2 In pretio commodi. On commodum, see I.44, p.90, note 4.
3 Gennadius was Exarch of Africa.
4 Probably the Abbot Probos. See IX. 43, 9
6 A bishop in Sardinia, see I. 61. What his case was does not appear.
8 For references to the truce now in course of negotiation (a.d. 598-9), with the Lombard King Agilulph, cf IX. 4, 42, 43, 98.
10 Presbyter(. So the wives of presbyters who had been married before their ordination were called. So in Canon XIX. of the second council of Tours, "Si inventus fuerit presbyter cum sua presbytera," and Canon XXI. of Council of Auxerre, "Non licet presbytero, post acceptam benedictionem, in ono lecto cum presbytera sua dormire." Or deaconesses may possibly be meant, one designation of whom in Greek was presbu/tidej
11 Callinicus had recently succeeded Romanus at Ravenna as Exarch of Italy. The main purport of this letter to him is to secure his hoped-for co-operation in bringing back the Istrian and Venetian schismatics to Catholic communion. See I. 16, note 3; also II. 46, 51. The predecessor of Callinicus, viz. Romanus, had given great dissatisfaction to Gregory by his conduct with regard to the schismatics (see II. 46); but better things are expected from the new Exarch. See also below, Ep. XCIII., &c. As to the case of Maxinius of Salona, briefly referred to at the end of the letter, see III.47, note 2.
12 Capritana was a small island in the Adriatic, not far from the shore of Venetia, containing the episcopal see of Capsula, or Cahorla. More about the desire of the church of this island to return to communion with Rome will be found in the letter which follows to Marinianus, bishop of Ravenna.
13 Mention of a previous order from the emperors, during the exarchate of Romanus, to Gregory himself, bidding him refrain from compelling the Istrians to return to communion, will be found in II.46.
15 So, with initial capitals as proper names, in the Benedictine Edition. Perhaps rather, "the steward (vicedominus) and the guardian (defensor)."
16 Erat quasi per diocesim conjuncta. The meaning is, that the castellum Nov( on the main land had been made the episcopal see of a diocese of the island of Capritana, though not properly within its limits. Cf. IX. 9, note 3.
17 At this time Gregory's apocrisiarius at Constantinople. Cf. VII. 30.
19 Four Vatican mss. and Cod. Colbert give a date to this epistle, viz. "mense Octobris, indictione prima, "i.e. Oct a.d. 597. The Benedictine editors assign it, from certain internal evidence to the following year, and have therefore placed it in this ninth Book of the Epistles. There is this additional reason for placing it later than a.d. 597. Its first purpose is to reply to a request from queen Brunechild that a palliuium should be sent to Syagrius, bishop of Augustoduisum (Autun). Now Autun was in the kingdom of Burgundy, which was reigned over at that time by Brunechild's younger grandson Theoderic II. But it was not till the year 599, according to Gregory of Tours (Hist. Franc. xi. 19), that she had been expelled from the kingdom of Austrasia, and taken up her residence with Theoderic. She had previously been guardian of her elder grandson Theodebert II, who reigned over Austrasia, having his capital at Metz, and she was more likely to have sought the pall for the bishop Autun after she had become the virtual potentate of the Burgundian kingdom than previously; and indeed she seems to be evidently addressed as ruling the country to which the letter refers. The date assigned to this epistle by the Benedictine editors, viz. Indiction 2 (i.e. from September 598 to September 599), is consistent with these circumstances.
20 Bishop of Augustodunum (Autun), one of the bishops to whom Augustine had carried commendatory letters from Gregory on his progress to England (VI. 54). The see of Augustodunum was under the metropolitan jurisdiction of Lugdonum (Lyons); and Brunechild, for some reason, appears to have desired to have it invested with peculiar dignity. She afterwards founded a church, a nunnery, and a hospital there (see XIII. 6). It is to be observed that the sending of the pallium to a bishop did not in all cases imply metropolitan jurisdiction. It did not in this case. See Epistle CVIII. to Syagrius, in which he is told that the Metropolitan of Lyons was to retain his position unimpaired; only that the bishop of Autun was thenceforth to be next to him in place and dignity.
21 We observe here the requirement of the Emperor's Consent for sending the Pallium to a see not previously thus dignified.
22 It seems not to be known with any certainty what the title Regionarius, thus used absolutely, implies, though no doubt some honourable function. John the Deacon (Vit. S. Gregor.) speaks of Gregory's father Gordianus, a layman, as having been a Regionarius. As to Notariregionarii, Sub-diaconi regioaii, Defensores regionarii, cf. VIII. 14.
23 Meaning those who were out of communion with Rome with regard to "The Three Chapters". see I. 16, note 3. There were some in Gaul, as well as in Istria and elsewhere, who long refused assent to the condemnation of the Chapters by the fifth Council. Cf. IV. 2, 3, 4, 38,39; XVI. 12.
25 I.e. the fifty days between Easter and Whitsuntide. It appears from St. Augustine (see Migne Patrolog. note in loc.) that it was the custom everywhere to sing the Allelula between Easter and Pentecost, but that its use at other tinses varied. The point of what Gregory here says seeems to be that the Roman custom of saying it at other times had not been derived from the Greeks; but that, on the contrary it was said at other times less frequently at Rome than among the Greeks.
26 Procedere spoliatos: i.e. to proceed to the altar for celebration without linen tunics on. The verb procedere and the noun processio are commonly used by Gregory and others in the special sense of approaching the altar for mass. It would seem from what is here said that the subdeacons at mass had not been originally distinguished by a vestment, and that some pope before Gregory had first vested them at Rome. He, as further appears, had disrobed the subdeacons; and his point here is, that his doing so was not an imitation of the Greeks, but a return to ancient usage.
27 The word found here is traditionem: but, because of the undoubted reference to the Lord's Prayer (dominica oratio), and of the verb composuit, it is conjectured that the reading ought to be orationem.
28 This whole passage in the original is;-"Orationem vero Dominicam idcirco mox post precem dicimus, quia mos apostolorum fuit or ad ipsam solummodo orationem oblatlonis hostiam consecarent Et valde mihi inconveniens visum est ut precem quam scholasticus composuerat super oblationem diceremus, et ipsam traditionem (Qy. for orationnem?) quam Redemptor noster composuit super ejus corpus et sanguinem non diceremus." It is to be observed that, for lack of suitable words in English, the translation does not retain the distinction in the original between precem and orationem, the former denoting the prayer of consecration in the Canon, exclusive of the Lord's Prayer, the latter the Lord's Prayer itself, which Gregory appended to it. By the scholasticus, to whom he assigns the composition of the former, is meant apparently the liturgist, whoever he might be, who had compiled the Canon of the Mass. It would thus seem that, according to the Roman use before the time of Gregory, the Lord's Prayer did not occur at all "over the oblation", or "over the Body and Blood," i.e. (as the expression must be taken to mean) between consecration and distribution, though, of course, it may have been used before or after. Such omission was undoubtedly peculiar. Among other authorities for the general usage, S. Augustine (Ep. CXLIX. ad Paulin.) affirms that nearly every Church concludes the whole petition (i.e. the prayer of consecration of which he has been speaking) with the Lord's Prayer:-"Quam totam petitionem fere omnis Ecclesia Oratione Dominica concludit." In saying "fere omnis", he may possibly have had the Roman Church in view. As to what is said by S. Gregory of the custom of the Apostles, the most Obvious meaning of which is, that they used no prayer of consecratIon but the Lord's Prayer, we have no means of ascertaining whence be derived this tradition, or what the value of it might be. It does not, of course, imply that the words of institution were not said over the elements by the Apostles, but only that they used no other prayer for the purpose of consecration. Ways have been suggested, though not satisfactory, for evading the apparent meaning ot the statement.
29 See the following Epistle XIX. For the meaning of familia here see note 3 to the same epistle. Gregory sent at the same time letters (which have not been translated) to three influential laymen in Sicily, desiring them to assist and support Romanus in the exercise of his authority. Four other letters (23, 24, 26, 27) are translated, as intimating the kind of duties devolving on Romanus in connexion with his government of the Patrimony.
30 For the meaning of Coloni, see I. 44. The body of them is called the familia of the patrimony in the preceding epistle to Romanus(Ep. Xviii.).
31 This Domitian was bishop of Melitina and Metropolitan of Armenia, being a relation of the Emperors, see III. 67. The physician Archelaus is commended in an epistle not translated (V. 32) to Cyprian, the previous rector patrimonii in Sicily, for protection in some question about property.
32 Andreas Scholasticus, so addressed V.48.
33 Cf. II. 32, note 7; V. 30, note 8. On the subject of the epistle, see III. 47, note 2.
34 This was the younger Anastasius, who succeeded the patriarch of the same name to whom previous epistles are addressed.
36 On the designation Scholasticus, see II.32, note 2; V.36, note 9. The occasion of this and the following epistle appears to have been as follows. Crementitis, who was at that time primate of the province of Bizacia in Africa, had been accused by other African bishops. The Emperor, appealed to by them, had desired Gregory to take cognizance of the case; but his interference had been objected to in Africa, where, as appears elsewhere, there was still jealousy of the claims of the Roman See. Gregory had commissioned John, Bishop of Syracuse, to investigate the matter, and to him Crementius (who now professed-though Gregory doubted his sincerity-to defer to the Roman bishop) had sent the lawyer Martin to state his case. The latter seems to have been directed to go on to Rome too, but had not done so. Both Martin and John had subsequently written to Gregory on the subject, and to them he now replies. Some three years seem to have afterwards elapsed without anything more being done : see XII. 32, where Gregory urges the bishops of the province to investigate the old charges against their primate in synod : but with what result does not further appear.
37 Ad comitatum; referring to the suffragans of Crementius having complained to the Emperor against their primate.
38 See preceding epistle, note I. On this John's election to the See of Syracuse on Gregory's strong recommendation after the death of Maximianus, see V. 17.
39 Viz. Crementius. See preceding epistle.
41 The genuineness of this letter is considered doubtful. It may have been a forgery founded on Epistle CXXII. in this book from Gregory to Reccared. The Latin in the original is in many parts incorrect and ungrammatical; being such indeed Reccared's was not unlikely to be. Other letters relating to the conversion of Reccared are I. 43: IX, 121, 122.
42 "Tonsuratores dici potuere qui erant pr(positi colonis seu possesseribus pr(diorum Ecclesi( Roman(, qui erant tonsurati in signum subjectionis, more Romanorum". Alteserra.
43 i.e. letters of appointment under the hand of the bishop of Rome. See V. 29, XI. 38, for the form of such letters.
46 Porcedere; i.e. proceed to the Holy Table for celebration. Cf. VII. 34, note 7.
48 See below, Ep. LXXIX., and III.47, note 2.
51 See VI. 25, and note there.
52 See above, Ep. LXXX, and III.47, note 2.
53 According to a narrative found in some few codices of the Registrum Epistolartim, and printed in in appendix by the Benedictine Editors, the penance done by Maximus at Ravenna consisted in his prostrating himself on the pavement of the city for three hours and exclaiming, "Peccavi Deo, et beatissimo pap( Gregorio."
54 Gregory's apocrisiarius at Constantinople.
55 Supposed to be identical with Marcellus, Proconsul of Dalmatia, who, having originally and for some time afterwards supported Maximus as bishop of Salona against Gregory, had apparently made overtures for reconciliation with the latter. See IX. 5, and on the whole subject III. 47, note 2. He seems to have now fully satisfied Gregory, whose laudation of him in this letter is in marked contrast to the tone of IX. 5, addressed to Marcellus himself previously.
57 As to Gregory's renewed efforts, now with better hope after the accession of Callinicus as Exarch of Italy to recover the Istrian schismatics in the matter of "the Three Chapters," see above, IX. 9, 10. Gulfaris, addressed in this epistle, was in military comniand in Istria, and appears to have exerted himself to further the aims of Gregory, who ever gladly availed himself of the aid of the secular arm. Other letters on the same subject follow.
58 "Erat forte magistratus municipalis, qui annon( civitatis curam gerit." Note to Benedictine Edition.
59 The Lombard duke of Spoletum, who had besieged Rome, a.d. 592, previously to the invasion of King Agilulph in person Cf. II.3,29, 30, 46, and Prolegom., p. xix.
60 For notice of the peace concluded with the Lombard King Agilulph, cf. IX. 4, 42, 43; and Prolegom., p. xx.
61 Arogis (or Arigis) was the Lombard duke of Beneventum, Cf. II. 46.
62 It appears from Epistle CIX. below that Cynacus was being now sent to the bishop of Autun with the special view of getting a synod called by queen Brunechild for restraining the simony and other ecclesiastical irregularities which were prevalent in Gaul. Cf. also above, IX. II, to Brunechild.
64 This is a circular letter to the metropolitan bishops to prepare thern for the general synod which Gregory was anxious should be held in Gaul for checking the simony, and other abuses, continually referred to by him as prevalent there. Cf. in this book, Epistle XI., CVII., CVIII, CIX , CX. On a paribus, See I.25, note 8.
65 Perhaps an error for Syagrios, bishop of Angustodonum (Autun), to whom the use of the pallium had been recently conceded on certain conditions, and to whom the assembling of the synod was committed, though he was not thus authorized to take precedence of his metropolitan, the bishop of Lyons. See Ep. CVIII. and Ep. XI. note 2. Cyriacus, mentioned below, had been sent specially from Rome to foward and regulate the proceedings (see Ep. CIX., note 2), Aregius of Vapincum being also directed to send Gregory a full report of the proceedings (see Ep. CVII.). If the intended synod was held at all, it appears to have failed to put a stop to the abuses complained of. For a year or two later we find Gregory still referring to them, and pressing for a synod to suppress them. See XI. 55, 56, 57, 59,60, 63.
66 A see in Narbonensis Secunda under the Metropolis of Aqu((Aix); the modern Gap.
67 For the use of Dalmatics, see Dict. of Christ. Ant. (Smith and Cheetham, 1875), under Dalmatic.
69 Sacerdotibus, in the usual sense of bishops.
70 Cyriacus, abbot of St. Andrew's monastery at Rome, had been sent, for the purpose indicated, to Syagrius, bishop of Autun. Cf. IX. 105.
72 The majority of mss. have been nunc pr(beant instead of non tribuant: but the reading adopted in the text has good support, and seems to give more intelligible meaning. The drift seems to be that, while it was the custom in Gaul to relieve Church property even from tribute that might have been exacted lawfully, it was monstrously inconsistent to burden it unlawfully by the exaction of bribes for promotion.
73 Augusta Taurinarum, the modern Turin.
74 In parochiis suis. Though the term paroiki/a<\ meant originally what we should now call a bishop's whole diocese, it came after the third century to be applied to parishes wlthln such diocese. Hence here parochiiss in the plural. Cf. Bingham, Bk. IX., ch. ii., sect.I ; Ch. viii., Sect. I.
75 Viz. Theoderic and Theodebert (see VI. 58, note 1), to whom a letter on the same subject was sent at the same time, viz, Ep. CXVI., which follows. The former would be in this year (a.d. 598-9) about ten, and the latter about thirteen years of age.
76 Who this Hilarius was, and what were his grievances, does not appear.
77 This Claudius appears to have been a person of influence in the court of King Reccared, and no doubt a good Cathoilic, of whose virtues Gregory may have heard from his friend Leander of Seville. The object of this very complimentary letter to him was to commend to his favour the abbot Cyriacus, who, as appears from preceding epistles, had been sent into Gaul to bring about the assembling of a synod there, and who appears from this epistle to have been sent on into Spain, though for what particular purpose does not appear. Cf. Proleg., p. xi.
78 In English Bible, lxxiii. 18.
79 In English Bible, lxxiv. 5,6, differently
81 Reccared, the Visigoth king of Spain, previously an Arian, had declared himself a Catholic a.d. 587, and had formally adopted Catholicism as the creed of the Spanish Church at the council of Toledo, a.d. 589. See I.43, note 9. Tliis is the only extant letter addressed to the king himself by Gregory, its date, if rightly placed, being a.d. 598-9, and thus as much as ten years after the council of Toledo. Gregory had been long informed of what had been done at Toledo, as appears in his epistle to Leander (I.43), written, if correctly placed, a.d. 590-1; and it may appear strange that his letter to the king himself had been so long delayed. He may have waited for a letter to himself from Reccared; and, if Ep. LXI. in this book (see note thereon) be genuine, it would be in reply to it that the letter before us was written. But in Ep. LXI. only three years are said to have elapsed since Reccared's conversion, and gifts spoken of sent at that time to Rome are acknowledged in the Epistle before us. Hence the dates assigned to the Epistles by the Benedictine Editors are open to suspicion.
82 In English Bible, lxxvii. 10, differently.
84 What follows is preceded by "Item in anagnostico." (The word is thus explained in D'Arnis' Lexicon Manuale; " Graecis id omne est quod legitur aut recitatur. Unde Gregorius Magnus pro epistola out quovis scripto vocem hanc usurpat.") The whole is absent from many mss., and in one of those preserved in Bibliotheca Colbertina it is given, without the heading Item in anognostico, as a separate epistle, entitled "Secunda ad Recharedum." and concludes thus : "Furthermore we have received the gifts of your Excellency, which have been sent for the poor of the blessed apostle Peter, namely three hundred cocull( (cowls): and, as much as we can, we earnestly pray that you may have as your protector in the tremendous day of judgment Him whose poor you have protected by abundance of clothes. Our not sending at once a man of ours to your Excellency has been owing to the want of a ship: for none can be found that can proceed from these parts to the shores of Spain."The fact of a second key containing filings of St. Peter's chains being referred to as sent to Reccared in this concluding portion of the epistle confirms the probability of its having been part of a subsequent letter. For two such keys were not likely to be sent st the same time.
86 See III.47, note 2, and IX.. 81.
87 See IX. 80, VI. 27, note 6; VII. 17, IX. 80.
88 This epistle of the Irish saint Columbanus to Gregory was added to the Reigistrum Epistolarum by the Benedictine editors, having been first published, with other writings of S. Coluumban, by Patrick Fleming in Collectanea sacra; Lovan. a.d. 1667. (See Galland. Bibliotheca veterum partum. S(c VI. circ. a.d. 589.) It is assigned by the Benedictines to a.d. 598-9, and hence placed at the end of Book IX. of Gregory's Epistle.
At this time St. Columban was at the monastery founded by him at Luxovium (Luxueil) among the Vosges mountains in Burgundy over which country Theoderic II. was now king. He had already given offence in Gaul, not only by his protest in life and teaching against prevalent laxity, but also by his continuing to observe and uphold the custom of his own Celtic Church with regard to the time for keeping Easter, which differed from what had now been adopted by Rome atid prevailed in the West generally. The main purpose of this epistle is to pIead with pope Gregory for approval of the Celtic tradition. Subsequently, a synod being held in Gaul for considering the question, he addressed the bishops there assembled in a letter which is also extant, defending, as in this epistle, the Celtic usage, and pleading for being allowed at any rate to follow it himself in peace (S. Columbani, Ep. II. in Collectan.sacr.)
It may be observed in the epistle before us, as also in subsequent one to pope Boniface IV. with reference to the same subject (S. Columbani, Ep. V.; Collectan.sacr), that, though addressing the bishop of Rome in language of the utmost deference, and recognizing his high position, he shews no disposition to submit to his authority; telling him on the contrary that should he declare himself so as to contradict the supposed teaching of St. Jerome, he would be rejected as heretical by all the Celtic churches. And throughout the letter there runs a vein of sarcasm. There is no extant reply from Gregory to the letter. Probably none was sent. Possibly the letter never reached its destination : for in the subsequent letter, above referred to, to Boniface IV. Columban says, "Once and again Satan hindered the bearers of our letters written formerly to pope Gregory of good memory, which are subjoined below."
The point at issue, and Columban's argument, as it appears in this letter, may be briefly stated thus. Apart from any differences in the cycles for calculating the true day of the Paschal full moon in successive years, there was this difference between the Celtic and Roman usages. While all agreed in keeping Easter on a Sunday, the Celtic use was to keep it on the day of the Paschal full moon itself (i.e. the calculated 14th day of the moon falling on, or next after, the Vernal Eqiunox), in case of such a day falling on a Sunday; whereas the Roman was, in such a case, to defer their Easter celebration till the following Sunday, so as to avoid coincidence with the actual day of the Jewish Passover. Hence, in Bede's account of the controversy on the subject between the British and Scottish (i.e. Irish) Churches on the one hand and the Roman on the other, he speaks of the former keeping their Easter between the 14th and the 20th days of the moon inclusive, but the latter between the 15th and the 21st (Bede, H.E. II. 2; III. 25). In Gaul however, as appears from the letter before us, it was the rule to defer Easter for a week in case of the day of the Paschal full moon (i.e. the 14th) falling on a Saturday, so as to avoid coincidence even with the 15th day of the moon. Hence, agreeing with Bede as to the Celtic usage being to keep Easter between the 14th and 20th days, he speaks not of the 15th and 21st, but of the 16th and the 22nd being the extreme limits according to the Gallic usage. The reason of this difference was, that it had once been the Latin use, as against the Alexandrian, to keep Easter from the 16th to the 22nd days, thus avoiding the 15th; and this rule had been retained in the cycle of Victorius (as to whom see below, note 7),which was still received in Gaul.
The arguments of St. Columban in defence of the Celtic usage may be thus summarized. 1. It had been sanctioned by Anatolius (see below, note 5), whose view had been approved by St. Jerome. 2. To defer Easter to the 22nd, or even the 21st day was incongruous, seeing that the moon then entered last quarter, rising so late as to give darkness preponderance over light; and the solemnity of light should not be celebrated under the domination of darkness He quotes Anatolius as having insisted on this principle, of which (we may here observe) we find an intimation in Philo with reference to the Jewish Passsover:-"That not only by day but also by night the world may be full of all-beauteous light, inasmuch as sun and moon on that day succeed each other with no interval of darkness between." (De Sept. et Fest. 1191. ) 3. The alleged objection to keeping Easter on the day of the Jewish Passover was unfounded and futile. 4. The Mosaic Law enjoined seven days, beginning with the 14th, as the duration of the Passover festival; and within the same limits should he kept the Easter festival. [This argument, it may be observed, whatever its worth in other respects, appears to be founded on an error. For the Passover, having been killed before sunset on the 14th of Nisan, is believed to have been after sunset, i.e. after the 15th day, reckoned from evening to evening, had begun; and from the latter day inclusive the seven days of unleavened bread were reckoned thus ending with the 21st, which was a special day of "holy convocation." Cf . below, note 5.]
89 Theoria utpote divina castulitatis potito. The word castulitatis may possibly have been in use among the Irish monks as an endearing diminutive of castitas (i.e. chastity or purity), regarded as the object of their affections in the contemplative life. Their writers appear to have been given to the use of such diminutives, not only of the names of people, but of other words also.-" In the following pages (sc. in Adamnan's Life of St. Columba) the reader will observe the liberal employment of diminutives, so characteristic of Irish composition; and he will find them, in many cases, used without any grammatical force, and commutable, in the same chapters, with their primitives." (Reeve's Adamnan. Appendix to Preface, Ed., 1857 p. lxi.).
90 Perhaps an error for Barjona, meaning '`son of a dove, 0'' in allusion to his name, Columba, or Columbanus. He afterwards calls himself "vilis columba". Cf. "Pauperculus pr(potenti (mirum dictu! nova res !) rara avis scribere audet Bonifacio patri Palumbus:" "Sed talia suadenti, utpote torpenti actu, ac dicenti potius quam facienti mihi, Jon( Hebraice, Perister( Gr(ce, Columb( Latine, potius tantum [al.tamen]) vestr( idiomate liogu( nancto [al. nuncupato], "(S. Columbani Ep. V. ad Bonifaciumn papam IV. Collectan. sacr. Patr.Fleming. Galland. s(c. VI. C. a.d. 598). Cf. "Vir erat vit( venerabilis et beat( memori(, monasteriorum pater et fundator, cum Jora propheta homonymum sortitus nomen ; nam licet diverso trium diversarum sono linguarum, unam tamen eandemque rem significant huc quod Hebraice dicitur Jona, Gr(citas vero PERISTERA vocitat, et Latina lingua Columba nuncupatur." (Adamnan's Life of S. Columba; Secunda Pr(fatio.) Du Cange suggests a corruption of Barginna, said to be a low Latin word, equivalent to peregrinus.
91 The meaning of this word is obscure. Patrick Fleming (Collect. Sacr.) suggests an error for compte pictam: Du Cange for comptam, or acu comptam, some artificial arrangement of the hair being supposed to be referred to. The intended point of the comparison seems to be, that Gregory will still be admirable, though the writer may set him off unskilfully.
92 Anatolius, an Alexandrian by birth and bishop of Laodicea, a.d. 269, is referred to by Eusebius (H. E. VII. 32) as distinguished for learning, and the writer of a work on the Paschal question, which he quotes. A "Canon Paschalis," purporting to be this work, was published by Bucherius in a Latin Version (Doct. Temp. Antv. 1634); but its genuineness is doubted. Anatoluis was adduced by Colman at the Synod of Whitby (Bede, H.E. III. 25), as an authority for the 14th and 20th days of the moon being the limits for Easter. But Wilfrid replied that Anatolius had been misunderstood; for that, having in view the Egyptian mode of reckoning days from sunset to sunset, he had meant the day which began after sunset on the 14th day, i.e. really the 15th. And so also wiht regard to the 20th day. His language, as quoted by Eusebius, supports this explanation of his meaning:-"Given that the day of the Passover is on the fourteenth of the moon after evening (meth esperan)." See above, end of note .
93 "Forte sic dictos, quod obscura et fifficilia rimarentur." Benedictine edit. Migne.-"Nostri rimeurs vocant poetastras, sed an ea sit hic notio non defino." Du Cange.
94 The original here, being probably an incorrect citation, is obscure. It is "Pascha, ed est solemnitas dominic( Resurrectionis, ante transgressum vernalis (quinoctii 16 initiam non potest celebari, ut scilicet (quinoctium non antecedai."
95 Pope Leo I. referred the question between the Roman and Alexandrian Churches as to the computation of Easter to his archdeacon (afterwards pope) Hilarius for investigation; and he referred it to Victorius of Aquitaine, who consequently (a.d. 457) drew up a cycle, which was accepted first in the Gallican Churches (Concil. Aurel. IV., an. 541), and continued to be observed there after it had been superseded in Italy by that of Dionysius Exiguus (a.d. 527). See above. note I.
96 "Schyntencum Gr(cam vocem scoinotenh/j putat Editor, id est, tanquam si rectum et legitimum esset." Du Cange. This interpretation appears probable from the fact that the Irish writers of the period were given to air their Greek learning by the rise of such words.-"He (Adamnan) occasionally employs Greek or Gr(co-Latin words" (Reeves's Adamnan. p. lxi. See also p. 158, note, for other evidence of this Irish tendency). The meaning in the text would thus be, "I wonder that this error should be tolerated by thee as though it were right and legitimate."
97 Hermagoric( novitatis; the epithet heing apparently formed from the name of Hermagoras of Temnos, a distinguished Greek rhetorician of the time of Pompey and Cicero. He devoted peculiar attention to what is called the invention. Quintilian refers to him and approves his system : Cicero (De Invent. i. 6) was opposed to it. The use of a word like this is again characteristic of the Irish writers.
98 i.e. pope Victor in his opposition towards the end of the second century to the Asiatic Quarto-decimans who kept their Pasch on the day of the Paschal full moon, whatever the day of the week might be. Colman at the synod of Whitby had alleged St. John to whom the Asiatics had traced their tradition, as an authority for the Scottish usage. But Wilfrid truly alleged in reply that the question at issue between the Scots and Romans at that time was a different one, since both parties agreed in keeping Easter on a Sunday only. Still, Columban's argument here is to the point as shewing that the Easterns had not objected to keeping Easter on the actual day of the Jewish Passover. It may be noted here how the authority of Victor, as well as of other popes is set at naught by S. Columbanus.
99 Sed hoc soporansi spina Dagonis, hoc imbibit bubum err oris. On these obscure expressions it may be observed that spina Dagonis evidently means what was left to the fish-god (r0a/cij in LXX.), after his head and hands had been severed. Gregory, in his comment on I Sam v., interprets it as denoting heathenism prostrate, and at length deprived of even the semblance of rationality, in the presence of the Gospel. which was represented by the ark. Columban may possibly have got the idea from Gregory's own intreptation of the incident, and been pleased to use it against him. Bubum according to Du Cange is a late Latin word denoting senium, or languor, the noun bubula also being used in the sense of fabula. The idea seems to be that pope Victor's view was a figment , worthy only to be received (or, as we might now say, swallowed) by senseless heathenism or wandering dotage.
101 Cum clientelis: meaning perhaps living with females of their own households as concubines, in distinction from open transgression. The word can hardly denote, as suggested by the Benedictine Editors, wives lawfully married before ordination.
102 De ultimis Heulini, litoris finibus.- "Loco Heulini esse legendum Hualini, vel Huelini constat ex contextu Hieronymiano. Est vox Gr(ca, a rad.u!aloj, sive u!eloj, vitrum, crystallus. Sic mare vocatur (Apocal. iv.) qa/lassa u0ali/nh. In Hieronymo hic legimus; De ultimis Hispaci( Gallarumque finibus" (note in Benedictine Edition). See above, note 8, as to the fondness of the old Irish writers for the use of Greek words.
103 Candidus had been sent by Gregory to Gaul as rector patrimonii there. See previous Epistles.
1 Clementina was one of the ladies of rank whose acquaintance Gregory had made at Constantinople, and with whom he continued to keep up affectionate fatherly intercourse. Cf. I. 11, and the epistle which follows this.
2 It is a sign of Gregory's habitual courtesy to ladies of rank, as well as of their influential positon, that he moved to send her a kind of apology for the removing from Constantinople a priest whom she valued, and who may have been her spiritual adviser. See also the epistle which follows, in which the subdeacon in charge of the proceedings is directed to resort to her in person to solicit her consent. Amandus was after his death venerated as a Saint at Surrentum. In the Church of SS. Felix and Baculus there is this epitaph:-"Hic requiescit sacerdos Dei Amandus episcopus sanct( ecclesi( Surrentin(, qui sedit annos xvii. dies xxi. Depositus est die 13, mense Aprilis, indict. 5, imperante D.N. Heraclio R. Aug. anno 7. Orate pro me, sancte Pater," (Migne, Patrilog., in loc.)
4 As to the employment of notaries, see Prolegomena, p. viii.
5 Bishop of Catana in sicily, to whom a previous epistle (Ep. XXII., not here translated) on the same subject is addressed. Several years previously he had been summoned to Rome to answer certain charges against him, but had been honourably acquitted. Cf. I. 72; II. 33.
7 The Agnoetae or Themistiani arose in connexion with the Monophysite controversy in the sixth century, being led by Themistius, a deacon of Alexandria, who taught the limitation of the human knowledge of Christ, referring especially to Mark xiii. 32, and John xi. 34. The majority of the Monophysites rejected his view, which was condemned also by the orthodox. Eulogius of Alexandria, to whom the letter before us is addressed, wrote a treatise against the Agnoeae from which extracts are given by Photius. Sophronius, patriarch of Jerusalem, pronounced the anathema against Themistius. On the same subject, cf. Ep. XXXIX. below. Gregory's arguments in Ep. XXXIX. against the views of the Agnoetae are interesting to English readers at the present day, when similar views have been lately put forward and discussed.
9 For a summary of previous dealings with Maximus of Salona, and his long defiance of the authority of Rome, see III. 47, note 2. It appears from this epistle that all former insubordination, which had called forth such fulminations, was now fully condoned.
11 As to the designation Scribo. See II. 32, note 7; V. 30, note 8. As to this Julian, so described, cf. IX. 41.
12 Cingula. "Speciatim cingulum adhibetur in re militari. Est enim militiae insigne; et metonymice pro ipsa militia ponitur." (Facciolati.)
13 Dromonibus "Est etiam hoc nomine genus navis longae, transvectionibus aptae, a celeritate dictae (dro/moj), a brigantine, cutter, yacht, carvel: cujus mentio fit in Cod. lib. 1, tit. 27, leg. 2, et apud Cassiod. 1. 5, Ep.XVII."(Facciolati.)
14 It was not the fact. The Lombard King Agilulph lived till a.d. 616. lived till a.d. 616.
15 At this time Gregory's apocrisiarius at Constantinople.
18 Those who refused to accept the condemnation of "The Three Chapters" by the fifth council alleged that it contravened the Council of Chalcedon. It may be that the persons referred to here, in their defence of what had been decreed in the fifth council, had seemed to admit that it did contravene the fourth, which they consequently were supposed to reject.
1 No doubt the John called Climacus, Scholasticus, and Sinaita, commemorated as a saint on 30 March. Having entered the monastery of Mount Sinai at the age of 16, he is said to have retired thence to live the life of an anchoret, to have been elected abbot at the age of 75, to have again after a time retired into solitude, and to have died early in the 7th century. While abbot, he wrote a work called Scala (kli\mac) Paradisi, whence his name of Climacus. The monastery on Mount Sinai was a place to which pilgrimages were made. Cf. IV. 46.
2 Properly a hospital for aged persons.
3 The meaning of the word rachana, racana, or racahina, is uncertain. It occurs again in Xl. 78, where Barbara and Antonina, two young ladies at Constantinople, are thanked for a present of two racanae, which they had alleged to be of their own workmanship. It is usually supposed to mean some wooller article of dress, worn by monks. Others understand blankets.
4 See VI. 56, note 7. The abbot Stephen, addressed in that letter, was probably the predecessor of Conon.
5 He was bishop of Telona (Toulon). See Xl. 58.
6 Other epistles to Serenus of Marseilles are VI. 52, IX. 205, Xl. 58. In IX. 105 he had already been reproved for his inconsiderate zeal in breaking pictures of saints, which is the main subject of the present letter. His reply to the former letter, of which he had affected to suspect the genuineness, seems to have called forth this Ionger and severer admonition.
7 Cyriacus, once abbot of Gregory's own monastery of St. Andrew on the C(lian at Rome, is named in the former epistle to Serenus (IX. 105) as its bearer. As to the cause of his being sent at that time into Gaul, see notes to IX. 106, and IX. 109.
9 Gentibus. The term gentes was used not only to denote Gentiles as usually understood, and pagan races as distinct from Christians, but also nations outside the Roman republic.
10 Cf. Ep. LV. in this book to Virgilius of Arles, the metropolitan of Sereuns, in which this laxity on the part of the latter is alluded to.
13 For further reference to the subject of this letter, see XIV. 2. It appears there that Epiphanius, mentioned in this letter, had been a son-in-law of Pompeiana. It appears further that this lady afterwards accused both the bishop Januarius and the defensor Vitalis of having unjustly withheld her son-in-law's pious bequest, notwithstanding the admonition contained in this letter.
14 For reasons for supposing this letter to Angustine to have been written earlier than the 4th Indiction (a.d. 600-1), to which it is assigned by the Benedictine Editors, and for a summary of the whole series of letters relating to the English mission, see Prolegom., p. xxv.
15 As to the apparent inference from this letter that King Ethelbert of Kent had not been converted when it was written and as to when it may have been sent to queen Bertha, see Prolegom., p. xxvi., note 2.
16 See I. 34, note 8: It is significant of Gregory's delicate tact, that he does not in this letter, when his friend was suffering, allude to his past renunciation of monastic life as among the sins to be repented of, or urge him to return to it, though that the subject was still on his mind appears from his letter about the same time to the Bishop of Syracuse (XI. 36).
17 i.e. Agilulph, the Lombard king, referred to as Ago also in IV. 11. It was the Lombard occupation of a great part of Italy at that time that was apprehended as likely to impede a journey from Ravenna to Rome.
19 The reason why trouble to the orphans of Venantius was apprehended appears further in the letter that follows to the bishop of Syracuse.
21 Viz. Monasticism, which Venantius had renounced in spite of the earnest remonstrance of Gregory ten years previously.
22 It may have been that Venantius had filled some public office, in connexion with which it was alleged that his estate was liable to seizure by the goverment officials. Gregory evidently believes that there is not such liability; but, in view of the attempt to assert it, he is anxious that no pretext should be afforded the authorities for taking charge of the property of the deceased, such as they might have had if the orphans had been made wards of the Emperor.
24 For the appointment of Romanus, cf. IX. 18.
26 Primicerius notariarum occ. III. 22. "Primicerius, Primus cujusque ordinis.-Secundicerius, Qui post primicerium est in schola qualibet." D'Arnis' Lexicon.
29 The gifts that had been sent were, as appears below, veils or hangings (vela) for the shrine of St. Peters in the Vatican basilica.
30 Strategius (as appears from other letters) was the young grandson of Ruaticiana, being the child of Appio and Eusebia. See II. 27, note 2.
31 Sister of the emperor Mauricius, and governess of the imperial children See also I. 5, VII. 26. This long letter to her was called forth by her having complained to Gregory of erroneous views in matters of religion being imputed to her at Constantinople, for which she seems to have been maligned in certain quarters. In his reply, with his habitual courtesy, he takes for granted that such imputations were unfounded, though the pains he takes to combat the errors with which she was charged may perhaps suggest the idea of his not being in his heart quite assured of her soundness. The whole letter, both for its tone and for its style of argumentation, is very characteristic of the writer.
32 Cf. Theodoret, Eccles. Hist. lib, ii. c. 6, where this is told; "asseruerunt arcam Joannis Baptistae, et ossibus combustis dissiparunt cinerem."
33 Religionis, in the sense of monastic life.
34 Conversio, in the usual sense of embracing monastic life.
35 In English Bible, lxxiii. 28.
36 In English Bible, xxxiv. 25.
37 Written in reply to a letter from the new patriarch of Jerusalem, announcing, as was usual, his election, and containing his confession of faith.
40 Cf. XIII. 5 for a similar assertion of the unlawfulness of superseding a bishop, except at his own request, when incapacitated by illness. See also VII. 19 In this epistle may be observed Gregory's habitual deference to the Emperors, whose subject he ever declared himself to be even in matters of ecclesiastical import, together with his avoidance of giving his own sanction to anything he regarded as irreligious or uncanonical. Similarly in the case of an imperial prohibition of soldiers becoming monks . See III. 65; VIII. 5; X. 24. Cf. also IV. 47, in the case of Maximus of Salona. We find him, howerer, in a letter to the empress, in which this case of Maximus is referred to (V. 21), making a respectful protest against imperial interference in matters of ecclesiastical cognizance.
41 Conversum, in the usual sense of adopting monastic life.
43 Desiderius was bishop of Vienne, cf. VI. 54. This letter, with others that follow (Epp. LV., LVI., LVII., LVIII, LIX., LX., LXI., LXII., LXIV., LXV., LXVl., and possibly also the preceding Epistle, XXIX.) were carried, as appears from its conclusion, by Mellitus and his companions, who, in answer to Augustine's request, were sent by Gregory from Rome to reinforce the mission to Britain (Bede, H.E. 1.27, 29). See Prolegomena, p. xxvi. It is notable as shewing Gregory's views with regard to the study of secular literature.
44 The bishop of Arles had vicariate jurisdiction committed to him under Rome. Cf. V. 53.
45 In two mss. (Teller.) "die decimo Kalendas Julii, indict. 4," i.e. 22 June, a.d. 601. This may be taken as correct, agreeing with other dated epistles sent through Mellitus and his companions.
46 Cf. IX. 107, to the same Aregius.
47 Licinius (afterwards canonized) was bishop of Andegavum (Angers).
50 Clotaire II., at this time king of Neustria, his capital being Soissons. There is no letter to him among those which had been carried by Augustine. But it appears from this epistle that the missionaries had passed through his dominions and had been well received.
51 Brunechild was at this time with her grandson Theoderic in the kingdom of Burgundy, having been expelled from Austrasia, according to Greg. Turon, a.d. 599.
52 This important epistle is given below as published in the Benedictine edition, with notes pointing out its main variations from Bede (H.E. I. 27), and with addition of the Preface, first published by Mansi (Supplem. ad Concil. tom. vi. p. 385 ) from a ms. Codex of the eighth century (Cod. Lucen ). Bede's copy may be regarded as the most authentic, having been brought to him from Rome by Nothelm, a.d. 715-731 (Bede H.E. Praef.). However, he does not give the Preface, which has internal evidence of authenticity. Subsequently to Nothelm's visit to Rome, it would seem that the whole epistle had been mislaid there, not having been kept among the rest of Gregory's letters. For St Boniiface, a.d. 736 (Epist. XL. ad Nothelm.. Episc Cantuar) requests Nothelm to send him a copy of these Questions and Answers from England, saying that no copy of them could at that time be found at Rome. They were, we may conclude, discovered subsequently. Internal evidence, as well as historic probability, supports the superior genuineness of Bede's copy (Cf. Councils, &c., re1ating to Great Britain and Ireland, 0xf , 1871 Vol. III., p.32.) The edition of the Epistle (Cod Luen) above referred to as published by Mansi, though containing several variations, agrees in many respects with that of Bede, and especially in the absence of "the request of Augustine" (obsecratio Augustini) and "the grant of Gregory" (Concessio Gregorii) after the answer to the ninth question. See note there.
53 In Bede, and Cod. Luc., this question does not appear, what follows as a reply to it being in continuation of the answer to Question I. The form of the beginning of the reply, "Si qui vero sunt clerici," favors it having been so.
54 This allowance of marriage between second cousins seems to have caused surprise in some quarters. Cf. Epistle of Felix of Messana to Gregory (XlV. 16). The motive of St. Boniface in his letter to Nothelm, referred to above under note 1, in which he asked for a copy of these Questions and Answers, seems to have been a desire to ascertain whether Gregory had really allowed such marriages. He writes, "in qua inter caetera capitula continetur quod in tertia generatione propinquitatis fidelibus liceat matrimonia copulare."
55 This question is not in Bede, or in Cod. Lucens., what follows being given as a continuation of the preceding answer. It begins with "Quia vero." Cf. note 2.
56 It is to be observed that Gregory, though aware of the existence of British bishops, as his answer to the following questions shews, does not contemplate their taking part in ordinations. He may have been unwilling to invite their co-operation till assured of their orthodoxy and submission to the Roman See. The failure of Augustine's negociations with them has been attributed to his own imperious attitude towards them. But it is at least a question whether his instructions did not justify the position he assumed (See Bede, H.E. 11.2.).
58 This question, with the answer to it, is absent from Bede, and Cod. Lucens., and may be regarded as an interpolation.
59 In the scheme, sketched in this letter for the constitution of the Church in England which Gregory seems to have contemplated being carried out in Angustine's own day, he shews serious ignorance of the state of things in England at the time, and consequently of possibilities. Among other things he appears to have known little of the ancient Brtish Church or of the independent position which its bishops would be likely to assume. Still it is interesting to observe that the scheme in its main features-that of two independent Metropolitans in the North and in the South, each with his suffragan bishops under them-was after all eventually realized, and that the present constitution of the English Church may be traced to this letter; only that Canterbury never yielded its primitive dignity, as had been proposed, to London.
60 This direction was modified in a subsequent letter to Mellitus (XI. 76).
61 Or Iberia, corrected from Hibernia by the Benedictine Editors, with the support of some few mss. That the letter was addressed to the bishops of Hibernia (i.e. Ireland) is highly improbable. Not only is it unlikely that the Eastern heresy of Nestorianism would have infected Ireland, but the fact also, mentioned in the beginning of the letter, that the messenger from the bishops addressed had passed through Jerusalem on his way to Rome evidently points to some Eastern locailty. For similar reasons it cannot well be supposed that Iberia here denotes Spain. It may have been the territory so-called in the neighbourhood of Armenia, between Cholchis on the West, and Albania on the East, now Gurgistan.
63 This letter was sent after the departure of Mellitus with the band of new missionaries from Rome to Britain (see Prolegomena, p. xxvi.), being intended to reach him while still in France. In the date given at the end there is evidently an error with regard to the day of the month. For several of the letters sent by Mellitus being dated 10 Kal. Jul. (i e. June 22), this, which was subsequent, cannot have been originally dated xv Kal. Jul. (i.e June 17). The Indiction is given correctly. Gregory had directed King Ethelbert (XI. 66) to destroy the heathen temples. He now sees reason to modify any such orders.
64 See above, Epp. XXXV., XXXVI., in this book, and I.34, note 8, there referred to.
65 If the marriage of the parents, Venantius and Italica, took place as connjectured in the note to I.34, in the eleventh Indiction (a.d. 592-3) and this letter was written in the fourth (a.d. 600-1), the daughters would not be more than seven or eight years of age. Still, even at this early age, their betrothal may have been contemplated with a view to their settlement in life. But Venantius may have married earlier than 592-3, soon after his return to a secular life, and so the girls may have been a little older. Neither, however, if our dates are right, could be more than ten years old.
67 Viz. John, bishop of Syracuse. See above, Ep. XXXVI.
68 On the meaning of this word, see XII., note 3.
2 Victor was Primate of Numidia. See IV. 34, note 4.
3 This subdeacon John appears to have bee at this time the pope's representative to Ravenna, the seat of the exarch of Italy.
4 The reference is to the conduits or aqueducts for supplying water to Rome, which it was the duty of the officer called "praefectus", who appears to have been at ths time resident at Ravenna, to keep in order.
5 Romanus had been appointed guardian (defensor) of the patrimony in Sicily. See IX. 18.
6 This was a case of a native of Sicily, who had been ascriptuss glebae, having been appointed a Defensor Ecclesiae. The purpose of the epistle is to guard against his supposing that such appointment exempted his children from the restrictions imposed by their birth.
7 Sed et superscribi terram eorum. The meaning may be that notices should be put on the land to which such defaulters were attached, declaring that such and such persons belonged to it and were boond to remain on it. Cf. V. 41, note 3, on the phrase titulos imponere.
9 For the custom in Africa with regard to the primacy, see I.74, note 9.
10 At this time primate of Numidia. See preceding epistle.
11 Cf. IX. 58, note 1 and IX. 59.
1 On this head, see also XI. 48.
2 On Brunechild, see VI. 5, note 4. Having after the death of her son Childebert II. acted as guardian of his son Theodebert II., who had received the kingdom of Austrasia with his Capital at Metz, she had been expelled by the Austrasians in the year 599, and been received by her other grandson, Theoderic II., who reigned over Burgundy with his Capital at Orleans. When this letter was sent (a.d. 602) Theoderic would be about fifteen years of age, and, as appears from the letter to himself which follows, under the management of his grandmother.
4 i.e. his metropolitan province, Lyons being a metropolitan See.
5 See preceding epistle, note 2.
6 If the accounts given by the Frankish historians be true, Brunechild's influence over her grrandson was not in all respects such as to prepare him for life with the angels. She is said to have encouraged him in licentious living for fear of her own power being undermined by the introduction into his court of a lawful queen. (Greg Turon., Hist. Franc. Xl. 36; Fredegar. XXX., XXXVII.).
7 For the rest of this epistle see preceding Epistle IX with which, mutatis mutandis it is identical, as was Epistle VIII., save for an additional paragraph given under Epistle VIII. See what has been said with regard to that Epistle. The genuineness, or at any rate the freedom from interpolation, of all these three Epistles is disputed. The Benedictine Editors of Gregory's works defend their authenticity. See their note (b) to Ep.VIII( Patrologiae Tomus LXVII. Sancti Gregorii Magni tomus tertius). The purport of all three letters is to confer privileges on, and provide for the future security and regulation of, three recent foundations of Queen Brunechild at Augustodunim (Autun); viz. 1. A hospital, or guest-house (xenodochium) in Autun, over which a Senator, described as "presbyter and abbot," had been appointed to preside; 2. A monastery for women, of which Thalassi had been appointed Abbess; 3. The Church of St. Martin in the suburbs, over which Lupo "presbyter and abbot," presided. These foundations are referred to, though not described, in Epistle VI. to Brunechild herself, where Gregory speaks of having issued decrees for their protection in the future, which he desires should be kept among the royal archives. In those times of continual conflict among the Frank potentates royal founders might naturally wish to protect their foundations from disturbance by means of spiritual fulminations ; and the queen's desire in this respect might account for the anathemas in these epistles, which have been said to be characteristic of a later age than that of Gregory. It may be observed further that the appointment of the heads of these religious institutions is, in the letters before us, reserved to "the kings of the province" instead of free election, subject to episcopal approval, being left to the inmates, as was usual in other cases. This might be due, if the letters are genuine, to the request of Brunechild, whom, as a staunch Catholic and a supporter of the Church, Gregory ever shews himself anxious to conciliate. With regard to his politic flattery of her, or of others similarly situated, cf. VI. 5, note 4.
8 Adrian, who had already been commissioned as notarius Siciliae (X. 23), had now been made rector patrimonii, being succeeded as notary by Pantaleo (XIII. 34)
9 Sacerdotes, meaning here apparently parish priests, though more commonly, in Gregory's epistles, denoting bishops. The abuse complained of seems to have been that of charging priests of parishes unreasonably for the remuneration of the clerici who attended the bishops on their confirmation progresses.
10 Ad consignados infantes; i.e. for confirmation, cf. IV. 26, note, 6.
11 This designation may mean a kind of private secretary to the Emperor, or one to whom the secret service of the government was committed.
13 Bishop of Naples. A few epistles not included in this translation are addressed to him as such.
14 Filii ecclesae, or, according to the authority of mss., simply filii. Cf. III. 56, where the expression occurs. It is understood to denote the lay members of any Church, among whom those of the highest social position were called nobiles (see below), and others plebs. Mandates for the election of bishops are addressed to clero, nobilibus, ordini, et plebi (as in II.6), or to clero ordini, et plebi (as in I.58), or occasionally clero et nobilibus (as in I. 80); ordo being understood to denote persons of position, though not ranking as nobles.
15 i.e. bishops, as commonly meant by sacerdotes.
17 Phocas succeeded Mauricius as Emperor in November, a.d. 602. With regard to Gregory's adulatory tone towards this sanguinary usurper and his consort Leontia, see Prolegomena, p. xxvii.
23 Bishop of Syracuse. Cf. V. 17.
24 Adrian, previously addressed as notarius Sicilae (X.. 23), had been succeeded by Pantaleo and made rector patrimonii (XIII. 18).
25 The person thus sent was Boniface (see below, Ep. XL., and XIV. 8), who afterwards became pope.
26 See VII. 40 for Gregory's view of the three sees of Rome, Antioch, Alexandria, all representing the see of St. Peter.
27 Eulogias, apparently in the same sense as benedictiones, used elsewhere as denoting presents.
2 Sacerdotes, here as elsewhere meaning bishops.
3 "Convertit in monasterio." Conversio, as usually, means here monastic profession.
4 As to this Pomponiana (al. Pompeiana), cf. I.48; XI. 25.
5 Bishop of Catana in Sicily. Cf. IV. 36.
6 Castrum Cassiopi, which appears to have been a fortress in the isle of Corcyra, to which refugees from the mainland of Epirus had resorted in time of war. Euria was one of the sees in Epirus Vetus under the jurisdiction of which these refugees had been ; and it seems that the bishop of Euria had been complained of by Alcyson, bishop of Corcyra, for asserting jurisdiction over them in their new abode. See also E.p.VIII. which follows, and Ep. XIII.
7 Parochiam, in the then usual sense of what in now called a diocese.
10 i.e. the child had been baptized a catholic. It would seem from Gregory's way of speaking, and the absence of allusion to the conversion of the father, that king Agiluiph had not yet announced his Arianisrn. Paul Diaconus alleges that he did so eventually through the influence of Theodelinda.
11 The child who had been baptized (al. Adaloaldus, or Adoaldus). He succeeded his father as king of the Lombards, a.d. 616, being still a boy, reigning under his mother's guardianship. According to Paul Diaconus, Gregory's hopes were for a short time fulfilled :-"Under them Churches were restored. and many endowments were bestowed on venerable places;"-but before long he became insane, and after ten years (a.d. 626) was deposed, Arioald being appointed to succeed him (Hist. Longob. iv. 43).
12 On the subject of the "Three Chapters," as appears from what follows. It is evident that the able and conscientious queen Theodelinda never found herself able to accept the ruling of the See of Rome on this question (cf IV. 2, note 3); and she seems now to have employed the abbot Secundis to draw up a statement of the arguments on her side, inviting Gregory to reply to them. He did not, however, on this account cease to address her cordially as a good catholic. He seems to have condoned in her what he so strongly condemned in others as involving them in schism. On the schism arising from the matter of the "Three Chapters," see I. 16, note 3; and Prolegom., p. x.
13 Some precious stone, probably of a white colour.
15 Messina in Sicily. This Felix cannot be identified wth Felix, bishop of the same See, to whom previous letters (viz, I.66, together with two others, I.40, and II. 5, which have not been translated) had been addressed. For he had been succeeded in the see by Donus, probably in the 14th Indiction, i.e. a.d. 595-6, (see VI. 9), when Gregory's reply to Augustine's interrogatories, which is the main subject of the epistle before us, had not yet been sent. Augustine does not appear to have even arrived in Britain till a.d. 597. But there seems to be no reason against the supposition that a second Felix had succeeded Donus at Messina before the death of Gregory, the last mention of Donus being in the superscription of Ep. XVIII. in Book XIII., assigned to the 16th Indiction, i.e. a.d. 602-3.
16 See also below-"the apostles in the first place who were prelates of the Apostolic See." It would seem from these expressions that the Sicilian bishops went on the tradition of St. Paul and St. Peter having been joint founders of the Roman Church and throughout the epistle, though the supremacy of the See of Rome is acknowledged, it is not spoken of as derived especially from St. Peter.
17 See XI., 64 (Responsio ad Interrog. vi.).
18 The genuineness of this epistle is, to say the least, open to grave suspicion. Jaiffé (Regesta Pont. Lit. Spur.) rejects it as spurious. Its style in some parts reminds us of Gregory, and it contains passages identical with what he had written elsewhere: but its prolixity, bad composition. and repetitions are unworthy of his pen. It reads like an unskilful imitation of his style. Nor is it difficult to understand why such a letter may have been forged. If, as supposed in our note to Ep. XVI., a letter from Sicily had been addressed to Gregory not long before his death with reference to his answers to Angustine's questions, to which letter he had been unable to reply, it was not unlikely that such a letter as the one before us would afterwards be composed in his name. For anxiety might naturally be felt to vindicate from inconsistency the teaching of the Roman See on the subject of marriages of consanguinity. Such a letter, too, if forged, would be likely to attempt an imitation of Gregory's style, and to bring in (as this does) extracts from his previous writings. It may be observed that the plea set forth of the directions to Augustine having been meant only as temporary concessions is not borne out by the actual language of those directions. See XI. 64.
20 The rest of this long prolix epsitle, not being of any peculiar interest, has not been translated.
1 The former in the Roman edition, Opera Syr., Tom. III, p.xxiii; the latter in Lamy's Hymni et Sermones, Tom. II.
2 Of these, the one, which is ascribed to Amphilochius, is perhaps the basis on which the longer Syriac Life was constructed.
5 Not elsewhere named: perhaps we ought to read Beth-Garme; for which see B.O. II., De Monophysitis, s.v.
6 So the Paris text: the Vatican has "Origen." The person meant is probably the Eugenius who came from Egypt with 70 disciples to Nisibis, to introduce the ascetic life into that region, and lived there from the time of the consecration of St. Jacob till the surrender in 363. His life is related in the inedited ms. Ad'd. 12174 (Lives of Saints), of the British Museum.
7 This city lay quite out of the region of the Nitrian monasteries. Possibly In the original form of this biography, the "Enaton" (i.e. the Ninth District) of Alexandria was named as the place of Ephraim's sojourn and subsequent transcribers changed the word into Antino.
8 As represented by Gregory Ephraim was a very Democritus among saints:"As with all men to breathe is a natural function unceasing in exercise, so with Ephraim was it to weep. There was no day, no night, no hour, no moment however brief, in which his eyes were not wakeful and filled with tears, while he bewailed the faults and follies, now of his own life, now of mankind. By groans he made a channel for the streams of his eyes or rather, by the outflow of the eyes he looked his groans.... There was no interval of time between them, groans succeeding to tears and they again to groans, as in a sort of circle; so that it was impossible to distinguish which made the beginning and which was the cause of the other. Any one who makes acquaintance with his writings will perceive this characteristic; for he will be found lamenting not only in his treatises on penitence, or morals, or right conduct, but even in his panegyrics, in which it is the habit of most writers to show an aspect of rejoicing. But he was every where the same, and abounded perpetually in this gift of compunction."
10 Casarae, the see of Basil, lay far from the sea, in the heart of the inland province of Cappadocia. The Caesarea of the Acts of the Apostles (Stratonis), the metropolis of Palestine was a seaport.
11 The feast of St. Mamas (a Cappadocian martyr) falls in August, not in January. A sermon of St. Basil for that feast is extant (Hom. XXIII.). Probably the author of this History knew that sermon, and was thus led to mention the commemoration here, carelessly disregarding the time of year.
12 To the pseudo-Amphilochius.
13 Paraenesis xxvi. II (Opera Syr.), Tom. III. p. 467. The word, however, is perhaps not to be taken literally.
14 Opera Syriaca, Tom. I., p. 8.
15 In Syriac, Bardaisan (son of Daisan), so called from his birthplace beside the river above mentioned.
16 See Bickell, Carmina Nisibena, p. 101.
17 Opera Syriaca, Tom. II., p. 554, see also Homily I.
18 The Seven Aeons (or Beings) of Bardesan's heresy; see Opp. Syr. II., p. 550.
19 The heretic Apollinaris seems to have been a younger man than Ephraim, whom he survived by some years. Possibly his father, the elder Apollinaris, is here intended. But he is not recorded as having taught heresy.
20 To this church were translated the bones of St. Thomas the Apostle, from his burial place in India, in the time of Eulogius the successor of Barses (378-387),-as we learn from Barhebr(us, Chronicon Eccles. I. 21 (p.65 of Abbeloos and Lamy's edition). But the above narrative, as confirmed by Socrates (IV. 18), shows that it had been built and was held in special reverence before that. It is the church at which our History places the healing of the paralytic (above). Sozomen's account (VI. 17) in the main agrees; also Theodoret's (lV. 17).
21 Baronius, Annales, IV. p. 308. The Vatican Life reads Julian for Valens in this narrative, thus introducing inexplicable preplexity into the chronology. Julian died before Ephraim became a resident of Edessa.
22 Printed in Overbeck's Ephraemi S. Opera Selecta, p. 137; also in the (Roman) Opera Graeca, at the end of Tom. II., p. 395.
25 The allusion is to the legend that Abgar, King of Edessa, hearing the fame of the Lord Jesus, sent a letter inviting him to his city, and received in reply a letter from Him conveying His blessing, and a promise to send a disciple to teach him and his people. This promise was afterwards fulfilled by the mission of Thaddeus (Addae) to Edessa. (Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. I. 13.)
26 The Greek version has "may heal." The Syriac may be brought to agree with this, by changing t into r in the verb used.
28 See Opera Graeca, Tom. II., p.230; Ephraim Syr. Graece, p.365 Oxford edition).
29 There is no ground for supposing that Gregory could read Syriac. It follows therefore that some of Ephraim's wntings must have been at a very early date translated into Greek; and that one of these was the Testament which Gregory refers to no less than five times in the Encomium.
30 This is related also in the Greek version of the Testament, but is an evident interpolation. It is not in the Syriac.
31 This has been pointed out by Dr. Payne Smith (Dict.of Christan Biography, Vol.II., p.137), who cites the passages here adduced, from Opp. Syr. II. 499; Opp. Gr. I.129.
32 This was first clearly established by Spanheim (Observationes in Julianum, pp. 183 ff., 188ff.; 1696) in part anticipated by Petave (Petavius) and de Valois (Valesius). He has been followed in this by nearly all historians, including Gibbon (Decline and Fall. chap. xviii)
33 Juliani Orationes, ed. Spanheim (1666), Orat. II., pp.62 ff .; see also pp.26 ff (Orat. I.).
34 The Life gives but seventy days as the whole duration of the siege-a period quite insufficient for the construction of the embankment.
35 Ephraim seems to convey that Sapor, when repulsed, at once withdrew : Julian represents his withdrawal as gradual. The former probably has in view the raising of the siege; the latter, the retreat from the invaded territory.
36 Compare Sachau's description, Reise, pp. 390, 391.
37 That Valgesh is the "third" Bishop here meant, appears by comparison with Hymn XVII. 2, where the three are named, Jacob, Babu (not elsewhere mentioned), and Valgesh.
38 So (e.g.) Baronius, Annales (s. q. 338); Ada Sanctorumi, Febr. (I. p. 51). A few quite recent writers follow these. This error of Theodoret thus ascribing to the first siege the events which belong to the history of the third, is easily accounted for. His narrative of the siege and the breaching of the walls, the apparition, and St. Jacob's prayer answered by the plague of mosquitoes, originally appeared in his earlier work, the Religious History-a collection of lives of miracle-working saints of whom St. Jacob stands first-from which (as he himself notes) he has transferred it with little change, to his Ecclesiastical History. As the biographer of this, the greatest Bishop of Nisibis, Theodoret would naturally associate with his name all that history or tradition reported of Divine protection extended to the city in her perils-especially in those of her last and most signal siege which ended in her most signal deliverance. He probably knew that a siege of Nisibis had occurred in St. Jacob's time, and would readily overlook the brief interval of twelve years by which the saint's death preceded the later siege.
One of the Nisibene Hymns (XIII. 18, 19, 21) suggests a further explanation how this third siege came to be attached to the legend of St. Jacob. His body was treasured reverently in the city, and to its presence her deliverance was attributed. Thus, he was still (in Ephraim's words) "the fountain within her," "the fruit in her bosom," "the body laid within her that became for her a wall without." The traditions of that dead presence in the last siege, and of his living presence in the first, would soon blend together; and the expression of pious gratitude for the protection ascribed by the besieged of 350 to the virtue of his remains, would be mistaken as evidence that the man himself was among them to help them by his prayers and exhortations in the struggle by which the fall of their city was so narrowly averted.
39 In the Chronicle, we read that Sapor saw, in the daytime, "a man running to and fro on the walls," in the likeness of the Emperor; but again, we are told of "the angel that appeared." In Theodoret's narratives the apparition wears the royal "purple and diadem," and is described as "divine" (Hist. Relig.), and "incorporeal" (Hist. Eccles.). In the Chronography, "an angel stands on the tower, in shining raiment, holding by the hand the Emperor Constantius"; a duplication of the vision which seemingly arose from a misunderstanding of the Chronicle.
That Constantius was not in Nisibis during this siege, is a point on which all authorities are agreed. Jilian, while lavishing on the Emperor unmeasured praises for the repulse of Sapor, attributes it not to his personal presence, but to his foresight in previous preparations made a year before. He is known, however, to have sojourned in the city in May, 345,-see Cod Theodosianus, (XI. 7, 5) for a law issued thence by him on the 12th of that month (Lex. 5 de exactionibuss).
40 The Nisibene Hymns, only recovered some fifty years ago from the Nitrian Monastery of the Theotokos, and first printed in 1866, yielding as they do authoritative and contemporary confirmation of the accounts of the siege given by Julian and by Valgesh, come in as decisive evidence to prove that the Chronicler of the seventh century and the Chronographer of the ninth had better fortune or better judgment in their choice of authorities than Theodoret in the fifth. It is, moreover, a signal instance of the true historical instinct that guided Gibbon in his great work, that in relating this history (ch. xviii.), he followed Julian and the Chronicle, and refused to he misled (as our biographer was) by Theodoret-except as regards St. Jacob whom he supposed to have been still Bishop in 350.
The first to point out this error as to St. Jacob, was Valesius in his note on the passage in Theodoret (H. E. II.30), as above. He remarked that "the Alexandrine (Paschal) Chronicle makes Vologeses (Valgesh), not Jacob, Bishop of Nisibis in 350." It was replied (and with justice) that the Chronicle, though it records the siege, and cites the Epistle of Valgesh, Bishop of the city, does not say that he was Bishop at the time of the siege. Another Chronicle, the Edessene (a relic of the sixth century), first printed by Assemani in 1719 (Biblioth. Orient. I., pp.388 ff.) determines 338 as the date of Jacob's death, and 361 as that of Valgesh. Our Nisibene Hymns (see above,note 4) make it plain that Valgesh was bishop in 350, as Valesius rightly (though on insufficient grounds) laid down.
41 The shorter Syriac Life agrees in affirming the fact of his visit to Egypt, but says nothing of its duration. No other authority, earlier or contemporary, hints at it.
42 Assemani, Biblioth Orient., I., p.46, note 1.
43 It is mentioned by Huntington (afterwards Provost of Trinity College, Dublin, and finally Bishop of Raphoe) who visited the place, 1678-9 (see his Epistolae, XXXIX., p. 60) : again by J. S. Assemani in 1715 (see reference in note 6). More recent visitors (Lord de la Zouche in 1837, and Archdeacon Tattam in 1839) do not speak of it.
Of the Nitrian monasteries (reputed to have once numbered fifty, or even more), the principal one, that of the Theotokos, whence the libraries of the Vatican and of the British museum have derived their most precious acquisitions of Syriac mss., belongs to the Syrian Jacobites, whose Church has always been in full communion with that of the Copts. A second belongs to the Copts; a third to the Greeks. The fourth (that of St. Pesöes) does not appear to be specially appropriated, but to be mainly Coptic, though (as appears above) not to the exclusion of Syrians.
44 See Professor Lamy's edition of Ephraim, II., coll. 94ff, for the authorities on this point,-of which the chief are:-The Edessene Chronicle (sixth century) and Jacob of Edessa (seventh century-cited bv Elias of Nisibis), both of whom give 373 as the date, as does also the early Chronicle contained in the "Book of the Caliphs." Jerome (De Viris. Illustr. cxv.) merely says that Ephraim died in the reign of Valens,-i. e. not later than 378, and therefore before Basil.
46 See Lamy as above, coll. 84 ff.
47 On the 9th, according to Chron., Edes. and the shorter Life; the Vatican Life says the 15th; the Book of the Caliphs (see Land's Anecdota, Tom. I., p. 15 [Syr. text]) and most other authorities, the 18th ; Dionysius, in his Chronicle, the 19th (ap. Assemani, B. O. II., p.54).
48 It is to be regretted that neither the Parisian Life, nor the Nisibene Hymns, was before the writer of the article Ephraim in Smith and Wace's Dictionary of Christian Biography. The former would have warned him from being misled by the Vatican Life into the error of ascribing to Julian the persecution under Valens; the latter would have shown him that both versions of the Life confuse the first siege of Nisibis with the third.
49 The passage is as follows: "Ephraim was a Syrian by birth. His father was of Nisibis, and his mother of Amid. And his father was priest in Nisibis of an idol named Abizal, which afterwards the victorious Emperor Jovian broke. He [or it, scil., the idol] was in the days of the victorious Emperor Constantine, true believer. But his father had this famous son, of whom is our narrative." The meaning may be that the idol was suffered to exist during Constantine's reign and after, till Jovian destroyed it:but it is now natural to understand it, as above, of Ephraim's father. The Vatican editor seems to have misunderstood his original, which the Parisian transcriber has preserved faithfully,-and to have altered it into accordance with his misunderstanding, by recasting the passage and substituting "was born" for "was."
50 In Migre's Patrologia Graeca, CXVI I., p. 254.
51 I., 23 (Abbeloos and Lamy's edition).
52 Gregory Barhebr. (Chron. Eccles., II., 10) mentions, but doubtfully, a tradition that Ephraim wrote a letter circ. 334 in which he took the part of Papas, the Catholicus, against "the Bishops of the East" who accused him of neglect and misconduct. If this be accepted, it is additional evidence for the early date of Ephraim's birth.
53 This passage is mistranslated in the Latin version of the Encomium, by P. F. Linus of Verona (in his Divina S. Ephraem Opera, Dillingen, 1562), from whom it has been borrowed by Gerard Voss for his Latin version of Ephraim (Cologne. 1603), and by the editors of Gregory's Works.
54 Not including Ruth, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther. It is not known whether he commented on Ecclesiastes and Canticles, or on the deutero-canonical books (commonly called "Apocrypha").
55 Lamy has supplied the Commentaries on Jonah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, and Haggai, with part of Isaiah and Lamentation-which was wanting from the Roman edition.
56 Both in the Armenian edition of Ephraim (Vol. II., Diatessaron; Vol. III., St. Paul), Venice, 1836: also in Latin,-the Diatessaron, in 1876; St. Paul 1893.
57 Of these the most complete copy is in ms. B. 5.18, Trinity College, Dublin (formerly the property of Archbishop Ussher), which has been used by Professor Lamy in his edition of three homilies (Tom. III. of His Ephraim, 1889.).
58 This remarkable distinction dates from the fourth century; it is noticed by St. Jerome (De Viris Ill., CXV.), writing within twenty years after Ephraim's death.
59 St. Hilary of Poitiers (d. 368) is reputed (see Isidore of Seville, De Off Eccl.) the earliest writer of Latin Hymns, and some extant Hymns are ascribed to him. But St. Augustine tells us (Confess. IX. 7) that at Milan hymns were first used, "after the manner of the Eastern Church," in the time when the Empress Justina was persecuting St. Ambrose (386).
60 Metrical Hymns of Ephraim, 1853.
61 Hymns of the Holy Eastern Church, pp.34, 35, 49 (1870). Note the contrast between the wide acceptance of Ephraim's Hymns, through the East, and the scanty survival of those of his contemporary, in the West.
62 A few exceptional Greek hymns may be pointed out of earlier date (e.g., that mentioned by St. Basil, De Spiritu S., XXIX; but the statement above made is in the main accurate. Anatolius, Patriarch of Constantinople (449-458) seems to have been the first to devote himself to the composition of hymns of the type above described. See Neale (as above).
63 Probably the earliest extant Syriac poem is the Hymn of the Soul (printed by Dr. Wright in Apocryphal Acts, p.174; also by Mr. Bevan in Texts and Studies, V. 3). Its metre, though less regular, is substantially the seven-syllabled of Ephraim. Whether Bardesan (or Harnionius) wrote in metres like those of Ephraim has been questioned; but if it is true that Ephraim's hymns were adapted by him to the tunes of Harmonius, it seems to follow that his metres were those of the hymns to which those tunes belonged.
64 From the Nitrian ms., 14506
65 Hymns 1-14 from mss., 14506, 14572; No.15 from the Maronite Breviary.
66 From mss. 14570, 14651, 17266; and a fragment from 14654 (printed in Tom. II., pp. xx-xiii.).
67 mss. 14572, 17141 chiefly; with a few others of secondary value. Five Hymns are lost (viii. and xxii.-xxv.), and part of two others (ix. and xxvi.).
68 Note the mention of Edessa in Hymn xlii. 1.
69 Chron. Edess., as above ; Chronol. of Elias Nisib.
70 Ap. Assemani, B. O. I. 116.
71 Ap. Forget, De Vita Aphraatis, lntroductio, p.22; see also pp.121-126 of Forget's Dissertation which follows; also p.5 of Introd.
72 So in Peshitto; "unripe grape," in LXX.; "new wine," in A.V. and R.V., with the Hebrew; but the Latin Vulgate agrees with Peshitto.
73 See the text in Wright's Aphraatis, pp. 29ff.; in Lagarde'sAnalecta Syr., pp. 108 ff or Forget (as above) pp. 8 ff.
1 An attempt is here made to represent by means of dashes the metrical versification of the Syriac hymns. See above, pp.147 sq.
3 The verb is n'sab,-a play on the name of the city.
5 I.e. though boldness is matter of free will, it becomes a second nature.
10 Notice here, how St. Ephraim (in common with others) speaks of the celebration of the day as if it was the day itself, partly in exhibiting his intense realization through faith of the mystery and the re-presentation of it, to use the word in its ancient sense partly as evincing, perhaps, a belief in the unabidingness of our conceptions of time-a belief resulting, it may be, from the mystical union with God in Christ which the saints enjoy. For to God time is as nothing, and those who through grace are one with Him, begin to view things as He views them.
14 St. E. refers here to St. John x, 34, where the Word Himself teaches us that it was by His coming to them that Saints of old were called Gods.
17 This in round numbers is the received account of the number of languages at the dispersion.
24 I. e. the Angels; as usually in St. E.'s writings.
27 St. E. here alludes to the early days of David ; he brought cheeses to his brethren ; these were made by separating the curd from the whey with rennet, a small quantity of which will curdle much milk, as a little leaven leavens the whole lump.
1 There is perhaps an allusion here to the pool of Siloam, which comes from the root employed in the original.
2 This name is given by St. E. to the Father, to suggest to the mind that there was a period when the Father had not begun to work by His Word.
3 St. E. seems to mean, that whereas the alterations man undergoes in his body tend ultimately to decay the same when undergone by our Lord tended to life.
7 Ps. lxix. 4. Comp. Luke xvi. 6.
10 Alluding to the wave-offering, Levit. xxiii. II, which was ordinarily interpreted of Christ.
14 Allusion is here made perhaps to Eccles. x. 2, "a wise man's heart is at his right hand, but a fool's heart is at his left."
7 St. E. seems to blend here the account of the withering of the fig-tree and that of Zacchaeus climbing into the wild fig tree, as the Peshitto renders it.
12 Flowers used at Easter in the Churches are here alluded to.
14 This was a common name of old for St. John Baptist, with allusion to St. John i. 23
16 It may be well to observe once for all, that true is often use, as in John xv. 1, for "real," in opposition to "typical," as in Scripture, so in the Fathers.
17 The same Syriac verb means to pass, and to transgress.
18 It might seem from this that there were some days kept in their honour in the East.
3 I. e., the gates of the heart, before the gates of the Church.
5 The increase of light at the time of the Nativity is meant.
7 Of Nisan. So St. E. writes on Exod. xii. 3. "The Lamb is a type of our Lord, who on the tenth of Nisan entered into the womb; for from the tenth day of the seventh month when Zachary received the message of John's birth, even to the tenth day of the first month when Mary received the message from the Angel, are six months."
2 So too St. E. himself upon Exodus xxxvii. "And Bezaleel made an ark of undecaying wood, a type of the Body of Immanuel, which is incorruptible, and not soiled by sin. By the gold within and without he indicates the Divine Nature of the Word, which was united unto all the functions (S. vessels) of the Soul and the Body in a manner no discourse can reach, seeing he anointed our manhood with His Godhead." These words appear to make it plain, that St. E. means the same ark above as in this passage; he, however, uses a different word, and one which others contend is only applied to Noah's ark.
3 St. Mark, vi. 3, intimates that our Lord was a carpenter Himself, while on earth.
4 He alludes to Palm Sunday, on which the children carried them.
3 The introduction of Ruth after Tamar was doubtless suggested by Ruth iv. 12.Mat. i. 3, etc. S.t E. seems to mean, "Ruth saw by faith Christ the High Priest, in whose loins was to be that Fire of Righteousness which alone could make the incense (i.e. the child which rose up from Ruth, who is called a coal) to be acceptable."
1 Scripture does not mention this.
4 The Virgin Mother here speaks.
1 The Roman Editor points out that this alludes to a rite in the Syrian Liturgy, in which the officiating Priest is instructed to dip one portion of the consecrated bread into the cup and sprinkle the rest with it.
3 This passage is to be observed as one of the many in which the Fathers encourage masters to set slaves free, although they pretty uniformly held (as St. E. here seems to do also) that slaves, if they had the choice, should use slavery rather.