The Ecclesiastical History of Evagrius Scholasticus - Coptic ...

lviii
EVAGRIUS
Constantine’ (i.1, p. 6:7^11). Not surprisingly, the tirades against
pagans (i.11) and Zosimus (iii.41) contain emotive rhetoric, as does the
legalistic challenge to Nestorius (i.7). There is a variety of metaphorical
expressions for assuming or wielding authority, and for death: thus
Justinian ‘departed to the lowest places of punishment. But Justin . . .
donned the purple after him’ (v.1, p. 195:5^10); ‘Marcian exchanged
kingdoms by departing for the better fate’ (ii.8, p. 55:9^11); ‘Maurice
ascended to the imperial power when Tiberius was drawing his last
breaths’ (v.22, p. 217:9^10). Common variants are expressions which
involve wielding sceptres, binding on crowns, steering the state,
entering the universal resting-place, measuring out life. Evagrius carefully
varied his expressions for such events which recur frequently in
his narrative.
Many aspects of Evagrius’ style re£ect the standard Greek of the later
Roman empire, especially the Greek of ecclesiastical and legal rhetoric
which formed the basis for his professional career. This point can be illustrated
through Festugie' re’s comment (314 n.26) onthe words prepo¤ntoB
poio“ n (iii.9, p. 108:26), which he translates as ‘being in good health’,
remarking that Evagrius has characteristically replaced a standard
expression with a bizarre turn of phrase; I disagree with Festugie' re’s
translation of the phrase, 112 but the signi¢cant point for the current
discussion is that Evagrius is here quoting from a letter of the bishops of
Asia to Patriarch Acacius ^ if the phrase is bizarre, this was how
bishops chose to express themselves. A comparable example of Evagrius’
adoption of a standard stylistic device is his frequent use of au’to¤B, ‘the
same’ or ‘this’, to which Festugie' re draws attention (205 n.10). The same
trait has been identi¢ed in Malalas, where it is suggested that it imparted
a legalistic tone ^ though bureaucratic would perhaps be as good a
characterization: 113 it is part of the process of lending solemnity to the
narrative, which also included super£uous qualifying phrases such as
‘so-called’, ‘as it is known’, or ‘the aforesaid’.
Avoidance of common modes of expression is part of this campaign
for elevation: 114 cities are rarely referred to by their simple name, but
rather as the ‘city of Antiochus’ or ‘the city of the Antiochenes’;
Constantinople is graced with a range of periphrases, Byzantium, ‘the
112 See iii n. 35 below.
113 M. Je¡reys, ‘Bury’ 43.
114 Cameron and Cameron, ‘Christianity’; Averil Cameron, Agathias ch. 8.