22. METAPHRASTES (ὁ Μάταφραστής), known also by the titles of MAGISTER (ὁ Μάγιστρος) and LOGOTHETA (it is doubtful if he was LOGOTHETA CURSUS, ὁ Λογοθέτης τοῦ δρόμου, or MAGNUS LOGOTHETA, ὁ μέγας Λογοθέτησ̓, a celebrated Byzantine writer of the end of the ninth and beginning and middle of the tenth centuries, as Allatius has shown, but about whose date writers have differed very widely, some placing him in the beginning of the third century, and others as late as the fourteenth (see Allatius and Cave, ubi infrà). Our chief authority for the life of Symeon is the Ἐγκώμιον εἰς τὸν Μεταφραστὴν κύριον Συμεῶνα. Encomium in Metaphrastem Dominum Symeonem of the younger Psellus [PSELLUS, No. 3], and an
Symeon was a native of Constantinople, belonged to an illustrious family, possessed great wealth, and was remarkable even from childhood for " the flowers of the understanding," to quote the words of Psellus, which " blossomed in him." He studied rhetoric, and especially philosophy, and became eminent in both. The reputation he acquired recommended him to the notice of the government, and he was employed under the emperors Leo VI the Philosopher, and Constantine VII. Porphyrogenitus, in public affairs. We should gather from the bombastic expressions of Psellus, that his first office was that of Proto-a-secretis, or chief secretary; but it is unlikely that so important an office should be the first entrusted to him : and the statement of Cedrenus, noticed below, seems more probable. His versatile talents were adapted both to counsel and to action; and he appears to have been engaged in repressing, both by arms and negotiations, the assaults of some enemies on the frontier of the empire, and in reducing others to subjection. He was characterised by magnificence in dress and stateliness of gait, yet tempered by a captivating address and easiness of access. He possessed also a liberal disposition, which his wealth afforded him ample opportunity of indulging. The declamation of Psellus contains neither particulars nor dates. A passage, however, in Symeon's account of St. Theoctista (apud Allat. De Symeon. Scriptis, p. 49), informs us that he was engaged in the expedition, under Himerius, against the Saracens of Crete, with whom he was commissioned to negotiate. This expedition, on Symeon's own authority in another place (Chronog. s. Annales. De Leone Basilii Fil. 100.21. Comp. Theophan. Continuat. lib. vi. De Leone Basilii Fil. 100.26), we may fix in the twenty-third year of the reign of Leo VI., A. D. 908. Allatius fixes the date, we believe erroneously, in A.D. 902. This, however, was not the first occasion in which Symeon appears as a prominent person : he was apparently the Symeon, Proto-a-secretis, who negotiated an exchange of prisoners with Leo the renegade, who commanded the Saracen fleet, which in A. D. 904 took Thessalonica (Theoph. Continuat. 100.21; Symeon. 100.14; Cameniata de Exscidio Thessalonicensi, 100.62, 63; Zonaras, Annal. lib. 16. c.14; Cedren. Compend. p. 600, ed. Paris, vol. ii. p. 263, ed. Bonn.) According to Cedrenus, Symeon received the dignity of Proto-a-secretis as a reward for his service in this business, having previously held a subordinate office. It was when serving under Himerius, in A. D. 908, that Symeon first engaged in composing the lives of the Saints ; and he pleaded as an excuse, when urged to undertake this task, the multitude of his engagements, and the cares of his wife and family. (Symeon, Vitae S. Theoctistae apud Allatium, p. 55.) The life of St. Theoctista, the first of his religious biographies, was not, however, written till after the death of the emperor Leo.
Symeon is mentioned by Liutprand, ambassador from the western emperor Otho to the Byzantine emperor Nicephorus Phocas, as still Proto-a-secretis in A. D. 968. (Baronii Annal. ad ann. 968. c. xxix. ; comp. Pagi, Criticc in Baron. ad ann. eundem, c. xii.; Liutpradi Legatio, apud Muratori, Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, vol. ii. p. 482.) Symeon is mentioned by Leo Diaconus (Historia, 10.7, p. 169, ed. Bonn) as still living when the comet appeared which shortly preceded the death of the emperor Joannes Tzimisces (comp. Cedrenus, p. 683, ed. Paris, vol. ii. p. 414, ed. Bonn), and which may be fixed in the year 975, so that he must have lived very nearly a century, and perhaps more. His death is described by Psellus as joyful and triumphant. (Comp. Allatius, Vossius, Cave, Oudin, Cellier, Saxius, ubi infra, and Pagi, Critice in Baronii Annales, ad ann. 902, i--xi.; ad ann. 975, c. ix. x.; Bollandus, Praefat. ad Acta Sanctor. cap. 1.3, Januar. vol. i.)