Bemarchius

Bemarchius was a pagan Hellene sophist and rhetorician of the Eastern Roman Empire, who lived in or shortly after the time of the Roman emperor Constantine the Great, in the 4th century CE. He was from Caesareia in Cappadocia, and evidently later moved to Constantinople, where he resided as the regime's imperially funded sophist.

He wrote a history of Constantine, The Acts of Constantine, in ten books, some time around the 340s CE. He also wrote declamations and various orations. None of his works have survived to the present day.

Feud with Libanius Much of what we know about him comes from an unflattering portrait in the writings of the 4th-century sophist Libanius, who was the subject of a bitter feud with Bemarchius. According to Libanius, Bemarchius was at the center of a circle of "has been" orators whose friendship was premised on gambling and drinking, and were motivated by commercial showmanship and money, not principles.

Bemarchius accused Libanius of witchcraft, claiming that he had been harmed by Libanius's astrological enchantments, and tried to get the governor of Constantinople bring him to trial. Praetors who tried to protect Libanius were overruled and ousted, and the governor advised Libanius to leave Constantinople. Libanius, fearing for his life, fled to Nicomedia, after which he wrote his retaliatory orations against Bemarchius.