DION, surnamed Chryedstomun, or the Golden-mouthed, on account of the beauty of his style, the son of Pasicmtes, a man of considera tion at Prusa In Bithynia, was a sophist and stoic, lie was in Egypt when Veapasiesa, who had been proclaimed emperor by his own army, came there, and was consulted by that prince on the proper course to be adopted under the circumstances. Dion Lad the candour, or, as some may think, the want of judgment, to advise him to restore the republic. Afterwards be resided for some years at Rome, till one of his friends, having engaged in a conspiracy against Domitian, was con demned to death, and Dion, fearing for himself, tied to the modern Moldavia, where ho remained till the tyrant's death, labouring for his subsistence with his own hands, and possessing no books but the ' Pinedon' of Plato and Demoethenea rept napcorpreSsfal. Dotnitian having been amassinated, the legions quartered ou the Danube were about to revolt, when Dion got upon an altar and harangued them so effectually that they submitted to the decision of the senate. Dion
was in high favour with Nerve and Trajan, and when the latter triumphed after his I)aciau victories the orator sat in the emperor's car in the procession. lie returned to Bithynia, where lie spent the remainder of his life. Accusations of peculation and treason were brought against him, but rejected as frivolous. Dion died at an advanced ego, but It is not known in what year. We have eighty orations attributed to him, which are very prettily written, but not of much Intrinale value. The best edition is that of Iteiske, 2 vols. 8vo, Lips., 1784. The name Cocceianus, which Pliny (' Epiet.' x. 85, 86) gives to Dion, probably refers to his connection with the emperor Cocceius Nerve.