Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/634

Rh d20 IRENAEUS. 3. A daughter of Ligdus and Telethusa, of Phaestus in Crete. She was brought up as a boy, because, previous to her birth, her father had or- dered the child to be killed, if it should be a girl. When Iphis had grown up, and was to be be- trothed to lanthe, the difficulty thus arising was removed by the favour of Isis, who had before ad- vised the mother to treat Iphis as a boy, and now metamorphosed her into a youth. (Ov. Met. ix. Qiib, &c.) [L. S.] I'PHITUS {"Icpiros). ]. A son of Eurytus of Oechalia, is mentioned among the Argonauts, but was killed by Heracles. (Horn. Od. xxi. 14, &c. ; ApoUod. ii. 6. § 1; Pans. iii. 15. § 2; ApoUon. Rhod. i. 86.) 2. A son of Naubolus, and father of Schedius, Epistrophus, and Eurynome, in Phocis, was like- wise one of the Argonauts. (Horn. II. ii. 518, xvii. 306 ; Pans. x. 4. § 1 ; Apollod. i. 9. $ 16 ; Apol- lon. Rhod. i. 207 ; Orph. Arg. 144.) 3. A son of Haemon, Pi-axonides, or Iphitus. At the command of the Delphic oracle, he restored the Olympian games, and instituted the cessation of all war during their celebration. (Pans. v. 4. $ 5.) Another Iphitus, who is otherwise unknown, is mentioned by Apollodorus (ii. 5. $ 1). [L. S.] IPHTHI'ME {'l7jmros). 1. St., bishop of Lyon, in Gaul, during the latter part of the second century after Christ, seems to have been a native of Smyrna, or of some neighbouring place in Asia Minor. The time of his birth is not known ex- actly, but Dodwell is certainly wrong in placing it 80 early as A. d. 97 ; it was probably between a.d. 120 and A. d, 140. In his early youth he heard Polycarp, for whom he felt throughout life the greatest reverence. The occasion of his going from Asia to Gaul is uncertain ; the common account is that he accompanied Pothinus on his mission to Gaul, which resulted in the formation of the churches at Lyon and Vienne. He became a presbyter to Pothinus, on whose martyrdom, in a. d. 177, Irenaeus succeeded to the bishopric of the church at Lyon. His government was signalised by Christian devotedness and zeal, and he made many converts from heathenism. He was most active in opposing the Gnostics, and especially the Valen- tinians. He also took part in the controversy re- specting the time of keeping Easter, and wrote a letter to Victor, bishop of Rome, rebuking the arro- gance with which he anathematised the Asiatic churches. Irenaeus seems to have lived till about the end of the second century. The silence of all the early writers, such as Tertullian, Eusebius, Augustin, and Theodoret, sufficiently refutes the claim to the honours of martyrdom, which later writers set up in his behalf. But he eminently de- serves the far higher honour attached to sincere piety and the zealous, but not arrogant discharge of his episcopal duties. He was possessed of con- siderable learning, but was very deficient in sound judgment respecting the value of those traditions, which, as they came from men who lived in the age next to the apostles, he eagerly received and recorded. On the subject of the Millennium, for IRENAEUS. example, his writings contain the most puerile absurdities. The chief work of Irenaeus, and the only one now extant, is entitled Adversus l/aereses, or De Refutatione, et Eversione falsae Scientiae, Lihri F., the object of which is to refute the Gnostics. The original Greek is lost, with the exception of some fragments preserved by Epiphanius and other writers on heresies ; but the work exists in a bar- barous, but ancient Latin version, which Dodwell supposes to have been composed towards the end of the 4th century. Irenaeus also wrote a discourse against the Gentiles, inpl ImcrrriiJL-qs ; a work ou the preaching of the apostles, addressed to his brother Marcianus ; a book of tracts on varioiis questions, AiaAf^ewi/ diacpopcou ; and several letters respecting the ecclesiastical controversies of his day, among which were two to Florin us, a friend of his, who had become a convert to Gnosticism ; one to Blastus on schism, and the synodic epistle above referred to, from the Gallic churches to Victor, bishop of Rome, respecting Easter. Of these works only a few fragments remain. The editio prmceps of Irenaeus is that of Eras- mus, Basel, 1526, 8vo., containing the Latin version of the five books against heretics, reprinted at Basel, 1534, 1548, 1554, and 1560, fol.; at Paris, 1545, 1563, and 1567, 8vo. ; re-edited, with va- rious readings, by Jo. Jac. Grynaeus, Basel, 1571: the first edition, containing the fragments, besides the Latin version, was that of Nicolas Gallasius, Paris, 1570, fol. ; next comes the edition of Fr. Feuardentius, Cologne, 1596, 1625, and best, 1639 ; but the best edition of all is that of Grabe, Oxon. 1702, fol., which was re-edited by the Benedictine Massuet, Paris, 1710, fol. : this Benedictine edition was reprinted in two volumes folio, at Venice, 1 734. The chief separate edition of the fragments is that of Pfafl?", Hag. Com. 1715, 8vo. (Euseb. H. E. v. 15, 20, 24, 26 ; Hieron. de Vir. must. 33 ; Dodwell, Dissertationes in Trenaeum ; Cave, Hist. Litt. sub ann. 167; Lardner's Credibility ; the Ecclesiastical Histories of Tillemont, Fleury, Jortin, Mosheim, and Schrockh ; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. vii. p. 75.) 2. Bishop of Tyre, but previously a count of the empire, was the representative of the emperor Theo- dosius at the council of Ephesus, where he took part with the Nestorians, A. D. 431. Immediately after the council, he hastened to Constantinople, in order to counteract the influence of the represent-i- tives of the party of Cyril on the emperor s mind. In this he succeeded for the time ; but, after long vacillation, Theodosius at last declared himself against the Nestorians, and banished Irenaeus from his court, about A, d. 435. Irenaeus betook him- self to his friends, the Oriental bishops, by whom he was made bishop of Tyre, A. D. 444. In an im- perial decree against the Nestorians, which still exists, it is ordered that Irenaeus should be deposed from his bishopric, and deprived of his clerical character. The sentence was carried into effect in A. D. 448. In his retirement, Irenaeus wrote a history of the Nestorian struggle, under the title of Tragoedia seu Commentarii de Rebus in Synodo Ep/iesina ac in Oriente gestis. The original Greek is lost entirely, but we have an old Latin transla- tion of parts of it, published by Christian Lupus, Louvain, 1682; for, though Lupus entitled his book Variorum Patrum Epistolae ad Conciliuvi Ephcsinum pertincntes, there can be no doubt that