ed himself a Rhodian. The second "life" adds: "Some say that
he returned to Alexandria and again recited his poem with the utmost
success, so that he was honoured with the libraries of the Museum and
was buried with Callimachus." The last sentence may be interpreted by
the notice of Suidas, who informs us that Apollonius was a contemporary
of Eratosthenes, Euphorion and Timarchus, in the time of Ptolemy
Euergetes, and that he succeeded Eratosthenes in the headship of the
Alexandrian Library. Suidas also informs us elsewhere that Aristophanes
at the age of sixty-two succeeded Apollonius in this office. Many modern
scholars deny the "bibliothecariate" of Apollonius for chronological
reasons, and there is considerable difficulty about it. The date of
Callimachus' "Hymn to Apollo", which closes with some lines (105-113)
that are admittedly an allusion to Apollonius, may be put with much
probability at 248 or 247 B.C. Apollonius must at that date have been at
least twenty years old. Eratosthenes died 196-193 B.C. This would make
Apollonius seventy-two to seventy-five when he succeeded Eratosthenes.
This is not impossible, it is true, but it is difficult. But the
difficulty is taken away if we assume with Ritschl that Eratosthenes
resigned his office some years before his death, which allows us to
put the birth of Apollonius at about 280, and would solve other
difficulties. For instance, if the Librarians were buried within
the precincts, it would account for the burial of Apollonius next to
Callimachus--Eratosthenes being still alive. However that may be, it
is rather arbitrary to take away the "bibliothecariate" of Apollonius,
which is clearly asserted by Suidas, on account of chronological
calculations which are themselves uncertain. Moreover, it is more
probable that the words following "some say" in the second "life" are
a remnant of the original life than a conjectural addition, because the
first "life" is evidently incomplete, nothing being said about the end
of Apollonius' career.

The principal event in his life, so far as we know, was the quarrel
with his master Callimachus, which was most probably the cause of his
condemnation at Alexandria and departure to Rhodes. This quarrel appears
to have arisen from differences of literary aims and taste, but, as
literary differences often do, degenerated into the bitterest personal
strife. There are references to the quarrel in the writings of both.
Callimachus attacks Apoll