Demetrius of Magnesia was a Greek grammarian and biographer, and a contemporary of Cicero

Cicero

Marcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...

 and Atticus

Titus Pomponius Atticus

Titus Pomponius Atticus, born Titus Pomponius , came from an old but not strictly noble Roman family of the equestrian class and the Gens Pomponia. He was a celebrated editor, banker, and patron of letters with residences in both Rome and Athens...

. He had, in Cicero's recollection, sent Atticus a work of his on concord, , which Cicero also was anxious to read. A second work of his, which is often referred to, was of an historical and philological

Philology

Philology is the study of language in written historical sources; it is a combination of literary studies, history and linguistics.Classical philology is the philology of Greek and Classical Latin...

nature, and treated of poets and other authors who bore the same name . This important work, to judge from what is quoted from it, contained the lives of the persons, and a critical examination of their merits.