OP'PIAN (Lat. Oppianus, from Gk. 'Orirtavfs, Oppinnos). Ill A Greek didactic poet, who flour ished in the reign of Marcus Aurelius. Ile was born in Coryens in Cilicia of a wealthy and dis tinguished family. When the Emperor Venus vis ited Corycus,Oppian's father failed to join in the general manifestations of adulation. and therefore was banished to the island of Melita in the Adri atic.. Oppian accompanied him in his exile, and after the death of Verus (S.D. 169 ) won such favor with Marcus Aurelius by means of his poem in five books on fishing. Flalicutica ('AXLEV7 Oat) , dedicated to the Emperor and his son Commodus. that the Emperor not only granted him his fa ther's release from exile. Mit, according to the tradition, paid hint a piece of gold for every verse. The poem is written in a smooth but ornate and artificial style. and at times descends to bombast. The high esteem in which it was held in antiquity is to us incomprehensible. Oppian died in his thirtieth year: his native town honored his memory with a statue, (2) To this same Oppian the ancient writer of his Life falsely attributes two other didactic poems, one on limiting in four hooks. Cr/Her/c(ic/1
(livnry ET wk.) , the other, now lost. on bird-catch ing, /xcutica ('Ielyrocci). But it is clear from internal evidence that the Caney( lieu was not written by the earlier poet, for it is dedicated to the Emperor Caracalla and apparently' was com posed in A.D. 212; furthermore, the author speaks of his home as Apamea in Syria ; and finally the metrical structure is inferior to the eareful ele gance of the Halicutica. The iscutim is pos zsibly preserved in a paraphrase by a certain Dionysins. The best edition of the Thai/ /dice, cyn( yetica, and the paraphrase. is by Lehr. in his Terse Buen/lei t Didaet lei ( Paris, 18461. There is an English translation of the by Drawl- and Jones tOxftird, 1722), and of the Cyneyetien by .:?lawer (1.ondon, 17861. See also Ansi/.Id. Dr (ppiano et Seripti8 sub elus Tradit is tt:otha, 1571;).