Constantinople was founded by Theodosius II,[1] the Athenian rhetoricians, so famous in the youth of Julian and Gregory Nazianzen,[2] appear to have suffered greatly in prestige, but long before that date the teaching of philosophy was in the way of becoming a lost art at Athens. The disappointment of Synesius at finding no trace of the schools, when he landed in Attica about 410, has already been adverted to.[3] If, however, he had carried his investigations a little deeper he would have discovered that in at least one quarter the traffic in the honey of Mount Hymettus was not the sole care of the dwellers on the Cephisus. The garden of Plato, even at that date, was still possessed by the philosophic succession,[4] and the actual occupant, the venerable Plutarch,[5] had achieved a reputation which deserved the devotion of several eminent disciples. Yet the school was languishing, and even after the murder of Hypatia, the holder of the professorial seat, Syrianus, was apprehensive lest he should find no worthy successor.[6] But a movement of recuperation was at hand, and surviving Neoplatonists soon began to turn their eyes towards Athens as the appointed retreat of the sect. A new votary had
- ↑ See p. 207.
- ↑ Among the most noted of these teachers was Proaeresius, who is described as a colossus, nine feet high. During a visit to Rome he made such an impression that a statue was erected to him with the inscription: "The Queen of Cities to the Prince of Eloquence." He, however, was a Christian, and, therefore, was forced to resign by Julian. By way of a set off to this giant, another very able rhetorician, Alypius, was a pigmy; see their lives by Eunapius.
- ↑ See p. 207.
- ↑ Damascius and Suidas, loc. cit.
- ↑ Usually referred to as the son of Nestorius to distinguish him from the well-known writer of lives, who lived under Trajan.
- ↑ Marinus, Vita Procli.
