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

SEVERUtS. SEVERUS. 801
Alexandria, cited by Evagrius (I!. E. iv. 10) and authentic record of the Old or Mosaic DispenNicephorus Callisti (II. E. xvii. 8), the Z,,o3,Kcd, sation, promulgated by the Demiurgos, and as
Synodica, or'Ewro-roh al rvvolKcaf, Epistolae Sgy- such may have used them, and argued from them;
nodicae, or'ElrLo'rohal e'OpovLrTKia, Epistolae In- but yet denied their authority as binding upon
augurales, issued by him on his promotion to the themselves, ewho had embraced the New Dispatriarchate, in which he anathematized the council pensation, which rested not on the authority of
of Chalcedon, and all who supported the doctrine of the Demiurgos, but on the higher and opposite
the two natures of Christ. (Evagr. II.E. iii. 33, 34; authority of the Supreme and All-merciful God.
Niceph. Callist. IT E. xvii. 2.) Of his other works This explanation of two apparently opposite statethe following are cited in various MSS.: 12.'TiraKO' ments is at any rate consistent with the leading
els 0obs /ap-rvpas, Hypac;e in 11artyres, or simply principles of Gnosticism.' The curious opinions of'TiraKoi, Hypacoe. 13. lpois'Avao-rdotLov da- Severus, at least of the Severiani, as to the geneaAoyos, Dialogus ad (s. Contra) Anastasium. 14. logy of the Devil, and the origin of the vine, and
IIpas EstrpdLov KtovIrKOVAapi'v adroKrpotELS, Re- of the formation of woman and man, are noticed
sponsiones ad Eupraxium Cubicularium. 15. Els elsewhere [TATlANUs]. Severus denied the
fro "dyLos o 1 eos," uavvayca, Syntagmna in apostolic office of Paul, and consequently the
illud, "Sanctus Deus;" and, 16. Blieov'rZv authority of his writings; going in these respects
v7roeo'iLeLoWOv-w' v i&8oxelpcos 8laaobpov Kiebafawcv, beyond Tatian. His followers also denied, according
Li6er capitum variorums manu propria subsignato- to Augustin, the resurrection of the body, which is
rum, of which Joannes Damascenus cites a passage likely enough. It is not impossible that these
in the Appendix to his De Jejuniis (Le Quien's ed. differences may have led to the temporary division
1. c.). Several citations of the works of Severus of the sect of the Encratitae to which Severus and
are given in the Ilodegus s. Dux Viae of Anastasius Tatian both belonged, and to the formation of
Sinaita, and by Photius (Biblioth. Cod. 230) and separate bodies under the respective names of
in the Concilia; but they are chiefly, if not wholly, Tatiani and Severiani, who afterwards reunited
from his Sernzones and Epistolae. A work, Liber under the old and generic name of Encratitae.
de Ritibus Baptismui et Sacrae Synacis apud Syros The ascetic features, abstinence from marriage and
receptis, published in Syriac, with a Latin version, from the use of animal food and wine, appear to
4to. Antwerp, 1572, under the name of Severus, have been common to the whole body, whether
patriarch of Alexandria*, is ascribed in some designated Tatiani, Severiani, or Encratitae. [TAMSS. to our Severus; and Cave inclines to assign TIANUS]. (Euseb. 1. c.; Epiphan. Haeres. xlv.;
it to him. Dionysius Bar Salibi, a Syriac writer, Augustin. 1. c.; Theodoret. 1. c.; Ittigius, De Haecites a work of " Severus patriarcha oecumenicus," resiarchis, sect. ii. c. xii. ~ xv.; Tillemont, Mgwhich he entitles Canticune C'rucis (Assemani, moires, vol. ii. p. 414; Neander, Church History
Bibl. Orient. vol. ii. p. 205). The works of Severus (by Rose), vol. ii. p. 111; and (by Torrey) vol. ii.
are enumerated imperfectly by Cave (Hist. Litt. p. 167, note 3.)
ad ann. 513, vol. i. p. 499, and more fully by 4. HAERESIARCHA. [Nos. 2, 3.]
Montfaucon (Biblioth. Coislin. p. 53, &c.), and Fa- 5. MONOPHYSITA. [No. 2.]
bricius (Biblioth. Graec. vol. x. p. 616, &c.). 6. RHETOR. Of this writer nothing certain is
3. ENCRA.TITA. There were two Severi emi- known. Fabricius is disposed to identify him with
ment as leaders of bodies accounted heretical. the Ze1EGpos 0oocpitrriSs'Pwyasos, Severus Sophista
The earlier was a leader of one of the divisions of Romanus, mentioned by Suidas (s. v.) and by Phothe Gnostic body; the latter, and far more cele- tius, in his abstract of the life of Isidorus by Damasbrated was the Monophysite Patriarch of Antioch cius (Biblioth. Cod. 242). The Severus of Photius
[See No. 2.] We speak here'of the former, who resided at Alexandria in the latter part of the fifth
appears to have lived in the latter part of the second century, in the enjoyment of an ample library, and of
century. Little is known of his personal history. literary leisure, and was a great patron and encouEusebius (tI. E. iv. 29), speaking of the sect of the rager of learned men, circumstances which bespeak
Encratitae and their founder Tatian [TATIANus], him to have been a man of fortune. The prospect
says that a certain person named Severus having of the revival of the Western Empire during the
strengthened the sect, gave occcasion to their brief reign of the Emperor Anthemius [ANTHEbeing called, after his own name, Severiani. Theo- MIUS], led him to visit Rome, where he obtained
doret also makes Severus posterior to Tatian the honour of the consulship (A. D. 470), which
(Haeret. Fabul. Comp. i. 21). Epiphanius, on the honour, according to Damascius, was portended by
other hand, makes Severus anterior to Tatian. the circumstance, deemed a prodigy, that his
But the silence of Irenaeus, who mentions Tatian, horse, when rubbed down, emitted from his skin
but not Severus, makes it probable that Tatian an abundance of sparks. Sever'us, the rhetorician,
was the earlier. Our account of the opinions of wrote the following works: - I.'H0orodam, Ethothe Severiani is very obscure. According to Eu- poeiae, a series of fictitious speeches, supposed to
sebius they admitted the Law and the Prophets be uttered by various historical or poetical per(Euseb. H.E. iv. 29), while according to Augustin sonages at particular conjunctures. There are
they rejected them (De Haeres. c. xxiv.). It is extant eight of these Ethopoeiae. Some of them
not improbable that they admitted them as an were first printed, with a Latin version, by Fed.
Morel, 8vo. Paris, 1616: viz., i. Herculis, Peri* The Severus of Alexandria, to whom this clymeno in certamine sese eom'mutante. 2. 14enelai,
Liturgy is ascribed, is apparently Severus sur- rapta a Paride Helena. 3. (but in an imperfect
named Bar Maschi, who lived in the tenth cen- form) Heetoris, qauum conmperisset Priamnnm apud
tury after the Saracen conquest had superseded inferos cetn Achille convivatumn: and, 4. with
both the Greek government and the Greek lan- title merely of FragTmentumu allerius Ethopoeiae, a
guage in Egypt; so that he comes not within the fragment of a fourth, which was afterwards given in
limits of our work. a complete form by Allatius; viz. Pietoris, depliclae
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