CLITOMACHUS

clitomachus, greek philosopher, was a carthaginian originally named hasdrubal, who came to athens about the middle of the 2nd century b.c. at the age of twenty-four. he made himself well acquainted with stoic and peripatetic philosophy; but he studied principally under carneades, whose views he adopted, and whom he succeeded as chief of the new academy in 129 b.c. he made it his business to spread the knowledge of the doctrines of carneades, who left nothing in writing himself. clitomachus' works were some four hundred in number; but we possess scarcely anything but a few titles, among which are _de sustinendis assensionibus_ ([greek: peri epoches], "on suspension of judgment") and [greek: peri aireseon] (an account of various philosophical sects). in 146 he wrote a treatise to console his countrymen after the ruin of their city, in which he insisted that a wise man ought not to feel grieved at the destruction of his country. cicero highly commends his works and admits his own debt in the _academics_ to the treatise [greek: peri epoches]. parts of cicero's _de natura_ and _de divinatione_, and the treatise _de fato_ are also in the main based upon clitomachus. see e. wellmann in ersch and gruber's _allgemeine encyclopadie_; r. hirzel, _untersuchungen zu ciceros philosophischen schriften_, i. (1877); diog. laert. iv. 67-92; cicero, _acad. pr._ ii. 31, 32, and _tusc._. iii. 22; and article academy, greek.