Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/1197

NICETAS. Tiortancft, and he was honoured with the title of senator. He was present at the capture of Con- etantinople by the Latins in 1204, of which he has given us a most impressive and, undoubtedly, faitliful description. His palace was burnt down during the storm, and after many dangerous adventures he escaped, with his family, to Nicaea, through the assistance of a generous Venetian merchant. There he continued to live at the court of the emperor Theodore Lascaris, and employed his time in writing that great historical work which has brought his name down to posterity. He died at Nicaea in, or perhaps after 1216. Modern travellers have tried, but in vain, to discover his tomb. The Historia is a corollary of ten distinct works, each of which contains one or more books, of which there are twenty-one, giving the history of the emperors from 1118 down to 1206 : viz. Joannes Comnenus (1118 — 1143), in one book ; Manuel Comnenus (1143 — 1180), in seven books; Alexis Comnenus (1180 — 1183), in one book ; Andro- nicus Comnenus (1183 — 1185) in two books; Isaac Angelas (1185 — 1195), in three books; Alexis Angelus (1195 — 1203), in three books; Isaac- Angelus and his son Alexis (1203 — 1204), in one book ; Alexis Ducas Murzuplus (1204), in one book ; Urbs Capta, or the events during and immediately after the taking of Constantinople (1204), in one book ; Baldwin of Flanders (1204 — 1206), in one book. The mode of quoting this historical work is thus : Nicetas, Isaac Angelus^ i. 3 ; Urbs Capta, c. 1 ; Andron. Comnen. ii. 5, &c. Editions : Ed. princeps, by H. Wolf, with a Latin version, Basel, 1 557, fol. ; reprinted, with an index and a chronology by Simon Goulartius, Geneva, 1593, 4to ; by Fabrot, with a most valuable Glos- sarium Graeco-barbarum, and a revised translation, notes, &c., Paris, 1647, fol. in the Paris collection of the Byzantines ; the same badly reprinted, Venice, 1729, fol. The last edition is in the Bonn collection of the Byzantines, edited by J. Bekker, 1835. A Greek MS. in the Bodleian, divided into two books, and giving an account of the conquest of Constantinople, with special regard to the statues destroyed by the Latins, is ascribed to Nicetas, but it seems to have been altered by a later writer, who made additions. The account of the statues, which is of great interest, is given by Fabricius quoted below, and critical investigations concerning this MS. are given by Harris, in his Philologicul Enquiries (part iii. c. 5). The work itself has been published by Wilken, under the title of Nicetae Narratio de Statuis antiquis, quas Franci, post captam anno 1204 Constantinopolin destruacerunt. Lips. 1830. The four splendid brass horses at Venice were taken by the Vene- tians during the plunder of Constantinople in 1204, and fortunately escaped the barbarous avarice of the Latin soldiery. We cannot wonder at seeing Nicetas deeply incensed against the con- querors ; but though very partial in his expressions, he is generally impartial as to facts. His style is bombastic, yet some portions of his work are most expressive and even beautiful. The History of Nicetas, as far as it treats the conquest of Con- stantinople, ought not to be studied without com- paring it with Villehardouin's De la Conqtteste de Constantinoble, and Paolo Ramusio's elegant work, De Bello ConstantinopoUiano, ^c, Venice, 1635, foL NICETAS. 1103 Nicetas also wrote: &-ncravpds opOoSo^ms, in twenty-seven books, the first five of which were translated into Latin by P. Morel (Morellus), Paris, 1561, 8vo., 1579, 1610 ; Geneva, 1629. They are also in the 12th vol. of the BiU. Pair. Colon. But the whole is as yet unpublished. The complete work is extant in MS. in the Royal Library at Paris ; and there is another, but some- what abridged copy in the Bodleian. Some minor productions of Nicetas, among which a fragment on the ceremonies observed when a Mohammedan adopted the Christian religion, are extant in dif- i'erent libraries in Europe. Michael Choniates, the elder brother of Nicetas, wrote MovoSla, being the life of Nicetas in bombastic verses, translated into Latin, and published by P. Morel, Paris, 1566, 8vo. ; and also in the 25th vol. of the Bibl. Patr. Lugdun. (Fabric. Bibl. Gruec. voh vii. p. 737, &c.; Hankius, Script. Byzant. ; Leo Allatius, De Nicetis; Hamberger, NachriclUen von gelehrten M'dnnern; Harris, /,c.) 2. Archidiaconus et Chartophylax Magnae Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae, lived about 1080, and wrote KvaQefjLaTKTfj.oi II., Anathematismi contra Joannem Philosoplium Italum, a treatise on the orthodox faith, which is still esteemed in the Greek church, though it was never printed. It is extant in MS. at Venice. (Cave, Hist. Liter, ad an. 1080 ; Leo Allat. De Consensu Utriusqtie Eccles. 1. ii. c. 10.) 3. BvzANTiNus, a monk who lived about 1120, wrote Tractahis Apologeticus pro Synodo Chalce- donensi adversiis Arine?iiae Principem, ed. Leo Allatius, Graece et Latine, in the first vol. of Graecia Ortliodom, Rome, 1652, 4to.; some ascribe this work to Nicetas Paphlago. (Cave, Hist. Liter. ad an. 1120 ; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol vii. p. 746.) 4. David. [See No. 9.] 5. EuGENiANUS, lived probably towards the end of the the twelfth century, and wrote in poetry ""The History of the Lives of Drusilla and Cha- ricles," which is the worst of all the Greek romances that have come down to us. It was published for the first time by Boissonade, together with the fragments of an erotic poem by Con- stantinus Manasses, 1819, 2 vols. 6. Georgius, of uncertain age, wrote Epistolae de Creatione Honmiis, extant in MS. at Vienna. (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. xii. p. 53.) 7. Maronita, chartophylax, and afterwards archbishop of Thessalonica, lived about 1200, and showed himself well disposed towards the con- templated union of the Greek and Latin churches. He wrote : 1. De Processione Spiritus Sancti Dia- logorum Libri VIIL, in which he introduces a Greek and a Latin discussing the above subject. Leo Allatius {Contra Hottinger. c. 19) gives some fragments of it. 2. Rcsponsio ad Inter rogationcs Basilii Monachi, Graec. et Lat. in Leunclavius, Jus Graeco-Rom. 3. Responsio ad Interrogationes de diversis Casibus Ecclesiast., ibid. 4. De Mira- culis S. Demelrii Martyris., extant in the Bodleian. 5. Eitpositio Canonum s. Canticorum S. Joan. Da- 7nasceni, extant in MS. in Vienna. He also wrote some minor works. (Cave, Hist. Liter, ad an. 1201.) 8. Nicaeanus, chartophylax at Nicaea, of uncertain age, wrote De Schismate inter Eccles. Graecara et Romanam, extant in MS. in Paris and elsewhere ; Leo Allatius gives a fragment (»f it in De Synodo Pholian. Al'M perhaps De Azy-