Arse'nius
2. A Greek monk (Cave calls him Patricius Romanus), who lived towards the end of the fourth century of our era, was distinguished for his knowledge of Greek and Roman literature.
The emperor Theodosius the Great invited him to his court, and entrusted to him the education of his sons Arcadius and Honorius, whose father Arsenius was called.
At the age of forty, he left the court and went to Egypt, where he commenced his monastic life at Scetis in the desert of the Thebais.
There he spent forty years, and then migrated to Troe, a place near Memphis, where he passed the remainder of his life, with the exception of three years, which he spent at Canopus.
He died at Troe at the age of ninety-five.
Works
Instructions and Admonitions for Monks
There exists by him a short work containing instructions and admonitions for monks, which is written in a truly monastic spirit.
Editions
It was published with a Latin translation by Combefisius in his Auctarium Novissinum Biblioth. Patr., Paris, 1672, p. 301, &c.
Sayings
We also possess forty-four of his remarkable sayings (
apophthegmata), which had been collected by his ascetic friends.
Editions
These are printed in Cotelerius' Monumenta, i. p. 353.
Further Information
Cave,
Hist. Lit. ii. p. 80, ed. London; Fabr.
Bibl. Graec. xi. p. 580, &c.
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