Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/575

Rh PSELLUS. and not himself a writer, deserves mention here, as he was the grandfather of Josephus (Jos. Vit. 1 ). 2. Michael Psellus, the elder, of Andros, flou- rished in the 9th century A. D. He was extremely- learned in ancient literature and philosophy, and endeavoured to resist the torrent of ignorance and barbarism which was coming upon the Christian world. He was also an eager student of the Alexandrian philosophy. By these pursuits he incurred the suspicion of one of his own pupils, named Constantino, who attacked him in some elegiac verses, as if he had renounced Christianity. Upon this, Psellus placed himself under the tuition of the celebrated Photiiis ; and having thus im- proved his knowledge of theology, he replied to his adversary in a long iambic poem, which is not now extant. Cave places him at a. d. 870 {Hist. Liu. s. a. vol. ii. p. 55) ; Baronius and others at A. D. 859 (Saxe, Onomast). Some writers have stated that he was the tutor of the emperor Leo VI., surnamed Sapiens ; but this arises from a confusion of the emperor Leo, who was a pupil of Photius,with Leo Byzantinus, surnamed Philoso- phus, the grandson of John the patriarch : it was the latter who was the pupil of Psellus. Except the poem already referred to, we have no mention of any writings of the elder Psellus ; but it is sus- pected by Cave, Allatius, and others, that he was the real author of some of the works which are ascribed to the younger Psellus, especially of the Dialogue on tJte Operations of Daemons., an unedited tract On Daemons, and a small work On Stones. The rea'ions for ascribing these works to the elder Psellus are their inferiority in style to the writings of the younger, and the traces they exhibit of the Alexandrian philosophy ; but it is confessed that these reasons are indecisive. The Paraphrase to several Books of Aristotle, which is generally as- cribed to Michael of Ephesus, is also thought by these scholars to be the work of the elder Psellus. (Compare Brucker, Hist. Crit. Philos. vol. iii. p. 538.) 3. Michael Constantinus Psellus the younger, a far more celebrated person, flourished in the 11 th century of our era. He was born at Constan- tinople, of a consular and patrician family, A. D. 1020. When five years old he was placed in the hands of a tutor, to whom, however, he is said to have been far less indebted than to his own pro- digious industry and talent. He afterwards studied at Athens, and excelled in all the learning of the age ; so that he was a proficient at once in theology, jurisprudence, physics, mathematics, phi- losophy, and history. He taught philosophy, rhe- toric, and dialectics, at Constantinople, where he stood forth as almost the last upholder of the falling cause of learning. The emperors honoured him with the title of Prince of the Philosophers {<pio- (t6<Pu}v SiroToj), and did not disdain to use his counsels, and in effecting their elevation he even had a share. The period during which he thus flourished at Constantinople extends over the reigns of Constantinus Monomachus(A. D. 1042 — 1054), his empress Theodora (to a. d. 1056), and Michael Stratonicus, who succeeded Theodora, and who entrusted Psellus with a conciliatory mission to Isaac Comnenus, whom the soldiers had saluted emperor in a. d. 1057. He still remained in fa- vour with both these emperors, and with Constan- tinus Ducas, who succeeded Comnenus in A. D. 1060, and also with his successor Eudocia, and PSELLUS. .503 her three sons. When Romanus Diogenes, whom Eudocia had married, was also declared emperor (a. D. 1068), Psellus was one of his counsellors ; but three years afterwards he was the chief ad- viser, among the senators, of the measure by which Diogenes was deposed, and Michael VII. Ducas, the son of Constantinus Ducas, elected in his place, A. D. 1071. Michael was the pupil of Psellus himself, by whom he had been so thoroughly imbued with the love of letters, that, in spite of the remonstrances of Psellus, he devoted himself to study and writing poetry, to the neglect of his imperial duties. To this folly Michael added the ingratitude of permitting his tutor to be supplanted in his favour by Joannes Italus, a man of far less talent, but an eloquent sophist, and a great fa- vourite with the nobles, in discussions with whom the emperor spent his time. The deposition of Michael Ducas (a. d. 1078) was followed by the fall of Psellus, who was compelled by the new emperor, Nicephorus Botanias, to retire into a monastery ; and in his dishonoured old age he witnessed the elevation of his rival to the title of Prince of the Philosophers, which he himself had so long held, and which the next emperor, Alexius Comnenus, conferred upon Joannes, in A. d. 1081. Psellus appears to have lived at least till A. D. 1105; some suppose that he was still alive in 1110, the thirtieth year of Alexius Comnenus. He was not only the most accomplished scholar, but also the most voluminous writer of his age. His works are both in prose and poetry, on a vast variety of subjects, and distinguished by an elo- quence and taste which are worthy of a better period. A great number of the works of Psellus are still unedited. Of those which have been printed there is no complete collection. In 1532 a work was printed at Venice, in 8vo., and reprinted at Paris in 1541, in 12mo., entitled Pselli Introductio in sex Philosophiae Modus : Si/nopsis quinque vo- cum et decern Categoriarum, together with similar works by Blemmidas and Georgius Pachymerius. With this exception, all his works have been pub- lished singly, as follows: — 1. Ilepl 4vepyeias Sai/j-Suov SiaAoyos, de Operatione Daemonum Dia- logus, Gr. ed. G. Gualminus, Par. 1615, 8vo. ; carelessly reprinted, Kilon. 1688, 12mo. 2. De Lapidum Virtutibus, Gr. Lat. ed. Phil. Jac. Maus- sacus, Tolos. 1615, 8vo. ; re-edited by Jo. Steph. Bemardus, Liigd. Bat. 1745, 8vo. (It has been already stated that some scholars attribute these works to the elder Psellus.) 3. Synopsis Organi Aristotelici, Gr. Lat. ed. a Elia Ehingero F., Aug. Vind. 1597, 8vo. 4. Mathematical Works, namely, (1) complete ; Pselli Opus in quatuor Matliematicas Disciplinas, Arithmeticam, Musi- cam, Geometriam, et Astronomiam, ed. Arsenic, Archiepisc. Monembas. Gr. Venet. 1532, Bvo. ; reprinted, Paris. 1545, 12mo. ; re-edited by G. Xylander, Basil. 1556, 8vo. ; (2) separate por- tions ; Geometria, stud. M. C. Meureri, Lips. 1589, 8vo. ; irepl apiQfxtiTiKtis (rvvopis, Arithmetices Compendium, Gr. Paris, in off". Wechel. 1538, 4to. ; reprinted, with a Latin version, Paris. 1545, 8vo. ; 2ui;o»|/is fiovaiKrjs, Compendium Musices, Gr. Paris, ap. A. Wechel. 1556, 4to. 5. Synopsis Legum, versibus iambis et politicis, containing the Carmina politiea de Dogmate, Carmina de Nomocanone, and Tractatus de septem sacris synodis oecumenicis, Gr. Lat. per Fr. Bosquetum, Paris. 1632, 8v. ; re* u u '2