Three letters in the epistolary corpus of Gregory of Nazianzus are
addressed to the sophist Eustochius, an old friend of the bishop and
teacher of rhetoric (Ep. 189 – 191). These texts concern the education
of Gregory’s great-nephew Nicobolus and the rivalry between the school
of Eustochius and that of Stagirius. This hostility links the teaching
of Eustochius to the cultural and social context of Caesarea in
Cappadocia, but few other details are known about his life and literary
activity. He has often been identified with the addressee of Julian’s
Ep. 41 (concerning the consular celebrations of 363). However, there is
another possibility available. Indeed, another namesake can be linked to
the same context of Gregory’s friend. The Suda mentions an Eustochius
(s.v. Εὐστόχιος Καππαδόκης), and attributes to his authorship a work on
emperor Constans (τὰ κατὰ Κώνσταντα τὸν βασιλέα) and an antiquarian work
about Cappadocia (᾽Αρχαιολογία Καππαδοκίας). An identification of this
sophist with the fellow student of Gregory has been proposed, but lacks a
complete and deep examination. The aim of my paper is to verify this
theory through an analysis of all the evidence involved (in particular,
some passages of Gregory’s letters). In my opinion, such a test will
improve what we know about Gregory and one of his epistolary contacts.
In addition, it will increase our knowledge of the literary development
of Cappadocia in the fourth century.
No comments:
Post a Comment