Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 3 (1897).djvu/504

482 APPENDIX A.D. 379. Or. xiv., Trpecr^evriKos eis 0«o8d<Ttoi' auTOKparopa (early in the year), pronounced at Thessalonica by Themistius as delegate of the Senate of Constantinople. A.D. 381. Or. XV., e;? @eoS6(TLov (February or March). On the virtues of a king. A.D> 383. Or. xv., xapto-Trjpio? T(i>- auTO/cpaTopi inrip Trjs eip/jnjs Kai Ti)? UTToreia? TOW (TTparriyov SoTopi'iVov ( Januarj'). On the jieaoe with the Gk)ths in 382. A-D. 384. Or. xvii., erri Tj) x<'poTo> ia rVjs iroAiapxias. Retiu-ning thanks for his own appointment to the Prefecture of Constantinople (c. Sept. 1 ?). A.D. 384. Or xviii., TTepi tVjs Tou ^ao-iAe'ios (^tATj/coia?. PanegjTic of Theodosius. A.D. 385. Or. xix., iniTri 4>i.Kav9poiTTi(}Tov avTOKpdropos &(oio<riov, prouounccd In the Senate ; praises the clemency of Theodosius (before Sept. 14). Si's-Esius of Cyrene (born 360-70 a.d. ) studied first at Alexandria, afterwards at Athens. When he had completed his academical course he returned to the Pentapolis and led the life of a cultivated coimtry gentleman. In 397 a.d. he arrived in Constantinople to plead the cause of C}Tene at the court, and stayed there some years, where he enjoj-ed the friendship of Aurelian. During that time he delivered his speech on the office of king (see above, p. 246), and ^vitnessed the fall of Aurelian and rebellion of Gainas. He afterwards made these events the subject of a bold political ' ' squib, " entitled ' ' The Egyptians ". For the light which this throws on the poUtical parties and intrigues in Constantinople, see below, Appendix 27. After the Gainas episode. Aurelian returned, and by his influence the petition of S}'nesius was granted. Synesius then returned to Africa (probably in 402 to Alexandria, and 404 to Cyrene ; so Seeck, who has revised the chronology of the letters of S3-nesius in a very valuable study in Philologus, 52, p. 458 sqq-, 1893). Translation of his interesting descriptions of the pleasures of covmtry life will be found in JMr. Halcomb's excellent article on "STOesius," in the Diet, of Chr. Biography. These descriptions occur in his letters, of which 156 arc extant^ (included in the Epistolographi Graeci of Hercher). The Cyrenaica, however, was exposed to the depredation of the nomads, owng to the incompetence of the governor Cerealis, and Synesius took an active part in defending the jiroxince. In 403 he h«d married a Christian wife ; he came under the influence of Theo- philus. Bishop of Alexandria (where he resided a couple of years) ; and was gradual!}' converted to Christianit}-. In 410 he jielded to the wishes of the people of Ptolemais and became a bishop. He died a few years later. His works, which included philosophical poems, may be most conveniently consulted in Migne's edition (^Monograph : Volkmann, Synesios von CjTene, 1869. See also A. Nieri, La Cirenaica nel secolo quinto giusta le lettere di Sinesio, in the Re^ista di filologia, 21, 220 sqq. (1892)). Palladius, Bishop of Helenopolis, wrote a biographical work on John Chrysostom (of v.'hom he was a supporter) under the title "A Dialogue with Theodore the Deacon ". After Chrj'sostom's banishment, not being safe in Constantinople, he went to Rome and explained to the Pope the true facts of Chrysostom s treatment. Afterwards returning to the east he was thrown into prison, and then banished to a remote part of Egypt. At a later time his sen- tence was revoked ; he seems to have been restored to Helenopolis, and was then translated to the See of Aspuna in Galatia I. (Socrates, viL 36;. A strict ascetic himself, he dedicated to Lausus the Chamberlain (of Theodosius ii. ?) a compila- tion of short biogra])hies of men and women of his time who had embraced the ascetic life. It is Imown as the Historia Lausiaca [yrntien about 420 a.d.); more will be said of it in considering the sources for the growth of mouasticism, in an appendix to vol. iv. To what has been said of Eunapius in vol. ii. Apjjendix 1 (p. 5.37) I must here add a reference to a paper of C. de Boor (in Rheinisches Museum, vol. xlvii. (1892) p. 321-3) on the new edition of the history of Eunapius, which, softened dovn and mutilated so as not to shock the susceptibilities of Christian readers, was subsequently issued (by the book-trade?). The Prooemium in the i Among them, letters to Hypatia.