Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/24

10 ELIAS. has examined the subject most carefully, agrees with Leunclavius in distinguishing the writer from the prelate, and deduces from the internal evidence of his works that the writer lived about a. d. 1120 or 1 1 30. Rewrote (1) Commentaries on several of tJie Orations of Gregory Nazianzen. There are several MSS. extant of these commentaries in the original Greek, but we believe they have never been printed. A Latin version of them, partly new, partly selected from former translations, was published by Billius with his Latin version of Gregory's works, and has been repeatedly reprinted. (2.) A Commentary on the KKlfxa^, Cliinax, ^Scala Paradisic"' or Ladder of Paradise of Joannes or John surnamed Scholasticus or Climacus. This commentary, which has never been published, but is extant in MS., is described by Rader in his edition of the Climax, as very bulky. Some ex- tracts are embodied in the Scholia of a later com- mentator given by Rader. (3.) A7i Anstcer respecting virgins espoused before the age of pvherty. This is extant in MS. in the King's Library at Paris, in the catalogue of which the author is described as the metropolitan of Crete. (4.) Answers to Dionysius the Monk on his seven different questions^ given by Binefidius {Juris Orient. Libri, iii. p. 185) and Leunclavius {Jus Gr. Rom. i. p. 335). It is not known that any other works of his are extant. Nicolaus Commenus in his Praeno- tiones Mystagogicae cites other works, but they are probably lost. One was On the Morals of the Heathens, and the others were Answers to the Monks of Corinth^ To tlie Monks of A sea, and To tlie Solitary Monks. Harless incorrectly as- cribes to Elias of Crete the work of Elias or Helias of Charax [see No. 4] on versification. (Cave, Hist. Lit.Yol. i. p. 641 ; Rader, Isagoge ad Scalam St. Joannis Climaci, prefixed to his edition of that work ; Oudin, Commentarii de Scriptor. et Scriptis Ecclesiasticis, vol. ii. col. 1066, &c. ; Fabric. BiU. Graec. vol. viii. p. 430, ix. p. 525, xi. p. 615; Catalogus Librorum Manuscriptorum Bibliothecae Jiegiae, Paris, 1740.) 6. Elias, called, from the ecclesiastical office which he held, Ecdicus ("E/cStfcos), or "the De- fender," was the author of a Greek work on the Ascetic life, extant in MS. in the Imperial Library at Vienna, and in the King's Library at Paris. The work is said to be entitled Ilrj-y^ vaiovara. A Latin version of a part is given in the Biblio- tlieca Patrum, vol. xxii, p, 756, &c. ed. Lyons, 1677. In the catalogue of the King's Library at Paris is a Greek MS. containing, among other things, a FloHlegium., or selection, said to be by " Helias, Presbyter et Defensor." (Montfaucon, Bibliotlieca Bi/iltfjl/ieca?-um, p. 548 ; Catal. Codd. MStorum Bibliolh. Regiue, vol. ii. Nos. cccLXil. 6, DCCCLVlll. 21, Paris, 1740; Cave, Hist. Lit. vol. ii. Dissert. i. p. 7 ; Fabric. Dibl. Graec. vol. xi. p. 615.) 7- Elias, cjilled "the Monk." Leo Allatius in his De Symeonum Scriptis Diatriba (p. 101) men- tions a discourse Tcpoidpriov, on the Nativity, by Elias the Monk. (Cave, Hist. Lit. vol. ii. Diss. i. p. 7, ed. Oxford, 1740—43.) 8. Elias, called "the Philosopher," There are in the Mcdicean Library at Florence Prolego- mena to the EltTayurffi of Porphyry taken from the writings of " Elias the Philosopher," and there are ELLOPION. some extracts from the same Elias in a MS. in the Library of St. Mark at Venice. But nothing ap- pears to be known of the writer beyond his name. (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. xi. p. 616.) 9. Elias Syncellus. Leo Allatius has men- tioned some hymns or poems addressed to the Vir- gin Mary, remarkable for their beauty, piety, and elegance : he promised to publish them, but did not fulfil his intention. Among the writers of them he names Elias Syncellus. (Allatius, Notes to his edition of Eustathius of Antioch., p. 284.) Montfaucon mentions a black-letter MS. appa- rently in Latin, belonging at that time to the mon- astery of Caunes in Languedoc, entitled Requies in Clementinas, by Elias or Helias. But who this Elias was, is not stated, nor whether the work was a version from the Greek, which the name of the writer would lead us to suppose. A MS. en- titled Theorica et Practica, by " Helias Salomon," is also mentioned by Montfaucon, but we know nothing of the writer. (Montfaucon, Bibliotlieca Bibliotliecarum, pp. 5 1 5, 1 24 1 . ) [J. C. M.] ELICAON or HELICAON ('EAiKduu), of Rhegium, a Pythagorean philosopher. He is mentioned along with other Pythagoreans, who gave good and wholesome laws to Rhegium, and endeavoured to make practical use of the phi- losophical principles of their master in the adminis- tration of their country. (lamblich. Vit. Pythag, 27,30,36.) [L. S.] ELI'CIUS, a surname of Jupiter at Rome, where king Numa dedicated to Jupiter Elicius an altar on the Aventine. (Liv. i. 20.) The same king was said to have instituted certain secret rites to be performed in honour of the god, which were recorded in his Commentarii. (Liv. i. 31.) The origin of the name as well as the notion of Jupiter Elicius is referred to the Etruscans, who by certain prayers and sacrifices called forth {eliciebant or evocabant) lightning or invited Jupiter to send lightning. (Plin. H. N. ii. 54 ; Ov. Fast. iii. 327, &c. ; Varro, de Ling. Lot. vi. 94.) The object of calling down lightning was according to Livy's explanation to elicit prodigies ex mefitibus divinis ; and when the god appeared or sent his lightning in anger, it was an unfortunate sign to the person who had invited it. Seneca {Quaest. Nat. ii. 49) attests that the ancients distinguished a kind of lightning or fulmina, called fulmina Jios- pitalia, which it was possible for man to draw down, and Pliny mentions Numa, TuUus Hostilius, and Porsena, among the persons who in early times had called down lightning, though Tullus and his family perished in the attempt. Some modern writers think that the belief in the pos- sibility of calling down lightnings arose out of certain observations or experiments in electricity, with which the ancients were acquainted, and some have even ventured upon the supposition that the ancients, and the Etruscans in particular, knew the use of conductors of lightning, which, though they cannot draw lightning from heaven, yet conduct it towards a certain point. Servius {ad Virg. Eclog. vi. 42) goes even so far as to say that the art of drawing down lightning was known to Prometheus. [L. S.J ELIONIA. [Eileithyia.] ELISSA. [Dido.] ELLO'PION ('EAAoTTiW), of Peparethus, a Socratic philosopher, who is mentioned only by Plutarch. {De Gen. Socrat. p. 578, f.) [L. S.]