SIMOCATTA  ,1

THEOPHYLACT, Byzantine historian, a native of Egypt, flourished at Constantinople during the reign of Heraclius (610-640), under whom he held the office of imperial secretary . He is best known as the author of a history, in eight books, of the reign of the emperor Maurice (582-602), for which period he is the' best and oldest authority . The work describes the wars with the ' Persians, the Avars and Slays, and the emperor's tragic end . " His want of judgment renders him diffuse in trifles and concise in the most interesting facts " (Gibbon), but his general trustworthiness is admitted . The history contains an introduction in the form of a dialogue between History and Philosophy . Photius (cod . 65) while admitting a certain amount of gracefulness in the language, blames the author's excessive use of figurative and allegorical expressions and moral sentiments . While the vocabulary contains many strange and affected words, the grammar and syntax are on the whole correct (ed. pr. by J . Pontanus, 1609; best edition by C. de Boor, 1887, with a valuable Index Graecitatis) . Simocatta was also the author of Physical Problems('AAopial ¢uoLKaL) in dialogue form, dealing with the nature of animals and especially of man (ed . J . Ideler in Physici et medici Graeci minores, i .

1841,) ; and of a collection of 85 letters (moral, rustic, erotic), the supposed writers of which are either fictitious or well-known personages (

Antisthenes to Pericles, Socrates to Plato, Socrates to Alcibiades) . The best edition is by R . Hercher in Epistolographi Graeci (1873) . The letters were translated into Latin (1509) by Copernicus (re-printed 1873 by F . Hipler in Spicilegium Copernicanum) . See C . Krumbacher, Geschichte der byzantinischen Literatur (1897) .