Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/758

Rh 744 LEO. from Homer, Agathias, the historian, and tlie Sep- tuagint), in the place of simple and common ones ; and abounds in tautological phrases. His know- ledge of geography and ancient history is slight ; but with these defects his history is a valuable contemporary record of a stirring time, honestly and fearlessly written. Scylitzes, and through him Cedrenus, are much indebted to Leo ; and Hase considers Zonaras also to have used his work. The Historia was first published, at the cost of count Nicolas Romanzof, chancellor of Russia, by Car. Bened. Hase, Paris, 1818. Combefis had in- tended to publish it in the Parisian edition of the Corpus Historiae Byzantinae with the Historia of Michael Psellus, but was prevented by death, a. d. 1679. The Latin version which he had prepared was communicated by Montfaucon to Pagi, who inserted some portions in his Critice in Baronium (ad ann. 960, No. ix). The papers of Combefis were, many years after, committed to Michael Le Quien, that he might publish an edition of Psellus and Leo, and part of the latter author's work was actually printed ; but the breaking out of the war of the succession (a. d. 1702) prevented its com- pletion, and Hase could find no trace of the part printed. In the disorders of the French revolution the papers of Combefis were finally lost or de- stroyed. Hase in his edition added a Latin version and notes to the text of Leo, and illustrated it by engravings from ancient gems. His edition is, however, scarce and dear, the greater part of the copies having been lost by shipwreck; but his text, preface, version, and notes (not the engrav- ings), have been reprinted in the Bonn edition of the Corpus Historiae Byzantinae. 8vo. 1828. (Fabric. Bihl. Grace, vol. vii. p. 684, note 1 ; Cave, Hist. Litt. vol. ii. p. 106 ; Hase, Pracfatio ad Leon. Diacon. Historiam.) 14. The Epicurean of Lampsacus [No. 3]. 15. Grammaticus, one of the continuators of Byzantine history from the period when Theo- phanes leaves off. Nothing certain is known of him. A note, subjoined by the transcriber, to the Parisian MS. of Georgius Syncellus, Theophanes, and Leo Grammaticus states that "the chronography of the recent emperors, completed (TrT]pw6u(Ta) by Leo Grammaticus, was finished on the 8th of the month of July, on the feast of the holy martyr Procopius, in the year 6521 (of the Mundane era of Constantinople), in the 11th Indiction," A. D. 1013 common era; but there can be little doubt that this date refers to the completion, not of the original work, but of the transcript. Cave indeed understands the date as being that of the original work. A postscript to the same MS., but b}' a different hand, gives to Leo the surname of Tzi- candalus (Tft/cavSaAos), and states that he was civil and military governor (TrpoeSpos Se Sou|) of the Cibyraeans, and one of the household (or per- haps the intimate friend, for the expression olKeTos dydpurrros is ambiguous) of our mighty and supreme (or chief, irpcirov) emperor. Combefis {Noiae ad LeoTiem Grammat. ad initium) understands the emperor to be Constantiiie Porphyrogenitus [CoN- STANTINUS VII.], which is probable ; and though there are some difficulties about this inscription, which prevent our giving entire credit to it, we do not participate in the doubt of Combefis whether it refers to Leo Grammaticus or the anonymous con- tinuator of Theophanes. The town of Cibyra is by Pliny included in Caria, and this furnishes LEO. Combefis with one reason for identifying Leo Grammaticus with Leo the Carian mentioned by Cedrenus. {Compend. Historiae, sub init.) That the two are identical is very probable ; but the epithet " Carian" is probably given rather from Leo's birthplace than from his government, which appears to have included not merely the town of Cibyra, but the whole thema of the Cibyraeans or Cibyr- rhaeans (i&eVa KiSuppaiwrav, Constant. Porphyrog. De Thematib. i. Th. 14), comprehending all the S.W. part of Asia Minor, and, of course, Caria. Leo Grammaticus is perhaps identical with the Leo Asinus, 6 'AcTivos, mentioned by Joannes Scylitza (apud Montfaucon, Biblioth. Coislin, p. 209). The work of Leo Grammaticus is entitled Xpo- voypacpia, ra rwv vewv fiacriAecuj/ iz^piexovaa, Chro- nograpMa Res a Recentioribus Imperatoribus Ge.sias Complectens, and extends from the accession of Leo V. the Armenian, a. d. 81 3, to the death of Romanus Lecapenus, a. d. 948 or 949, not, as Cave inaccu- rately states, to A. D. 1013. It was prepared for publication by Goar, but actually published with Theophanes, under the care of Combefis, fol. Paris, 1655, in the Parisian edition of the Corpus His- toriae Byzantinae, and was reprinted at Venice, fol. 1729. Leo has little in common with the anony- mous continuator of Theophanes [Leontius, No. 6J in that part of his work which comprehends the period before Basil the Macedonian ; but in the latter part the two authorshave many passages either identical or varying but little from each other : but the uncertainty attaching to the date of Leo's work makes it doubtful which was the first written. The anonymous continuation of Theophanes comes down to a later period than the work of Leo, and may therefore be inferred to have been written later. The somewhat abrupt termination of Leo's history soon after the recovery of the sole possession of theimperial power by the emperor Constantino Porphyrogenitus would lead to the conclusion that the writer lived at that period, and brought down his narrative to the time of its composition, had he not elsewhere (sub init. imperii Constant. Porphyrog. p. 488, ed. Paris, p. 387, ed. Ven.) given a statement of the whole length of Coustantine's reign, which shows that he must have written after its close. Possibly he wrote during the reign of his son and successor Romanus II., and br9ke off where he did in order to avoid the necessity of adverting to Coustantine's unhappy death and the parricide of Romanus. Some verses, probably by Leo of Thessalonica [No. 29], are in some MSS. ascribed to Leo Gram- maticus. (Comp. Cedrenus, p. 641, ed. Paris, vol. ii. p. 337, ed. Bonn.) Cotelerius {Monum. Eceles. Graec, vol. iii. 463, &c.) has given a letter on a ques- tion of canon law from a presbyter Joannes to "his guide and spiritual father, Leo Grammaticus, arch- bishop of Calabria," with Leo's answer. But this Leo cannot be the historian, unless we reject the account of the latter being governor of Cibyra, or suppose him to have exchanged his secular for an ecclesiastical life. (Fabric. Bibl. Gr. vol. vii. p. 713; Cave, Hist. Litt. vol, ii. p. 128; Hankius, De Byzantin. Rerum Scriptorib. pt. ii. c. vii.; Voss. De Hist. Grae.c. iv. 21.) 16. Of Lampsacus. [No. 3.] 17. Magkntenus {^ayevrT)vos) or Magkn- TIN us {Hiayevr'ivos), a commentator on Aristotle, flourished during the first half of the fourteenth century. His first name, Leo, is frequently omitted in the MSS. of his works. He was a monk, and /