Maximus, a learned Byzantine monk, flourished at the court of Constantinople in the first half of the fourteenth century. His inquisitive, self-confident mind seems to have meddled with many branches of knowledge. He dipped into politics, and was sent in 1327 on an embassy to Venice. He tampered with controversial theology, and was lodged in prison for his leaning towards the creed of the Roman Church. His interest in the exact sciences was also great, as his manuscript work on the *Indian Mode of Calculation* sufficiently testifies. (See Arithmetic.) Nor was time wanting for dabbling in classical literature, and for making Greek versions of Cicero's *Somnium Scipionis*, Caesar's *De Bello Gallico*, and other Latin works. But it was in the character of an editor of Greek epigrams that Planudes chiefly recommends himself to the notice of posterity. His object was to abridge and re-arrange the scarce *Anthology* of Constantinus Cephalus. Careless and devoid of poetical taste, he blundered along, choosing and omitting at random. Occasionally his clumsy hand expunged whole couplets to make room for stiff and prosaic verses of his own, which his self-conceit imagined to be better. The ungainly collection was completed in seven books, and owing to the scarcity of other anthologies, continued for a long time to be popular, and to pass through many editions. The latest and most perfect edition is that of De Bosch and Van Lennep, in 5 vols. 4to, Utrecht, 1795–1822.