a. =Johannes Cassianus=. Gennadius designates him as
_natione Scythus_; but he received his early education
in a monastery at Bethlehem. He then undertook a
journey in company with the abbot to visit the Egyptian
monks, stayed next for a long time with Chrysostom at
Constantinople, and after his banishment resided some
years in Rome, and finally in A.D. 415 settled down at
Massilia (Marseilles), where he established a monastery
and a nunnery, and organised both after the Eastern
model. He died about A.D. 432. His writings were held
in high esteem throughout the Middle Ages. In the
_De institutis Cœnobiorum_ he describes the manner
of life of the Palestinian and Egyptian monks, and
then treats of the eight vices to which the monks were
specially exposed. The 24 _Collationes Patrum_ report
the conversations which he had with the Eastern monks
and hermits about the ways and means of attaining
Christian perfection. The 13th _Collatio_ is, without
naming him, directed against Augustine’s doctrine,
and develops semi-Pelagian Synergism (§ 53, 5). Both
writings, however are certainly calculated to serve
the development of his own monkish ideal as well as his
own dogmatic and ethical views, rather then to afford
a historically faithful representation of the life and
thinking of oriental monasticism of that time. The 7 bks.
_De incarnatione Christi_ combat not only Nestorianism
but also Pelagianism as in its consequences derogatory
to the divinity of Christ.
b. =Vincentius [Vincent] Lerinensis=, monk in the Gallic
monastery of Lerinum, was Cassianus’ most distinguished
disciple. He died about A.D. 450. On his often printed
_Commonitorium pro cath. fidei antiquit. et universit._,
comp. § 53, 5.
c. =Eucherius, bishop of Lyons=, left behind him several
ascetical works (_De laude eremi; De contemtu mundi_),
Homilies, and a _Liber formularum spiritualis
intelligentiæ_ as guide to the mystico-allegorical
interpretation of Scripture. He died about A.D. 450.
d. =Salvianus=, presbyter at Marseilles, was in his
earlier days married to a heathen woman whom he
converted, and with her took the vow of continency.
He died about A.D. 485. He wrote _Adv. avaritiam_
Lb. iv., in which the support of the poor and surrender
of property to the church for pious uses are recommended
as means of furthering the salvation of one’s own soul.
In consequence of the oppression of the times during
the convulsions of the migration of the peoples and
the reproach of the heathen again loudly raised that
the weakness of the Roman empire was occasioned by the
introduction of Christianity, he wrote _De providentia
s. de gubernatione Dei et de justo præsentique judicio_,
Lb. viii., which in rhetorical and flowery language
depicted the dreadful moral condition of the Roman
world of that day.
e. =Faustus of Rhegium=, now Riez in Provence, in his
earlier years an advocate, then monk and abbot of the
cloister of Lerinum, and finally bishop of Rhegium, was
the head of the Gallic semi-Pelagians of his times. In
his writings he stated this doctrine in a moderate form.
He died in A.D. 493.
f. =Arnobius the Younger=, the contemporary and
fellow-countryman of Faustus, wrote a very important
work entitled _Prædestinatus_, which in a very thorough
and elaborate manner contests the doctrines of Augustine.
Comp. § 53, 5.
§ 47.22. =The Most Important Church Teachers among the Roman
Popes.=
a. =Leo the Great= occupied the papal chair from A.D. 440 to
A.D. 461. While but a deacon he was the most distinguished
personage in Rome. On assuming the bishopric he gave the
whole powers of his mind to the administration of his office
in all directions. By the energy and consistency with which
he carried out the idea of the Roman primacy, he became the
virtual founder of the spiritual sovereignty of Rome. With
a strong arm he guided the helm of the church, reformed
and organized on every side, settled order and discipline,
defended orthodoxy, contended against heretics (Manichæans,
Priscillianists, Pelagians, Eutychians), and appeased the
barbarians (Attila). Of his writings we have 96 _Sermones_
and 173 Epistles, which last are of the utmost importance
for the church history of his times. He is also supposed
to be the author of a talented work _De vocatione Gentium_
(§ 53, 5).
b. =Gelasius I.=, A.D. 492 to A.D. 496, left behind him a
treatise _Adv. hæresin Pelagianem_, another _De duabus
in Christo naturis_, and a work against the observance of
the Lupercalia which some prominent Romans wished to have
continued. He also wrote 18 Decretals. The celebrated
_Decretum de libris recipiendis et non recipiendis_, in
a sense the oldest _Index prohibitorum_, is ascribed to
him. The first section, wanting in the best MSS., contains
a biblical canon corresponding to that of the Synod of
Hippo, A.D. 393 (§ 59, 1); the second section treats of
the pre-eminence of the Church of Rome granted by our Lord
Himself in the person of Peter; the third enumerates the
œcumenical Councils; and the fourth, the writings of the
fathers received by the Roman Church; the Chronicle and
Church History of Eusebius are found fault with (_quod
tepuerit_) but not rejected; in respect to the writings of
Origen and Rufinus the opinion of Jerome is approved. The
fifth section gives a list of books not to be received--the
New Testament Apocrypha, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria,
Arnobius, Cassianus, Faustus of Rhegium, etc.
c. =Gregory the Great=, A.D. 590 to A.D. 604, born in Rome
about A.D. 540, sprung from a distinguished old Roman
family, held about A.D. 574 the office of city prefect,
after his father’s death founded on his inherited estates,
six monasteries, and himself withdrew into a seventh,
which he built in Rome. Ordained deacon against his will in
A.D. 579, he was entrusted with the important and difficult
office of a papal _apocrisiarius_ in Constantinople, and was
constrained in A.D. 590, after a long persisted-in refusal,
to mount the papal chair, which obliged him to abandon
the long-cherished plan of his life, the preaching of the
gospel to the Anglo-Saxons (§ 77, 4). Gregory united a rare
power and energy of will with real mildness and gentleness
of character, deep humility and genuine piety with the
full consciousness of his position as a successor of Peter,
insight, circumspection, yea even an unexpected measure of
liberal-mindedness (comp. _e.g._ § 57, 4; 75, 3) with all
monkish narrowness and stiff adherence to the traditional
forms, doctrines and views of the Roman Church. He himself
lived in extremest poverty and simplicity according to
the strictest monastic asceticism, and applied all that he
possessed and received to the support of the poor and the
help of the needy. It was a hard time in which he lived,
the age of the birth throes of a new epoch of the world’s
history. There is therefore much cause to thank the good
providence which set such a man as spiritual father, teacher
and pastor at the head of the Western Church. He took special
interest in fostering monasticism and such-like institutions,
which were, indeed, most conducive to the well-being of
the world, for during this dangerous period of convulsion,
monasticism was almost the only nursery of intellectual
culture. The Roman Catholic church ranks him as the last
of the Fathers, and places him alongside of Ambrose, Jerome
and Augustine, the four greatest teachers of the church,
_Doctores ecclesiæ_, whose writings have been long reverenced
as the purest and most complete vehicles of the Catholic
tradition. Among the Greeks a similar position is given to
Athanasius, Basil, Gregory Nazianzen and Chrysostom. The
rank thus assigned to Gregory is justifiable inasmuch as
in him the formation and malformation of doctrine, worship,
discipline and constitution peculiar to the ancient church
are gathered up, completed and closed. His most complete
work is the _Expositio in b. Jobum s. Moralium_, Ll. xxxv.,
(Engl. transl., Lib. of Fath., 3 vols., Oxf., 1844-1850)
which, by dragging in all possible relations of life which
an allegorical interpretation can furnish, is expanded into
a repertory of moral reflections. His _Regula pastoralis
s. Liber curæ pastoralis_ obtained in the West a position
of almost canonical authority. In his “Dialogues,” of which
the first three books treat “_de vita et miraculis Patrum
Italicorum_,” and the 4th book mostly of visionary views of
the hereafter (heaven, hell and purgatory), “_de æternitate
animarum_,” we meet with a very singular display of the most
uncritical credulousness and the most curious superstition.
Besides these we have from him Homilies on Ezekiel and
the Gospels, as well as a voluminous correspondence in
880 Epistles of great importance for the history of the
age. To Gregory also is attributed the oft quoted saying
which compares holy scripture to a stream _in quo agnus
peditat et elephas natat_.
§ 47.23. =The Conservators and Continuators of Patristic Culture.=
a. =Boëthius=, Anicius Manlius Torquatus Severinus, was
descended from a distinguished Roman family, and stood high
in favour with the Ostrogoth Arian king Theodoric. Accused,
however, by his enemies of treasonable correspondence with
the Byzantine court, he was, after a long imprisonment,
condemned unheard and executed, A.D. 525. In prison
he composed the celebrated treatise, _De consolatione
philosophiæ_, which, written in pure and noble language,
was the favourite book of the Latin Middle Ages, and was
translated into all European languages: first of all by
Alfred the Great into Anglo-Saxon, and often reprinted in
its original form. The book owed its great popularity to the
mediæval tradition which made its author a martyr for the
Catholic faith under Arian persecution; but modern criticism
has sought to prove that in all probability he was not even
a Christian. Still more decidedly the theological writings
on the Trinity and the Two Natures of Christ bearing his
name are repudiated as irreconcileable with the contents
and character of the _De consolatione_; though, on the
other hand, their authenticity has again found several
most capable defenders. Finally, Usener has conclusively,
as it seems, in a newly discovered fragment of Cassiodorus,
brought forward a quite incontestable witness for their
authenticity. In any case Boëthius did great service in
preserving the continuity of Western culture by his hearty
encouragement and careful prosecution of classical studies
at a time when these were threatened with utter neglect. Of
special importance was his translation of a commentary on
the logical works of Aristotle as the first and for a long
time almost the only philosophical groundwork of mediæval
scholasticism (§ 99, 2).
c. Magnus Aurelius =Cassiodorus=, surnamed Senator, belonged
to Southern Italy and held the highest civil offices under
Odoacer and Theodoric for fifty years. About A.D. 540,
he retired to the cloister of Vivarium founded by him in
Southern Italy, and devoted the rest of his life to the
sciences and the instruction of the monks. He collected a
great library in his monastery, and employed the monks in
transcribing classical and patristic writings. He died about
A.D. 575 when almost a hundred years old. His own writings
show indeed no independence and originality, but are all
the more important as concentrated collections of classical
and patristic learning for the later Latin Middle Ages. His
twelve books of the History of the Goths have come down only
in the condensed reproduction of Jordanes or Jornandes. His
twelve books _Variarum_ (_sc. epistolarum et formularum_),
which consist of a collection of acts and ordinances of the
period of his civil service, are important for the history
of his age. His _Historia ecclest. tripartita_ (§ 5, 1),
was for many centuries almost the only text book of church
history, and his _Institutiones divinarum et sæcularum
litterarum_ had a similar position as a guide to the study
of theology and the seven liberal arts (§ 90, 8). Also his
commentary on the Psalms and the most of the books of the
New Testament, made up of compilations, was held in high
esteem.
c. =Dionysius Exiguus=, a Scythian by birth, who became a Roman
abbot, and died about A.D. 566, may also be placed in this
group. He translated many Greek patristic writings, by his
_Cyclus paschalis_ became founder of the Western reckoning
of Easter (§ 56, 3), and also the more universally adopted
so-called Dionysian era. By his _Codex Canonum_ he is also
the founder of the Western system of Canon Law (§ 43, 3).
§ 48. BRANCHES OF THEOLOGICAL SCIENCE AND CHRISTIAN POETRY.
§ 48.1. =Exegetical Theology.=--Nothing was done in the way
of criticism of the original biblical text. Even Jerome was
only a translator. For the Old Testament the LXX. sufficed,
and the divergences of the Hebrew text were explained as
Jewish alterations. Hebrew was a _terra incognita_ to the
fathers, Polychronius and Jerome only are notable exceptions.
The allegorical method of interpretation was and continued to be
the prevalent one. The Antiocheans, however, put limits to it by
their theory and practice of the right of historico-grammatical
interpretation. Diodorus of Tarsus and Theodore of Mopsuestia
contested the principles of Origen, while Gregory of Nyssa in his
_Proemium in Cant._ undertook their defence. The first attempt
at a system of =Hermeneutics= was made by the learned Donatist
Tychonius in his book the _Regulæ_ vii. _ad investigandam
intelligentiam ss. Scr._ More profound is Augustine’s _De
Doctrina Chr._ The Εἰσαγωγὴ τῆς θείας γραφῆς of the Greek
Adrianus with its opposition to the immoderate allegorizing
that then prevailed, deserves mention here. Jerome contributed
to biblical =Introduction= by his various _Proœmia_. The
first attempt at a scientific introduction to biblical study
(isagogical and biblico-theological in the form of question
and answer), is met with in the 2 bks. _Instituta regularia
div. legis_ of the African Junilius, a prominent courtier at
Constantinople, about A.D. 550. There is a Latin rendering made
by Junilius at the request of Primasius, bishop of Adrumetum,
of a treatise composed originally in Syriac, by Paul the Persian,
teacher of the Nestorian seminary at Nisibis, which he had
collected from the works of Theodore of Mopsuestia, for the
purposes of instruction. The title _Departibus div. legis_,
usually given to the whole, properly belongs only to the first
part of the treatise. A more popular guide is Cassiodorus’
_Institutio divinarum litt._ Some contributions were made
to biblical archaeology by Eusebius and Epiphanius. Of the
allegorical =Exegetes= of the East, the most productive was
Cyril of Alexandria. The Antiochean school produced a whole
series of able expositors of the grammatico-historical sense
of scripture. In the commentaries of Chrysostom and Ephraem
[Ephraim] the Syrian, that method of interpretation is applied
in a directly practical interest. The Westerns Hilary, Ambrose,
Ambrosiaster, Jerome and Augustine, as well as their later
imitators, all allegorize; yet Jerome also applied himself very
diligently to the elucidation of the grammatical sense. Only
Pelagius is content to rest in the plain literal meaning of
scripture. From the 6th century, almost all independent work in
the department of exegesis ceased. We have from this time only
_Catenæ_, collections of passages from commentaries and homilies
of distinguished fathers. The first Greek writer of Catenæ, was
Procopius of Gaza, in the 6th century; and the first Latin writer
of these was Primasius of Adrumetum, about A.D. 560.
§ 48.2. =Historical Theology.=--The writing of Church history
flourished especially during the 4th and 5th centuries (§ 5, 1).
For the history of heresies we have Epiphanius, Theodoret,
Leontius of Byzantium; and among the Latins, Augustine,
Philastrius [Philaster], and the author of _Prædestinatus_
(§ 47, 21f). There are numerous biographies of distinguished
fathers. On these compare the so-called _Liber pontificalis_, see
§ 90, 6. Jerome laid the foundation of a history of theological
literature in a series of biographies, and Gennadius of
Massilia continued this work. With special reference to monkish
history, we have among the Greeks, Palladius, Theodoret and
Joh. Moschus; and among the Latins, Rufinus, Jerome, Gregory
the Great and Gregory of Tours (§ 90, 2). Of great importance
for ecclesiastical statistics is the Τοπογραφία χριστιανική
in 12 bks., whose author _Cosmas Indicopleustes_, monk in the
Sinai peninsula about A.D. 540, had in his earlier years as an
Alexandrian merchant travelled much in the East. The connection
of biblical and profane history is treated of in the Chronicle
of Eusebius. Orosius too treats of profane history from the
Christian standpoint. The _Hist. persecutionis Vandalorum_
(§ 76, 3), of Victor, bishop of Vita in Africa, about A.D. 487,
is of great value for the church history of Africa. For chronology
the so-called _Chronicon paschale_, in the Greek language, is of
great importance. It is the work of two unknown authors; the work
of the one reaching down to A.D. 354, that of the other, down to
A.D. 630. These chronological tables obtained their name from the
fact that the Easter cycles and indictions are always carefully
determined in them.
§ 48.3. =Systematic Theology.=
a. =Apologetics.= The controversial treatises of Porphyry
and Hierocles were answered by many (§ 23, 3); that of
the Emperor Julian also (§ 42, 5), especially by Gregory
Nazianzen, Chrysostum [Chrysostom] (in the Discourse on
St. Babylas), and most powerfully by Cyril of Alexandria.
Ambrose and the poet Prudentius answered the tract of
Symmachus, referred to in § 42, 4. The insinuations of
Zosimus, Eunapius, and others (§ 42, 5) were met by Orosius
with his _Historiæ_, by Augustine with his _Civ. Dei_,
and by Salvian [Salvianus] with his _De gubernatione
Dei_. Johannes Philoponus wrote against Proclus’ denial
of the biblical doctrine of creation. The vindication of
Christianity against the charges of the Jews was undertaken
by Aphraates, Chrysostom, Augustine, and Gregentius, bishop
of Taphne in Arabia, who, in A.D. 540, disputed for four
days amid a great crowd with the Jew Herban. Apologies of
a general character were written by Eusebius of Cæsarea,
Athanasius, Theodoret and Firmicus Maternus.
b. In =Polemics= against earlier and later heretics, the
utmost energy and an abundance of acuteness and depth of
thought were displayed. See under the history of theological
discussions, § 50 ff.
c. Positive =Dogmatics=. Origen’s example in the construction
of a complete scientific system of doctrine has no imitator.
For practical purposes, however, the whole range of Christian
doctrine was treated by Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory of
Nyssa, Apollinaris, Epiphanius, Rufinus (_Expositio Symboli
Apost._), Augustine (in the last book of the _Civ. Dei_, in
first book of his _De Doctrina Chr._, and in the _Enchiridium
ad Laurentium_). The African Fulgentius of Ruspe (_De regula
veræ fidei_), Gennadius of Massilia (_De fide sua_), and
Vincentius [Vincent] of Lerinum in his _Commonitorium_. Much
more important results for the development of particular
dogmas were secured by means of polemics. Of supreme
influence on subsequent ages were the mystico-theosophical
writings of the Pseudo-Areopagite. This mysticism, so far
as adopted, was combined by the acute and profound thinker
Maximus Confessor with the orthodox theology of the Councils.
d. =Morals.= The _De officiis ministr._ of Ambrose is a system
of moral instruction for the clergy; and of the same sort
is Chrysostom’s Περὶ ἱερωσύνης; while Cassianus’ writings
form a moral system for the monks, and Gregory’s _Exposit.
in Jobum_ a vast repertory on general morality.
§ 48.4. =Practical Theology.=--The whole period is peculiarly
rich in distinguished homilists. The most brilliant of the Greek
preachers were: Macarius the Great, Basil the Great, Gregory
Nazianzen, Ephraem [Ephraim] the Syrian, and above all Chrysostom.
Of the Latins the most distinguished were Ambrose, Augustine,
Zeno of Verona, Petrus [Peter] Chrysologus, Leo the Great, and
Cæsarius of Arles. A sort of Homiletics is found in the 4th of
Augustine’s _De Doctr. Chr._, and a directory for pastoral work,
in the _Regula pastoralia_ of Gregory the Great. On Liturgical
writings, comp. § 59, 6; on Constitutional works, § 43, 3-5.
§ 48.5. =Christian Poetry.=--The beginning of the prevalence of
Christianity occurred at a time when the poetic art had already
ceased to be consecrated to the national life of the ancient
world. But it proved an intellectual power which could cause to
swell out again the poetic vein, relaxed by the weakness of age.
In spite of the depraved taste and deteriorated language, it
called forth a new period of brilliancy in the history of poetry
which could rival classical poetry, not indeed in purity and
elegance of form, but in intensity and depth. The Latins in
this far excelled the Greeks; for to them Christianity was more
a matter of experience, emotion, the inner life, to the Greeks
a matter of knowledge and speculation. Among the =Greeks= the
most distinguished are these: =Gregory Nazianzen=. He deserves
notice mainly for his satirical _Carmen de vita sua_, περὶ ἑαυτοῦ.
Among his numerous other poems are some beautiful hymns and
many striking phrases, but also much that is weak and flat.
The drama Χριστὸς πάσχων, perhaps wrongly bearing his name,
modelled on the tragedies of Euripides and in great part made
up of Euripidean verses, is not without interest as the first
Christian passion-play, and contains some beautiful passages;
_e.g._ the lament of Mary; but it is on the whole insipid
and confused. =Nonnus of Panopolis=, about A.D. 400, wrote
a Παράφρασις ἐπικὴ τοῦ Εὐαγγ. κατὰ Ἰωάννην, somewhat more
useful for textual criticism and archaeology, than likely
to afford enjoyment as poetry. Of the poetical works of the
Empress =Eudocia=, wife of Theodosius II., daughter of the
pagan rhetorician Leontius of Athens, hence called Athenais
(she died about the year 460), only fragments of their renderings
in the Cyprian legends have come down to us. The loss of her
_Homero-centoes_ celebrated by Photius, _i.e._ reproductions
of the biblical books of the New Testament in pure Homeric words
and verses, is not perhaps to be very sorely lamented. On the
other hand, the poetic description of the church of Sophia, built
by Justinian I. and of the ambo of that church which =Paulus
Silentiarius= left behind him, is not only of archaeological
value, but also is not without poetic merit.
§ 48.6. =Christian Latin Poetry= reached its highest excellence
in the composition of hymns (§ 59, 4). But also in the more
ambitious forms of epic, didactic, panegyric, and hortatory
poems, it has respectable representatives, especially in Spain
and Gaul, whose excellence of workmanship during such a period
of restlessness and confusion is truly wonderful. To the fourth
century belongs the Spaniard =Juvencus=, about A.D. 330. His
_Hist. evangelica_ in 4 books, is the first Christian epic;
a work of sublime simplicity, free of all bombast or rhetorical
rant, which obtained for him the name of “the Christian Virgil.”
His _Liber in Genesin_ versifies in a similar manner the Mosaic
history of the patriarchs. His countryman =Prudentius=, who died
about A.D. 410, was a poet of the first rank, distinguished for
depth of sensibility, glowing enthusiasm, high lyrical flow,
and singular skill in versification. His _Liber Cathemerinon_
consists of 12 hymns, for the 12 hours of the day, and his
_Liber Peristephanon_, 14 hymns on the same number of saints who
had won the martyr’s crown; his _Apotheosis_ is an Anti-Arian
glorification of Christ; the _Hamartigenia_ treats of the origin
of sin; the _Psychomachia_ describes the conflict of the virtues
and vices of the human soul; and his 2 bks. _Contra Symmachum_
combat the views of Symmachus, referred to in § 42, 4.--In the
fifth century flourished: =Paulinus=, bishop of Nola in Campania,
who died in A.D. 431. He left behind him 30 poems, of which
13 celebrate in noble, enthusiastic language, the life of Felix
of Nola, martyr during the Decian persecution. =Coelius Sedulius=,
an Irishman (?), composed in smooth dignified verse the Life of
Jesus, and the _Mirabilia divina s. Opus paschale_, so called
from 1 Cor. v. 7 in 5 bks.; and a Collatio V. et N.T. in elegiac
verse. The _De libero arbitrio c. ingratos_ of the Gaul =Prosper
Aquitanicus= lashes with poetic fury the thankless despisers of
grace (§ 53, 5).--The most important poet of the sixth century
was =Venantius Fortunatus=, bishop of Poitiers, _Vita Martini_,
hymns, elegies, etc.
§ 48.7. In the =National Syrian= Church, the first place as a
poet belongs to =Ephraem= [Ephraim], the _Propheta Syrorum_. In
poetic endowment, lyrical flow, depth and intensity of feeling,
he leaves all later writers far behind. Next to him stands
=Cyrillonas=, about A.D. 400, a poet whose very name, until quite
recently, was unknown, of whose poems six are extant, two being
metrical homilies. Of =Rabulas of Edessa=, who died in A.D. 435,
the notorious partisan of Cyril of Alexandria (§ 53, 3), and of
=Baläus=, about A.D. 430, we possess only a number of liturgical
odes, which are not altogether destitute of poetic merit.
This cannot, however, be said of the poetic works of =Isaac of
Antioch=, who died about A.D. 460, filled with frigid polemics
against Nestorius and Eutyches, of which their Catholic editor
(Opp. ed. G. Bickell, Giess., 1873 f.) has to confess they are
thoroughly “insipid, flat and wearisome, and move backwards and
forwards in endless tautologies.” Less empty and tiresome are
the poetic effusions of the famous =Jacob of Sarug=, who died
in A.D. 521; biblical stories, metrical homilies, hymns, etc.
Most of the numerous liturgical odes are the compositions of
unknown authors.
§ 48.8. =The Legendary History of Cyprian.=--At the basis of the
poetic rendering of this legend in 3 bks. by the Empress Eudocia,
about A.D. 440, lay three little works in prose, still extant in
the Greek original and in various translations. In early youth
Cyprian, impelled by an insatiable craving after knowledge, power
and enjoyment, seeks to obtain all the wisdom of the Greeks, all
the mysteries of the East, and for this purpose travels through
Greece, Egypt, and Chaldæa. But when he gets all this he is
not satisfied; he makes a compact with the devil, to whom he
unreservedly surrenders himself, who in turn places at his
disposal now a great multitude of demons, and promises to make
him hereafter one of his chief princes. Then comes he to Antioch.
There Aglaidas, an eminent heathen sophist, who in vain abandoned
all to win the love of a maiden named Justina, who had taken
vows of perpetual virginity, calls in his magical arts, in order
thereby to gain the end so ardently desired. Cyprian enters into
the affair all the more eagerly since he himself also meanwhile
has entertained a strong passion for the fair maiden. But the
demons sent by him, at last the devil himself, are forced to flee
from her, through her calling on the name of Jesus and making
the sign of the cross, and are obliged to own their powerlessness
before the Christians’ God. Now Cyprian repents, repudiates his
covenant with the devil, lays before an assembly of Antiochean
Christians a confession inspired by the most profound despairing
sorrow of the innumerable mischiefs wrought by him with the help
of the demons, is comforted by the Christians present by means
of consolatory words of scripture, receives baptism, enters
the ranks of the clergy as reader, passes quickly through the
various clerical offices, and suffers the death of a martyr
as bishop of Antioch, along with Justina, under the Emperor
Claudius II.--Gregory Nazianzen too in a discourse delivered at
Constantinople in A.D. 379, “on the day of the holy martyr and
bishop Cyprian,” treated of the legend, in which without more ado
he identifies the converted Antiochean sorcerer with the famous
Carthaginian bishop of that name, and makes him suffer martyrdom
under Decius (?).--The romance may have borrowed the name of its
hero from an old wizard; but his type of character is certainly
to be looked for in the philosophico-theurgical efforts of
the Syrio-Neoplatonic school of Iamblichus (§ 24, 2), in which
the then expiring heathenism gathered up its last energies
for conflict with victorious Christianity. The conception of
the heroine on the other hand, is with slight modifications
borrowed from the Thecla legend (§ 32, 6). By the _Legenda aurea_
(§ 104, 8), which is just an adaptation of this earlier one,
the legend of Cyprian was carried down even beyond the time of
the Reformation. Calderon’s “Wonder-working Magician” presents
a Spanish-Catholic, as the Faustus legend of the 16th century
presents a German Protestant construction, which latter, however,
in direct opposition to the tendency of the early Christian
legend, allows the magician to drop into hell because his
repentance came too late. The Romish Church, however, still
maintains the historical genuineness of the old legend, and
celebrates both of the supposed saints on one day, 25th September.