AND BYZANTINE GREEK. 17 



enjoyed the protection of the court, the ancient religion continued to struggle for 

 existence as late as the ninth century.^^ Many of the emperors were fond of religious 

 controversy, and Constantinople was now converted into a vast theological seminary, in 

 which everybody fancied himself a doctor of divinity.*^^ We add here that Justinian's 

 passion for magnificent churches led him to appropriate even the teachers' salaries 

 to its gratification ; the consequence of which was the breaking up of the public 

 schools and the rapid spread of ignorance.*" 



The Greek of this epoch, notwithstanding the changes it had undergone, re- 

 tained its original character ; that is, it was ancient Greek in the strictest sense of 

 the expression. The spoken language formed the basis of the written, but at the same 

 time it contained many words and phrases which good scholars generally avoided.*^^ 

 Thus, Chrysostom's style, although superior to that of an uneducated person, was level 

 to the comprehension of the common people of Constantinople, with whom he was a 

 great favorite. 



It will be found very convenient to divide the authors belonging to this epoch 

 into secular and ecclesiastical. Of these the former may be regarded as the successors 

 of the pagan, and the latter of the Christian writers of the Roman period. It is to be 

 further remarked that the spoken dialect of this age is to be sought, not in the elaborate 

 productions of its rhetoricians, but in such works as the homilies of Macarius, the 

 Gospel of Nicodemus, the Apophthegmata Patrum, the Leimonarion of Joannes 

 Moschus, and the Acts of Councils. 



Elf Tov Maplvrji oIkou. 

 XptuTrnvoi ycyaoiTes 'OXuyjTrm Sco/xar* exovTfs 

 'EvdaSe vaieTaov(Tiv am^fMOves • oi8e yap avTovs 

 Xaivr] (f>oKKiv ayovaa ^fpeV/Sioi' iu irvpl 6i'}iT(i. 



The title Els tov tILapivris oIkov, To the hoiise of Manna, implies that such statues were seen in a church 

 dedicated to Saint Marina, who suffered martyrdom in the year 270 (see IIorol. jul. 17). The last sentence 

 may be paraphrased as follows : Tlie smith's forge tm'll not convert them into utensils ; referring to metallic 

 statues. 



^^ The inhabitants of Maina (the modern Uavrj), in Peloponnesus, adopted Christianity in the reign of 

 Basil the Macedonian. Porph. Adm. 224. 



" Compare Greg. Nyss. Ill, 4G6. 



55 ZONAR. 14, 6, p. G3 (Paris). 



^ Compare Ltd. 11 Pu/iaiois 6e t6 Kavovv fVi ptv Ta>v Upav craToipav, fVi d( tcov (ia)(idv eTTOvXaplav, 



fjv ait aXaplav oi ttoXXoi c'^ dyvoias npncrayopeiovaiv • iTTOvXa s yup ras ivax^os Pwjtiaioif ?5or Ka\(~iv. 82, 12 



'AviV^w o rjXios TOV opdpioi' Siao-Kopjrifft Katpov, ov oi jroXXoi avyi)V ovopa^ovirtv. lot) T nv KKa s 6 Kpeai^opos, ov ol 



Ibiarat ^ t K K a i> cKciX((Tav Ka6' ripas. 1G9, 20 2r]ypevTa airas ol Ttjs aiX^t KoKoifftv, dxTi tov xp^'^ocr']pa • to St 



VOL. VII. NEW SERIES. 3 



