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ALEXANDER.
p. 198), and also under another person, whose name he does not mention, but to whose son Cosmas he dedicates his chief work (xii. i. p. 313), which he wrote out of gratitude at his request. He was a man of an extensive practice, of a very long experience, and of great reputation, not only at Rome, but wherever he travelled in Spain, Gaul, and Italy (i. 15, pp. 156, 157), whence he was called by way of eminence " Alexander the Physician." Agathias speaks also with great praise of his four brothers, Anthemius, Dioscorus, Metro-dorus, and Olympius, who were all eminent in their several professions. Alexander is not a mere compiler, like Aetius, Oribasius, and others, but is an author of quite a different stamp, and has more the air of an original writer. He wrote his great work (as he tells us himself, xii. 1, p. 313) in an extreme old age, from the results of his own experience, when he could no longer bear the fatigue of practice. His style in the main, says Freind, is very
•good, short, clear, and (to use his own term, xii. 1, p. 313) consisting of common expressions; and though (through a mixture of some foreign words occasioned perhaps by his travels) not always perfectly elegant, yet very expressive and intelligible. Fabricius considers Alexander to have belonged to.
• the sect of the Methodici, but in the opinion of Freind this is not proved sufficiently by the passages adduced. The weakest and most curious Dart of his practice appears to be his belief in ihcirms and amulets, some of which may be quoted is specimens. For a quotidian ague, " Gather in olive leaf before sun-rise, write on it with com-non ink /fa, poz, a, and hang it round the neck" xii. 7, p. 339); for the gout, " Write on a thin late of gold, during the waning of the moon, juet,
>z>, and wear it round the ankles ; pronouncing also «£", d£v<p, fucoz/, Spev^ f3a.ii>., %coco/c" (xi. 1, p. 313), r else this verse of Homer (II. /3. 95)
"hile the moon is in Libra ; but it is much better
she should, be in Leo." (Hid.) In exorcising
te gout (ibid. p. 314) he says, " I adjure thee by
le great name 'laco 3agae£0," that is,
lN and a little further on, " I adjure thee 1 the holy names 'law, 2aga&50, '
at is, irfctf iyTN rriNis
••• • • • • • •
hich he would appear to have been either a Jew
a Christian, and? from his frequently prescribing
/ine's flesh, it is most probable that he was a
iristian. His chief work, entitled Et§A.ia'Iarpi«:d
joicaiSexa, Libri Duodecim de Re Medica, first
peared in an old, barbarous, and imperfect Latin
inslation, with the title Alexandri Yatros Prac-
2, ^c., Lugd. 1504, 4to., which was several times
)rinted, and corrected and amended by Albanus
rinus, Basil. 1533, fol. It was first edited in
eek by Jac. Goupylus, Par. 1548, fol., a beauti-
and scarce edition, containing also Rhazae de
stilentia Libellus ex Syrorum Lingua in Graecam
nslatus. It was published in Greek with a new
tin translation by Jo. Guinterus Andernacus,
sil. 1556, 8vo., which is a rare and valuable
Lion. Quinter's translation has been several
es reprinted, and is inserted by Ii. Stephens in
Medicae Artis Principes, Paris, 1567, fol.; it
» forms part of Haller's Collection of Medical
itcrs, Lausann, 1772, 8vo. 2 vols. The other
127
ALEXANDER.
work of Alexander's that is still extant is a short treatise, Tlepl eE\^tv6a}v, De Lumbricis, which was first published in Greek and Latin by Hieron. Mer-curialis, Venet. 1570, 4to. It is also inserted in his work De Morbis Puerorum, Francof. 1584, 8vo., and in the twelfth volume of the old edition of Fabricius, Bibliotheca Graeca; the Latin translation alone is included in Haller's Collection mentioned above. An Arabic translation is mentioned by Dr. Sprenger in his dissertation De Oriainibus Medicinae Araln-cae sub Khalifatu, Lugd. Bat. 1840, 8vo.; and also by J. G. Wenrich, De Auctorum Graecorum Versionibus et Commentariis SyriaciS) Arabici^ Armeniacis, Persicisque, Lips. 1842, 8vo.
Alexander seems also to have written several other medical works which are now lost. He expresses his intention of writing a book on Fractures, and also on Wounds of the Head. A treatise on Urine written by him is alluded to by Joannes Actuarius (De Urin, Differ, c. 2. p. 43), and lie himself mentions a work of his on Diseases of the Eyes, which was translated into Arabic. (Sprenger, Wenrich,I.e.) The other medical treatise on Pleurisy, which is said to have been also translated into Arabic, was probably only the sixth book of his great work, which is entirely devoted to the consideration of this disease. A very full account of the life and works of Alexander Trallianus was published at London, 1734, 8vo., by Edward Mil-ward, M. D., entitled " Trallianus Reviviscens ; or, an Account of Alexander Trallian, one of the Greek Writers that flourished after Galen : shewing that these Authors are far from deserving the imputation of mere compilers," &c. Two other medical works which are sometimes attributed to Alexander Trallianus (viz. a Collection of Medical and Physi-
."
cal Problems, and a treatise on Fevers) are noticed under alexander aphrodisiensis. (Freind's Hist, of Phi/sic., whose words have been sometimes borrowed; Fabricius, Bibl. Grace, vol. xii. p. 593, sq. ed. vet.; Haller, Bibliotheca Medicinae Pradi-cae, torn, i.; Sprengel, Hist, de la Med. torn. ii.; Isensee, Geschichte der Medicin; Choulant, Hand-buck der Bucherkunde fur die Aeitere Medicin.)
[W. A. G.]
ALEXANDER ^AXQavfyns), of thichonium in Aetolia, was commander of the Aetolians in b.c. 218 and 219. He attacked the rear of the army of Philip on his return from Thermus, but the attempt- was unsuccessful, and many Aetolians fell. (Polyb. v. 13.) [L. S.]
ALEXANDER ZEBINA or ZABINAS ('AAe^avdpos ZaSivas), the son of a merchant named Protarchus, was set up by Ptolemy Physcon, king of Egypt, as a pretender to the crown of the Greek kingdom of Syria shortly after the death of Antioclms Sidetes and the return of Demetrius Nicator from his captivity among the Parthians. (b.c. 128.) Antioch, Apamea, and several other cities, disgusted with the tyranny of Demetrius, acknowledged the authority of Alexander, who pretended to have been adopted by Antiochus Sidetes ; but he never succeeded in obtaining power over the whole of Syria. In the earlier part of the year 125 he defeated Demetrius, who fled to Tyre and was there killed; but in the middle of the same year Alexander's patron, the king of Egypt, set up against him Antiochus Grypus, a son of Demetrius, by whom he was defeated in battle. Alexander fled to Antioch, where he attempted to plunder the temple of Jupiter, in order
