ELIO ARISTIDE. — Rhetorician, born at Adrianople in Moesia in 117 A.D. to a wealthy family, died around 189. He studied at Pergamum and Athens. In 137 he visited Rhodes and Egypt, stopping at Alexandria, where he received his first applause for his speeches. In 155 he came to Italy, where he contracted a serious illness that afflicted him for 17 years. He then became a faithful devotee of Escolapio, whose temple at Pergamum he visited assiduously and from whom he believed he had received revelations for treating his precarious health. Nevertheless, he did not neglect to compose numerous speeches. In 176 he had the honour of speaking in the presence of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus at Smyrna, from whom he later also obtained aid for the same city, which had been destroyed by an earthquake.
There remain 53 speeches by E. A. on various subjects, written in a somewhat classical style, but very superficial and filled with academic eloquence. Worth noting
are XIV, in which he praises Rome, and XLVI, in one passage of which he inveighs against the Christians, accusing them of insubordination to the constituted authorities.