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57 The name Celestinianus varies in the mss. with Celestiacus. Theodoret's letter in his behalf may be placed shortly after the sack of Carthage by Genseric in 439.
58 Christian Sophist of Cyrus. cf. Letter LXVI.
59 This passage is corrupt, and I cannot discover the quotation. There may not impossibly be a reference to Hom. Od. xvii. 345.
62 Bp. of the Syrian Beroea. He succeeded Acacius in 437. cf. Ep. 134.
64 i.e. The Syrian Beroea, Aleppo or Haleb.
65 The title Primas was applied in civil Law to (a) the Decuriones of a municipality, and (b) to the chiefs of provincial governments Cod. Theod. vii. 18. 13, ix. 40. 16 etc.
66 cf. Horace I. xxxiv. 14 and III xxix 52 "nunc mihi nunc alii benigna."
69 Colophon was one of the twelve Ionian cities founded by Mopsus on the coast of Asia Minor and was one of the claimants for being the birthplace of Homer. To put a colophon to anything became a proverbial expression for to put the crowning touch. to complete - from the fact according to Strabo (C. 643) that the Colophonian cavalry was so excellent as at once to decide and finish a battle in which it appeaed. So the place and date of the edition of a book, with the device of the printer, appended to old editions is called a colophoa.
70 topothrhthj, vicarius, or lieutenant, is used of "Vicars" both civil and ecclesiastical.
71 In Vatican ms. to Salustianus. The mention of the earthquake fixes the date of this letter in 447, a year when the Huns were ravaging the eastern empire.
73 This and the five following letters may be placed in 446, after the promulgation of the law of Theodosius "de relevatis, adoeratis, vel donatis possessionibus" late in 445.
74 i.e., 28,800 sq. ft. "jugum vocant quod juncti bores uno die exarare possint." Varro R. R. i. 10.
75 For many years Prefect of the East.
76 Presumably the Jacobus of Relig. Hist. XXI, an ascetic disciple of Maro.
78 The delator referred to in these letters is presumably Athanasius of Perrha, who was deposed by Domnus II bishop of Antioch, in the middle of the fifth century. As Titlemont points out (Vol. XV. pp. 261-3 ed. 1740) we cannot make the identification with certainty, but the circumstances correspond with what is known of this Athanasius. There was a Perrha, now Perrin, about twenty miles north of Samosata (Samisat).
79 From the time of the Emperor Constantine the title patrician designated a high court functionary.
82 To the same Florentius is addressed the important letter LXXXIX wherein Theodoret defends himself from charges of heterodoxy. Before 449 he had six times attained the high position of Prefect of the East.
83 i.e. the ascetic mentioned in letter XLI.
84 Anatolius, consul in 440, was Magister militum in the East. He was a true friend to Theodoret. This letter may be placed in 444.
85 Proclus was enthroned at Constantinople in 434, on the death of Maximianus.
86 Eustathius of Berytus (Beyrout) was a bad specimen of the time-serving ecclesiastic. Fierce in his attacks on Ibas, and a prominent member of the Latrocinium in 449 he narrowly escaped deposition himself at Chalcedon in 451.
87 At Chalcedon Damianus of Sidon voted for the deposition of Dioscorus. (Labbe Conc. IV. 443.) In this and in the preceding letter we find Theodoret in friendly communication with representatives of the two antagonistic parties. The date of the correspondence can only be conjectured.
88 All that is known of Gerontius is his being the recipient of the letter. "Archimandrite" = arxwn thj mandraj, i.e. ruler of the fold or byre.