Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/263

Rh GEORGTUS. temple, '' How long shall this sepulchre stand ?" But the crowning provocation was this : there was a spot in the city occupied by the ruins of a for- saken temple of Mithras, or the Sun, and still re- garded by the heathens as sacred, though filled with the refuse and off- scouring of the streets. This spot Constantius had given to the church at Alex- andria ; and George determined to clear it out, and build a church upon it. The workmen, in clearing it out, found in the adytum, or sacred recess of the old temple, statues, sacred utensils, and the skulls of iiuman victims, either slain in sacrifice, or that the soothsayers might examine their entrails, and fore- tell future events thereby. Some zealots brought these things out, and exposed them to the mockery and jeers of the Christians. This irritated the heathens ; and as the news had just arrived of the death of Constantius (Nov. A. D. 361), and the ac- cession of Julian as sole emperor, and also of the execution of Artemius, ex-governor of Egypt, they thought their time of ascendancy was come, and rose in insurrection. George, whose persecutions seem to have been directed against all who differed from him, was at the time presiding in a synod, where those who held the sentiments of Aetius [Aetius] were compelled to subscribe a condemna- tion of their own opinions. The rioters rushed into the cl lurch where the synod was assembled, dragged him out, and would have killed him on the spot. He was, howeA'er, rescued by the authorities, and apparently to satisfy his enemies, committed to prison. But not many days after, at day-break, the mob forced the prison, dragged him out, bound him (it is doubtful whether living or dead) on a camel, and, after parading him through the citj', tore him to pieces, and burnt his mangled remains. His murder appears to have taken place about the end of the year 361. Though described by Athanasius as a man of coarse manners and ignorant, at least in theology, he left a valuable library, which the emperor Julian ordered to be sent to Antioch for his own use. He had formerly, while in Cappa- docia, borrowed some books of George. The general hatred entertained towards him was evidenced by the absence of any attempt to rescue him. The Arians subsequently charged the Athanasian party with instigating his murderers ; but Sozomen Gentiles. (Amm. Marc. xxii. 11 ; Gregor. Naz. Oratio XXI. ; Epiphan. Adv. Flaeres. ii. Haeres. 48, or 68, iii. Haeres. 56 or 76 ; Athanas. His- toria Arianorum ad Alonachos, c. 51, 75, i>e Si/nodis, c. 12, 37, Epistola ad Episcopos Aegypti ei Lybiae^ c. 7, Apolog. de Fuga sua. c. 6, 7, Ad Imp. Constaniium Apolog, c. 30, PetUio ad Jmper. Jovian^ apud Athanas. Opera^ vol. i. 782, ed. Benedictin. ; Socrat //. E. ii. 14. 28, iii. 2, 3, 4 ; Sozom. //. E. iii. 7, iv. 10, v. 7 ; Theodoret, //. E. ii. 14; Philostorg. H. E. (apud. Phot.) vii. 2; Vita AtlmnasiU apud Phot. BibU Cod. 258.) It is difficult either to trace or to account for the introduction of the odious George among the saints of the Romish and Greek churches ; and it is to be observed that the identification of the bishop of Alexandria with the St. George of the calendar is stoutly objected to by some Roman Catholic and some Anglican writers — for instance, Papebroche and Heylyn. In A. d. 494 (or perhaps 496) his rank as a canonised saint was recognised by Pope Gelasius I. at a council at Rome, but his "gesta" were rejected as Apocryphal, and written by GEORGIUS. 249 heretics ; a probable intimation that the facts of his history had not yet been sufficiently perverted to be received. As time proceeded, various fabu- lous and absurd " Acta" were produced, which Papebroche admits to be unworthy of credit. The Greek " Acta" are considered by him as more trustworthy ; but he does not place even them in the first class ; though a Latin version of them is given .in the Acta Sanctorum,, with a long Com- meiitarius Praevius^ by Papebroche. The distor- tions of the history are singular. St. George siill appears as a Cappadocian and a layman, but he is made a soldier of Diocletian, under whom he is described as suffering martyrdom. The length, variety, and intermission of his sufferings are a probable distortion of the various inflictions of the enraged multitude before and after his imprison- ment. The magician Athanasius, successively an opponent of Christianity, a convert, and a martyr, is his chief antagonist ; and the city of Alexandria appears as the empress Alexandra, the wife of Diocletian, and herself a convert and a martyr. The story of the dragon appears only in later legends ; the monster, who is, we suspect, nothing else than a still more distorted representation of the fugitive Athanasius, is described as lurking about a lake as large as a sea (Mareotis ?), near the city of Silena (Alexandria ?), in Lybia. St. George was known among the Greeks as rponaio<p6po5, or the Victori- ous ; arid he was one of the saints who were said to assist the first Crusaders. He was reverenced in England in the Anglo-Saxon period ; during the Norman and earlier part of the Plantagenet dy- nasty his reputation increased ; and under Edward III., or perhaps earlier, he came to be regarded as the patron saint of the nation. (^Acta Sanctoruniy 23d April ; Gibbon, Decline and Fall, &c. ch. 21, 23 ; Heylyn, Hist, of St. George.) 8. Ceurenus. [Cedrenus.] 9. Cerameus. Some MSS. give the name of George to the writer, better known as Theophanea Cerameus. [Cerameus.] 10. Chartophvlax [Of Nicomkdeia, No. 36, and of Pisidia, No. 44.] 11. Chartophvlax, a writer so called, distinct from either George of Nicomedeia, or George of Pisidia, and sometimes designated " Callipolita- nus ;" lived apparently in the 13th century. He wrote some Greek iambics referring to events in the history of Italy about the middle of that cen- tury, quotations from which are given by Bandiui. (Bandini, Catal. Cod. Laurent Medic, vol. i. p. 2.5, &c. ; Allatius, Diatrib. de Georg. apud Fabr. vol. xii. p. 14.) 12. Choeroboscus. [Choergboscus.] 13. Chrvsococces. [Chrvsococces.] 14. Chumnus. [Chumnus.] 15. codinus. [codinus.] 16. Of CoRCYRA, or Corfu. Two archbishops of the name of George occupied the see of Corcyra, one in the twelfth, and one in the thirteenth cen- tury. The elder of the two was in favour with the emperor Manuel Comnenus, who gave him the charge of fortifying the town of Corfu, which Manuel had taken from the Normans of Southern Italy. The emperor Frederick Bai'barossa, who had hostile intentions against Manuel, endeavoured to induce George to betray the island to him, but in vain. George's answer is preserved by Baro- nius. George was sent A. d. 1178 by Manuel to attend the third Lateran (eleventh General) Counciil
 * ' rather thought" it was the spontaneous act of the