

1. Seneca, Suasoriae, 2.
2. Seneca, Epistles. 108.
3. Compare Naturales Quaestiones, ii. 50, Epistles, 9, 63, 67, 72. 81, 109.
4. Seneca, Naturales Quaestiones, ii. 48.
5. Hesychius, Korinnousi.

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "ATTALUS, literary". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.