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

450 POLYCARPUS. POLYCARPUS.
men Sanitatis Salernitanum (in numerous editions), church at Smyrna was not in existence when the
and to three or four other works. [W. A. G.] Apostle Paul wrote his epistle to the Philippians,
POLYCAON (IloxvKicdv). 1. A son of Lelex, has been adduced to prove that Polycarp was born
brother of Myles, and husband of Messene, the before that time; but the words are too indefinite
daughter of Triopas of Argos. He emigrated from to bear out any such inference.
Laconia to Messenial, which country he thus called An ancient life, or rather a fragment of a life of
after his wife. He was the first king of Messenia. Polycarp, ascribed by Bollandus to a certain Pionius
(Pans. iii. 1. ~ 1, iv. 1. ~ 1.) of unknown date, and given by him in a Latin
2. A son of Butes, was married to Euaechme, version in the ActaSanctorlnl Januarii (a. d. 26),
the daughter,of Hyllus. (Paus. iv. 2. ~ 1.) [L. S.] vol. ii. p. 695, &c., dwells much on the early history
POLYCARPUS (rIoAhKap7ros). 1. ASCETA. of Polycarp, but the record (if indeed it be the work
There is extant in Greek a life of the female saint of Pionius) is some centuries later than its subject,
Syncletica, which has been ascribed to various and is evidently false in several particulars. We
persons. Some MSS. and the Greek ecclesiastical are inclined to think, however, that it embodies
historian, Nicephorus Callisti (M. E. viii. 40,), as- some genuine traditions of Polycarp's history.
cribe it to Athanasius, but Montfaucon, though he According to this account, the Apostle Paul visited
gives the piece with a Latin version in his edition Smyrna in his way from Galatia, through the proof the works of Athanasius (vol. ii. p. 681, &c.), consular Asia to Jerusalem (the writer apparently
classes it among the spurious works, and declares confounding two journeys recorded in Acts, xviii.
that the difference of style, and the absence of any 18-22, and 23, &c.), and having collected the
external testimony for five or six centuries after believers, instructed them in the proper time of
Athanasius, leave no room to doubt its spurious- keeping Easter. After Paul's departure, his host,
ness. A copy, which was among the papers of Strataeas, the brother of Timotheus, became bishop
Comb6fis, contains a clause, stating that the dis- of the infant church; or, for the passage is not
courses or sayings of the saint had been reported clear, Strataeas became an elder and Bucolus was
by " the blessed Arsenius of Pegadae;" but this bishop. It was during the episcopate of Bucolus
does not seem to describe him as the compiler of (whether he was the contemporary or the successor
the narrative, but only as the author from whom of Strataeas) that Callisto, a female member of the
part of the materials were derived. It is then most church, eminent for riches and works of charity,
reasonable to follow the very ancient MS. in the was warned of God in a dream to go to the gate of
Vatican library, which ascribes the biography to the city, called the Ephesian gate, where she
Polycarp the Ascetic or Monk, but where or when would find a little boy (puerulum) named Polycarp,
this Polycarp lived cannot be determined. The of Eastern origin, who had been reduced to slabiography was first published in the Latin version very, and was in the hands of two men, from
of David Colvillus in the Acta Sanctorum Januarii, whom she was to redeem him. Callisto, obedient
vol. i. p. 242, &c. The original Greek text is said to the vision, rose, went to the gate, found the
to have been published with some other pieces, 4to. two men with the child, as it had been revealed
Illgoldstadt, 1603; it is given with a new Latin to her; and having redeemed the boy, brought
version and notes in the Ecclesiae Graecae Monu- him home, educated him with maternal affection
menta of Cotelerius, vol. i. p. 201, &c., 4to. Paris, in the Christian faith, and, when he attained
1677. The MS. used byCotelerius contained neither to manhood, first made him ruler over her house,
the author's name nor the final clause about Arse- then adopted him as her son, and finally left him
nius of Pegadae. The title of the piece is BLoS Kal heir to all her wealth. Polycarp had been from
7roAlerfca rjeS 0Leas Kcal cdo,8L/ov t'pos 7jWiv (in childhood distinguished by his beneficence, piety,
Montfaucon's edition, B. K. r.. r. S ai-yas Kai,AaKa- and self-denial; by the gravity of his deportment,
pLas Kal UacradhAou) vyKc-qrlTlKijs, Vita et Gesta and his diligence in the study of the Holy Scripsanctae celebrisque matris nostrae (or according to tures. These qualities early attracted the notice
Montfaucon, sanctae beataeque magistrae) Syncle- and regard of the bishop, Bucolus, who loved him
ticae. (Fabric. Bibliotl. Graec. vol. x. p. 329.) with fatherly affection, and was in return regarded
2. MARTYR. [No. 3.] by hint with filial love. By Bucolus he was or3. Of SMYRNA, a Christian writer of the dained first to the office of deacon, in which he
age immediately succeeding that of the Apostles. laboured diligently, confuting heathens, Jews, and
Of the early history of this eminent father we heretics; delivering catechetical homilies in the
have no trustworthy account. The time of his church, and writing epistles of which that to the
birth is not known, and we can only determine Philippians is the only extant specimen. He was
it by approximation. At the time of his martyr- subsequently when of mature age (his hair was
dom, to which various dates are assigned, he had already turning gray) and still maturer conduct,
been a Christian eighty-six years. Now if we ordained presbyter by Bucolus, on whose death he
adopt for the present Tillemont's date of his mar- was elected and consecrated bishop. We omit to
tyrdom, A. D. 166, and suppose Polycarp to have notice the various miracles said to be wrought by
been of Christian parents, or at least educated Polycarp, or to have occurred on different occasions
from childhood in the Christian faith, and so in- in his life.
terpret the eighty-six years, as several eminent Such are the leading facts recorded in this ancritics do, of the term of his natural life, his birth cient narrative, which has, we think, been too
will fall in A. D. 80; but if with other critics we lightly estimated by Tillemont. That it has been
suppose him to have been converted at a riper age, interpolated with many fabulous admixtures of a
and compute the eighty-six years from the time of later date, is clear; but we think there are some
his conversion, his birth must be placed at a con- things in it which indicate that it embodies earlier
siderably earlier period. A vague passage in the and truer elements. The difficulty is to discover and
Latin text of Polycarp's epistle to the Philippians separate these from later corruptions. The chief
(c. xi.), which we think merely indicates that the ground for rejecting the narrative altogether is the