own party. In the year 384, or, as Baronius in his Annals writes, 387, the ringleaders of this sect were put to death by the emperor Maximus, having been convicted before the magistrates of the grossest immoralities. These were, Priscillian himself, Felicissimus, and Armenus, two ecclesiastics, who had but very lately embraced his doctrine; Asarinus and Aurelius, two deacons; Latronianus, or, as Jerome calls him, Matronianus, a layman; and Eucrocia, the widow of the orator Delphidius, who had professed eloquence in the city of Bourdeaux a few years before. These were all beheaded at Treves. The rest of Priscillian's followers, whom they could discover or apprehend, were either banished or confined. The bodies of Priscillian, and those who suffered with him, were conveyed by the friends and adherents into Spain, and there interred with great pomp and solemnity; their names were added to those of other saints and martyrs, their firmness extolled, and their doctrine embraced by such numbers of proselytes that it spread in a short time over all the provinces between the Pyrenees and the ocean. The author of the notes upon Sulpitius Severus tells us that he saw the name of Priscillian in some not very ancient martyrologies. In practice they did not much differ from the Manichees; the same, or nearly the same, infamous mysteries being ascribed to both: for, in the trial of Priscillian, before the emperor Maximus, it was alledged that he had countenanced all manner of debauchery, that he had held nocturnal assemblies of lewd women, and that he used to pray naked among them. Others, however, are of opinion that these charges had not much foundation, and that the execution of Priscillian and his followers was rather a disgrace than an advantage to the Christian cause. 1

PRITZ (JOHN GEORGE), PRITIUS, or PRITZIUS, a protestant divine, was born at Leipsic in 1662. He was chosen in 1707, at Gripswalde, professor of divinity, ecclesiastical counsellor, and minister; which offices he there held till 1711, when he was called to preside over the ministry at Francfort on the Maine. At that place he died, much beloved and esteemed, on the 24th of August, 1732. Besides the works that were published by this learned author, he was, from 1687 to 1698, one of the writers of the Leipsic Journal. He was the author of many compilations of various kinds, and wrote, 1. " A learned Introduction to the reading of the New Testament," 8vo; the best edition is 1724. 2. "De Immortalitate Animæ," a controversial book, against an English writer. 3. An edition of the works of St. Macarius. 4. An edition of the Greek Testament, with various readings, and maps. 5. An edition of the letters of Milton; and some other works.1

PROCACCINI (JULIUS CÆSAR), an eminent artist, was the son of Ercole Procaccini of Bologna, a painter of considerable note. He was born in 1548, and was at first educated as a sculptor, which he relinquished, and frequented the academy of the Caracci, but the principal object of his studies were the works of Corregio, and in the opinion of many, none ever approached nearer the grandeur of that style, particularly in easel pictures, and works of confined composition, though his grace be often meretricious, and his colour less vigorous. A Madonna of his at St. Luigi de Francesi, has been engraved as the work of Allegri; and some still better imitations may be seen in the palace of St. Vitali at Parma, in that of Carega at Genoa, and elsewhere. Of his various altar-pieces, the most resembling the manner of Corregio is perhaps that of St. Afra in Brescia: it represents Maria with the infant, amid an ogling and smiling group of angels and saints, where dignity seems as much sacrificed to grace, as in the mutual smile of the Virgin and the angel in his Nunziata, at St. Antonio of Milan; grimaces both, unworthy of the moment and of the mystery.

He is sometimes equally blameable for extravagance of attitude, as in the executioner of St. Nazario; a picture else composed of charms and beauties. But notwithstanding the number and copiousness of his works, his design is correct, his forms and draperies select, his invention varied, and the whole together has a certain grandeur and breadth which he either acquired from the Caracci, or like them derived from Corregio: He died in 1626, at the age of 78. He had two brothers, both painters, but not of equal merit with himself; Camillo, who practised in history painting, and Carlo Antonio, who adopted landscape. The latter left a son Ercole, called the Young, who painted flower-pieces with considerable skill, and died in 1676, aged 80.2

PROCLUS, an eminent philosopher among the later Platonists, was born at Constantinople in the year 410, of

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parents who were both able and willing to provide for his instruction in all the various branches of learning and knowledge. He was first sent to Xanthus, a city of Lycia, to learn grammar; thence to Alexandria, where he was under the best masters in rhetoric, philosophy, and mathematics; and from Alexandria he removed to Athens, where he heard Plutarch, the son of Nestorius, and Syrianus, both of them celebrated philosophers. He succeeded the last in the rectorship of the Platonic school at Athens, where he died in the year 485. Marinus of Naples, who was his successor in the school, wrote his life; and the first perfect copy of it was published, with a Latin version and notes, by Fabricius, Hamburgh, 1700, 4to, and afterwards subjoined to his "Bibliotheca Latina, 1703," 8vo.

He wrote a vast number of works in various ways; many of which are lost, some are published, and a few remain still in manuscript only. Of the published, there are four very elegant hymns; one to the "Sun," two to "Venus," and one to the "Muses," of all which Godfrey Olearius, and Grotius, wrote Latin versions. There are "Commentaries upon several pieces of Plato," upon the four books of Claudius Ptolemæus "De judiciis Astrorum," upon the first book of "Euclid's Elements," and upon Hesiod's "Opera & Dies." There are also works of Proclus upon philosophical and astronomical subjects; particularly the piece "De Sphæra," which was published in 1620, 4to, by Bainbridge, the Savilian professor of astronomy at Oxford. Lastly, we may mention his "Argumenta XVIII. adversus Christianos;" which, though the learned Cave supposed them to be lost, are still extant. Cave, concluding too much from the title of this piece, and from what Suidas says of Proclus, was led to rank him with Celsus, Julian, Porphyry, as a professed and bitter adversary of Christianity: whereas Proclus only attacks the Christians upon this single dogma, whether the world be eternal?" the affirmative of which he attempts to prove against them by eighteen arguments. Joannes Philoponus refuted these arguments of Proclus, with eighteen arguments for the negative: and both the one and the other, for they are interwoven, have been printed more than once with Latin versions.

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The character of Proclus is that of all the later Platonists, who were in truth much greater enthusiasts than the Christians their contemporaries, whom they represented in VOL. XXV.

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this light. Proclus was not reckoned quite orthodox by his order: he did not adhere so religiously, as Julian and Porphyry, to the doctrines and principles of his master : had," says Cudworth, "some peculiar fancies and whimsies of his own, and was indeed a confounder of the Platonic theology, and a mingler of much unintelligible stuff with it."

PROCOPIUS, an ancient Greek historian of the sixth century, was born at Cæsarea in Palestine, and went thence to Constantinople in the time of the emperor Anastasius; whose esteem he obtained, as well as that of Justin the first, and Justinian. His profession was that of a rhetorician and pleader of causes. He was advanced to be secretary to Belisarius, and attended that renowned general in the wars of Persia, Africa, and Italy. He afterwards was admitted into the senate, and became prefect or governor of the city at Constantinople; where he seems to have died, somewhat above sixty, about the year 560. His history contains eight books; two, of the Persian war, which are epitomized by Photius, in the sixty-third chapter of his "Bibliotheca;" two, of the wars of the Vandals; and four, of that of the Goths; of all which there is a kind of abridgment, in the preface of Agathias, who began his history where Procopius left off. Besides these eight books, Suidas mentions a ninth, which comprehends matters not before published, and is therefore called his ανεκδοτα, or inedita. Vossius thought that this book was lost; but it has since been published, and gone through many editions. Many learned men have been of opinion, that this is a spurious work, and falsely ascribed to Procopius; and cannot be persuaded, that he, who in the eight books represented Justinian, Theodora, and Belisarius, in a very advantageous light, should in this ninth have made such a collection of particulars as amounts to an invective against them; and Le Vayer was so sensibly affected with this argument, that he declares all Procopius's history to be ridiculous, if ever so little credit be given to the calumnies of this piece. Fabricius, however, sees no reason, why this secret history may not have been written by Procopius; and he produces several examples, and that of Cicero amongst them, to shew that nothing has been more usual, than for writers to take greater liberties in their private accounts, than they can venture to introduce in what was designed for the public. There is another work of Procopius, still extant, entitled “ Κτίσματα, sive de ædificiis conditis vel restauratis auspicio Justiniani Imperatoris libri vi." which, with his eight books of history, were first renewed in Greek by Hoeschelius in 1607; for the book of anecdotes, though published in 1624, was not added to these, till the edition of Paris, 1662, in folio, when they were all accompanied with Latin versions.

The learned have been much divided, nor are they yet agreed, about the religion of Procopius: some contending that he was an Heathen, some that he was a Christian, and some that he was both Heathen and Christian: of which last opinion was the learned Cave. Le Vayer declares for the Paganism of Procopius, and quotes the following passage from his first book of the "Wars of the Goths," which, he says, is sufficient to undeceive those who considered him as a Christian historian. "I will not trouble myself," says he, speaking of the different opinions of Christians, "to relate the subject of such controversies, although it is not unknown to me; because I hold it a vain desire to comprehend the divine nature, and understand what God is. Human wit knows not the things here below; how then can it be satisfied in the search after divinity? I omit therefore such vain matter, and which only the credulity of man causes to be respected; content with acknowledging, that there is one God full of bounty, who governs us, and whose power stretches over the universe. Let every one therefore believe what he thinks fit, whether he be a priest and tied to divine worship, or a man of a private and secular condition." Fabricius sees nothing in this inconsistent with the soundness of Christian belief, and therefore is not induced by this declaration, which appeared to Le Vayer, and other learned men, to decide against Procopius's Christianity. This, however, whatever the real case may be, seems to have been allowed on all sides, that Procopius was at least a Christian by name and profession; and that, if his private persuasion was not with Christians, he conformed to the public worship, in order to be well with the emperor Justinian..

As an historian, he deserves an attentive reading, having written of things which he knew with great exactness. Suidas, after he had given him the surname of Illustrious, calls him rhetorician and sophister; as perhaps he seems to have been too much for an historian. He is copious; but his copiousness is rather Asiatic than Athenian, and has in

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