EUNOMIANS, an Arian sect, so called from being the followers of Eunomius of Dacora in Cappadocia. Their leader studied theology under Eutius, and after having been deacon of Eudoxius at Antioch, was raised to the bishopric of Cyzicus, A.D. 360. From Cyzicus he was banished to Chalcedon, and from Chalcedon he was again exiled to
Halmyris in Mœsia. He spent the last days of his life at Cæsarea and Dacora, where he died at an advanced age, A.D. 394. As a religious sect his followers adopted the extreme tenets of Arianism, denying not only that the Son was of the same but also of similar essence with the Father. From this their distinctive doctrine they were called Anomians, in opposition to the Homousians or orthodox, and Homoiousians or semi-Arian party. (See ARTS.) The works of Eunomius consist of a Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans; an Exposition of Faith; a Defence of his Doctrine; and Epistles. His defence is translated by Whiston in Eunomianismus Redivivus.
EUNUCH (εὐνοῦχος), an emasculated person. It appears from a law of Moses that the practice of emasculation was prior even to his time. (See Levit. xxi. 20; Deut. xxiii. 1.) From the remotest antiquity among the Orientals, as also at a later period in Greece, eunuchs were employed to take charge of the women, or, generally, as chamberlains; whence the name, οἱ τὴν εἰνὴν ἔχοντες, i.e. those who have charge of the bedchamber. Their position in the harems of princes affording them the ready means of access to the royal person, it is not surprising that they were frequently enabled to exercise an important influence over princes, and even to raise themselves to stations of great trust and power. Hence the term eunuch in Egypt came to be applied to any court officer, whether a castratus or not. The vulgar notion that eunuchs are necessarily deficient in courage and in intellectual vigour is amply refuted by history. We are told, for example, by Herodotus, that in Persia they were far from being objects of contempt, but were frequently promoted to the highest offices. Narses, the famous general under Justinian, was an eunuch; such also was Hermias, governor of Atarneus in Mysia, to whose manes the great Aristotle offered sacrifices, besides celebrating the praises of his patron and friend in a poem (still extant), addressed to Virtue. (See Lucian's dialogue entitled Eunuchus.) To multiply instances were superfluous: the capacity of this class of persons for public affairs is strikingly illustrated by the histories of Persia, India, and China; and we need only to allude to the power exercised by the eunuchs under the later Roman emperors.
In the Gospel of St Matthew (xix. 12) we read of persons "who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake;" an expression which apparently is an hyperbolic description of such as lived in voluntary abstinence (compare Matt. v. 29, 30). This passage has, however, received a literal interpretation from some, as exemplified in the celebrated case of Origen, who acted upon the injunction—"Let him who is capable of doing this do it." But this species of extravagance was at its height in the second century, when there arose a sect called Eunuchs, who not only emasculated themselves, but also all those who fell into their hands.
The effect of early emasculation upon the voice, and its tendency to promote increase of stature, are well known.