17. Phalaris. (d. c 554 BC)

Phalaridis agrigentinorum tyranni epistolae / ed. Charles Boyle. (Oxford : John Crooke, [1695])

Temple had used as an example of the superiority of the ancients, the Epistles of Phalaris, and a new edition was published, edited by Charles Boyle of Oxford. Unfortunately the "moderns" were able to prove, through the leading classicist of the day, Richard Bentley, that these "Epistles" were spurious.

Phalaris was a tyrant in Sicily, best remembered for roasting his enemies alive in a brass bull. The screams of his victims were heard as roars through the bull’s mouth. Perillus, the bull’s creator was chosen by Phalaris as the first victim, to demonstrate the effect. When Phalaris was overthrown, he too was put to death in the bull.