PANTÆNUS, a Stoic philosopher, born in Sicily
(though some have erroneously supposed him to be a He-
brew) about the beginning of the reign of Commodus.
He presided over the celebrated school of Alexandria,
where, from the time of St Mark, the founder of that
church, they had always a divine that was eminent for
his learning and piety, to explain the Holy Scriptures,
and to instruct them in human learning. This employ-
ment he was obliged to leave; for when the Indians re-
quired of Demetrius bishop of Alexandria to send them
one to instruct them in Christianity, he sent Pantænus,
who undertook the mission with joy, and behaved him-
self very properly in it. We are told, that the Indians
had been instructed with Christianity by St Bartholomew
the apostle; and that Pantænus met with the Hebrew
original of St Matthew's gospel, which the apostle had
left there. St Jerome says that Pantænus brought it
with him; and that it was, in his time, preserved in the
library of Alexandria. But we suspect St Jerome to be
mistaken in this respect. When Pantænus returned to
Alexandria, he reassumed the government of the school
of that city, which, it is probable, he had, during his
absence, committed to the care of St Clement, a presby-
ter of Alexandria. He explained the Scriptures pub-
licly, under the reign of Severus Antoninus Caracalla;
and was, in St Jerome's opinion, more serviceable to the
church by his discourses than by his writings. He pub-
lished some commentaries upon the Bible, which are
lost. "That the prophets often express themselves in
indifferent terms, and that they make use of the present
time instead of the past and future," is a rule of Pantæ-
nus, which has been followed by all succeeding interpre-
ters. Theodorus has related this rule; but he speaks of
it as if Pantænus had rather said than written it.
We may have some notion of Pantænus's manner of
explaining the Scriptures by the like performances of
St Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and others who were
brought up in that school.