Harmonius, the son of Bardesanes, stands next in the history of this subject, both chronologically and for his successful cultivation of sacred poetry. He was edu- cated in the lanijuage and wisdom of Greece, and there can be no question that he would make his knowledge of the exquisite metrical compositions of that literature bear on the improvement of his own. This is said on
SYRIAC LITERATURE
113
SYRIAC VERSIONS
the presumption that tlie accounts of the ecclesiastical hi.-<torians Sozomcn and Theodoret are credible. The former states, in his Life of Ephrem, lib. iii, c. 16, that "Harraonius, the son of Bardesanes, having been well educated in Grecian literature, was the tirst who subjected his native language to metres and musical laws (jrpCjToi' /.iiTpoig Kai vofioic fiovrriKolg ti)v ttci- Tfiiov (pwi'ijv inraycijfn''), and adapted it to choirs of singers, as the Syrians now commonly chant — not, in- deed, using the writings of Harmonius, but liis num- bers (ro7c /ieX«<Tf); for, not being altogether free from his father's heresj' and the things which the Grecian philosophers boasted of concerning the soul, the body, and regeneration {TraXiyysyiaia^), having set these to music he mixed them with his own writings." The notice of Theodoret is yet more brief. He says (lib. iv, c. 29): "And since Harmonius, the son of Bardesanes, had formerly composed certain songs, and, mingling his impiety with the sweetness of music, enticed his hear- ers and allured them to destruction, having taken from him metrical harmony {Tt)v upfioidav tov fxiXovg), Ephrem mixed godliness with it," etc. This state- ment is not confirmed by Ephrem, who attributes to the father what the Greek historians ascribe to the son. Hahn admits, without any expressed hesitation, the testimony of the Greek historians, their mistake as to the invention of the metres excepted, and ingeniously traces to Harmonius certain features of the Syriac poetry {Ceher den Gesang in der syrischen Kii-che, p. 61). As- semani, in his Bihliotheca Orientalis, i, 61, makes an in- cidental allusion to Harmonius, intimating that in the later transcriptions of Syriac literature his name and influence were acknowledged, since both he and his fa- ther, Bardesanes, are mentioned in MSS. as the inven- tors of metres.
Until we come to Ephrem, there is one more name which has historical or traditionary importance in Syr- iac metrical literature — that is Balfeus, or more proper- ly Balai, who, as Hahn says (Bardesanus, p. 47), "gave his name to the pentasyllable metre, because the ortho- dox Syrians entertained a horror of Bardesanes." Be- fore Ephrem, according to the catalogue of Ebedjesu, lived Simeon, bishop of Seleucia, who suffered martyr- dom about the j'ear 296. Two of his hymns are, ac- cording to Assemani, to be found in the sacred othces of the Chakteans. The greatest of all hj-mn-writers whose works are extant, and whose liymns have been translated into German as well as into English (see Burgess. Metrical Hymns and Homilies [Lond. 1853]), was Ephrem Syrus (q. v.) Besides these writers, the following are mentioned by Ebedjesu : Paulona, a dis- ciple of Ephrem; Marutha, bishop of Maiphercata; Karses of Edessa, surnamed "the harp of the spirit," who used the hexasyllabic metre; Jacob of Edessa; Babi bar-Nisibone, about A.D. 720 ; Jacob, bishop of Chalatia, about A.D. 740; Shalita, bishop of Rashana, about A.I). 740; Saliba of Mesopotamia, about A.D. 781; Chabib-Jesu bar-Nun of Bethabara, about A.D. 820; Jesujahab bar-Malkun of Nisibis, about A.D. 1222; Chamisius bar-Kardachi; George Varda, about 1538; Simeon, bishop of Amiola, about 1616; and Gabriel Hesna.
VIII. Literature. — Assemani, Bibliotheca Orient. Cle- vientino-Vatic. (Kom. 1719-28, 3 vols.; abridg. ed. by Pfeiffer, Erlangen, 1776, 2 vols.) ; Assemani [S. E. and J. S.], BihliotheccB Apostol. Vatic. Codic. MUS. Calal. (Rom. 1785 sq.) ; Mai, Catal. Codd. Bibl, Vatic. A rab. etc., item ejus partis Hebr. et Syriaci quam A ssemani in editione sua prcetermiserunt (ibid. 1831) ; Rosen, Gated. Codd. MSS, Orientalium qui in 3fuseo Bi'itannico as- servantur (Lond. 1838 sq.) ; Wiseman, Horee Syriaca (Rom. 1829); Wenrich, De Auctomm Greec. Version- ibus et Commeivtariis Syriacis (Lips. 1842). Besides the works already mentioned in this article, see the article " Syrische Sprache u. Literatur" in the Regens- burger Allgemeine Real-Encyldop. ; Etheridge, The Syr- ian Churches and Gospels (Lond. 1846); Bickell, "Sv- X.— H
risches fUr deutsche Theologen" in the Liter. Hand- veiser, No. 77, 78, 79, 80, 82, 86, 88, 91, 92; id. Conspec- tus Liei Syro7'um Literarice Additis Notis Bibliographicis et Excerptis Anecdotis (Minister, 1871); Hermann, Lii- bllotheca Orientalis et LJnguistica (Halle, 1870); and Friederici, Bibliotheca Orientalis (Lond. 1876, 1877, 1878). (B.P.)
Syriac Liturgy. See James, St., Liturgy of ; Syriac Litekatire.
Syriac Versions. The following account of the translations of the Holy Scriptures in the ancient Syr- iac language is chiefly based upon that found in Smith's Diet, of the Bible.
1. The Old Testament. — There are two Syriac transla- tions of this part of the Bible, one made directly frt)m the original, and the other from an ancient Greek ver- sion.
A. From the Hebrew.— \. Name. — In the earlv times of Syrian Christianity there was executed a version of the Old Test, from the original Hebrew, the use of which must have been as widely extended as was the Christian profession among that people. Ephrem the Syrian, in the latter half of the 4th centurv', gives abun- dant proof of its use in general by his countrymen. When he calls it " our version," it does not appear to be in opposition to any other Syriac translation (for no other can be proved to have then existed), but in con- trast with the original Hebrew text, or with those in other languages (Ephrem, Opera Syr. i, 380, on 1 Sam. xxiv, 4). At a later period this Syriac translation was designated Peshito, a term in Syriac which signifies simple or single, and which is thought by some to have been applied to this version to mark its freedom from glosses and allegorical modes of interpretation (Haver- nick, Einleif. 1, ii, 90). It is probable that this name was applied to the version after another had been formed from the Hexaplar Greek text. (See below.) In the translation made from Origen's revision of the Sept., the critical marks introduced by him were retained, and thus every page and every part was marked with aster- isks and obeli, from which the translation from the He- brew was free. It might, therefore, be but natural for a bare text to be thus designated, in contrast with the marks and the citations of the different Greek transla- tors found in the version from the Hexaplar Greek.