Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/772

Rh 753 LEONTIUS. and the founding of new ones. {Carmin. lib. i. piissira.) Burmann identifies, but without any apparent reason, this Leontius of Venantius with the Pontius Leontius of Sidonius, and supposes the works mentioned by Brassicanus to have been written by him ; but we think the opinion that the fabulist was the Leontius Lascivus of Ausonius is the most probable. (Burmann, /. c; Fabric. ILcc.^ and Bibl. Med. et Lifim. Latinit. vol. iv. pp. 268, 265.) 17. Mechanicus, a Greek mathematical writer, whose period is not exactly known. He was later, probably much later, than Claudius Ptolemaeus. He wrote his only known work for the gratification of his friend Theodorus, whose fellow-workman in some mechanical pursuit he had been. It is doubted whether this Theodorus was the person of that name to whom Proclus inscribed his treatise De Providentia et Fato ; or a later Theodorus, an engineer, who defended Dara in the war between the emperor Justinian I. and the Persian king, Chosroes L (Procop. de Bell. Persico, ii. 13) : more probably it was the latter. Leontius also states that he had constructed a sphere or celestial globe, after the description of Aratus, for an Elpidius, who was perhaps the Elpidius sent by the emperor Maurice (a. d. 583) on an embassy to the Chagan of the Avars. (Theophan. Clironog. p. 2 1 4, ed. Paris, p. 170, ed. Venice, vol. i. p. 390, ed. Bonn.) It may then be considered that Leontius lived in the reign of Justinian and his successors, in the latter part of the sixth century. Leontius wrote a disserta- tion, which has come down in an imperfect form, ne/jl Tra/jacr/cei'Tjs 'Apareias cr(f)aipas, De Construc- tione Sphaerae Arati, commonly prefixed to the Scholia on the Phasnomena of Aratus, which are, though incorrectly, ascribed to Theon. The dis- sertation of Leontius has been several times printed. It is included in the collection of ancient astro- nomical treatises published hy Aldus, fol. Venice, 1499 ; and in the Astronomica Veterum Scripta Isagogiea, 8vo. in OfRcina Sanctandreana, 1589 ; and in the following editions of Aratus, 4 to. Basel, 1536, 4to. Paris, 1540 and 1559; and that of Buhle, 2 vols. 8vo. Leipzig, 1793—1801. (Buhle, Prohg. in Arati Opera; Fabric. Bihl. Grace, vol. iv. p. 94, &c., vol. viii. p. 326.) 18. MoNACHUS, the Monk. [No. 5.] 19. Mythographus. [No. 16.] 20. Of Neapolis (or of Hagiopolis, according to his own authority, cited by Cave) in Cyprus. He was bishop of that city, which Le Quien {Oriens Christianus, vol. ii. col. 1061) identifies with the Nova Lemissus, or Nemissus, or Nemosia, which rose out of the ruins of Amathus. Baronius, Pos- sevino, and others, call Leontius bishop of Salamis or Constantia : but in the records of the Second Nicene, or Seventh General Council, held a. d. 787, Actio iv. (Concilia, vol. vii. col. 236, ed. Labbe ; vol. iv. col. 1 93, ed. Hardouin, vol. viii. col. 884, ed. Coleti, and vol. xiii. col. 44, ed. Mansi), he is expressly described as bishop of Neapolis in Cyprus. His death is said to have occurred in A. D. 620 or 630. His principal works are as follows : 1. Aoyoi vnip x^s XpLCTTiavwi^ dyroKoyias Karot, 'lou- Saicou Koi irepl ukSuuv tuv dyicou, Sermones pro Defensione Christianorum contra Judaeos ac de Imaginibus Sanctis. A long extract from the fifth of these Sermones was read at the second Nicene Council {Concilia, I. c), among the testimonies of tlie fathers in support of the use of images in wor- LEONTIUS. ship ; and several passages, most of them identicjtj with those cited in the council, are given by Joannes Damascenus in his Oratio III. de Imagi- nibus {Opera, vol. i. p. 373, &c. ed. Le Quien). A Latin version of another portion of one of these discourses of Leontius is given in the Lectiones Antiquae of Canisiuj. (Vol. i. p. 793, ed Basnage.) 2. Bios Tov dylov 'ludvuov dpxi^T^KTKSirov 'AA€|- avZp^ias tou 'EAer/jUOJ/os, Vita Sancti Joannis Archiepiscopi Alexandriae Cognomento Eleemonis s. Eleemosynarii. This John of Alexandria died A. D. 616 [Joannes, No. 55]; and his life by Leontius, which was mentioned in the second Nicene council {Concilia, vol. cit. coL 246, Labbe, 202, Hardouin, 896, Coleti, 53, Mansi), is extant in MS. in the Imperial Library at Vienna, An ancient Latin version by Anastasius Bibliothecarius is given by Rosweid {De Vitis Patrum, pars i.), Surius {De Probatis Sanctorum Vitis), and Bol- landus {Acta Sanctor. Januar. vol. ii. p. 498, &c.). The account of St. Vitalis or Vitalius given in the Acta Sanctorum of BoUandus {Januar. vol. i. p. 702) is a Latin version of a part of this Life of Joannes Eleemosynarius. 3. Bios tou oaiox) 'SfV/ncdv Tov craXov, Vita Sancti Symeonis Simplicis, or Bios KoL TrokiTcia tov d§§d 'Svixeciou rov Sid Xpiaroi) enouofiaaOivTos 2aAoi», Vita et Conversatio Abbatis Symeonis qui cognominatus est Stultus propter Christum, also mentioned in the Nicene council {I. c), and published in the Acta Sanctorum of the Bollandists {Julii, vol. i. p. 136, &c.), with a Latin version different from that which had been previously published by Surius (De Probatis Sanctor. Vitis, a. d. 1. Julii), and by Lipomannus. The other published works of Leontius are homi- lies. 4. Sermo in Simeonem quando Dominum in Ulnas suscepit. 5. In Diem festum mediae Penie- costes ; both given, with a Latin version, in the Novum Auctarium of Conibefis, vol. i. fol. Paris, 1648. Fabricius adds to these, as given by Com- befis, another homily. In Diem festum mediae Pentecostes et in Caecum a Nativitate ; necnon in illud : Nolite Judicare secundum faciem : but this homily is said in the title to be by " Leontius presbyter CPolitanus," and has been already noticed. [No. 5.] Compare, however. Fabric. Bibl. Grace, vol. x. p. 309. As Leontius of Nea polls is recorded to have written many homilies in honour of saints {eyKoi/xia), and for the festivals of the church {TravrjyvpiKol Xoyoi), especially one on the Transfiguration of our Saviour, it is not unlikely that some of those extant under the name of Leon- tius of Constantinople may be by him. He wrote also TlapaW-nXccv yoi fi', Parallelorum, s. Loco- rum communium Tlieologicorum Libri II. ; the first book consisted rwv ^dwu, the other twu dvQparri- voiv. Turrianus possessed the second book ; but whether that or the first is extant we know not : neither has been published. It has been thought that Joannes Damascenus, in his Parallela, made use of those of Leontius. Fabricius, on the authority of some MSS., inserts among the works of Leontius of Neapolis the homily Ets rd fiata. In Festum (s. Ramos) Palmarum, ascribed to Chrysostom, and printed among the doubtful or spurious works in the editions of that father. (Vol. vii. p. 334, ed. Savill, vol. X. p. 767, ed. Montfaucon, or vol. x. p. 915, and vol. xiii. p. 354, in the recent Parisian reprint of Montfaucon's edition.) Maldonatus {ad Joan, vii.) mentions some MS. Commerdarii in Joannem by Leontius ; and an Oratio in laudem