A.D. 150. can still be perused with feelings of admiration and approval.* The union of the Pagan and Christian philosophy in the first century, was likewise productive of some authors of genius and erudition, who learned to defend their own theories by weapons drawn from the armoury of their assailants. Amongst the Greek fathers especially, who had in general received a more literary education than their Latin brethren, the system was adopted with success; and the writings of Justin the Martyr,† (the first who identified the ideas of the Platonists regarding the immortality of the soul with the doctrines of revelation,) of his friend and pupil Tatian, of Clemens Alexandrinus, and his disciple Origen, contributed in no mean degree to recommend Christianity to the heathens, by exhibiting it to them as consonant with the dogmas of their own philosophers.‡ Thus, during the early ages of Grecian servitude, though the overthrow of her independence had withdrawn every powerful stimulant to lite Schoell, 1. v. Fabricius, 1. iv. c. ix. xxxi. Berington, b. i. p. 85. + Who flourished at the close of the second or commencement of the third century. The place of his birth is uncertain. He perished 163 A. D. Harles, c. iv. sec. 5. Burtonus, Hist. Ling. Gr. p. 46. Schoell, 1. v. c. lxviii. 150. rary exertion, there still survived a few to cherish A.D. the taste, and admire the productions of their ancestors, though their genius no longer soared in the same majestic flights. Their language, too, was still comparatively pure and susceptible of elegant cultivation, though hastening with the tide of circumstances towards a period of inevitable corruption. But on the removal of the seat of power to the shores of the Bosphorus, a new era, and a totally different order of things commenced. Christianity, which by degrees had towered triumphant over every obstacle, was now established as the religion of the throne; whence its influence, extending over every department of literature and science, superseding some, and communicating a new character to others, eradicated by degrees every trace of the mythology or philosophy of the ancients. The political situation of the empire, likewise, was but little favourable to the growth of letters: ruled as it was by a line of princes devoid of talent, taste, or refinement; ravaged from border to border by successive hosts of rude barbarians; rent into rancorous factions of the church or state, and preserved from annihilation by the conspiring influence of circumstances alone. From the accession of Constantine down to the conquest of the Ottomans, literature was from age to age undergoing a A.D. 330. perceptible decline, commensurate with the progressive degradation of the state; the taste and pursuits of the Greeks becoming impure and frivolous, as the progress of national decay benumbed the energies of the nation, till, in the fulness of political and intellectual corruption, the power and the literature of the empire sunk almost spontaneously into the abyss of ruin. For two centuries after the establishment of the capital at Constantinople, Athens continued to preserve her reputation for literary superiority; her schools were still frequented, and her philosophers could boast amongst the list of their disciples some of the most distinguished names of the age.* Libraries were established at Constantinople by Constantius the son of Constantine, and increased by the munificence of Julian. Philology, eloquence, and poetry, were cultivated in the various schools;† though the latter, declining into mere verbiage, was applied solely for the purposes of court panegyric or pointless epigram.‡ Nor can the belles Julian, afterwards surnamed the Apostate, who studied. at Athens about 350 A.D., Gregory the Nazianzene, Basil of Cæsarea, &c. + Mosheim, Eccles. Hist. Cent. iv. p. i. c. 2. Schoell, 1. vi. c. lxxix. The names of Metrodorus, Theon, Christodorus, Nonnus, 330. lettres be said to have experienced a much A.D. better fate; the commentaries* of Ulpian, in the reign of Constantine, evince a corruption of style so palpable, as to induce a modern critic† to question the period of their composition. Themistius, a senator under Constantius, has however left a body of discourses, political, ethical, and didactic, remarkable for elegance, judgment, and erudition; and Libanius of Antioch,§ an opponent of christianity, a pupil of the schools of Athens and Constantinople, and subsequently a teacher of eloquence in both, and in the city of his birth, as well as at Nice and Nicomedia, has been characterised as the best orator whom Byzantium has produced. His essays and declamations breathe an unusual spirit of erudition and refinement; and even his oppo Proclus, Musæus the grammarian, or Tryphiodorus, (whom I have mentioned before, n. p. 84.) who flourished about this period, scarcely deserve the epithet of poets. * On the Philippics of Demosthenes. Chapman. See Demosthenis Philippica oratio prima et Olynthiacæ tres, Gr. et Lat. cum comment. Ulpiani, curâ Rich. Mounteney. Cant. 1731. 8vo. Fabricius, 1. v. c. xliv. sec. v. p. 484. § Born about 314 A. D. Schoell, 1. vi. c. lxxv. Harles, il The eulogium of Schoell is somewhat opposed to the opinion of Gibbon, see Decline and Fall, &c. c. xxiv. Fabricius, 1. v. c. xliii. Boeclerus, sec. P. C. iv. p. 73. Harles, sec. v. p. 473. nents, whilst they censure his imagined defects, are compelled to admit, that in a barbarous age, he preserved the Grecian purity of manners, language, and religion.* But these individuals, A.D. together with the learned Synesius,† form but bright exceptions in the universal decline of the period, nor can the labours of Proæresius;‡ and Himerius, or Ammianus Marcellinus || suffice to redeem its sinking reputation.¶ The name of 378. Gibbon, ib. Schoell, 1. vi. c. lxxv. + Born at Cyrene in 378 A. D. and in 410 consecrated Bishop of Ptolemais. He has left some Hymns and other verses, a fragment on Government, and several works connected with literature and philosophy. Schoell, 1. vi. c. Ixxii. c. xcii. Boeclerus, sec. P. C. v. p. 75. Harles, c. iv. p. 702. Fabricius, l. v. c. xvii. 2. A sophist in the reign of Julian, born at Cæsarea. He was a professor in the schools of Athens, and master of Basil and Gregory of Nazianzum. Harles, c. iv. p. 692. Schoell, 1. vi. c. lxxvii. Successor to Proæresius in the chair of Athens. He was born at Prusa, in 315; about thirty-four of his discourses and declamations, of which twenty-four are perfect, remain. "Son style," says Schoell, "est affecté, rempli d'emphase, et surchargé d'érudition." 1. vi. c. lxxv. Harles, sec. v. p. 482. || Independently of his Roman history, which is written in Latin, Ammianus cultivated the belles lettres, and has left a Commentary, in his native language, on the Life and Genius of Thucydides, together with some minor fragments of little merit or importance. ¶ Voltaire, Melanges philos. v. ii. du Siècle de Constant. p. 295. |