Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/1003

Rh MAXIMUS. some others, were sent to him apparently to get him to renounce his opposition to the Monothelites. Blows, kicks, and spitting, were resorted to by the messengers and their servants, but in vain ; nothing could shake his firmness. He was brought back after some time to Constantinople, and subjected to still greater severities. He was severely scourged ; and the two Anastasii, who had been also brought back to the city, were similarly treated, apparently in his presence. They were then all remanded to prison, but were brought out again in a few days, when their tongues were cut out, their right hands cut off, and they were again sent into exile. Max- imus, from age and the effects of his tortures, was scarcely able to bear the journey. They were con- fined in separate places in the Caucasus, where Maximus and one of the Anastasii soon died from the effects of their sufferings, a. d. 662. Anastasius Apocrisiarius survived, and his recital of their suf- ferings is one of the authorities employed for this article. Various miraculous circumstances were reported to havo attended the sufferings of these unhappy men. (Els tou fiiov, k. t. A,, In Vitain ac Ceiiamen S. Fatris nosiri ac Confessoris Max- imi, published by Combefis in his edition of the works of Maximus. This biography is not by Anastasius Apocrisiarius, as Fabricius has erro- neously stated (Bibl. Graec. vol. ix. p. 635, and vol. X. p. 291) ; but Combofis has subjoined some other ancient documents, including the narrative of Anastasius Apocrisiarius, already noticed, and has added some valuable notes. Theophan. Chronog. pp. 275, 276, 288, ed. Paris, pp. 219, 229, ed. Venice, vol. i. p. 509, 510, 530, 531, ed. Bonn ; Cave, Hist. Liit. ad ann. 645, vol. i. p. 585 ; Fa- bric. Bibl. Graec. vol. ix, p. 635; Bolland. Jcto Sandor. Augzist vol. iii, p. 97, &c.) Maximus is reverenced as a saint both by the Greek and Latin churches ; by the former his memory is celebrated on the 21st of January, and the 12th and 13th August ; by the latter on the 1 3th August. The writings of this father were in the middle ages held in the highest esteem, and possessed ccmsiderable authority. The more discriminating judgment of Photius has severely criticised the style of his 'ATropTj^uaTa ypacpLicd, Duhia S. Sa~ip- iui-ae, or rather Tpa(pLKdt' dirop7iiJ.dTccv vatis, Du- hioruvi S. Scriptural SohUioncs. He notices his long, spun-out sentences, his frequent transposi- tions and circumlocutions, and his metaphors, so carelessly and awkwardly employed as to render his meaning often very obscure, and making his works very wearisome to read. He charges him with wandering from his subject, and indulging in irrelevant and abstract speculations. Photius, how- ever, is less severe in criticising his other works, and observes that all his writings in every part manifest the purity and earnestness of his piety. (Phot. Bibl. Cod. 192—195.) His orthodoxy on some points is questionable. Various of his pieces were published in the course of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, either separately or in the different collections of the Avritings of the fathers, sometimes in the original, sometimes in a Latin version. The only consider- able collection of his works is that of Combefis, S. Maocimi Confessoris, Graecorum Tlveologi, eay imiique Philosophi Opera, 2 vols. fol. Paris, 1675. An introduction contains the ancient biography of Maximus, and some other ancient pieces relating to MAXIMUS. 9n9 his history ; and the works are in some cases ac- companied by ancient anonymous Greek scholia, as well as by the notes of the learned editor. This edition is not complete : a third volume was in preparation by Combefis at the time of his death, A. D. 1679 ; but no successor undertook to com- plete the unfinished labour. The works are too numerous, and many of them too unimportant for distinct notice. The following are the most important : — 1. Upos QaXdcaiov To^' officoTarov irp^aSvTepov Koi "^yov/xevov irepl Sia- (popoiju diropuv TTJs ^eias ypaxprjs, Ad Sanctissimum Presbyterum ac Praepositum Thalassium, de variis Scripiurae Sacrae Quaestionibus ac Dtibiis. This is the work already noticed as severely criticised in respect of style by Photius : it contains the solu- tion of sixty-five scriptural difficidties, and is ac- companied by the Scliolia of an anonymous com- mentator, apparently of the close of the eleventh or beginning of the twelfth century. 2. Els rriv irpocTivxhv Tov Yldrep t]ij.wu -Kpos riva (piX6xpi<^T0V 4pixeveia (rvvTo/xos, Orutionis Dominicae brevis Eapositlo, ad que?2dam Christo devotum. 3. A({- 70s daKfiTiKos Kara rctvaiv /cai diroKpicnv^ Liber ad Pietatem exercens per hderrogaiionem et Re- sponsiomm. This piece had been published by Fl. Nobilius, with some small pieces of Chrysostom and Basil, Rome, 1578. 4. Ke^aAaia itepX dydirrjs^ Capita de Charitate. This work, to which an ancient Greek writer has added Scholia, was pub- lished by Vicentius Opsopoeus (who ascribed the work to Maximus of Turin), with a Latin version, 8vo. Haguenau, 1531, and was repeatedly re- printed in the course of the same century ; and a Latin version was given in most of the editions of the Biblioiheca Pairum. 5. Hepl Qeohoyias koi TTJs ivtrdpKov olKovo/jLias roD viov &eov a'. Ad Tlieo- logiam Devpie Filii in Came Dispensationem spec- tanlia Capita Ducenta. 6. K&(pdaia 8id(popa ^eoXuyiKd re Koi olKovo/ji.iKd, Kol irepl apeTrjs Kal KaKias, Diversa Capita ad Tlieologiam et Oecono- miam spedantia, deque Virtute ac Vitio, first pub- lished by Joannes Picus. 8vo. Paris, 1560. 7. riept T17S dyias Tpiddos SidAoyoi, e', Dialogi quinque de Sancta Trinitate. These are ascribed to Maximus in several MSS., and by various ancient Greek writers who have cited them. Other writers have, however, ascribed them to Athana- sius, in some editions of whose works they con- sequently appear. The opinion of Gamier, that they are the production of Theodoret, has been generally rejected ; and the preponderance of evi- dence seems to be decidedly in favour of the authorship of Maximus. 8. Mvarayooyia irepi TOV rivuiv av/iSoXa rd Kara rrjv dyiav (kkXt]- (Tiav ini TTJs avvd^iws TeKovfxfva KaQiarriKe. Mystagogia qua eaplicantur quorum Signa sint quae in Sacra Ecclesia peraguntur in Divina Syn- axi s. Colleda. This was published by David Hoeschelius, Augsburg, 1 599 ; and afterwards in the Audarium of Ducacus, vol. ii. fol. Pjiris, 1624. 9. K€<pdaia deoXoyiKd, -/{roi eKhoyal e/c Biacpopuu $i§luv rwp re Kaff r^jxds KoX twv hipaQ^v, Capita Tlieologica, id est sdte dida atque eleda ex Di- versis turn Christianorum turn Gentilium ac Pro- fanorum Libns ; or more briefly, Sermones per Excerpta, or Loci Communes. This selection of sentences is arranged in seventy-one yoi, Ser- mones, and has been repeatedly published. It first appeared, with the similar compilation of Antonius Melissa [Antonius No. 2], under the care of