ASASTASIOS II. 



AHAXIMASIIKR. 



called flffsBtfariM. blli he had been one of the officer, whose duty 

 it WM to maintain peace and ailrace within UM preeineU of the im- 

 perial palae*. Loagums, Zano'i brother, who aaplrad to the throne, 

 wn* Mat to Alexandria, where he took priest's orders. The beginning 

 of AnattasioVs reign WM favourable ; be abolished several obnoxious 

 Uses, and checked the abuse introduced by Zeno of selling the public 

 office, to the hlrhast bidder. He also encouraged men of letter*, and 

 WM himself a man of some learning. Tbeodoncus, king of the Goth., 

 who, after dsftaHag Odoaosr, had made himself muter of all Italy, sent 

 an ombaarr to Anaetarfar, who recognised his title to the kingdom of 

 Italy, and sent him UM purple in token of it But their good under- 

 standing did not hut long: Theodoricu. invaded part of Illyria and 

 Hernia, and defeated UM Greek troop* near the river Margin, now the 

 Uorava, in Servia. Anastesius, on his aide, sent a fleet and army, 

 which ravaged UM coast of Italy M far M Tareutuin, hi 508. 



Anasteaiu* became obnoxious, on account of his avarice, to the 

 people of Constantinople, who palled down his statues and dragged 

 them through the itreeU; and he WM himself assailed with a shower 

 of stone, while in the Circus, and with some difficulty saved bis life. 

 To add to hi* mufortunes, the empire WM attacked by the Bulgarian*, 

 UM Arabs, and the Persian.. The Persians invaded Armenia, and 

 took the town of Amid*, or Diarbekr, on the Tigris, but were defeated 

 by Jnstinus, who afterward, became emperor. A trace WM concluded 

 between Aoastasius and Cabades, king of Persia, which luted twenty 

 yrara. Anutasius, like many other Byzantine emperors, had the 

 vanity of appearing M a theologian, and of meddling in religious con- 

 troversies. This nearly cost him his crown ; his attempt to introduce 

 i change, in the liturgy occasioned tumults at Constantinople, 

 ided by fires and bloodshed. Several provinces also revolted, and 

 raised to the command one Vitalianus, a Scythian, who advanced to 

 the Rates of Constantinople, and Anutasius only 



condition of becoming reconciled to the church. 



obtained peace on 

 He had involved 



himself in dispute* with Pope Symmachus, for defending the memory 

 of Acacius, the late Patriarch of Constantinople, who had been excom- 

 municated by Pope Felix II., under the reign of the emperor Zeno. 

 The Council of Calchedon having declared the Bishop of Constanti- 

 nople to be next in place to him of Home, Acacius had contested this 

 decree, and had endeavoured to aasert his own precedence, which 

 became a source of sebum between the two see*. Anaatasius's 

 religious principle* however seem to have been very unsteady, and he 

 was even accused of favouring Uanicheiam. Anaatasin* died suddenly, 

 in SI 8, at a very advanced age, and was succeeded by Justinua I. 



ANASTASIUS II., emperor of Constantinople. HU original name 

 WM Artemiua, while he WM secretary to the emperor Philippicua 

 Bardane*. After the deposition of Philippicus in 713, he WM pro- 

 claimed emperor, and lent a new exarch to Italy, and declared him- 

 self a follower of the Weatern Church. Constantinople being threatened 

 by the Saracen*, AnasUsius, to effect a diversion, sent a large fleet 

 with an army to Alexandria, but the troops revolted on arriving at 

 Rhode*, and returned to Constantinople, where they proclaimed 

 emperor one Theodoaiui, a receiver of the taxes, who however alarmed 

 at hi* dangerous promotion, ran away from them. The insurgents 

 plundered and burnt part of the city, and Anastasius having retired 

 to Nicaa, in Bithynia, WM defeated and obliged to *urrender, with 

 permission to retire to a convent, and become a monk. Theodosius III. 

 WM then proclaimed emperor in 716, but being unequal to the task, 

 he reeigned the crown the following year to Leo, called the Isaurian. 

 Ana.ta.iun, from his convent at Tbeaaalonica, made an attempt to 

 recover the throne, and having obtained aasistance from the Bulgarians, 

 appeared before Constantinople. Leo however bribed the chiefs of 

 UM Bulgarian*, who delivered Anaataaius into hi* hand*. Anastasius 

 WM beheaded, with aereral of hi* followers, and their property was 

 connacaud by Loo. in 710. 



ANASTASIUS I, Pope, a native of Rome, succeeded Siricus about 

 the year 898. He WM a contemporary of St. Jerome, who ipeak* 

 highly of hi* probity and apostolic seal. He condemned the doctrine 

 of Origan, and excommunicated Rnfinus, who in a controversy with 

 Jerome had been the advocate of Origen. Rufinu* wrote an apology, 

 which is found in Constant', collection of the Eputle. of the Popes. 

 AnMtarioa died in 4M, and WM .ucceeded by Innocent I. 



'8 II., a native of Rome, mioceeded Oelasius I. in 490. 



He endeavoured to pat an end to the schism then exiting between 



Constantinople and that of Rome about the question of 



aw/** Two letter* written by him on the occasion to the 



S,T r "?TJ?"' "* gti11 exUnt - He 1 wroto congratulatory 

 kttor to Cloria, king of the Frank*, on hi. oonvenion to Christianity. 



, in 498. 



* ""x**^ Sergiu,III. in 

 year. 



OUt A8IUS IV Cardinal Conrad, bi^op of Sabina, WM elected 

 d ** Ul of Kugeniu. lit Rome WM then in a 

 tof to UM schism of Arnaldo of Breeoia and 

 ius died in 1154, and WM .ucceeded by 



Ionic icho 1 ' 

 town, of Ionia, in the fint year of the 17th 



da "^ of 



, 

 Marathon. Born both to rank and 



wealth, he had leisure to apply himself to philosophy and astronomy, 

 under the instruction of Anaximenea. In the twentieth year of hi* 

 age (thtt of the battle of Salami.) he went to Athena, where he con- 

 tinued thirty yean, engaged in the propagation of his philosophical 

 opinions. He numbered among his hearer* Pericles, Euripides, Socrates, 

 Archelaua, who succeeded him M head of the school known by the 

 name of Ionic, and some *ay, Democritus. He obtained the surname 

 of MVT (the mind). It i* said that he WM the first who taught the 

 distinction between mind and matter ; but this is improbable, unless 

 we understand the first who taught the doctrine at Athena. Of the 

 persecution* which drove him from that city there are different 

 account*. One is, that ho WM accused of being in communication 

 with the Persian king, and condemned to death in his absence; 

 another, that he was banished for his opinions, and starved himself to 

 death at Lampsacus; a third, that he WM found guilty of impiety for 

 bis opinion* respecting the sun, and condemned to death, but saved 

 by the intercession of Pericles ; while Plutarch affirms that Pericles 

 WM hi* only accuser. Montucla, without citing his authority, say* it 

 WM for an essay on the cause of eclipses that he was condemned. 

 However this may be, ho departed from Athens, and lived at Latnp- 

 sacus on the Hellespont till his death, a period of twenty-two years. 

 He died B.C. 428, aged 72. 



A writer in the ' Biographical Dictionary of the Society of Useful 

 Knowledge,' gives the following analysis of the philosophical opinions 

 of Anaxagoras : " Anaxogoraa wrote a treatise, in the Ionic dialect, 

 on Nature, which was highly valued. Several fragments of it have 

 been preserved by ancient writers, especially by SimpliciuM. He denied 

 that there was either generation or destruction ; there WM only union 

 and separation of things already existing, so that generation ought to 

 be called union or mixture of things, and destruction ought to be 

 called separation. He began his treatise by representing all things M 

 originally in a state of mixture or confusion, till Nout gave them 

 order. These elemental things were infinite in number and minute- 

 ness, and, M all things were mixed, nothing was perceptible owing to 

 its minuteness. As he supposed the primal elements to be infinitely 

 small, he did not adopt an atomic theory, for, as Bayle has correctly 

 said, the atomic theory, though it supposes the whole number of atoms 

 to be infinite, involves the supposition of the number being finite in 

 any given body. He denied that there was chance or accident ; these 

 were only names for unknown causes. Yet ho did not assume a fate 

 or necessity. He maintained that there was a moving power, and ho 

 called it Nout. Aoiu was conceived as the cause of the union and 

 separation of things; it has given order to all that haa been, and is, 

 and will give order to all that is to be. He conceived matter to be 

 infinite in quantity, duality, and minuteness, and No'M as arranging 

 it in order, and so producing the beautiful and the good. Thus he 

 distinguished between the moved and the moving power, which itself 

 had no motion, and thus he established two independent principles in 

 opposition to the sole principle of Anaximander. His general doctrine 

 M to A'oiw is expressed with sufficient clearness in a passage preserved 

 by Simplicius : ' Notu is infinite, self-potent, and unmixed with any 

 thing. It exists by itself. For, if it did not, but were mixed with 

 anything else, it would have a part in all thing* by being mixed with 

 any one ; for in all there is a portion of all' He adds that ' Nova is 

 the most subtle and the purest of all things, and has all knowledge 

 about all things, and infinite power (laxytt piyurror).' He may have 

 conceived Nout as diffused through all things, but not mixed with 

 anything." 



Among the particular opinions attributed to Anaxagoras aro the 

 following : That all substances are composed each of their proper 

 parts, which are small and capable of infinite divisibility (Lucretius, i. 

 830, to.) that the stars are stones torn from the earth, and set on 

 fire by the ether which pervade* the whole upper part of the universe 

 that the sun is a burning plate or globe, bigger than the Pelopon- 

 nesus that the moon receives light from the sun (Plato says this 

 opinion is anterior to him), and has seas, bills, and valley* of her own 

 that the milky way is the shadow of the earth thrown upon the 

 heaven; others s-iy, he thought it consisted of stars of too feeble 

 light to be seen by day that the rainbow is caused by the cloud* 

 being held before the sun a* a mirror that winds are caused by the 

 lun's beat rarefying the air that earthquakes are caused by the effort 

 of confined air to ascend that snow in not white, but black (thi* 

 opinion of his is reported by Cicero) that the earth is flat, and that 

 its inclination is the cause of the seasons that the soul has an a< rul 

 body and that sound and echo arc conveyed to us by the air. 

 Montucl* protest* against many of these opinions being supposed to 

 be those of Anaxagoras, but we cannot see with what reason. That 

 they are given by very various and doubtful authorities is true ; but 

 there i* nothing so absurd in the opinion* themselves, compared with 

 others which we know to have existed at the same time, to warrant us 

 in rejecting any one of them on that ground. 



ANAXIMANDKR was a native of Miletus. According to Apollo- 

 dorua, he was born in B.C. 610, and lived to be somewhat more than 

 sixty-four yean of age. He i* saM to have been the disciple or 

 friend of Thalea, who was about thirty years older. The facts of his 

 life aro few and doubtful He is mentioned M having conducted a 

 colony to Apollonia. Strabo, Diogenes Lacrtius, and AgathemeniB 

 attribute to bin) the invention of geographical table*, or a kind of 



