A of which he proved to be the groomsman, was raised by Theodosius Augustus through all the ranks of honor and dignities, and finally he created him Magister; and he was increased, as one who had the power and freedom of approaching both the Emperor Theodosius and the Empress, as he who had been the groomsman for both. After other dignities, he added the magistracy, and he was increased. If we make progress, do we move from the humbler to the more celebrated? If these duties among the Greeks are those of a child-teacher, and that Trivialis, which yours are, Hospinian—count, patrician, leader of the army, and finally Caesar? Could I not here recount much more from among your own, who for a very vile wage hired out their labor to teach boys, yet in great estimation and trust among you? And will you, on this single account of the name of "Trivial Child-teacher," prepare ignominy and infamy, and cast him down from his dignity? This is another way of ruining the Catholics.
B When, however, our Metaphrastes flourished not only in the dignity of Magister but also in that of Logothete, it will not be irrelevant if we also bring forward some things, so that we may view the dignity of Symeon's office, with such a cognomen, as illustrious. I do not care about the Ecclesiastical office, let the discussion be only about the Palatine office. Those Logothetes were properly those who know and debate fiscal or public accounts: and they direct expenses and revenues, so that they maintain the rights of the state rather than those of private individuals: some call them auditors. Procopius, book III of the Gothic War: "There was a certain Alexander in Byzantium who was in charge of the public accounts; the Romans call this office by the Greek term, Logothete." And Alexander, some person in Byzantium, was in charge of the public accounts, whom the Romans call Logothete in the Greek tongue. Whence the Anonymous, as Alemannus noted, "The General Logothete." And Nicephorus the Patriarch, in his 29 *Breviary of History*, appointed a certain Theodorus, a monk who previously led a solitary life, hemmed in at the straits of the Thracian channel, to be in charge of the public C treasury, whom the common people are accustomed to call Logothete. He subsequently appointed to the oversight of the whole, John, a deacon of the Great Church, and an accountant of the public revenues, whom the custom knows to call the General Logothete, a prudent man and endowed with the experience of many things. Justinian afterward, as Procopius relates in the *Anecdota*, called those men Logothetes whom he had established from his soldiers, who, from every sort of man, collected the greatest possible sum of money in the camps. The name of the Logothete, Alemannus considered, was not poorly interpreted as the D dispensers and curators of money. Finally, with the empire crumbling, the office of the Logothetes was drawn away to other duties also, originally one, but divided into many branches as the lust of the princes grew. Hence, "the General." An anonymous writer concerning the offices of the Constantinopolitan palace: "And behold the General Logothete." And Matthew the monk concerning the same: "Above others is the General Logothete." Others have translated it as "General of the treasury." Codinus describes the vestments: "The General Logothete’s *skiadion* is a white silk cloth with pearls. The *kabbadion* is of the silks usually worn by the court. The *skaranikon* is of gold-white and red, having the image of the Emperor in wire-work, before and behind, [...] as also that of the Primicerius, and without a staff." The *Logothetes generalis*’s pileus is a white cloth with pearls, a *cabbadium* of those clothes which they are accustomed to wear by common custom. The *scaranicum* is of a golden and white color, purple and fringed, having at the back the image of the Emperor in translucent human form; such also is the *scaranicum* of the Primicerius: it lacks a scepter. The same Codinus states that this function was unknown in his time: "The General Logothete’s service is not known." The office of the General Logothete is unknown. This Codinus is beaten by Meursius: Meursius by Gretser; whether well, let others judge. I, for my part, have said that the meaning of the word is that it is not known, not being in use; for those things which have ceased and are not in use are said to be least known among the usage of others. There was another, the Logothete of the *Dromos*. Along with him is the Logothete of the *Dromos*. His vestments, according to Codinus: "The Logothete of the *Dromos*’s pileus is like that of the great Chartulary. He wears an *epilorikion*, but not a 30 *scaranicum*." And ch. 5: "The Logothete of the *Dromos* also had a duty in the past unknown to us, but now none." The Logothete of the *Dromos* once had a function unknown to us, but now none. Whatever Codinus may say, his function preserved for us by Nicephorus the Patriarch in his *Breviary of History*: "Of these, Antiochus was the one who carried the memoranda of public affairs to him. But those around the palace are accustomed to call the office of the Logothete of the *Dromos*, who [are in the palace], the Magister." Petavius notes that "Logothete of the *Dromos*" is said here by Nicephorus: "Of those things..." which was the property of the *Magister Memoriae*. Which, as it is in the *Notitia* of the Oriental Empire, dictates annotations, that is, brief writings by which those things are contained which are set down in the name of the prince, or confirmed, but also replies to petitions, that is, the responses...
which the prince gave to suppliant petitions: the custom of minnows or a whale among small fish—you might see it—the dignity itself is worth nothing. Hence, among the offices of the palace, would that this evil had not also had a place in ecclesiastical duties; the great name has been granted, so to speak, in that function. Not to refer to individual cases, there was also the Great Logothete, remarkable not only for his authority, but also for the insignias of his vestments. Codinus [states]: The raiment of the Great Logothete, that is, the *skiadion*, the *kabbadion*, and the *skaranikon*, are not different from those that are the protostrator’s, nor does he carry a scepter. The pileus, indeed, is of a golden and crimson color, studded without the boss with golden *skaranikon* and crimson [adornment], and fringed, containing on the front part the emperor standing, and on the back, the one sitting on the throne: the *kabbadion* is purple, or of whatever color he may have wanted according to custom. Matthew the monk [adds]: D The second is the Great Dux, the Great Domestikos, and the Protostrator, the Great Logothete, and the Great Stratopedarches, for whom the flaps are red, showing gilding only on the upper part. And indeed after him, the good Metochites, having achieved the greatest wisdom of the Logothetes, wearing the red head-covering as a gift for him who holds power together with the emperor.
The Logothete of the Dromos: The Logothete of the Oikeiakoi. Let the Logothete of the Oikeiakoi manage it. The Praitor of the Demos, and the Logothete of the Oikeiakoi together. The apparel of the Great Logothete, that is, the *skiadion*, the *kabbadion*, and the *skaranikon*, similar to those of the protostrator; he bears no *dikaionikion* (badge of office). The Logothete of the Oikeiakoi has no service of any kind.
The Logothete of the Stratiotikon: Consider the Logothete even among the soldiers. The Logothete of the military register. The clothing of the Logothete of the Stratiotikon: *phakeolis* and *epilorikion*, but not a *skaranikon*. The Logothete of the Stratiotikon has no service.
The Logothete of the Agelai: Let the Logothete of the Agelai enter. The Logothete of the Agelai, and the Dikaiophylax. The attire of the Logothete of the Agelai: *phakeolis* and *epilorikion*, as those of the Logothete of the Stratiotikon, but not a *skaranikon*.
Logothetes of the Secretes: As the speech of the Latins wishes, "Chancellor," as the Greeks would say, "Logothete." C When they had acted imprudently regarding the gates of the city, and had admitted the Juvenatio himself to his protection, and were deliberating concerning the rest who were approaching—counts and others, and indeed also having joined with the chancellor of William, whom a Greek-speaking man might call a Logothete—he went with them against Trani, as if he were about to plunder the city at the first assault. The illustrious King Andronikos granted [him such a favor]. For which reasons also he had this honor, exceptional alone among those of old who had held the same office, to wear on his head a head-covering [32] covered in purple and gold-woven cloth, in so far as it turns upward and flows away toward the pyramid of the surface; in this one thing it differed from the children of the emperor, because it did not have the lower and hollow surface varied with gilded circles, but was completely smooth.
The Great Logothete arranges the mandates and chrysobulls, that is, the golden letters sent by the emperor to kings, sultans, and toparchs, and this is the proper service of the Great Logothete. As may be seen, just as Gretser also noted, it expresses exactly the Chancellors among the Latins.
A From this, it is not incorrectly observed by Nicetas and Cinnamus—and let others judge whether he could be a "trivial" one—that the Greeks call chancellors "logothetes." Concerning this chancellorship, Casaubon has written much in *Flavius Vopiscus*, and Salmasius much more. Furthermore, Meursius observed that logothetes received an oath from the new emperor in the Church of Blachernae (from Nicetas, *Life of Manuel Comnenus*, Book 3), and that several were adorned with the same dignity at the same time (from Cantacuzene, Book 1, ch. 14). We ourselves also note that there was sometimes an advancement from the office of minor logothetes to that of the major, which Codinus recounts regarding Theodore Metochita. When the Emperor Andronicus Palaiologos decided to honor Theodore Metochita—logothete of the public treasury—with this title for the first time, he made him Great Logothete, a rank which held precedence over the previous Great Stratopedarch, though not the Protostrator. See Gregoras, *History*, lib. viii, cap. 19.
And in what sense could he have been a "trivial" schoolmaster (Ludimagister), whose authority and fame were so great that his writings were read daily in the churches and in public to confirm dogmas and stabilize the order of events, with the Fathers in Council praising them, and believing that a weight of truth was added to their own opinions if they could demonstrate that he had asserted the same things they had? I shall mention a few out of very many, and to pass over what Psellus expounds at length in his *Encomium* of him, I shall bring forward a few things from the context of his Troparia.
But since, as we have now observed, logothetes were various and diverse, it might be doubtful to which of them we ought to refer this our own logothete. I do not doubt that, as the situation required in the Constantinopolitan senate, this man of most prudent character performed various functions, and having administered his province most excellently, opened for himself a path from minor to major offices; which Psellus also relates in the same *Encomium*. B Hence, I think that he is so highly valued for his writing—being called the Logothete of the Course, which I read on the title page of orations he himself compiled from the works of the divine Basil—because he ascended to the dignity of Great Logothete. C Add that, for the most part, the name "logothete" [33] expressed without other addition signifies the Great Logothete to us. Not to be too lengthy in producing examples, we read in the chronicle of George Acropolites—though Dousa may be perplexed by it, and may confess that he does not know for certain which of those offices we have commemorated above the logothete George held—that he held the office of Great Logothete is certain from another hitherto unpublished addition to that same history; for this is prefaced to it: "The present chronological writing belongs to the Great Logothete Acropolites, who built the monastery of the Holy Resurrection of Christ; it contains everything after the capture [of the city], etc." D Indeed, I had noted these things before the most clear and learned commentaries of Jacques Goar on George Codinus concerning the offices of the Palace had been published. But now that those have been edited, I seek from them whatever is stored in antiquity regarding this matter. They possess that which slakes the thirst and fulfills the desire. Adorned, then, with so many and such great dignities, how could our Symeon be a schoolmaster, and a trivial one at that? Let others judge, but those who perceive the heart of wisdom know that those who bark inconsiderately with a maddened mind speak folly.
Grace has been poured out upon thy divine lips, and thou hast become a living habitation of uncreated wisdom; as one whose tongue was opened by fire, O holy one, thou hast shone forth in thy discourses. Thou hast delineated the labors of the apostles and the victors, and the angel-like life of the ascetics; and now, dwelling with those in heaven, thou beholdest the unsetting light of the Trinity, rejoicing. Hail, guide of Orthodoxy, teacher of piety and gravity, luminary of the world, divinely inspired ornament of scribes, lyre of the Spirit! Having illuminated all by thy teachings, Symeon our Father, intercede with Christ God that our souls may be saved. Hail, the mind, in sharpness and purity and brightness of life, has adorned thee with the intellectual light, and God has graced thee with the beauties of thy words. Hail, let us all the faithful, having gathered together, melodiously praise with worthy hymns the great servant of God, Symeon, the holy logothete, whom the Church of Christ has been enriched with as a luminary, who shone forth on earth following the teaching Fathers; for joining with them in singing everlastingly to Christ, and being filled with eternal light, he rejoices and intercedes for us all. Hail, thou hast sprung up as a noble rose, dyed with the graces of the Spirit, and thou hast perfumed the faithful with the scent of thy writings, having compiled the labors of the apostles, of martyrs, and of saints, among whom thou hast appeared as a neighbor and a divinely-manifesting Symeon, dwelling [34] in the pasture of the dew.
A Gratitude, then, is due to the blessed Metaphrastes, who embellished the contests of the martyrs for the sake of the truth with many labors and drops of sweat, for the hymn of God and the everlasting glory of the holy martyrs. As the periods were being numbered, the tenth period was completed in the year 5320. And as the eleventh period began, 186 years passed, and our Lord Jesus Christ took on human nature, as the book of the Nicomedian and the Metaphrastes contain. And having suffered for our salvation, he was crucified on the 23rd of March, was buried on the 24th, and rose on the 25th day, the first day, that is to say, Sunday, as the Metaphrastes makes clear, and the book of Nicomedia likewise. B And I am persuaded by the words of the lord Symeon. For I have pondered how so many chroniclers, logographers, and historians, and especially the great writer of the Metaphrases, have left unrecorded, and thus passed over, a name written in the eternal heights, having an indelible memory. But the sweet writer of the Metaphrases, with confidence, says that the discourse is indicative of the expression of speech. But concerning this, the sweet writer of the Metaphrases speaks better than I. And so that we might not appear to be inventing things that are unlikely, we bring forward here a credible witness, Symeon, who compiled the Metaphrases very well. This is sufficient, then, as he does this in his commentary on the holy Luke. C 104: How worthy, then, of admiration would the marvelous Symeon not be, he who earned the name "Metaphrastes" distinct from others, having written down the contests of the holy martyrs for the sake of the truth under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit with many drops of sweat and labors, and having adorned them by the power of speech and wisdom for the hymn of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the perpetual glory of the holy martyrs who struggled for him; and having stopped the mouth of every impious person, and having left no pretext of doubt for the pious. Nicephorus Callistus, *Hist. Eccles.*, lib. xiv, cap. 50: "Which history, namely concerning the Life and deeds of Symeon the Stylite the Elder, after the great Theodoret, Symeon Metaphrastes, who bears the same name as him, wrote most excellently, setting forth for all a certain new and strange feast out of those things." And lib. xviii, cap. 14, concerning Symeon the Stylite the Younger: D "But Symeon did many other things, surpassing number, which certainly require a longer time, a more polished language, and a distinct work. These things are celebrated up to now in the speech of all, written by Symeon *Magistros*, although not written in accordance with the dignity of his greatness and works, into which book we ourselves, having marveled with astonishment at the abundant supply and power of the works of the holy man, have fallen." Michael Glycas, where he discusses the affairs of Maximian and Diocletian against the Christians: [36]