classical scholarship in which Allatius did not distinguish himself. He edits classical authors, writes on Homer's birthplace, on Etruscan antiquities, on every kind of obscure point of Byzantine scholarship, on Byzantine architecture, lives of Popes and famous men; he was a poet, philologist, theologian, ritualist, philosopher, and physician. His works include Biblical criticism, dogmatic and archæological treatises. In short, there are very few questions of Oriental study on which Allatius has not written a work which may still be consulted with profit. Especially on all sides of Byzantine liturgy and theology are his writings invaluable. Altogether fifty-five complete books by him are published; and there are quantities of others, letters and treatises, in manuscript still. Out of so many valuable works I name only his magnum opus: De Ecclesiæ occidentalis atque orientalis perpetua consensione libri tres.[1] He left his valuable library and all his property to the Greek College. The Greeks of the East have never ceased to profit by his immense erudition. They are justly proud of Allatius as one of their greatest scholars. One thing, however, they can never forgive him, that he was a Catholic.[2]
Peter Arcudius[3] (1562-1633), less illustrious than Allatius, was also a famous scholar. He, too, wrote many works of standing importance. Arcudius took his degree in theology at the Greek College before a brilliant audience, which included such men as Santoro, Bellarmin, Baronius. He was ordained priest, was for a time missionary in Ruthenia, then came back to Rome in 1609, was paralyzed, and so remained all the rest of his life at the college, being carried every morning to the library, and then back again to his room in the evening. Arcudius is not a universal genius, like Allatius; but he is a theologian of great learning. Like that of Allatius, his theological work is nearly all in defence of points of the Catholic creed (the Filioque, Purgatory, and so on; especially, of course, the Roman Primacy) against his schismatical country-
- ↑ Köln, 4, 1648. The professed object of this work is to prove that both Churches always held the same faith. Incidentally it contains a mass of information about Greek theologians, their theories, movements in the Orthodox Church, and so on. He always gives long quotations.
- ↑ A Life of Allatius, with a complete list of his published works, will be found in Cabrol and Leclercq's "Dictionnaire d'Archéologie chrétienne et de Liturgie," tom. i (1), Paris, 1907, cols. 1220-1226 (by L. Petit, Aug. Ass., now Latin Archbishop of Athens). See also Rodotà, "Del Rito greco," iii, 169-171; de Meester, "Le Collège pont. grec.," 54-56.
- ↑ Ἀρκούδιος.
