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ἐξιστῶν τὸ ἔθνος τῆς Lapapeias, λέγων εἶναί τινα ἑαυτὸν μέγαν :
1Ο. ᾧ προσεῖχον πάντες] ἀπὸ μικροῦ ἕως μεγάλου, λέγοντες, Οὗτός
1 παντες ΝΑΒΟΡΕ, 61, Vulg., many other verss., Chrys., so all edd.; om. HP, Aethpp., Iren.; Blass brackets: ‘‘ nec opus”.
Acts always stands in a relation of pri- ority—the two facts mentioned in Acts, that Simon was a magician, and that he came into personal antagonism with St. Peter, always recur elsewhere—but Acts tells us nothing of the details of Simon’s heretical preaching, and it draws the veil entirely over his subsequent history. But ‘ the hero of the romance of heresy ” comes into prominence under the name of Simon in Justin Martyr, Afol., i., 26, Irenzeus, i., 23 (who speaks of Simon the Samaritan, from whom all heresies had their being), and in the Clementine litera- ture. But there is good reason for thinking that St. Irenzus, whilst he gives us a fuller account, is still giving us an account dependent on Justin, and there is every reason to believe that the Clementine writers also followed the ‘same authority; see further, Salmon, ‘* Simon Magus,” u. 5., iv., p. 681 Π., and for a summary of the legends which gathered round the name of the Samari- tan magician Plumptre’s note, in loco, may be consulted. To the vexed ques- tion as to the identification of the Simon of Justin with the Simon of the Acts Dr. Salmon returns a decided negative answer, u. s., p. 683, and certainly the Simon described by Justin seems to note rather the inheritor and teacher of a ‘Gnostic system already developed than to have been in his own person the father of Gnosticism. Simon, how- ever, WaS no uncommon name, e.g., Josephus, Ant., xx., 7, 2, speaks of a Simon of Cyprus, whom there is no valid reason to identify with the Simon of the Acts (although famous critical authorities may be quoted in favour of such an identification). On the mistake made by Justin with reference to the statue on the Tiberine island with the words Semoni Sanco Deo Fidio inscribed (cf. the account of the marble fragment, apparently the base of a statue, dug up in 1574, marked with a similar inscription, in Lanciani’s Pagan and Christian Rome) in referring it to Simon Magus, Afol.,i., 26, 56, Tertullian, Apol., ο. xiii., and Irenzus, i., 23, whilst in reality it referred to a Sabine god, Semo Sancus, the Sabine Hercules, see further, Salmon, µ. s., p. 682, Rendall,
Acts, p. 220. (Van Manen, followed by Feine, claims to discover two represen- tations of Simon in Acts—one as an ordinary magician, viii. 9, 11, the other as a supposed incarnation of the deity, ver. 10—-so too Jiingst, who refers the words from payevwv to Σαµαρίας to his Redactor ; but on the other hand Hilgen- feld and Spitta see no contradiction, and regard the narrative as a complete whole.) --μαγεύων: only here in N.T., not found in LXX (but cf. payos in Dan. i. 20, ii. 2), though used in classical Greek. The word μάγος was used frequently by Herodotus of the priests and wise men in Persia who interpreted dreams, and hence the word came to denote any enchanter or wizard, and in a bad sense, a juggler, a quack like γόης (see instances in Wetstein). Here (cf. xiii. 6) it is used of the evil exercise of magic and sorcery by Simon, who practised the charms and incantations so extensively employed at the time in the East by quacks claiming supernatural powers (Baur, Paulus, i., Ρ. 107; Neander, Geschichte der Pflan- sung, cf. i., 84, 85 (fifth edit.); Wendt, Apostelgeschichte, p. 202; Blass, in loco ; Deissmann, Bibelstudien, p. 19, and see below on xiii. 6.---ἐξιστῶν, from ἐξιστάω (ἐξίστημι); so ἐξιστάνων, W. H. from ἐξιστάνω (hellenistic), see Blass, Gram- matik, pp. 48, 49, transitive in present, future, first aorist active, cf. Luke xxiv. 22 —so ἐξεστακέναι, νετ. 11, perfect active, hellenistic form, also transitive; see Blass, u. 5. (also Winer-Schmiedel, Ρ. 118, and Grimm-Thayer, sub v.) (in 3 Macc. i. 25 ἐξιστάνειν also occurs).— ἵσταμαι, intransitive, ver. 13, Blass, 14. s., Ῥ. 49—the revisers have consistently rendered the verb by the same English word in the three verses 9, 11, 13, thus giving point and force to the narrative, see On ver. 13.---λέγων κ.τ.λ., cf. v. 36 Blass, Grammatik, p. 174, regards µέγαν as an interpolation, and it is not found in the similar phrase in v. 36 (so too Winer-Schmiedel, p. 243), cf. Gal. ii. 6, and vi. 3, and the use of the Latin aliquis, Cicero, Att., iii., 15, so too vii. 3, etc. It may be that Simon set himselt up for a Messiah (see Ritschl’s note, p. 228, Die Entstehung der altkatholischen Kirche, second edition), or a Prophet, Jos.,