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

JOANNES. JOANNES. /99
Italy. He was the son of an Italian, who engaged he is said to have succeeded in diffusing his heresies
as an auxiliary in an attempt of the Sicilians to among many of the nobles and officers of the palace,
withdraw fiom their subjection- to the Byzantine to the great grief of the orthodox emperor. Notemperor, and took with him his.son, then a child, withstanding his enforced retractation, he still conwho thus spent his early years, not in the schools, tinued to inculcate his sentiments, until, after a
but the camp. When the Byzantine commander, vain attempt by the emperor to restrain him, he,
George Maniaces, revolted against Constantine X. was himself sentenced to be anathematized; but as
[GEORGIUS, Historical, No. 15], A. D. 1042, the he professed repentance, the anathema was not
father of Italus fled back to Italy with his son, pronounced publicly, nor in all its extent. He
who after a time found his way to Constantinople. afterwards fully renounced his errors, and made the
He had already made some attainments, especially sincerity of his renunciation manifest. The above
in logic. At Constantinople he pursued his studies account rests on the authority of Anna Comnenla
under several teachers, and last under Michael (Aleimas. v. 8, 9, pp. 143-149, ed. Paris, pp. 115
Psellus the younger; with whom, however, he soon -119, ed.Venice, vol. i. pp. 256-267, ed. Bonn),
quarrelled, not being able, according to Anna whose anxiety to exalt the reputation of her father,
Comnena, to enter into the subtleties of his, phi- and her disposition to disparage the people of Westlosophy, and being remarkable for his arrogance ern Europe, prevents our relying implicitly on her
and disputatious temper. He is described as statements, which, however, Le Beau (Bas Empire,
having a commanding figure, being moderately liv. lxxxi. 49) has adopted to their full extent. The
tall and broad-chested, with a large head, a anathema pronounced on his opinions is published
prominent forehead, an open nostril, and well- in the Greek ecclesiastical book Tplcwlov, Triodium
knit limbs. He knew the Greek language well, (Cave, Hist. Litt. vol. ii. Dissertatio Secunda, p. 38),
but spoke it with a foreign accent. He acquired and from this it is inferred by Du Cange (Nota in
the favour of the emperor Michael Ducas (A. D. Annae Comn. Alexiad.), that his views were not dis1071-1078) and his brothers; and the emperor, similar to those of the western heretic Abailard.
when he was contemplating the recovery of the Some works of Italus are extant in MS. 1.'EKByzantine portion of Italy, counting on the attach- adoeirs eisr 5Ldopa 1r4Mvaea, Expositiones in varias
ment of Italus, and expecting to derive advantage quas varii proposzerunt Quaestiones, Capp. Xciii. s.
from his knowledge of that country, sent him to Responsa ad xciii. Quaestiones philosophicas MiscelDyrrachium; but having detected him in some acts laneas. The questions were proposed chiefly by the
of treachery, he ordered him to be removed. Italus, emperor Michael Ducas and his brother Andronicus.
aware of this, fled to Rome; from whence, by 2.'EK BOS ers cd TOTrud, Expositio Topicorunu
feigning repentance, he obtained the emperor's per- Aristotelis. 3. flept 8aLaAeKTL s, De Dialectica. 4.
mission to return to Constantinople, where he fixed Me'Ooaos p7oTopuclK7s icaoOeoa cald aJvo*Lv, Mehimself in the monastery of Pege. On the banish- thodus Synoptica Rhetoricae, an art of which Anna
ment of Psellus from the capital (A.D. 1077), Comnena says he was altogether ignorant. 5
and his enforced entrance on a monastic life, Epitome Aristotelis de lntepretatione. 6. Orationes.
Italus obtained the dignity of "r'ra'os TaV' 4tAo- 7. Synopsis quinque vocum Porphynii. (Fabric. Bibl.
aoqpwv, or principal teacher of philosophy; and Gr. vol. iii. pp. 213, 217, vol. vi. p. 131, vol. xi. pp.
filled that office with great appearance of learn- 646, 652; Cave, Hist. Litt. vol. ii. p. 154; Oudin,
ing; though he was better skilled in logic and Commentar. de Scriptorib. et Scriptis Ecclesiasticis,
in the Aristotelian philosophy than in other parts vol. ii. col. 760; Lambecius, Commentar. de Biblioth.
of science, and had little acquaintance with gram- Caesar. ed. Kollar. lib. iii. col. 411, seq. note A.)
mar and rhetoric. He was passionate, and rude in 79. LAURENTIUS or LYDUS (the LYDIAN), or
disputation, not abstaining even from personal vio- of PHILADELPHIA, or more fully JOANNES LAUlence; but eager to acknowledge his impetuosity, RENTIUS Of PHILADELPHI, the LYDIAN ('Iwovvris
and ask pardon for it, when the fit was over. His Aavpevoros cAaeMaseh vsr Avods), a Byzantine
school was crowded with pupils, to whom he ex- writer of the sixth century. He was born at
pounded the writings of Proclus and Plato, Iam- Philadelphia, in the ancient Lydia, and the Roman
blichus, Porphyry, and Aristotle. His turbulence and province of Asia, A. D. 490. His parents appear
arrogance of spirit seem to have been infectious; to have been of a respectable family, and of confor Anna Comnena declares that many seditious siderable wealth. At the age of twenty-one (A. D.
persons (Tupaovveos) arose among his pupils; but 511) he went to Constantinople, and after delibertheir names she could not remember: they were, ation determined to enter the civil service of the.
however, before the accession of Alexis. The dis- government as a "memorialis;" and either while
turbances which arose from the teachings of Italus waiting for a suitable vacancy, or in the intervals
attracted the emperor's attention apparently soon of his official duties, studied the Aristotelian, and a
after his accession;'and by his order, Italus, after little of the Platonic, philosophy, under Agapius,
a preliminary examination by Isaac, the sebasto- the disciple of Proclus. By the favour of his
crator, the brother of Alexis, was cited before an ec- townsman Zoticus, praefect of the praetorium under
clesiastical court. Though protected by the patriarch the emperor Anastasius I., he was appointed a
Eustratius, whose favour he had won, he narrowly tachygraphus or notarius, in the office of the praeescaped death from the violence of the mob of fect, in which office his cousin Ammianus had
Constantinople; and he was forced publicly and already obtained considerable advancement; and
bareheaded to retract and anathematize eleven pro- though the praefecture of Zoticus lasted little more
positions, embodying the obnoxious sentiments than a year, he put Joannes in the way of making
which he was charged with holding. Cave places 1000 aurei, without any transgression of justice or
these transactions in A. D. 1084. He was charged moderation. Joannes gratefully addressed a poetwith teaching the transmigration of souls, with ical panegyric to his patron, which obtained from
holding some erroneous opinions about ideas, and the latter a reward of an aureus per line. The
with ridiculing the use of images in worship; and kindness of some official persons (Joannes'.calls:
QQ 4