[2] Taurus was a native of Berytos (present-day Beirut) and, according to Jerome, reached the age of forty in the year 145, so he would have been born around 105.
Gellius is one of the main sources for Taurus's life and works, providing anecdotes and accounts of dinner conversations.
[citation needed] Gellius, though, never qualified for advanced courses in philosophy, and his dialogues involving Taurus contain some literary embellishments.
[6] The picture that Gellius paints of his tutor is that of a mild, friendly and well-educated man, equipped with a thorough knowledge of the Platonic dialogues.
[8] The Suda attributes to Taurus a treatise On the Distinction between the Theories of Plato and those of Aristotle (Peri tēs tōn dogmátōn diaphorás Plátōnos kai Aristotélous) and one On the Material and the Immaterial, among other works.
[10] Taurus refused to obscure the differences between Plato and Aristotle; he defended Platonism with religious fervor against the Stoics and Epicureans.