HYPATIA, or NEW FOES AN OLD FACE (1853), is a striking and brilliant historical novel by Charles Kingsley. The scene is laid in Alexandria during the 5th cen turn, A.D., and it is the story of a five-fold conflict among the Jews, the Roman authorities. Gothic invaders, Greek philosophers and Chris tian sectarians of a pronounced militant char acter. The main struggle is that between the attempt under the leadership of the gifted and beautiful Hypatia to restore to its former glory the ancient Greek pagan worship and philos ophy and the counter efforts of the Christians under the leadership of Cyril to overcome both the Jews and the Greeks, as well as to make dominant their own power under the Roman government. They are successful to the ex tent of getting the upper hand of the Jews, of discomforting the Roman prefect and of mur dering Hypatia, but their violence is shown in no amiable light. As in all of Charles Kings ley's ilnportant books, 'Alton Locke,' 'Yeast,' 'Westward Ho!' and others, genuine satisfac tion lies only in the acceptance of a gentle, spiritual and charitable Christianity. This doc
trine is most manifest in the final philos ophy and triumph over Hypatia of the con verted Jew, Raphael Aben-Ezra, and in the ultimate destiny of Philammon, a young monk, who, coming to Alexandria, passed through the various phases of the turbulent life of Alex andria and, rich in experience, spent his last days as a beneficent Christian abbot. The lat ter character is the real hero of the book in that his various experiences furnish the main thread for the presentation of the philosophical elements and political and spiritual conflicts of the novel; but Kingsley, in order to give a fuller account of contemporary affairs, is obliged to leave his hero from time to time and take the reader to witness such scenes as the defeat of Count Heraclian at Ostia or to visit with Saint Augustine and Synesius at Cyrene. The attempt is a panoramic account of the 5th century with, as is implied in the title, a very decided sermon in favor of spiritual Christianity.