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

JOHN MANSOUR. 27
and obtained permission to set Cosmas at liberty.
This done, he arranged with the monk, all too re
joiced at such a task, for the education of his son,
and, along with him, of a foster-brother of the youth,
also named Cosmas. Under the instruction of their
new tutor, the young men made wonderful progress.
In the science of numbers they vied with Pythagoras
1
and Diophantus. In geometry they were almost
Euclids. So with harmony, astronomy, and the
other sciences. Into all these, and into the queen of
all, theology, John penetrated with an intellectual
vision keen as the glance of the eagle when it meets
the sun ;
and Cosmas was no ill-matched companion.
But the time came when their tutor had imparted
all he knew to the young students, and he felt that
his work was done. Resigning his office with as
much regret as their father felt at accepting his
resignation, he asked leave to retire once more into a
convent, and chose the laura of St. Sabas. There he
spent the remainder of his life.
On the death of his father, John Mansour was
sent for to court, and raised to a yet higher office than
his father had occupied, being made protosymbulus,
or chief councillor. 2 Meantime the great controversy
1
In the article on Diophantus, by Professor de Morgan, in
"Smith s Dictionary of Classical Biography,"
this is referred
to as probably the earliest mention of Diophantus, the inventor
of Algebra. But it is there assumed that the writer lived in
the eighth century ;
in other words, that he was John IV., Pa
triarch of Jerusalem but this ; patriarch died before John ot
Damascus.
8 It seems natural to render this vizir ; but according to