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Dionysius
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Introductory Note to Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria.
[879] The text is, καὶ τούτων μάλιστα τὰ πρὸ αὐτοῦ ὡς οὕτως ἔσχε συννοεῖν· ἕως ἤπιος, etc. Gallandi emends the sentence thus: καὶ αὐτοῦ τὰ μάλιστα πρὸ τούτων, ὡς οὐχ οὕτως ἔσχε, συννοεῖν, ἔως ἤπιος, etc. Codex Regius gives ὡς μὲν ἤπιος. But Codices Maz. and Med. give ἕως ἤπιος, while Fuk. and Savil. give ἔως γὰρ ἤπιος.
[880] He means the Emperor Philip who, as many of the ancients have recorded, was the first of the Roman emperors to profess the Christian religion. But as Dionysius speaks in the plural number, to Philip may be added Alexander Severus, who had an image of Christ in the chapel of his Lares, as Lampridius testifies, and who favoured and sustained the Christians during the whole period of his empire. It is to be noted further, that Dionysius says of these emperors only that they were said and thought to be Christians, not that they were so in reality.—Gallandi
[881] ἀρχισυνάγωγος.
[882] Baronius thinks that this was that Magus who, a little while before the empire of Decius, had incited the Alexandrians to persecute the Christians, and of whom Dionysius speaks in his Epistle to Fabius. What follows here, however, shows that Macrianus is probably the person alluded to.
[883] εὐδαιμονήσοντας. So Codices Maz., Med., Fuk. and Savil. read: others give εὐδαιμονήσαντας. It would seem to require εὐδαιμονήσοντα, “as if he would attain;” for the reference is evidently to Valerian himself.
[884] By the αὐτοῖς some understand τοῖς βασιλεῦσι; others better, τοῖς δαίμοσι. According to Valesius, the sense is this: that Macrianus having, by the help and presages of the demons, attained his hope of empire, made a due return to them, by setting Valerian in arms against the Christians.
[885] ἐπὶ τῶν καθόλου λόγων. The Greeks gave this name to those officials whom the Latins called rationales, or procuratores summæ rei. Under what emperor Macrianus was procurator, is left uncertain here.
[886] οὐδὲν εὔλογον οὐδὲ καθολικὸν ἐφρόνησεν. There is a play here on the two senses of the word καθολικός , as seen in the official title ἐπὶ τῶν καθόλου λόγων, and in the note of character in οὐδὲ καθολικόν. But it can scarcely be reproduced in the English.
[887] οὐαὶ τοῖς προφητεύουσιν ἀπὸ καρδίας αὐτῶν καὶ τὸ καθόλου μὴ βλέπουσιν. The quotation is probably from Ezek. xiii. 3, of which Jerome gives this interpretation: Vae his qui prophetant ex corde suo et omnino non vident.
[888] Robertus Stephanus edits τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ἐκκλησίας, “from his Church,” following the Codex Medicæus. But the best manuscripts give σωτηρίας.
[889] A play upon the name Macrianus, as connected with μακράν, “at a distance.” [This playfulness runs through the section.]
[890] ἐμπαίγματα.
[892] Christophorsonus refers this to Valerian. But evidently the οὗτος δέ introduces a different subject in Macrianus; and besides, Valerian could not be said to have been originally unworthy of the power which he aspired to.
[893] τὸν βασίλειον ὑποδῦναι κόσμον.
[894] ἀναπήρῳ.
[895] Joannes Zonaras, in his Annals, states that Macrianus was lame.
[896] ὧν ἠτυχει. So Codex Regius reads. But Codices Maz., Med., and Fuk. give ηὐτύχει, “in which he succeeded.”
[897] ἐξωμόρξατο.
[898] Eusebius introduces the extract thus: He (Dionysius) addressed also an epistle to Hermammon and the brethren in Egypt; and after giving an account of the wickedness of Decius and his successors, he states many other circumstances, and also mentions the peace of Gallienus. And it is best to hear his own relation as follows.
[899] This is rightly understood of Macrianus, by whose treachery Valerian came under the power of the Persians. Aurelius Victor, Syncellus, and others, testify that Valerian was overtaken by that calamity through the treachery of his generals.
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