(A.)—Socrates, the greatest, the wisest, and the best of the ancient philosophers, was born at Alopece, a village near Athens, in the 4th year of 77th Olympiad. His distinguishing character was that of a moral philosopher; and his doctrine concerning God and religion was rather practical than speculative. But he did not neglect to build the structure of religious faith upon the firm foundation of an appeal to natural appearances. He taught that the Supreme Being, though invisible, is clearly seen in his works; which at once demonstrate his existence and his wise and benevolent providence. He admitted, besides the one Supreme Deity, the existence of beings who possessed a middle station between God and man, to whose agency he ascribed the ordinary phenomena of nature, and whom he supposed to be particularly concerned about human affairs. Hence he declared it to be the duty of every one, in the performance of religious rites, to follow the customs of his country. At the same time he taught that the merit of all religious offerings depends upon the character of the worshiper and that the gods take pleasure in the sacrifices of none but the truly pious. Concerning the human soul, the opinion of Socrates, according to Xenophon, was that it is allied to the Divine Being, not by a participation of essence, but by a similarity of nature; that man excels all other animals in the faculty of reason; and that the existence of good men will be continued after death in a state in which they will receive the reward of their virtue. Although it appears that on this latter topic he was not wholly free whom uncertainty, the consolation which he professed to derive from this source in the immediate prospect of death, leaves little room to doubt that he entertained a real expectation of immortality: and there is reason to believe that he was the only philosopher of ancient Greece, whose principles admitted of such an expectation.

His death, by the hands of the common executioner, took place in the first year of the 96th OlympiadOlympiad, and in the 70th year of his age. Just before he drank the fatal hemlock, he said to a friend, “Is it not strange, after all I have said to convince you that I am going to the society of the happy, that Crito still thinks that this body, which will soon be a lifeless corpse, is Socrates? Let him dispose of my body as he pleases, but let him not at its interment mourn over it as if it were Socrates!”

(B.)—Tertullian, a celebrated priest of Carthage, was the son of a centurion in the Militia, who served as a proconsul of Africa. He was educated in the Pagan religion; but being convinced of its errors, embraced christianity, and became a zealous defender of the faith. He married it is said after his baptism. Afterwards he entered into holy orders and went to Rome, where, during the persecution under the Emperor Severus, he published his “Apology for the Christians,” and in the beginning of the third century he embraced the sect of the Montanists, who maintained that the Holy Spirit made Montanus, their leader, his organ for delivering a more perfect form of discipline than what was delivered by the Apostles. the 96th TertullianTertullian lived to a very great age, and died about the year 216.

(C.)—Tacitus, Caius Cornelius, a celebrated Roman historian, and one of the greatest men in his time. He applied himself to the bar, in which he gained high reputation. Having married the daughter of Agricola, who was the Roman Consul, and Governor of Britain, the road to public honours was open to him under Vespasian and Titus, but during the sanguinary reign of Domitian, he and his friend Pliny retired from public affairs. The reign of Nerva restored those luminaries of literature to Rome, and Tacitus was engaged to pronounce the funeral oration of the venerable Virginius Rufus, the colleague of the Emperor in the consulship, and afterwards succeeded him as Consul in the year 97.—It is supposed he died in the end of the reign of Trajan. There have been five translations of his works into English.

(D.)—Herodotus an ancient Greek historian, born at Halicarnassus in Caria, about the year before Christ, 484. He travelled over Egypt, Greece, Italy, &c. and thus acquired the knowledge of the history and origin of many nations. He then beganbegan to digest the materials he had collected, and composed that history which has preserved his name ever since. He wrote it in the Isle of Samos. Lucian informs us, that when Herodotus left Caria to go into Greece, he began to consider with himself what he should do to be for ever known and make the ages all to come his own. His history he presumed would easily procure him fame, and raise his name among the Grecians, in whose favour it was written, but then he saw that it would be tedious to go through all the cities of Greece, and recite it to the inhabitants of each city. He thought it best therefore, to take the opportunity of their assembling all together; and accordingly recited his work at the Olympic games, which rendered him more famous than those who had obtained the prizes. None were ignorant of his name, nor was there a single person in Greece who had not either seen him at the Olympic games, or heard those speak of him who had seen him there. There have been several editions of his works; two by Henry Stephens in 1570 and 1592; one by Gale at London, in 1679, and one by Gronovius at Leyden, in 1715.

(E.)—Justin Martyr, one of the earliest and most learned writers of the eastern church, was born at Neapolis. the ancient Sychem of Palestine. His father, Priscus, a Gentile Greek, brought him up in his own religion, and had him educated in all the Grecian learning. To complete his studies he travelled into Egypt, and followed the sect of Plato, with whose intellectual notions he was much pleased. But one day walking by the sea side, wrapt in contemplation, he was met by a grave old man of venerable aspect; who falling into discourse with him, turned the conversation by degrees from the excellence of Platonism to the superior perfection of Christianity; and reasoned so well, as to raise in him an ardent curiosity to enquire into the merits of that religion; in consequence of which enquiry, he was converted about A. D. 132. On his embracing ChristianityChristianity, he quitted neither the profession nor habit of a philosopher; but a persecution breaking out under Antoninus, he composed an Apology for the Christians; and afterwards presented another to Marcus Aurelius, in which he vindicated the innocence and holiness of the Christian religion against Crescens a Cynic philosopher, and other calumniators. He did honour to Christianity by his learning and the purity of his manners; and suffered martyrdom in 167.

(F.)—Polycarp, one of the most ancient fathers of the Christian church, was born towards the end of the reign of Nero, probably at Smyrna, where he was educated at the expence of Calista, a noble matron distinguished by her piety and charity. He was a disciple of St. John the Evangelist, and conversed with some of the other Apostles. Bucolus ordained him a deacon and catechist of his church, and upon his death he succeeded him in his bishopric, to which he is said to have been consecrated by St. John. Polycarp governed the church of Smyrna with apostolical purity till he suffered martyrdom in the 7th year of Marcus Aurelius. He was burnt at a stake on the 23d of April, A. D. 167, and many miraculous circumstances are said to have happened at his martyrdom, which Dr. Jortin gives full credit to, though some other great men treat them as fabulous, such as, that the flames divided and for some time formed an arch over his head without hurting him &c. He wrote some homilies and epistles, which are now lost, except that to the Phillippians, which contains short precepts and rules of life. St. Jerome informs us that in his time it was read in the public assemblies of the Asiatic churches.

(G.)—Cyprian, a principal father of the Christian church, born at Carthage, about the end of the second or beginning of the third century. His parents were Heathens, and he himself continued such till the last twelve years of his life. He applied himself early to the study of oratory, and some of the ancients, particularly Lactantius, inform us that he taught rhetoric at Carthage with considerable applause. Cyprian’s conversion is fixed by Pearson to the year 246. He was at Carthage, where he had often employed his rhetoric in the defence of Paganism. It was brought about by one Cecilius, a priest of the church of Carthage, whose name Cyprian afterwards took; and between whom there ever after subsisted so close a friendship, that Cecilius at his death committed to Cyprian the care of his family. Cyprian was himself also a married man. As a proof of the sincerity of his conversion, he wrote in defence of Christianity, and composed his piece De Gratia Dei, which he addressed to Donatus. He next composed a piece De Idolorum Vanitate, upon the vanity of idols. Cyprian’s behaviour, both before and after his baptism, was so highly pleasing to the bishop of Carthage, that he ordained him a priest a few months after, though it was rather irregular to ordain a man thus in his very noviciate. But Cyprian was so extraordinary a person, and thought capable of doing such singular service to the church, that the usual period of probation was dispensed with. He consigned over all his goods to the poor, and gave himself up intirely to divine things. When, therefore, the bishop of Carthage died the year after, viz. A. D. 248, none was judged so proper to succeed him as Cyprian. The repose which the Christians had enjoyed during the last 40 years had greatly corrupted their manners; and therefore Cyprian’s first care, after his advancement to the bishopric, was to remove abuses. Luxury was prevalent among them; and many of their women were not strict in the article of dress. This led him to draw up his piece De Habitu Virginum, concerning the dress of young women, in which, besides what he says on that particular, he inculcates many lessons of modesty and sobriety. In 249, Decius issued very severe edicts against the Christians; and in 250, the Heathens in the circus and amphitheatre of Carthage, insisted upon Cyprian being thrown to the lions. Cyprian upon this withdrew from Carthage to avoid the fury of his persecutors. He wrote in the place of his retreat, pious and instructive letters to those who had been his hearers; and also to those pusillanimous Christians who procured certificates of the heathen magistrates, to shew that they had complied with the emperor’s orders in sacrificing to idols. At his return to Carthage he held several councils, on the repentance of those who had fallen off during the persecution, and other points of discipline; he opposed the schemes of Novatus and Novatianus; and contended for the re-baptizing of those who had been baptized by heretics. At last he died a Martyr in the persecution under Valerian and Gallienus, in 258. His works have been translated into English by Dr. Marshall.

(H.)—Hottinger, John Henry, a native of ZurichZurich, in Switzerland. He was born in 1620, professed the oriental languages and was greatly esteemed. He was drowned, with part of his family, in the river Lemit, in 1667.

(I.)—Ireneus, bishop of Lyons, was born in Greece about A. D. 120. He was a disciple of Polycarp, by whom, it is said, he was sent into Gaul in 157. He stopped at Lyons, where he performed the office of a priest; and in 178 was sent to Rome, where he disputed with Valentinus, and his two disciples Florinus and Blastus. At his return to Lyons, he succeeded Photinus, bishop of that city; and suffered martyrdom in 202 under Severus. He wrote many works in Greek, of which there remains only a barbarous Latin version of his five books against heretics, some Greek fragments in different authors, and Pope Victor’s letter mentioned by Eusebius. The best editions of his works are those of Erasmus in 1526; of Grabe in 1702, and of Massuet, in 1710.

(J.)—Eusebius, one of the most learned men in his time, born in Palestine about the end of the reign of Gallienus. He was the intimate friend of Pamphilus the martyr, and after his death took his name. He was ordained bishop of Cesarea in 613. He had a considerable share in the contest relating to Arius, whose cause he and several other bishops defended, being persuaded that Arius had been unjustly persecuted by Alexander bishop of Alexandria. He assisted at the council of Nice in 325; when he made a speech to the Emperor Constantine on his coming to the council, and was placed next him on his right hand. He was present at the council of Antioch, in which Eustathius bishop of that city was deposed; but though he was chosen by the bishop and the people of Antioch to succeed him, he refused it.

In 335, he assisted in the council of Tyre held against Athanasius: and at the assembly of bishops at Jerusalem, at the dedication of the church there. By these bishops he was sent to the Emperor Constantine to defend what they had done against Athanasius; when he pronounced the panegyric on that Emperor, during the public rejoicings in the 30th year of his reign. Eusebius died in the year 338.

(K.>)—Sabellius, who gave rise to the sect of the Sabellians. He was a native of Lybia, and a philosopher of Egypt. He taught that the word and the Holy Spirit are only virtues, emanations, or functions of the Deity; and maintained that he who is in heaven is the father of all things; that he descended into the virgin, became a child, and was born of her as a son: and that having accomplished the mystery of our salvation, he diffused himself on the Apostles in tongues of fire, and was then denominated the Holy Ghost. He lived and died in the third century.

(L.)—Arius, who lived in the fourth century, the head and founder of the Arians, a sect who denied the eternal divinity and substantiality of the word. At the council of Nice, in 325, the doctrines of Arius were condemned, and he was banished by the Emperor, all his books were ordered to be burnt, and capital punishment denounced against all who dared to keep them.—After five years banishment he was recalled to Constantinople, where he presented the Emperor with a confession of his faith, drawn up so artfully that it fully satisfied him. Notwithstanding this, Athanasius now bishop of Alexandria, refused to admit him and his followers to communion. This so enraged them, that, by their interest at court, they procured that prelate to be deposed and banished. But the church of Alexandria still refusing to admit Arius into their communion, the Emperor sent for him to Constantinople; where upon delivering in a fresh confession of his faith, in terms less offensive, the Emperor commanded Alexander the bishop of that church to receive him the next day into his communion, but that very evening Arius died. The manner of his death was rather extraordinary: as his friends were conducting him in triumph to the great church of Constantinople, Arius stepped aside and immediately expired; his bowels gushing out, owing, as was suspected, to poison.

(M.)—Constantine the great, the first Emperor of the Romans who embraced Christianity. Dr. Anderson in his Royal Genealogies, makes him not only a native of Britain, but the son of a British princess. It is certain that his father ConstantiusConstantius was at York, when, upon the abdication of Dioclesian, he shared the Roman empire with Galerius Maximus in 305, and that he died in York in 306, having first caused his son Constantine to be proclaimed Emperor by his army and by the Britons. Galerius at first refused to admit Constantine to his father’s share in the imperial dignity; but after having several battles, he consented in 308. Maxentius who succeeded Galerius, opposed him; but was defeated and drowned himself in the Tiber. The Senate then declared Constantine first Augustus, and Licinius his associate in the empire in 313. These Princes published an edict, in their joint names in favour of the Christians; but soon after Licinius, jealous of Constantine’s renown, conceived an implacable hatred against him, and renewed the persecutions against the Christians. This brought on a rupture between the Emperors; and a battle, in which Constantine was victorious. A short peace ensued; but Licinius having shamefully violated the treaty, the war was renewed; when Constantine totally defeating him, he fled to Nicomedia, where he was taken prisoner and strangled in 323. Constantine now become sole master of the whole empire, immediately formed the plan of establishing Christianity as the religion of the state; for which purpose, he convoked several ecclesiastical councils; but finding he was likely to meet with great opposition from the Pagan interest at Rome, he conceived the design of founding a new city, to be the capital of his Christian empire. He died in the year 337, in the 66th year of his age, and 31st of his reign.

(N.)—Socrates, an ecclesiastical historian, born at Constantinople, in the beginning of the reign of Theodosius; he professed the law, and pleaded at the bar; whence he obtained the name of Scholasticus. He wrote an ecclesiastical history from the year 309, where Eusebius ended, down to 440, and wrote with great exactness and judgment. An edition of Eusebius and Socrates, in Greek and Latin, with notes by Reading, was published in London, in 1720.

(O.)—Athanasius, a bishop of Alexandria, and the great opposer of the Arians, was born in Egypt. He followed Alexander in the council of Nice, in 325, where he disputed against Arius, and the following year was made bishop of Alexandria; but in 335 was deposed by the council of Tyre: and by the Emperor Constantine was banished to Treves. The Emperor, two years after, ordered him to be restored to his bishopric: but on his return to Alexandria, his enemies brought fresh accusations against him, and chose Gregory of Cappadocia to his see; which obliged Athanasius to go to Rome to reclaim it of Pope Julius. He was there declared innocent in a council held in 342, and in that of Sardica in 347, and two years after was restored to his see by order of the Emperor Constance; but after the death of that prince, he was again banished by Constantius, on which he retired into the desarts. The Arians then elected one George in his room; who being killed in a popular faction under Julian, in 360, Athanasius returned to Alexandria, but was banished under Julian, and restored to his see under Jovion. He was also banished by Valens in 367 and afterwards recalled. He ended this troublesome life on the 2d of May, 373.

(P.)—Theodoret, bishop of St. Cyricus, in Syria, in the fourth century, and one of the most learned fathers in the church. He was born A. D. 386, and was the disciple of Theodorus of Mopsuestes, and Chrysostom. Having received holy orders, he was with difficulty persuaded to accept of the bishopric of Cyricus, about A. D. 420. He displayed great frugality in the expences of his table, dress, and furniture, but spent considerable sums in improving and adorning the city of Cyricus. Yet his zeal was not confined to his own church: he went to preach at Antioch, and the neighbouring towns; where he became admired for his eloquence and learning, and had the happiness to convert multitudes of people. It is supposed he died about the year 457. There are still extant Theodoret’s excellent Commentary on St. Paul’s Epistles, and on several other books of the Holy Scriptures.

(Q.)—Gregory Nazianzen, from Nazianzum, a town of Cappadocia, of which his father was bishop. He was born in 324, at Azianzum, a village near it, and was one of the brightest ornaments of the Greek church, in the fourth century. He was made bishop of Constantinople, in 379, but finding his election contested by Timotheus, bishop of Alexandria, he voluntarily relinquished his dignity about 382, in the general council of Constantinople. His works are extant, in two volumes, printed at Paris in 1609. His style is said to be equal to that of the most celebrated orators of ancient Greece.

(R.)—Porphyrius, a famous platonic philosopher, born at Tyre in 233, in the reign of Alexander Severus. He was the disciple of Longinus, and became the ornament of his school at Athens; from whence he went to Rome, and attended Plotinus, with whom he lived six years. After Plotinus’ death he taught philosophy at Rome with great applause; and became well skilled in polite literature, geography, astronomy, and music. He lived till the end of the third century, and died in the reign of Dioclesian. He was an enemy to Christianity, and wrote a large treatise against it, which is lost. The Emperor Theodosius the Great caused it to be burnt.

(S.)—Saint Jerome, a famous doctor of the church, and the most learned of all the Latin fathers, was the son of Eusebius; and was born at Stridon, a city of ancient Pannonia, about A. D. 340. He studied at Rome under Donatus the learned grammarian. After embracing the Christian religion, and being baptized, he went into Gaul. In 372, he retired into a desart in Syria, where he was persecuted for being a Sabellian, because he made use of the word Hypostasis, as used by the council of Rome in 369. This obliged him to go to Jerusalem, where he studied the Hebrew language, to acquire a more perfect knowledge of the Holy Scriptures; and consented to be ordained, provided he should not be confined to any particular church. In 381, he went to Constantinople to hear Gregory of Nazianzen; and in 382 returned to Rome, where he was made secretary to Pope Damasus. He then instructed many Roman ladies in piety and the sciences, which exposed him to the calumnies of those whom he zealously reproved for their irregularities; and Pope Siricius, not having all the esteem for him, which his learning and virtue justly entitled him to, he returned to Bethlehem, where he wrote against heretics. He had a contest with John of Jerusalem and Rufinius about the Origenists; and was the first who wrote against Pelagius. He died on the 30th of September, 420, about 80 years of age. His works are voluminous, in eleven volumes folio. His style is lively and animated, and sometimes sublime.

(T.)—Julian, a famous Roman Emperor, styled The Apostate, because he professed the Christian religion before he ascended the throne, but afterwards openly embraced Paganism, and endeavoured to abolish Christianity. He made no use of violence, however, for this purpose; but behaved with a politic mildness to the Christians; recalled all who had been banished on account of religion under Constantius; and endeavoured to pervert them by caresses, and by temporal advantages, covered over by artful pretences: but he prohibited Christians to plead before courts of justice, or to enjoy any public employments. He even prohibited their teaching polite literature, well knowing the great advantages they drew from profane authors, in their attacks upon Paganism and irreligion. Though he on all occasions shewed a sovereign contempt for the Christians whom he stiled Galileans, yet he was sensible of the advantage they obtained by their virtue and the purity of their manners; and therefore incessantly proposed their example to the Pagan priests. At last, however, when he found that all other methods failed, he gave public employments to the most cruel enemies of the Christians, when the cities in most of the provinces were filled with tumults and seditions, and many of them were put to death. Historians mention that Julian attempted to prove the falsehood of our Lord’s prediction with respect to the temple at Jerusalem, by rebuilding it; but that all his endeavours served only the more perfectly to verify it. Julian being mortally wounded in a battle with the Persians, is said, to have catched in his hand some of the blood which flowed from his wound, and throwing it towards heaven, cried, Oh Galilean thou hast conquered. Theodoret relates, that Julian discovered a different disposition, and employed his last moments in conversing with Maximus the philosopher, on the dignity of the soul. He died, however, the following night in the 32d year of his age.

(U.)—Sozomen, an ecclesiastical historian of the 5th century. He was born in Bethulia, a town of Palestine; he was educated for the law, and became a pleader at Constantinople. He wrote an abridgement of ecclesiastical history, in two books, from the ascension of our Saviour to the year 323. This compendium is lost, but a continuation in nine books is still extant. He seems to have copied Socrates, who wrote a history of the same period. The style of Sozomen is more elegant; but in other respects he falls short of that writer, displaying through the whole book an amazing credulity, and a superstitious attachment to monks and a monastic life. The best edition of Sozomen is that of Robert Stephens in 1544. He has been translated and published by Valesius, and republished with additional notes by Reading, at London, 1720, in 3 volumes folio.

(V.)—Chrysostom St. John, a celebrated patriarchpatriarch of Constantinople, and one of the most admired fathers of the Christian Church, was born of a noble family at Antioch about A. D. 347. He studied rhetoric under Libavius, and philosophy under Andragathus: after which he spent some time in solitude in the mountains near Antioch, but the austerities he endured having impaired his health he returned to Antioch where he was ordained deacon by Meletius. Flavian Meletius’ successor, raised him to the office of presbyter five years after; when he distinguished himself so greatly by his eloquence, that he obtained the surname of Chrysostom or Golden mouth. Nectarius, patriarch of Constantinople, dying in 397, St. Chrysostom, whose fame was spread throughout the whole empire, was unanimously elected by both clergy and laity. The Emperor Arcadius confirmed his election, and caused him to leave Antioch privately, where the people were very unwilling to part with him. He was ordained bishop on the 26th of February, 398. He differed with Theophilus of Alexandria, who got him deposed and banished; but he was soon recalled. After this, declaiming against the dedication of a statue erected to the empress, she banished him to Cucusus in Armenia, a most barren and inhospitable place; afterwards as they were removing him from Petyus, the Soldiers treated him so roughly that he died by the way, A. D. 407. The best edition of his works, is that published at Paris in 1718, by Montfaucon.

(W.)—Dominic de Guzman, the founder of the religious order called Dominicans. He was born at Calaroga in old Castile, in 1170. He preached with great fury against the Albigenses, when Pope Innocent 3d made a croisade against that unhappy people, and was inquisitor at Languedoc, where he founded his order in 1215. He died in 1221, at Bologna and was canonized.