Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/67

ORION. Origen lived before the limits which separated orthodoxy and heterodoxy were so determinately and narrowly laid down, as in the following centu- ries ; and therefore, though his opinions were ob- noxious to many, and embittered the opposition to hira, he was not cast out of the church as a heretic in his lifetime, the grounds of his excommunication relating rather to points of ecclesiastical order and regularity, than to questions of dogmatic theology. But some time after his death, and especially after the outbreak of the Arian controversy, and the appeal of the Arians to passages in Origen's works, the cry of heresy was raised by the orthodox party against his writings. The tone, however, of the earlier orthodox leaders, Athanasius, Basil, and Gregory Nazianzen was moderate ; others, as Hilary of Poitiers, John of Jerusalem, Didymus, Gregory Nyssen, Eusebius of Vercellae, Titus of Bostra, Ambrose, Palladius, Isidore of Pelusium, and even Jerome himself in his earlier life, de- fended Origen, though Jerome's change of opinion in respect of Origen afterwards, led to his famous quarrel with Rufinus. About the close of the fourth century, Theophilus of Alexandria expelled Bome monks from Egypt on account of their Origenism ; but the oppressive deed was not ap- proved at Constantinople, where the monks were kindly received by the Patriarch Chrysostom and the Empress Eudoxia. The monks were restored : but the conflict of Theophilus and Chrysostom led to the deposition of the latter, one of the charges against whom was that of Origenism. The memory and opinions of Origen were now more decidedly condemned both in the East and West, yet they were favourably regarded by some of the more eminent men, among whom were the ecclesiastical historians Socrates, Sozomen and Theodoret. In the reign of Justinian, Origenism revived in the monasteries of Palestine, and the emperor himself wrote his Epistola ad Menam (s. Mennam) Pa- triarcham CFolitanum against the Origenists, who were expelled from their monasteries in Palestine, and condemned in the fifth oecumenical (second Constantinopolitan), council A. D. 553. The Greeks generally followed the decision of the council, and a new element, the question of the salvation of Origen, was added to the controversy respecting the truth or error of his doctrines. In the West the dispute was revived with the revival of learning. Merlinus, Erasmus, and Genebrardus, his editors, Joannes Picus of Mirandula, Sixtus of Sena, and the Jesuit Halloix, defended Origen, and affirmed his salvation. The cardinals Baronius and Bellarrain took the opposite side, as did the reformers Luther and Beza. Stephen Binet, a Jesuit, published a little book, De Salute Ori- ffenis, Paris, 1629, in which he introduces the lead- ing writers on the subject as debating the question of Origen's salvation, and makes Baronius propose a descent to the infernal regions to ascertain the truth. (Bayle, Dictionnaire, s. v. Orige?ie^ note D.) A summary of the history of Origenism is given by Huet [Origeniana, lib. ii. c. 4), and by the Jesuit Doucin, in his Histoire de fOrigenisme. [J. CM.] ORI'GENES, aplatonic philosopher, who wrote a book De Daemonibus. He is not to be confounded with the subject of the foregoing article, as has been sometimes done. (Porphyr. Vita Plotin. c. 3, 20 ; Fabric. Bihl Grace, vol. iii. p. 1 80. ) [ J. C M.] ORI'ON ("Op/'wi'), a son of Hyrieus, of Hyria, in Boeotia, a very handsome giant and hunter, and ORION. 65 said to have been called by the Boeotians Candaon. (Hom. Od. xi. 309 ; Strab. ix. p. 404 ; Tzetz. ad Lye. 328.) Once he came to Chios (Ophiusa), and fell in love with Aero, or Merope, the daughter of Oenopion, by the nymph Helice. Pie cleared the island from wild beasts, and brought the spoils of the chase as presents to his beloved ; but as Oenopion constantly deferred the marriage, Orion one day being intoxicated forced his way into the chamber of the maiden. Oenopion now implored the assistance of Dionysus, who caused Orion to be thrown into a deep sleep by satyrs, in which Oenopion blinded him. Being informed by an oracle that he should recover his sight, if he would go towards the east and expose his eye-balls to the rays of the rising snn, Orion following the sound of a Cyclops' hammer, went to Lemnos, where Hephaestus gave to him Cedalion as his guide. When afterwards he had recovered his sight, Orion returned to Chios to take vengeance, but as Oeno- pion had been concealed by his friends, Orion was unable to find him, and then proceeded to Crete, where he lived as a hunter with Artemis. ( ApoUod. i. 4. § 3 ; Parthen. Erot. 20 ; Theon,a(; Arat. 638 ; Hygin. Poet. Astr. ii. 34.) The cause of his death, which took place either in Crete or Chios, is differently stated. According to some Eos, Avho loved Orion for his beauty, carried him off, but as the gods were angry at this, Artemis killed him with an arrow in Ortygia (Hom. Od. v. 121) ; ac- cording to others he was beloved by Artemis, and Apollo, indignant at his sister's affection for him, asserted that she was unable to hit with her bow a distant point which he showed to her in the sea. She thereupon took aim, and hit it, but the point was the head of Orion, who had been swimming in the sea. (Hygin. /. c. ; Ov. Fast. v. 537.) A third account states that he harboured an improper love for Artemis, that he challenged her to a game of discus, or that he violated Upis, on which ac- count Artemis shot him, or sent a monstrous scorpion which killed him. (Serv. ad Aen. i. 539 ; Horat. Carrn. ii. 4. 72 ; Apollod. i. 4. § 5.) A fourth account, lastly, states that he boasted he would conquer every animal, and would clear the earth from all wild beasts ; but the earth sent forth a scor- pion by which he was killed. (Ov. Fast. v. 539, &c.) Asclepius wanted to recall him to life, but was slain by Zeus with a flash of lightning. [Asclepius.] The accounts of his parentage and birth-place are varying in the different writers, for some call him a son of Poseidon and Euryale (Apollod, i. 4. § 3), and others say that he was born of the earth, or a son of Oenopion. (Serv. ad Aen. i. 539, x. 763.) He is further called a Theban, or Tanagraean, but probably because Hyria, his native place, sometimes belonged to Tanagra, and sometimes to Thebes. (Hygin. Poet. Astr. ii. 34 ; Paus. ix. 20. § 3 ; Strab. ix. p. 404.) After his death, Orion was placed among the stars (Hom. //. xviii. 486, &c., xxii. 29, Od. v. 274), where he appears as a giant with a girdle, sword, a lion's skin and a club. As the rising and setting of the constellation of Orion was believed to be accompanied by storms and rain, he is often called imbri/er, nimbosus^ or aquosus. His tomb was shown at Tanagra. (Paus. ix. 20. § 3.) [L. S.] ORION and ORUS {'nplwv and*npos), names of more than one ancient grammarian. The mode in which they are mentioned by the authorities who speak of them is so confused, that it is a matter