Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/1013

MAXIM us. vol. of Tillemont, Ilist. Jes Empereurs. (Procop. Bdl. Vand. i. 4, 5 ; Sidon. Apollin. P.p. i. 9, ii. 13; Panegyr. Avid, v. 359, &c., 442, &c. ; Prosper, Victor, Idatius, Marcellinus, Chronica ; Evagr. ii. 7 ; Joirnand. De Reb. Goth. p. 127, ed. Lindenbiog.) [W. P.] MA'XIMUS PLANU'DES. [Plv^nudes.] MA'XIMUS, QUINTI'LIUS, the brother of Quintilius ('ondianus, of whom an account is given under Condi an us. MA'XIMUS, RUTI'IJUS, a Roman jurist of uncertain age. He is only known from the Flo- rentine Index and a single excerpt in the Digest (30. s. 125), as the author of a treatise in a single book. Ad Legem Falcidiam^ which was enacted B. c. 40. [G. L.] MA'XIMUS, SANQUPNIUS, is first men- tioned towards the latter end of the reign of Tibe- rius, A. D. 32, when he is spoken of as a person of consular rank. (Tac. Ann. vi. 4.) We learn from Dion Cassius (lix. 13) and the Fasti that he was consul A. D. 39, in tlie reign of Caligula, but from the passage of Tacitus quoted above, he must have been consul previously, though his first consulship does not occur in the Fasti. He also held the office of praefectus urbi in the reign of Caligula. (Dion Cass. I. c.) In the reign of Claudius he had the command in Lower Germany, and died in the province, a. d. 47. (Tac. An7i. xi. 18.) He seems to have been a different person from Sanquinius, the accuser of Arruntius. (Tac. Aim. vi. 7.) MA'XIMUS SCAURUS. [Scaurus.] MA'XIMUS, SULPl'CIUS GALBA. [Gal- ea, No. 1.] MA'XIMUS TAURINENSIS, so called be- cause he was bishop of Turin, flourished about the middle of the filth century. He subscribed in a. d. 451 the synodic epistle of Eusebius, bishop of Milan, to Leo the Great ; and from the circum- stance that in the acts of the council of Rome, held in a. d, 465, by Hilarius, the successor of Leo, the signature of Maximus immediately follows that of the chief pontiff, taking precedence of the metropo- litans of Milan and Embrun, we may conclude that he was the oldest prelate present. It has been inferred from different passages in his works that he was born about the close of the fourth century, at Vercelli, that he was educated in that city, that he there discharged the first duties of the sacred office, and that he lived to a great age ; but it is impossible to speak with certainty upon these points. Gennadius, who is followed by Trithemius, states that Maximus composed a great number of tracts and homilies upon various subjects, several of which he specifies. Many of these have been pre- served in independent MSS., while the Lectionaria of the principal monasteries and cathedrals in Eu- rope, investigated with assiduity from the days of Charlemagne down to our own times, have yielded 60 many more which may with confidence be ascribed to this bishop of Turin, that he must be regarded as the most voluminous compiler of dis- courses in the Latin church. Little can be said in praise of the quality of these productions, most of which were probably delivered extemporaneously. They are so weak and so destitute of grace, elo- quence, and learning, that we wonder that they should ever have been thought worthy of preserva- tion at all. The only merit they possess is purely antiquarian, affording as they do incidentally con- MAXIMUS. .999 siderable insight into the ecclesiastical cercnionies and usages of the period to which they belong, and containing many curious indications of the state of manners. In the complete and sumptuous edition superin- tended by Bruno Brunus, published by the Propa- ganda at Rome (fol. 17B4), under the especial patronage of Pope Pius the Sixth, and enriched with annotations by Victor Amadous, king of Sar- dinia, the various pieces are ranked under three heads. I. HomUiae. II. Sermones. III. Tractatus. The HomUiae and the Sermones, the distinction between which is in the present case by no means obvious or even intelligible, amounting in all to. 233, are divided each into three classes, De Tem- pore, De Sanctis, De Diversis ; the discourses De Tempore relating to the moveable feasts, those Do Sanctis to the lives, works, and miracles of saints, confessors, and martyrs ; those De Diversis to mis- cellaneous topics. The Tractatus, in No. 6, are I. II. III. De Baptismo. IV. Contra Paganos. V. Contra Ju- daeos. VI. Eorpositiones de CapituUs Evangeliorum. Besides the above, we find in an appendix thirty- one Sermones, three HomUiae, and two Epistolae, all of doubtful authenticity ; and it is, moreover, proved that a vast number of sermons and homilies have been lost. Sermons by Maximus were first printed at Spires, by Peter Drach, fol. 1482, in the Homila- rium Doctorum, originally compiled, it is said, by Paulus Diaconus, at the command of Charlemagne. Seventy-four of his homilies were published in a separate form by Joannes Gymnicus at Cologne, 8vo. 1535. The number was gradually increased by the Benedictines in their editions of Augustin and Ambrose, by Mabillon {Museum Italicum, 1687), by Muratori (Anecdot. vol. iv. 1713), by Martene and Durand' (Collectio amplissima, &c., 1733 — 1741), and by Galland {Biblioth. Patrum, vol. ix. &c.), who, however, merely collected and arranged the contributions of preceding scholars ; but all editions must give way to that of Brunus mentioned above. (Schtinemann, Biblioth. Patrum Lat. vol. ii. § 25 ; Galland, Bibl. Pntr. Proleg. ad vol. ix. c. ix. ; and Brunus, in the life of Maximus, prefixed to his edition.) [V. R.] MA'XIMUS TYRANNUS, Roman emperor, was raised to the supreme power, in a. d. 408, by Gerontius when this general rebelled in Spain against Constantine. Olympiodorus says that Maximus was the son of Gerontius, but it seems more probable that he was only an officer in the army and his tool, and in the latter quality he be- haved during the short time he bo'-e the imperial title. When immediately after his revolt Geron- tius marched into Gaul, Maximus remained, at Tarragona, but could not prevent the Alans, Sue- vians. Vandals, and other barbarians from invading Spain in 409. After the defeat of Gerontius at Aries, and his death, in 411, Maximus was com- pelled to yield to the victorious Constantine, who forced him to renounce the imperial title, but granted him life and liberty on account of his in- capacity for important affairs. Maximus retired among the barbarians and lived an obscure life in a corner of Spain. As Orosius speaks of him as a living person, he was consequently alive in 417, the year in which that writer composed his work. Prosper states that in 419 (418?) he rebelled and bs 4