[950] mss. and Edd. Pantachou gar par auton ebouleto labein aphormen, hoper ephen. Ta te gar ethne parezelou loipon kai rhadios k. t. l. In parezelou there is an allusion to Rom. xi. 14, "if by any means I may provoke them to jealousy:" its subject therefore should be "the Apostle" (nam et gentes exstimulabat jam, Erasm.) "he was henceforth provoking to jealousy, being what he said to the Romans, "If by any means I may provoke," etc., not "the Gentiles," as Ben. makes it, nam gentes jam zelo fervebant. Besides transposing the parts b, c, we read, Parezelou loipon. Ta te gar ethue rhadios....But perhaps it should be Parezelou loipon, hoper ephe "Ei pos parazeloso k. t. l."
[951] Dia touto enochlei (enochlei Sav.) autois sunechos metapeithon, old text, retained by Saville. He is explaining why St. Paul still resorted to the synagogues, though an unwelcome visitant. He wished to separate the Church from the Synagogue: but he would not himself take the first step towards this. It must be the act of the Jews. Therefore until they by their outrageous conduct obliged him to depart, he kept on troubling them with his presence (eisothounta, enochlei). Not that his discourse was harsh: that word, eparres., does not mean this, but that he spoke freely and without reserve. (Recapitulation)--The unusual word metapeithon is probably a corruption of the abbreviation of the text-words, epi menas treis dialeg. kai peithon, which the reporter may have written thus, m. t. peithon.--Mod. text substitutes Dia touto dielegeto autois sunechos hoti epeithe.
[952] poson enusen he epistasia. Cat., apostasia, with reference to apostas in v. 9.--The letters marking the order in which the parts are given in the mss. will show the extreme confusion into which the notes of this Homily have fallen.
[953] Ouchi phorountes heptonto monon. Edd. i.e., "The process was not only this, that persons bearing these things, by touching the sick healed them, but the things themselves simply laid upon the sick were effectual for their healing." But A. C. Cat. phorountos, which is much better: "It was not only that they touched him (the Apostle) wearing these things"--viz. as the woman was healed by touching the hem of Christ's garment--"but receiving them, they laid them upon the sick," etc.--In the next sentence (g), for touto kai to ton skion estin hoper elegen, (which Sav. gives in marg.), Edd. have touto to ton skion ainittomenos, which Ben. renders has umbras insinuans. St. Chrys. elsewhere alleges the miraculous efficacy of St. Paul's garments and of St. Peter's shadow, in illustration of our Lord's saying, t. i. 537. A. t. ii. 53. C.
[954] Ephesus was famous for its sorcerers and magicians. Plutarch and Eustathius speak of Ephesian letters ('Ephesia grammata) which, written on slips, were carried about as charms and had power to assure success and avert disaster. The perierga were arts connected with this sorcery and the books burned contained, no doubt, mysterious sentences and symbols which gave to them an extravagant worth in the eyes of the superstitious. In this way the large price set upon them may be accounted for.--G.B.S.
[955] The meaning seems to be, Such was the effect of his two years' preaching at Ephesus: and his Epistle shows what high attainments in the faith were made by the Ephesians.
[956] The partial restoration which is here attempted implies this scheme of the derangement: 2, 1.: 1, 3, 2, 4: see note 3, p. 252.
[957] hos mete tous mathetas eis thumon egeirai, mete ekeinous anachoresai. Mod. text. transposes eis th. egeirai and anachor. We read anechorese. The verb either to ekeinous or to tous mathetas is probably lost.
[958] Some have supposed Tyrannus to have been a Jewish teacher, who conducted a school in a private synagogue--a Beth Midrash (so Meyer). In this view, Paul and his companions, on account of the opposition which they encountered, separated themselves from the public synagogue, and betook them to this private Jewish school. But Tyrannus is a Greek name and the more common and preferable opinion is that he was a teacher of philosophy or rhetoric who had become a Christian and in whose apartments both Jews and Gentiles could meet without molestation.--G.B.S.
[959] ten konin tauta ergazomenen, pisteueto, B. C. Cat. But A. substitutes koren, Mod. text skian. He seems to allude here to the miracles effected by the very ashes of the martyrs: see e.g. t. ii. 494, A.: and perhaps with reference to these he says, Babai, pose ton pisteusanton he dunamis: unless this be meant as an exclamation of the persons who "took upon them," etc. i.e. Like Simon, they saw the wonders wrought in the name of Jesus; "Wonderful (said they)! Why, what power is exercised by these men who have believed!" namely, by those who by laying the handkerchiefs, etc., upon the sick restored them to health.--Mod. text adds, "that to others also there comes (the power) of doing the same things: and how great the hardness of those who even after the demonstrations of power yet continue in unbelief."
[960] From this point to the end of the Exposition, having in vain attempted to restore the true order, we take it as it lies in the mss. and Edd.--Below, "and after this;" i.e. "yet after this," then these itinerant Jewish exorcists took upon them, etc. and not until after their punishment, when "fear fell upon them all," did those of the professed believers (pon pepisteukoton) who still practiced magic come forward confessing their sins.
[961] Pos de etrechos loipon keruttontes di hon epaschon. The subject to epaschon seems to be "these exorcists" the sons of Sceva: but to etrechonit seems to be "the Apostles." "This made the Apostles wonderful in men's eyes:" they had wrought miracles, and preached two years, "so that all in Asia heard the word of the Lord," yet still these practices continued: but (see) how they ran (what success they had) now, preaching by the things these men were suffering: "and this became known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling in Asia, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified."--Mod. text, seemingly referring etrechonto the exorcists, reads kalos de etr. And in place of v. 10, gives, "Whence, showing this, it saith, And this became known to all,'" etc. v. 17.
[962] Ben. assigns this to the year 399, and cites the first of the "Eleven Homilies" t. xii. as having been delivered according to St. Chrys. thirty days after that great earthquake, viz., in the year of the fall of Eutropius, therefore a.d. 399. But Ed. Par. justly corrects this mistake: in fact, the seismos of which St. Chrys. there speaks (t. xii. p. 324. A.) is only a metaphor, meaning the catastrophe of Eutropius.
[963] Perhaps with an allusion to Jude ver. 7, "Sodom and Gomorrah--set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire."
[964] Meaning, perhaps, Even when they believe the miracles to be real, that which should have brought them to faith becomes to them an occasion of greater wickedness.
[965] The miracles at Antioch, when at the instigation of the demon (Apollo) the remains of the martyr Babylas were removed by order of Julian. See the Hom. de S. Babyla, t. ii. p. 567.--The Theodorus mentioned below cannot be the lapsed person of that name to whom St. Chrys. addressed the first of the two Paræneses, t. i. init. But probably perusi is corrupt, and the allusion may be to the troubles at Antioch in connection with Theodorus the Sicilian; see p. 238, note 4.
[966] an me phusis hetera proselthe. To complete the sense we must supply, "because this also (the being blinded by fear) is a natural affection: but what I have said is true, viz. that ton kata phusin kai ananken ou dunametha methistasthai, an me k. t. l.
[967] ti oun an kai he sophrosune. This is corrupt or mutilated. The sense requires, "What if in some cases an evil mind' be a natural necessity--as much as seeing or any other natural property or affection, but when there seems to be a change, it is only that fear casts out the evil mind for a while?"
[968] Meaning perhaps, That which should be the Temple of Christ, the body of the believer.
[969] Mod. text, "For look now at some one who has been abusive and has not been punished: not for this only is it a subject for weeping, that he does not suffer the punishment for his abusiveness, but also for another reason it is a subject for mourning. What may this be? That his soul is now become more shameless." But Chrys. is speaking of the immediate evil--here the act of hubris for which the man suffers, or will have to give account hereafter--and the permanent effect, the hexis which every evil act fixes on the soul.--Eteronhere and above we render in its pregnant sense, "other and worse," or, "what is quite another and a more serious thing."
[970] Old text. Ei de tines med' holos nephoien, oude ekeinoi didoasi diken. Sav. and Ben. houto and dosousi. But Par. has resumed the unintelligible reading of mod. text, ei de tines med' houto n., all' oun ekeinoi didoasi diken.
[971] alla triphosi par heautois oikeion kakon, kathaper tina demion ten mnesikakian. Mod. text oikeiakon kath. t. d.
[972] For ti kataskeuazeis hektikon sauto nosema; B. has, ti k. ektekon sauton ;to nosemati, quæ lectio non spernanda, te morbo tabefaciens, Ben. The reading ektekon is explained by the etacism; the ti in nosemati is derived from the following ti boulomenon; hence it was necessary to alter sauto into sauton to. In the following sentence, B. has ti boulomenos, "Why when thou wouldest be quit of it, dost thou keep thine anger?"
[973] Mod. text weakly, "But this I do that he may not laugh me to scorn, that he may not despise me."
[974] Kathaper gar ekeina (meaning ta brephe) kai pros (om. B. C.) ta apsucha orgizetai, kan me plexe to edaphos he meter, ouk aphiesi ten orgen.--Mod. text and Edd. except Sav. omit he meter.
[975] Mod. text followed by Edd. perverts the whole story, making the parties contend, not for the relinquishing of the treasure, but for the possession of it, so making the conclusion (the willing cession of it by both to the third party) unintelligible, and the application irrelevant. The innovator was perhaps induced to make this alteration, by an unseasonable recollection of the Parable of the Treasure hid in a field.--"The seller having learnt this, came and wanted to compel the purchaser apolabein ton thesauron," (retaining apol., in the unsuitable sense "that he, the seller, should receive back the treasure.") "On the other hand, the other (the purchaser) repulsed him, saying, that he had bought the piece of ground along with the treasure, and that he made no account of this (kai oudena logon poiein huper toutou.) So they fell to contention, both of them, the one wishing to receive, the other not to give," etc.
[976] kai hemas philoneikein me amunasthai, kai tous lelupekotas philoneikein dounai diken: as in the story, the parties ephiloneikoun, the one me labein ton th., the other dounai.