Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 15.djvu/89

 TRISAGION

61

TRITHEISTS

Tripolis is now a sanjak of the vilayet of Beirut, nil I'ontains two towns linked by a tramway: El-

iMiiia, or maritime Tripolis, on the site of the ancient nty, and Taraboulos, built since 12X9, at the foot of Raymond's fortress. The two cities together con- ain 37,000 inhabitants, of whom 110 are Latins, 2200 3riental Catholics of various rites, and 4000 schis- natic Melehites; the remainder are Mussulmans. The Maronite bishop, Mgr. Antoine Arida, conse- Melchite bishop, Mgr. Joseph Doumani, was conse- srated on 21 JVIarch, 1897. The Franciscans have aarish are also established the Lazarists, the Carmel- tes, the Brothers of the Christian Schools, and the Sisters of Charity. The sanctuary of the Blessod Virgin is called Siiiiiynt el-Harah, Our Lady of the Quarter. The Maronite diocese has 48,000 faithful, 350 priests, and 70 churches. The Melchite diocese, created in 1S97, has 1225 faithful, 14 priests, 10 churches or ch,apels, and 6 schools. The schismatic Melchite diocese has 50,000 members.
 * rated on 1<S June, 190S, resides at Karrusadde. The
 * he Latin parish and two establishments. In this

Du Ca-jgk, Les families d'outTe-mer (Paris, I,S69), 477-95; Renan, Miision lie Phinicie (Paris. 186-f), 120-.30; Gn^RlN. Description de la Palestine: Galilee, II, 23-30; Goudard, La SairUe Vierge au Liban, 269-77; Missiones calhulico' (Rome, 1907), 783, 819; Chakon in Annuaire ponl. cath. (Paris, 1911), 130.

S. Vailh^..

Trisagion. See Agios O Theos.

Trissino, Giangioroio, Italian poet and scholar, b. of a patrician family .at Vicenza in 1478; d. at Rome, 8 December, 1550. He had the advantages of a good humanistic training, studying Greek under the noted Demetrius Chalcondyla.s at Milan and philos- ophy under Nic- col6 Leoniceno at Ferrara. His cul- ture recommended him to the human- ist Leo X, who in 1515 sent him to Germany as his nuncio; later on Clement VII showed him espe- cial favour, and employed him as ambassador. In 1532 the Emperor Charles V made him a count pala- tine. In spite of the banishment from Vicenza pronounced upon him in 1509 because his family had favoured the phms of Ma.ximilian, he was held in honour throughout Italy. Wherever he abode his home Wiis a centre for gatherings of scholars, litternleum, and the most cultured men of the time. His family life was far from happy, apparently through little fault of his own. In the histon,- of modern Euro])ean literature Trissino occu- pies a prominent jjlacc because of his tragedy "Sofo- nisba" (1515; recent ed., Bologna, 1884), "the first tragedy in Italian to show deference to the classic rules. Constantly a partisan of Aristotelean regu- larity, he disa])proved of the genial freedom of the chivalrous opic as written by Ariosto. In his own composition the "Italia liberata dai Goti" (1547-8), dealing with the campaigns of Belisarius in Italy, he Bf)Ught to show that it was possible to write in the vernacular an epic in accordance with the classic precepts. The result is a cold and colourless com- position.

sGiORoro Trissino From a painting by Giorgione

He was one of the many who have engaged in the discussion as to what is true literary Italian. Follow- ing the lead of Dante, he espoused in his "Castellano" (1529) the indefensible theory that the language is a courtly one made up of contributions from the refined centres in Italy, instead of being, as it is, fundamentally of Tuscan origin. For clearness he proposed that in writing Italian certain new characters (derived from the Greek alphabet) be adopted to show the differ- ence between open and close e and o and voiced and voiceless .s and z. This wise proposition was ignored. "I SimiHimi" (1548) which is a version of the "Men- a-chmi'l of Plautus, "1 Ritratti" (1524) which is a composite portrait of feminine beauty, and the "Poetica", which contains his summing up of the Aristotele;m principles of literary comixisition, made uj) the rest of his important writings. An edition of his collected works was published by Maffei at Verona in 1729.

MoRSOLiN, Giangiorgio Trissino (Florence, 1S94) ; Flamini, /; Cinquecento 132 sqq.; Ciampolini. La prima tragedia regolare delta leu. Hal. (Florence, 1896); Ersiini, L' Italia lib. di G. T. (Rome, 1893).

J. D. M. Ford.

Tritheists (Tritheites), heretics who divide the Substaurc ,,f the Blessed Trinity.

(1) Those who are usually meant by the name were a section of the Monophysites, who had great influ- ence in the second half of the sixth century, but have left no traces save a few scanty notices in John of Ephesus, Photius, Leontius, etc. Their founder is said to have been a certain John Ascunages, head of a Sophist school at Antioch. But the principal writer was John Philoponus, the great Aristotelean com- mentator. The leaders were two bishops, Conon of Tarsus and Eugenius of Seleucia in Isauria, who were dejjosed by their comproviucials and took refuge at Constantinople. There they found a ])owerful con- vert and protector in .\thana&ius the Monk, a grand- son of the Empress Theodora. Philoixmus dedicated to him a book on the Triiuty. The old philosopher pleaded his infirmities when he was summoned by Justinian to the Court to give an account of his teaching. But Conon and Eugenius had to dispute in the reign of Justin II (.505-78) in the presence of the Catholic patriarch, John Schohisticus (565-77), with two champions of the moderate Monophysite party, Stephen and Paul, the latter afterwards Pa- triarcli of Antioch. The Tritheist bishops refused to anathematize Philoponus, and brought proofs that he agreed with Severus and Theodosius. They were banished to Palestine, and Philoponus wrote a book against John Scholasticus, who had given his verdict in favour of his adversaries. But he developed a theory of his own as to the Resurrection (see Euty- chianism) on account of which Conon and Eugenius wrote a treatise against him in collaboration with Themistius, the founder of the Agnoeta\ in which they declared his views to be altogether unchristian. The two bishops together with a deprived bishop named Theonas proceeded to consecrate bishops for their sect, which they established in Corinth :uid Athens, in Rome and Africa, and in the Western Patriarchate, while their agents travelled through Syria and Cilicia, Isatiria and Cappadocia, converting whole districts, and ordaining jiri&sts and deacons in cities, villagas, and monasteries. Eugenius died in Pamphylia; Conon returned to Constantinoi)le. We are assured by Leontius that it was the .\ristoteleanism of Philoponus which made him teach that there are in the Holy Trinity three jiartial substances (iitpiKal oialai, loiKal OeSrriTes, idiKal ipiixcii) and one common. The genesis of the heresy h:is been ex])lained (for the first time) under NIonopuysites, where an account of Philoponus's writings and those of Stephen Gobanis, another member of the sect, will be found.

(2) In the Middle Ages Roscellin of Compi^gne,