7. Now when I received the command to depart to Cephro, I had no idea of the situation of the place, and had scarcely even heard its name before; yet for all that, I went away courageously and calmly. But when word was brought me that I had to remove to the parts of Colluthion, [869] those present know how I was affected; for here I shall be my own accuser. At first, indeed, I was greatly vexed, and took very ill; for though these places happened to be better known and more familiar to us, yet people declared that the region was one destitute of brethren, and even of men of character, and one exposed to the annoyances of travellers and to the raids of robbers. I found comfort, however when the brethren reminded me that it was nearer the city; and while Cephro brought us large intercourse with brethren of all sorts who came from Egypt, so that we were able to hold our sacred assemblies on a more extensive scale, yet there, on the other hand, as the city was in the nearer vicinity, we could enjoy more frequently the sight of those who were the really beloved, and in closest relationship with us, and dearest to us: for these would come and take their rest among us, and, as in the more remote suburbs, there would be distinct and special meetings. [870] And thus it turned out.
8. Then, after some other matters, he gives again the following account of what befell him: --Germanus, indeed, boasts himself of many professions of faith. He, forsooth, is able to speak of many adverse things which have happened to him! Can he then reckon up in his own case as many condemnatory sentences [871] as we can number in ours, and confiscations too, and proscriptions, and spoilings of goods, and losses of dignities, [872] and despisings of worldly honour, and contemnings of the laudations of governors and councillors, and patient subjections to the threatenings of the adversaries, [873] and to outcries, and perils, and persecutions, and a wandering life, and the pressure of difficulties, and all kinds of trouble, such as befell me in the time of Decius and Sabinus, [874] and such also as I have been suffering under the present severities of Æmilianus? But where in the world did Germanus make his appearance? And what mention is made of him? But I retire from this huge act of folly into which I am suffering myself to fall on account of Germanus; and accordingly I forbear giving to the brethren, who already have full knowledge of these things, a particular and detailed narrative of all that happened.
[850] Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., vi. 40, vii. 11.
[851] houdemian ep' emautou ballomenos. In Codex Fuk. and in the Chronicon of Syncellus it is ep' emauto. In Codices Maz. and Med. it is ep' emauton. Herodotus employs the phrase in the genitive form--ballomenos eph' heautou pepreche, i.e., seipsum in consilium adhibens, sua sponte et proprio motu fecit.
[852] halla kai proteron. Christophorsonus and others join the proteron, with the diogmou, making it mean, "before the persecution." This is contrary to pure Greek idiom, and is also inconsistent with what follows; for by the autes horas is meant the very hour at which the edict was decreed, diogmos here having much the sense of "edict for the persecution."--Vales.
[853] There was a body of men called frumentarii milites, employed under the emperors as secret spies, and sent through the provinces to look after accused persons, and collect floating rumors. They were abolished at length by Constantine, as Aurelius Victor writes. They were subordinate to the judges or governors of the provinces. Thus this Frumentarius mentioned here by Dionysius was deputed in obedience to Sabinus, the præfectus Augustalis.--Vales.
[854] oi paides. Musculus and Christophorsonus make it "children." Valesius prefers "domestics."
[855] apenteto tis ton choriton. In Codices Maz., Med., Fuk., and Savil., apenta is written; in Georgius Syncellus it is apentato.
[856] choriton rendered indigenarum by Christophorsonus, and incolarum, "inhabitants," by the interpreter of Syncellus; but it means rather "rustics." Thus in the Greek Councils the ton choron presbuteroi, presbyteri pagorum, are named. Instead of choriton, Codices Maz., Med., and Fuk. read chorikon; for thus the Alexandrians named the country people, as we see in the tractate of Sophronius against Dioscorus, and the Chronicon of Theophanes, p. 139.
[857] astroton skimpodon.
[858] phoraden exegagon. The phoraden may mean, as Valesius puts it, in sella, "on a stool or litter."
[859] Tobit xii. 7.
[860] to teleutaion epi to proton anatrechonti, i.e., to begin by interdicting him from holding Christian assemblies, while the great question was whether he was a Christian at all, would have been to place first what was last in order and consequence.
[861] Acts v. 29.
[862] hupemnematisthe.
[863] agraphos.
[864] Germanus had accused Dionysius of neglecting to hold the assemblies of the brethren before the persecutions broke out, and of rather providing for his own safety by flight. For when persecution burst on them, the bishops were wont first to convene the people, in order to exhort them to hold fast the faith of Christ; there infants and catechumens were baptized, to provide against their departing this life without baptism, and the Eucharist was given to the faithful.--Vales.
[865] aisthetes meta tou Kuriou sunagogs.
[866] hos eipon. Codices Maz. and Med. give eipein, "so to speak;" Fuk. and Savil. give hos eipen ho apostolos, "as the apostle said." See on 1 Cor. v. 3.
[867] [Acts xiv. 27; Rev. iii. 8. If the author here quotes the Apocalypse, it is noteworthy. Elucidation, p. 110.]
[868] hemas de mallon en hodo kai protous katalephthesomenous etaxen.
[869] ta Kollouthionos, supplying mere, as Dionysius has already used the phrase ta mere tes Libues. This was a district in the Mareotic prefecture. Thus we have mention made also of ta Boukolou, a certain tract in Egypt, deriving its name from the old masters of the soil. Nicephorus writes Kolouthion, which is probably more correct; for Kollouthion is a derivative from Colutho, which was a common name in Egypt. Thus a certain poet of note in the times of Anastasius, belonging to the Thebaid, was so named, as Suidas informs us. There was also a Coluthus, a certain schismatic, in Egypt, in the times of Athanasius, who is mentioned often in the Apologia; and Gregory of Nyssa names him Acoluthus in his Contra Eunomium, book ii.--Vales.
[870] kata meros sunagogai. When the suburbs were somewhat distant from the city, the brethren resident in them were not compelled to attend the meetings of the larger church, but had meetings of their own in a basilica, or some building suitable for the purpose. The Greeks, too, gave the name proasteion to places at some considerable distance from the city, as well as to suburbs immediately connected with it. Thus Athanasius calls Canopus a proasteion; and so Daphne is spoken of as the proasteion of Antioch, Achyrona as that of Nicomedia, and Septimum as that of Constantinople, though these places were distant some miles from the cities. From this place it is also inferred that in the days of Dionysius there was still but one church in Alexandria, where all the brethren met for devotions. But in the time of Athanasius, when several churches had been built by the various bishops, the Alexandrians met in different places, kata meros kai dieremenos , as Athanasius says in his first Apology to Constantius; only that on the great festivals, as at the paschal season and at Pentecost, the brethren did not meet separately, but all in the larger church, as Athanasius also shows us--Vales.
[871] apophaseis.
[872] Maximus, in the scholia to the book of Dionysius the Areopagite, De coelesti hierarchia, ch. 5, states that Dionysius was by profession a rhetor before his conversion: ho goun megas Dionusios ho 'Alexandreon episkopos, ho apo rhetoron, etc.--Vales.
[873] ton enantion hapeilon.
[874] This Sabinus had been prefect of Egypt in the time of Decius; it is of him that Dionysius writes in his Epistle to Fabius, which is given above. The Æmilianus, prefect of Egypt, who is mentioned here, afterwards seized the imperial power, as Pollio writes in his Thirty Tyrants, who, however, calls him general (ducem), and not prefect of Egypt.--Vales.