scientific, every attempt to improve on which has hitherto been
found a failure; and to battle victoriously with that strange brood
of theoretic monsters begotten by effete Greek philosophy upon
Egyptian symbolism, Chaldee astrology, Parsee dualism, Brahminic
spiritualism-graceful and gorgeous phantoms, whereof somewhat more
will be said in the coming chapters.

I have, in my sketch of Hypatia and her fate, closely followed
authentic history, especially Socrates' account of the closing
scene, as given in Book vii. Para 15, of his _Ecclesiastical
History_. I am inclined, however, for various historical reasons,
to date her death two years earlier than he does. The tradition
that she was the wife of Isidore, the philosopher, I reject with
Gibbon, as a palpable anachronism of at least fifty years (Isidore's
master, Proclus, not having been born till the year before Hypatia's
death), contradicted, moreover, by the very author of it, Photius,
who says distinctly, after comparing Hypatia and Isidore, that
Isidore married a certain 'Domna.' No hint, moreover, of her having
been married appears in any contemporary authors; and the name of
Isidore nowhere occurs among those of the many mutual friends to
whom Synesius sends messages in his letters to Hypatia, in which, if
anywhere, we should find mention of a husband, had one existed. To
Synesius's most charming letters, as well as to those of Isidore,
the good Abbot of Pelusium, I beg leave to refer those readers who
wish for further information about the private life of the fifth
century.

I cannot hope that these pages will be altogether free from
anachronisms and errors. I can only say that I have laboured
honestly and industriously to discover the truth, even in its