Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/149

Rh '''ALEXIS or ALE'XIUS IV. A'NGELUS''' (Ἄλεξις or Ἀλέξιος Ἄγγελος), was the son of the emperor Isaac II. Angelus. It is mentioned under ALEXIS III. that, after the deposition of this emperor, he and his father were placed on the throne by the Crusaders. Alexis IV. was crowned together with Isaac II. on the 29th of July, 1203, and, to secure himself on the throne, engaged the Crusaders to continue at Constantinople. He had promised them to put an end to the schism of the Greek Church, but did not do anything for that purpose, nor did he fulfil his other engagements towards the Crusaders. At the same time, he did not understand how to maintain his dignity among the turbulent and haughty barons of Italy, France, and Flanders, who were assembled in his capital. Serious differences consequently arose between him and his deliverers. Alexis Ducas, surnamed Murzuphlus, an ambitious and enterprising man, took advantage of these troubles, and suddenly seized the crown. By his order Alexis IV. was put to death on the 28th of January, 1204; Isaac II. died of grief. (Nicetas, Isaacius Angelus, 3.c. 8, &c.; Isaacius et Alexis fil.; Villehardouin, Ibid. c. 51, 56, 60, &c., 102-107.)

ALEXIS or ALE'XIUS V. DUCAS (Ἀλεξις or Ἀλέξιος Δούκα), surnamed "MURZUPHLUS," on account of the close junction of his shaggy eyebrows, was crowned emperor of Constantinople on the 8th of February, 1204, after having been present at the murder of Alexis IV., who was put to death by his order. His earlier life is almost unknown. Nicetas, however, states, that he had always been rapacious and voluptuous; on the other hand, he was a man of great courage and energy. Immediately after he had usurped the throne, the Crusaders, who were still assembled under the walls of Constantinople, laid siege to this city. Alexis V. disdained to conclude peace with them on dishonourable conditions, and prepared for resistance, in which he was vigorously assisted by Theodore Lascaris. However, courage suddenly abandoned him, and he fled to the deposed emperor Alexis III., whose daughter Eudoxia Angela-Comnena he had just married. Constantinople was taken by storm by the Crusaders (12th of April, 1204), who, after having committed those horrors, of which Nicetas, an eye-witness, gives such an emphatical description, chose Baldwin, count of Flanders, emperor of Constantinople, but leaving him only the fourth part of the empire. After being deprived of sight by his father-in-law, Alexis V. fled to the Morea, but was arrested and carried to Constantinople, where the Crusaders put him to death by casting him from the top of the Theodosian column. (1204.) (Nicetas, Murzuphlus; Isaacius Angelus et Alex. fil. c. 4, 5; Gesta Francorum, c. 94; Villehardouin, Ibid. c. 51, 56, 60, &c. 98, 106, 113-115, 127, &c.)

ALE'XIUS ARISTE'NUS (Ἀλέξιος Ἀριστηνός), Oeconomus of the Great Church at Constantinople, flourished A. D. 1166, in which year he was present at the Council of Constantinople. He edited a Synopsis Canonum with scholia, which is given by Bishop Beveridge in his Pandectae Canonum, Oxon. 1672, fol. vol. ii. post pag. 188, and vol. i. p. 1, &c. Other works by him are quoted. See Fabric. Bibl. Gr. vol. xi. p. 280.

ALE'XIUS (Ἀλέξιος), Patriarch of CONSTANTINOPLE, a member of the monastery of Studius (founded A. D. 460), succeeded Eustathius as Patriarch A. D. 1025. In A. D. 1034 he crowned Michael IV. the favourite of Zoe, who, to make way for him, procured the death of her husband, the Emperor Romanus. He thwarted the attempts of John (the emperor's brother) to gain the patriarchal see (A. D. 1036), and died A. D. 1043. Decrees of his are extant, ap. Jus Gr. Rom. vol. i. lib. iv. p. 250, Leunclav. Francof. 1596. See Fabric. Bibl. Gr. vol. xi. p. 558.

ALE'XIUS (Ἀλέξιος), Metropolitan of NICAEA, composed a Canon or Hymn on St. Demetrius the Martyr. It is uncertain when he lived. The canon is in manuscript. See Lambecius, Biblioth. Vindobon. vol. v. p. 599, ed. Kollar.

ALEXON (Ἀλέξων), an Achaean who served in the Carthaginian garrison at Lilybaeum while it was besieged by the Romans in B. C. 250. During this siege some of the Gallic mercenaries engaged in the service of the Carthaginians formed the plan of betraying the fortress into the hands of the Romans. But Alexon, who had on a former occasion saved the town of Agrigentum from a similar attempt of treacherous mercenaries, now acted in the same faithful spirit, and gave information of the plot to the Carthaginian commander Himilco. He also assisted him in inducing the mercenaries to remain faithful and resist the temptations offered by their comrades. (Plb. 1.43, 2.7.)

ALEXON MYNDIUS. [ALEXANDER MYNDIUS.]

ALFE'NUS VARUS. [VARUS.]

A'LFIUS FLAVUS. [FLAVUS.]

ALGOS (Ἄλγος), is used by Hesiod (Hes. Th. 227) in the plural, as the personification of sorrows and griefs, which are there represented as the daughters of Eris.

ALIACMON. [PALAESTINUS.]

L. ALIE'NUS, plebeian aedile B. C. 454, accused Veturius, the consul of the former year, on account of selling the booty which had been gained in war, and placing the amount in the aerarium. (Liv. 3.31.)

ALIE'NUS CAECI'NA. [CAECINA.]

ALIMENTUS, L. CI'NCIUS, a celebrated Roman annalist, antiquary, and jurist, who was praetor in Sicily, B. C. 209, with the command of two legions. He wrote an account of his imprisonment in the second Punic war, and a history of Gorgias Leontinus; but these works probably formed part of his Annales. (Liv. 21.38.) He is frequently cited by Festus, and the fragments which have been thus preserved were collected by Wasse, and may be found appended to Corte's Sallust. Niebuhr (i. p. 272) praises Alimentus as a really critical investigator of antiquity, who threw light on the history of his country by researches among its ancient monuments. That he possessed eminent personal qualities, such as strike a great man, is clear, inasmuch as Hannibal, who used to treat his Roman prisoners very roughly, made a distinction in his behalf, and gave him an account of his passage through Gaul and over the Alps, which Alimentus afterwards incorporated in his history. It is only in his fragments that we find a distinct statement of the earlier relation between Rome and Latium, which in all the annals has been misrepresented by national pride. The point, however, upon which Niebuhr lays most stress, is the remarkable difference between Alimentus and all other chronologers in dating the building of the city about the fourth year of the 12th Olympiad.