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

874 MACARIUS. MACARIUS.
subject of the present article is generally distin- writings published under the name of Macarius of
guished as the EGYPTIAN, sometimes as MAGNUS, Egypt are these: I.'OiulAina 7rvevLuaTrLKa, Homithe GREAT, or as MAJOR or SENIOR, the ELDER; liae Spirituales.' These homilies, so called, are fifty
while the other is described as Macarius of Alex- in number, of unequal length, and possibly interandria.' [No. 2.] polated by a later hand. They are ascribed to our
Macarius the Egyptian was the elder of the two, Macarius on the authority of MSS. by Picus, Fabriand was born, according to Socrates, in Upper cius, Pritius, Tillemont, and Galland; but his
Egypt. At the age of thirty he betook himself to authorship is denied by Possin, Dupin, Oudin, and
a solitary life. His place of retreat was the wil- Ceillier, though these are not agreed to whom to
derness of Scete or Scetis, a part of the great ascribe them. Cave hesitates between our MacaLybian desert, which D'Anville places about 60 rius and his namesake of Alexandria [No. 2]; but
miles, but Tillemont as much as 120 miles S. of on the whole is inclined to prefer the latter. T1he
Alexandria, a wretched spot, but on that account Homiliae were first published by Joannes Picus, or
well suited to the purpose of the ascetics who occu- Pic, 8vo. Paris, 1559; a Latin version by thepied it. Here Macarius, though yet a young man, editor was separately published in the same or the
gave himself up to such austerities as to acquire the next year. The Greek text, with a Latin version
title of raL8apLoypy'wv," the aged youth." At forty by Palthenius, was again published at Frankfort,
years of age he was ordained a priest, and is said 8vo. 1594; and the text and version were reprinted
to have received power to cast out evil spirits and from Picus with the works of Gregory. Thaumato heal diseases, as well as the gift of prophecy; turgus [GREGORsUs THAUMATURGUS] and Basil
and many marvellous stories are related by his of Seleuceia [BASILIUS, No. 4], fol. Paris, 1621.
biographers, Palladius and Rufinus, of his employ- A revised edition of the Greek text, with the
ment of these supernatural qualifications. It was version of Palthenius, also revised, was published
even reported that he had raised the dead in order by Jo. Georg. Pritius, 8vo. Leipzig, 1698, and
to convince an obstinate heretic, a Hieracite [HiE- again in 171 4, and may be regarded as the standard
RAx, No. 3], with whom he had a disputation: edition. -A Latin version is given in the Bibliobut this miracle was too great to be received implic- theca Patrum, vol. ii. ed. Paris, 1589; vol. iv. ed.
itly even by the credulity of Rufinus and Palla- Cologn. 1618; vol. iv. ed. Lyon, 1677. An Engdius, who have recorded it only as a report. lish version, with learned and valuable notes, by
During the persecution which the orthodox " a presbyter of the church of England" (Fabricius
suffered from Lucius, the Arian patriarch of Alex- calls him Thomas Haywood), was published 8vo.
andria [Lucius, No. 2] during the reign of the London, 1721. Some other homilies of Macarius
emperor Valens, Macarius was banished, together are extant in MS. II. Opuscula. The collection
with his namesake of Alexandria and other Egyp- so termed comprehends seven treatises, all short:
tian solitaries, to an island surrounded by marshes IIep1 patcaKrs Kapslas, De Custodia Cordis; 2. Isepi
and inhabited only by heathens. He died at the TeAeC6srTlO os e 7rvYveUsa'L, De Perfectione in Spiritu;
age of ninety; and as critics are generally agreed 3. rIepL rpooesurnx, De Oratione; 4. Hepl vrousov~s
in placing his death in A. D. 390 or 391, he must ial 8aicpiaewr, De Patientia et Discretione; 5.
have been born about the beginning of the fourth Isept l60oess'oV vo's, De Elevatione lMlentis; 6.
century, and have retired to the wilderness about IepI iya7rwjs, De Charitate; 7. iepl eAevOeptas
A. D. 330. He is canonized both:by the Greek,oos, De Libertate Mentis. These Opuscula were
and Latin churches; his memory is celebrated by first published, with a Latin version, in the Thethe former on the 19th, by the latter on the 15th saurus Asceticus of Possin, 4to. Paris, 1684; a more
January. (Socrat. H. E. iv. 23, 24; Sozomen, correct edition both of the text and version was
H. E. iii. 14, vi. 20; Theodoret, H. E. iv. 21; published by J. G. Pritius, 8vo. Leipzig, 1699;
Rufin. H. E. ii. 4; and apud Heribert Rosweyd, and again in 1714; and may be regarded as the
De Vita et Ferbis Senior. ii.'28; Apophthegmata best edition. III. Apophthegmata. These were
Patrum, apud Coteler. Eccles. Graec. ALonum. vol. published partly by Possin in his T7esaurus Ascei. p. 524, &c.; Pallad. Histor. Lansiac. c. 19; ticus, and partly by Cotelerius in his Ecclesiae
Bolland, Acta Sanctor. a. d. 15 Januar.; Tillemont, Graecae Monumenta, vol. i. (4to. Paris, 1677),
Mgmoires, vol. viii. p. 574, &c.; Ceillier, Auteurs among the Apophthegmata Patrum; and were subSacres, vol. vii. p.709, &c.) joined by Pritius to the Opuscula. An English
The writings of Macarius have been the subject version of the Opascula and of some of the Apophof much discussion. Gennadius of Marseilles, our thegmata (those of Possin) was published by Mr.
earliest authority, says (De ir-is Illustrib. c. 10) Granville Penn, 12mo. London, 1816, under the
that he wrote only a single Epistola or letter to his title of Institutes of CGhristian Perfection. All the
juniors in the ascetic life, in which he pointed out works of Macarius, with a Latin version, are given
to them the way of attaining Christian perfection. in the Bibliotheca Patrum of Galland, vol. vii. fol.
Miraeus endeavours to identify this Epistola with Venice, 1770. A monastic rule to the compilation
the monastic rule, ascribed to one of the Macarii, of which our Macarius contributed is noticed below
and given in the Codex Regularum of St. Benedict in No. 2. A Latin version of some fragments of
of Anagni; but which, with the letter which fol- other pieces is given in the Bibliotheca Concionalows it, is rather to be ascribed to Macarius of toria of Comb6fis; and perhaps some pieces remain
-Alexandria. The subject would lead us to identify in MS. beside the homilies already mentioned.
the Epistola mentioned by Gennadius with the (Tillemont and Ceillier, 11. cc.; Pritius, Praefut. in
Opuscula mentioned below, especially as a cursory Macarii Opuscula; Galland, Bibl. Patr m Proleg..citation by Michael Glycas in his Annales (Pars i. ad vol. vii.; Oudin, De Scriptorib. Eccles. vol. i. col.
p. 105, ed. Paris, p. 81, ed. Venice, p. 199, ed. 474, seq.; Cave, Hist. Litt. ad ann. 373, vol. i. p.
*Bonn) from " the Epistles (he Zrso'roAaZs) of Maca- 256, ed. Oxford, 1740-1742; Fabric. Bibl. Graec.'rius the Great" is found to bear some resemblance vol. viii. p. 361, &c.; Penn, Pref. to the Instilltes'to a passage in the fourth- Opusculunm, c. 2. The of Macarius.)