41. The sixth book of Socrates, the eighth of Sozomen, and
the fifth of Theodoret, afford curious and authentic
materials for the Life of John Chrysostom. Besides those
general historians, I have taken for my guides the four
principal biographers of the saint:- 1. The author of a
partial and passionate Vindication of the Archbishop of
Constantinople, composed in the form of a dialogue, and
under the name of his zealous partisan, Palladius, bishop of
Helenopolis (Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. xi. p. 500-533).
It is inserted among the works of Chrysostom, tom. xiii. p.
1-90, edit. Montfaucon. 2. The moderate Erasmus (tom. iii.
Epist. MCL. p. 1331-1347, edit. Lugd. Bat.). His vivacity
and good sense were his own; his errors, in the uncultivated
state of ecclesiastical antiquity, were almost inevitable.
3. The learned Tillemont (Mem. Ecclesiastiques, tom. xi. p.
1-405, 547-626, etc. etc.), who compiles the Lives of the
saints with incredible patience and religious accuracy. He
has minutely searched the voluminous works of Chrysostom
himself. 4. Father Montfaucon who has perused those works
with the curious diligence of an editor, discovered several
new homilies, and again reviewed and composed the Life of
Chrysostom (Opera Chrysostom. tom. xiii. p. 91-177).