all his Efforts, continued in _Rome_ to the Hour of his Death[1059]. [Sidenote: Apollinaris _the Heresiarch. An Account of him._] About this Time, that is, in the Year 377. a great Council was held at _Rome_, in which the famous _Apollinaris_, Bishop of _Laodicea_ in _Syria_, was condemned and deposed with his Two Disciples _Vitalis_ and _Timotheus_. _Apollinaris_ was a Man of uncommon Parts, great Penetration, universal Knowlege; and had at first been so zealous a Defender of the Orthodox Faith, that he was looked upon by all, particularly by _Epiphanius_ and _Athanasius_, as one of the great Champions of that Cause[1060], and ranked by _Philostorgius_ with _Basil_, and _Gregory Nazianzen_[1061]. He contracted a strict Friendship with _Athanasius_, when that Prelate passed through _Laodicea_ in 349. on his Return to _Egypt_, and ever after maintained a close Correspondence with him, on which Account he was excommunicated by _Gregory_ the _Arian_ Bishop of that City[1062]. When the _Arians_ began to prevail in the East, _Apollinaris_ was cruelly persecuted by the Men in Power of that Party, and at last driven into Exile[1063]. _Basil_ writ several Letters to him, and in those he writ to others, often mentions him as a Person for whom he had the greatest Esteem[1064]. He is said to have excelled in the Knowlege of the Scriptures, which he publicly interpreted at _Antioch_, where he had _Jerom_ among the many Disciples, who flocked from all Parts to hear him[1065]. But he was equally versed in human Learning, especially in Poetry; and his Knowlege in that Branch of Literature proved very useful in the Time of the Emperor _Julian_. For that Prince having by a Law debarred the Christians from perusing or studying the Pagan Authors, _Apollinaris_, to supply the want of those Writers, composed several Pieces in Imitation of them, and, among the rest, a Poem comprising the History of the _Jews_ to the Time of _Saul_, and divided into Twenty-four Books, which he distinguished by so many Letters of the _Greek_ Alphabet, as _Homer_ had done[1066]. He likewise writ Comedies, Tragedies, Lyric Verses, _&c._ imitating _Pindar_ in the latter, and _Menander_ and _Euripides_ in the Two former[1067]. _Sozomen_ thinks his Compositions fell in no respect short of the Works of the Antients; who, upon the Whole, says he, were far inferior to him, since they excelled, each in one Kind only, but he equally in all[1068]. The Tragedy, intituled, _Christ suffering_, which is to be found among the Works of _Gregory Nazianzen_, is by some ascribed to _Apollinaris_; but that Piece does not at all answer the great Opinion _Sozomen_ seems to have entertained of him. His Paraphrase in Hexameter Verse on the Psalms, the only intire Work of his that has reached our Times, is an elegant, exact, and sublime Translation of them, greatly commended and admired by the best Judges[1069]. His Poetry proved very serviceable to him, when he began