ELIUS ARISTIDES. - Orator, born at Hadrianopolis in Mysia in A.D. 117, from a wealthy family, died c. A.D. 189. He studied at Pergamum and Athens. In 137 he visited Rhodes and Egypt, stopping at Alexandria where he first won applause for his discourses. In 155 he came to Italy where he contracted a severe illness which afflicted him for 17 years. He then became a devoted follower of Asclepius, frequenting assiduously the god’s temple at Pergamum, from which he claimed to have received revelations for the cure of his infirm health. He did not, however, neglect to compose numerous discourses. In 176 he had the honour of speaking in the presence of Marcus Aurelius Commodus at Smyrna, from whom he later obtained aid for the city, which had been destroyed by an earthquake.
Fifty-three discourses on various subjects remain from Aelius Aristides, written in a certain classical style but very superficial and filled with academic eloquence. Notable are the fourteenth, in which he praises Rome, and the forty-sixth, in which in a passage he attacks Christians, accusing them of insubordination to constituted authorities.