EUTROPIUS

eutropius, roman historian, flourished in the latter half of the 4th century a.d. he held the office of secretary (_magister memoriae_) at constantinople, accompanied julian on his expedition against the persians (363), and was alive during the reign of valens (364-378), to whom he dedicates his history. this work (_breviarium historiae romanae_) is a complete compendium, in ten books, of roman history from the foundation of the city to the accession of valens. it was compiled with considerable care from the best accessible authorities, and is written generally with impartiality, and in a clear and simple style. although the latin in some instances differs from that of the purest models, the work was for a long time a favourite elementary school-book. its independent value is small, but it sometimes fills a gap left by the more authoritative records. the _breviarium_ was enlarged and continued down to the time of justinian by paulus diaconus (q.v.); the work of the latter was in turn enlarged by landolfus sagax (c. 1000), and taken down to the time of the emperor leo the armenian (813-820) in the _historia miscella_. of the greek translations by capito lycius and paeanius, the version of the latter is extant in an almost complete state. the best edition of eutropius is by h. droysen (1879), containing the greek version and the enlarged editions of paulus diaconus and landolfus; smaller critical editions, c. wagener (1884), f. ruehl (1887). j. sorn's _der sprachgebrauch des historikers eutropius_ (1892) contains a systematic account of the grammar and style of the author. there are numerous english school editions and translations. eutyches (c. 380-c. 456), a presbyter and archimandrite at constantinople, first came into notice in a.d. 431 at the council of ephesus, where, as a zealous adherent of cyril (q.v.) of alexandria, he vehemently opposed the doctrine of the nestorians (q.v.). they were accused of teaching that the divine nature was not incarnated in but only attendant on jesus, being superadded to his human nature after the latter was completely formed. in opposition to this eutyches went so far as to affirm that after the union of the two natures, the human and the divine, christ had only _one nature_, that of the incarnate word, and that therefore his human body was essentially different from other human bodies. in this he went beyond cyril and the alexandrine school generally, who, although they expressed the unity of the two natures in christ so as almost to nullify their duality, yet took care verbally to guard themselves against the accusation of in any way circumscribing or modifying his real and true humanity. it would seem, however, that eutyches differed from the alexandrine school chiefly from inability to express his meaning with proper safeguards, for equally with them he denied that christ's human nature was either transmuted or absorbed into his divine nature. the energy and imprudence of eutyches in asserting his opinions led to his being accused of heresy by domnus of antioch and eusebius, bishop of dorylaeum, at a synod presided over by flavian at constantinople in 448. as his explanations were not considered satisfactory, the council deposed him from his priestly office and excommunicated him; but in 449, at a council held in ephesus convened by dioscurus of alexandria and overawed by the presence of a large number of egyptian monks, not only was eutyches reinstated in his office, but eusebius, domnus and flavian, his chief opponents, were deposed, and the alexandrine doctrine of the "one nature" received the sanction of the church. this judgment is the more interesting as being in distinct conflict with the opinion of the bishop of rome--leo--who, departing from the policy of his predecessor celestine, had written very strongly to flavian in support of the doctrine of the two natures and one person. meanwhile the emperor theodosius died, and pulcheria and marcian who succeeded summoned, in october 451, a council (the fourth ecumenical) which met at chalcedon (q.v.). there the synod of ephesus was declared to have been a "robber synod," its proceedings were annulled, and, in accordance with the rule of leo as opposed to the doctrines of eutyches, it was declared that the two natures were united in christ, but without any alteration, absorption or confusion. eutyches died in exile, but of his later life nothing is known. after his death his doctrines obtained the support of the empress eudocia and made considerable progress in syria. in the 6th century they received a new impulse from a monk of the name of jacob, who united the various divisions into which the eutychians, or monophysites (q.v.), had separated into one church, which exists at the present time under the name of the jacobite church, and has numerous adherents in armenia, egypt and ethiopia. see r.l. ottley, _the doctrine of the incarnation_, ii. 97 ff.; a. harnack, _history of dogma_, iv. _passim_; f. loofs, _dogmengeschichte_ (4th ed., 1906), 297 f., and the art. in herzog-hauck, _realencyk. fuer prot. theol._, with a full bibliography.