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Malchion. a. D. 270. 137
years: and yet peiliaps he conclutled as much from an
expression of Theodorct. Indeed we do not find much
notice taken of Malchion in ancient Avriters. The Greek
christians however have put him into their calendar for the
service he did in opposin- Paul of Samosata, as has been
observed by Valesiusf^ and others.
II. Having- put down these testimonies to this author, I
propose to mention some observations.
1. It is probable that Malchion was originally a heathen :
Jerom does not expressly say so, but he says he taught
rhetoric at Antioch with reputation ; which is near the same
with what '' he says of Cyprian, who certainly was at first a
heathen. Nor does Eusebius expressly say it : but that he
taught Greek literature, as I have translated him, or' profane
learning, as Du Pin renders the same phrase. And
Theodoret, as well as Eusebius, says, that Malchion was at
first a sophist. I presume these testimonies therefore may
aftord a probable argument that Malchion was originally a
heathen ; but whether they are sufficient to put the point
beyond dispute I cannot say.
2. Malchion was an author, or a christian writer. The
Disputation or Conference, mentioned by Eusebius and
Jerom, must be reckoned his. It was, as we may well sup-
and both Euse-
pose, published by him, and not by Paul ;
bius and Jerom speak of it as extant in their times ; but it
appears to me somewhat probable that Eusebius had never
read it : he says we know it to be still extant. If he had
seen it, I suppose he would have expressed himself diflfer-
ently.
Jerom ascribes likewise to Malchion the epistle of the last
council of Antioch, of which we have fragments in Eusebius's
Ecclesiastical History : indeed Cave'^ makes a doubt of this
he suspects that Jerom said it of his own head, without any
good authority : but most other' learned moderns, whom I
have consulted, allow that epistle to have been composed by
Malchion, I mean particularly Fabricius, Tillemont, and
Fleury. Du Pin does not declare his opinion ; he only
observes that Jerom says Malchion was also the author of
the letter written in the name of the synod against Paul of
——v'^epiv ?e TrpEcrpvTeps Tifirjdevrog j(tipoTovia. Vid. not. '^.
s Vales. Annot. in Eus 1. vii. cap. 29. Vid. et Tillem. Mem. Ec. T. iv. P.
ji.
'
Paul de Saraosates, art. 5. p. 268. ^
— les sciences prolanes. Du Pin. Bibl. p. 193.
Vid. de V. I. cap. 67.
"^ Cav. Hist. Lit.
in Malchion. ' Vid. Fabric. Bibl. Gr. 1. vi. c. 4. Tom. xi. p.
346. Cette lettre fiit composee par Malquion. Tillem. ut supra, p. 630. See
likewise Fleury's Eec. Hist. B. 8. ch. iv. p. 479.
;