HERACLIDES, surnamed Ponticus, because he was a native of Heraclea in Pontus, was the son of Euthyphron, of noble birth and of great riches. Of his private history only a few particulars have come down to us, which are found in Suidas and Diogenes Laertius (v. 86). At Athens we find him the disciple of Plato, who died 347 b. c. ; of Speusippus, who taught 347-339 b. c.; and of Aristotle, who taught at Athens 334-322 b. c. On his return to his native city he expelled a tyrant, and established freedom; but he is accused of having arrogated to himself more power than was consistent with the principles which he advocated. He persuaded the inhabitants of Heraclea that an oracle had commanded him to be presented with a golden crown; but whilst he was in the act of being crowned, he fell down in a fit of apoplexy. Having recovered consciousness, but aware that he was dying, it is said that he wished a friend to remove his body and substitute a serpent, that his fellow-citizens might believe that he had been carried to heaven. Such stories, however, ought to be regarded with great suspicion. He was the author of many works of considerable merit, though both Cicero (Nat. Deor. i. 13) and Plutarch {Camil. 22) speak of his judgment with no respect; whilst Aristoxenus and Chamaeleon render us suspicious of his literary honesty. His ethical writings were principally in the form of a dia [7:11:241]slogue, and treated of justice, moderation, self-restraint, religious feelings, firmness, virtue, and happiness. His physical works contained treatises on reason, the soul, nature, , on things in heaven and in hell, on life, and on goodness.

Amongst his grammatical writings are mentioned a work in two books on the age of Homer and Hesiod, on Archilochus and Homer, and on the qualities of Sophocles and Euripides. (For a detailed account of his works, the reader may consult Clinton’s Fasti Hellenici, vol. ii. p. 470.) Some extracts from his treatise on the Constitutions of various States remain. They are usually published along with the Variae Historiae of Aelian. The best edition is that by Coray, Paris, 1805. There is a separate edition by Koeler, Fragmenta de Civitatibus, Halae, 1804.

Heraclides, the author of a work on incredible events (w≈g∕ aitiβωv), and another on Homeric allegories (αλλijyo- gια ∣ 'Oμηξ ∣ xaι), which has been falsely ascribed to the native of Heraclea. We have no means of discovering at what time Heraclides flourished, or of what city he was a native; but his works are not without value, chiefly as supplying us with many quotations from lost poets. In the first we have a number of wonderful stories after the manner of Palaephatus, but all naturally resolved. In the second he has endeavoured to explain the mythic stories of Homer as allegories, in order to relieve Homer from the charge of impiety, to which he thinks he would otherwise be exposed. It was first published along with Palaephatus and some other authors, at Venice, by Aldus (1505), then by Gessner, Basle (1544), and by Gale in his Opuscula Mythological Amstel. 1688. The best edition is that by Heyne, Heraclida Allegories Homeri cae, cum notis Schow. Götting. 1782; De Incredibilibus, Gr. et Lat. ed Teucher, Lemgo, 1796. The Allegories have been translated into German by Schulthess, Zurich, 1779.