Another work ascribed to Palladius is entitled Ata- \oyoQ laTopiKOQ JlaWaSiov'EXti'OVTToXtojc yivof^uvoQ
TTpUQ QEvSwpOV dlClKOVOV 'PMp)]Q, TTipl ftioV Ka'l Tio\l-
Tsiag Tov fiaicapiov luiavvov tinaKOTrov Koji'tTTavri- voTToXfwg TOV XpytToaroi-iov — Dialogus Historicus Pal- ladii episcopi Helenopolis cum Theodoro ecclesice Romance diacono, de vita et conversatione Beati Joannis Chry- sostomi, episcopi Constantinojwlis. The title of the work misled many into the belief that it was written by Pal- ladius of Helenopolis ; but a more attentive examina- tion proves the author of the Dialogus to have been a different person, several years his senior, though Palla- dius's companion and follow-suflferer in the delegation from the Western emperor and Church on behalf of Chrysostom, which occasioned the imprisonment and exile of the bishop. Tillemont, assuming that the au- thor of the Dialogus was called Palladius, thinks he may have been the person to whom Athanasius wrote in 371 or 372.
Tlipi riuv Ttjg 'ivSiag tSrvioi' Kai riov Bpaypaj'ojv — De Gentibus Tndiw et Jlragmanibus — ^vhose authorship is also ascribed to Palladius, is by Oudin and Cave regarded as the work of another writer of that period. Lambecius ascribes the work to Palladius of Methone. All that can be gathered from the work itself is that the author was a Christian, and lived while the Roman cm]>ire was still in existence; but this mark of time is of little value, as the Byzantine empire retained to the last the name of Roman. The supposed work of St. Ambrose, published by Blisse, is repudiated by the Benedictine editors of that father, and has been shown by Kollar to be a free translation of the work ascribed to Palladius. See Cave, Hist. Litter, ad ann. 401, i, 376 (Oxford, 1740-43); Fabricius, Bibl. Grceca, i, 727; viii, 45G ; X, 98, etc. ; Oudin, Comment, de Sc?-iptor. Eccles. i, col. 908, etc.; Tillemont, Memoires, xi, 500, etc.; Ceillier, Hist, des Auteurs ecclesiast. vii, 484-493 ; Vos-
PALLADIUS
592
PALLADIUS
sius, De Jlistorids Greeds, lib. ii, c. 19; Smith, Did. of Greek (ind Human Biog. and Mi/tkol. s. v,
Palladius, Scotokum Episcopus, a noted Irish prelate of the early Church, flourished probably near the mieldle of the 5th century. In the Chronicon of Prosper Aquitanus, under the consulship of Bassus and Antiochus (A.D. 431), this passage occurs: " Ad Scotos in Christum credentes ordinatur a papa Coclestino Pal- ladius, et primus episcopus mittitur." In another work of the same writer (^Contra Collalorem, c. xxi, sec. 2), speaking of Coelestine's exertions to repress the doc- trines of Pelagius, he says, " Ordinato Scotis episcopo, dum Romanam insulam studet servare Catholicam, fa- cit etiam barbaram Christianam" (Opera, col. 363, ed. Paris, 1711). To these meagre notices, the only ones found in contemporary writers (unless, with some, we refer to the conversion of the Scoti the lines of Pros- per, De Iii(/rati.-i, vs. 330-332), the chroniclers and his- torians of the Middle Ages have added a variety of contradictory particulars, so that it is difficult, indeed impossible, to extract the real facts of Palladius's his- tory. It has been a matter of tierce dispute between the Irish and the Scots as to which of them were the objects of Palladius's mission ; but the usage of the word " Scoti" in Prosper's time, and the distinction drawn by him be- tween " insulam Komanam" and " insulam barbaram," seem to determine the question in favor of the Irish. This solution leads, however, to another difficulty. Ac- cording to Prosper, Palladius converted the Irish — " fecit barbaram (so. insulam) Christianam," while the united testimony of ecclesiastical antiquity ascribes the con- version of Ireland to Patricius (St. Patrick), who was a little later than Palladius. But possibly the success of Palladius, though far from bearing out the statement of Prosper, may have been greater than subsequent writers, zealous for the honor of St. Patrick, and seeking to exaggerate his success by extenuating that of his predecessors, were willing to allow. There is another difficulty, arising from an apparent contradiction be- tween the two passages in Prosper, one of which as- cribes to Palladius the conversion of the island, while the other describes him as being sent "ad Scotos in Christo credentes;" but this seeming contradiction may be reconciled by the supposition that Palladius had vis- ited the island and made some converts, before being consecrated and again sent out as their bishop. This supposition accounts for a circumstance recorded by Prosper, that (Florentio et Dionysio Coss., i. e. in A.D. 429) Palladius, while yet only a deacon, prevailed on pope Coelestine to send out Germanus of Auxerre to stop the progress of Pelagianism in Britain, which in- dicates on the part of Palladius a knowledge of the state of the British islands, and an interest in them, such as a previous visit would be likely to impart, 'J'he various statements of tlie mediajval writers have been collected by Usher in his Britannicar. Ecdesiar. Antiq. c. xvi, p. 799 sq. See also Sallerius, De St. Pulladio, in the Acta Sanctor. Jul. ii, 286 sq. Palladius is commemo- rated as a saint by the Irish Eomanists on Jan. 27, by those of Scotland on July 6. His shrine, or reputed shrine, at Fordim, in the Jlearns, in Scotland, was re- garded iK'fore the Kcformation with the greatest rever- ence, and various localities in the neighborhood are still pointed out as connected with his history. Jocelin of Furness, a monkish writer of the 12th century, states in his life of St. Patrick {Acta ^V/wc/o?* Martii, ii, 545 ; Jidii, ii, 289), that Palladius, disheartened by his little success in Ireland, crossed over into Great Britain, and died in the territory of the Picts— a statement which, supported as it is by the local traditions of Fordun, may be received as containing a portion of truth. The me- dia3val writers have in some instances strangely con- founded Palladius, the apostle of the Scoti, with Palla- dius of Helenopolis; and Trithemius {De Scriptor. Ec- dex. c. 133), and even Baronius [Annul. Kcdes. ad ann. 429, sec. 8), who is followed by Possevina, make the former to be the autlior of the Dialogus de Vita Chry-