equal number of SA-llables, and with occasional rln'me and assonance, though without regular metre (SchafF, Jlistory of the (Jhristian Church, iii, 952 sq.)."
The best edition of his collected works is Ephraemi Syri Opera omnia, Gr., S3'r., et Lat., edita cum pnrfa- tionibus, nntis, vnr. lectinwhus, studio J. S. Assemanni et P. Benedetti (Romas, 1732-46, G vols. fol.). Before this edition, many of his writings had been collected and translated from Greek into Latin In' Gerard Voss, who published them (1) at Eome, A.D. 1589-93-97 ; (2) at Cologne in 1G03 and IGIG; and (3) at Antwerp in 1619 (3 vols, in one). "The first volume consists of various treatises, partl3' on subjects solely theologi- cal, as the priesthood, pra3'er, fasting, etc., with others parth'' theological and parth^ moral, as truth, anger, obedience, envy. The second volume contains many epistles and addresses to monks, and a collection of apophthegms. Vol. iii consists of several treatises or honulies on parts of Scripture, and characters in the Old Testament, as Elijah, Daniel, the three children, Joseph, Noah. Photius gives a list of 49 homilies of Ephrem (Cod. 196), but which of these are included in Voss's edition it is impossible to ascertain, though it is certain that man3' are not" (Smith, Dictionary of Biog- raphy, s. v.).
Of separate works there are numerous editions, of which lists ma3' be found in Hoffmann, Bibliof/raphi- sches Lexikcn, ii, 3 sc[., and in Fabricius, BiUiotheca Grceca, ed. Harles, viii, 217 sq. An edition containing onh' the Greek writings of Ephrem was published by Thwaites (Oxford, 1709), edited from 28 MSS. in the Bodleian Librnrv. An English translation from the Syrian b3' J. B. Morris (Oxf. 1847) contains 13 pieces of verse on the Nativity, 1 against the Jews, and 90 on the faith. The Rev. H. Burgess has published <Se- lect metrical Hymns and Homilies of Ephraem Syrus, translated from the original S3'riac, with an Introduc- tion, and historical and philological notes (Lend. 1853). In his introduction Mr. Burgess mentions, as extant in S3'riac verse, " eleven exegetical discourses, more than a hundred controversial sermons, and nearl3' as man3' practical hortator3' homilies, all in poetry ; four pieces on the freedom of the ivill, not onh* in metre, but the strophes arranged in alphabetic order, like the verses of the 119th Psalm ; and he assures us that all these compositions show a high degree of poetic talent, and are distinguished for their ' sonorousness and grace,' and have 'a charm which no translation can express.' Indeed, almost all the three folios of St. Ephraem's printed works in S3'riac are poetical. In. this volume the author gives us translations of 35 of Ephraem's Syriac h3'mns, and 9 of his metrical hom- ilies or sermons. The3' are illustrated b3- a learned introduction and ver3' instructive notes. More than half the h3-mns relate to death and eternit3-, and the others are on various topics pertaining to tlie Chris- tian life. The subjects of the poetical sermons are the following: (1) Paradise, (2) Satan, (3) to the clerg3', (4) the Trinit3', (5) matter not eternal, (G) error coun- terfeits truth, (7) the Trinity, (8) two natures of Christ, (9) man ignorant of himself {Bihlioth. Saci-a, Oct. 1853, p. 835). M. Caillau published a Latin ver- sion of Ephrem in 8 vols. 8vo (Paris, 1832-35, forming vols, xxxiv-xli of the Patres Selecti), in which the following order is used : 1. Commentaries ; 2. P^xeget- ical homilies; 3. Sermons; 4. Epistles; 6. Pra3'ers. The writings of Ephrem in Armenian were puldished at Venice, 4 vols. 8vo, 1836. Hahn und Sieflfert's Chrestnmathia Syriaca (Leipsic, 1825, 8vo) contains 19 select h3-mns of Ephrem ; see also Hahn, Bardcsanes Gnostinis <;Leips. 1819). A German version of many of his poems is given hy Zingerle, Aiisg. Schriftcn des heil. Ephraem (Innspr. i830-37, 6 vols.). His funeral sermons are tran<*lated into Italian {Inni fimebi-i di S. Efrem Siro, tradoiti par Angelo Paggi e Fausto La- sinio, Firenze, 1851). In 1853 J. Alsleben announced a complete edition of the S^'riac works of Ephrem, in a
EPHRON
257 EPICUREAN PHILOSOPHY
pamphlet (Berl.Svo) containing a sketch of Ephrem's life, and some literary remarks of value. Many writ- ings of Ephrem remain in MS., of which there is a val- ualile collection in the British 5Iuseum ; among them a Chronicle, from Creation to the time of Christ, is as- cribed to him.
See Cave, Hist. Lit. (Genev. 1720), i, 149 sq. ; Oudin, De Script. Eccles. i, 493 sq. ; Dupin, Auteurs EccUs. (Paris, 1593), ii, 145 sq. ; Ceillier, Atitcurs Sacres (Par. 1800), vol. vi, chap, i; Lardner, Works, iv, 304 sq. ; Clarke, Succession of Sacred Literature, i, 403 ; Von Lengerke, Comm. de Ephraemo Syr. interprete (Halle, 1828) ; the same, De Eph. Syr. art. hernieneutica (Kiin- igsb. 1831) ; Villemain, Tableau de VHoquence Chret. au 4'"^ Siecle (Paris, 1849, 12mo), p. 242 ; Neve, De la Re- naissance des etudes Syriaques (Annales de Philosophic, 1854) ; North British Review, Aug. 1853, p. 247 ; Jour, of Sacred Literature Julj', 1853, p. 389; Rodiger, in Herzog, Real-Encyklop. iii, 85 sq.
E'phron (Heb. Ephron, ""ilS", signif. doubtful ; Sept. 'E<pM<n',Yu\g. Ephron^, the name of a man and also of two or three places.
1. The son of Zohar, a Hittite ; the owner of a field which lay facing Mamre or Hebron, and of the cave contained therein, which Abraham bought from him for 400 shekels of silver (Gen. xxiii, 8-17 ; xxv, 9 ; xlix, 29, 30; 1, 13). B.C. 2027. By Josephus {Arvt. i, 14) the name is given as Ephraini ('E(ppr(ii^ioc, and the purchase-mone}' 40 shekels. See Abraham.