Julian the apostate and the magician

Posted on by Roger Pearse

From Eunapius, Lives of the Philosophers and Sophists, on Maximus the theurgist:

But Eusebius [of Myndus], at least when Maximus was present, used to avoid precise and exact divisions of a disputation and dialectical devices and subtleties; though when Maximus was not there he would shine out like a bright star, with a light like the sun’s; such was the facility and charm that flowered in his discourses. Chrysanthius too was there to applaud and assent, while Julian [the apostate] actually reverenced Eusebius. At the close of his exposition Eusebius would add that these are the only true realities, whereas the impostures of witchcraft and magic that cheat the senses are the works of conjurors who are insane men led astray into the exercise of earthly and material powers. …

 … when the next lecture took place, Eusebius ended with the same words as before, and Julian boldly asked him what was the meaning of the epilogue that he perpetually recited. Thereupon Eusebius spread the sails of the eloquence that was his by nature, and giving free rein to his powers of speech said:

“Maximus is one of the older and more learned students, who, because of his lofty genius and superabundant eloquence scorned all logical proof in these subjects and impetuously resorted to the acts of a madman. Not long since, he invited us to the temple of Hecate and summoned many witnesses of his folly. When we had arrived there and had saluted the goddess: ‘Be seated,’ said he, ‘my well-beloved friends, and observe what shall come to pass, and how greatly I surpass the common herd.’ When he had said this, and we had all sat down, he burned a grain of incense and recited to himself the whole of some hymn or other, and was so highly successful in his demonstration that the image of the goddess first began to smile, then even seemed to laugh aloud. We were all much disturbed by this sight, but he said: ‘Let none of you be terrified by these things, for presently even the torches which the goddess holds in her hands shall kindle into flame.’ And before he could finish speaking the torches burst into a blaze of light.

Now for the moment we came away amazed by that theatrical miracle-worker. But you must not marvel at any of these things, even as I marvel not, but rather believe that the thing of the highest importance is that purification of the soul which is attained by reason.”

However, when the sainted Julian heard this, he said: “Nay, farewell and devote yourself to your books. You have shown me the man I was in search of.”

And off he went to find Maximus instead, to learn as much as he could about magic and theurgy.  Soon afterwards (letter 2 in Wright’s version) he is found writing to Priscus, one of his friends for a copy of the commentary of Iamblichus on Julianus the theurgist.

Julian the Apostate had the good fortune to have his reign recorded by Ammianus Marcellinus, a first-rate historian and one sympathetic to him, in terms that appeal strongly to modern readers.  But it is worth remembering that Julian was not a 19th century rationalist, as some modern accounts might lead the reader to suppose.

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From my diary

Posted on by Roger Pearse

Back to work!  And suddenly what I think of as my real life slows to a crawl…

The proof-reader for the Origen volume is going great guns.  He’s picked up a lot of niggles of one sort of another, which won’t take much time to fix but would have looked bad.  It was a very good idea to get another pair of eyes on this.

Meanwhile the lady who is typing up al-Makin is also making good progress typing the Arabic text of the second part as printed by Erpenius in 1625.  She’s done 30 pages so far (out of 300).

The French National Library have tried to sell me a microfilm – the actual acetate film – of two manuscripts of al-Makin.  They got huffy when I queried whether it was an electronic PDF, and didn’t tell me what I should have asked.  Hate petty officials.  They will sell me a microfilm for 50 euros; a monochrome (!) PDF for 90 euros.  They should be ashamed to be doing either.  Oh well.

It will be interesting to see if the typist can work with a manuscript image as well as with Erpenius.

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From my diary

Posted on by Roger Pearse

I’ve spent today driving up to Cambridge to visit the university library.  My object was to obtain some articles by R. Delmaire on the subject of Chrysostom’s letters.  For the most part I was able to obtain these; although I was disappointed to discover that the latest available volume of one serial was not shelved or accessible.  I’m reading into them at the moment.  R. Delmaire’s 1991 study examined the letters, and reordered them by date.  The order in the Benedictine edition (and the PG) isn’t even that of the manuscripts!

The Letters of Chrysostom project is not mine, so I won’t say a lot about this.  But I have also discovered a list of the opening words of all of the letters at the Sources Chretiennes site here (PDF).

Equally useful, I have discovered a list of the works of Chrysostom at the same site, with the Clavis Patrum Graecorum number for them all, here (PDF).

I’ve also received from the Lebanese typist the next 10 pages of the transcription of al-Makin’s world history.  This is taken from the 1625 Erpenius edition, which has the merit of being printed.  Once we get to the end of this – for Erpenius died before he could complete editing the text – I shall have to try the typist on a PDF of a microfilm manuscript.

An email has arrived today from the Bibliothèque Nationale Français, containing an estimate for reproductions of two manuscripts of al-Makin.  They require 50 euros each, plus 10 euros for “shipping” (why?) plus M. Hollande’s tax on top of that, totalling around 130 euros, or nearly $190!  Quite a bit for 2 PDF’s!  Worse still, they propose to supply me with scans from microfilms — at least, I hope these are scans, for the estimate says only “microfilm”.  And these will be black and white, and quite possibly unreadable.  I have a lot of time for the BNF, but this is shameful.  For that price they could at least photograph the things with a consumer digital camera and supply me with some decent images!  I shall have to pay the blackmail – it is, at least, less than the Bodleian is demanding – but it is a salutary reminder, in these days of digitisation, how bad things were and still are in some places.

Onward!

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Basil the Great discusses twitter, blogging and online discussion fora

Posted on by Roger Pearse

From On the Holy Spirit, 1.1:

I admire your proposing questions not for the sake of testing, as many now do, but to discover the truth itself. For now a great many people listen to and question us to find fault. . . . [T]he questions of many contain a hidden and elaborate bait, like the hunters’ snare and the military ambush. These are the people who throw out words, not so that they may receive something useful from them, but so that they may seem to have a just pretext for war if they find answers that do not accord with their own liking.

Via Joel J. Miller, quoting a modern translation.

The work of Basil on the Holy Spirit may be found in the old NPNF translation here.  It is addressed to his brother Amphilochius, another of the Cappadocian fathers.  After a couple of sentences we find:

And this in you yet further moves my admiration, that you do not, according to the manners of the most part of the men of our time, propose your questions by way of mere test, but with the honest desire to arrive at the actual truth.

There is no lack in these days of captious listeners and questioners; but to find a character desirous of information, and seeking the truth as a remedy for ignorance, is very difficult.

Just as in the hunter’s snare, or in the soldier’s ambush, the trick is generally ingeniously concealed, so it is with the inquiries of the majority of the questioners who advance arguments, not so much with the view of getting any good out of them, as in order that, in the event of their failing to elicit answers which chime in with their own desires, they may seem to have fair ground for controversy.

Anybody who has encountered atheist “questions” about Christianity online will be very familiar indeed with this form of trickery.  It is generally advisable, if we have reason to suspect that our enquirer is really phrasing a statement as a question, to ask a question about his own beliefs in return.  This will be dodged, for such “enquirers” have no desire to query their own beliefs.  Most of them live by convenience; I invariably say so, and ask why.  The answers are rarely satisfactory, but it at least puts a stop to the pleasant game of throwing stones at any Christian who may be entrapped into being their target.

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A catena fragment of Eusebius on Psalm 29:7

Posted on by Roger Pearse

John Literal has sent me a translation made for him by Peter Papoutsis of a catena fragment discussing Daniel, and attributed to our old friend Eusebius.  He has kindly allowed me to post it here.  The biblical passage being commented on is Psalm 29:7.

Εὐσεβίου Καισαρείας ῥητοῦ προκειμένου, Φωνὴ Κυρίου διακόπτοντος φλόγα πυρός.

[00003] Διεκόπη μὲν ἐν τῇ Βαβυλῶνι ἡ φλὸξ τοῦ πυρὸς διακοπεῖσα τῷ προστάγματι τοῦ Θεοῦ· [00004] ἐδέξατο ἐν αὐτῇ ἡδίστην ἀναπνοὴν καὶ ἀναψυχὴν, ὥσπερ ἐν σκιᾷ τινι φυτῶν ἐν εἰρηνικῇ καταστάσει παρεχομένη τοῖς παισίν· [00005] ἐγένετο γὰρ, φησὶ, ὡσεὶ πνεῦμα δρόσου διασυρίζον. [00006] γʹ. [00007] Ὡσεὶ Υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου. [00008] Εὐσεβίου Καισαρείας. [00009] Σαφῶς ἡγοῦμαι δηλοῦσθαι τὴν καθόλου κρίσιν, ὅτε πάντες οἱ ἐξ αἰῶνος ἄνθρωποι παραστήσονται τῷ βήματι τοῦ Χριστοῦ· [00010] μετὰ δὲ τὴν τῶν τετελευτηκότων ἀναβίωσιν, καὶ μετὰ τὴν κατὰ πάντων κρίσιν, ὁ ἑωραμένος τῷ Δανιὴλ Υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου ἐπιστήσεται ἐπὶ νεφελῶν, τὴν κατὰ πάντων τῶν λαῶν καὶ φυλῶν ὑπὸ τοῦ Πατρὸς ἐξουσίαν, τὴν καὶ βασιλείαν ἀγήρω καὶ ἀτελεύτητον παραληψόμενος· [00011] ὡς καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ Σωτὴρ ἡμῶν περὶ ἑαυτοῦ διδάσκει λέγων· [00012] Ὅτε δὲ ἔλθῃ ὁ Υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐν τῇ δόξῃ αὐτοῦ, καὶ πάντες οἱ ἄγγελοι μετ’ αὐτοῦ, τότε καθίσει ἐπὶ θρόνου δόξης αὐτοῦ, καὶ συναχθήσεται ἔμπροσθεν αὐτοῦ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς· [00013] συνᾴδει γοῦν ταῦτα ταῖς ἐν χερσὶν μαρτυρίαις τῆς τοῦ Δανιὴλ προφητείας, καθ’ ἣν λέλεκται· [00014] Καὶ ἰδοὺ μετὰ τῶν νεφελῶν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ὡς Υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου ἐρχόμενος ἦν· [00015] καὶ, Ἕως τοῦ Παλαιοῦ τῶν ἡμερῶν ἔφθασεν· [00016] καὶ προσηνέχθη αὐτῷ, καὶ ἐδόθη αὐτῷ ἡ ἀρχὴ καὶ ἡ τιμὴ καὶ ἡ βασιλεία, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. [00017] δʹ. [00018] Αὐτῷ ἐδόθη ἡ ἀρχή. [00019] Εὐσεβίου. [00020] Οὐ μόνον τὴν τοῦ Υἱοῦ ἀνθρώπου βασιλείαν ὁ προφήτης θεσπίζει, ἀλλὰ καὶ πλείονα, περὶ ὧν φησι. [00021] εʹ. [00022] Καὶ παραλήψονται τὴν βασιλείαν. [00023] Εὐσεβίου Καισαρείας. [00024] Συμβασιλεύοντες δηλαδὴ καὶ αὐτοὶ τῷ Θεῷ. [00025] Τίνες δ’ ἂν εἶεν οὗτοι, ἢ οἱ κληρονόμοι τοῦ Θεοῦ, συγκληρονόμοι δὲ Χριστοῦ; [00026] οἷς καὶ ἐπήγγελται, τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν, βασιλείαν ἐπιστησομένην τὴν μετὰ τέσσαρας βασιλείας, τὰς τῷ προφήτῃ ἑωραμένας, περὶ ὧν ὡς ἐν βραχέσιν ἀρτίως διειλήφαμεν. [00027] Ἐντεῦθεν οἶμαι τὸν ἀπόστολον Παῦλον [24.528] ὁρμᾶσθαι περὶ τῆς δευτέρας ἀφίξεως τοῦ Χριστοῦ γράφοντα τοιάδε· [00028] Ὅτι αὐτὸς ὁ Κύριος ἐν κελεύσματι, ἐν φωνῇ ἀρχαγγέλου καὶ ἐν σάλπιγγι Θεοῦ καταβήσεται ἀπ’ οὐρανοῦ, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. [00029] Ὁδ’ αὐτὸς ἀπόστολος καὶ τὴν ὑστάτην τοῦ Ἀντιχρίστου ἄφιξιν τὴν καὶ ἀπώλειαν, καὶ ἐπὶ ταύτῃ τὴν τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἔνδοξον παρουσίαν ἀκολούθως τῇ προφητείᾳ παρίστησι λέγων· [00030] Μήτις ὑμᾶς ἐξαπατήσῃ κατὰ μηδένα τρόπον· [00031] ὅτι ἐὰν μὴ ἔλθῃ ἡ ἀποστασία πρῶτον, καὶ ἀποκαλυφθῇ ὁ ἄνθρωπος τῆς ἁμαρτίας, ὁ υἱὸς τῆς ἀπωλείας, ὁ ἀντικείμενος καὶ ὑπεραιρόμενος ἐπὶ πάντα λεγόμενα Θεὸν ἢ σέβασμα, ὥστε αὐτὸν εἰς τὸν ναὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ καθίσαι, ἀποδεικνύντα ἑαυτὸν ὅτι ἔστι Θεός· [00032] οὐ μνημονεύετε ὅτι ἔτι ὢν πρὸς ὑμᾶς ταῦτα ἔλεγον ὑμῖν; [00033] καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. [00034] Τοσαῦτα ὁ θαυμάσιος Ἀπόστολος ἐν τοῖς περὶ συντελείας τοῦ βίου διεξῆλθε λόγοις, τὰ διὰ τοῦ προφήτου Δανιὴλ περὶ τοῦ Ἀντιχρίστου, καὶ τῆς τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἐνδόξου βασιλείας τεθεσπισμένα πιστούμενος. [00035] ςὰʹ. [00036] Ἐξολοθρευθήσεται χρίσμα. [00037] Εὐσεβίου. [00038] Τὸ ἄκριτον καὶ παράνομον αὐτῶν διαβάλλουσα· [00039] οὕτως δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς θυσίας καὶ τῆς σπουδῆς συμβεβηκέναι φήσεις· [00040] ὀρθῶς μὲν καὶ κατὰ νόμον πρὸ τοῦ πάθους τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἐπιτελουμένης διὰ τὴν εἰς ἔτι τότε τὰ τῶν ἁγίων τόπων ἐφορῶσαν δύναμιν· [00041] περιαιρεθείσης δὲ αὐτίκα μετὰ τὴν αὐτοῦ τέλειαν καὶ θεοπρεπῆ θυσίαν, ἣν προσήνεγκεν αὐτὸς ἑαυτὸν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἡμῶν· [00042] αὐτός τε ὢν ὁ Ἀμνὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ ὁ αἴρων τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τοῦ κόσμου εἰς θυσίαν πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις· [00043] κατὰ τὰ καινὰ μυστήρια τῆς καινῆς διαθήκης [00044] Επιτρέπετα [00045] παραδοθείσης, τὰ τῆς παλαιᾶς περιῄρετο· [00046] ὁμοῦ γὰρ τὸ πληροῦσθαι τὸ φάσκον λόγιον, Καὶ δυναμώσει διαθήκην πολλοῖς ἑβδομὰς μία, τὰ τῆς παλαιᾶς διαθήκης περιῄρετο. [00047] Επιτρέπετα

Eusebius of Caesarea comments in regards to the following, The voice of the Lord dividing the flames of fire.

The fiery flame was rent in Babylon dividing at the very command of God. He received in her, most gladly, a new breath and rejuvenation, as in the shade of some kind of tree, in a state of tranquility as is given unto children; for as it came to pass, the wind blew, as a wind that blows and causes the dew to descend. Such is the Son of Man.

I suppose that this evidently pertains to the General Judgment where all men from the ages will stand before the judgment seat of Christ. And after the last resurrection, and after the judgment of all, the Son of Man as understood by Daniel, shall stand upon the clouds, having acquired power over all people and tribes from the Father, and His kingdom shall never grow old and shall have no end. And as our Savior taught concerning Himself, saying, When the Son of man comes in His glory, and all His angels with Him, then shall He sit upon His throne of glory, and all the nations shall be gathered before Him, and so on. In agreement with these events are the held testimonies of Daniel’s prophecy, over which he says, I saw One like the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, and when the Ancient of Days arrived, and He was presented before Him, and He was given dominion, honor and kingship, and these were given to Him and so on. To Him was given dominion.

The Prophet did not only foresee the kingship of the Son of man, but more as well, concerning which it is declared, And they will receive the kingship.

They will reign together with God. Who are these heirs of God, these co-heirs with Christ? And to whom was also promised the kingdom of heaven, a kingship conferred upon the four kingdoms, as perceived by the prophet, which we concern ourselves with briefly. Hence, alas the Apostle Paul, who relates it to the Second Coming of Christ, writes thus, For the Lord himself, with a command, and with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, will come down from heaven, and so on. This reading and its concern with the ultimate coming of the Antichrist and his destruction, and the glorious appearance of the Savior, follows the parallel prophecy, that says, Let no one deceive you in any way! For unless the falling way from the faith comes first and the Man of Sin be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god, and object of worship, so as to seat himself in the temple of God, claiming that he is God. Do you not recall that while I was with you, I said to you these things, and so on. On these matters the admirable Apostle was alarmed and went on with such words, in full belief about the end of life, in regards to the Prophet Daniel in reference to the Antichrist, and the kingdom of our glorious Savior. During this time there will be a loss of grace. The injustice and lawlessness of others will be decried. They moreover, and upon their destitute sacrifices and knowledge, will befall into desolation, it is declared. However, those who live rightly and according to the law, pursuant to the Passion of our Savior, as it was accomplished in the Holy Land, shall be clothed in power; Now, when He, our Lord, was removed forthwith after his perfect and God-worthy sacrifice, He offered up himself for the removal of our sins. For He, our Lord, is the Lamb of God taking away the sins of the world, as a sacrifice for all men according to the new sacred teachings of the New Testament. Therefore, if I am allowed to say, that He was delivered up as our sacrifice under the precepts of the Old Testament. Therefore, together both testaments bring out the fullness of the sacred word, and He greatly strengthened the covenant in only one week, pursuant to the precepts of the Old Testament. If I am allowed to thus explain.

The Greek seems to contain Eusebius’ name at intervals: I wonder why.

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The curious case of the Tongeren codex

Posted on by Roger Pearse

From the science.history.papyri mailing list for December 2007:

Dear colleagues,

A few months ago a small papyrus codex was discovered in the Gallo-Roman Museum at Tongeren (Belgium). It consists of about 100 pages and measures roughly 14 x 13 cm. No writing is visible, but maybe we can read something after the book has been opened. It is dated by C14 to the 11th century AD! For more information, have a look at the website of the Tongeren museum : http://www.papyrustongeren.be/

Willy Clarysse

But that website is now long gone.  There is a picture here:

Tongeren / Tongres codex
Tongeren / Tongres codex

This is a remarkable find; but all the links online are old, to 2007 or 2008.  The details are rather scanty as well.

Another site from Dec 16 2007 reads:

After languishing in obscurity, unrecognized for what it was for over 70 years, an amazing codex on papyrus was rediscovered in late 2006 in the Gallo-Roman Museum in Tongeren, Belgium.

The object, which looked like a lump of tree-bark, was found among a collection of writing-tablets and leather finds from Broekberg in Tongeren which had been excavated in the 1930s. At first, researchers believed that the item dated to the Roman period (100-300 AD) and belonged with the other finds from Broekberg. However, Carbon-14 dating showed it was from the 10th century. Now, how the codex found its way into the Gallo-Roman Museum collection is a mystery.

Sadly, the codex appears blank (the writing may just be faded). It is still a very important find. Firstly, for its late date (when papyrus was essentially, no longer being used, even in Egypt itself) and it is one of the very few examples of papyri which have survived in the damp climate of Europe.

The full story and images of the codex can be found at the Tongeren Gallo-Roman Museum’s Web site.

Then … nothing.

I wrote today to Dr Clarysse and received a gracious reply that there was no more news.  The C14 scan confirmed a 10th (not 11th) century date.  Attempts were made to read it without opening, but in vain.  There the matter rests; for nobody, quite naturally, wants to be the one to decide to break the book-block open on the off-chance of finding something in it.

Dr C. also enclosed a 2008 report, written by himself and G. Creemers.  Some key points from it summarised by myself, are as follows:

The book block was found by museum staff in a box at the Gallo-Roman museum in Tongeren, together with Roman wood and leather fragments, including writing tablets and pieces of shoes.  The contents of the box came from the excavations at Broekberg near Tongeren in the 1930’s, but have hardly been studied.  Most of the items in the box had inventory numbers, but not the codex.  At first sight it looked like a piece of tree-bark.  Dr C. was called in, once it was suspected to be papyrus.

The codex is light brown in colour, and measures 140 x 130 mm.  Thickness of the sheets varies from 16-46 mm.  The booklet is made up of around 100 sheets, folded in two.  A portion of the codex has been lost.  Only a tiny bit of sewing thread, of fine green silk, is present.  The papyrus is of high quality, although now brown and brittle.

It is obvious that the codex cannot have been in the earth at the excavations, or it would have decayed.  One of the team of investigators, Dr. Lieve Watteeuw, is cited with the opinion that it must have been in some form of protected case.  However there are also marks of burning at the edges.

A CT and UV scan were performed; no writing was visible.

The report concludes with a number of theories as to where this item comes from.  It is possible that it has been dumped in a box at the museum, and originally came from a 19th-20th century collector, or from some other source.  There seems little reason to connect it with the excavations.

The item should now be examined under multi-spectral imaging, I think.

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A mystery quotation attributed to Leo the Great

Posted on by Roger Pearse

A tweet alerted me to a patristic quotation new to me:

“No degree of cruel inhumanity can destroy the religion founded on the mystery of the cross of Christ.” (Leo the Great)

I find a source for this: R. L. Wilken, The spirit of early Christian thought (1985), p.1, but preceded by a biblical quote:

“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints” (Ps. 116:15).  No degree of cruel inhumanity can destroy the religion founded on the mystery of the cross of Christ.  LEO THE GREAT.

Unfortunately there is no reference to Leo’s work.  Nor have I been able to find a contact for the author.

The Patrologia Latina volume containing Leo’s sermons and letters has no index of bible passages, which might otherwise help – at least one could look up all passages containing Ps. 116:15.  Probably this is at the end of the series of volumes for the 5th century, but I don’t yet know which one that is.

Hmm.  Anyone got any ideas?

UPDATE: Thank you very much everyone who posted in the comments.  The passage comes from sermon 82, chapter 6.  A Latin text is here, and the old NPNF translation is here, and Bronwen Neil’s translation here.[1]

Pretiosa est ergo in conspectu Domini mors sanctorum ejus (Ps. CXV, 15); nec ullo crudelitatis genere destrui potest sacramento crucis Christi fundata religio.  Non minuitur persecutionibus Ecclesia, sed augetur; et semper Dominicus ager segete ditiori vestitur, dum grana, quae singula cadunt, multiplicata nascuntur.

 “Precious,” therefore, “in the eyes of the Lord is the death of His saints:” nor can any degree of cruelty destroy the religion which is founded on the mystery of Christ’s cross. Persecution does not diminish but increase the church, and the Lord’s field is clothed with an ever richer crop, while the grains, which fall singly, spring up and are multiplied a hundred-fold. — NPNF.

Thus the death of his holy ones is precious in the sight of the Lord (Ps. 116: 15), and no act of cruelly can destroy the religion founded on the mystery of the cross of Christ. For the church is increased, not lessened, by persecutions. And the Lord’s field is always covered with a richer crop as long as the grains which fall down singly spring up multiplied. — B.Neil.

The sermon was preached on the feast-day of St. Peter and St. Paul in the Roman calendar, and appears in the Roman breviary for the same feast-day.[2]

You will find some very useful tips on how to search for quotations in the comments.  The use of Google Translate to create a cod-Latin search string is particularly sneaky!  Too often people hide how they search for material, and leave the reader awestruck by their learning.  It is right to be open about these techniques, so that we can all learn.

Thank you once again everyone.

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  1. [1]Bronwen Neil, Leo the Great, p.117.↩
  2. [2]Online here.↩

The Life of Severus of Antioch – part 9

Posted on by Roger Pearse

We continue reading the French translation of the Life of the early 6th century Patriarch of Constantinople (and controversial political figure) Severus of Antioch.

What I’m doing, in these posts, is taking the old Patrologia Orientalis translation from here, and running it through Google Translate (which is doing a rather fine job, I notice), and posting a corrected version here.  Since a lot of people still don’t know French, the exercise makes the Life more accessible.

The Life was composed by his friend Zacharias Rhetor, in response to various politically-motivated slanders.  But it gives a marvellous picture of students at university in late antiquity.  Since Severus and his friends lost the argument, in the Greek world, the text is preserved only in a Syriac translation.

The year is somewhere around 500 AD.  The tolerant emperor Anastasius is on the throne in Constantinople.  Rome has fallen to the Barbarians; but in the Eastern Empire, nobody seems to want to mention this.  Teachers of Latin are still found in Eastern schools.

When the illustrious Severus was about to leave Alexandria and go to Phoenicia in order to study law, and with the idea of becoming a lawyer, he invited me to go with him.  But I told him that I still needed to study further the speeches of the orators and philosophers, because of the pagans, who boasted and glorified themselves so much in these studies, so that we could battle in public against them in this respect.  So Severus preceded me to Phoenicia, but only by a year.  This completed, I went to Berytus in my turn to study civil law.

I expected to have to suffer from the students known as “edictales” all that those must endure who are newly arrived in that town to learn law.  In truth they endure nothing shameful.  It merely overwhelms them with joking, and tests the self-possession at the time of those who are mocked and the subject of amusement.   I was expecting above all to suffer at the hands of Severus, today this holy man.  In fact I thought that, being still young, he would imitate the custom of the others.

On the first day I went into the school of Leontius, son of Eudoxius, who then taught law, and who enjoyed a high reputation among all those interested in the law.  I found the admirable Severus sitting with many others near the master in order to listen to the lessons on the law.  Although I thought that he would be an enemy to me, I saw that he was favourably disposed towards me.  In fact he greeted me first, smiling and rejoicing!   I also thanked God for this remarkable prodigy.  When we, who at that time were the “dupondii”, withdrew, having completed our exercise, while those in Severus’ year stayed on for their marks, I went running to the holy church named Anastasia (Church of the Resurrection) in order to pray.  Then I went to the one named the Mother of God, which is situated within the town, close to the port.  After completing my prayer, I walked around outside the church.

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Some notes on the bindings of ancient codices

Posted on by Roger Pearse

A useful post at the British Library blog here drew my attention to an interesting question: what did the bindings of ancient manuscripts look like?

We all know that ancient books in 1 AD were written on rolls of papyrus.  With these we are not concerned here.  Examples have reached us, notably the charred rolls from Herculaneum.

A roll from Herculaneum
A roll from Herculaneum

Notes for day-to-day use were written on wax tablets.  These consisted of wooden boards with a recess, filled with wax.  The notes could be written on the wax with a sharp point, and erased with the flattened area at the other end.  Examples have been found, often with much scratching on the wood!  One such example, now in the Louvre, is given here.

Roman wax tablet - Louvre
Roman wax tablet – Louvre

A natural development from this was to take a sheet of papyrus or parchment, and fold it in the middle, again to take notes.  This gives rise to the modern book-form or codex, which starts being used in the 1st century AD.

Such items are mentioned by Martial in his Epigrams, who tells the reader where his poems may be bought, written on these novel-sounding objects.  But most authors seem to have ignored this parvenu.  Snobbery is always a feature of the literary world, and it was perhaps used mainly by middle-class and business people.

One exception to this rule was the early Christians.  The municipal rubbish dump at Oxyrhynchus in Egypt has yielded immense amounts of papyrus fragments from ancient books; but analysis shows that the Christian texts tended to be written on a codex much earlier than non-Christian texts.  In this context, it is notable that the end of Mark’s gospel is lost, and plainly was lost very early indeed.  The end of a text, if it is written on a roll, tends to be well-preserved; but the last leaf of a codex can easily become detached, if the volume does not have a cover.  It has been suggested, therefore, that Mark’s gospel was originally written into a codex, and that the last leaf or two was lost, before almost any copies were made.

These early codices were unlike modern books in one respect.  They consisted of a single gathering or “quire”: you took a pile of sheets of papyrus, and folded them in the middle, and sewed a link in the centre of the fold to hold them together.  A modern example from here shows the problem nicely:

Single quire notebook
Single quire notebook

There is a maximum size to these items, and they quickly become very difficult to handle.  The solution was found in the 4th century AD, when the multi-quire codex went into general use.  Each quire was no more than 16 pages; and then the quires were sewn to each other to form a book of almost any length, and the binding attached.  A modern example again:

Multi-quire binding
Multi-quire binding

These very large codices come into use in the late 4th century AD, and of course remain in use today in modern hardback books.

The find of a collection of gnostic books at Nag Hammadi in Egypt in 1946 gave us a clear idea of what the ancient books of the early 4th century looked like (via here).  These were still single quire papyrus codices.

The Nag Hammadi codices
The Nag Hammadi codices

The British Library cover comes from a tax register written in 716-717.  It consists of limp leather, lined with papyrus.

British Library Papyrus 1442 - 8th century leather binding of Coptic tax register
British Library Papyrus 1442 – 8th century leather binding of Coptic tax register

Note that there is a flap: this would be covered with metal and used to keep the book closed.  It formed a catch, in effect.

The cover is decorated with ink, and, usefully, the British Library have enhanced a detail photograph to show it:

BL Papyrus 1442 - enhanced image of cover
BL Papyrus 1442 – enhanced image of cover

Let me say that, after attempting to enhance it further myself, I am full of respect for the skills of the chap who created that image!

Of course this is a fairly late example of an “ancient” binding, which happens to be that of a single-quire non-literary text.  But it is clear from the Nag Hammadi volumes that this is precisely the technology in use in the early 4th century, and no doubt earlier.  In which case, we may speculate that early – 1st century – copies of Mark’s gospel perhaps had covers of the same kind.

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From my diary

Posted on by Roger Pearse

Happy new year everyone.  I’ve spent the last few days at a very nice house-party in Derbyshire, complete with evening dress dinners — no, it wasn’t at Pemberley!

So, quite naturally, I haven’t done very much on any of my projects.

However I did receive 10 pages of Arabic in a Word document: the opening section of al-Makin’s history, transcribed from the 1625 Erpenius edition.  This looked very good indeed!  But of course I haven’t really had a chance to look at it.

Nor have I had the chance to do any real proof-reading of the Origen volume.  A copy of the proof has been sent to a gentleman to proof-read, however.

At this time of year in England it is dark, rainy and depressing.  It’s rarely possible to get much done in the winter holidays.  The best thing to do is to do as I did, and go away!

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