Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/321

Rh GREGORIUS. Gratian [Or.vtianus, Acjg.]. When Ithacius was obliged, by the persecution of Priscillian and his part)', to flee from Spain, he went to Gregory, who, after inquiring into the matter, caused the authors of the disturbance, apparently Priscillian and the other leaders of his party, to be arrested, and sent an account of the affair to the emperor ; but his purpose of rigour was rendered unavailing by the venality of the emperor's other ministers, whom the Priscillianists had corrupted. It is doubtful whether this person is or is not the same person as No. 2. The pseudo Flavius Dexter iden- tifies this Gregory with Gregorius of Baetica [Gre- GORius, Literary, No. 9]. (Sulp. Sever, hist. Siccra. ii. 63. ed. Hornii ; and editor's note in loco ; Flav. Dex. Omnimodae Hist, ad arm. 388, 423; Tillemout, Hist, des Emp. vol. v. pp.171, 722.) 4. Patrician, as Theophanes calls him, of the Byzantine province of Africa at the time of its first invasion by the Saracens. By the aid of the "Africans" (by which term we are probably to understand the Moors), Gregory revolted from the Byzantine empire, and made himself " tyrannus," or independent sovereign of the province. This was in A. D. 646, in the reign of Constans II. [Con- st ans II.] Perhaps his insurrection suggested or encouraged the purpose of invading the province ; for the next year (a. d. 647), the Mohammedan army advanced westward from Egypt, and Gregory was entirely defeated by them. We gather from Theophanes' only the bare facts of Gregory's revolt and defeat ; but Arab or Moorish writers afford various particulars of a very romantic and impro- bable character, Avhich have been embodied in the work of Cardonne, and copied at length by Gibbon. (Theophan. Chronog. vol. i. p. 525, ed. Bonn ; Car- donne, Histoire de LWfvique et de VEspagne sous la Domination des Ai-abes, vol. i. p. 11, &;c. ; Gibbon, c. 51.) 5. A pretender to the pui-ple in the time of the emperor Leo III., the 1 saurian. Intelligence of the siege of Constantinople by the Saracens, soon after Leo's .iccession, having reached Sicily, Ser- gius, general of the Byzantine forces in that island, revolted, and appointed Gregory, who had been one either of his servants or his soldiers, em- peror, changing his name to Tiberius (a. d. 718). Theophanes and Cedrenus call this puppet emperor not Gregory, but Basil the son of Gregory Ono- magulus, and state that he was a native of Con- stantinople ; but Zonaras calls him Gregory, though Tie agrees with the other historians as to his taking the name of Tiberius. When the intelligence of these transactions reached Constantinople, Leo, who was already relieved from the pressure of the Saracens, sent one of his officers, Paul, who had held the office of " Chartularius," to put down the revolt. Paul landed at Syracuse with the intel- ligence of the deliverance of Constantinople, and with letters to the troops, who immediately re- turned to their allegiance, and seizing Gregory and those whom under Sergius's direction he had ap- pointed to office, delivered them up in bonds to Paulus. Sergius himself fled to the Lombards on the borders of Calabria. Paul put Gregory to death, and sent his head to the emperor, and punished his supporters in various ways. (Theo- phanes, Chronog. vol. i. p. 611 — 613, ed. Bonn; Cedren. vol. i. p. 790, &c., ed. Bonn ; Zonar. xv. 2.) [J. CM.] GREGORIUS. 307 GREGO'RIUS(rp7j7(/)tos). Literary and eccle- siastical. 1. ACINDYNUS. [ACINDYNUS.] 2. Agrigentinus, or of Agrigentum, one of the most eminent ecclesiastics of the sixth centurj^ was born near Agrigentum about a. d. 524. His father, Chariton, and his mother, Theodote, were pious people, by whom, from his twelfth year, he was destined to the priesthood, his precocity of mind having attracted great attention. After going through his course of education, he visited Car- thage, and from thence proceeded to Jerusalem, where he was ordained deacon, according to Symeon Metaphrastes, by the patriarch Macarius II. ; but this is an anachronism, as Macarius occupied that see from A. D. 563 to 574. He stayed at Jeru- salem at least four years, studying grammar, philo- sophy, astronomy, and eloquence. From Jeru- salem he proceeded to Antioch, and from thence to Constantinople, exciting very general admiration. According to Nicephorus Callisti, he was esteemed to be superior in holiness and eloquence and learn- ing to nearly all the ecclesiastics of his day. From Constantinople he proceeded to Rome, and was by the pope advanced to the vacant see of Agrigentum, the nomination to which had been referred to the pope in consequence of disputes about the succession. This appointment was, however, the source of much trouble to Gregory ; for two of the ecclesiastics, who had been competitors for the see, suborned a prosti- tute to charge him with fornication. This accusa- tion led the bishop to undertake a journey to Con- stantinople, where he was favourably received by the emperor Justinian I., and obtained an acquittal from the charge against him ; after which he re- turned to Agrigentum, where he died 23d of Nov., about A. D. 564. His life was written in Greek by Leon tins, presbyter and abbot of St. Saba, and by Symeon Metaphrastes. A Latin version of the latter is given by Surius : it ascribes many miracles to him. The life by Leontius is given, we are not informed whether in the Greek or in a Latin version, in the Sancti Siculi of Caetanus, vol. i. p. 188, &c. The works of Gregory of Agrigentum comprehend, 1. Orationes de Fidei dogmatibus ad Antiochenos. 2. Orationes turn ad docendum turn ad laudandum editae Constantinopoli. 3. Condones ad Populum de Dogmatibus : all extant in the work of Leontius. 4. Commentarius in Ecclesiasten. The MS. of this was left by Possinus at Rome with Jo. Fr. de Rubeis that it might be translated and pub- lished ; but it never appeared, and it is not known what became of it. (Niceph. Callisti, H. E. xvii. 27 ; Mongitor. Biblioth. Sicida, vol. i. p. 262 ; Cave, Hist. Litt. vol. i. p. 517, ed. Oxford, 1740- 43 ; Surius, De Probatis Sanctor. Vitis. Nov. p. 487,&c.) 3. Of Alexandria. The Arian prelates who formed the council of Antioch, a. d. 341, appointed Gregory to the patriarchal see of Alexandria, which they regarded as vacant, though the orthodox pa- triarch, Athanasius, was in actual possession at the time. They had previously offered the see to Eusebius of Emesa, but he declined accepting it. The history of Gregory previous to this appointment is obscure. He is said to have been a Cappadocian ; and some identify him with the person whom Gregory Na- zianzen describes as a namesake and countryman of his own, who, after receiving kindness from Atha- nasius at Alexandria, had joined in spreading the charge against him of murdering Arsenius : it is x2