Mithras and 25th December in Franz Cumont, English and French

Posted on by Roger Pearse

The great Franz Cumont, the founder of Mithraic studies, was not well served by his publisher.  The latter permitted an English translation to be made, not of the whole Textes et Monumentes — which would have been of great use — but instead of merely the last portion of only tome 1, the Conclusions.  The work was published in 1903, and is online here and many other places.  But the footnotes that Cumont had given to that section in the full work, rather than being augmented for a stand-alone work, were abbreviated still further.

Cumont made many statements which connect Mithras, the 25 December as the late Roman festival of Sol Invictus on that date, and Christmas.  I thought it would be interesting to explore them.

A look in the English index gives this entry:

Christmas, 167, 191, 196, 202. 

while the French contains only the following entry (t.1, p373):

Noel, placée au 25 Décembre, 342, n. 4.

The entry on p.202 of the English has no connection to this subject.  But here’s what the English translation says, on p.167:

Possibly the sixteenth or middle day of the month continued (as in Persia) to have Mithra for its patron. On the other hand, there is never a word in the Occident concerning the celebration of the Mithrakana, which were so popular in Asia. They were doubtless merged in the celebration of the 25th of December, for a very wide-spread custom required that the new birth of the Sun (Natalis invicti), which began to wax great again on the termination of the winter solstice, should be celebrated by sacred festivals.

No footnotes, notice.  Here is the corresponding passage in Textes et monumentes, tome 1, p.325:

Par coutre, on n’entend jamais parler en Occident de la célébration des Mithrakana, qui étaient si populaires en Asie. Ils avaient sans doute été transportés au 25 décembre, car une coutume très générale voulait que la renaissance du Soleil (Natalis invicti), qui à partir du solstice d’hiver recommençait à croître, fût marquée par des réjouissances sacrées [1].

1) cf. Carmen. adv. pagan. (t. II, p. 52): Qui hibernum (hierium ms.) docuit sub terra quaere Solem, cf. Julien (t. II, p. 66); S. Léon (t. II, p. 68,1. 4); Corippe (t. II, p. 701. – Les textes qui nous parlent de cette fête ont été réunis par Mommsen, CIL, I, 2e éd., p. 338, mais ils concernent le culte officiel de Sol Invictus, établi par Aurélien, plutôt que les mystères de Mithra, et ne nous apprennent rien sur les rites de ceux-ci. Je note cependant que, d’après un auteur syriaque, on avait coutume lumina accendere, festivitatis causa. Sur la substitution de la Noêl à cette fête, cf. infra, ch. VI, p.342.

The statement is referenced, but only in the French, possibly because it refers to volume 2 of Textes et Monumentes, which does not appear in the English:

1) cf. Carmen. adv. pagan. (vol. II, p. 52): Qui hibernum (hierium ms.) docuit sub terra quaere Solem, cf. Julian the Apostate (vol. II, p. 66); St. Leo (vol. II, p. 68,1. 4); Corippe (vol. II, p. 701. – The texts which tell us about this festival have been collected by Mommsen, CIL, vol. I, 2nd ed., p. 338, but they concern only the official cult of Sol Invictus, established by Aurelien, rather than the mysteries of Mithra, and tell us nothing about the rites of the latter. But I note that, according to a Syriac author, there was the custom to lumina accendere, festivitatis causa. (burn a light, because of the festival). On the substitution of Christmas for this festival, see below, ch. VI, p.342.

Note that in all of this there is nothing to justify Cumont’s claim that supposed festivals of Mithras — for which he gives no evidence — were “doubtless” (speculation) merged with the Natalis Invicti on 25 December.  The reference, useful as it is, gives us only access to material about the Natalis Invicti.

Here’s p.190-191 of the English:

… It was in the valley of the Rhone, in Africa, and especially in the city of Rome, where the two competitors were most firmly established, that the rivalry, during the third century, became particularly brisk between the bands of Mithra’s worshippers and the disciples of Christ.

The struggle between the two rival religions was the more stubborn as their characters were the more alike, the adepts of both formed secret conventicles, closely united, the members of which gave themselves the name of “Brothers.”* The rites which they practised offered numerous analogies. The sectaries of the Persian god, like the Christians, purified themselves by baptism; received, by a species of confirmation, the power necessary to combat the spirits of evil; and expected from a Lord’s Supper salvation of body and soul. Like the latter, they also held Sunday sacred, and celebrated the birth of the Sun on the 25th of December, the same day on which Christmas has been celebrated, since the fourth century at least. …

All these very controversial claims are given with but a single footnote:

*I may remark that even the expression “dearest brothers” had already been used by the sectaries of Jupiter Dolichenus (CIL, VI, 406 = 30758: fratres carissimos et conlegas hon[estismos]) and probably also in the Mithraic associations.

We need hardly remark that such an expression might be used quite naturally in many forms of association, without any necessary reference to Jupiter Dolichenus, Mithras, Jesus, or indeed Noggin the Nog for all we know.

On p.339 of Textes et Monumentes we find the following:

C’est dans la vallée du Rhône, en Afrique et surtout dans la ville de Rome, où toutes deux étaient solidement établies, que la concurrence dut être particulièrement vive au IIIe siècle entre les collèges d’adorateurs de Mithra et la société des fidèles du Christ.

La lutte entre les deux religions rivales fut d’autant plus opiniâtre que leurs caractères étaient plus semblables [2]. Leurs adeptes formaient pareillement des conventicules secrets, étroitement unis, dont les membres se donnaient le nom de “Frères” [3]. Les rites qu’ils pratiquaient, offraient de nombreuses analogies : les sectateurs du dieu perse, comme les chrétiens, se purifiaient par un baptême, recevaient d’une confirmation la force de combattre les esprits du mal, et attendaient d’une communion le salut de l’âme et du corps [4]. Comme eux aussi, ils sanctifiaient le dimanche [5] et fêtaient la naissance du Soleil le 25 décembre, le jour où la Noël était célébrée, au moins depuis le IVe siècle [6].

2) Dom Martin insiste déjà sur nombre de ces analogies dans son Explication de divers monuments singuliers, 1739, p. 271 ss.
3) Minut. Felix, c. 9, § 9l, cf. supra, p. 318, n. 4, et Waltzing, Corporations profess. I, p. 329, n. 3.
4) Cf. supra, p. 319 ss.
5) Cf. supra, p. 119 et p. 325, n. 12. Le rapprochement a été fait dans l’antiquité, cf. Tertull, Apol., 16; Ad nationes, 13. — Il ne peut pas cependant y avoir eu d’action du mithriacisme sur le christanisme, car la substitution du Dimanche au sabbat date des temps apostoliques.
6) Cf. infra, p. 342, n. 4.

Again we have many more notes; but for the main claim, only note 6 “See below, p.342, n.4”.

On p.195-6 of the English we find the following:

We do not know whether the ritual of the sacraments and the hopes attaching to them suffered alteration through the influence of Mazdean dogmas and practices. Perhaps the custom of invoking the Sun three times each day,—at dawn, at noon, and at dusk,—was reproduced in the daily prayers of the Church, and it appears certain that the commemoration of the Nativity was set for the 25th of December, because it was at the winter solstice that the rebirth of the invincible god,* the Natalis invicti, was celebrated. In adopting this date, which was universally distinguished by sacred festivities, the ecclesiastical authority purified in some measure the profane usages which it could not suppress.

*See above, p. 167.

And on p.342 of the French this:

Nous ignorons si le rituel des sacrements et les espérances qu’on y attachait, ont pu subir en quelque mesure l’influence des pratiques et des dogmes mazdéens. Peut-être la coutume d’invoquer le Soleil trois fois chaque jour, à l’aurore, à midi et au crépuscule, a-t-elle été reproduite dans les prières quotidiennes de l’Église [3], et il paraît certain que la commémoration de la Nativité a été placée au 25 décembre parce qu’on fétait au solstice d’hiver le Natalis Invicti, la renaissance du dieu invincible [4]. En adoptant cette date, qui était universellement marquée par des réjouissances sacrées, l’autorité ecclésiastique purifia en quelque sorte des usages profanes qu’elle ne pouvait supprimer.

3) Usener, Gotternamen, p. 186, n. 27. Cf. cependant Duchesne. Origines du culte chrétien, 2e éd. p. 431 s.
4) Le premier qui ait mis ce fait en lumière, est Philippe del Torre (Mon. veteris Antii, p. 239 ss.) et non, comme on le dit d’ordinaire, Wernsdorf, De origine solemn. natalis Christi, Wittenberg, 1757. – Les principaux textes sont réunis par Mommsen, CIL, I 2e, p. 338. D’après un extrait que me communique M. Boll, le calendrier de l’astrologue Antiochus (Monac. gr., 287, f. 132), donne au 25 décembre l’indication: H(li/ou gene/qlion: C’est le plus ancien témoignage que l’on possède, et il est très important pour déterminer l’origine de la conception paienne (cf. Macrobe, I, 18, § 10). Sur l’histoire de sa transformation, cf. Usener, Das Weihnachtsfest, I, 1889, p. 214 ss. – Un passage récemment découvert du commentaire d’Hippolyte sur Daniel (IV, 23, p. 243, éd. Bonwetsch, 1897), donne déjà la date du 25 décembre pour la naissance du Christ, mais peut-être est-il interpolé (Hilgenfeld, Berl. Phil. Woch., 1897, p. 1324 s.). Il est certain que cette date, pour la célébration de la Noel, fut fixée à Rome par le pape Libère en 354, et qu’elle fut adoptée plus tard en Orient. – Diverses fêtes paiennes marquaient l’époque du solstice d’hiver; cf. Epiphan. Adv. haeres, t.II (t. II, p. 482 ss., éd. Dindorf).- M. Duchesne (Origines du culte chrétien, 2e éd., p. 250 ss.), propose une explication nouvelle du jour choisi pour la Noel. On y serait arrivé par des calculs chronologiques en partant de la date du 25 mars, que l’on croyail être celle de la mort du Christ. Cette explication n’exclut pas la première. – Cf. aussi infra, note additionnelle C.

The shoddy note in the English replaces a detailed note by Cumont, in which he gives details of reasons to suppose that Christmas replaces the Natalis Invicti.  Whether this argument is well-founded is not our present concern; we need merely note that Mithras is not mentioned anywhere in all of this, nor in the sources.  Nor, indeed, does Cumont say that it is.  He merely introduces this material in the middle of talk about supposed Mithraic influence on the church, and allows the reader to conclude what he will.  

Let us finally look at “additional  note C”, referenced in footnote 4 of the French.  It appears on p.355 of tome 1, and is headed “The sun, symbol of Christ”.  But the word “Mithra” is not mentioned at all.  Instead it charts how the Christians came to think of sol iustitiae and suggests connections with a solar festival on 25 Dec.

The statements that Cumont makes are very positive.  But he is merely speculating; for when he has data, he gives it, copiously.  But no data appears indicating any connection between 25 Dec. and Mithras; and the most Cumont can say is “probably”, “doubtless”.

I confess to finding no probability, and doubting entirely.

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From my diary

Posted on by Roger Pearse

I heard about elance last week, and decided to invite proposals for typesetting.  The site was not very friendly.  It demanded that I create a “job” in order to see what sort of people were available, whereas I would rather have done the opposite.  Anyway I did so.  When I started to get replies, I tried to look at them only for them to demand my credit card details, although they promised not to debit it.  Today I try to login; and they start demanding personal information, “for security”.  Can’t say I recommend this site so far.  The problem with all these sites is whether the people bidding are at all serious about doing the job well.  My experience with studentgems was that few were.

On to more useful things. 

I ordered the Loeb of Aelian’s Varia Historia yesterday.  Apparently it’s quite an interesting read of miscellaneous subjects.   I also hunted around for an English translation of Solinus, but it seems there has been none since the 16th century.

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The library at Meshed / Mashhad in Iran — unknown classical texts!

Posted on by Roger Pearse

Let me direct you all to the comments on my earlier post about the discovery of some lost portions of Galen’s On my own books here.  The material is in Arabic translation, and found in a manuscript in Iran, at the library of Meshed.  I’d never heard of it!

A commenter has dug into the question and produced gold!  It seems that there are other unpublished texts there, including a mathematical commentary by Hypatia on Diophantus.  The library is now in a brand new building as well and has a website.

If you know Arabic and want to discover new classical texts, you need to visit Meshed / Mashhad.

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How long were ancient manuscripts used?

Posted on by Roger Pearse

An interesting but unsatisfying post at Ben Witherington, actually by Larry Hurtado: How long were ancient manuscripts used?

George W. Houston, “Papyrological Evidence for Book Collections and Libraries in the Roman Empire,” in Ancient Literacies: The Culture of Reading in Greece and Rome, ed. William A. Johnson and Holt N. Parker (Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), 233-67.

One matter Houston addresses is how long manuscripts appear to have been in use.   On the basis of manuscripts from Oxyrhynchus and from Herculaneum in particular, Houston notes numerous examples of manuscripts discarded when they were ca. 2-3 centuries old.  Overall, he judges that the evidence indicates “a useful life of between one hundred and two hundred years for a majority of the volumes, with a significant minority lasting two hundred years or more” (p. 251).  And, as he notes, the evidence from Qumran leads to a similar view.

This would tally with the sort of evidence we get in Aulus Gellius, of manuscripts of the time of Cicero or Vergil being available.  A set of literary testimonia would be useful, I think.

I’ve found the book, and the article appears to be a very useful one, packed full of data and intelligently analysed.

H/t Jim Davila at Paleojudaica.

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Bar Hebraeus, Chronicon Ecclesiasticum vol. 2 now on Archive.org

Posted on by Roger Pearse

I’ve just created and uploaded a PDF of the Chronicon Ecclesiasticum of Bar Hebraeus, vol.2, to Archive.org.  The url is here:

http://www.archive.org/details/BarHebraeusChroniconEcclesiasticumVol.2

Many blessings on Glasgow University Library who kindly photocopied this 19th century volume for me.  It arrived this evening, so I have spent the time since productively!  It cost about 25GBP to get the copies, or around $40 (the invoice has yet to reach me, but will probably include a charge for postage).

For those not familiar with the work, the Chronicon Ecclesiasticum of Bar Hebraeus is a history of the church in a series of chapters, each covering an ecclesiastical figure.  Usually the figure is a patriarch.  The work is in two parts.  It runs up to his own time, in the 13th century.  He wrote in Syriac; the editors Abbeloos and Lamy include a simple Latin translation alongside it.

I uploaded volume 1 some years ago.  Now only volume 3 remains.  As far as I know, this 1872 edition is the only one that the work has ever received.  Yet it is the fundamental source for all Syriac studies.

I will obtain and scan volume 3 as well.  It’s too important a text to be inaccessible.  Any errors, do let me know.

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More on Critoboulos of Imbros

Posted on by Roger Pearse

Looking at the introduction to the German edition of Critoboulos’ history, I find that a German translation is promised.  And it was so:

Das Geschichtswerk des Kritobulos von Imbros, Reihe ‘Byzantinische Geschichtsschreiber’, Bd. XVII, hg. von J. Koder, übersetzt, eingeleitet und erklärt von Dieter Roderich Reinsch, Graz, Wien, Köln 1986.

Useful to know, anyway.

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The sack of Constantinople in 1453

Posted on by Roger Pearse

I happened across the following item online, described as an “eyewitness”, but not properly referenced.  We all know how unreliable such things can be, so I started to hunt around.  The text is given on this website here, and then repeated on various other sites.  Pajamas Media gives it in an article Turkey celebrates 558 years of illegal occupation of Constantinople.

Nothing will ever equal the horror of this harrowing and terrible spectacle. People frightened by the shouting ran out of their houses and were cut down by the sword before they knew what was happening. And some were massacred in their houses where they tried to hide, and some in churches where they sought refuge.

The enraged Turkish soldiers . . . gave no quarter. When they had massacred and there was no longer any resistance, they were intent on pillage and roamed through the town stealing, disrobing, pillaging, killing, raping, taking captive men, women, children, old men, young men, monks, priests, people of all sorts and conditions . . . There were virgins who awoke from troubled sleep to find those brigands standing over them with bloody hands and faces full of abject fury. This medley of all nations, these frantic brutes stormed into their houses, dragged them, tore them, forced them, dishonored them, raped them at the cross-roads and made them submit to the most terrible outrages. It is even said that at the mere sight of them many girls were so stupefied that they almost gave up the ghost.

Old men of venerable appearance were dragged by their white hair and piteously beaten. Priests were led into captivity in batches, as well as reverend virgins, hermits and recluses who were dedicated to God alone and lived only for Him to whom they sacrificed themselves, who were dragged from their cells and others from the churches in which they had sought refuge, in spite of their weeping and sobs and their emaciated cheeks, to be made objects of scorn before being struck down. Tender children were brutally snatched from their mothers’ breasts and girls were pitilessly given up to strange and horrible unions, and a thousand other terrible things happened. . .

Temples were desecrated, ransacked and pillaged . . . sacred objects were scornfully flung aside, the holy icons and the holy vessels were desecrated. Ornaments were burned, broken in pieces or simply thrown into the streets. Saints’ shrines were brutally violated in order to get out the remains which were then thrown to the wind. Chalices and cups for the celebration of the Mass were set aside for their orgies or broken or melted down or sold. Priests’ garments embroidered with gold and set with pearls and gems were sold to the highest bidder and thrown into the fire to extract the gold. Immense numbers of sacred and profane books were flung on the fire or tom up and trampled under foot. The majority, however, were sold at derisory prices, for a few pence. Saints’ altars, tom from their foundations, were overturned. All the most holy hiding places were violated and broken in order to get out the holy treasures which they contained . . .

When Mehmed (II) saw the ravages, the destruction and the deserted houses and all that had perished and become ruins, then a great sadness took possession of him and he repented the pillage and all the destruction. Tears came to his eyes and sobbing he expressed his sadness. ‘What a town this was! And we have allowed it to be destroyed’! His soul was full of sorrow. And in truth it was natural, so much did the horror of the situation exceed all limits.

The reference given is “Routh, C. R. N. They Saw It Happen in Europe 1450-1600 (1965).”

The book is in Google books, and searching for the first line gives us something even in the snippet.  It comes from p.386:

Source: On May 29th the city fell and there ensued the wildest scenes of butchery and destruction by the Turks.  Critobulus, op. cit., English version from Guerdan and Halliday, op. cit., p.218.

This is then followed by our text.

Critobulus is a writer new to me, but a German edition exists: Critobuli Imbriotae historiae (Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae 22), De Gruyter (1983). Incredibly these muppets printed it without a translation, presumably to show how clever they were.  Of course the rest of us know that anyone can print a text; if you have to write a translation, you do have to work out what the words mean! Apparently the autograph ms. exists in the library of the Seraglio in Istanbul.  It seems that C. Muller was the first to print it in part 1 of vol. 5 of Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, 1870, p.40 f.  This is online and can be consulted, but again is Greek only.

A further search on the snippet view reveals that “op.cit.” means A History of the Deeds of Mohammed II.  Critobulus of Imbros was, it seems, a renegade who converted to Islam. 

Likewise I find that “Guerdan and Halliday” means Byzantium: its triumphs and tragedy, by R. Guerdan, trans. by D. L. B. Halliday, Allen and Unwin (1954). 

Further searches reveals that a translation does exist of the source text: Charles T. Riggs, Michael Critobulus (Kritovoulos), History of Mehmed the Conqueror, Princeton (1954).  It would be nice to check the above against this, and see to what extent it is accurate.  Because the subject is a politically loaded one, it needs to be checked carefully.  I’ve ordered a copy of the Riggs translation by ILL, and we will see!

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Sisters of Sinai, and other snippets

Posted on by Roger Pearse

Yesterday and today I have been reading Sisters of Sinai by Janet Soskice, which I bought in Heffers in Cambridge on Saturday.  This is a biography of Agnes Lewis and Margaret Gibson, the two sisters who discovered the Old Syriac palimpsest of the gospels at Mount Sinai back in the late 19th century, in company with figures such as Rendel Harris and F.C.Burkitt.  It’s a lively, readable volume, thankfully slim on childhood and heavy on the many journeys to the East, and the search for manuscripts. 

The central figures illustrate the story rather than dominate it.  I owe all my interest in patristics to T.R.Glover’s translation of Tertullian’s Apologeticum, so it is nice to see him step out of the shadows.  Harris and Burkitt likewise become people rather than editors.  I had not known that the two sisters were based in Cambridge; nor that they were instrumental in the discovery of the Cairo Geniza manuscripts. 

One passage has stayed with me, quoted on p.65 from Agnes Lewis.  She brings the Areopagus before our eyes, the marvellous creations of Greek art and philosophy — the highest civilisation then known to man.  And then she reminds us that a wandering Jew named Paul appeared before that high tribunal, and told them of an unknown god.

His words fell on scornful ears; yet their echo has caused the Parthenon to crumble.

The book is well worth its price.

The new Chronica Tertullianea et Cyprianea 2009 is out, and a copy has reached me thanks to the generosity of the French Tertullian scholar, Pierre Petitmengin.  This is an annual section in the Revue des Etudes Augustinennes, which lists all the publications of the year, on Tertullian, Cyprian, and generally on the subject of the Latin Fathers up to the death of Cyprian.  Each is listed and reviewed in detail.  This year there is comparatively little Tertullianea, in truth, and so the publication is a little dull for me.   I will review it in detail on the Tertullian Project site in due course.

I’ve placed an advertisment for typesetters on eLance.  I’ve had several replies, although I don’t know about quality.  Since I will need to typeset the Origen book soon, it seemed timely to start the process of finding someone who could do it.

I’ve also written to the translator of Michael the Syrian, which I hope to publish, again asking questions about layout and typesetting.  Michael’s World Chronicle has quite a few features which will make it a challenge — i.e. expensive — to typeset, and it is as well to enquire.

Today has been a good day, I have to say.  It is remarkable how much difference it makes, whether we have a good day at work or not.  Mine has been good, and I have reached the end of the day in good shape, for once.  An email reaches me from an old colleague, currently working in the City of London for HSBC as a programmer.  He’s leaving; the pressure put on the employees there is too much for him.  Is it just me, or do employers generally demand more and more these days?  

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The critical marks of Aristarchus in Andronicus of Alexandria

Posted on by Roger Pearse

A comment on my post from Diogenes Laertius, listing the critical marks in use in the 3rd century, drew my attention to the work of the Augustan grammarian Aristonicus of Alexandria.  Apparently Friedlander in 1853 published the remains of his work on the critical signs used for the Iliad and Odyssey (Peri Semeion). 

Friedlander is online, and the corresponding work on the Odyssey also here.  But I couldn’t make head or tail of his edition!  Some things are beyond me, and evidently this is one. 

This is a pity — a statement of what the critical marks were and how they were used would be nice to have in English.

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Books, libraries, codices and punctuation in Rome in Galen’s “Peri Alupias”

Posted on by Roger Pearse

Galen’s Peri Alupias, (On the Avoidance of Grief), contains many interesting statements about the destruction of libraries in the fire.  The following excerpts are from the translation by Clare K. Rothschild and Trevor W. Thompson 1, of the fire and its aftermath.

6. Likewise, it is no (longer possible to have) the books – corrected versions, copies by my hand (of the works) of ancient men, and those (works) composed by me …

12b. In fact, the most terrible thing – in addition to the destruction of the books – has escaped you: hope of recovery no longer remains because all the libraries on the Palatine burned on that day.

13. It is, therefore, neither possible to find any of the rare books and the ones ‘nowhere else kept’, nor (possible to find) the common ones sought out for the accuracy of the text, the Callinia, Atticiana, Pedoucinia and certainly the Aristarcheia, which include two Homeric works, the Plato of Panaetius, and many other such works, since those writings – which, in the case of each book, the men after whom the books were named either wrote them or had them copied – were preserved inside (the libraries). And, in fact, copies of books from many ancient grammarians were kept (there), also those of rhetoricians, physicians and philosophers.

14. In addition to these (books) so important and so numerous, I then lost on the same day all the books that, after correction, had been written by me onto a pure text, books with unclear and errant readings throughout the texts – planning to produce my own edition. The writings were worked to (the point of) accuracy so that neither was something added nor words taken away, not even a paragraphos – single or double, or a coronis – appropriately placed between books. What is there to say about the period or comma? As you know, they are very valuable in unclear books, so that one who pays attention to them does not need an interpreter.

15 Such items included the books of Theophrastus, Aristotle, Eudemus, Clitomachus, Phanias, most of Chrysippus’ and all of the old physicians’.

16. Further, these things will especially distress you; I found outside (the libraries on the Palatine) books recorded in the so-called catalogs – some in the libraries on the Palatine and some, on the contrary, which clearly do not belong to the author to whom they are ascribed [i.e., in the catalogs] – neither with respect to style nor thought similar to him [i.e., the author]. I also found [books] of Theophrastus, in particular those on scientific matters.

17. – there are also his books on plants expounded in two extended treatises – everyone has them. And, there was the tractate in precise agreement with Aristotle, that I discovered and copied, which is now lost. In the same way, both (the books) of Theophrastus and of some other men of old were not reported in the catalogues, some although recorded in them, are no longer extant. I found, then, many of these in the libraries on the Palatine, but some, on the contrary, I prepared.

18.  In fact, those on the Palatine were destroyed on the same day as mine; the fire not only destroyed the storehouses on the Sacred Way, but also, before them, the (libraries) by the Temple of Peace, and afterwards, both those on the Palatine and the so-called “Tiberian House” in which there was also a library full of many other books; but some, on the contrary – on account of the negligence of those continually robbing (them) …… – at the time I first went up to Rome, were on the verge of destruction.

19. These (books), then, did not cause me a small pain when copying them. As it is, the papyri are completely useless, not even able to be unrolled because they have been glued together by decomposition, since the region is both marshy and low-lying, and, during the summer, it is stifling.

20. The treatise on Attic nouns [i.e., a dictionary] will also probably distress you, especially all the common terms and nouns. There are two parts, as you know, one from the Old Comedy and the other from the prose writers. But, luckily, some copies of the latter had been brought to Campania. If, in fact, those at Rome had burned two months later, the copies of all of my works would then have arrived in Campania.

21. For all (of my works) intended for publication were already transcribed in duplicate, not counting those that were to remain in Rome. On the one hand, my friends at home [i.e., Pergamum] were requesting that all of the works composed by me be sent to them in order that they may place (them) in a public library – just as, in fact, some other (friends) already placed many of my works in other cities – and, on the other hand, I was planning to have copies of everything in Campania.

22.  For this reason, then, there were duplicates of all of my (works), excluding those that were to remain in Rome, as I said.

23a.  So, the fire broke out at the end of winter. I planned, at the beginning of summer, to transport to Campania both those (works) that were meant to remain there [i.e., at Campania] and those that were to be sent to Asia when the Etesian winds blow.

23b–24a. Fortune, then, ambushed me by taking away many others of my books, and, above all, the treatise on nouns [i.e., a dictionary] that I excerpted from the whole of Old Comedy, from which, as you know, Didymus (Chalcenterus) had previously explained both the common and all the rare (terms) in fifty books, from which I prepared an epitome in six thousand lines. …

29–30 None of these things, then – although there were many (books) both useful and difficult-to-find – troubled me, not even the destruction of my commentaries, being of two types. Some were adapted so as to be useful also to others. Some were for me alone, although having the same provision for memory. Then there were many summaries, synopses of a great number of medical and philosophical books. But not even these things distressed me.

31. What then, you will say, is even greater than all the things mentioned that might be able to cause distress? Well, I will tell you this: I was entrusted with the possession of the most remarkable medical recipes, …

33. These medical recipes were preserved, with the utmost care, in two parchment codices that a certain one of the heirs – himself most dear to me – gave to me of his own accord without being asked.

What an invaluable discovery this work is!  The translators tell us:

The letter-treatise, dated to 193, was discovered as codex images on a CD-ROM in January 2005 in Vlatadon Monastery Thessaloniki. The manuscript, Vlatadon 14, is of immense value to scholars of antiquity. As Vivian Nutton rightly observes, “The discovery in 2005 by a French research student of Vlatadon 14 in a monastic library in Thessalonica must rank with one of the most spectacular finds ever of ancient literature” … 

A footnote indicates:

According to private correspondence, the work of Jouanna, Boudon-Millot and Pietrobelli was performed without access to the manuscript, but from a CD-ROM copy of microfilm.

Nutton’s statement is undoubtedly true.  Even from the limited excerpts above, we can see how much this tells us about ancient Rome.  The description of the decaying library in the Domus Tiberiana, where the papyrus rolls were stuck together by damp, is precious all by itself.  Fronto, indeed, tells us 2 that the curator could be bribed:

… in the afternoon we came home. I to my books: so taking off my boots and doffing my dress I passed nearly two hours on my couch, reading Cato’s speech On the property of Pulchra, and another in which he impeached a tribune. “Ho,” you cry to your boy, “go as last as you can and fetch me those speeches from the libraries of Apollo!” It is no use your sending, for those volumes, among others, have followed me here.  So you must get round the librarian of Tiberius’s library: a little douceur will be necessary, in which he and I can go shares when I come back to town.

Note also the reference in Galen to codices, containing the receipes for various medicines.  We all know of Martial’s reference to the codex, but here we see it being used for technical works, and the material — parchment — specified.

Clare Rothschild and Trevor Thompson has done us all a favour by making this translation.  It highlights how important this work is.  If only it was online!

1. Rothschild, Clare K.; Thompson, Trevor W., Galen: “On the Avoidance of Grief”, “Early Christianity”, 2011, pp. 110-129 (20).
2. Ad M. Caesar. iv, 5 (Naber, p.68) Loeb Classical Library, vol. 1, p.179

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