Themistios

Themistius (c. 317-c. 388 AD), called "Euphrades" ("the eloquent") for his oratory, was one of the most influential pagan philosophers and statesmen of the fourth-century Roman world. A celebrated interpreter and paraphraser of Aristotle, he taught at Constantinople and served a remarkable succession of emperors from Constantius II through Theodosius I, delivering official panegyrics and acting as a senatorial spokesman; he was made proconsul of Constantinople and later prefect of the city. He is best remembered for advocating religious toleration and civic concord across the pagan-Christian divide, and as a correspondent and contemporary of Libanius, who addressed numerous letters to him within their shared circle of Greek rhetors and intellectuals.