Personality
Psellos was universally educated and had a reputation for being one of the most learned men of his time. He prided himself on having single-handedly reintroduced to Byzantine scholarship a serious study of ancient philosophy, especially of Plato. His predilection for Plato and other pagan (often Neoplatonic) philosophers led to doubts about the orthodoxy of his faith among some of his contemporaries, and at one point he was forced to make a public profession of faith in his defense. He also prided himself on being a master of rhetoric, combining the wisdom of the philosopher and the persuasiveness of the rhetorician. This made him the model of a political leader and advisor. Among modern commentators, Psellos' penchant for long autobiographical digressions in his works has earned him accusations of vanity and ambition. At the same time, his political career and the contents of his Chronographia have led commentators to characterize him as obsequious and opportunistic, because of his ostensibly uncritical stance towards some of the emperors and because of the many shifts in his political loyalty over the course of his life. However, other commentators argue that there is a powerful ironic undercurrent running through his work, especially the Chronographia, transmitting highly critical and subversive messages about the emperors portrayed, or even about Byzantine Christian beliefs and morality at large.
As mentioned above, serious questions were raised during Psellos' lifetime concerning his religious beliefs. For example, according to Byzantinist Anthony Kaldellis, "In 1054 he was accused by his erstwhile friend, the future Patriarch John Xiphilinos, of forsaking Christ to follow Plato." Even stronger doubts arose concerning Psellos' student, John Italos, who succeeded Psellos as Consul of the Philosophers (Hypatos ton Philosophon). Italos was publicly accused of teaching such "Hellenizing" ideas as metempsychosis and the eternity of the world. Italos faced such accusations twice, and both times he confessed and recanted.
Read more about this topic: Michael Psellos
Famous quotes containing the word personality:
“I am what is mine. Personality is the original personal property.”
—Norman O. Brown (b. 1913)
“Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality. But, of course, only those who have personality and emotions know what it means to want to escape from these things.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)
“A personality is an indefinite quantum of traits which is subject to constant flux, change, and growth from the birth of the individual in the world to his death. A character, on the other hand, is a fixed and definite quantum of traits which, though it may be interpreted with slight differences from age to age and actor to actor, is nevertheless in its essentials forever fixed.”
—Hubert C. Heffner (1901–1985)