[Footnote 8: The life and writings of Simon Metaphrastes are
described by Hankius, (de Scriptoribus Byzant. p. 418 -
460.) This biographer of the saints indulged himself in a
loose paraphrase of the sense or nonsense of more ancient
acts. His Greek rhetoric is again paraphrased in the Latin
version of Surius, and scarcely a thread can be now visible
of the original texture.]