THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
hypothesis proposed with regard to the nature of the Euthalian stichoi.
237 or 242
236 or 242
II Peter
II John
Ill John
I Corinthians
II Corinthians
Ephesians
Philippians
I Thessalonians
II Thessalonians
I Timothy
II Timothy
Philemon
In the Gospels the data may be handled in a similar manner; but the difficulties arising from variety of text, etc., are great: moreover, many manuscripts transmit not only the number of verses, but also another number corresponding to the prjiiara of the separate books. From a large group of cursive manuscripts the following numbers for the four Gospels appear:
Matthew.
Mark.
Luke.
John.
prifxara
2,524 2,560
1,675 1,616
3,803 2,740
1,938 2,024
From this it appears that the number of M/iara is sometimes in excess, and sometimes in defect, of the number of verses. It is doubtful, moreover, whether the verses of the Gospels are measured by the same unit as is found employed in the Acts and Epistles. A fifteen-syllabled hexameter seems to agree best with the traditional figure. The Gospel of John, in the text of Westcott and Hort, is 2,025 abbreviated fifteen-syllabled hexameters, an almost absolute agreement with the result given above (2,024). The question as to the meaning of the pr/fiara subscribed side by side with the stichoi has caused not a little perplexity. It was pointed out by Harris (Stichometry, pp. 65-68) that the word pr/uara was only a blundering retranslation of the Syriac pethgame, which may mean either " words " or " verses." Thus the reckoning of the pr/fiara is only a disguised form of the ancient stichometry which has come back again from an eastern version. If, for example, the pS/para as given above be compared with the pethgame as numbered in a Syriac manuscript on Mt. Sinai (Cod. Syr. Sin., 10), there results:
Matthew
Mark.
Luke.
John.
p^juara pethgame
2,524 2,522
1,675 1,675
3,803 3,083
1,938 1,737
It appears clearly that the two systems are the same, when once allowance is made for the obvious errors in Luke and John. J. Rendel Harris.
Bibliography: J. R. Harris, Stichometry, Cambridge, 1893; idem, in AJP, nos. 12 (supplement), 14, 15; C. Tischendorf, Monumenta sacra inedita, nova collectio, i., p. xvii. sqq., Leipsic, 1855; F. Scrivener, in the prolegomena to his Codex Bezos, London, 1867; Graux, in Revue de Philologie, Apr., 1878; W. Christ, Atticusaibsga.be des Demosthenes, Munich, 1882; W. Sanday, in Studia Biblica, iii (1891), 217-303; Turner, in the same, pp. 304-325; idem, in JTS, ii (1901), p. 236; E. Preuschen, Analecta, pp. 138 sqq., Freiburg, 1893; F. C. Burkitt, in JTS, ii (1901), 429; contributions in Rheinisches Museum as follows: h\ ii (1847), by V6mel; xxiv (1869), by Blass; xxxiv (1879), by Blass and by Wachsmuth; and xxxviii (1882), by Fuhr; and in Hermes as follows: xvi (1881), 309, by Schanz; xvii (1882), by Diels; and xxi (1885), 142-156, by Mommsen; and the works named in the text.
STIEFEL, sti'fel (STIFFEL, STEFEL), ESAJAS: Religious fanatic; b. at Langensalza (19 m. n.w. of Erfurt) between 1556 and 1564; d. at Erfurt (62 m. s.w. of Leipsic) Aug. 12, 1626. He traveled about selling dyer's-weed and salted fish, and when tired of this pursuit conducted a wine-shop in his native place; but in 1603 the city withdrew this privilege. The next year he separated from the church and kept his children away from church and school. This involved him in violent controversies with the clerical ministerium and the council, resulting in his imprisonment. In 1606 he abjured his errors and was released. He moved to Erfurt and soon after to Gispersleben. From there he issued a great number of tracts; for example, " The Different Explanation of the First Man before the Fall, of the Other after the Fall, and of the Third and Last Adam Born of God from Above." This tract was the one answered by Jakob Boehme (q.v.) with Stifelius I. These writings found willing readers at Langensalza, where Stiefel's nephew, Ezechiel Meth, was continuing his propaganda. Both were placed under arrest in 1613 and the next year were brought before the superior consistory at Dresden. They were compelled to make public retraction and pay the costs, and Stiefel had to meet, besides, a heavy fine. He next acquired property at Gispersleben, Kiliani, and Solomonsborn, where he assembled his sister's family with his own, and their religious adherents. Forbidden to hold meetings, 1614, he violated his oath, at which the Erfurt council attempted his correction, with apparent success. Shortly after, the council instigated a posse of farmers to seize him and a company engaged in a festival. All were released after promising under oath to abstain from meeting, and Stiefel was likewise bound not to proselyte. Not fulfilling this, he was banished, together with wife and child, from the city. His journey to Basel was a triumphal march. There he met with no success and returned, in spite of the prohibition, to Gispersleben, Christmas, 1616, where he and his kin were immediately cast into prison. After a little more than a year his wife, sister, and nephew were released; but his confinement continued until he recanted in 1619. He was granted the right of residence at Erfurt and opened a traffic in dyer'sweed; but resumed his religious efforts in 1621. He inveigled the Countess Erdmuth Juliane of Gleichen and Ohrdruf, whereupon the council was deliberating whether it should sentence him to death, when he fled into Thuringia. On Mar. 31,