Latin was patronized only by those intent upon a govern- ment career. Logic was emphasized. Aristotle enjoyed a renaissance consequent upon his rediscovery by Porphyry.
Due to the productive efforts of such pagan authors as Libanius, Antioch became the intellectual capital of northern Syria. Among the eminent Christians educated there was his pupil, the brilliant John Chrysostom, whose eloquent preaching was marked by a denunciation of laxity in morals and luxury in living. The rich were condemned for acquir- ing their riches by violence, deceit, monopoly and usury and for their attitude of indifference to the sufferings of the poor. His was a social message in an age of ecclesiasticism and theology. So celebrated did he become as a preacher that in 398 he was chosen patriarch of Constantinople, where he sold for the benefit of the needy the treasures collected by his predecessor and uncompromisingly insisted on moral and social reform. He was twice banished and died on his way to exile near the Caucasus. Altogether he was one of the most eloquent preachers and most remarkable teachers of Christian ethics that the church has ever pro- duced.
Two distinguished historians were born at Caesarea in Palestine, Eusebius and Procopius. Eusebius (264-about 349) became bishop of his native city and at the Council of Nicaea delivered an opening address condemning the heresiarch Arius, but his enduring reputation rests on his Ecclesiastical History, in which he narrates in detail the rise of Christianity and its relation to the empire. Procopius pro- vided a valuable contemporary account of the eventful reign of Justinian (527-565).
Several Christian notables not of Syrian nativity are associated with southern Syria. Outstanding among them was Jerome (345-420), whose ascetic temperament led him to a monastery in Bethlehem and thence to five years of solitary life among the hermits of the Syrian Desert. His translation of the Bible into Latin, called the Vulgate, has
