Read the work of Philip[103] of Side, entitled a _Christian History_,
beginning with the words “In the beginning God created the heavens
and the earth.” He gives an account of the Mosaic history, sometimes
brief, sometimes full, although wordy throughout. The first book
contains twenty-four volumes, like the twenty-three other books,
which we have seen up to the present.[104] His language is diffuse,
without urbanity or elegance, and soon palls, or positively disgusts;
his aim is rather to display his knowledge than to benefit the
reader. Most of the matter has nothing to do with history, and the
work might be called a treatise on all kinds of subjects rather
than a history, a tasteless effusion. Philip was a contemporary of
Sisinnius and Proclus, patriarchs of Constantinople. He frequently
attacks the former in his history, because, while both filled the
same office[105] and Philip was considered the more eloquent,
Sisinnius was elected to the patriarchate.