Metaphor ((Jr. /(tm^oprr, a tran.iference), a fig- ure of speech by means of which one thing is ])Ut for another which it only resembles. It differs from other comparisons, e. g. simile, etc., iu consisting of a sinr/le tcoi-d. Thus the Psalmist speaks of (iod's law as being "a light to his feet and a lani]) to his path." The met- aphor is therefore a kind of comparison, in which the
speaker or wTiter, casting aside the circumlocution of the ordinary similitude, seeks to attain his end at once by boldly identifying liis illustration with the thuig 11- lustrateil. It is thus of necessity, when well conceived and expressed, graphic and striking in the highest de- gree, and has been a favorite figure with poets and orators, and the makers of proverbs, in all ages. Even iu ordinary language the meanings of words are in great part iiietMplnirs: as when we speak of an acute intellect or a b(i/(/ pnjniontory.
Metaphrastes, Simkon, a Byzantine writer of the Middle Ages, acquired great reputation by his compila- tion of the lives of many saints and martyrs. Very lit- tle is known of his individual ])istory. It appears, how- ever, to be proved that he lived at Constantinople, and there filled an official position. The name JIetaj)hrasteB was given him on account of the manner in which he commented and paraphrased {tfurtippaai) the mate- rials for his biographical work. The greatest variety of opinion prevails as to the time when he lived : Blon- dell, Vossius, Ceillier, Baronius, Simlcr, Volaterra, Alla- tius. Cave, Oudin, I-'abricius, all give different dates, varying from the 9th to the i4tl» century. It even ap- pears uncertain whether there may not have existed two men of that name at different times. The more ancient date is that of Leo Allatius, who in his work iJe Simeonum Scrijitis (Par. 10t)4, p. 49 sq.) enters into deep researches concerning Metai)hrastes, the result of whicli is adopted by Cave {JJistor. Litter. [Lond. 1G88], p. .573) and Fabricius (/jVW. 6'r. vi, 509 ; in ed. Had. x, 180 sq.). His conclusions were opjiosed by Oudin in his Dissertatio de cetate et scriptis Xim. Met. (Comment. ii, 1300 sq.). From various passages in works undoubt- edly written by Metaphrastes, it appears to be prettj' well established that he lived during the reign of the emperor Leo VI (Philosophus), and was sent as ambassador to the Arabs of Crete in 902, and in 904 to those who had conquered Thessalonica, whom he i)ersua(led not to de- stroy that city, as they originally intended. It seems also well established that he was still alive in the time of the emperor Constantine VII (Porphyrogenitus). His principal works are: Vitw iSanctojum, undertaken, it is said, at the suggestion of the emperor Constantine. This assertion, however, has often been contradicted. The work is not original ; Jletaphrastes only arranged and paraphrased, in very good style for the times, vari- ous biographies whicli existed previously in the libra- ries of churches and convents. He omitted many de- tails which he considered useless or unjjroved, and sub- stituted others which he looked upon as more important or authentic. He has been accused of having by these modilications destroyed the simplicity of the ancient biograjjliies. His own work has undergone many alter- ations and additions, as well as curtailment, so that, ac- cording to Fabricius, out of 539 biographies generally ascribed to him, only 122 are undoubtedly genuine. Cave, on the other hand, maintains that the greater part of the 417 manuscript biographies extant in the various libraries of Europe are the work of Jleta- phrastes. Agapius, a monk, gave an extract of them under the title Liber dictus Paraclitus, sen iltustrium sanctorum vita" desumjitw ex Simeone jtfctaphraste (Ven- ice, 1541, 4to). The most imiiortant among these biog- raphies were published, in (ireek and Latin, in the Bol- landists' Acta iSanctorum : — Annalis. commencing with the emperor Leo the Armenian (813-82(0, and ending with Homainis. the son of Constantine Porphyrogenitus (959-9G3). It is evident that Jletaphrastes, who was already an ambassador in 902. coidd not have been the historian of events which occurred sixty years later. Some critics consetiuenily consider the later part of the Annates to have been written by another ^Metaphrastes, while Baronius thinks that the whole work was com- jiosed by a writer living in the Pith centun,-. These Annalis, wliiih are of great historical value, were pub- lished with a Latin translation by Combetis in his //ist. Byzantime Scriptores post Theophanem. of which the
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edition by Immanuel Bekker (Bonn, 1838, 8vo) is a carefiilh'- revised reprint: — Epistolm IX, published in Greek and Latin by Leo Allatius, Diatriba de Simeoni- bits ; Carmina pia duo poUiica, in Allatius ; and in Lec- tins, Po'ef(B Grceci veieres (Geneva, IGl-l, fol.) : — Sermo in Diem Sahbati sancti, in Latin only, by Combetis, Bib- lioth. Concionator. vol. iii : — Ei'g tuv -S'pijvov t>)c VTrtp- ay'iuQ ^toTOKov, etc., in Greek and Latin by Allatius ; several hymns, or canons, still in use in the Greek Church -.—'Yl^iKoi \6yoi, an extract from the works of St. Basil, and published in Greek and Latin by Morel (Paris, 155C, 8vo). See Fabricius, Biblioth. Grceca, vii, 683 ; X, 180 ; Cave, Ilistoire Litt. ; Hankius, Scriptores Bi/zant. ch. xxiv : Oudin, Dissert, de uEtate et Scriptis Simeonis Metuphrastis, in his Coniment.de script, cedes.; B.ironius, .1 nnales ad ann. 859. — Herzog, Real-Encykl. ix, 44(; ; lloefer, Xoui: Biocj. Gen. xxxv, 188 ; Smith, Diet. of Or. mill R.nn. ]Sio;j. and MylhoL ii, 1055. (J. N. P.)