[3343] Lit. "purchase."--Tr.
[3344] ***, though not in the lexicons, is the same word that appears in Castel as ***.
[3345] Lit. "to the forms (schemata) of all afflictions."--Tr.
[3346] This seems preferable to Cureton's "Ye are the stewards of (her) faith." The expression exactly corresponds in form to that in Luke xvi. 8 (Peshito): "the steward of injustice" ="the unjust steward."
[3347] Lit. "crucifixion."--Tr.
[3348] Or "elders."--Tr.
[3349] By this name the men referred to (not, however, the elders, but the two false witnesses suborned by them) are called in 1 Kings xxi. 10, 13. The expression in the text is literally "sons of iniquity," and that is used by the Peshito.--Tr.
[3350] Or "have an open countenance."--Tr.
Introduction
to
Ancient Syriac Documents.
------------------------
1. The preceding Memoirs of Edessa and Syriac Documents were inserted in vol. 20 of the Edinburgh series, quite out of place as it seems to me; and the more so, as other Syriac fragments were to follow.
2. In vol. 22, equally out of place, and mixed up with incongruous material, followed the very interesting work of Bardesanes, to which I now assign a natural collocation with the Edessene Memoirs.
3. In vol. 24, with the Liturgies and other mixed material, comes the third Syriac fagot, another valuable and very interesting contribution severed from its due connections.
The reader of this volume will rejoice to find Mr. Pratten's scattered but most instructive translations here brought together, and arranged in less confused sequence and relations one with another. The several announcements prefixed to each have, in like manner, been here gathered and set in order.
It may be worth while, just here, to direct attention to the latest views of scholarship upon Syria, its language and its antiquities. A learned critic, who often supplies one of our weekly newspapers with articles on the Oriental languages worthy of the best reviews, has directed attention [3351] to a searching critique of Mommsen's recent addition to his Roman History, of a chapter which "deals with Bible-lands in New-Testament times." Professor Nöldke of Strasburg, a leading Semitic scholar, in the Zeitschrift of the German Oriental Society, thus takes him to task:--
"Syria enjoyed a higher prosperity under the Romans than Mommsen concedes, and this continued down into the Christian period. The Hellenization made rapid strides, but not in such a manner that the Greek language or Greek culture spread to a considerable degree; but rather, in such a way that European arts and manners of life were established, and that a number of elements of Occidental culture became powerful in the thinking and language of the educated. Mommsen, according to my conviction, considers the Hellenization of Syria to have advanced much farther than it actually had. That the language of the country had been entirely banished from the circles of the educated, and that it had assumed the position in reference to the Greek which the Celtic in full had assumed over against the Latin, is certainly an exaggerated view. The Aramaic was an old developed language (Cultursprache), which was already written before a single letter was seen in Latium. In the days of the Achæmenidian rulers this was the official language of Egypt, and even of Asia Minor, and was accordingly spread far beyond the original territory. Again we find this language in the days of the Roman emperors not only in Palmyra, but spread also in the whole country of the Nabatheans, and down to almost Medina; here again beyond its native limits, as the official written language. And that this was not merely a remnant of the former political supremacy is evident from the fact that the documents of Palmyra and those of the Nabatheans, in an equal manner, show a younger stage of development of language than that of the Achæmenidian period; this stage being virtually the same as is seen in the various Jewish literary works of that time."
As Mommsen is continuing his irreligious elaborations of history, it may be well to bear in mind his superficial ideas on such subjects, especially when he is reaching the affairs of early Christianity.
1. Our translator (Mr. Pratten) makes the following announcements:--
"The translation of the Syriac pieces which follow [3352] is based on a careful examination of that made by Dr. Cureton, the merits of which are cordially acknowledged. It will, however, be seen that it differs from that in many and important particulars.
"Many thanks are due to the Dean of Canterbury for his kindness in giving much valuable help."
2. He thus introduces the treatise of Bardesanes:--
"Bardesan, or Bardesanes, according to one account, was born at Edessa in 154 a.d., and it is supposed that he died sometime between 224 and 230. Eusebius says that he flourished in the time of Marcus Aurelius. He was for some time resident at the court of Abgar VI., King of Edessa, with whom he was on intimate terms. He at first belonged to the Gnostic sect of the Valentinians; but abandoning it, he seemed to come nearer the orthodox beliefs. In reality, it is said, he devised errours of his own. He wrote many works. Eusebius attributes the work now translated, The Book of Laws, or On Fate, to Bardesanes. Many modern critics have come to the conclusion that it was written by a scholar of Bardesanes, but that it gives us the genuine opinions and reasonings of Bardesanes. The question is of interest in connection with the Clementine Recognitions, which contain a large portion of the work. The Syriac was first published by Cureton in his Spicilegium."
3. In introducing the Mara bar Serapion and the Ambrose, [3353] he thus refers to his friend Dr. Payne Smith:--
The text of the two following short pieces [3354] is found in the Spicilegium Syriacum of the late Dr. Cureton. This careful scholar speaks of the second of these compositions as containing "some very obscure passages." The same remark holds good also of the first. Dr. Payne Smith describes them both as "full of difficulties." So far as these arise from errors in the text, they might have been removed, had I been able to avail myself of the opportunity kindly offered me by Dr. Rieu, Keeper of the Oriental mss. at the British Museum, of inspecting the original ms. As it is, several have, it is hoped, been successfully met by conjecture.
To Dr. R. Payne Smith, Dean of Canterbury, who, as on two previous occasions, has most kindly and patiently afforded me his valuable assistance, I beg to offer my very grateful acknowledgments.
[3351] New-York Independent, June 24, 1886.
[3352] That is, in vol. xxii. of the Edinburgh edition.
[3353] Vol. xxiv., ed. Edinburgh. The latter was formerly ascribed to Justin Martyr.
[3354] The Ambrose and the Serapion.
Ancient Syriac Documents.
------------------------
Bardesan. [3355]
The Book of the Laws of Divers Countries. [3356]
Some days since we were calling [3357] to pay a visit to our brother Shemashgram, and Bardesan came and found us there. And when he had made inquiries after his health, [3358] and ascertained that he was well, he asked us, "What were you talking about? for I heard your voice outside as I was coming in." For it was his habit, whenever he found us talking about anything before he came, [3359] to ask us, "What were you saying?" that he might talk with us about it.
"Avida here," said we to him, "was saying to us, If God is one, as ye say, and if He is the creator of men, and if it is His will that you should do that which you are commanded, why did He not so create men that they should not be able to do wrong, but should constantly be doing that which is right? for in this way His will would have been accomplished.'"
"Tell me, my son Avida," said Bardesan to him, "why it has come into thy mind that the God of all is not One; or that He is One, but doth not will that men should behave themselves justly and uprightly?"
"I, sir," said Avida, "have asked these brethren, persons of my own age, in order that they' may return me an answer."
"If," said Bardesan to him, "thou wishest to learn, it were for thy advantage to learn from some one who is older than they; but if to teach, it is not requisite for thee' to ask them,' but rather that thou shouldst induce them' to ask thee' what they wish. For teachers are asked' questions, and do not themselves ask them; or, if they ever do ask a question, it is to direct the mind of the questioner, so that he may ask properly, and they may know what his desire is. For it is a good thing that a man should know how to ask questions."
"For my part," said Avida, "I wish to learn; but I began first of all to question my brethren here, because I was too bashful to ask thee."
"Thou speakest becomingly," [3360] said Bardesan. "But know, nevertheless, that he who asks questions properly, and wishes to be convinced, and approaches the way of truth without contentiousness, has no need to be bashful; because he is sure by means of the things I have mentioned to please him to whom his questions are addressed. If so be, therefore, my son, thou hast any opinion of thy own [3361] respecting this matter about which thou hast asked, tell it to us all; and, if we too approve of it, we shall express our agreement with thee; and, if we do not approve of it, we shall be under obligation to show thee why we do not approve of it. But if thou wast simply desirous of becoming acquainted with this subject, and hast no opinion of thy own about it, as a man who has but lately joined the disciples and is a recent inquirer, I will tell thee respecting it; so that thou mayest not go from us empty away. If, moreover, thou art pleased with those things which I shall say to thee, we have other things besides to tell thee [3362] concerning this matter; but, if thou art not pleased, we on our part shall have stated our views without any personal feeling."
"I too," said Avida, "shall be much gratified [3363] to hear and to be convinced: because it is not from another that I have heard of this subject, but I have spoken of it to my brethren here out of my own mind; and they have not cared to convince me; but they say, Only believe, and thou wilt then be able to know everything.' But for my part, I cannot believe unless I be convinced."
"Not only," said Bardesan, "is Avida unwilling to believe, but there are many others also who, because there is no faith in them, are not even capable of being convinced; but they are always pulling down and building up, and so are found destitute of all knowledge of the truth. But notwithstanding, since Avida is not willing to believe, lo! I will speak to you who do believe, concerning this matter about which he asks; and thus he too will hear something further about it."
He began accordingly to address us as follows: "Many men are there who have not faith, and have not received knowledge from the True Wisdom. [3364] In consequence of this, they are not competent to speak and give instruction to others, nor are they readily inclined themselves to hear. For they have not the foundation of faith to build upon, nor have they any confidence on which to rest their hope. Moreover, because they are accustomed to doubt even concerning God, they likewise have not in them the fear of Him, which would of itself deliver them from all other fears: for he in whom there is no fear of God is the slave of all sorts of fears. For even with regard to those things of various kinds which they disbelieve, they are not certain that they disbelieve them rightly, but they are unsettled in their opinions, and have no fixed belief, [3365] and the taste of their thoughts is insipid in their own mouth; and they are always haunted with fear, and flushed with excitement, and reckless.
"But with regard to what Avida has said: How is it that God did not so make us that we should not sin and incur condemnation?'--if man had been made so, he would not have belonged to himself, but would have been the instrument of him that moved him; and it is evident also, that he who moves an instrument as he pleases, moves it either for good or for evil. And how, in that case, would a man differ from a harp, on which another plays; or from a ship, which another guides: where the praise and the blame reside in the hand of the performer or the steersman, [3366] and the harp itself knows not what is played on it, nor the ship itself whether it be well steered and guided or ill, they being only instruments made for the use of him in whom is the requisite skill? But God in His benignity chose not so to make man; but by freedom He exalted him above many of His creatures, and even made him equal with the angels. For look at the sun, and the moon, and the signs of the zodiac, [3367] and all the other creatures which are greater than we in some points, and see how individual freedom has been denied them, and how they are all fixed in their course by decree, so that they may do that only which is decreed for them, and nothing else. For the sun never says, I will not rise at my appointed time; nor the moon, I will not change, nor wane, nor wax; nor does any one of the stars say, I will not rise nor set; nor the sea, I will not bear up the ships, nor stay within my boundaries; nor the mountains, We will not continue in the places in which we are set; nor do the winds say, We will not blow; nor the earth, I will not bear up and sustain whatsoever is upon me. But all these things are servants, and are subject to one decree: for they are the instruments of the wisdom of God, which erreth not.