Page "Heraclides Ponticus" Paragraph 4

A punning on his name, dubbing him Heraclides " Pompicus ," suggests he may have been a rather vain and pompous man and the target of much ridicule.

According to Diogenes Laertius, he forged plays under the name of Thespis, and according to the same author, this time drawing from a different source, Dionysius the Deserter composed plays and forged them under the name of Sophocles.

Heraclides was deceived by this easily and cited from them as the words of Aeschylus and Sophocles.

However, Heraclides seems to have been a versatile and prolific writer on philosophy, mathematics, music, grammar, physics, history and rhetoric, notwithstanding doubts about attribution of many of the works.

It appears that he composed various works in dialogue form.