Wherefore, O men of Greece, seeing that your gods are grovelling like yourselves, and your heroes destitute of courage, [3519] as your dramas tell and your stories declare--then, again, what shall be said of the tribulations of Orestes; and the couch of Thyestes; and the foul taint in the family of Pelops; and concerning Danaus, who through jealousy killed his sons-in-law, and deprived them of offspring; the banquet of Thyestes, too, feeding upon the corpse set before him by way of vengeance for her whom he had wronged; about Procne also, to this hour screaming as she flies; her sister too, warbling, with her tongue cut out? [3520] What, moreover, is it fitting to say about the murder committed by OEdipus, who took his own mother to wife, and whose brothers killed one another, they being at the same time his sons?
Your festivals, too, I hate; for there is no moderation where they are; the sweet flutes also, dispellers of care, which play as an incitement to dancing; [3521] and the preparation of ointments, wherewith ye anoint yourselves; and the chaplets which ye put on. In the abundance of your wickedness, too, ye have forgotten shame, and your understandings have become blinded, and ye have been infuriated [3522] by the heat of passion, and have loved the adulterous bed. [3523]
Had these things been said by another, perhaps our adversaries would have brought an accusation against him, on the plea that they were untrue. But your own poets say them, and your own hymns and dramas declare them.
Come, therefore, and be instructed in the word of God, and in the wisdom which is fraught with comfort. Rejoice, and become partakers of it. Acquaint yourselves with the King Immortal, and acknowledge His servants. For not in arms do they make their boast, nor do they commit murders: because our Commander has no delight in abundance of strength, nor yet in horsemen and their gallant array, nor yet in illustrious descent; but He delights in the pure soul, fenced round by a rampart of righteousness. The word of God, moreover, and the promises of our good King, and the works of God, are ever teaching us. Oh the blessedness of the soul that is redeemed by the power of the word! Oh the blessedness of the trumpet of peace without war! Oh the blessedness of the teaching which quenches the fire of appetite! which, though it makes not poets, nor fits men to be philosophers, nor has among its votaries the orators of the crowd; yet instructs men, and makes the dead not to die, and lifts men from the earth as gods up to the region which is above the firmament. Come, be instructed, and be like me: for I too was once as ye are.
------------------------
[3495] This piece has much in common with the Discourse to the Greeks (Logos pros Ellenas), ascribed by many to Justin, which is contained in vol. i. pp. 271-272 of this series. Two things seem to be evident: (1) That neither of the two pieces is the original composition: for each contains something not found in the other; (2) That the original was in Greek: for the Syriac has in some instances evidently mistranslated the Greek.
[3496] The Greek hupomnemata.
[3497] Lit., "and in the beginning of his words."
[3498] Lit. "what is the newness and strangeness of it."
[3499] The word also means "sin;" and this notion is the more prominent of the two in what follows.
[3500] It is difficult to assign any satisfactory meaning to the word ***, which appears, however, to be the reading of the ms., since Cureton endeavours to justify the rendering given. "Calamities," a sense the word will also bear, seems no easier of explanation. If we could assume the meaning to be "nations" (nationes), a word similar in sound to that found in the text, explaining it of heathen peoples, Gentiles (comp. Tertullian, De Idol., 22, "per deos nationum"), this might seem to meet the difficulty. But there is no trace in this composition of a Latin influence: if a foreign word must be used, we should rather have expected the Greek ethne.
[3501] Il., ii. 177 sq.
[3502] Lit., "they say."
[3503] It has been proposed to substitute in the Greek copy liparou, "dainty," for leprou. But the Syriac confirms the ms. reading. The term is thought to be expressive of the contempt in which shepherds were held. See vol. i. p. 271, note 1.
[3504] In the Greek this is adduced as an evidence of his weakness: "because he was unable to stop his ears by his self-control (phronesei)."
[3505] ***, the reading of the text, which can only mean "fled," is manifestly incorrect. The Aphel of this verb, ***, "caused to flee," is suggested by Dr. Payne Smith, who also proposes ***, "exstirpavit."
[3506] Or, "your heroes."
[3507] This is not intended as a translation of ***, which is literally "conquered." Dr. Payne Smith thinks it just possible that there was in the Greek some derivative of huperballo ="to surpass belief," which the Syrian translator misunderstood.
[3508] This is conjectured to be the meaning of what would be literally rendered, "et id quod coactum est."
[3509] Lit., "of how many censures is...full."
[3510] Since he could change his form to suit his purpose.
[3511] That is, "the Daughter" (namely, of Demeter), the name under which Proserpine was worshipped in Attica.
[3512] Because the behaviour of which he had to complain was sanctioned by the highest of the gods.
[3513] For ***, "was tried," read ***. The Greek has memiseto. Cureton: "forgotten."
[3514] The word is "Balthi."
[3515] Dr. Payne Smith reads *** instead of ***, word which, as Cureton says, is not in the lexicons.
[3516] The reading of the Greek copy, akolastos zosan, is here given. The Syrian adapter, misunderstanding akolastos, renders: "and is without punishment."
[3517] Cureton, "break."
[3518] Lit. "look at."
[3519] So in the Greek copy. The Syriac, which has "valiant," appears to have mistaken anandroi for andreioi.
[3520] The tradition seems to be followed which makes Procne to have been changed into a swallow, and her sister (Philomela) into a nightingale.
[3521] Cureton: "play with a tremulous motion." But the Syriac very well answers to the Greek ekkaloumenoi pros oistrodeis kineseis, if we take *** to denote result: q.d., "so as to produce movement."
[3522] Greek, ekbakcheuomenoi.
[3523] Lit. "bed of falsity." [Compare notes on vol. i. pp. 271, 272.]
Elucidations.
I.
(Mara, son of Serapion, p. 735.)
I cannot withhold from the student the valuable hints concerning "the dialect of Edessa" by which Professor Nöldke [3524] corrects the loose ideas of Mommsen, more especially because the fresh work of Mommsen will soon be in our hands, and general credit will be attached to specious representations which are sure to have a bearing on his ulterior treatment of Christianity and the Roman Empire.
Of the Syriac language Professor Nöldke says:--
"It was the living language of Syria which here appears as the language of writing. In Syria it had long ago been compelled to yield to the Greek as the official language, but private writings were certainly yet to a great extent written in Aramaic. We cannot lay much stress upon the fact that the respectable citizen in the Orient would have the schoolmaster of the village compose a Greek inscription for his tomb, of which he undoubtedly understood but little himself. And what a Greek this often was! That no books written by Aramaic Gentiles have been preserved for us, does not decide against the existence of the Aramaic as the language of literature in that day; for how could such Gentile works have been preserved for us? To this must be added, that that particular dialect which afterward became the common literary language of Aramaic Christendom--namely, that of Edessa--certainly had in the Gentile period already been used for literary purposes. The official report of the great flood in the year 201, which is prefixed to the Edessa Chronicles, is written by a Gentile. To the same time must be ascribed the letter, written in good Edessan language by the finely educated Marâ bar Serapion, from the neighbouring Samosata, who, notwithstanding his good-will toward youthful Christianity, was no Christian, but represented rather the ethical stand-point of the Stoicism so popular at that time. The fixed settling of Syriac orthography must have taken place at a much earlier period than the hymns of Bardesanes and his school, which are for us very old specimens of that language, since these hymns represent a versification much younger than the stage of development which is presupposed in this orthography. In general, it must be granted that the dialect of Edessa had been thoroughly developed already in pre-Christian times; otherwise, it could not have been so fixed and firm in writing and forms of expression. And the Syriac Dialogue on Fate, which presupposes throughout the third century, treats of scientific questions, according to Greek models, with such precision that we again see that this was not the beginning, but rather the close, of a scientific Syriac literature, which flourished already when there were but few or possibly no Christians there. Of course I recognise, with Mommsen, that Edessa offered a better protection to the national language and literature than did the cities of Syria proper; but circumstances were not altogether of a different nature in this regard in Haleb, Hems, and Damascus than they were in Edessa and Jerusalem. If, as is known, the common mass spoke Aramaic in the metropolitan city of Antiochia, it cannot safely be accepted that in the inland districts the Greek was not the language of the educated,' but only of those who had specially learned it. The Macedonian and Greek colonists have certainly only in a very small part retained this language in those districts down to the Roman period. In most cases they have been in a minority from the beginning over against the natives. Further, as the descendants of old soldiers, they can scarcely be regarded as the called watchmen of Greek custom and language."
[3524] For previous quotations refer to p. 721, supra.
II.
(No verb is found in the lexicons, etc., note 3, p. 737.)
The study of Syriac is just beginning to be regarded as only less important to the theologian than that of the Hebrew. The twain will be found a help, each to the other, if one pursues the study of the cognate languages together. In fact, the Book of Daniel demands such a preparation for its enjoyment and adequate comprehension. [3525] Let me commend to every reader the admirable example of Beveridge, who at eighteen years of age produced a grammar of the Syriac language, and also a Latin essay on the importance of cultivating this study, as that of the vernacular of our Lord Himself. This little treatise is worthy of careful reading; and right worthy of note is the motto which he prefixed to it,--"Estote imitatores mei, sicut et ego sum Christi" (1 Cor. xi. 1).
When one thinks of the difficulties even yet to be overcome in mastering the language,--the want of a complete lexicon, etc., [3526] --it is surprising to think of Beveridge's pioneer labours in extreme youth. Gutbir's Lexicon Syriacum had not yet appeared, nor his edition of the Peshito, which preceded it, though Brian Walton's great name and labours were his noble stimulants. Nobody can read the touching account which Gutbir [3527] gives of his own enthusiastic and self-sacrificing work, without feeling ashamed of the slow progress of Oriental studies in the course of two centuries since the illustrious Pocock gave his grand example to English scholarship. All honour to our countryman Dr. Murdock, who late in life entered upon this charming pursuit, and called on others to follow him. [3528] May I not venture to hope that even these specimens of what may be reaped from the field of Aramaic literature may inspire my young countrymen to take the lead in elucidating the Holy Scriptures from this almost unopened storehouse of "treasures new and old"?
[3525] It must not be inferred that I speak as a Syriac scholar. I have laboured unsuccessfully, and late in life, to repair my sad neglect at an earlier period; and I can speak only as a penitent.
[3526] Dean Payne Smith has assumed the unfinished task of Bernstein.
[3527] See his Preface to the Testament, published at Hamburg a.d. 1664. He had the type cut at his personal expense, and set up the press and lodged the printers in his own house.
[3528] See his translation of the Peshito Syriac version, Stanford & Swords (Bishop Hobart's publishers), New York, 1855.
Remains of the Second and Third Centuries
Remains of the Second and Third Centuries.
[Translated by the Rev. B. P. Pratten.]
Introductory Notice
to
Remains of the Second and Third Centuries.
------------------------
Under the title of Fragments of the Second and Third Centuries are grouped together, in the Edinburgh series, a mass of valuable illustrative material, which might have been distributed with great advantage through the former volumes, in strict order of chronology. Something is due, however, to the unity of authorship, and to the marked design of the editors of the original edition to let these Fragments stand together, as the work of their accomplished collaborator, the Rev. B. P. Pratten, with whose skill and erudition our readers are already familiar. [3529]