st. john of damascus (676-749 - Cristo Raul

"
DOUBTFUL WRITINGS.
199
would be thought irrelevant if it did. If it should be
judged, on maturely considering the evidence, that
John of Damascus really delivered the encomium
now under review, and composed the introduction to
it, we might perhaps avoid the necessity of taxing
him with undue credulity, if we classed him, in this
respect at least, with those whose habit of mind has
been described.
Of the life of St. Barbara very little has been pre
served to us. 1 Her commemoration day in the Latin
Church is December 4th. In mediaeval times she
was regarded as the protectress of captives. 2
According to the account embodied in this pane
gyric, she was the only daughter of a provincial
governor, named Dioscorus, in the reign of Maximianus
II. (A.D. 305-311). That emperor was noted
for his fierce persecution of the Christians, and
Dioscorus seems to have copied his example. To
guard the ripening charms of his daughter, he
immured her in a lofty tower. Whether she was a
convert to the true faith already, or by some means
was made acquainted with it in her seclusion, we are
not clearly informed. At any rate, she only became
more confirmed in it
during her solitude. So far
there is a resemblance between her story and that of
Joasaph. Presently her father pays her a visit, and
desires her to choose one of the various suitors
eagerly ambitious of her hand. She rejects all their
1
In the "Dictionary of Christian Biography
not occur.
2
her name does
See "Brand s Popular Antiquities" (ed. by Sir Henry Ellis),
1841, vol. i., p. 197.