Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/770

Rh 756 LEONTIUS. we know rot on what authority, as Oratio in Pos- sionem S. Babi/lae, which is cited in tlie Paschal Chronicle in the notice of the Decian persecution. In this fragment Leontius distinctly asserts that both the Emperor Philip, the Arabian, and his wife, were avowed Christians. (Socrai. H. E. ii. 26 ; Sozomen, //. E. iii. 20 ; Theodoret. //. E. ii. 10, 24 ; Philostorg. H. E. iii. 15, 17, 18 ; Athanas. Apolog. de Fuga sua, c. 26, Hht. Jrianor. ad Monachos, c. 28, Chron. Pasch. vol. i. pp. 270, 289, ed. Paris, pp. 216, 231, ed. Venice, pp. 503, 535, ed. Bonn ; Cave, Historia Litteraria, vol. i. p. 211, ed. Oxon. 1740—43 ; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. viii. 324.) 2. Of ARABissus,in Cappadocia, of which town he was bishop, an ecclesiastical writer of uncertain date. Photius has noticed two of his works : — 1. Els rijv kt'ktiv yos, Senno de Creatione; and, 2. Eis Tov Ad^apov, De Lazaro ; and gives a long extract from the fonTier, and a shorter extract from the latter. (Photius, Cod. 272 ; Cave, Hist. Litt. vol. i. p. 551 ; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. viii. p. 324, vol. X. pp. 268, 771.) 3. Of Arelate or Arles, was bishop of that city about the middle of the fifth century. Several letters were written to him by Pope Hilarius (a. d. 461 — 467) which are given in the Concilia : and a letter of Leontius to the pope (dated a. d. 462) is given in the Spicileyium of lJ''Achery (vol. v. p. 578 of the original edition, or vol. iii. p. 302, in the edition of De La Barre, fol. Paris, 1723), and in the Concilia. Leontius presided in a council at Aries, held about a. d. 475, to condemn an error into which some had fallen respecting the doctrine of predestination. He appears to have died in A. D. 484. He is mentioned by Sidoiiius Apolli- naris. (Sidon. ApoUin. Epist. vii. 6, Concilia, vol. iv. col. 1039, 1044, 1041*, 1828, ed. Labbe ; Cave, Hist. Lilt. vol. i. p. 449; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. viii. p. 324, vol. xii. p. 653, Bibl. Med. et hifim. Latinitatisy vol. v. p. 268, ed. Mansi ; Tillemont, Memoires, vol. xvi. p. 38.) 4. BURDEGALENSIS Or of BORDEAUX. [No. 16.] 5. Of Byzantium or Constantinople, an ecclesiastical writer of the latter part of the sixth and the commencement of the seventh century, sometimes designated, from his original profession, ScHOLASTicus, i. c. the pleader. Several works of about the same period bear the name of Leontius, distinguished by the surnames of Byzantinus, Presbyter Constantinopolitanus, Cyprius, HiEROSOLYMITANUS, MoNACHUS, NeAPOLITA- Nus, and Presbyter et Abbas St. Sabae ; and as there is difficulty in determining how many individuals are designated by these various epithets, and which of the various works ascribed to them should be assigned to each, it will be desirable to compare the present article, which refers to the author of the work De Sectis, with Nos 20 and 26. According to Cave, Leontius, having given up the exercise of his profession as a scholasticus, retired to the monastery which had been founded by St. Saba near Jerusalem, but was rejected by that saint for his adherence to the obnoxious tenets of Origen. But Cave is manifestly in error, and has confounded two different persons of the same name and place. The Leontius of Byzantium, who was excluded by St. Saba for Origenism, died in the reign of the emperor Justinian L (Cyril. Scy- thopolit. Vita S. Sabae, c. 86, apud Coteler. Eccles. LEOMIUS. Graec. Monum. vol. iii. p. 366), but the work De Sectis appears from internal evidence to have been written at least half a century after Justinian's death, and must therefore be the vt'ork of a later Leontius. Photius (cod. 231 ) and Nicephorus Callisti (H. E. xviii. 48) call the author of the De Sectis a monk, and do not notice his earlier pro- fession. Galland {Bibl. Pairum, vol. xii. Prolegom. c. 20) says that Leontius retired from the bar, and embraced a monastic life in Palestine ; but we ap- prehend this is only a supposition, intended to account for the designation Hierosolymitanus in the title of some of the works, which he ascribes to this Leontius. Oudin, who is disposed to iden- tify several of the Leontii, supposes that the ex- scholasticus became a monk and abbot of St. Saba (comp. No. 26), near Jerusalem. {De Scripiorib. Eccles. vol. i. col. 1462, &c.) The works which appear to be by this Leontius are as follows : — 1. 2x<^^'a, Scholia, " taken down from the lips of Theodorus, the most godly abbot and wisest philosopher, accomplished alike in sacred and profane leaniing." This work, which is more commonly cited by the title De Sectis, consists of ten divisions called irpd^eis, Actiones ; it was first published with a Latin version by Leunclavius, in a volume containing several other pieces, 8vo. Basel, 1578, and was reprinted in the Auctarium Biblio- tliecae Fatrum of Ducaeus, vol. i. fol. Paris, 1624 ; in the Bibliotheca Patrum, vol. xi. fol. Paris, 1644 ; and in the Bibliotheca Patrum of Galland, vol. xii. p. 625, &c., fol. Venice, 1778. The Latin version alone is given in several other editions of the Bibliotheca Patrum. 2. Contra Eutychianos et Nestorianos Libri Tres. s. Confutatio utriusque Fic- tionis inter se contrariae : some speak of the three books into which this treatise is divided as dis- tinct works. 3. Liber adversiis eos qui proferunt nobis qtiaedam Apollinarii, falso inscripta nomine Sanctorum Patrum s. Adversus Fraudes Apollina- ristarum. 4. Solutiones Argumentationum Severi. 5. Dubitationes hypotheticae et definientes contra eos qui negant in Christo post Unionem duas verus Naturas. These pieces have not been printed in the original, but Latin versions from the papers of FranciscusTurrianus were published by Canisius in his Lectiones Aniiquae, vol. iv. (or vol. i. p. 525, &c. ed. Basnage), and were reprinted in the Bibliotheca Patrum, vol. ix. fol. Lyon, 1677, and in the above mentioned volume of the Bibliotlieca of Galland. 6. Apologia Concilii Chalcedonensis. This was printed with a Latin version and notes, by Antonio Bongiovanni, in the Concilia, vol. vii. p. 799, ed. Mansi, fol. Florence, 1762, and was reprinted by Galland, I. c. In the title Le- ontius is called Monachus Hierosolymitanus, but the word Hierosolymitanus is possibly an error of the transcriber. At any rate Galland identifies the writer with our Leontius ; and the subject of the work makes it probable that he is right. 7. Adversus Eutychianos (s. Severianos) et Nestorianos^ in octo libros distinctum. This work is described by Canisius as being extant in MS. at Munich, and by Fabricius as occurring in the catalogue of the Palatine library. 8. Liber de Duplici Naiura in Christo contra IJaeresin Monophysitarum. Labbe and Cave speak of this as extant in MS. at Vi- enna ; and they add to it Disputatio contra Philo- sophum Arianum, but this last piece seems to be an extract from Gelasius of Cyzicus [Gelashts, No. 3], and is probably one of the discussions be-