§ 155. ST. ISIDORE OF SEVILLE. GG5
His WORKS may be divided loosely into six classes. AVe have two lists of them, one by his friend and colleague Braulio, bishop of Saragossa, and the other by his pupil, Ildefonsus of Toledo. No strict division of these works is possible, because as will be seen several of them belong in parts to different classes.
I. Biblical. This class embraces, 1. Scripture Allegories,1 allegorical explanations, each in a single sentence, of 129 names and passages in the Old Testament, and of 211 in the New Testament; a curious and, in its way, valuable treatise, compiled from the older commentaries. 2. Lives and Deaths of Biblical Saints.2 Very brief biographies of sixty-four Old Testament and twenty-one Xew Testament worthies. 3. Introductions in the Old and New Testaments? a very general introduction to the entire Bible, followed by brief accounts of the several books, including Esdras and Maccabees. The four Gospels, the epistles of Paul, Peter and John are treated to gether in respective sections. Acts comes between Jude and Revelation. It was compiled from different authors. 4. Scrip ture Numbers4 (1-16, 18-20, 24, 30, 40, 46, 50, 60), mystically interpreted. Thus under one, the church is one, the Mediator is one. Under two, there "are two Testaments, two Seraphim, two Cherubim. 5. Questions on the Old and New Testaments* a Biblical catechism of forty-one questions and answers. Some are very trivial. 6. Expositions of Holy Mysteries, or Questions on the Old Testament,6 a paraphrase of Genesis, and notes upon Joshua, Judges, the four books of Kings, Ezra and Maccabees. The work is compiled from Origcn, Victorinus, Ambroso,
1 Allegories qnmlam Sacra Script uroe, Migne, LXXXIII. col. 97-130.
2 De ortu et obitu patrum qui in Scriptura laudibus efferantur, ibid. col. 129-156.
3 In libros V. ac N. T. procemia, ibid. col. 155-180.
4 Liber numerorum qui in S. S. occurunt, ibid. col. 179-200.
5 De V. et N. T. quvstion&s, ibid. col. 201-208.
6 Mysticorum expositions sacramcntorum sen qiuzstioncs in V. T. ibid. col. 207- 434.
666 FOURTH PERIOD. A. D. 590-1049.
Jerome, Augustin, Fulgentius, Cassianus and Gregory the Great. A summary of each chapter of the books mentioned is given. The exposition is allegorical.
II. Dogmatic. 1. The Catholic Faith defended against the Jews.1 A treatise in two books, dedicated to his sister Florentina, the nun. In the first book he marshals the Scripture pro phecies and statements relative to Christ, and shows how they have been verified. In the second book in like manner he treats of the call of the Gentiles, the unbelief of the Jews and their consequent rejection, the destruction of Jerusalem, the abolition of the ceremonial law, and closes with a brief state ment of Christian doctrine. The work was doubtless an honest attempt to win the Jews over to Christianity, and Spain in the 7th century was full of Jews. Whatever may have been its success as an apology, it was very popular in the Middle Age among Christians, and was translated into several languages.2 2. Three books of Sentences,6 compiled from Augustin and Gregory the Great's Moralia. This work is a compend of theology, and is Isidore's most important production in this class. Its influence has been incalculable. Innumerable copies were made of it during the Middle Age, and it led to the prepara tion of similar works, e. g., Peter Lombard's Sentences* 3. Synonyms, in two books;5 the first is a dialogue between sinful and despairing Man and Reason (or the Logos), who consoles him, rescues him from despair, shows him that sin is the cause of his misery, and sets him on the heavenly way. The second is a discourse by Reason upon vices and their op posite virtues.6
1 Defide catMica ex V. et N. T. contra Judceos, ibid. col. 449-538.
2 Fragments of an old High German translation have been published by A. Holtzmann, Karlsruhe, 1836, and by Weinhold, Paderborn, 1874.
3 Stntentiarum libri tres, Migne, LXXXIII. col. 537-738.
4 It was probably itself suggested by Prosper's Sentences from Augustin.
5 Synonyma de lamentatione animce peccatricis, Migne, ibid. col. 825-868.
6 The term " synonyms " was apparently given to it because there are so many ideas repeated in slightly different words.