(Ἐλπίδιος), or HELPIDIUS, one of the physicians of Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths, A. D. 493-526, whom he attended in his last illness. (Procop de Bello Goth. lib. i. p. 167, ed. Höschel.) He was a Christian, and in deacon's orders, and probably a native of Milan. There is extant a letter to him from king Theodoric (ap. Cassiod. Vrariar. 4.24), and four from Ennodius (Epist. vii 7, 8.8, 9.14, 21; ap. Sirmondi Opera, vol. i.)
[W.A.G]A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology
Smith, William
A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. William Smith, LLD, ed. 1890