P. 81.—“Alcæus.” About B. C. 600. A native of Mytilene. In a war between Athens and his country he is said to have fled, leaving his arms on the field of battle. He was afterward driven from his native land in a strife between the nobility and people, and spent the remainder of his life traveling. Some of his odes are extant, and the imitations of Horace have made the character of Alcæus’ verse well known. See “Brief History of Greece,” page 52. Mahaffy says of Alcæus, we see in him “the perfect picture of an unprincipled, violent, lawless Greek aristocrat, who sacrificed all and everything to the demands of pleasure and power.”
THE CHARACTER OF JESUS.
Excellent works to read in connection with “The Character of Jesus” are Farrar’s “Life of Christ,” Thomas Hughes’s “Manliness of Christ,” Geikie’s “Life and Words of Christ,” Pollock’s “The Christ of Christianity and of Modern Criticism.”
P. 108.—“Celsus.” An Epicurean philosopher who lived in the second century. Only fragments of his works have been preserved as quotations given by Origen. He charges Christians with blind credulity, with religious arrogance, with party divisions, and with having altered their sacred writings. His own doctrines were that evil is necessary and eternal, and that sin can never be entirely removed, least of all by vicarious sacrifice.
P. 109.—“Justin Martyr.” The earliest of the church fathers after the apostolic age. He lived in the second century, and attended the pagan schools of Asia Minor, Greece and Egypt. Afterward he embraced the Christian religion and wrote two apologies in its behalf. He suffered martyrdom at Rome under Marcus Aurelius, because he refused to sacrifice to the heathen gods.
“Tertullian.” An eminent Latin father of the church who lived at Carthage in the second century. He was converted from paganism to Christianity. He was a man of powerful intellect and great learning; was the author of numerous works which are still extant.
P. 111.—“Summum bonum.” A Latin expression meaning the highest good.
P. 134.—“Talmud.” The work which gives the laws, both civil and canonical, of the Jews. It contains the rules by which the conduct of the people is regulated, and relates not only to religion, but also to philosophy, medicine, history, and the branches of practical duty.
P. 136.—“Mr. Parker,” Theodore. (1810-1860.) A distinguished American scholar; a Unitarian minister. His new doctrines gave great offence to the New England Unitarians, as he assumed the absolute humanity of Christ, and said his inspiration differed in no respect from that of other men. He died in Florence, whither he had gone for his health.