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

SYNESIUS. SYNESIUS. 965
vertit, Notisque illustravit Jo. Steph. Bernard. called (by a curious series of errors) " Asyncritus"
Accedit Viatici Constantino Africano interprete and " Asynkitus." (See Lambec. loco cit. p. 295.)
lib. vii. pars." The medical contents of this little At last he became a monk in the Monastery of
work do not require any particular notice here. It Cassino, A. D. 1072, where he employed part of
is probably the earliest Greek medical work con- his time in writing and translating various medical
taining a distinct account of the Small Pox and works, and where he died at a great age, A. D. 1087.
Measles (c. 9, p. 288, UIepi -rpes PAt'lKaora'o-o1s It is not necessary to mention here all his numerous
AoMUcKr, Kcal u'Ts 4rpas Xerrrs Kai rvcirsv Aowkx- works, a list of which may be found in Fabricius,
KeS), and the author's description of these diseases Bibl. Gr. vol. xiii. p. 124, ed. vet., and in Chouand his directions respecting their treatment, agree lant's Handb. der Biicherkunde fiir die Aeltere
upon the whole very nearly with those given by Mf/edicin. They were collected and published in
Rhazes. [RHAZEs.] There are several questions 2 vols. fol. Basil. 1536,1539. The only one of his
respecting the date and authorship of this work writings with which we are at present concerned
which have never hitherto been completely and sa- is that which consists of seven books, and is entitled,
tisfactorily settled, and which therefore require to " De omnium Morborum, qui Homini accidere posbe discussed here. Bernard published the work sunt, Cognitione et Curatione," or in some other
under the name of Synesius, because the author is editions simply "Viaticum." This work is the
so called in the Leyden Catalogue (p. 394. ~ 65), same as the'E(pdo1a Tro'AnrofuoOvros mentioned
and also at the back of the MS. (Bernard's Pref. p. above, and consequently contains (at the beginning
xviii.); but, as there appears to be no good autho- of the seventh book) the Pseudo-Synesius " De
rity for attributing it to a physician of this name, Febribus." It appears also that Constantinus is
we must first try to determine who was the author the author of both works, or, in other words, that
of this Greek fragment,- for the very first lines he translated the original work into both Greek
show that it is not a complete work in itself. There and Latin. The Latin work indeed (at least as
exists in MS. in several European libraries rather we now possess it,) does not profess to be merely a
a long Greek medical work, divided into seven translation, and this circumstance, added to a
books, and entitled, Bl~Xos Ae-yoCe'v7 Ta'Epdbla similar omission in the case of one of his other
7Tog'A7rob71yuto6'Sos, ovYTe6et.tse'w 7rrapa "Erpou works, has exposed Constantinus to the charge of
Bya(bdp Troil "Eq'EAhnircp, 1Ae'aCA0ekio-a tis plagiarism and dishonesty,-but whether the ac-'r1v'EXAcia y7Ackrsav 7rapa Kwvsravurvov 7rpowTa- cusation be altogether well-founded or not, the,rlKp-rTOu ToO'Pnryh'ov, a full account of which Writer is unable to decide, as he has never had
may be found in Lambecii Catal. Biblioth. Vindob. occasion to examine the other work alluded to with
vi. p. 284 &c. ed. Kollar, and Bandinii Catal. sufficient minuteness to enable him to form an
Biblioth. Laurent. vol. iii. p. 142. There is a opinion on the subject. (See Russell's Nat. Hist.
MS. of this work in the Bodleian Library at of Aleppo, Append. p. xii. &c.) It only remains
Oxford (Laud, Gr. 59), which the Writer has had to determine the name and author of the original
an opportunity of examining, and he finds that the work; for, even if we had not the title of the
printed work corresponds to the commencement of Greek MSS. to aid us, it would be sufficiently
the seventh book of the MS. He has collated the evident from the inspection of the Pseudo-Synesius
printed book partially with the MS. from beginning that the fragment is translated from the work of
to end, and finds that two of the chapters are trans- some oriental author; the writer not only making
posed, and that the differences of reading are very constant mention of the natural productions of
numerous; but that the substance, and in general Eastern countries, but also having preserved two
the words also, are so exactly the same that there Arabic words in Greek characters.* The name of
can be no doubt about the identity of the two the writer so strangely metamorphosed in the titles
works, unless (which is just possible,) they should of the Greek MSS. of Constantinus is
turn out to be two different (but very literal) translations of the same original treatise. It is there- - A)I
fore tolerably certain that the Pseudo-Synesius is,.J
in fact, the writer commonly known by the de- Abu' Ja'far Ahnzed Ibn Ibrahlmr Ibn Abi Chaled,
signation of Constantinus Africanus, of whom it is wo is also called
necessary to say a few words here, as he is not men who is also called 1 n —Jezzar.
tioned in the first volume of this work, because Constantinus never gives his author's complete
all his published works are written in the Latin name, but calls him sometimes Abdd Ja'far I6nulanguage, and he himself lived later than the date I-Jezzdr, sometimes Ah1ned Ibn Ibralhim Ibn A bd
fixed on for the admission of Roman writers. He Chailed; which has led Lambecius and Bandini, in
was a native of Carthage in the eleventh century, their excellent catalogues, to state that the original
who spent nearly forty years in travelling in dif- work " partim ab Epro filio Zaphar nepote Elgzezar,
ferent parts of Asia, where he acquired a knowledge
of many useful sciences, and also of several Eastern * As some difference of opinion has existed relanguages. Upon his return to Africa he was specting one of these words, it may be stated that
forced, apparently by the jealousy of his country- IrsEVXE (p. 76) should be written'vreXe, that is,
men, to leave once more his native land, and settled
in Calabria, where he was taken into the service of Wijt Intilha, as appears from Avicenna, Canon,
the Duke Robert Guiscard, and whence he is some- i. 2, 2. ~ 7 (vol. i. p. 38, 1. ult. ed. Arab The
times called in Greek MSS. Kwvo-r. d'P77yvo. other word, o e (p. 120), should of course e
Hence also his title of 11pWT0.0-77CpXTLS or 11pwTao7- other word, E'A/ovt0ex (p. 120), should of course be
Hence also his title of 1pTIrPWT5hpCrP7ts or Ilpwi-aorKp/T7'S, that is, Protosecretarius, a word whose
meaning may be found in the glossaries of Du written that is A
Cange and Meursius, and which, in the case of mztltallath; see Avicenna, ii. 2. 436 (vol. i. po 200
Constantinus, has occasioned his being sometimes 1. 41, ed. Arab.)
3Q 2