ANAXIMENES, a Greek rhetorician and historian, who was employed by Philip, king of Macedon, to instruct his son Alexander in the art of rhetoric. He was born about 580 years before Christ, and was the son of Aris tocles of Lampsacus, and the disciple of the celebrated Diogenes, the Cynic, and the no less celebrated Zoilus of Amphipolis, who railed againt Homer. Among the other learned men who attended the Macedonian hero, in his expedition against the Persians, was Anaximenes the rhetorician, who is said to have saved the city of Lampsacus, by an ingenious retort, from the vengeance of Alexander. The inhabitants of that place, who had espoused the cause of Darius, when they were subdued by Alexander, entreated their countryman Anaximenes, to intercede with his master in their favour. The king, aware of his intention, as soon as he saw him approach, swore that he would deny him what he was about to ask ; " Then," said Anaximenes, " I entreat you to destroy Lampsacus, to burn its temples, and to sell the inhabitants for slaves." Alexander, struck with this dexterous reply,
kept his word, and saved the city. It is also related of Anaximenes, that, to be revenged of the historian Theo pompus, who had by some means incurred his displeasure, he wrote a severe satire against the Spartans and The bans, addressed to the Athenians, which was so much in the style of Theopompus, that it was generally believed to be the production of that historian, who consequently incurred the odium and indignation of all the Grecian states. Anaximenes wrote a history of the life and ac tions of Philip, and another of those of Alexander. He also wrote twelve books on the early history of Greece, beginning with the Theogony, or fabulous history, and ending with the battle of Mantinea ; but none of his works are extant. Sztid. Pausan. Eliac. lib. 2. c. 19. Gen. Biog. (in)