Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/967

Rh SYMEON. Solitary [Philippus, literary and ecclesiastical, No. 27], or a different work, is not ascertained. (Allatius, p. 136 ; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. x. p. 62, note oo.) The works of Symeon Metaphrastes are still valued by the Greeks. Three small quarto volumes containing selections from the Vitae Sanctorum,trana- lated into the modern Greek tongue by Agapius, a Cretan monk, printed at Venice in the years 1797, 1805, and 1806, and entitled respectively, Ilapa- Sfiaos, Paradisus, 'EKASyiou, Edogium, and Ne'os UapdSeicros, Paradisus Novus, are now before us. (Allatius, De Spneon. Script is, pp. 24 — 151 ; Cave, who makes three persons of our Symeon, viz, Sy- meon Metaphrastes, Symeon Logotheta, and Symeon Logotheta Junior, Bist. Litt. ad annos 901, 967, 1170, vol. ii. pp. 88, 104, 241 ; Oudin, De Scrip- toribusEccl vol. ii. col. 1300—1383 ; Vossius, De Historicis Graecis, lib. ii. c. xxv. and lib. iv. pars iii ; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. vii. pp. 471, 683, vol. viii. p. 29, vol. x. p. 180, &c. alibi ; Ceillier, Au- teurs SacreSy vol. xix. p. 565, &c., 592, &c. ; Han- kius, De Byzantinarum Rerum Scriptoribus, pars i. c. 24 ; Hamberger, Zuverl'dssige Nachridden, vol. iv. p. 139, &c. ; Saxius, Onomasticon, vol. ii. p. 135.) 23. MoNACHUS s. HiKROMONACHUS. Various MSS. bear the name of Symeon Hieromonachus or Monachus as their author. (Comp. Fabric. BiUioth. Graec. vol. xi. p. 299 ; Cave, Hist. Litt. vol. ii. ; Dissertat. Prima, p. 18). A Symeonius Monachus et Presbyter is mentioned by Photius {Biblioth. Cod. 231 ) as flourishing in the reign of Justinian I. (See also Nos. 24, 25.) 24. Pius, Venerabilis or Studita. Symeon, denominated by his admirers 6 evXaSijs, " the Pious," or, as Combefis renders it, " the Venerable," was a monk of the monastery of Studium at Con- stantinople, in the latter half of the tenth century. His younger namesake, Symeon of St. Mamas [No. 16], was his disciple, and held him in such reverence as to pay to his memory honours which were deemed unauthorized and excessive, and in- volved the younger Symeon in difficulties with his ecclesiastical superiors. Symeon the Pious is re- garded as the author of a short treatise on the duties of an ascetic life, Aoyos daKrjTiKos iroXv- jU6p?)s T^diKos Ke(paXaiwdr]s, Oratio de vitae aseeticae offidis summatitu scripta, of which a version in mo- dern or Romaic Greek, by Dionysius Zagoraeus, is published with his version of the works of Symeon of St. Mamas. 4to. Venice, 1790. See the bio- graphical notices of Symeon of St. Mamas, in the Auciarium Novisshnum of Combefis and in the ver- sion of Zagoraeus, already referred to [No. 16]. 25. ScHOLARius, styled also Hieromonachus, Sujueii/ Upofx6vaxos 6 axo^dpios ; a monk of the Byzantine empire, whose date is not known, ex- cept that he lived about or after the close of the eighth century. He composed a work entitled Kafofey, Syntagma Canonum, extant in MS. at Vienna, containing the Canons ascribed to the Apostles and to the seven general councils. (Fa- bric. Biblioth. Graec. vol. xi. p. 299 ; Cave, Hist. Litt. vol. ii.. Appendix prima, p. 18 ; Lambecius, Comrmntar. de Bihliotheca Caesaraea, vol. iv. col. 435, ed. Kollar.) 26. Of Seleuceia and Ctesifhon. The in- crease of the number of Christians in Persia, and their formation into churches with ecclesiastical officers, had excited the apprehensions of the Magi, and also the jealousy of the Jews : these SYMEON. 955 bodies excited the Persian king to commence a severe persecution against the Christians, and Symeon, archbishop of Seleucia and Ctesiphon, was put to death on a charge of favouring the interests of, and treacherously conveying to, the Ro- man emperor Constantine the Great, or more pro- bably his son Constantius II., intelligence affecting the interests of Persia. Syriac writers call this Symeon Bar-Sabai or Bar-saboe, i. e. " Filius Tinctorum" (Assemani. Biblioth. Orient, vol. i. p. 1, 2), and state that he was the disciple of Papas or Phaphas, whom he succeeded in the see of Se- leuceia. Papas had been deposed for his arro- gance and impiety, and Symeon was appointed in his room (Le Quien, Oriens Christianus, vol. iii. col. 1107, &c. ; Assemani, Biblioth. Orient. o. . p. 186), which led Papas to utter an imprecation against Symeon that his sins might never be for- given to him. Symeon was born of respectable and pious parents, who carried on the business of silk dyers, and appear to have supplied the Persian kings with their royal robes. The date of Sy- meon's accession to his see is undetermined. Ac- cording to some authorities (Le Quien, col. 1106) Symeon was present at the Council of Nice, a. d. 325, as representative of his predecessor Papas, who was then archbishop of Seleuceia ; according to others (Assemani, p. 8, 9) Symeon had already acquired the see, and sent one of his clergy to represent him. The date of his death is also un- certain ; but it was probably during the war be- tween the Persians and the Roman emperor Con- stantius II. Many other Christians perished with Symeon, and in the bloody persecution which fol- lowed his death : among these martyrs was his sister Tarbula. He was buried at Susa. (Assemani, p. 4.) Symeon wrote some letters in Syriac, which are mentioned by Ebed-jesu (Assemani, p. 11); but the occasion and subject of them are not stated. Two hymns which are, it would appear, still used by the Christians of the country about Bagdad (in divinis Chaldaeorum officiis) are ascribed to him. (Asse- mani, Biblioth. Oriental, vol. i. p. 1 — 12 ; Le Quien, I.e.; Sozomen. H. E. ii. 8 — 15 ; Hieronym. Chro- nicon; Theophan. Chronog. p. 19, ed. Paris, p. 15, ed. Venice, p. 36, ed. Bonn ; Cedrenus, Compend. p. 298, ed. Paris, vol. i. p. 522, ed. Bonn ; Nice- phorus Callisti, H. E. viii. 35, 37, 38 ; Menolog. Basilian. a. d. April, xiv. pars iii. p. bS, fol. Ur- bino, 1727; Henschen. apud Acta Sanctorum Aprilis, vol. ii. p. 846 ; Baronius, Annates Eccles. ad ann. 343, xii. — xvii. ; Pagi, Critice in Baron, in loc. ; Tillemont, Memoii-es, vol. vii. pp. 76, &c., 662, &c.) 27. Seth or Sethus, 2tj0, or Sethi, 2rj0i ; or perhaps the Son of Sethus or Seth, a Byzantine writer of some importance of the eleventh century. He is known also by the titles which he bore of Ma- GISTER ET PhILOSOPH us, MdjiarpOS Kol ^l(T0- <|)os, and of Protovestiarius ANTiocHi,npcoTo- k^ajdpxn^'^^v *A.vTi6xov, i. e. Master of the Robes in the palace of Antiochus(FlaviH3 Antiochus the Eunuch, who was consul, a. d. 431) at Constanti- nople, in which the imperial jewels or costly articles were kept. (Comp. Ducange, Glossar. Med. et Injim. Graecitat. s. v.irpcDToSiO'Tdpxvs twv^Avtioxov, inter derivat. voc. Beo-TTjs ; and Constantinop. Christiana^ lib. ii. sect. xiii. § 5.) By a corruption of his title he has been improperly styled Antiochenus, 'Aj/Ttoxe«is, and Magister Antiochiae, 'Vi.dyiff. rpos ''AvTiox^las, and Bestus, Bearos. It is pro-