Albert’s marriage being childless, succeeded on his death in 1902 to the throne of Saxony. He died on the 15th of October 1904, at Pillnitz.
GEORGE OF LAODICEA in Syria, often called “the Cappadocian,”
from 356 to 361 Arian archbishop of Alexandria, was
born about the beginning of the 4th century. According to
Ammianus (xxii. 11), he was a native of Epiphania, in Cilicia.
Gregory Nazianzen tells us that his father was a fuller, and that
he himself soon became notorious as a parasite of so mean a
type that he would “sell himself for a cake.” After many
wanderings, in the course of which he seems to have amassed
a considerable fortune, first as an army-contractor and then as
a receiver of taxes, he ultimately reached Alexandria. It is not
known how or when he obtained ecclesiastical orders; but,
after Athanasius had been banished in 356, George was promoted
by the influence of the then prevalent Arian faction to the
vacant see. His theological attitude was that known as semi-Arian
or Homoiousian, and his associates were Eustathius of
Sebaste and Basil of Ancyra. At George’s instigation the
second Sirmian formula (promulgated by the third council of
Sirmium 357), which was conciliatory towards strict Arianism,
was opposed at the council of Ancyra in 358 (Harnack, Hist.
of Dogma, iv. 76). His persecutions and oppressions of the
orthodox ultimately raised a rebellion which compelled him to
flee for his life; but his authority was restored, although with
difficulty, by a military demonstration. Untaught by experience,
he resumed his course of selfish tyranny over Christians and
heathen alike, and raised the irritation of the populace to such
a pitch that when, on the accession of Julian, his downfall was
proclaimed and he was committed to prison, they dragged him
thence and killed him, finally casting his body into the sea
(24th of December 361). With much that was sordid and
brutal in his character George combined a highly cultivated
literary taste, and in the course of his chequered career he had
found the means of collecting a splendid library, which Julian
ordered to be conveyed to Antioch for his own use. An anonymous
work against the Manicheans discovered by Lagarde in
1859 in a MS. of Titus of Bostra has been attributed to him.
The original sources for the facts of the life of George of Laodicea are Ammianus, Gregory Nazianzen, Epiphanius and Athanasius. His character has been drawn with graphic fidelity by Gibbon in the 23rd chapter of the Decline and Fall; but the theory, accepted by Gibbon, which identifies him with the patron saint of England is now rejected (see George, Saint). See C. S. Hulst, St George of Cappadocia in Legend and History (1910).
GEORGE OF TREBIZOND (1395–1484), Greek philosopher
and scholar, one of the pioneers of the revival of letters in the
Western world, was born in the island of Crete, and derived
his surname Trapezuntios from the fact that his ancestors were
from Trebizond. At what period he came to Italy is not certain;
according to some accounts he was summoned to Venice about
1430 to act as amanuensis to Francesco Barbaro, who appears
to have already made his acquaintance; according to others he
did not visit Italy till the time of the council of Florence (1438–1439).
He learned Latin from Vittorino da Feltre, and made
such rapid progress that in three years he was able to teach
Latin literature and rhetoric. His reputation as a teacher and
a translator of Aristotle was very great, and he was selected as
secretary by Pope Nicholas V., an ardent Aristotelian. The
needless bitterness of his attacks upon Plato (in the Comparatio
Aristotelis et Platonis), which drew forth a powerful response
from Bessarion (q.v.), and the manifestly hurried and inaccurate
character of his translations of Plato, Aristotle and other classical
authors, combined to ruin his fame as a scholar, and to endanger
his position as a teacher of philosophy. The indignation against
him on account of his first-named work was so great that he
would probably have been compelled to leave Italy had not
Alphonso V. given him protection at the court of Naples. He
subsequently returned to Rome, where he died in great poverty
on the 12th of August 1484. He had long outlived his
reputation, and towards the end of his life his intellect failed him.
From all accounts he was a man of very disagreeable character,
conceited and quarrelsome.
See G. Voigt, Die Wiederbelebung des klassischen Altertums (1893), and article by C. F. Bähr in Ersch and Gruber’s Allgemeine Encyklopädie. For a complete list of his numerous works, consisting of translations from Greek into Latin (Plato, Aristotle and the Fathers) and original essays in Greek (chiefly theological) and Latin (grammatical and rhetorical), see Fabricius, Bibliotheca Graeca (ed. Harles), xii.
GEORGE THE MONK [Georgios Monachos], called Hamartolos
(Greek for “sinner”), Byzantine chronicler, lived during
the reign of Michael III. (842–867). He wrote a Chronicle of
events, in four books, from the creation of the world to the death
of the emperor Theophilus (842), whose widow Theodora restored
the worship of images in the same year. It is the only original
contemporary authority for the years 813–842, and therefore
so far indispensable; the early parts of the work are merely a
compilation. In the introduction the author disclaims all pretensions
to literary style, and declares that his only object was
to relate such things as were “useful and necessary” with a
strict adherence to truth. Far too much attention, however,
is devoted to religious matters; the iconoclasts are fiercely
attacked, and the whole is interlarded with theological discussions
and quotations from the fathers. The work was very popular,
and translations of it served as models for Slavonic writers.
The MSS. give a continuation down to 948, the author of which
is indicated simply as “the logothete,” by whom probably
Symeon Metaphrastes (second half of the 10th century) is meant.
In this religious questions are relegated to the background,
more attention is devoted to political history, and the language
is more popular. Still further continuations of little value go
down to 1143. The large circulation of the work and its subsequent
reissues, with alterations and interpolations, make it
very difficult to arrive at the original text.
Editions: E. de Muralt (St Petersburg, 1859); J. P. Migne, Patrologia Graeca, cx.; C. de Boor (in Teubner series, 1904– ). See F. Hirsch, Byzantinische Studien (1876); C. de Boor in Historische Untersuchungen (in honour of Arnold Schäfer, Bonn, 1882); C. Krumbacher, Geschichte der byzantinischen Litteratur (1897).
GEORGE THE SYNCELLUS [Georgios Synkellos], of
Constantinople, Byzantine chronicler and ecclesiastic, lived
at the end of the 8th and the beginning of the 9th century A.D.
He was the syncellus (cell-mate, the confidential companion
assigned to the patriarchs, sometimes little more than a spy;
see Syncellus) or private secretary of Tara(u)sius, patriarch
of Constantinople (784–806), after whose death he retired to a
convent, and wrote his Chronicle of events from Adam to Diocletian
(285). At his earnest request, the work, which he doubtless
intended to bring down to his own times, was continued after
his death by his friend Theophanes Confessor. The Chronicle,
which, as its title implies, is rather a chronological table (with
notes) than a history, is written with special reference to pre-Christian
times and the introduction of Christianity, and exhibits
the author as a staunch upholder of orthodoxy. But in spite of
its religious bias and dry and uninteresting character, the fragments
of ancient writers and apocryphal books preserved in it
render it specially valuable. For instance, considerable portions
of the original text of the Chronicle of Eusebius have been
restored by the aid of Syncellus. His chief authorities were
Annianus of Alexandria (5th century) and Panodorus, an
Egyptian monk, who wrote about the year 400 and drew largely
from Eusebius, Dexippus and Julius Africanus.
Editio princeps, by J. Goar (1652); in Bonn Corpus scriptorum hist. Byz., by W. Dindorf (1829). See also H. Gelzer, Sextus Julius Africanus, ii. 1 (1885); C. Krumbacher, Geschichte der byzantinischen Litteratur (1897).
GEORGE, HENRY (1839–1897), American author and political
economist, was born in Philadelphia, Penn., on the 2nd of September
1839. He settled in California in 1858; removed to
New York, 1880; was first a printer, then an editor, but finally
devoted all his life to economic and social questions. In 1871
he published Our Land Policy, which, as further developed in
1879 under the title of Progress and Poverty, speedily attracted
the widest attention both in America and in Europe. In 1886
he published Protection or Free Trade. Henry George had no
political ambition, but in 1886 he received an independent
nomination as mayor of New York City, and became so popular
