A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

.. -^ J$ACOBUS.: JACOBUS. B547
- (e. g. Fabricius) have affirmed that he took part' as trustworthy, as resting on the Scriptures. Geninaan author in the Arian controversy, founding their dius accounts for Jerome's silence respecting Jaassertion on a passage of Athanasius. (Ad Epis- cobus by supposing that Jerome, when he wrote his
copos Aegypti et Lybiae Epistolav Encyclica contra De Viris Illustribus, was ignorant of Syriac, and
Arianos, sometimes cited as- Contra Arianos, c. that the works of Jacobus had "not yet" (necdum)
8; Opera, vol. i. p. 278,' ed. Benedictin.) But been translated; an expression which seems to
what Athanasius says is, that the writings of the imply that when Gennadius wrote they had been
heretics were apparently so orthodox, that if they'translated. Assemani' supposes that Gennadius
had been written by such men as "Jacobus and the has ascribed to Jacobus of Nisibis the works
rest from Mesopotamia," there would be no ground of another Syrian of the same name [JACOB0ns,
for reading them with suspicion- a statement No. 3, BATNAEUS, or SARUGENSIS], and' perwhich by no means asserts that he wrote any haps of some others. Several Syriac and one
thing on the question. The name of Jacobus Arabic manuscript, chiefly of'homilies, by a writer
appears among those subscribed to the decrees of 6r writers vaguely described as " Mar. Jacobus,"
the council of Antioch, A. D. 341 (Labbe, vol. ii. "Sanctus Jacobus," "Jacobus Syrus," are enucol. 585); but there are several difficulties con- merated in the Clataloqus MStorum Angliae et
nected with the history of this council. Hiberniae. In some of these MSS. the writings
The most remarkable incident in the life of are mingled with those. of Ephraem, who was, as
Jacobus was the siege of Nisibis by the Persians we have seen, the protege and pupil of Jacobus of
under their king, Sapor II. The siege was vigo- Nisibis; but whether the writer may be correctly
rously pressed, but the defence was equally well identified with James of Nisibis is.not clear. A
conducted, the brave citizens being animated by volume published at Rome, fol. 1756, is mentioned
the exhortations of their bishop. At length the by Harles under'the title of S. Jacobi Episcops
crisis of their fate seemed to be at hand, when Nisibeni Sermones, Armenice et Latine cum PraeJacobus, at the entreaty of his disciple Ephraem fatione, Notis, et Dissertatione de Ascetis. Omnia
and others, ascended the walls and prayed for the nune primum in lucem prodierunt. The works
deliverance of the city. A swarm of gnats or mos- comprehend a series of discourses addressed by
quitoes and other insects, which just afterwards Jacobus to Gregorius Illuminator, or Gregory. the
attacked the besiegers, made their horses restive, Apostle of Armenia [GREGORIUS, No. 6.], and a
and otherwise produced such annoyance as, with Synodical Letter. The genuineness of the Discourses
other things, to compel them to raise the siege, is strenuously contended for by Antonelli, their
was considered as an answer to this prayer. The editor, and by Galland, who has inserted them and
citizens regarded Jacobus as their deliverer; and the Letter, both the Armenian text and the Latin
when he died, apparently soon after, he was buried version, in:the fifth volume of his Bibliotheca
in the city. The time of the siege is disputed: Patrum; and it is remarkable that Assemani,
Nisibis was twice vainly attacked by Sapor, A. D. who had been informed that the works were ex338 and 350. The author of.the Chronicon.Edes- tant in MS. in the library of the Armenian consenum given by Assemani (Biblioth. Orient. vol. i. vent of St. Antony at Venice, retracts, in the
p. 387, &c.), and Dionysius, patriarch of the Addenda et Corrigenda to the first volume of his
Jacobites, in his Syriac Chronicle, quoted in the Bibliotheca Orientalis, the opinion he had expressed
same work, place his death in A. D. 338, which in the body of his work, that -James was not an.would determine the first of the two sieges to be author at all, and that Gennadius had confounded
the one at which he signalised himself; but we Jacobus of Nisibis with Jacobus of Sarug [No. 3J;
have seen that he was probably at the council and admits the genuineness both of the Discourses
of Antioch in A. D. 341; and there is reason to and the Synodical Letter; going in this beyond
believe, with Tillemont, that the second siege is the Antohelli and Galland, who doubt the genuineness
one referred to, and that the Syrians have ante- of the Letter. The subjects of the Discourses agree
dated the death of Jacobus. The character of to a considerable extent, but not wholly, with the
Jacobus, as drawn by Theodoret, is very amiable. list given by Gennadius. The difficulty arising
The miracles ascribed to him, even when punitive, from their being extant in the Armenian and not
are described as dictated or tempered by mercy, in the Syriac language, which was the vernacular
except perhaps in the case of the celebrated Arius, tongue of the writer, and in which Gennadius says
whose opportune death is ascribed by the author they were written, is met by the supposition that,
of a spurious passage in Theodoret to the prayer of as being addressed to an Armenian prelate, they
Jacobus that God would preserve the church from were written in the Armenian tongue;_ or that
the calamity (so it was considered) of that reputed being written in Syriac, but sent immediately into
heretic's restoration. [ARius.] Armenia, they were at once translated, and the
Whether Jacobus wrote any thing is much dis- original neglected and lost. Their not being extant
puted. Jerome, who mentions him -in his Chro- in any other language is thought to account for
nicon, does not notice him in his book De Viris'their being unknown to, and unnoticed by, Jerome,
Illustribus; and Theodoret, from whom we obtain Theodoret, and Photius.
the amplest detail of his life, does not speak of his Jacobus is commemorated in the Martyrologiuzn
writings. Ebed-Jesu, in his account of the Syriac of the Romish Church on the 15th July; in the
ecclesiastical writers, is also silent respecting him. A]Ienologium of the Greeks on the 31st Oct.; in the
On the other hand, Gennadius (De Viris Illus- Synaxarium of the Maronites on the 13th January,
tribus) ascribes to him a work'in twenty-six parts, and in that of the Coptic Church on the 18th of
or perhaps twenty-six distinct works, of most of the month Tybi. The Syrians still profess to point
which. he gives the titles. They were in Syriac, out at Nisibis the original burial-place where he
according to him. Among them was a Chronicon, was laid. (Hieronym. Clhron.; Athanas. I. c.;
which Gennadius describes as less curiously minute Gennad. i. c.; Philostorg. H. E. iii. 23; Theodoret.
than those of the Greeks, but more accurate and H. E. i, 7.; ii. 26. (ed. Vales. 30, ed. Schulz); PhiNN 2