A general Character of the Lady; the Contrivers and Executioners of the Barbarities which she suffered; and the Authorities from whence this Story is extracted.
I am going to give a short Account, but as full as antient Books afford us Materials, of the Life and Death of Hypatia; who will ever continue the Glory of her own Sex, and the Disgrace of ours: For the Women have no less Reason to value themselves, that there existed a Lady of such rare Accomplishments, without the least Blemish, even as a Foil to her numberless Perfections; than the Men to be ashamed, that any could be found among them of so brutal and savage a Disposition, as, far from being struck with Admiration at so much Beauty, Innocence, and Knowledge, to stain their barbarous Hands with her Blood, and their impious Souls with the indelible Character of sacrilegious Murderers. A Bishop, a Patriarch, nay, a Saint, was the Contriver of so horrid a Deed, and his Clergy the Executioners of his implacable Fury. The Authors out of whom I collect my Account (and I omit none that has come to my Knowledge) were either her Contemporaries, or lived near that Age. One of them was her School-fellow, another her Scholar. But they who relate the most odious and flagitious Circumstances, are Ecclesiastical Historians; counted orthodox in their own Time, as well as eminently so by most in ours. Nor ought we to forget that several of them were Priests. To every one of them we shall do the Justice that their Sincerity or Prevarication deserves, though little remains to do in this respect; all being agreed about the principal Facts, and some differing only in Points of no great Importance. They are such Things, as, taken either Way, neither serve much to alleviate a very bad Cause, nor to aggravate what cannot be possibly made worse.
CHAP. II.
Alexandria, famous for Learning and Merchandize, but particularly for a School or Academy, of which Theon, the Father of Hypatia, was Master.
After Alexander the Great had founded Alexandria in Egypt, as the Center of Commerce in the Empire he was projecting, this City soon became a flourishing Mart for Learning as well as for Merchandize. The Fame of the Alexandrian School, and of the Alexandrian Library, reached much further than the Name of Alexander himself; or at least they carried it, whither it could never have reached without their Means. This was the most proper Tribute, that could in Gratitude be paid to the Memory of a Prince so ambitious of Glory: As indeed no private Persons, no more than Potentates, will ever do any thing praise-worthy without the Prospect of a long-lived Reputation, the most effectual Spur to laudable and arduous Undertakings. The Succession of the great Men that presided in this School, may be learnt out of the Works of those, who have purposely written on such Subjects. My Design however obliges me here to mention one of them, namely Theon, who governed that Academy with much Applause in the latter part of the fourth Century. He was particularly famous for his extensive Knowledge in Astronomy, as the Catalogues, made of such who excelled in this Science, abundantly shew. But what has contributed to render him more illustrious to all Posterity, is, that he was Father to the incomparable Hypatia; whom, according to the Custom of those Times, or rather prompted by the Encouragement he received from her own promising Genius, he educated not only in all the Qualifications belonging to her Sex; but caused her likewise to be instructed in the most abstruse Sciences, which are reputed the proper Occupation of Men, as requiring too much Labour and Application for the delicate Constitution of Women.
CHAP. III.
Philosophy not an improper Study for the Female Sex; many of them very eminent for their great Progress in the Sciences; particularly Hypatia, who excelled all the Philosophers of her Time.
That this Notion is a vulgar Prejudice, the vast Number of Ladies, who have in every Age distinguish’d themselves by their Professions or Performances in Learning, furnishes an unanswerable Argument. Whole Volumes have been written, containing nothing else but the Lives of such Women, as became eminent in all Kinds of Literature, especially in Philosophy; which, as it is the highest Perfection, so it demands the utmost Effort of human Nature. But leaving those Heroines to the Search of the Curious, I shall confine myself at present to one Object worthy all Admiration; in doing Justice to whom, I may be deemed to write the Panegyric of the whole Sex. We have the unanimous Consent of Synesius, Socrates, and Philostorgius, her Contemporaries; as likewise of Damascius, Nicephorus Gregoras, Nicephorus Callistus, Photius, Suidas, Hesychius Illustris, and others, touching the prodigious Learning and other excellent Accomplishments of Hypatia. What is still a greater Proof of the Fact, no one Person, or through Ignorance or through Envy, has ever as much as insinuated the contrary. Socrates, the Ecclesiastical Historian, an unsuspected Witness, says, That she arrived to such a Pitch of Learning, as very far to exceed all the Philosophers of her time; to which Nicephorus, also an Ecclesiastical Historian, adds, Those of other Times. Philostorgius affirms, That she was much superior to her Father and Master Theon, in what regards Astronomy. And Suidas, who mentions two Books of her Writing, one on the Astronomical Canon of Diophantus, and another on the Conics of Apollonius, avers, That she not only exceeded her Father in Astronomy: But further, that she understood all the other Parts of Philosophy; a Thing that will be easily credited by those, who shall peruse the Sequel of this Story, wherein nothing is advanced without competent Vouchers.
CHAP. IV.
Hypatia, succeeds in the Government of the Platonic School at Alexandria, for which she was judged Qualified, in Preference to all the Men of Learning at that Time.