Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/161

PAULUS. Utiae., given In a Latin version in the Ad Epliesinum Concilium variorum Fatrum JEpistolae of Chris- tianus Lupus, 4to. Louvain, 1682, Ep. 107. This Paulus of Emesa is to be distinguished from a pre- decessor of the same name, who was present at the Council of Seleuceia, A. D. 359, and adhered to the party of Acacius (Le Quien, Oriens Christianus, vol. ii. col. 839, but he does not give his authority): but who seems afterwards, under the emperor Jo- vian, to have united himself with the orthodox (Socrates, H. E. iii. 25, iv. 12; Sozomen, II. E. vi. 4, 12), and to have acted with them possibly at the synod of Antioch (a. d. 363), certainly at that of Tyana (a. d. 367 or 368). 9. Episcopus. Gennadius (De Viiis Illustribus, c. 31) mentions " Paulus Episcopus," he does not say of what see, as having written a little book on repentance, De Poeniientia Libellus, in which he cautions the penitent against such an excess of sorrow as might lead to despair. We have no means of identifying this Paulus. The period oc- cupied by the writers enumerated by Gennadius includes that in which Paul of Emesa [No. 8] flourished ; and as he was the most eminent prelate of the time of his name, he may possibly be the writer mentioned by Gennadius. 10. Gebminus. [Germinus.] 11. JuRiscoNSULTUS. [See below.] 12. MONACHUS. [No. 19.] 13. The Nestorian. [No. 15.] 14. OfPANNONiA. Geimad'ms (De Viris Illus- tribus^ c. 75) calls him Paulus Presbyter, and states that he knew from his own testimony (ex dictis ejus), that he was a Pannonian ; but does not saj'- to what church he belonged. He lived probably in the fifth century — Trithemius and Cave say in A. d. 430, — and wrote De Virginitate ser- vanda et coniemiu Mundi ae Vitae Institutione Libri duo, addressed to a holy virgin Constantia. He took the opportunity of abusing " the heretic Jovi- nian," the great opponent of monasticism [Hiero- NYMUS], as a luxurious glutton. The work is lost. In some MSS. of Gennadius, and by Hono- rius of Autun {De Seriptor. Eccles. ii. 74), he is called, not Paulus, but Petnis. (Cave, Hist. Litt. vol. i. p. 414 ; Trithemius, De Seriptor. Eccles. c. 146 ; Fabricius, Bibliotli. Med. et Infim. Latinitat. vol. V. p. 217, ed. Mansi.) 15. The Persian. Paulus, a native of Persia, but said to have been a disciple of the heresiarch Nestorius, and a deacon of the church of Constan- tinople, was one of the most ardent supporters of Nestorianism at the time of the outbreak of the controversy respecting it. He wrote (1) a work, Ilepl Kptcrccos, De JudvAo, and apparently (2) another work, Ile^l tou ovtos ayaQoVy De vera Bono. A fragment of the former is quoted in the proceed- ings of the Lateran Council, held under Pope Martin I., A. d. 649 (Actio s. Secretarius v. apud Concilia, vol. vi. col. 320, ed. Labbe), and by the confessor St. Maximus [Maximus Confessor], in his Tomus Dogmaticus adversus Heraclii EctJiesin {Opera, vol. ii. p. 91, ed. Corabefis). An extract on the subject indicated by the title of the second work, and from which the existence of the work itself is inferred, is among the Excerpta Miscel- lanea, extant in MS. in the Imperial Library at Vienna. It may be that the title is appropriate only to the extract, and that this may be taken from the work De Judicio. (Cave, Hist. Lilt, ad ainu 436, vol. i. p. 426.) PAULUS. 149 16. Presbyter. [No. 14.] 17. Of Samosata, a celebrated heresiarch of the third century. Of the early life of this celebrated man we know nothing more than that he was a native of Samosata, and that he neither inherited any property from his parents, nor followed any art or profession by which he could acquire wealth, before his exaltation to the bishopric of Antioch, apparently in a. d. 260. Cave ascribes his eleva- tion to the influence of Zenobia [Zenobia], whose husband Odenathus [Odenathus] was all-power- ful in the East. But although Athanasius states that Paul was in favour with Zenobia ( Athanas. Hisioria Arianor. ad Alonachos, c. 71), he does not say that she procured his election to the bishopric, and in fact the context rather intimates that she did not procure or aid his elevation ; and beside, it does not appear that either Odenathus or Zenobia had any power at Antioch till after a. d. 260. There is no reason, therefore, to doubt that the election of Paul was free and spontaneous on the part of the church at Antioch ; and this circumstance, combined with the silence of the ecclesiastical writers, who would gladly have laid hold of any thing to his disad- vantage, leads to the conclusion that his character before his elevation was not only free from any serious blemish, but so commendable as to lead to his being raised from an originally humble condition to the highest dignity in the church. But this elevation was apparently the cause of his undoing. He manifested in his subsequent conduct great rapacity, arrogance, and vanity. To this his connection with Zenobia probably conduced, bringing him into contact with the corrupting influences of an Oriental court, and either awakening his ambition and avarice, or bringing them out more prominently. It is true that our knowledge of him is derived from the statements of his enemies ; but, after making all reasonable abatement on this account, enough remains to show his general character, es- pecially as the charges which are contained in the encyclical letter published by the council which deposed him, the greater part of which is given by Eusebius (H. E. vii. 30), were published at the time, and therefore had they been altogether groundless, would have been open to denial or re- futation. He obtained, while holding his bishopric, the secular office of procurator ducenarius, so called from the holder of it receiving a yearly salary of two hundred sestertia ; and is said to have loved the pomp and state of this secular calling better than the humbler and more staid deportment which became his ecclesiastical office ; and it was probably by the exercise, perhaps the abuse of his procura- torship, that he amassed the immense wealth, which, contrasted with his original poverty, so scandalized his opponents, lie was led also, by his habits of secular grandeur and the pride they inspired, to in- troduce into the church a greater degree of pomp than had as yet been allowed, erecting for himself an episcopal tribunal (fiwa) and a lofty seat (^prf- vov vln)dv), and having this seat placed in a recess, screened from public observation (see Valesius on the word arjKfynTov, not. ad Euseb. H. E. vii. 30), in imitation of the higher judges and magistrates. When abroad he assumed all the airs of greatness ; being attended by a numerous retinue, and affecting to read letters and to dictate as he went, in order to inspire the spectators with an idea of the extent and pressing character of his engagements. But if he expected to make by these proceedings a favour- I. 3