33 Preface to the Anti-Manichæan Writings. ———————————— No reader of the accompanying volume can be expected to take a very lively interest in its contents, unless he has before his mind some facts regarding the extraordinary genius to whom the heresy of Manichæism owes its origin and its name.  His history is involved in considerable obscurity, owing to the suspicious nature of the documents from which it is derived, and the difficulty of constructing a consistent and probable account out of the contradictory statements of the Asiatics and the Greeks.  The ascertained facts, therefore, are few, and may be briefly stated.20 According to the Chronicle of Edessa, Mani was born A.D. 240.21  From his original name, Corbicius or Carcubius, Beausobre conjectures that he was born in Carcub, a town of Chaldæa.  He belonged to a Magian family, and while still a youth won a distinguished place among the sages of Persia.  He was master of all the lore peculiar to his class, and was, besides, so proficient a mathematician and geographer, that he was able to construct a globe.  He was a skilled musician, and had some knowledge of the Greek language,—an accomplish- ment rare among his countrymen.  But his fame, and even his ultimate success as a teacher, was due in great measure to his skill in painting, which was so considerable as to earn for him among the Persians the distinctive title, Mani the painter.  His disposition was ardent and lively but patient and self-restrained.  His appearance was striking, as he wore the usual dress of a Persian sage:  the high-soled shoes, the one red, the other green; the mantle of azure blue, that changed color as he moved; the ebony staff in his right hand, and the Babylonish book under his left arm. The meaning of his name, Mani, Manes, or Manichæus, has been the subject of endless conjectures.  Epiphanius supposes that he was providentially so named, that men might be warned against the mania of his heresy.22  Hyde, whose opinion on any Oriental subject must have weight, tells us that in Persian mani means painter, and that he was so called 20 Beausobre (Histoire Critique de Manichée et du Manichéisme, Amst. 1734, 2 vols.) has collected everything that is known of Mani.  The original sources are here sifted with unusual acuteness, and with great and solid learning, though the author’s strong "bias in favor of a heretic" frequently leads him to make unwarranted statements.  Burton’s estimate of this entertaining and indispensable work (Heresies of Apostol. Age, p. xxi.), is much fairer than Pusey’s (Aug. Conf. p. 314).  A brief account of Mani and his doctrines is given by Milman with his usual accuracy, impartiality and lucidity (Hist. of Christianity, ii. 259, ed. 1867).  For any one who wishes to investigate the subject further, ample references are there given.  A specimen of the confusion that involves the history of Mani will be found in the account given by Socrates (Hist. i. 22). 21 [For the Oriental accounts of Mani’s parentage and youth, see the Introductory Essay, and the works there referred to.—A.H.N.] 22 See also Eusebius:  Hist. Eccl. vii. 31, with Heinichen’s note. Preface to the Anti-Manichæan Writings. 46 Preface to the Anti-Manichæan Writings.