Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

cy of zeal which led him on some occasions somewhat beyond the sober bounds of temperate reason. When men are thus disposed and have animated each other, and are inflamed by opposition, persecution, and ill usage, they are strongly inclined to expect a divine interposition, and to explain every strange appearance that way. The impetuosity spreads far and wide, and seizes even upon children.

But as to the fact before us, I leave it, as I have some other points, undecided, to the judgment of the reader.

Many stories of this kind, but not so well attested, have been related concerning the Protestants in Dauphiné and the Cevennes. It is said, amongst other strange things, that one of them to prove himself a prophet, ordered a pile to be made and kindled, and stood unhurt for a quarter of an hour in the midst of the fire, whilst the flame surrounded him on all sides, and made an arch over his head, and that more than twelve hundred persons were present, and spectators of the miracle. See Le Theatre sacré des Cevennes, by Misson, which he wrote to defend the cause of the French prophets here in England. But these prophets, were at last put, not out of countenance (for such people never blush) but put to flight, when they had failed of their promise to raise a dead man, and had fallen out among themselves. Vid. Act. Erud. 1708. p. 137, et 1714. p. 89.

There will, in all probability, be a succession of such kind of persons in every age, and in one part or other of the Christian world, not exactly alike, nor yet very different.

Facies non omnibus una,

Nec diversa tamen: qualem decet esse sororum.

i. 22. Ed. Massuet.

VI.
Irenæus.

Omnia per ipsum fecit Pater-non per angelos, neque per virtutes abscissus ab ejus sententia.

Virtutes, Avráμeç. For sententia, it should perhaps be substantia, or, essentia, oíα,

i. 22.

Dicunt [Basilidiani] non oportere omnino ipsorum mysteria effari, sed in abscondito continere pertinere per silentium. Grabe added pertinere from two manuscripts, which should be struck out, though it were in two hundred manuscripts. In the Greek it was, we may suppose, ἐν κρυπτῷ κατέχειν διὰ σιγῆς.

i. 24. Saturninus-unum Patrem incognitum omnibus ostendit.

Irenæus wrote άedeže, that is, posuit, constituit, esse docuit.

i. 25.

Ad detractionem divini Ecclesiæ nominis. So Grabe, The former editions had, ad detractionem divini nominis et ecclesiæ, which was right. Divinum nomen is the name of Christ, or of Christianity.

ii. 28. p. 158.

Neque nos erubescimus [or erubescamus] quæ sunt in questionibus majora secundum nos reservare Deo.

In Greek it was μείζονα ἢ καθ' ἡμᾶς, the things which are above us, and too high for us, as in Plato's Timæus, περὶ δὲ τῶν ἄλλων δαιμόνων εἰπεῖν, καὶ γνῶναι τὴν γένεσιν, μέσον ἢ καθ ̓ ἡμᾶς. Eusebius E. H. x. 1. ἡμεῖς δὲ καὶ τάδε μείζονα ἢ καθ' ἡμᾶς ὑπάρχειν ὁμολογονίες

It should therefore be, majora quam secundum nos. The old interpreter of Irenæus translates word for word, without any regard to elegance; but the

meanness

meanness and closeness of his version helps us often to discover the words of the author.

iii. 11. p. 192.

Quoniam autem sola illa vera et firma, et non capit neque plura præterquam prædicta sunt, neque pauciora esse Evangelia per tot et tanta ostendimus.

Non capit, that is, on érdéxerai, fieri non potest, non oportet. Tertullian is very fond of this word. See Apol. c. 17. Quoniam is öTI, Quod.

iv. 10. Neque enim varie, neque elate, neque glorians

dicit hæc.

Varie, that is ominws, subdole, versute.

VII.

Clemens Alexandrinus.

Cohort. pag. 74. Ed. Ox.

Ἰδέτω τις ὑμῶν τὰς παρὰ τοῖς εἰδώλοις λατρεύοντας, κόμη υπῶν λας, ἐσθῆτι πιναρᾷ καὶ καταῤῥηγής καθυβρισμένος, λατρῶν μὲν πανά πασιν ἀπειράτες, ταῖς δὲ τῶν ὀνύχων ἀκμαῖς ἐκτεθηριωμένος, τοί μοι δοκᾶσι πενθεῖν, ὦ θρησκεύειν τὰς θεός· ἐλέν μᾶλλον ἢ Θεοσεβείας aiα weTortores. Conspiciuntur sæpenumero, qui simulacris se addixerunt, comá quidem sordida et incultá, vestibus laceratis et squalore obsitis deformati, lavationibus prorsus abstinentes, unguibus in immanem longitudinem excrescentibus plane efferati,-Hi sane mihi lugere, Deos non colere videntur: ut qui ea patiantur, quæ misericordia potius digna sunt, quam pietate.

This description of the Pagan saints suits strangely well some Christian saints who arose after the time of Clemens, and shews the wonderful uniformity of superstition.

Quo pacto ?

Tertullian, pleading the cause of the Christians, says, Sed-infructuosi in negotüs dicimur. homines vobiscum degentes, ejusdem victus, structus, ejusdem ad vitam necessitatis.

habitus, inNeque enim

Brachmance,

Brachmana, aut Indorum Gymnosophisto sumus, silvicola, et exules vita. Meminimus gratiam debere nos Domino Deo creatori. Nullum fructum operum ejus repu diamus; plane temperamus, ne ultra modum aut perperam utamur. Itaque non sine foro, non sine macello, non sine balneis, tabernis, officinis, stabulis, nundinis vestris, ceterisque commercüs cohabitamus, hoc sæculum. Navigamus et nos vobiscum, et militamus, et rusticamur, et mercatus proinde miscemus. Apol. 42. But this was before the days of monkery.

Ib. p. 75.

It becomes a wise man to seek heavenly things, xaт' ἔχνος ἐκείνης τῆς φωτεινῆς ἀεροβαΐοντα νεφέλης, lucidum illam nubem per aëra sequentem. He alludes to the Ajax of

Sophocles, 32.

Κατ ̓ ἴχνος αΐσσω.

lb. p. So.

Στρατευόμενόν σε κατείληφεν ἡ γνῶσις; τὸ δίκαια σημαίνοντος ἄκοε spalnys. Militantem te deprehendit cognitio? audi imperatorem, qui nil tibi, nisi quod justum est, imperat.

Hence it appears that Clemens thought it lawful for a Christian to serve in the army, if, when he was converted to Christianity, he was a soldier. I would translate it, Obediens esto duci justa imperanti.

Ib. p. 91.

Let us fly from the wicked world, the dangerous island ; ᾄδει δὲ ἐν αὐτῇ πορνίδιον ὡραῖον Ηδονή, πανδήμῳ τερπί μενον μυσική.

Δεῦρ ̓ ἄγ ̓ ἰων, πολύαιν Ὀδυσεῦ, μέγα κῦδος ̓Αχαιῶν.

Νέα καλάςησον, ἵνα θειοτέρων ὅπ' ακάσης.

In ea autem cantat formosa meretricula, Voluptas, que publica vulgarique musica delectat:

Huc age profectus, illustris Ulysses, ingens gloria

Græcorum,

"Nazem siste, ut diciniorem vocem audias.

The

The thought is pretty, and prettily expressed. Clemens compares Pleasure, the fair deceitful. harlot, to the Siren singing to Ulyses. In Homer, Odyss. M. 184, it is not θειοτέρην, but νωϊτέρην, We must not imagine that Slip could be the true reading, or a various reading in Homer; for Cicero translates it,

Auribus ut NOSTROS possis agnoscere cantus.

Clemens altered νωϊτέρων, because it was not proper for his purpose. In Homer the Sirens speak who were two Clemens introduces Pleasure speaking, and therefore changes νωϊτέρην into θειοτέρων,

Ib. p. 95.

Οἷαι μὲν αἱ βελαὶ, τοῖοι καὶ οἱ λόγοι· ὁποῖοι δὲ οἱ λόγοι, τοῖαίδε καὶ αἱ πράξεις· καὶ ὁποῖα τὰ ἔγρα τοῦτος ὁ βίος.

We have the same proverbial saying in Eusebius: Οἷον γᾶν τὸν λόγον, τοιόνδε φασὶ τον τροπον. Ut vulgo dicitur, Qualis oratio, talis vita, vi. 3.

Hæc poetica sunt, says the editor of Clemens, et facile in Iambicos versus transeunt :

Οἷαι μὲν αἱ βελαὶ, τοῖοίδε χ' οἱ λόγοι.
Ὁποῖοι δ ̓ οἱ λόγοι, τοῖαίδε χ' αἱ πράξεις.

Χ ̓ ὁποῖα τάργα, τοίτος δ ̓ ἐσθ ̓ ὁ βίος.

But these iambics are cripples, and would be glad to be dismissed, and to return to humble prose, as they were never intended for any thing better. It would be easy to convert much of this author's prose into verses at least as good as these. For example, p. 2. Οὐκοῦν ᾠδῇ τῇ Ευνόμε ἄγεται ὁ τέτιξ, ὡς ὁ μῦθος βέλεται, χαλκόν ἀνασήσας Πυθοῖ τὸν Εὔνομον, αὐτῇ τῇ κιθαρᾳ καὶ τὸν συναγωνίσην το Λοκρῦ· ὁ δὲ καὶ ἐκὼν ἐρίπίαται, καὶ ᾄδει εκών. This, if you will pardon a spondee or an anapæst in the fourth foot, falls into passable iambics :

ἐκαν ᾠδὴ τῇ Εὐνόμε

Αγεται ὁ τέτζιξ, ὡς ὁ μῦθος βόλεται,

« AnteriorContinua »