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

60o JOANNES. JOANNES.
them "ab actis") to whom Zoticus recommended ambassador in that city, containing about ninehim, procured for him, without purchase (a most tenths of the work De Magistratibus, three-fourths
unusual thing) the post of primus chartularius in of that De Ostentis, and two leaves, scarcely
their office, which he held with several other employ- legible, of the De Mensibus. From this MS. the
ments, labouring most assiduously in the fulfilment De Magistratibus was published at the cost of M.
of his duties. During this period. Zoticus, at the de Choiseul-Gouffier, and under the editorial care of
suggestion of Joannes' cousin, Ammianus, obtained Dominic Fuss, with a Commentarius de Joanne
for him a wife of pre-eminent modesty and consider- Lydo ejusque Scriptis, by Ch. Benert. Hase, Paris,
able wealth. He concluded his official career in the 1811. The fragments of the De Ostentis, and the
office of matricularius or cornicularius, which was fragment of the De JI/ensibus, were published from
formerly so profitable as to be conferred as the the same MS., but with some alterations, with a
reward of long service in subordinate situations; preface and a Latin version and notes, by C. B.
but the circumstances of the times and the ne- Hase, 8vo. Paris, 1323. One of the fragments of
cessities of the state had diminished the emoluments the De Ostentis, containing a Greek version by
of the office, so that Joannes was by no means Lydus, of the'E~psepos /3povreoaconra of P. Nigisatisfied with the pecuniary results of this long- dius Figulus, had been published by Rutgersius
coveted climax of forty years' service. The disap- (Lectiones Varine, lib. iii. p. 246, &c.), and another
pointment of his hopes in this respect was, however, fragment, as already noticed, by Nic. Schow. All
somewhat alleviated by marks of distinction, and the extant portion of the works of Joannes Lydus,
flattering testimonials of his literary attainments. with a text revised by Imman. Bekker (8vo. Bonn,
The latter part of his life seems to have been 1837), form one of the volumes of the reprint of the
wholly devoted to literature; and he received two Corpus Scriptortm Historiae Byzantinae. Photius
literary appointments from the emperor Justinian mentions the three works, 7rpanyuae7rt, of Lydus;
I., one to compose and deliver a panegyrical address he criticises his style severely, as too stately and
to the emperor, in the presence of the chief persons elaborate where simplicity was required, and as
of the capital; the other to write a history of the mean where greater elevation was appropriate. He
Persian war or campaign, in which the enemy suf- charges him also with barefaced flattery of the
fered a signal repulse before Dara. The foregoing living, and unjust censure on the dead: and intiparticulars are gathered from Joannes' own state- mates that he was a heathen, yet spoke respectfully
ments (De Mfaistratibus, iii. 26-30; comp. Hase, of Christianity, whether sincerely or not Photins
de Joanne Lydo ejusque Scriptis Commentarius). could not determine. (Photius, Biblioth. Cod. 180;
Joannes obtained reputation as a poet (De lla- Suidas, s. v.'Iwdvvy?1s 4XAasehe(ps AvUs; IHase,
gistrat. c. 27, 29), but his poetical compositions are 1. c.; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. iv. p. 155.)
all lost. His encomium on Zoticus and his com- 80. LECTOR..[ANAGNOSTES, and above, No. 3.]
plimentary address to Justinian are also lost; as 81. Of LYDDA, of which city he was bishop
well as his history of the Persian war, if ever it A. D. 1194. His only extant work is given in the
was finished, which is not certain. Hisworks, of Miscellanea of Baluze. (Lib. ii. p. 242, or vol. iii.
which' many parts are extant, were all written in p. 90, ed. Mansi.) It is a Latin letter or Latin
his old age, and are: 1. Ilcpl pTvcv ouv7yypanq, version of a letter written by him to Michael, dean
De Mensibus Liber, of which there are two epitomae of Paris and patriarch elect of Jerusalem. (Cave,
or summaries and a fragment extant. 2. rIepl Hist. Litt. vol. ii. p. 253.)
dpXis'riTs'PwOlafwcOv roXT'esan, or Isep1 dpXiv 82. LYDUS, the LYDIAN. [See No. 79.]
WroArMKc, De Mlagistratibus Reipublicae Romanae 83. MALELAS or MALALAS. [MALALAS.]
(s. De Magistratibus Politicis) Libri tres. 3. IIepl 84. MARCUs. A spurious work, Acta et Passio
3ioanoteizv, De Ostentis, the last written of his S. Barnabae in Cypro, professing to be written by
works. The work de Mensibus is an historical Joannes Marcus, or John Mark (Acts. xii. 12, 25,
commentary on the Roman calendar, with an ac- xiii. 5, 13, xv. 37, 39), is given with a Latin
count of its various'festivals, their occasion and version in the Acta Sanctorum Junjii, vol. ii. p.
mode of celebration, derived from a great number 431, &c.
of authorities, most of which have perished. Of 85. MARO, SO called from the monastery of St.
the two summaries of this curious work, the larger Maro on the Orontes, near Antioch, an eminent
one is by an unknown hand, the shorter one by ecclesiastic among the Maronites of Syria; and acMaximus Planudes. They were both published cording to some authors, Maronite patriarch of
by Nicolaus Schow (the' shorter one inserted in Antioch. He is said to have enjoyed the favour of
brackets in the course of the larger), 8vo. Leipzig, the emperor Heraclius. He wrote in Syriac Com1794, with a fragment, nlepl mejLozmv, De Terrae mentarius in Liturgiam S. Jacobi, of which many
Motibus, of the work De Ostentis. The Epitomae extracts have been published. (Cave, Hist. Litt.
in a revised text, and with the addition of a Latin vol. i. p. 537.)
version and variorum notes, were published by 86. MAUROPUS. [See No. 58.]
Roether, 8vo. Leipzig and Darmstadt, 1827. The 87. MAXENTIUS. [MAXENTIUS.]
work De Magistratibus was thought to have 88. MONACHUS. [See No. 106.]
perished, with the exception of a few glosses given 89. MoscHUs. [MoscH(is.]
anonymously in the Glossariuns ad Scriptores 90. NEPOS. [See No. 71.]
Mediae atque Infimae Graecitatis of Du Cange: 91. NESTEUTA. [See No. 28.]
for an extract, given as if from it, by Lambecius, 92. Of NICAEA (1). Joannes, archbishop of Nice
in his Animadversiones in Codinum (p. 208, ed. before the 11th century, wrote Epistola de NativiParis), is really from the DoeMensibus. But in or tate Domini ad Zac]hariam Catholicum Armeeniae,
about 1785 a MS. (known as the Codex Caseo- published with a Latin version in the Novun A uelinns) was discovered by J. B. d'Ansse de Villoison tariium of Combbfis, vol. ii. p. 298. (Fabric. Bibl. Gr.
in the suburbs of Constantinople, and obtained by vol. x. p. 238; Cave, Hist. Litt. vol. ii. Dissertatio
the Le Comte de Choiseul-Gouffier, then French Prima; p. 11.)