Acerbity
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| - | '''Zoilus''' (Ζωΐλος ''Zoilos''; c. 400 - 320 BC) was a [[Greece|Greek]] [[grammarian]], [[Cynicism (philosophy)|Cynic]] [[Philosophy|philosopher]], and [[literary critic]] from [[Amphipolis]] in [[East Macedonia]], then known as [[Thrace]]. He took the name '''Homeromastix''' (Ὁμηρομάστιξ "Homer whipper"; ''gen''.: Ὁμηρομάστιγος) later in life. | + | # [[sourness|Sourness]] of taste, with [[bitterness]] and [[astringency]], like that of [[unripe]] fruit. |
| - | + | # [[harshness|Harshness]], bitterness, or severity | |
| - | ==Biography== | + | |
| - | According to [[Vitruvius]] (vii., preface), Zoilus lived during the age of [[Ptolemy Philadelphus]], by whom he was crucified as the punishment of his criticisms on the king; but this account should probably be rejected as a fiction based on Zoilus' reputation. Vitruvius goes on to state that Zoilus also may have been stoned at [[Chios]] or thrown alive upon a funeral pyre at [[Smyrna]]. Either way Vitruvius felt it was just as well since he deserved to be dead for slandering an author who could not defend himself. Zoilus appears to have been at one time a follower of [[Isocrates]], but subsequently a pupil of [[Polycrates (sophist)|Polycrates]], whom he heard at [[Athens]], where he was a teacher of rhetoric. | + | |
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| - | Zoilus was chiefly known for the [[acerbity]] of his attacks on Homer, chiefly directed against the [[fabulous]] element in the [[Homeric poems]]. Zoilus also wrote responses to works by [[Isocrates]] and [[Plato]], who had attacked the style of [[Lysias]] of which he approved. | + | |
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| - | However, the ''Homeric questions'' led to his name becoming a byword for [[harsh]] and [[malignant]] [[criticism]]: in antiquity he gained the name "Homeromastix," "[[scourge]] of Homer"; in the [[modern period]], [[Miguel de Cervantes|Cervantes]] calls Zoilus a "slanderer" in the preface to [[Don Quixote]] and there is also a (now disused) proverb, "Every poet has his Zoilus." Since his writings do not survive, it is impossible to know whether this caricature is justified. | + | |
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| - | == See also == | + | |
| - | * [[wikt:Zoilism|Zoilism]] | + | |
| - | * [[-mastix]] | + | |
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- Sourness of taste, with bitterness and astringency, like that of unripe fruit.
- Harshness, bitterness, or severity
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