[3714] Prov. xxii. 28.
[3715] Ex. xxi. 17.
[3716] Matt. xv. 13.
[3717] 1 Pet. i. 25.
[3718] ii. 13.
[3719] Hos. viii. 7, LXX.
[3720] Eudoxius was at Seleucia, not at Ariminum.
[3721] See note on §10 infr.
[3722] Bishop of Beroea in Macedonia Tertia, and from 370-380 successor of Eudoxius as Arian bishop of CP.
[3723] There were some 400 in all, so that the orthodox majority must have been far more than 200 (see de Syn. 8, 33). But Gwatkin (Stud. 170, note 3), inclines to accept the statement in the text.
[3724] i.e. at Niké, 359.
[3725] Ex. iii. 14.
[3726] hupostemati, Jer. xxiii. 18, LXX.
[3727] hupostasei, v. 22.
[3728] huparxis, Jer. ix. 10, LXX.
[3729] Heb. i. 3.
[3730] Ps. xiv. 1.
[3731] John i. 3.
[3732] Col. i. 16.
[3733] Rom. ix. 33.
[3734] This passage repeats in substance the account in de Decr. 19.
[3735] hupostasis
[3736] 1 Cor. viii. 6.
[3737] 2 Cor. v. 17, 18.
[3738] Herm. Mand. 1.
[3739] Cf. de Decr. §20, ubi supr.
[3740] 1 Cor. xi. 7.
[3741] Ps. cxv. 18 (v. 26, LXX.); cf. 2 Cor. iv. 11.
[3742] dunamis, Ex. xii. 41
[3743] Joel ii. 25.
[3744] dunameon, Ps. xlvi. 7.
[3745] idious.
[3746] Ps. xxxvi. 9.
[3747] John x. 30.
[3748] John iii. 31.
[3749] See de Syn. §43, and de Sent. Dionys. 18, 19, also supr. p. 76.
[3750] But see Socrates, ii. 21, and D.C.B. ii. p. 347.
[3751] John x. 30, and xiv. 9.
[3752] Cf. de Syn. §31 (a chapter added after the death of Constantius). The Anomoean sect, headed by Eunomius, and deriving its intellectual impetus from Aetias, belongs to the second generation of the Arian movement (their watchword is characterised as recent in the creed of Niké, 359 a.d.), and was comparatively unfamiliar to Athanasius. Cf. Prolegg. ch. ii. §8.
[3753] Luke vi. 36; Matt. v. 48.
[3754] Ps. lxxxiii. 1, LXX.
[3755] Ps. lxxxvi. 8.
[3756] John x. 35.
[3757] Ib. x. 30.
[3758] Ib. v. 19: the word poieo is taken in the sense of making.
[3759] John xvi. 15.
[3760] James i. 17.
[3761] hupostasis
[3762] Omit he with most mss.
[3763] John x. 30, and xiv. 9.
[3764] Auxentius (not in D.C.B.) was a native of Cappadocia (Hist. Ar. 75), and had been ordained presbyter at Alexandria by Gregory (next note). Upon the expulsion of the somewhat weak-kneed Dionysius after the council at Milan (355) he was appointed to that see by Constantius, although according to Athanasius (ubi supr.) he knew no Latin, nor any thing else except irreligion (a busybody rather than a Christian'). He took a leading part along with Valens and others at the Council of Ariminum (de Syn. 8, 10) and was included in the deposition of Arian leaders by that synod. Under the orthodox Valentinian he maintained his see in spite of the efforts of Philaster, Evagrius, and Eusebius of Vercellæ, and in spite of the condemnations passed upon him by various Western synods (362-371, see ad Epict. 1). In 364, Hilary travelled to Milan on purpose to expose him before Valentinian. In a discussion ordered by the latter, Hilary extorted from Auxentius a confession which satisfied the Emperor, but not Hilary himself, whose persistent denunciation of its insincerity caused his dismissal from the town. Auxentius seems after this to have intrigued to obtain Illyrian signatures to the creed of ( Niké or) Ariminum (Hard. Conc. 1. pp. 771, 773). Upon his death (374) Ambrose was elected bishop of Milan, but was confronted by the Arian party with a rival bishop in the person of a second Auxentius, said to have been a pupil of Ulfilas.
[3765] The intrusive bishop of Alexandria, 339-346. He had ordained his fellow-countryman Auxentius (Hilar. in Aux. 8).
[3766] 1 Cor. xi. 2.
Letters of Athanasius,
with Two Ancient Chronicles of His Life.
------------------------
The Letters cannot be arranged in strict sequence of time without breaking into the homogeneity of the corpus of Easter Letters. Accordingly we divide them into two parts: (1) all that remain of the Easter or Festal Epistles: (2) Personal Letters. From the latter class we exclude synodical or encyclical documents, or treatises merely inscribed to a friend, such as those printed above pp. 91, 149, 173, 222, &c., &c., the ad Serapionem, ad Marcellinum, &c. There remain a number of highly interesting letters, the survivals of what must have been a large correspondence, all of which, excepting six (Nos. 52, 54, 56, 59, 60, 61), now appear in English for the first time. They are arranged as nearly as possible in strict chronological order, though this is in some cases open to doubt (e.g. 60, 64, &c.). They mostly belong to the later half of the episcopate of Athanasius, and are therefore placed after the Festal Collection, which however itself extends to the end of the Bishop's life. The immemorial numbering of the latter collection is of course retained, although many of the forty-five are no longer to be found.
Prefixed to the Letters are two almost contemporary chronicles, the one preserved in the same ms. as Letters 46, 47, the other prefixed to the Syriac ms., which is our sole channel for the bulk of the Easter Letters. A memorandum appended to Letter 64 specifies certain fragments not included in this volume. The striking fragment Filiis suis has been conjecturally placed among the remains of Letter 29.
For the arrangement of the Letters, the reader is referred to the general Table of Contents to this volume. We now give
a. The Historia Acephala or Maffeian fragment, with short introduction.
b. The Chronicon Prævium or Festal Index, with introduction to it and to the Festal Letters.
A.--The Historia Acephala.
------------------------
This most important document was brought to light in 1738 by the Marchese F. Scipio Maffei ( 1755), from a Latin ms. (uncial parchment) in the Chapter Library at Verona. It was reprinted from Maffei's Osservazioni Letterarie in the Padua edition of Athanasius; also in 1769 by Gallandi (Bibl. Patr. v. 222), from which edition (the reprint in Migne, xxvi. 1443 sqq. being full of serious misprints) the following version has been made. The Latin text (including letters 46, 47, and a Letter of the Council of Sardica) is very imperfect, but the annalist is so careful in his reckonings, and so often repeats himself, that the careful reader can nearly always use the document to make good its own gaps or wrong readings. Beyond this (except the insertion of the consuls for 372, §17 ad fin.) the present editor has not ventured [3767] to go. The importance and value of the fragment must now be shewn.
The annalist evidently writes under the episcopate of Theophilus, to which he hurriedly brings down his chronology after the death of Athanasius (§19). At the fortieth anniversary of the episcopate of Athanasius, June 8, 368, he makes a pause (§17) in order to reckon up his dates. This passage is the key of the whole of his chronological data. He accounts for the period of forty years (thus placing the accession of Ath. at June 8, 328, in agreement with the Index), shewing how it is exactly made up by the periods of exile' and of quiet' previously mentioned. To quiet' he assigns xxii years v months and x days,' to exile' xvii years vi months xx days; total xl years. He then shews how the latter is made up by the several exiles he has chronicled. As the text stands we have the following sum:
Table A.
Exiles
(1)
xc months
iii days
[(2)]
(3)
lxxii "
xiv "
(4)
xv "
xxii "
(5)
iv "
exact result'
xvii years
vi months
xx days
Now the exact result of the figures as they stand is 182 months, 9 days, i.e. 15 years 2 months and 9 days, or 2 years 4 months and 11 days too little. Moreover of the well-known five exiles,' only four are accounted for. An exile has thus dropped out, and an item of 2 years 4 months 11 days. Now this corresponds exactly with the interval from Epiphi 17 (July 11), 335 (departure for Tyre, Fest. Ind. viii), to Athyr 27 (Nov. 23), 337 (return to Alexandria F. I. x). The annalist then (followed apparently by Theodt. H. E. ii. 1) reckoned the first exile at the above figure. But what of the first figure in our table, xc months iii days? It again exactly coincides with the interval from Pharm. 21 (Apr. 16, Easter Monday), 339 to Paophi 24 (Oct. 21), 346, on which day (§1) Athan. returned from his second exile. This double coincidence cannot be an accident. It demonstrates beyond all dispute that the missing item of ann. ii, mens. iv, d. xii' has dropped out after Treveris in Galliis,' and that mens. xc, dies iii' relates to the second exile, so that, in §1 also, the annalist wrote not annos vi' but annos vii menses vi dies iii,' which he repeats §17 by its equivalent mens. xc, d. iii,' while words have dropped out in §1 to the effect of what is supplied in brackets. (Hefele, ii. 50, Eng. Tr., is therefore in error here).
I would add that the same obvious principle of correcting a clearly corrupt figure by the writer's own subsequent reference to it, enables us also to correct the last figures of §2 by those of §5, to correct the items by the sum total of §§6, 7, and lastly to correct the corrupt readings Gregorius' for Georgius, and Constans' for Constantius, by the many uncorrupt places which shew that the annalist himself was perfectly aware of the right names.
In one passage alone (§13 Athyr' twice for Mechir, cf. Fest. Ind. viii) is conjecture really needed; but even here the consuls are correctly given, and support the right date.
We are now in a position to construct tables of exiles' and quiet' periods from the Historia as corrected by itself.
Table B. Exiles &c., of Athanasius.
Exiles lasted
No.
Years
Months
Days
beginning
(a) ii
iv
xi
(b) Epiphi 17, 335 (July 11)
vii
vi
iii
(b) Pharmuthi 21, 339 (Apr. 16)
vi
xiv
Mechir 13, 356 (Feb. 8)
iii
xxii
Paophi 27, 362 (Oct. 24)
iv
Paophi 8, 365 (Oct. 5)
Total Exiles
xvii
vi
xx
Quiet periods lasting
No.
Years
Months
Days
beginning
vii
iii (b)
Payni 14, 328 (June 8)
iv
xxiv (b)
(b) Athyr 27, 337 (Nov. 23)
ix
iii
xix (§5)
Paophi 24, 346 (Oct. 21)
viii
(§10)
Mechir 27, 362 (Feb. 21)
vii
xvii (b)
(c) Mechir 19, 364 (Feb. 14)
ii
iv
vii (a)
Mechir 7, 366 (Feb. 1)
Total quiet' (to June 8, 368)
xxii
N.B. In the above Table, (a) denotes dates or figures directly implied in the existing text, (b) those implied by it in combination with other sources, (c) those based on conjectural emendation of the existing text. All unmarked data are expressly given.
Table B shews the deliberate and careful calculation which runs through the system of our annalist. Once or twice he indulges in a round figure, exiles 1 and 5 are each a day too long by the Egyptian calendar, and this is set off by his apparently reckoning the fifth quiet period as two days too short. But the writer clearly knew his own mind. In fact, the one just ground on which we might distrust his chronology is its systematic character. He has a thorough scheme of his own, which he carries out to a nicety. Now such a chronology is not necessarily untrustworthy. Its consistency may be artificial; on the other hand, it may be due to accurate knowledge of the facts. Whether this is so or not must be ascertained partly from a writer's known opportunities and capacity, partly from his agreement or discrepancy with other sources of knowledge. Now our annalist wrote in the time of Theophilus (385-412), and may therefore rank as a contemporary of Athanasius (cf. Prolegg. ch. v.) His opportunities therefore were excellent. As to his capacity, his work bears every trace of care and skill. He is no historian, nor a stylist, but as an annalist he understood what he was doing. As to agreement with other data, we remark to begin with that it was the publication of this fragment in the 18th century that first shed a ray of light on the Erebus and Chaos of the chronology of the Council of Sardica and its adjacent events; that it at once justified the critical genius of Montfaucon, Tillemont and others, against the objections with which their date for the death of Athanasius [3768] was assailed, and here again upset the confused chronological statements of the fifth-century historians in favour of the incidental evidence of many more primary authorities [3769] . But most important of all is its confirmation by the evidence of the Festal Letters discovered in 1842, and especially by their Index, the so-called Chronicon Athanasianum.' It is evident at a glance that our annalist is quite independent of the Index, as he gives many details which it does not contain. But neither can the Index be a compilation from the annalist. Each writer had access to information not embodied in the other, and there is no positive evidence that either used the other in any way. When they agree, therefore, their evidence has the greatest possible weight. Their main heads of agreement are indicated in the Chronological Table, Prolegg. sub fin.