SIM 



a k&. of ancient heretics, the firft that ever difturbed Chrif- 

 tianity ; if they might be faid to do fo, who were little 

 more than mere philofophers, and chiefly made profcflion 

 of magic. 



Simon Magus, fo often mentioned in the Afts, was their 

 leader, and died under the emperor Nero ; St. Peter (lill 

 furviving ; fo that Clemens Alexandrinus is miflaken, when 

 he makes Simon poilerior to Marcion. 



This impious man, fays Mofheim, is not to be ranked 

 among the number ol thofe who corrupted with their errors 

 the purity or fimphcity of the Chriftian doftrine, nor is he 

 to be confidered as tlie parent and chief of the heretical 

 tribe ; but he is rather to be placed in the number of thofe 

 who were enemies to tlie progrefs and advancement of Chrif- 

 tianity. For it is manifeft from all the records we have con- 

 cerning him, that after his defeftion from the Chrillians, in 

 confequence of the fevere rebuke whicli he received from 

 the aportle Peter, he retained not the leatt attachment to 

 Chrift, but oppofed himfelf openly to the divine Saviour, 

 and alfumed to himfelf blafphemoufly the title of the /u- 

 preme power of God. Orig. adv. Celfum. lib. v. p. 272. ed. 

 Spenceri. 



Simon was by birth a Samaritan, or a Jew ; when he had 

 ftudied philofophy at Alexandria, he made a public profef- 

 fion of magic, and perfuaded the Samaritans, by tiftitious 

 miracles, that he had received from God the power of com- 

 manding and reilraining thofe evil beings by which mankind 

 were tormented. As for his doftrines, Mofheim adds, that 

 he was, without doubt, in the clafs of thofe philofopherf, 

 who not only maintained the eternity of matter, but alfo 

 the exiftence of an evil being, who prefided, and thus fliarcd 

 the empire of the univerfe with the fupreme and beneficent 

 mind : and he, probably, embraced the opinion of thofe 

 who held, that matter, moved from eternity by an intrinlic 

 and neceffary atlivity, had by its innate force produced, at 

 a certain period of time, from its own fubftance, the evil 

 principle which now exercifes dominion over it, with his nu- 

 merous train of attendants. From this pernicious doftrine, 

 the other errors attributed to him concerning fate, the in- 

 difference of human aftions, the impurity of the human 

 body, the power of magic, and fimilar extravagancies, flow 

 naturally, as from their true and genuine fource. 



He rcjefted the law of Mofes, and faid he was come to 

 abolifli it. He afcribed the Old Tellament to the angels, 

 and though he declared himfelf an enemy to them, he is faid 

 to have paid them an idolatrous worlhip. 



This magician farther pretended, that in his perfon rcfided 

 the greatcil and molt powerful of the divine xons ; that 

 another seon of the female fex, the mother of all human 

 fouls, dwelt in the perfon of his millrefs Helena ; and that 

 he came, by the command of God, upon earth, to aholifh 

 the empire of thofe that had formed this material world, and 

 to deliver Helena from their power and dominion. Mod). 

 Eccl. Hid. vol. i. 



This feft is faid to have continued to the fourth century. 

 Juftin, in his Apolog. 2, lays that in his time, /. e. about 

 A.D. 150, almoll all the Samaritans, and fome few others 

 elfewhere, acknowledged Simon .is the greateft of the gods. 

 Clemens Akxandrinus (Shan. 1. ii.) fays that his followers 

 worlhipped him. About the year 249 this fed was reduced 

 to about thirty perfons, according to Origen (Cant. Celfum, 

 1. i. ) ; and elfewhere (1. v.), he fays that they were quite cx- 

 tindl. But it appears from other teftimonies, that fome of 

 them remained even at the beginning of the fifth century. 

 Eufebius (Hid. Eccl. 1. ii. c. i.) fpeaks of Simonian?, 

 that mingled themfelves among the Catholics, and received 

 Catholic baptifm ; but who afterward ipread in fecret the 

 venom of their doilrinc. Several were diicovered and cx- 



S I M 



pelled the church about the beginning of the fourth century. 

 See Gnostics. 



SIMONIDES, in Biography, z celebrated Grecian poet, 

 born in the ifle of Chios, was the fon of Leoprepes, and 

 flourifhed in the fifth century before the Chriilian era. 

 He excelled in various kinds of poetr)-, but efpecially in 

 the elegiac, for which, as we learn from Horace and Quin. 

 tilian, he was almoit proverbially famous in antiquity. One 

 of his moil famous compofitions was entitled '« The Lamen- 

 tations," of which the following fragment is all that remains, 

 but this juRifies his title to great excellence as a writer. 



" Sweet child ! what anguifh does thy mother know, 

 Ere cruel grief has taught thy tears to flow ! 

 Amidlt the roaring wind'a tremendous found. 

 Which threats deitruftion, as it howls around, 

 In balmy lleep thou lielt, as at the bread. 

 Without one bitter thought to break thy relt. 

 While in pale, glimmering, interrupted light 

 The moon but ihews the horrors of the night. 

 Didft thou but know, fweet innocent ! our woes, 

 Not opiate's pow'r thy eye-hds now could clofe. 

 Sleep on, fweet babe ! ye waves in filence roll. 

 And lull, O lull to relt ! my tortur'd foul." 



Simonides was endowed with a mod extraordinary 



memory, and fome have attributed to him the invention 

 of the art of recollecting by localizing ideas, which has 

 lately been brought into fafhion in this country. The in- 

 troduction of fome of the compound letters of the Greek 

 alphabet is alfo afcribed to him. He lived to an ad- 

 vanced age, and at the age of eighty gained a prize for 

 poetry. According to Pliny, Simonides added the eighth 

 llring to the lyre. In his old age, perh.ips from feeing 

 the refpedt which money procured to fuch as had lolt the 

 charms of youth, and power of attacliing mankind by other 

 means, he became fomewhat mercenary and avaricious. He 

 was frequently employed by the victors at the games to 

 write panegyrics and odes in their praifc, before his pupil 

 Pindar had exercifcd his talents in their behalf; but Si- 

 monides would never gratify their vanity in this particular, 

 till he had firft tied them down to a llipulated lum for his 

 trouble ; and, upon being upbraided for iiis meannefs, he 

 faid, that he had two colTers, in one of which he had, for 

 many years, put lii.s pecuniary rewards ; tlie other was for ho- 

 nours, verbal thanks, and promifes ; that the firll was pretty 

 well filled, but the lalt remained always empty. And he made 

 no Icruple to confefs, in his old age, that of all the enjoyments 

 of life, the love of money was the only one of which time had 

 not deprived him. It is mentioned as a fubjeft of difpraife, that 

 Simonides was one of the firll who wrote verfes for money, and 

 that he travelled through the cities of Afia, felling eulogies on 

 the victors in the public games. He paid a vifit, in advanced 

 life, to Hiero, king of Syracufe, to whom he gave the cele- 

 brated anfwer refpeifling the nature of God that has been 

 handed down from generation to generation to th« prefcnt 

 time in the writings of Cicero. Hiero having alked his 

 opinion on the fubjeft, he requefted a day to eonfider of it ; 

 when this was expired, he doubled the time, and thus he did 

 repeatedly, till the monarch defired to know his reafon for 

 this proceeding : " It is," laid he, " bccaufe the longer I 

 refleft on the queftion, the more difficult it appear* to be." 

 He was reported to be extremely nv.iricious ; he was, how- 

 ever, jullly ranked among the pliilolophers and poets, and 

 though fenfible of the value of money, he knew what was 

 more valuable. Undergoing Ihipwreck on a voyage, while 

 the other iiadengers encumbered themfelves with their moll 

 valuable cifefts, lie left his behind him, faying, " I carry 

 with me all that is mine ;" ;uid when he arrived fafc at Cla- 

 6 zomene. 



