Author: Roger Pearse

List of CSEL volumes at Google Books

Posted on by Roger Pearse
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Fr. Stefan Zara’s site used to contain a list of the volumes of the CSEL in Google Books.  Unfortunately it has just been shut down.   It was hosted by WordPress who understandably took exception to some of the material that he was sharing.  I think that some was copyright in the US if not in his native Romania.  I thought I would add his banner at the left here, so we can remember it.

However I found a cached version of this useful list from 8 October 2009 in Google cache.  To preserve this useful item, I have edited it down and post it here.  Please add further links in the comments, if you come across them.  I don’t maintain collections of links, you see, as I have so much else to do.

Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum

The Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum (CSEL) is a series of critical editions of the Latin Church Fathers published by a committee of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

The CSEL is intended to include the ecclesiastical authors who wrote in Latin from the late 2nd century AD until the death of Bede in 735. The texts are edited on the basis of all extant manuscripts and according to the principles of modern textual criticism and thus aim to provide a critical replacement for the corresponding volumes of the Patrologia Latina.

Vol. 1 SULPICIUS SEVERUS, Opera – ed. C. Halm 1866; PSEUDO-SULPICIUS SEVERUS, Epistulae – ed. C. Halm 1866
Vol. 2 FIRMICUS MATERNUS, De errore profanarum religionum – ed. C. Halm 1869; MINUCIUS FELIX – ed. C. Halm 1867
Vol. 3.1, 3.2, 3.3 CYPRIANUS, Opera – ed. W. Hartel 1868/71
Vol. 4 ARNOBIUS, Adversus nationes – ed. A. Reifferscheid 1875
Vol. 5 OROSIUS, Historiae adversus paganos, Apologeticus – ed. C. Zangemeister 1882
Vol. 6 ENNODIUS, Opera – ed. W. Hartel 1882
Vol. 7 VICTOR VITENSIS, Historia persecutionis Africanae provinciae, PSEUDO-VICTOR VITENSIS, Passio septem monachorum, Notitia provinciarum et civitatum Africae – ed. M. Petschenig 1881
Vol. 8 SALVIANUS, De gubernatione dei, Epistulae, Ad ecclesiam – ed. F. Pauly 1883
Vol. 9/1 EUGIPPIUS, Epistula ad Probam virginem, Vita S. Severini – ed. P. Knöll 1885
Vol. 9/2 EUGIPPIUS, Excerpta ex operibus S. Augustini – ed. P. Knöll 1886
Vol. 10 SEDULIUS, Carmen paschale, Opus paschale, Epistulae – ed. J. Huemer 1885; editio altera supplementis aucta – cur. V. Panagl 2007
Vol. 11 CLAUDIANUS MAMERTUS, De statu animae, Epistula ad Sapaudum – ed. A. Engelbrecht 1885
Vol. 12 AUGUSTINUS, Speculum, Liber de divinis scripturis – ed. F. Weihrich 1887
Vol. 13 Iohannes CASSIANUS, Conlationes – ed. M. Petschenig 1886; editio altera supplementis aucta – cur. G. Kreuz 2004
Vol. 14 LUCIFER CALARITANUS, De non conveniendo cum haereticis, De regibus apostaticis, De sancto Athanasio, De non parcendo in deum delinquentibus, Moriendum esse pro dei filio, Epistulae – ed. W. Hartel 1886
Vol. 15 COMMODIANUS, Carmen apologeticum, Instructiones – ed. B. Dombart 1887
Vol. 16/1 Poetae Christiani Minores: PAULINUS PETRICORDIAE, Carmina – ed. M. Petschenig; ORIENTIUS, Carmina – ed. R. Ellis; PAULINUS PELLAEUS, Eucharisticos – ed. W. Brandes; CLAUDIUS MARIUS VICTOR, Alethia – ed. C. Schenkl; PROBA, Cento – ed. C. Schenkl; ANONYMUS, Sancti Paulini epigramma, Versus ad gratiam domini, De verbi incarnatione, De ecclesia – ed. C. Schenkl; 1888
Vol. 17 Iohannes CASSIANUS, De institutis coenobiorum et de octo principalium vitiorum remediis, De incarnatione Domini contra Nestorium – ed. M. Petschenig 1888; editio altera supplementis aucta – cur. G. Kreuz 2004
Vol.18 OROSIUS, Commonitorium de errore Priscillianistarum et Origenistarum – ed. G. Schepss 1889
Vol. 18 PRISCILLIANUS, Tractatus, Canones – ed. G. Schepss 1889
Vol. 19 LACTANTIUS, Divinae institutiones, Epitome divinarum institutionum – ed. S. Brandt 1890
Vol. 20 TERTULLIANUS, De spectaculis, De idololatria, Ad nationes, De testimonio animae, Scorpiace, De oratione, De baptismo, De ieiunio, De anima, De pudicitia – ed. A. Reifferscheid, G. Wissowa 1890
Vol. 21 FAUSTUS REIENSIS, Opera – ed. A. Engelbrecht 1891
Vol. 22 HILARIUS PICTAVIENSIS, Tractatus super psalmos – ed. A. Zingerle 1891
Vol. 23 ANONYMUS, (Cypriani) Carmen ad quendam senatorem – ed. R. Peiper 1881
Vol. 23 CYPRIANUS GALLUS, Heptateuchos, Fragmenta, De Sodoma, De Iona propheta; PSEUDO-HILARIUS, In Genesin ad Leonem papam, De martyrio Maccabaeorum, De evangelio – ed. R. Peiper 1891
Vol. 24 (bound with 23) IUVENCUS, Evangeliorum libri – ed. J. Huemer 1891
Vol. 25/1, 25/2 AUGUSTINUS, De utilitate credendi, De duabus animabus, Contra Fortunatum Manichaeum, Contra Adimantum, Contra epistulam fundamenti, Contra Faustum Manichaeum, Contra Felicem Manichaeum, De natura boni, Epistula Secundini, Contra Secundinum Manichaeum – ed. J. Zycha 1891/92
Vol. 26 OPTATUS MILEVITANUS, Contra Parmenianum Donatistam, Appendix decem monumentorum veterum – ed. C. Ziwsa 1893
Vol. 27/1 LACTANTIUS, De opificio dei, De ira dei, Carmina, Fragmenta – ed. S. Brandt 1893
Vol. 27/2.1 , 27/2.2 2 LACTANTIUS, De mortibus persecutorum – ed. S. Brandt, G. Laubmann 1897
Vol. 28/1 AUGUSTINUS, De Genesi ad litteram liber imperfectus, De Genesi ad litteram, Locutiones in Heptateuchum – ed. J. Zycha 1894
Vol. 28/3 AUGUSTINUS, Quaestiones in Heptateuchum, Adnotationes in Iob – ed. J. Zycha 1895
Vol. 29 PAULINUS NOLANUS, Epistulae – ed. W. Hartel 1894; editio altera supplementis aucta – cur. M. Kamptner 1999
Vol. 30 PAULINUS NOLANUS, Carmina; PAULINUS PELLAEUS, Oratio – ed. W. Hartel 1894; editio altera supplementis aucta – cur. M. Kamptner 1999
Vol. 31 EUCHERIUS, Opera – ed. C. Wotke 1894
Vol. 32/1 32-1 Praefatio AMBROSIUS, Hexameron, De paradiso, De Cain, De Noe, De Abraham, De Isaac, De bono mortis – ed. C. Schenkl 1896
Vol. 32/2 AMBROSIUS, De Iacob, De Ioseph, De patriarchis, De fuga saeculi, De interpellatione Iob et David, De apologia prophetae David, De Helia, De Nabuthae, De Tobia – ed. C. Schenkl 1897
Vol. 32/4 AMBROSIUS, Expositio evangelii secundum Lucam – ed. C. Schenkl 1902
Vol. 33 AUGUSTINUS, Confessiones – ed. P. Knöll 1896
Vol. 34/1 AUGUSTINUS, Epistulae 1-30 – ed. A. Goldbacher 1895
Vol. 34/2 AUGUSTINUS, Epistulae 31-123 – ed. A. Goldbacher 1898
Vol. 35/1–2 COLLECTIO AVELLANA, ed. O. Günther 1895, 1898
Vol. 36 AUGUSTINUS, Retractationes – ed. P. Knöll 1902
Vol. 37 CASSIODORUS, Contra Apionem – ed. C. Boysen 1898
Vol. 38 FILASTRIUS, Diversarum hereseon liber – ed. F. Marx 1898
Vol. 39 ITINERARIA HIEROSOLYMITANA – ed. P. Geyer 1898
Vol. 40/1–40/2 AUGUSTINUS, De civitate Dei – ed. E. Hoffmann 1899/1900
Vol. 41 AUGUSTINUS, De fide et symbolo, De fide et operibus, De agone christiano, De continentia, De bono coniugali, De virginitate, De bono viduitatis, De adulterinis coniugiis, De mendacio, Contra mendacium, De opere monachorum, De divinatione daemonum, De cura pro mortuis gerenda, De patientia – ed. J. Zycha 1900
Vol. 42 AUGUSTINUS, De perfectione iustitiae hominis, De gestis Pelagii, De gratia Christi, De nuptiis et concupiscentia – ed. C. F. Vrba, J. Zycha 1902
Vol. 43 AUGUSTINUS, De consensu evangelistarum – ed. F. Weihrich 1904
Vol. 44 AUGUSTINUS, Epistulae 124-184 – ed. A. Goldbacher 1904
Vol. 45 EVAGRIUS, Altercatio legis inter Simonem Iudaeum et Theophilum Christianum – ed. E. Bratke 1904
Vol. 46 RUFINUS, Interpretatio orationum Gregorii Nazianzeni – ed. A. Engelbrecht 1910
Vol. 47 TERTULLIANUS, De patientia, De carnis resurrectione, Adversus Hermogenem, Adversus Valentinianos, Adversus omnes haereses, Adversus Praxean, Adversus Marcionem – ed. E. Kroymann 1906
Vol. 48 BOETHIUS, In Prophyrii isagogen commenta – ed. S. Brandt 1906
Vol. 49 VICTORINUS PETAVIONENSIS, Opera – ed. J. Haussleiter 1916
Vol. 50 [AMBROSIASTER]       PSEUDO-AUGUSTINUS, Quaestiones veteris et novi testamenti – ed. A. Souter 1908
Vol. 51 AUGUSTINUS, Psalmus contra partem Donati, Contra epistulam Parmeniani, De baptismo – ed. M. Petschenig 1908
Vol. 52 AUGUSTINUS, Contra litteras Petiliani, Epistula ad catholicos de secta Donatistarum, Contra Cresconium grammaticum et Donatistam – ed. M. Petschenig 1909
Vol. 53 AUGUSTINUS, De unico baptismo, Breviculus collationis cum Donatistis, Contra partem Donati post gesta, Sermo ad Caesariensis ecclesiae plebem, Gesta cum Emerito Donatistarum episcopo, Contra Gaudentium Donatistarum episcopum – ed. M. Petschenig 1910
Vol. 54 HIERONYMUS, Epistulae 1-70 – ed. I. Hilberg 1910/1918; editio altera supplementis aucta 1996
Vol. 55 HIERONYMUS, Epistulae 71-120 – ed. I. Hilberg 1910/1918; editio altera supplementis aucta 1996
Vol. 56/1 HIERONYMUS, Epistulae 121-154 – ed. I. Hilberg 1910/1918; editio altera supplementis aucta 1996
Vol. 56/2 HIERONYMUS, Epistularum Indices – comp. M. Kamptner 1996
Vol. 57 AUGUSTINUS, Epistulae 185-270 – ed. A. Goldbacher 1911
Vol. 58 AUGUSTINUS, Epistulae: Praefatio et indices – ed. A. Goldbacher 1923
Vol. 59 HIERONYMUS, In Hieremiam prophetam – ed. S. Reiter 1913
Vol. 60 AUGUSTINUS, De peccatorum meritis et remissione et de baptismo parvulorum, De spiritu et littera, De natura et gratia, De natura et origine animae, Contra duas epistulas Pelagianorum – ed. C. F. Vrba, J. Zycha 1913
Vol. 61 PRUDENTIUS, Carmina – ed. J. Bergman 1926
Vol. 62 AMBROSIUS, Expositio de psalmo CXVIII – ed. M. Petschenig 1913, editio altera supplementis aucta – cur. M. Zelzer 1999
Vol. 63 AUGUSTINUS, Contra Academicos, De beata vita, De ordine – ed. P. Knöll 1922
Vol. 64 AMBROSIUS, Explanatio super psalmos XII – ed. M. Petschenig 1919; editio altera supplementis aucta – cur. M. Zelzer 1999
Vol. 65 HILARIUS PICTAVIENSIS, Tractatus mysteriorum, Fragmenta, Ad Constantium Imperatorem, Hymni; PSEUDO-HILARIUS, Epistula ad Abram filiam, Hymni – ed. A. Feder 1916
Vol. 66/1 HEGESIPPUS, Historiae – ed. V. Ussani 1932
Vol. 66/2 HEGESIPPUS, Historiae: Praefatio et indices – comp. C. Mras 1960
Vol. 67 BOETHIUS, De consolatione philosophiae – ed. W. Weinberger 1934
Vol. 68 GAUDENTIUS BRIXIENSIS, Tractatus – ed. A. Glück 1936
Vol. 69 TERTULLIANUS, Apologeticum – ed. H. Hoppe 1939
Vol. 70 TERTULLIANUS, De praescriptione haereticorum, De cultu feminarum, Ad uxorem, De exhortatione castitatis, De corona, De carne Christi, Adversus Iudaeos – ed. E. Kroymann 1942
Vol. 71 CASSIODORUS, Historia tripartita – ed. W. Jacob, R. Hanslik 1952
Vol. 72 ARATOR SUBDIACONUS, De actibus apostolorum (Historia apostolica) – ed. McKinlay 1951
Vol. 73 AMBROSIUS, Explanatio symboli, De sacramentis, De mysteriis, De paenitentia, De excessu fratris Satyri, De obitu Valentiniani, De obitu Theodosii – ed. O. Faller 1955
Vol. 74 AUGUSTINUS, De libero arbitrio – ed. W. M. Green 1956
Vol. 75 BENEDICTUS NURSINUS, Regula – ed. R. Hanslik 1960 (editio altera et correcta 1977)
Vol. 76 TERTULLIANUS, Ad martyras, Ad Scapulam, De fuga in persecutione, De monogamia, De virginibus velandis, De pallio – ed. V. Bulhart 1957
Vol. 76 TERTULLIANUS, De paenitentia – ed. Ph. Borleffs 1957
Vol. 77 AUGUSTINUS, De magistro – ed. G. Weigel 1961
Vol. 77 AUGUSTINUS, De vera religione – ed. W. M. Green 1961
Vol. 78 AMBROSIUS, De fide ad Gratianum Augustum – ed. O. Faller 1962
Vol. 79 AMBROSIUS, De spiritu sancto, De incarnationis dominicae sacramento – ed. O. Faller 1964
Vol. 80 AUGUSTINUS, De doctrina christiana – ed. W. M. Green 1963
Vol. 81/1-3 AMBROSIASTER, Commentarius in epistulas Paulinas – ed. H. J. Vogels
Vol. 82/1-4 AMBROSIUS, Epistulae et acta – ed. O. Faller, M. Zelzer 1968-1996
Vol. 83/1 MARIUS VICTORINUS, Ad Candidum Arrianum, Adversus Arium, De homoousio recipiendo, Hymni – ed. P. Henry, P. Hadot 1971
Vol. 83/2 MARIUS VICTORINUS, In epistulam Pauli ad Ephesios, In epistulam Pauli ad Galatas, In epistulam Pauli ad Philippenses – ed. F. Gori 1986
Vol. 84 AUGUSTINUS, Expositio quarumdam propositionum ex epistula ad Romanos, Epistulae ad Galatas expositio, Epistulae ad Romanos inchoata expositio – ed. J. Divjak 1971
Vol. 85/1-2 AUGUSTINUS, Contra secundam Iuliani responsionem opus imperfectum, lib. 1-3; 4-6 – ed. M. Zelzer 1974; 2004
Vol. 86 RUFINUS, Basili regula – ed. K. Zelzer 1986
Vol. 87 EUGIPPIUS, Regula – ed. F. Villegas, A. De Vogüé 1976
Vol. 88 AUGUSTINUS, Epistulae nuper in lucem prolatae (Epistulae Divjak) – ed. J. Divjak 1981
Vol. 89 AUGUSTINUS, Soliloquia, De inmortalitate animae, De quantitate animae – ed. W. Hörmann 1986
Vol. 90 AUGUSTINUS, De moribus ecclesiae catholicae et de moribus Manichaeorum – ed. J. B. Bauer 1992
Vol. 91 AUGUSTINUS, De Genesi contra Manichaeos – ed. D. Weber 1998
Vol. 92 AUGUSTINUS, Contra sermonem Arrianorum (praecedit Sermo Arrianorum) – ed. M. J. Suda, De correptione et gratia – ed. G. Folliet 2000
Vol. 93/1 AUGUSTINUS, Enarrationes in Psalmos 1-32 (expos.) – ed. C. Weidmann 2003
Vol. 94/1 AUGUSTINUS, Enarrationes in Psalmos 51-60 (expos.) – ed. H. Müller 2004
Vol. 95/3 AUGUSTINUS, Enarrationes in Psalmos 119-133 – ed. F. Gori 2001
Vol. 95/4 AUGUSTINUS, Enarrationes in Psalmos 134-140 – ed. F. Gori adiuvante F. Recanatini 2002
Vol. 95/5 AUGUSTINUS, Enarrationes in Psalmos 141-150 – ed. F. Gori adiuvante I. Spaccia 2005
Vol. 96 ANONYMUS, In Iob commentarius – ed. K. B. Steinhauser adiuvantibus H. Müller et D. Weber 2006

UPDATE: Bob Buller very kindly sent me a bunch of extra links to fill the gaps on this, and I have added them in.  Thank you!
UPDATE: A correspondent is sending me some corrections, which I am merging in.

UPDATE: More links here.

UPDATE: Thanks to Ted Janiszewski for some more!

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Doubts about the discovery at Nag Hammadi, and some comments on papyrology

Posted on by Roger Pearse

Mark Goodacre has posted some comments on his blog by a couple of scholars casting doubt on how the Nag Hammadi codices were found.  I’ve added to his post a fairly long comment about some of the scholarly rivalries behind all this.  But you can read it there.

It led to me recall my own limited experiences with papyrologists.  I’ve found a lot of them seem like jealous misers, hoarding material that should be published.  There are a couple of scholars out there who have unique access to a papyrus codex of a Greek mathematical treatise. 

This was sold to dealers in Switzerland along with the ps.Gospel of Judas codex, and travelled the same ruinous past.  The codex was cut up into separate pages by the US art dealer Bruce Ferrini, of evil reputation these days, and sold to at least two different groups of people.

But they haven’t published it.  One of them informed me graciously that he had more important things to do.  That is, more important than sharing with the world the one bit of unique material that he had, which no-one could work on until he finished doing his other little tasks.  Perhaps I didn’t understand him properly, but I felt exasperated at this.

Nor is this a unique occurrence.  We all know how the scholars working on the Dead Sea Scrolls hoarded them, preventing any but a favoured few from accessing the material while they worked in a very leisurely way to produce editions which they expected would make their own names.  The Nag Hammadi codices were monopolised by a bunch of scholars in a very similar way until James M. Robinson found a way to break the cartel and publish all the material.  No doubt they would still be unpublished, but for him. 

This isn’t just a modern phenomenon.  Henry Tattam ca. 1840 travelled to the Nitrian desert in Egypt and purchased a huge number of Syriac texts from the monastery of St. Mary Deipara (Deir al-Suryani), which he sent to the British Library.  But the curator, William Cureton, reserved what he considered to be the most interesting texts for himself to publish, which he did over the next 20 years!  While this had the fortunate consequence of forcing other scholars to edit less interesting material which might not otherwise have attracted attention, it was a supremely selfish thing to do.

Selfishness, it seems, is too often a characteristic of papyrologists.  While I write to all sorts of people, my attempts to communicate with papyrologists are generally futile.  It is as if a clique exists, which excludes rather than includes.  Yet the number of people who would like to work in the field but cannot obtain teaching posts is sufficiently large that I have met several examples at the Oxford Patristics Conference, which I tend to attend for just a single day every four years.

I remember when the late Carsten Peter Thiede proposed his idea that some fragments of the gospels at Magdalen College Oxford were in fact first century.  The media were all over it, which of course was good.  After all, it was media interest in the fragments of the ps.gospel of Thomas from Oxyrhynchus ca. 1900 that produced funding for the work there for several years.  But the response of papyrologists was a sustained campaign of vitriol.  Thiede himself was a papyrologist, and he had found a way to promote the subject to the mass media.  But ranks were closed firmly against him.  Any Thiede-enthusiast could expect only abuse.

It is unnecessary to consider whether Thiede’s theory was right.  I think the excellent T.C.Skeat successfully showed that it was not, and why, in a model article.  But who cares?  He brought the wider world into contact with a discipline that almost never gets any media coverage.  The coverage it does get is not of the kind that will bring in students and funding.  Thiede had found a way past that — and his peers never forgave him, and the opportunity was squandered.

Since Thiede was also a Christian, I cannot help wondering whether religious animus contributed.  The efforts of Paul Mirecki to use papyrological discoveries to promote his own curious views attracted no such contempt, after all.  But if so, I wish that the scholars had been more professional.  And they could be very unprofessional.  The introduction to Graham Stanton’s Gospel Truth? in paperback contained, if memory serves me, a bitter attack on Thiede in terms that would have earned Stanton a punch in the face in any pub in Britain.  How did this benefit anyone?  If Thiede could persuade churches to fund an expedition to find books, as at Oxyrhynchus, wouldn’t that we wonderful?  Probably any one US mid-western mega-church could easily find more funds than the whole discipline currently receives.  Why turn this down?

In Egypt, under the sands, there are any number of papyrus codices as yet undiscovered.  Nearly all those discovered in the last 30 years were found by peasants by accident and sold to art dealers.  Many doubtless perished; although since the Cairo dealers know that these are worth real money in the west and maintain agents in rural districts who will give cash down for antiquities, most are probably saved from the cruder fate of the fireplace.  But no serious scholarly effort to recover these books is being made.  Meanwhile texts are hidden, or lost, or sold, while cliques squabble.  It is enough to make any man despair.

We need a new movement in papyrology.  We need an attitude of openness, of enthusiasm to share.  We need the scholar who hides material to be treated like the one who falsifies it.  We need progress!

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Lying awake and thinking about Eusebius

Posted on by Roger Pearse

These days I seem to get insomnia the night before any journey. I wish I knew why.

Anyway tonight I find myself thinking about the Tough questions on the gospels and their solutions by Eusebius of Caesarea.  I’ve had all the Greek fragments translated, even the ones which largely duplicate other fragments.  The question now is how to present all this material?  What will work, for the reader?

In an ideal world, we’d create a critical text.  Then we’d translate that.  But this work is highly non-ideal.

For one thing, we have an epitome of the work; and we have catena fragments of the full text.  Can we really integrate these into one critical text?  They never were one text, at any point in their life.  Claudio Zamagni, who edited the epitome for the Sources Chretiennes, thought not. 

OK, so we have two works.  So we use Zamagni’s critical text of the epitome and translate that (and we did).  What do we do about all the catena fragments?

The thing is, it isn’t simple.  These fragments belong to a number of different catenas.  Catena writers ‘adjust’ the texts they quote, adding words at either end, modifying tenses, etc, in order to get a flowing commentary out of them.  No blame to them; but how on earth do you do a critical edition of that?  Unless you edit the catena, which we aren’t doing.

Do we try to combine fragments?  But… we’re not editing the Greek of the fragments.  Anyway, all we have is stuff already published, as I wasn’t really able to access the manuscripts.

Or do we have the same basic idea, repeated five times in slightly varying forms on the page?

How do I combine these with the epitome?  Do I have the epitome first, and then all the fragments?  Or do I print each “question” in the epitome, and then add related fragments underneath (with a bucket at the end for fragments of unknown relation to the epitome, belonging to “questions” not preserved by it).  I sort of favour the last alternative, because it would be more usable for a reader who wants to know what Eusebius said on a given subject.  But it breaks up the flow of the work.

It’s going to be an unusual publication, that’s for sure.  It won’t be specially scholarly.  To produce anything more than a translation of the lot, in some order or other, is beyond my means, given the problems of the text.

Decisions, decisions — and suggestions very welcome!

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Sisyphus and Wikipedia

Posted on by Roger Pearse

I’ve spent a few hours over the last week or two trying to clean up the Wikipedia article, and got it into some kind of shape.  It has taken but a few days for someone (anonymous!) to turn up and start reintroducing rubbish that I had removed.   I added a whole load of valuable data; his change was to globally alter AD to the American/Jewish CE.  Well, that was useful, wasn’t it?

Can I have my hours of life back please?

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Stephen of Alexandria’s fourth lecture on alchemy before the emperor Heraclius

Posted on by Roger Pearse

The philosopher Stephen (or Stephanos) of Alexandria delivered a series of lectures ca. 620 AD in Constantinople at the court of the emperor Heraclius.  These were concerned with alchemy, in the main.

The fourth lecture begins:

Of the same Stephanos on that which is in actuality the fourth lecture with the help of God

Every good gift and every perfect gift from above is came down from the Father of Lights.  Therefore calling upon Jesus the light of the father, which <light> is the true effulgence of light, shining upon every man that cometh into the world.  For he is the light and the truth and the light, the supreme Deity’s word of God, the wisdom and power the wisdom of God, ready for all and ineffable, the living word of the Father, being God and (?) every being directed towards God, he who by whom all things came into being, he who furnishes light to the faithful for them to know the gnosis of beings and to hymn the mighty works of the all ???ing God.  For he is the dispenser and saviour of the cosmos, he illuminates our intellect (nou=j) and hearts and makes to shine for us a light, shining down for us upon the unsearchable (/not to be searched out) depths of his gnosis and wisdom, to the true and apranh~ (not in L+S; pranh~j s??? for prunhj = prene?) gnosis [2] of knowing thee the only (dm?oousik?) and living and true God of us, the holy and consubstantial triad, the all life-giving Father and Son and Holy Spirit, now and ever and to all ages of ages, Amen.

It is then needful for us to refute the e0mpiplegmena (? … ? fulfilments e0mpimplhmi) issuing from ancient and virtuous men allegorically and variously and to unveil their sparks in their writings, by our grace from above, both to seek (or ? are these passive) out and to discover and display the same hidden mystery.  We come to the question and problem of their systematisation according to intelligent men listening-as-pupils we learn what indeed the philosopher intends to have spoken before.  Speak, O philosopher, and tell us the better way, by which the whole life of men is hastened (pressed down, overpowered), concerning which the multitude blindly desiring it, labour in vain.  Speak to us of the experienced and fire-hot flame, begin the problem of the word.  Uncover thy gifts.  For we serve the living God.  But O holy flock and lovers of wisdom, who wish to discover this, in (? dative) the consideration directed toward God [3] they are won…

OK, that’s not very clear, is it?  That’s because I was transcribing it from a photocopy of a handwritten translation which I could barely read.  The translation itself was forgotten, and rediscovered by me physically sorting through the papers of F. Sherwood Taylor at the Oxford Museum of the History of Science.  Lectures 1-3 were translated by him and printed in Ambix before WW2.  He made a first draft of the fourth, but never revised or published it, and its existence was forgotten.

In 2012 is the 75th anniversay of Ambix.  Wouldn’t it be nice if a paper by Sherwood Taylor, one of the founders of the journal, appeared there for the first time?  I thought so anyway, so I wrote to the editor, Peter Morris, and told him about the translation.  He’s interested. 

Of course there are problems.  Firstly, we need a transcription.  I’ve passed the PDF over to some people interested in alchemy in the US, who may or may not transcribe it.  My contact is a little vague about what they’re doing with their alchemical transcriptions; I hope they’re not all trying to find the philosopher’s stone for real or something!

Secondly, the translation is not fit for publication as it stands.  Sherwood Taylor would revise his translations several times.  His first draft was handwritten; then he typed it up, and corrected that.  Then he typed up a new version, incorporating the corrections, and corrected that, and so on until he was happy.  At least four revisions of the other lectures 1-3 are among his papers.

So I have placed a post in CLASSICS-L asking for anyone competent in Greek and with knowledge of alchemy.  I’ve already had a potential reply.

If all these people can be linked together, we will get a result!

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Ever heard of the Cyranides?

Posted on by Roger Pearse

Did you know that there is an ancient Greek text called the Cyranides?  I certainly didn’t, until I saw a message in CLASSICS-L.  A good article in Wikipedia tells me that it is a 4th century AD compilation in four books of Hermetic magical/medical texts, amulets, etc.  An English translation exists of book 1.

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Ancient references to Montanism

Posted on by Roger Pearse

Daniel R. Jennings writes to say that he has compiled all the ancient references to Montanism in English into a single page.  This must be useful to everyone, I would have thought.  It’s at:

http://danielrjennings.org/AncientReferencesToMontanism.html

He adds:

I have attempted to compile ancient and medieval references to Montanism (the 2nd-6th century heretical group) from patristic literature. I ended up collecting references from the 2nd-12th centuries and then attempted to list them chronologically. There are a few texts that were not included but the majority of the ancient texts relating to Montanism are here (a total of some 100 pages if printed out on 8.5 x 11). For me it was a labor of love, something that I am sure you can sympathize with when it comes to the study of patristics. There are a few things that I would like to add in the future (I know that there is room for improvement to include more bibliographic data and the remaining missing texts) but I think that for the moment this can provide an excellent resource for anyone curious about the Montanists. To my knowledge there is nothing this extensive anywhere else on the web.

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The Stapleton manuscripts in Oxford

Posted on by Roger Pearse

An email brings news of an interesting collection of papers in the Museum of Science in Oxford.  These are the papers of H.E.Stapleton, who was a contributor to Ambix, the scholarly journal of Alchemy, along with F. Sherwood Taylor who translated Stephen of Alexandria.  I’ve also been sent a catalogue of the manuscripts, which are mainly Arabic or Syriac.  There are copious unpublished translations into English from unpublished Arabic alchemical manuscripts.  There are 40+ Arabic manuscripts, mostly late copies.  My eye falls on correspondance with Louis Cheikho in Beirut about the library there.  There are also translations from the German of published articles.

An sample entry is this (some extra formatting by me for readability):

136   Notebook, containing R. F. Azo’s edited Arabic text of Ibn Sina=s treatise for As-Sahli, and translations of the treatises of Jamas, Asfidus, and Agathodaimon

  • Uniform volume with L 134 and L 135; no signature or date, but instructions to R. F. Azo from HES preceding first item;
  • edited Arabic text, with footnotes (comparing 2 Arabic manuscripts, A and B, and a Latin version, as if for publication), of Ibn Sina’s treatise for As-Sahli, by R. F. Azo, with various notes and slips added by HES (including passages of Arabic in his hand, especially from Ar-Razi) [this part of the notebook is thus c.1903-05; the text in MS STAPLETON 47 seems to be a virtually exact copy; HES intended to publish the Arabic text in his projected work on Ibn Sina’s two alchemical treatises, but it was not included in the version of the article published posthumously in Ambix, 1962];
  • HES’s translations of the three related treatises by
    • Jamas (beginning ‘The Risalah of Jamas the Sage to Ardashir, the King, on the Hidden Secret …‘),
    • Asfidus (‘The Book of Asfidus on the Wisdom to Aflarus’),
    • and [other way, reading from back of notebook] Agathodaimon from the Cairo manuscript (beginning ‘The Treatise of Aghatadimun the Great which he delivered when about to die to his pupils. It is known by the name of Risalatu-l-Hadar …‘), latter dated at beginning July 4, 1926 [cf. Turab ‘Ali’s analysis of the Cairo majmu`a, dated July 5, 1926; all 3 translations here are of about this date; TSS in L 109];
  • [loose inserts] some related loose inserts.

I cannot say that alchemy interests me.  But I really feel that material such as this should be online and accessible.  Much of it is in typescript.  Here we have an edited critical edition of an Arabic text, sitting forgotten in a basement.  Mss. 50-138 are full of interest.

My correspondant probably would like me to go to Oxford and photocopy some of it, and I suppose I could, although there is far too much to do in a day.  But really he should go himself, and work with the papers.  After all, most of the authors are just names to me, and I would probably miss stuff of the highest importance.

But considering the quantity of unpublished English material, these papers really should go online.

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Patrologia Graeca online

Posted on by Roger Pearse

Adrian Murdoch writes:

I often find that these links get out of date pretty rapidly, so here is the latest one I have come across. The Ancient World Online links to the complete Patrologia Graeca in a pretty user-friendly downloadable pdf format. From the Library of Ruslan Khazarzar.

The PDF’s are not just images, but text.

NOTE: My collection of PDF’s of page images is here.

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On Martial’s flattery of Domitian

Posted on by Roger Pearse

For the last few days I have been reading the epigrams of Martial, in the two volume Loeb edition with parallel Latin and English.  Many of the epigrams throw a great deal of light on what it was like to live in ancient Rome.  Some are intentionally obscene, and done in order to sell more copies, as Martial makes plain.  The Loeb rightly gives an Italian version instead of an English one.  Others say how copies of the books may be obtained, and so throw light upon the Roman book trade. 

Others again describe events in the arena, and give an idea of how its religious purposes had been corrupted.  Scaevola burned off his hand rather than betray the Republic; to entertain the crowd, a criminal is forced to do the same, by threats of being burned alive.  In the process the value of Scaevola’s heroism is diminished in the eyes of everyone.  Likewise other mythological events are re-enacted, and likewise debased.  Thus did the Romans lose their own sense of identity.

But one element in the epigrams has attracted comment.  Many of the epigrams flatter Domitian.  In some cases, they ask the emperor directly for money or favours.  In many others they refer to him as Lord and God, in fulsome tones.  These grow more numerous and more fulsome as book succeeds book.  Book eight, indeed, is dedicated to Domitian and begins with a letter of flattery so thick that we can only associate it with unfree societies.

Rome was a despotism.  To incur the ire of the emperor was to risk property and exile, or even your life.  In such a society, formal expressions of loyalty become essential.  It is telling how these become more frequent as we read through the work.  Early expressions of flattery are perhaps no worse than some that Pliny the Younger uses about Trajan.  By book five, the servile note is strong.  By book six, Martial is obliged to insert epigrams disclaiming any possibility that “poems dipped in venom” against the emperor are his, and repeat it in book seven.  Each mention of the emperor is more lush than the last, each book contains more poems of flattery than the last.

Doubtless it was dangerous to do otherwise.  But perhaps this too reflects the progress of Domitian’s tyranny.  To praise the emperor for his reforms was one thing.  Martial has fun with the way in which Domitian’s revival of the lex Julia restricting the first fourteen rows of seats in the arena for the knights has affected Romans who perhaps are not as wealthy as they pretend; and we can all enjoy this.  But this note disappears after a while.  It might be disrespectful, after all; and disrespect could only be dangerous.

After the overthrow of Domitian, Martial attempts to flatter Nerva and Trajan, but his heart is not in it.  Doubtless he found that this was met with mockery.  The victors in civil discord are always arrogant, and there was no lack of people with scores to settle.  It is telling that he left Rome, and went to Bilbilis in Spain, his native country.  Perhaps he feared exile.  But he found it a poor substitute for the metropolis, and seems to have been lonely for the City.  No doubt he was.

It was Martial’s misfortune to live and write in despotic times, and to find himself in a current of misplaced loyalty that in the end swept him away.  Yet, had he not done so, who knows if he would have written anything?  Whatever his own misfortunes, he managed to write something that men have not willingly let die. 

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