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INTRODUCTION
interest in the Nile flood because he had, on his
accession, ordered that the Nilometer, the measure
used to gauge its height, should be restored to the
temple of Serapis, whence it had been removed by
Constantine to a Christian church ;
Socrates 1. 18,
Sozomen 5. 3.
Elpidius k the philosopher," to whom is addressed
Letter 65, is not otherwise known, and the letter,
which is a purely formal type of excuse for the
brevity of the writer, was probably preserved on
that account in epistolary hand-books. It is
placed
by Cumont with the spurious letters, though there
is
nothing against it but its lack of content. Two
men named Elpidius attained to high office in the
fourth century, and one of them was a favourite
with Julian because he had renounced Christianity
and become a zealous pagan. He was with Julian
at Antioch in the winter of 362 as Comes rerum
privatariim, and Libanius, in Letter 33, written when
Julian was in Gaul in 358, says that Julian, though
younger than Elpidius, has exercised a good influence
on him, and that in his conversation Elpidius echoes
Julian's ideas and is as anxious as Libanius himself
regarding Julian's future. This probably alludes to
the renunciation of Christianity by Elpidius which
was to follow Julian's accession (see, too, Libanius,
Oration 14. 35).
It was to him that Libanius applied
when he grew anxious as to the fate of Aristophanes
(see Letter 758, Foerster). The other Elpidius, a
Christian, was prefect of the East in 360, and was
also at Antioch with Julian in 362. He is often
mentioned by Ammianus and Libanius. Neither of
these men could correctly be called a philosopher,
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