Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 8.djvu/693

Rh E U N E U P GG7 deals chietty with the contemporaries of the author, is valu able as the only source for the history of the philosophy of that period. The best edition is that of Boissouade with notes by Wyttenbach (Amsterdam, 1822). See a notice of Eunapius by Cousin in his Fragments philosopJdqiies pour tercir a I histoire de la philosophic (1865). EUNOMIUS, one of the chief leaders of the extreme or A.nomoean Arians, who are sometimes accordingly called Eunomians, was born at Dacora in Cappadocia early in the 4th century. Under the advice of the Arian bishop S jcundus of Antioch, he was sent to Alexandria to study theology under Aetius, whose secretary he became. He afterwards came under the influence of Eudoxius of Antioch, where he was ordained deacon. On the recom mendation of Eudoxius he was appointed bishop of Cyzicus in 3GO. In this position he gave unrestrained utterance to his extreme Arian views, with the result that the inhabi tants of Cyzicus lodged a complaint against him, and Eudoxius was compelled, by command of the emperor Constantino, to depose him from the bishopric within a year of his elevation to it. During the reigns of Julian the Apostate and Jovian, he resided in Constantinople in closeintercourse with Aetius, consolidating an heretical party and consecrating schismatical bishops. He next resided at Chalcedon, from which he was banished to Mauritania by the emperor Valens for harbouring the rebel Procopius. He was recalled, however, before he reached his destination. In 383 the emperor Theodosius, who had demanded a declaration of faith from all party leaders, punished Eunomius for continuing to teach his distinctive doctrines, by banishing him to Halmyris in Moesia. He afterwards resided at Chalcedon and at Caesarea in Cappadocia, from which he was expelled by the inhabitants for writing agiinst their bishop Basilius. His last days were spent at Dacora his birthplace, where he died about 394. The writings of Eunomius were held in high reputation by his party, and their influence was so much dreaded by the orthodox, that more than one imperial edict was issued for their destruction (Cod. Tkeod., xvi. 34). Consequently his commentary on the epistle to the Romans, mentioned by the historian Socrates, and his epistles, mentioned by Philostorgius and Photius, are no longer extant. His first apologstical work ( ATroXoyTyTiKos), written probably about 360 or 365, has been entirely recovered from the celebrated refutation of it by Basilius, and may be found in Fabricius s Bill. Gr., viii., pp. 262-305. A second apology, written before 379 (virep uTroXoyi as uTroXoyt a), exists only in the quotations given from it in a refutation by Gregory of Nyssa. The exposition of faith (&quot;EK&O-IS T!}S Trtcrreo)?), called forth by the above-mentioned demand of Theodosius, is still extant, and has been edited by Valesius in his notes to Socrates, and by Rettberg in his Marcelliana. The doctrine of Eunomius, as displayed in these works, was developed by an exclusively logical application of the fundamental idea of the unity of God to the orthodox Trinitarian view. Denying alike the homoousian and the homoiousian theory, he was dialecti- cally probably the ablest and most consistent defender of Anomaeanisra, or the doctrine according to which the Son is essentially or substantially different from the Father. According to Socrates (v. 24), Eunomius carried his doctrine to a practical issue by altering the baptismal formula. Instead of baptizing in the name of the Trinity, Ii3 baptized in the name of the Creator and into the death of Christ. This alteration was regarded by the orthodox as so serious that Eunomians on returning to the church were re-baptized, though the Arians were not. The Eunomian heresy was formally condemned by the oscti- menical council of Constantinople. The sect maintained a separate existence for some time, but gradually fell away owing to internal divisions. It may be noted that Winston s Eunomianismus Redivivus contains an English translation of the first apology of Eunomius. EUNUCH (ewov^os), an emasculated person. From remote antiquity among the Orientals, as also at a later period in Greece, eunuchs were employed to take charge of the women, or generally as chamberlains, whence the name, ol TTJV evvyv e^ovres, i.e., those who have charge of the bedchamber. Their position in the harems of princes affording them the ready means of access to the royal person, it is not surprising that they were frequently enabled to exercise an important influence over princes, and even to raise themselves to stations of great trust and power. Hence the term eunuch in Egypt came to be applied to any court officer, whether a castratus or not. The vulgar notion that eunuchs are necessarily deficient in courage and in intellec tual vigour is amply refuted by history. We are told, for example, by Herodotus that in Persia they were especially prized for their fidelity ; and they were frequently promoted to the highest offices. Narses, the famous general under Justinian, was a eunuch, as was also Hermias, governor of Atarnea in Mysia, to whose manes the great Aristotle offered sacrifices, besides celebrating the praises of his patron and friend in a poem (still extant), addressed to Virtue (see Lucian s dialogue entitled Eunuchus). To multiply instances were superfluous. The capacity of this class of persons for public affairs is strikingly illustrated by the histories of Persia, India, and China; and we need only allude to the power exercised by the eunuchs under the later Roman emperors. The hideous trade of castrating boys to be sold as eunuchs for Moslem harems has continued to modern times, the principal district whence they are taken being the inland of north-eastern Africa. As the larger proportion of children die after the operation (gene rally total removal), such as recover fetch at least three or four times the ordinary price of slaves. Even more vile, as being practised among a civilized European nation, has been the Italian practice of castrating boys to prevent the natural development of the voice, in order to train them as adult soprano singers, such as might till lately be heard in the Sixtine Chapel. Though such mutilation is a crime punishable with severity, the supply of &quot; soprani &quot; never failed so long as their musical powers were in demand in high quarters. Driven long ago from the Italian stage by public opinion, they remained the musical glory and moral shame of the papal choir till the accession of the present pope (Leo XIII.), one of whose first acts was to get rid of them. Mention must here also be made of the class of voluntary eunuchs, who have emasculated them selves, or caused the operation to be performed on them, for the avoidance of sexual sin or temptation. This unnatural development of asceticism appears in early Christian ages, its votaries acting on the texts Mat. xix. 12, v. 28-30. Origen s case is the most celebrated example, and by the 3d century there had arisen a sect of eunuchs, of whom Augustine says (De Jf ceres., c. 37), &quot; Valesii et seipsos castrant et hospites suos, hoc modo existimantes Deo se debere servire &quot; (see Neander, History of Chr. Church, vol ii. p. 462; Bingham, Antiq. Chi: Church, book iv, chap. 3). Such practices have been always opposed by the general body of the Christian churches, but have not even now ceased. It recently came into notice how large and prosperous a secret sect of the kind exists in Russia, whose practice of castration is ex pressed in the name of Skopzi. by which they are commonly described. (For details see F. v. Stein in Zaltschrift fiir Ellinnlogie, 1875, p. 37, and Journal of Anthropology, 1870; also Haxthausen, Jinssian Empire, vol. i.) (E. B. T.) EUPATORIA, a seaport town of European Russia, at the head of a circle in the government of Tan rid a, ab-&amp;gt;ut 50