Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/623

JOSEPHUS. pbus, mentions among his contemporaries and countrymen another Josephus or Joseph, whom he distinguishes (De Bell. Jud. ii. 20, sive 25) as utos rwplwj'os, the son of Gorion. In the middle ages there appeared a history of the Jews {Historia Judaica),, written in Hebrew, in an easy and even elegant style, professedly by Joseph Ben Gorion, a priest, or, as the name is Latinized, Josephus Gorio- iiides. The work, which in the main coincides with the Jewish Antiquities and with the Jewish War of Flavius Josephus, was regarded by the Jews of the middle ages with great favour, and was supposed by many to have been written by the celebrated Flavius Josephus. But the general conclusion of Christian critics of modern times is, that the Historia Ju- daica is not written either by Flavius Josephus or by the Joseph Ben Gorion, his contemporary, but is a forgery, compiled chiefly from a Latin version of the works of Flavius Josephus by a later writer, probably a French Jew of Brittany or Touraine, after the sixth century, as appears by his applying names to places and nations which were not in use till then. As the history is in Hebrew, a further account of it would be out of place in this work. IL Hymnographus, a Greek ecclesiastic, sceuophylax, or keeper of the sacred vessels under Ignatius, patriarch of Constantinople in the ninth century, wrote Mariale, apparently a hymn or service in honour of the Virgin, of which a Latin version, with notes, was published by Ippolito Maracci, Rome, 8vo. 1662. (Fabric. Bibl. Gr. vol. V. p.60.) 12. Hypomnestici Auctor, sometimes called Josephus Christianus, has been conjectured by Vossius to be the Joseph of Tiberias who, having been converted from Judaism to Christianitj', was raised by Constantine the Great to the rank of comes, and was the friend and host of Epiphanius (comp. Epiphan. Adt Haeres. xxx. 4 — 12) ; but Cave, who was at one time disposed to coincide with Vossius, has shown that there are good reasons, derived from the work itself, for placing the author of the Hypomnesticon early in the fifth century, about A. D. 420, long after the friend of Epiphanius, who was already an aged man in the middle of the fourth century. The work 'Iwo-tjttttom fii§Kiov 'TTrotivri<TTiK6i Josephi Hypomnesticon seu Libellus Memorialis or Coinmonitorium^ is devoted chiefly to the removal of such doubts or difficulties as might occur to less instructed Christians in reading the Scriptures, and is usually divided into five books, and 167 chapters. Chapter 136 is an ex- tract from Hippolytus of Thebes [Hippolytus, No. 3], interpolated, as Cave supposes, by a later hand. This extract inclined Fabricius, who was not disposed to regard it as an interpolation, to place the writer in the eleventh century ; and it was probably the same reason which induced Gal- landius to assign to the work the date a. D. 1000. But the editor of the last and posthumous volume of the Bibliotheca of Gallandius supports the con- clusion of Cave as to the earlier existence of the writer, whom, however, he identifies with Joseph of Tiberias. The materials of the work are chiefly taken from Flavius Josephus, who is once or twice cited by name ; and Cave suspects that the work was originally anonymous, and that the name of Josephus indicated, not the author's name, but the source from which he borrowed his statements ; but that being mistaken for the author's name, he received the designation of Christianas, by way of VOL. II. JOSEPHUS. 609 distinction from Flavius Josephus. The Hypo- mnesticon was first published by Fabricius, with a Latin version and notes, as an appendix to the Codex Pseudepigraphus Veteris Testamenti^ vol. ii. 8vo. Hamb. 1723, and was reprinted in the second edition of tha:t work (8vo. Hamb. 1741), and by Gallandius in the volume above mentioned (the 14th) of the Bibiiotlieca Fatrum^ fol. Venice, 1781. Oudin regards the Hypomnesticon di& an interpolated Greek version of portions of the Hebrew work of the Pseudo Joseph Ben Gorion [No. 10]. (Cave, Hist. Litt. vol. i. p. 397 ; Fabric. Bibl. Grace, vol. v. p. 60, vol. viii. p. 347, vol. xi. p. 51 ; and Cod. Pseud. Vet. Test. vol. ii. ; Galland. Bibl. Patrumy vol. xiv. ; Oudin, Comment, de Scriptor. Ecclesiast. vol. ii. col. 1058, &c.) 13. Of Methone. a defence of the Florentine council A. D. 1439, and of the union there negoti- ated between the Greek and Latin churches, in reply to Marcus Eugenicus of Epliesus [Eugeni- cus], is extant, under the name of Joseph, bishop of Methone (Modon), in the Peloponnesus. It is entitled 'ATrokoyia els to ypaixixariou Kupov MapKov Tov Evyei'iKov fi-^TpoiroKiTov 'E^ecou, liesponsio ad Libellum Domini JMarci Euyenici Meiropolitae Ephesi, and is given, with a Latin version by Jo. Matt. Caryophilus, in the Concilia (vol. xiii. col. 677, «SlC., ed. Labbe, and vol. ix. col. 549, &c., ed. Hardouin). Of this Joseph of Methone, Sguropu- lus relates that he represented himself to the pa- triarch Joseph of Constantinople [No. 7], when the latter touched at Methone, on his voyage to Italy to attend the council, as favourable to the opuiions of the Greek church. If so, his subsequent change was countenanced by the example of the patriarch himself, and of the leading prelates who attended the council. There is also extant another defence of the Florentine council, entitled 'laafpov rod UpwTo'iepfws rod UAova-iaSrivov Aide^is Trepl rrjs Siacpopds rijs ovaris fxecrou VpaiKau koX Aarivuv ert T6 KaX Trepl ttjs Upas koX ayias avvoSov rijs eu *Aw- peuTia yevoix4vr]s, Joaiinis Archipresbyieri Plusiadeui Disceptatio de Differentiis inter Graecos et Latinos et de Saerosancta Synodo Florentina. Allatius and Fa- bricius identify the two writers, and suppose that Joannes Plusiadenus changed his name to Jo- sephus on becoming bishop of Methone. Allatius founds his supposition on the fact, that a MS. of the Responsio ad Marcum Ephesinum, in the Ara- brosian library at Milan, bears in its title the name of Joannes Plusiadenus ; to which it may be added that there are or were extant in modern Greek, according to the statement of Allatius, some MS. Condones in dies Quadragesimalis Jejunii, by Jo- seph of Methone, in the title of which he is sur- named Plusiadenus. Cave denies the identity of the two, because Sguropulus has called Joseph of Methone a Latin (d "Poi^icdwv iirla-Konos)^ but this probably only refers to his support of the opinions of the Latin church. Oudin translates the ex- pression " a Romanorum auctoritate derivans." The Disceptatio de Differentiis^ &c., was published by Allatius in his Graecia OrtJiodouna, vol. i. p. 583, &c., 4to. Rome, 1 652. The author of the Discep- tatio refers to a defence of the Quinque Capitula Concilii Florentini^ which he had previously written, and which is not known to have been published ; but Oudin suspects it is the Apologia pro quinque Cupitibus Concilii Florentini, commonly ascribed to Georgius Scholarius, or Gennadius, of Constanti- nople. [Gennadius, No. 2.] We may here add, 11 u