{
    "system": "GoGuides Verified Text",
    "api_version": "verified-text-v1",
    "status": "ok",
    "response_type": "verified_text_record",
    "source_key": "britannica_1911",
    "source_title": "Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911)",
    "license_code": "public_domain",
    "attribution": null,
    "license_url": null,
    "chunk_id": "1911:maximus of smyrna:ec896b27699e",
    "title": "MAXIMUS OF SMYRNA",
    "section": null,
    "hash_alg": "sha256",
    "hash_sha256": "b755133a735836d295cb80f2609a32ffebdaec510e99238b240850b0e724309a",
    "normalizer": {
        "name": "ggnorm",
        "version": "1.0"
    },
    "verified_text": "maximus of smyrna, a greek philosopher of the neo-platonist school, who lived towards the end of the 4th century a.d. he was perhaps the most important of the followers of iamblichus. he is said to have been of a rich and noble family, and exercised great influence over the emperor julian, who was commended to him by aedesius. he pandered to the emperor's love of magic and theurgy, and by judicious administration of the omens won a high position at court. his overbearing manner made him numerous enemies, and, after being imprisoned on the death of julian, he was put to death by valens. he is a representative of the least attractive side of neoplatonism. attaching no value to logical proof and argument, he enlarged on the wonders and mysteries of nature, and maintained his position by the working of miracles. in logic he is reported to have agreed with eusebius, iamblichus and porphyry in asserting the validity of the second and third figures of the syllogism. maximus of tyre (cassius maximus tyrius), a greek rhetorician and philosopher who flourished in the time of the antonines and commodus (2nd century a.d.). after the manner of the sophists of his age, he travelled extensively, delivering lectures on the way. his writings contain many allusions to the history of greece, while there is little reference to rome; hence it is inferred that he lived longer in greece, perhaps as a professor at athens. although nominally a platonist, he is really an eclectic and one of the precursors of neoplatonism. there are still extant by him forty-one essays or discourses ([greek: dialexeis]) on theological, ethical, and other philosophical commonplaces. with him god is the supreme being, one and indivisible though called by many names, accessible to reason alone; but as animals form the intermediate stage between plants and human beings, so there exist intermediaries between god and man, viz. daemons, who dwell on the confines of heaven and earth. the soul in many ways bears a great resemblance to the divinity; it is partly mortal, partly immortal, and, when freed from the fetters of the body, becomes a daemon. life is the sleep of the soul, from which it awakes at death. the style of maximus is superior to that of the ordinary sophistical rhetorician, but scholars differ widely as to the merits of the essays themselves. maximus of tyre must be distinguished from the stoic maximus, tutor of marcus aurelius. editions by j. davies, revised with valuable notes by j. markland (1740); j. j. reiske (1774); f. dubner (1840, with theophrastus, &c., in the didot series). monographs by r. rohdich (beuthen, 1879); h. hobein, _de maximo tyrio quaestiones philol._ (jena, 1895). there is an english translation (1804) by thomas taylor, the platonist. max muller, friedrich (1823-1900), anglo-german orientalist and comparative philologist, was born at dessau on the 6th of december 1823, being the son of wilhelm muller (1794-1827), the german poet, celebrated for his phil-hellenic lyrics, who was ducal librarian at dessau. the elder muller had endeared himself to the most intellectual circles in germany by his amiable character and his genuine poetic gift; his songs had been utilized by musical composers, notably schubert; and it was his son's good fortune to meet in his youth with a succession of eminent friends, who, already interested in him for his father's sake, and charmed by the qualities which they discovered in the young man himself, powerfully aided him by advice and patronage. mendelssohn, who was his godfather, dissuaded him from indulging his natural bent to the study of music; professor brockhaus of the university of leipzig, where max muller matriculated in 1841, induced him to take up sanskrit; bopp, at the university of berlin (1844), made the sanskrit student a scientific comparative philologist; schelling at the same university, inspired him with a love for metaphysical speculation, though failing to attract him to his own philosophy; burnouf, at paris in the following year, by teaching him zend, started him on the track of inquiry into the science of comparative religion, and impelled him to edit the _rig veda_; and when, in 1846, max muller came to england upon this errand, bunsen, in conjunction with professor h. h. wilson, prevailed upon the east india company to undertake the expense of publication. up to this time max muller had lived the life of a poor student, supporting himself partly by copying manuscripts, but bunsen's introductions to queen victoria and the prince consort, and to oxford university, laid the foundation for him of fame and fortune. in 1848 the printing of his _rig veda_ at the university press obliged him to settle in oxford, a step which decided his future career. he arrived at a favourable conjuncture: the tractarian strife, which had so long thrust learning into the background, was just over, and oxford was becoming accessible to modern ideas. the young german excited curiosity and interest, and it was soon discovered that, although a genuine scholar, he was no mere bookworm. part of his social success was due to his readiness to exert his musical talents at private parties. max muller was speedily subjugated by the _genius loci_. he was appointed deputy taylorian professor of modern languages in 1850, and the german government failed to tempt him back to strassburg. in the following year he was made m.a. and honorary fellow of christ church, and in 1858 he was elected a fellow of all souls. in 1854 the crimean war gave him the opportunity of utilizing his oriental learning in vocabularies and schemes of transliteration. in 1857 he successfully essayed another kind of literature in his beautiful story _deutsche liebe_, written both in german and english. he had by this time become an extensive contributor to english periodical literature, and had written several of the essays subsequently collected as _chips from a german workshop_. the most important of them was the fascinating essay on \"comparative mythology\" in the _oxford essays_ for 1856. his valuable _history of ancient sanskrit literature_, so far as it illustrates the primitive religion of the brahmans (and hence the vedic period only), was published in 1850. though max muller's reputation was that of a comparative philologist and orientalist, his professional duties at oxford were long confined to lecturing on modern languages, or at least their medieval forms. in 1860 the death of horace hayman wilson, professor of sanskrit, seemed to open a more congenial sphere to him. his claims to the succession seemed incontestable, for his opponent, monier williams, though well qualified as a sanskritist, lacked max muller's brilliant versatility, and although educated at oxford, had held no university office. but max muller was a liberal, and the friend of liberals in university matters, in politics, and in theology, and this consideration united with his foreign birth to bring the country clergy in such hosts to the poll that the voice of resident oxford was overborne, and monier williams was elected by a large majority. it was the one great disappointment of max muller's life, and made a lasting impression upon him. it was, nevertheless, serviceable to his influence and reputation by permitting him to enter upon a wider field of subjects than would have been possible otherwise. directly, sanskrit philology received little more from him, except in connexion with his later undertaking of _the sacred books of the east_; but indirectly he exalted it more than any predecessor by proclaiming its commanding position in the history of the human intellect by his _science of language_, two courses of lectures delivered at the royal institution in 1861 and 1863. max muller ought not to be described as \"the introducer of comparative philology into england.\" prichard had proved the aryan affinities of the celtic languages by the methods of comparative philology so long before as 1831; winning's _manual of comparative philology_ had been published in 1838; the discoveries of bopp and pott and pictet had been recognized in brilliant articles in the _quarterly review_, and had guided the researches of rawlinson. but max muller undoubtedly did far more to popularize the subject than had been done, or could have been done, by any predecessor. he was on less sure ground in another department of the study of language--the problem of its origin. he wrote upon it as a disciple of kant, whose _critique of pure reason_ he translated. his essays on mythology are among the most delightful of his writings, but their value is somewhat impaired by a too uncompromising adherence to the seductive generalization of the solar myth. max muller's studies in mythology led him to another field of activity in which his influence was more durable and extensive, that of the comparative science of religions. here, so far as great britain is concerned, he does deserve the fame of an originator, and his _introduction to the science of religion_ (1873: the same year in which he lectured on the subject, at dean stanley's invitation, in westminster abbey, this being the only occasion on which a layman had given an address there) marks an epoch. it was followed by other works of importance, especially the four volumes of gifford lectures, delivered between 1888 and 1892; but the most tangible result of the impulse he had given was the publication under his editorship, from 1875 onwards, of _the sacred books of the east_, in fifty-one volumes, including indexes, all but three of which appeared under his superintendence during his lifetime. these comprise translations by the most competent scholars of all the really important non-christian scriptures of oriental nations, which can now be appreciated without a knowledge of the original languages. max muller also wrote on indian philosophy in his latter years, and his exertions to stimulate search for oriental manuscripts and inscriptions were rewarded with important discoveries of early buddhist scriptures, in their indian form, made in japan. he was on particularly friendly terms with native japanese scholars, and after his death his library was purchased by the university of tokyo. in 1868 max muller had been indemnified for his disappointment over the sanskrit professorship by the establishment of a chair of comparative philology to be filled by him. he retired, however, from the actual duties of the post in 1875, when entering upon the editorship of _the sacred books of the east_. the most remarkable external events of his latter years were his delivery of lectures at the restored university of strassburg in 1872, when he devoted his honorarium to the endowment of a sanskrit lectureship, and his presidency over the international congress of orientalists in 1892. but his days, if uneventful, were busy. he participated in every movement at oxford of which he could approve, and was intimate with nearly all its men of light and leading; he was a curator of the bodleian library, and a delegate of the university press. he was acquainted with most of the crowned heads of europe, and was an especial favourite with the english royal family. his hospitality was ample, especially to visitors from india, where he was far better known than any other european orientalist. his distinctions, conferred by foreign governments and learned societies, were innumerable, and, having been naturalized shortly after his arrival in england, he received the high honour of being made a privy councillor. in 1898 and 1899 he published autobiographical reminiscences under the title of _auld lang syne_. he was writing a more detailed autobiography when overtaken by death on the 28th of october 1900. max muller married in 1859 georgiana adelaide grenfell, sister of the wives of charles kingsley and j. a. froude. one of his daughters, mrs conybeare, distinguished herself by a translation of scherer's _history of german literature_. though undoubtedly a great scholar, max muller did not so much represent scholarship pure and simple as her hybrid types--the scholar-author and the scholar-courtier. in the former capacity, though manifesting little of the originality of genius, he rendered vast service by popularizing high truths among high minds. in his public and social character he represented oriental studies with a brilliancy, and conferred upon them a distinction, which they had not previously enjoyed in great britain. there were drawbacks in both respects: the author was too prone to build upon insecure foundations, and the man of the world incurred censure for failings which may perhaps be best indicated by the remark that he seemed too much of a diplomatist. but the sum of foibles seems insignificant in comparison with the life of intense labour dedicated to the service of culture and humanity. max muller's _collected works_ were published in 1903. (r. g.)",
    "source_url": "https://archive.org/details/EB1911WMF",
    "observed_at": "2026-02-08 18:43:22",
    "integrity": {
        "hash_check": "match",
        "hash_scope": "full_normalized_text",
        "computed_sha256": "b755133a735836d295cb80f2609a32ffebdaec510e99238b240850b0e724309a"
    },
    "machine_use": {
        "read": true,
        "cite": true,
        "decision": "verified_public_domain_text"
    },
    "goguides_data_license": "https://www.goguides.com/data-license",
    "goguides_data_license_version": "2.0",
    "documentation": {
        "white_paper_url": "https://www.goguides.com/white-paper.php",
        "pdf_url": "https://www.goguides.com/whitepapers/goguides-ai-source-clearance-white-paper.pdf"
    }
}