ALYPIUS, one of the seven Greek writers on music whose works are collected and published, with a commentary and explanatory notes, by Meibomius. The time in which he flourished cannot be precisely ascertained. He is said to have written before Euclid and Ptolemy; and Cassiodorus arranges his work, entitled Introduction to Music, between that of Nicomachus and Gaudencius. In this work is to be found the most complete nomenclature of all the sounds of the different scales and modes of the ancient Greek music which have escaped the wreck of time.
ALYPIUS of Tagasta, a Christian divine, who flourished in the fourth century. In quest of information and improvement, he took a journey into Palestine; and returning home, he soon acquired such general esteem that he was appointed bishop of his native city. In the early part of his life he had adopted the opinions of the Manichees; but after acquiring more extensive information and matured experience, he became a powerful advocate for the Catholic faith. The Donatists flourished about this period, and arrogantly claimed the exclusive honour of being the true church; but he, assisted by his friend Augustin, exerted himself in opposing the tenets of that sect. In the council of Carthage in the year 403, the erudition and talents of Alypius, along with several other eminent divines, were unsuccessfully employed in endeavouring to reclaim them, and to bring them again into the bosom of the church. In 411 Alypius was one of the seven who held a friendly and theological conference with seven of the Donatist bishops. But all the eloquence and strength of argument displayed by these divines, although seconded by the penal decrees of the emperor Honorius, were unsuccessful in producing a recantation of their errors, or a peaceful union with their brethren. In support of the Catholic faith Alypius appears to have vigorously exerted his talents; and it is much to be regretted that the means which he employed for that purpose were not always the most honourable; for in the violence of his zeal he went as deputy from the churches of Africa to the emperor Honorius, in order to obtain severe decrees against the sect of the Pelagians. Although Alypius failed in his attempts to reclaim the Donatists from error, yet he was successful with the emperor in obtaining penal decrees against the Pelagians; in consequence of which their ministers were banished, their churches demolished,
Alzarcha and their assemblies discontinued. Alypius died about the year 430.