Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/231

Rh PETRUS. [Niger], but this is uncertain, and in the latest edition of Dioscorides (/. c), where the words Koi NiKrifjaroi Koi Herpdvios Hiyep re Kol AtoBoros occur, a comma is placed between Herpu/vtos and Hiyep. In Pliny (//. N. xx. 32), he is called Petronim Diodotus, but probably the text is not quite sound [Diodotus]. He is mentioned by Galen (De Compos. Medicam. sec. Gen. ii. 5, vol. xiii, p. 502), where the words U^Tpuivios Movaas occur, which has made some persons consider Pe- tronius Musa to be one and the same individual, and others conjecture that instead of YliTpwvios^ we should read 'Avtuvios : probably, however, it is only necessary to insert a Ka or a comma between the words. One of his medicines is quoted by Galen (Ibid. v. 11. p. 831 ). (See Fabric. Bibl. Gr. I c.) The name of M. Peironius Heras, a physician, occurs in an ancient Latin inscription preserved by Gruter. [W. A. G.] L. PETROSI'DIUS, a standard-bearer (uqui- lifer), died fighting bravely, when Tituiius Sabi- nus and Aurunculeius Cotta were destroyed with their troops, by Ambiorix, B. c. 54. (Caes. B. G. V. 37.) PETRUS, Latin emperor of Constantinople, belonged to that branch of the Courtenay family which was descended from the kings of France. He was chosen to succeed the emperor Henry in 1217, being then in France, where he held the dignity of count of Auxerre. While traversing Epeirus with an army on his way to Constanti- nople, he was made a prisoner by Theodore, despot of Epeirus, and died in captivity in 1219, having never sat on the throne. We consequently dis- miss him, and only mention that his successor was his second son, Robert. [W. P.] PETRUS (nexpos), literary and ecclesiastical. 1. Of Alexandria (1). Petrus or Peter, the first of that name in the list of the bishops of Alexandria, succeeded Theonas in that see some- time between Easter and the latter part of Novem- ber, A. D. 300, according to Tillemont's calculation ; and exercised his episcopal functions more than eleven (Eusebius says for twelve) years. Of the time and place of his birth we have no account. Cave considers that he was probably born at Alex- andria, and that he was there " trained alike to virtue and to sacred literature by his predecessor Theonas ; " but we do not know that these state- ments are more than inferences from his being chosen to succeed Theonas. He had not occupied the see quite three years when the persecution com- menced by the emperor Diocletian [Diocletianus] and continued by his successors, broke out a. d. 304. During its long continuance Peter was obliged to flee from one hiding-place to another. The monk Ammonius (De Caede SS. Patrum in Monte Syna et in Solitudine Raithu^ apud Valesium, A^o^. ad Emeb. H. E. vii. 32) attests this ; and Peter himself, if confidence may be placed in a discourse said to have been delivered by him in prison, and given in certain Acta Petri Aleocandrini (apud Valesium, ibid.) states that he found shelter at different times in Mesopotamia, in Phoenicia, in Pa- lestine, and in various islands ; but if these Acta are the same that were published by Comb^fis in his Selecti Martyrum Triumphi, 8vo. Paris, 1660, their authority is materially lessened by the inter- polations of Symeon Metaphrastes. Cave conjec- tures that he was imprisoned during the reign of Dio- cletian or Maximian Galerius [MaximianusIL], PETRUS. 219 and if there is tnith in the account given by Epi- phanius (Hacres. Ixviii. 1- — 5) of the origin of the schism in the Egyptian churches, occasioned by Meletius of Lycopolis [Meletius, literary and ecclesiastical. No. 3], the conjecture is probably correct ; and if so, Peter must have obtained his release, as this imprisonment must have been ante- cedent to the deposition of Meletius by Petrus, and the commencement of the Meletian schism. In the ninth year of the persecution Peter was, sud- denly and contrary to all expectation, again ar- rested and was beheaded, by order of Maximin Daza [Maximinus II.], without any distinct charge being brought against him. Eusebius speaks with the highest admiration of his piety and his attain- ments in sacred literature, and he is revered as a saint and martyr both in the Eastern and Western Churches. His martyrdom is placed by an ancient Oriental chronicle of the bishops of Alexandria, translated by Abraham Echellensis (Paris, 1651), on the 29th of the month Athur or Athyr, which corresponds sometimes to the 25th, and sometimes to the 26th November. His memory is now cele- brated by the Latin and Greek Churches on the 26th, except in Russia, where the more ancient computation, which placed it on the 25th, is still followed. An account of the martyrdom (Acta Martyrii) of Peter, in the Latin version of Anas- tasius Bibliothecarius, is given by Surius, De Pro- /xitis Sa7ictorum Vitis, a. d. 25 Nov. ; and the Greek Acta of Symeon Metaphrastes are given, with a Latin version, in the Selecti Martyrum Triumphi of Comb^fis already cited. Peter wrote several works, of which there are very scanty remains. 1. Ilept ixeravoias Aoyos, Sermo de Poenitentia. 2. Aoyos els to Ildo-xa, Sermo in Sanctum Pasclia. These discourses are not extant in their original form, but fifteen canons relating to the lapsi, or those who in time of per- secution had fallen away, fourteen of them from the Sermo de Poenitentia^ the fifteenth from the Sermo in Sanctum Pascha, are contained in all the Canonum Collectiones. They were published in a Latin version in the Micropresbyticon, Basel, 1550 ; in the Orlhodoxographa of Ileroldus, Basel, 1555, and of Grynaeus, Basel, 1569 ; in the first and second editions of De la Bigne's Bihliotheca Pa- trum., Vaxh, 161 B and 1589, and in the Cologne edition, 1618. They are given also in the Concilia. In the edition of Labbe (vol. i. col. 96b) and in that of Hardouin (vol. i. col. 225) they are given in Greek with a Latin version, but without notes ; but in the 'ZvvohiKov, sive Pandectae Canonum of Bishop Beveridge (vol. ii. p. 8, fol. Oxon. 1672) they are accompanied by the notes of Joannes Zo- naras and Theodorus Balsamon. They are entitled Tou fJMKapiov o/JXieTTtcr/coTTOw 'AAe|a;/5pefas Ylirpov KoX jxapTvpos Kavoves inicpepSiJ.ei'oi fu r(fi ircpX fif- ravolas avrov K6ya>, Beati Petri Archiepiscopi Alex- andrini et Martyris Canones quiferuntur in Sennone ejus de Poenitentia. It is only in some MSS. and editions that the separate source of the fifteenth canon is pointed out. A passage from the Sermo in Sanctum Pascha, or from some other work of Peter's on the same subject, is given in the Diatriba de PascJuite prefixed to the Chronicon Alexandrinum s, Pasdiale, and published separately in the Uranologion of Petavius, fol. Paris, 1630, p. 396, &c. As the Diatriba is mutilated, and the extract from Peter forms its present commencement, it was hastily inferred by some critics that the