How Leo came by the exalted name of Philosopher it is ditHcult to understand, except it be taken in an ironical sense. Gibbon, with a few striking words, gives the following character to this emperor: '• His mind was tinged with the most puerile superstition ; the in- fluence of the clergy and the errors of the people were consecrated by his laws ; and the oracles of Leo, which reveal in prophetic style the fates of the empire, are founded in tlie arts of astrology and divination. If we still in(|uire the reason of liis sage appellation, it can only b^' replied that the son of I? isil was only less igno- rant thaTi the greater part of his contemporaries in Church and State ; tliat his education had been directed by the learned Photius, aiHl that several books of pro- fane and ecclesiastical science were composed by the pen or in the name of the imperial philosopher."
In speaking of Leo's literary merits, it is necessary to
say a few words of his legislation. In his time the Latin language had long ceased to be the official language of the Eastern empire, and had gradually fallen into such disuse as only to be known to a few scholars, merchants, or navigators. The original laws, being written in Lat- in, opposed a serious obstacle to a fair and quick admin- istration of justice ; and the emperor Basil I, the father of Leo, formed and partly executed the plan of issuing an authorized version of the code and digest. This plan was carried out by Leo, who was ably assisted by Saba- thius, the commander of the imperial life-guards. The new Greek version is known under the title of HaaiXi- Kai i^iaTc't'^ng, or, shortly, BacriXtKai ; in hatin, Basilica, which means " Imperial Constitutions" or " Laws.'' It is divided into sixty books, subdivided into titles, and contains the whole of Justinian's legislation, viz. the Institutes, the Digest, the Codex, and the Novellas; also such constitutions as were issued by the successors of Justinian down to Leo YI. There are, however, many laws of the Digest omitted in the BasUica, while they contain, on the other hand, a considerable number of laws, or extracts from ancient jurists, not in the Digest. The Basilica likewise give many early constitutions not in Justinian's Codex. They were afterwards revised by the son of Leo, Constantine PorphjTogenitus. For the various editions published of the Basilica, see Smith, Diet, of Greek and Roman Biog. ii, 741.
The principal works written, or supposed to be writ- ten, by Leo VI of special interest to us are, 1. Oracula, written in Greek iambic verse, and accompanied by marginal drawings, on the fate of the future emperors and patriarchs of Constantinople, showing the super- stition of Leo if he believed in his divination, and that of the people if they believed in the absurd predictions. The seventeenth oracle, on the restoration of Constanti- nople, was published in Greek and Latin by John Leun- clavius (ad caleem Const. Manasste, Basil. 1573, 8vo). Janus Rutgersius edited the other sixteen, ^vith a Latin version by George Dousa (Leyden, 1G18, 4to). Other editions, Eposilione delli Oracoli di Leoni imperatore, by T. Patricius (Brixen, 1596), by Petrus Lambecius, with a revised text from an Amsterdam codex, also notes and new translation (Par. 1655, fob, ad caleem Codini). A German and a Latin translation by John and Theo- dore de Bry appeared (Frankf. 1597, 4to). It is doubt- ful whether Leo is actually the author of the Oracles. Fabricius gives a learned disquisition on the subject: — 2. Orationes, mostly on theological subjects : one of them appeared in a Latin version by F. Metius, in Baronius's Annales; nine others by Gretserus, in the 14th volume of his Opera (Ingolstadt, 1660, 4to) ; three others, to- gether with seven of those ]Hiblished by Gretserus, by Combetis, in the 1st volume of his Biblioth. Pat. Grceco- /^H^ .4 !irfo?-. (Paris, 1648, folio) ; Oratio de Sfo. Xicolo, Greek and Latin, by Petrus Possime (Toulouse, 1654, 4to) ; Oratio de Sto. Chrysostomo, restored from the life of that father by Georgius Alexandrinus in the 8th vol- ume of the Savilian ed. of Chrysostom (Antwerp, 1614, folio) ; some others in Combefis, Biblioth. Concionutoria, in the Biblioth. Patrum Lugdun., and dispersed in other works; Leoni Imp. Ilomilia nvnc primum viilgata Greece et Latine ejusdemqiie qua Photiana est Confutatio, a Scipione Maffei (Padua, 1751, 8 vo): — 3. J-'pistoln ad Omariim Saracenum de Fidd Christiana Veritate et Sar- cenorum Errorihas (in Latin [Lyons, 1509 J by Champe- rius, who translated a Chaldean version of the (ireek original, which seems to be lost : the same in the differ- ent Biblioth. Patrum, and separately by Prof. Schwarz in the Program, of the University of Leipsic, in the year 1786): — 4. 'H ytyorvla ciaTi'Trivcng Trnod -or BafriMtoQ Aa'ifTOQ Tov Xofoii, K.r.X., Dhpositio facta pir Imper- atorem, Leonlem Sapnentem, etc. (Greek and Latin, by J. Leunclavius, in" .his Grfrco-Romanum ; by Jac. (ioar, ad caleem Codini, Par. 1648, folio) : — 5. Eig Tit Mnvo/^iipiov, In spectaculnm Uniiis Dei, an epigram of little value, with notes by Brodjeus and Opsopaeus, in Epigram, libri vii, edit. Wechel (Frankfort, IGOO). See Zonaras, ii, 174,
LEO
355
LEO I
etc. ; Cedrenus, p. 591, etc. ; Joel, p. 179, etc. ; Manass. p. 108, etc. ; Glycas. p. 29(5, etc. ; Genesius, p. (!1, etc. ; Co- tlin. p. 03, etc. ; Fabricius, Bibliotheca Gneca, vii, 693 sq.; Hamberger, Xuchichten von Gelehrten Mdnntrn ; Cave, JJisf. Lift. ; Hankius, Sc?-ipf. Bi/zunt. ; Oiidiii, Comment, de SS. EccL ii, 39J: sq. — >Snutb, Diet, of Greek and Roman Biorj. ii, 739 stj.