Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/1095

Rh MICHAEL. in the throne of Constantinople, but died in the lifetime of his father. An account of him is given under Andronicus II. [W. P.] MICHAEL {Mixa-^), Byzantine writers. 1. Alexandrinus, patriarch of Alexandria in the middle of the ninth century, wrote in A. D. 869 or 870 De Unitate Ecdcsiae^a, letter addressed to the emperor Basil I., printed Graece et Latine in the 8th vol. of Labbe's Condi, and in the 5th vol. of Hardouin's ConcU. (Cave, Hist. Lit. ad an. 869 ; Fabric. Bihl. Grace, vol. xi. p. 189.) 2. Anchialus. [Anchialus.] 3. Apostolius, was one of those Greeks who contributed to the revival of learning in Italy, where he settled about 1 440. He was an inti- mate friend of Gemistus Pletho, and an adherent of the Platonic philosophy, two circumstances Avhich, together with his own merits, caused him to be well received by Cardinal Bessnrion in Italy. The friendship, however, did not last long, and poor Michael retired to Candia, where he got a livelihood by teaching children and copying MSS. There he died, some time after 1457, for in that year he wrote a panegyric on the emperor Frederic III. His principal works are: 1. A defence of Plato against Theodore Gaza, extant in MS. in the Vienna library. 2. Meneocenus., a dialogue on the Hol}^ Trinit}', investigating whether the Mo- hammedans and Jews are right, in believing a Mono-Deus ; or the Christians, in believing a Deus Trin-unus : extant in MS., ibid. 3. Oratio con- sultoria ad Socerfim sihi irascendum cum ad se- cundas transiret nitptias, extant in the Bodleian. 4. Appellalio ad Condantinum Palaeologum ulti- mum Imperatorem. 5. Oratio ad loannem Argy- ropulum. 6. Epistolae XL V. : these letters are extremely important for the history of the writer's time, as Lambecius asserts, who perused all or most of them, and it is to be regretted that none of them are printed. The first is addressed to Gemistus, the others to Manuel Chrysolaras, Chal- cocondylas, Argyropulus, Bessarion, and other celebrated men of the time. They are extant in MS. in the Bodleian ; some of them are also to be found in the Vatican and at Munich. 7. Oratio Panegyrica ad Fredericum III.., written about or perhaps in 1 457 ; it was published Graece et Latine by Freherus in the second vol. of his Rerum German. Script. 8. Oratio Funebris in Laudem Bessarionis, does credit to the heart of Michael, for it seems that the cardinal had not behaved very generously towards the poor scholar. Still it is very questionable whether our Michael is the author of it: Bessarion died in 1472; and as Michael, previously to leaving Constantinople, in or before 1440, had enjoyed, during many years, the friendship of Gemistus, whose name became conspicuous in the very beginning of the 15th century, and who was a very old man in 1441, he must have attained a very great age if he survived Bessarion. 9. Disceptatio adversus eos qui Occi- dentales OrientalUms superiores esse contendebant, extant in MS. in the Bodleian. 10. De Figuris Grammaticis, which Leo AUatius esteemed so highly that he intended to publish it, but was un- fortunately prevented. 11. An Etymological Dic- tionary : doubtful whether still extant ; a work of great importance. 12. 'Inula, Violets, a pleasing title given to a collection of sentences of celebrated persons, Ai-senius of Malvasia made an extract of it, 'AiT0(pd4yiux,Ta, Rome, 8yo, which he dedicated MICHAEL. 1081 to pope Leo X., who reigned from 1513 to 1522. 13. 'Swaywyii napot/xiai/, containing 2027 Greek proverbs, a very remarkable little work which soon attracted the notice of the lovers of Greek literature : it was dedicated by the author to Cas- parus Uxama, or Osmi, a Spanish prelate, with whom Michael met at Rome. Editions : the Greek text by Hervagius, Basel, 1558, 8vo. ; the text, with a Latin version and valuable notes, by P. Pantinus and A. Scholl, Levden, 1619, 4to. ; also cum Clavi Homerica, by George Perkins. (Ca.ve, Hist. Lit. ad an. 1440 ; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. xi. p. 189.) 4. Attaliata. [Attaliata.] 5. Balsamon, Magnae Ecclesiae Constantino- politanae Magnus Chartophylax et Archidiaconus, was probably a native of Constantinople. He was one of the Greek deputies sent in 1438 to the council of Florence, discovered the secret intrigues of the Latins, and prognosticated the ultimate fate of the union of the two churches to which he sub- scribed reluctantly. He wrote and addressed to the emperor Joannes Palaeologus Anaphora Cleri Constantinopolitani, of which Leo Allatius gives a few fragments in his work De Consensu idriusqiie Eccle- siae. (Cave, Hist. Lit. ad an. 1440 ; Fabric. Blbl. Graec. vol. x. p. 373, note.) 6. Cerularius, was chosen patriarch of Con- stantinople in 1 043, and made himself notorious in ecclesiastical history by his violent attacks upon the Latin church. He caused so much scandal that pope Leo IX. sent Cardinals Humbert and Frederic with Peter, archbishop of Amalfi, to Con- stantinople in order to persuade Cerularius to a more moderate conduct. Their efforts were not only unsuccessful, but they were treated with such abuse that Humbert excommunicated the virulent patriarch. Cerularius in his turn excommunicated the three legates, and he caused the name of Pope Leo IX. to be erased from the diptychs. In 1057 he prevailed upon the emperor Michael Stratioticus to yield to his successful rival, Isaac Comnenus, whose interest he took care of for some time. Differences, however, soon broke out between them ; and when he was once quarrelling with Isaac about the respective authority of the church and the state, he impudently cried out, " I have given you the crown, and I know how to take it from you again." Banishment was his due re- ward, and Isaac was about to remove him from his see when death removed him from the earth (1058). Cerularius wrote: 1. Decisio Synodica de Nuptiis iti Septimo Gradu. 2. De Matrimonio prohibito : the former printed Greek and Latin in the third book, and fragments of the latter in the fourth book of Leunclavius, Jus Graeco-Roman. 3. Epistolae. II. ad Petrum Antioclienum, Greek and Latin, in the second vol. of Cotelerius, Eccles. Grace. Monument. 4. De Sacerdotis Uxore Adul- terio polluta, in Cotelerius, Patres Apostol. 5. 2TjMf^'«'M« s. Edictum Synodale adi^ersus iMtinos de Pittacia seu De Excommunicatione a Latinis Legatis in ipsum ab ipso in Legatos xnbrata, anno 1054, die septimo Junii /actum, Graece et Latine in Leo Allatius, De Libr. Eccles. Graecis. 6. Homilia, ed, Graece et Latine by Montfaucon, under the title Epistola Synodi Nicaeanae ad Sanctam Alea-andriae Ecclesiam, Paris, 1715, fol. There are, farther, extant in MS. fragments of several letters, as Contra Rebelles Abbates, Contra Armenios, De Homicidio facto in Ecclesiu, De