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(5 )i.e., confessed or denied himself a Christian. The Benedictine Editors and their followers seem to have missed the force of the original, both grammatically and historically, in referring it to the time when St. Basil is writing; h=dh e'&Agra/e\kriqh does not mean "at the present day is judged," but "ere now has been judged." And in a.d. 374 there was no persecution of Christians such as seems to be referred to, although Velens tried to crush the Catholics.
(7 )Ps. cxix. 85, lxx. "The lawless have described subtilties for me, but not according to thy law, O Lord;" for A.V. & R.V., "The proud have digged pits for me which are not after the y law." The word a'dolesxi/a is used in a bad sense to mean garrulity; in a good sense, keenness, subtilty.
(8 )It is impossible to convey in English the precise force of the prepositions used. "With" represents 0meta/, of which the original meaning is "amid;" "together with," su/n, of which the original meaning is "at the same time as." The Latin of the Benedictine edition translates the first by "cum," and the second by "una cum." "Through" stands for dia/, which, with the genitive, is used of the instrument; "in" for e'n, "in," but also commonly used of the instrument or means. In the well known passage in 1 Cor. viii. 6, A.V. renders di0 ou\ ra/ pa/nta by "through whom are all things;" R.V., by "bywhom."
(10 )The story as told by Theodoret (Ecc. Hist. ii. 23) is as follows: "Constantius, on his return from the west, passed some time at Constantinople" (i.e.in 360, when the synod at Constantinople was held, shortly after that of the Isaurian Seleucia, "substance" and "hypostasis" being declared inadmissible terms, and the Son pronounced like the Father according to the Scriptures). The Emperor was urged that "Eudoxuis should be convicted of blasphemy and lawlessness. Constantius however . . . replied that a decision must first be come to on matters concerning the faith, and that afterwards the case of Eudoxius should be enquired into. Basilius (of Ancyra), relying on his former intimacy, ventured boldly to object to the Emperor that he was attacking the apostolic decrees; but Constantius took this ill, and told Basilius to hold his tongue, for to you, said he, the disturbance of the churches is due. When Basilius was silenced, Eustathius (of Sebasteia) intervened and said, Since, sir, you wish a decision to be come to on what concerns the faith, consider the blasphemies uttered against the Only Begotten by Eudoxius; and, as he spoke, he produced the exposition of faith, wherein, besides many other impieties, were found the following expressions: Things that are spoken of in unlike terms are unlike in substance; there is one God the Father of Whom are all things, and one Lord Jesus Christ by Whom are all things. Now the term 'of Whom' is unlike the term 'by Whom;' so the Son is unlike God the Father. Constantius ordered this exposition of the faith to be read, and was displeased with the blasphemy which it involved. He therefore asked Eudoxius if he had drawn it up. Eudoxius instantly repudiated the authorship, and said that it was written by Aetius. Now Aetius . . . at the present time was associated with Eunomius and Eudoxius, and, as he found Eudoxius to be, like himself, a sybarite in luxury as well as a heretic in faith, he chose Antioch as the most congenial place of abode, and both he and Eunomius were fast fixtures at the couches of Eudoxius. . . . TheEmperor had been told all this, and now ordered Aetius to be brought before him. On his appearance, Constantius shewed him the document in question, and proceeded to enquire if he was the author of its language. Aetius, totally ignorant of what had taken place, and unaware of the drift of the enquiry, expected that he should win praise by confession, and owned that he was the author of the phrases in question. Then the Emperor perceived the greatness of his iniquity, and forthwith condemned him to exile and to be deported to a place in Phrygia." St. Basil accompanied Eustathius and his namesake to Constantinople on this occasion, being then only in deacon's orders. (Philost. iv. 12.) Basil of Ancyra and Eusthathius in their turn suffered banishment. Basil, the deacon, returned to the Cappadocian Caesarea.
(11 )cf. the form of the Arian Creed as given by Eunomius in his 0Apologia (Minge, xxx. 840. "We believe in one God, Father Almighty, of whom are all things; and in one only begotten Son of God, God the word, our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things; and I one Holy Ghost, the Comforter, in whom distribution of all grace in proportion as may be most expedient t is made to each of the Saints."
(12 )cf. Eunomius, Liber. Apol. § 27, where of the Son he says u\poourgoo/j.
(13 )On the word o!rganon, a tool, as used of the Word of God, cf. Nestorius in Marius Merc. Migne, p. 761 & Cyr. Alex. Ep. 1. Migne, x. 37. "The creature did not give birth to the uncreated, but gave birth to man, organ of Godhead." cf. Thomasius, Christ. Dog. I. 336s.
Mr. Johnston quotes Philo (de Cher. § 35; I. 162. n.) as speaking of oo/rganon de\ lo/gon Qeou= di0 ou\ kateskeua/sqh (sc. o' ko/shooj).
(14 )Here of course the So is meant.
(15 )The ambiguity of gender in e'c oou\ and di0 oou\ can only be expressed by giving the alternatives in English.
(16 )There are four causes or varieties of cause:
1. The essence or quiddity (Form): too\ ti/ h\n ei\nai.
2. The necessitating conditions (Matter): to\ ti/nwn o!ntwn a'na/gkh tou=t0 ei\nai.
3. The proximate mover or stimulator of change (Efficient): h 9 ti/ prw=ton e'ki/nhse.
4. That for the sake of which (Final Cause or End): to\ ti/noj e!neka. Grote's Aristotle, I. 354.
The four Aristotelian cause are thus: 1. Formal. 2. Material. 3. Efficient. 4. Final. cf. Arist. Analyt. Post. II. xi., Metaph. I. iii., and Phys. II. iii. The six causes of Basil may be referred to the four of Aristotle as follows:
Aristotle.
1. to\ ti/ h\n ei\nai.
2. to\ e'c ou[ gi/netai ti.
3. h 9 a'rxh\ th=j metabolh=j n 9 prw/th.
4. to\ ou\ e!nexa.
Basil
kaq0 o$: i.e., the form or idea according to whicha thing is made.
e'c on[: i.e., the matter out of which it is made.
n 9f0 ou[: i.e., the agent, using means.
di0 ou[:i.e. the means.
di0 o$:i.e., the end.
e\n w[, or sine qua non, applying to all.
(17 )prokatarktikh\. cf. Plut. 2, 1056. B.D. prokatarktikh\ aiti/a h 9 ei/marme/nh.
(18 )cf. Clem. Alex. Strom. viii. 9."Of causes some are principal, some preservative, some coöperative, some indispensable; e.g. of education the principal cause is the father; the preservative, the schoolmaster; the coöperative, the disposition of the pupil; the indispensable, time."
(19 )e'k th=j mataio/thtoj kai\ ke/h=j a'pa/thj.
cf. mataio/thj mataioth/twn, "vanity of vanities," Ecc. I. 2, lxx. In Arist. Eth. I. 2, a desire is said to be kenh\ kai\ matai/a, which goes into infinity, - everything being desired for the sake of something else, - i.e., kenh, void, like a desire for the moon, and matai/a, unpractical, like a desire for the empire of China. In the text mataio/thj seems to mean heathen philosophy, a vain delusion as distinguished from Christian philosophy.
(20 )a!yuxa o$rlana. A slave, according to tle, Eth. Nich. viii. 7, 6e!myuxon o!ryanon.
(21 )u$lhreign =Lat. materiesn, from the same root as matter whence Eng. material and matter. (u!lh, #\l&igra/e\a, is the same word as sylva=wood. With materies cf. Maderia, from the Portuguese "madera" =timber.)
The word u@lh in Plato bears the same signification s in ordinary speech: it means wood, timber, and sometimes generally material. The later philosophic application of the word to signify the abstract conception of material substratum is expressed by Plato, so far as he has that concept at all, in other ways." Ed. Zeller. Plato and the older Academy, ii. 296. Similarly Basil uses ulh. As a technical philosophic term for abstract matter, it is first used by Aristotle.
(24 )Ex. xxv. 10, LXX. A.V. "shittim." R. V. "acacia." St. Ambrose (de Spiritu Sancto, ii. 9) seems, say the Benedictine Editor, to have here misunderstood St. Basil's argument. St. Basil is accusing the Pneumatomachi not of tracing all things to God as the material "of which," but of unduly limiting the use of the term "of which" to the Father alone.
(31 )If Catholic Theology does not owe to St. Basil the distinction between the connotations of ou'si/a and u 9po/stasij which soon prevailed over the identification obtaining at the time of the Nicene Council, at all events his is the first and most famous assertion and defence of it. At Nicaea, in 325, to have spoken of St. Paul as "distinguishing the hypostases" would have been held impious. Some forty-five years later St. Basil writes to his brother, Gregory of Nyssa (Ep. xxxviii.), in fear lest Gregory should fall into the error of failing to distinguish between hypostasis and ousia, between person and essence. cf. Theodoret Dial. I. 7, and my note on his Ecc. Hist. I. 3.
(33 )Rom. xi. 34, and Is. xl. 13.
(39 )isor\r 9opi/a.. cf. Plat. Phaed. 109, A.
(41 )diamonh/. cf. Arist. De Sp. I. 1.
(47 )Ps. xxix. 3; Acts vii. 2.
(53 )polu/tropoi. Cf. the cognate adverb in Heb. I. 1.
(54 )"e'c e'mou=." The reading in St. Luke (viii. 46) is a'p0 e'mou=. In the parallel passage, Mark v. 30, the words are, "Jesus knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, " e'c au'tou\ which D. inserts in Luke viii. 45.
(60 )Gal. iv. 7. A.V. reads "an heir of God through Christ;" so NCD. R.V. with the copy used by Basil agrees with A.B.
(61 )Rom. vi.4. It is pointed out by the Rev. C.F.H. Johnston in his edition of the De Spiritu that among quotations from the New Testament on the point in question, St. Basil has omitted Heb. ii. 10, "It became him for whom (di0 o@u) are all things and through whom (di0 ou[) are all things," "where the Father is described as being the final Cause and efficient Cause of all things."
(68 )For "shall they rejoice," Ps. lxxxix. 16.
(73 )According to patristic usage the word "theology" is concerned with all that relates to the divine and eternal nature of Christ, as distinguished form the oi'konomi/a, which relates to the incarnation, and consequent redemption of mankind. cf. Bishop's Lightfoot's Apostolic Fathers, Part II. Vol. ii. p. 75, and Newman's Arians, Chapter I. Section iii.
(74 )Gen. iv. 1, lxx. A.V. renders "she conceived and bare Cain and said," and here St. Basil has been accused of quoting from memory. But in the Greek of the lxx. the subject to ei\pen is not expressed, and a possible construction of the sentence is to refer it to Adam. In his work adv. Eunom. ii. 20, St. Basil again refers the exclamation to Adam.
(79 )The allusion is to the Docetae. cf. Luke xxiv. 39.
(80 )The note of the Benedictine Editors remarks that the French theologian Fronton du Duc (Ducaeus) accuses Theodoret (on Cyril's Anath. vii.) of misquoting St. Basil as writing here "God-bearing man" instead of "God bearing flesh," a term of different signification and less open as a Nestorian interpretation. "God-bearing," qeofo/roj, was an epithet applied to mere men, as, for instance, St. Ignatius. So Clement of Alexandria, 1. Strom. p. 318, and Gregory of Nazianzus, Or. xxxvii. p. 609. St. Basil does use the expression Jesus Christ a#qrwpon Qeo/n in Hom. on Ps. xlix.
(84 )u 9pota/ssw.cf. 1 Cor. xv. 27, and inf. cf. chapter xvii. u 9potetagme/noj is applied to the Son in the Macrostich or Lengthly Creed, brought by Eudoxius of Germanicia to Milan in 344. Vide Soc. ii. 19.
(86 )Yet the great watchword of the Arians was h[n pote o!te ou'k h\n.
(87 )th= e'nnoi/a tw=n a'nqrwpwn, with the sense of "'in human thought."
(88 )Fa/tasi/a is the philosophic term for imagination or presentation, the mental faculty by which the object made apparent, fa/ntasma, becomes apparent, fai/netai. AAristotle, de An. III. iii. 20 defines it as "a movement of the mind generated by sensation." Fancy, which is derived from fintasi/a (fai/nw, VBHA=shine) has acquired a slightly different meaning in some usages of modern speech.
(92 )Heb. I. 3, with the variation of "of God" for "on high."
(93 )I know of no better way of conveying the sense of the original skai=oosj than by thus introducing the Latin sinister, which has the double meaning of left and ill-omened. It is to the credit of the unsuperstitious character of English speaking people that while the Greek skai=ooj and a'ooiuteoo/j, the Latin sinister, and laevus, the French gauche, and the German link, all have the meaning of awkward and unlucky as well as simply on the left hand, the English left (though probably derived from lift=weak) has lost all connotation but the local one.
(98 )The more obvious interpretation of e'sfa/gisen in John vi. 27, would be sealed with a mark of approval, as in the miracle just performed. cf. Bengel, "sigillo id quod genuinum est commendatur, et omne quod non genuinum est excluditur." But St. Basil explains "sealed" by "stamped with the image of His Person," an interpretation which Alfred rejects. St. Basil at the end of Chapter xxvi. of this work, calls our Lord the xarakth/r kai\ i'so/tupoj sfragi/j, i.e., "express image and seal graven to the like" of the Father. St. Athanasius (Ep. I. ad Serap. xxiii.) writes, "The seal has the form of Christ the sealer, and in this the sealed participate, being formed according to it." cf. Gal. iv. 19, and 2 Pet. I. 4.
(103 )John i. 18. "Only begotten God" is here the reading of five mss. of Basil. The words are wanting in one codex. In Chapter viii. of this work St. Basil distinctly quotes Scripture as calling the Son "only begotten Good." (Chapter viii. Section 17.) But in Chapter xi. Section 27, where he has been alleged to quote John I. 18, with the reading "Only begotten SON" (e.g., Alfred), the ms. authority for his text is in favour of "Only begotten God." O<,< is the reading _. b.c. r,x, of A. On the comparative weight of the textual and patristic evidence vide Bp. Westcott in loc.
(111 )Mr. Johnston well points out that these five testimonies are not cited fortuitously, but "in an order which carries the reader from the future second coming, through the present session at the right hand, back to the ascension in the past."
(113 )The word a'delfo/thj is in the New Testament peculiar to S. Peter (1 Peter ii. 17, and v. 9); it occurs in the Epistle of St. Clement to the Corinthians, Chap. ii.
(114 )Filo/xristoi. The word is not common, but occurs in inscriptions. cf. Anth. Pal. I. x. 13.
o'pqh\n pi/stin e!xousa filoxri/stoio menoinh=j.
(115 )xorhgi/a. cf. the use of the cognate verb in 1 Pet. iv. 11. e'c i'sxu/ooj h!j xorhgei/ o' qeo/j.
(116 )prosagwgh/. cf. Eph. ii. 18.
(117 )oi'kei/wsin proo\j to\n Qeo/n. cf. oi'kei=oi tou= Qeou= in Eph. ii. 19.
(120 )The verb, e'ntri/bomai, appears to be used by St. Basil, if he wrote e'ntetrimme/nwn in the sense of to be e'ntribh/j or versed in a thing (cf. Soph. Ant. 177) - a sense not illustrated by classical usage. But the reading of the Moscow ms. (m) e'nteqramme/nwn, "trained in."" "nurtured in," is per se much more probable. The idea of the country folk preserving the good old traditions shews the change of circumstances in St. Basil's day from those of the 2d c., when the "pagani" or villagers were mostly still heathen, and the last to adopt the novelty of Christianity. cf. Pliny's Letter to Trajan (Ep. 96), "neque civitates tantum sed vicos etiam atque agros superstitionis istius contagio pervagata est."
(121 )Heb. I. 1. cf. Aug. Ep. ii. ad Serap.: "The Father is Light, and the Son brightness and true light."
(130 )Twoo mss., those in the B. Museum and at Viena, read here Ihso/=. In Ep. 210 §4, St. Basil writes that the name above every name is au'to\ to\ kalei=sqai au'to\n Uion tou= Qeou=.
(131 )cf. Matt. xiv. 33, and xxvii. 54.
(133 )1 Cor. I. 24, and possibly Rom. i. 16, if with D. we read gospel of Christ.
(135 )e.g. John i. 1. cf. Ps. cvii. 20; Wisdom ix. 1, xviii. 15; Ecclesiasticus xliii. 20.
(136 )To\ polu/tropon. cf. Heb. i. 1.
(137 )To\n pplou=ton th=j a'gaqoo/thtooj. cf. Rom ii. 4, toou= plou/tou th=j xrhsto/thtooj.
(149 )I translate here the reading of the Parisian Codex called by the Benedictine Editors iRegius Secundus, too\ eu'meta/bolon katwrqwko/taaj. The harder reading, to\ eu'meta\doton, which may be rendered "have perfected their readiness to distribute," has the best manuscript authority, but it is barely intelligible; and the Benedictine Editors are quite right in calling attention to the fact that the point in question here is not the readiness of the flock to distribute (cf. 1 Tim. vi. 18), but their patient following of their Master. The Benedictine Editors boldly propose to introduce a word of no authority to\ a'meta\bolon, rendering qui per patientiam animam immutabilem praebuerunt. The reading adopted above is supported by a passage in Ep. 244, where St. Basil is speaking of the waywardness of Eustathius, and seems to fit in best with the application of the passage to the words of our Lord, "have fled for refuge to his ruling care," corresponding with "the sheep follow him, for they know his voice" (St. John x. 4), and "have mended their wayward ways," with "'a stranger will they not follow," v. 5. Mr. Johnston, in his valuable note, compares Origen's teaching on the Names of our Lord.
(150 )So three mss. Others repeat epiotaoi/a translated "ruling care" above. e!nnoomoj is used by Plato for "lawful" and "law-abiding." (Legg. 921 C. and Rep. 424 E.) In 1 Cor. ix. 21, A.V. renders "under the law."
(151 )To\ th=j gnw/sewj a'gaqo/n: possibly "the good of knowledge of him."
(153 )cf. note on page 3, on meta/ and so/n.
(156 )filanqrwpia occurs twice in the N.T. (Acts xxviii. 2, and Titus iii. 4) and is in the former passage rendered by A.V. "kindness," in the latter by "love to man." The filanqrwpi/a of the Maltese barbarians corresponds with the lower classical sense of kindliness and courtesy. The love of God in Christ to man introduces practically a new connotation to the word and its cognates.
(157 )Or to sympathize with our infirmities.
(158 )poikilh diako/smhsij. diako/smhsij was the technical term of the Pythagorean philosophy for the orderly arrangement of the universe (cf. Arist. Metaph. I. v. 2. h' o!lh diako/smhsij"); Pythagoras being credited with the first application of the word ko/smoj to the universe (Plut. 2, 886 c.) So mendus in Latin, whence Augustine's oxymoron, "O munde immunde!" On the scriptural use of ko/smoj and a'iw/n vide Archbp. Trench's New Testament Synonyms, p. 204.
(159 )I Hom. on Ps. lxv. Section 5, St. Basil describes the power of God the Word being most distinctly shewn in the oeconomy of the incarnation and His descent to the lowliness and the infirmity of the manhood. cf. Ath. on the Incarnation, sect. 54, "He was made man that we might be made God; and He manifested Himself by a body that we might receive the idea of the unseen Father; and He endured the insolence of men that we might inherit immortality. For while He Himself was in no way injured, being impassible and incorruptible and the very Word and God, men who were suffering, and for whose sakes He endured all this, He maintained and preserved in His own impassibility."
(161 )u'phresi/a. Lit. "under-rowing." The cognate u'phre/thj is the word used in Acts xxvi. 16, in the words of the Saviour to St. Paul, "to make thee a minister," and in 1 Cor. iv. 1, "Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ."
(165 )This passage is difficult to render alike from the variety of readings and the obscurity of each. I have endeavoured to represent the force of the Greek e'k th=j e'toimasi/aj tou= e'f0 h 9mi=n. understanding by "to\ e'f0 h 9mi=n," practically, "our free will." cf. the enumeration of what is e'f0 h'mi/n, within our own control, in the Enchiridion of Epicetus, Chap. I. "Within our own control are impulse, desire inclination." On Is. vi. 8, "Here am I; send me," St. Basil writes, "He did not add ''I will go;' for the acceptance of the message is within our control (e'f h 9mi=n), but to be made capable of going is of Him that gives the grace, of the enabling God." The Benedictine translation of the text is "per liberi arbitrii nostri praeparationem." But other readings are (I) th=j e'f0 h 9mi=/, "the preparation which is in our own control;;:: (ii) th=j e 9toimasi/aj au'tou=, "His preparation;" and (iii) the Syriac represented by "arbitrio suo."
(168 )prokooph/: cf. Luke ii. 52, where it is said that our Lord proe/kopte, i.e., "continued to cut His way forward."
(169 )1 Cor. iv. 6, R.V. marg.
(170 )There seems to be here a recollection, though not a quotation, of Phil. iii. 13.
(178 )a#narnoj. This word is used in two senses by the Fathers. (I) In the sense of a'i/diooj or eternal, it is applied (a) to the Trinity in unity. e.g., Quaest. Misc., . v. 442 (Migne Ath. iv. 783), attributed to Athanasius, ko/uo\n h 9 ou'sia . koino\n to a!narxon. (b) To the Son. e.g., Greg. Naz. Orat. xxix. 490, e'a\n th\n a'po\ xro/non noh=j a'rxh\n kai\ a!naooxooj oo 9 ui/oo\j, ouk a!rxitai ga\o a'po\ oO 9 xroo/nwn despoo/thj. (ii) In the sense of a/naitioj, ""causeless," "originis principio carens," it is applied to the Father alone, and not to the Son. So Gregory of Nazianzus, in the oration quoted above, o 9 ui/o\j, e'a\n w 9j ai!tion to\n pate/ra lamba/nhj, oou'k a!/arxoj, "the Son, if you understand the Father as cause, is not without beginning." a!rxh ga\r ui/oou= parh\r w 9j a !Itioj. "For the Father, as cause, is Beginning of the Son." But, though the Son in this sense was not a!narxooj, He was said to be begotten a'na/rxwj. So Greg. Naz. (Hom. xxxvii. 590) to\ i!dion o!noma tou= a'na/rxwwj gennhqe/ntoj, nioj. Cf. the Letter of Alexander of Alexandria to Alexander of Constantinople. Theod. Ecc. Hist. i. 3. th\n a!narxon au'tw= paru\ tou= patro\j gennhsin o'nati/ qe/taj. cf. Hooker, Ecc. Pol. v. 54. "by the gift of eternal generation Christ hat received of the Father one and in number the self-same substance which the Father hath of himself unreceived from any other. For every beginning is a father unto that which cometh of it; and every offspring is a son unto that out of which it groweth. Seeing, therefore, the Father alone is originally that Deity which Christ originally is not (for Christ is God be being of God, light by issuing out of light), it followeth hereupon that whatsoever Christ hath common unto him with his heavenly Father, the same of necessity must be given him, but naturally and eternally given." So Hillary De Trin. xii. 21. Ubi auctor eternus est, ibi et nativatis aeternitas est: quia sicut nativitas ab auctore est, ita et ab aeterno auctoroe aeterna nativitas est." And Augustine De Trin. v. 15, "Naturam praestat filio SINE INITIO generatio."
(184 )Heb. ii. 10. cf. Rom xi. 36, to which the reading of two manuscripts more distinctly assimilates the citation. The majority of commentators refer Heb. ii. 10, to to the Father, but Theodoret understands it of the Son, and the argument oof St. Basil necessitates the same application.
(186 )a'paralla/ktwj e!xei. cf. Jas. I. 17. par0 w= ou'k e!ni parallagh/. The word a'para/llaktoj was at first used by the Catholic bishops at Nicaea, as implying o 9moou/sioj. /Vide Athan. De Decretis, § 20, in Wace and Schaff's ed., p. 163.
(195 )Col. ii. 3, A.V. cf. the amendment of R.V., "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden," and Bp. Lightfoot on St. Paul's use of the gnostic term a'po/krufoj.
(197 )The argument appears to be not that Christ is not the "express image," or impress of the Father, as He is described in Heb. i. 3, or form, as in Phil. ii. 6, but that this is not the sense in which or lord's words in St. John xiv. 9, must be understood to describe "seeing the Father." Xaraktho and moooofh\ are equivalent to h 9 qei/a fu/sij, and morfh/ is used by St. Basil as it is used by St. Paul, - coinciding with, if not following, the usage of the older Greek philosophy, - to mean essential attributes which the Divine Word had before the incarnation (cf. Eustathius in Theod. Dial. II. [Wace and Schaff Ed., p. 203];; "the express image made man, " - o 9 tw= p/eu/mati swmatopoihqei\j a!nqrwpoj xarakth/r.)
The divine nature does not admit of fcombination, in the sense of confusion (cf. the protests of Theodoret in his Dialogues against the confusion of the Godhead and manhood in the Christ), with the human nature in our Lord, and remains invisible. On the word xarakth/r vide Suicer, and on moofh/ Archbp. Trench's New Testament Synonyms and Bp. Lightfoot on Philippians ii. 6.
(206 )There is a difficulty in following the argument in the foregoing quotations. F. Combefis, the French Dominican editor of Basil, would boldly interpose a "not," and read 'whenever he does not instruct us concerning the Father.' But there is no ms. authority for this violent remedy. The Benedictine Editors say all is plain if we render "postquam nos de patre erudivit." But the Greek will not admit of this.
(210 )Ps. li. 12, lxx. R.V. and A.V., "free spirit."
(211 )It will be remembered that in the Nicene Creed "the Lord and Giver of life" is to\ ku/rion to\ zwopoio/n. In A.V. we have booth he (John xv. 26, e'kei=nooj) and it (Rom. viii. 16, au'to\\ to\ pneu=ma).
(215 )cf. Theodoret, Dial. i. p. 164, Schaff and Wace's ed. "Sine is not of nature, but of corrupt will." So the ninth article of the English Church describes it as not the nature, but the "fault and corruption of the nature, of every man." On the figure of the restored picture cf.. Ath. de Incar. § 14, and Theod. Dial. ii. p. 183.
(216 )cf. Ep. 236. "Our mind enlightened by the Spirit looks toward the Son, and in Him, as in an image, contemplates the Father." There seems at first sight some confusion in the text between the "royal Image" in us and Christ as the image of God; but it is in proportion as we are like Christ that we see God in Christ. It is the "pure in heart" who "'see God."
(217 )"Proficientes perficiuntur." Ben. Ed.
(218 )Qeo\n genesqai. The thought has its most famous expression in Ath. de Incar. § 54. He was made man that we might be mad God - Qeopoihqw=men. cf. De Decretis, § 14, and other passages of Ath. Irenaeus (Adv. Haer. iv. 38 [lxxv.]) writes "non ab initio dii facti sumus, sed primo quidem homines, tunc demum dii." "Secundum enim beniguitatem suam bene dedit bonum, et similes sibi suae potestatis homines fecit;" and Origen (contra Celsum, iii. 28), "That the human nature by fellowship with the more divine might be made divine, not in Jesus only, but also in all those who with faith take up the life which Jesus taught;" and Greg. Naz. Or. xxx. § 14, "Till by the power of the incarnation he make me God."
In Basil adv. Eunom. ii. 4. we have, "They who are perfect in virtue are deemed worthy of the title of God."
cf.. 2 Pet. i. 4: "That ye might be partakers of the divine nature."
(219 )u'p0 au'tw=n tw=n logi/wn tou= pneu/matoj. St. Basil is as unconscious as other early Fathers of the limitation of the word lo/gia to "discourses." Vide Salmon's Int. to the N.T. Ed. iv. p. 95.
(220 )1 Tim. vi. 20. The intellectual championship of Basil was chiefly asserted in the vindication of the consubstantiality of the Spirit, against the Arians and Semi-Arians, of whom Euonomius and Macedonius were leaders, the latter giving his name to the party who were unsound on the third Person of the Trinity, and were Macedonians as well as Pneumatomachi. But even among the maintainers of the Nicene confession there was much less clear apprehension of the nature and work of the Spirit than of the Son. Even so late as 380, the year after St. Basil's death, Gregory of Nazianzus, Orat.xxxi de Spiritu Sancto, Cap. 5, wrote "of the wise on our side some held it to be an energy, some a creature, some God. Others, from respect, they say, to Holy Scripture, which lays down no law on the subject, neither worship nor dishonour the Holy Spirit." cf. Schaff's Hist of Christian Ch. III. Period, Sec. 128. In letter cxxv. of St. Basil will be found a summary of the heresies with which he credited the Arians, submitted to Eusthathius of Sebaste in 373, shortly before the composition of the present treatise for Amphilochius.
(223 )The word used is suna/feia, a crucial word in the controversy concerning the union of the divine and human natures in our Lord, cf. the third Anathema of Cyril against Nestorius and the use of this word, and Theodoret's counter statement (Theod. pp. 25, 27). Theodore of Mopsuestia had preferred suna/feia too e!nwsij; Andrew of Samosata saw no difference between them. Athanasius (de Sent. Dionys. § 17) employs it for the mutual relationship of the Persons in the Holy Trinity: "pookatarktiko\n ga/r e'sti th=j sunafei/aj to\ o!noma."
(224 )mhde/. The note of the Ben. Eds. is, "this reading, followed by Erasmus, stirs the wrath of Combefis, who would read, as is found in four mss., too/te h 9mii=n, 'then let them lay the blame on us.' But he is quite unfair to Erasmus, who has more clearly apprehended the drift of the argument. Basil brings his opponents to the dilemma that the words 'In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost' either do or do not assert a conjunction with the Father and the Son. If not, Basil ought not to be found fault with on the score of 'conjunction,' for he abides by the words of Scripture, and conjunction no more follows from his words than from those of our Lord. If they do, he cannot be found fault with for following the words of Scripture. The attentive reader will see this to be the meaning of Basil, and received reading ought to be retained."
(225 )Xristofo/noi. The compound occurs in Ps. Ignat ad Philad. vi.
(227 )Mr. Johnston sees here a reference to the parable of th e unjust steward, and appositely quotes Greg. Naz. Orat. xxxi, § 3, on the heretics' use of Scripture, "They find a cloak for their impiety in their affection for Scripture." The Arians at Nicaea objected to the oo\moo/usion as unscriptural.
(231 )The question is whether the baptism has been solemnized, according to the divine command, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. St. Cyprian in his controversy with Stephen, Bp. of Rome, represented the sterner view that heretical baptism was invalid. But, with some exceptions in the East, the position ultimately prevailed that baptism with water, and in the prescribed words, by whomsoever administered, was valid. So St. Augustine, "Si evangelicus verbis in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti Marcion baptismum consecrabat, integrum erat Sacramentum, fquamvis ejus fides sub eisdem verbis aliud opinantis quam catholica veritas docet noo esset integra." (Cont. Petil. de unico bapt. § 3.) So the VIII. Canon of Arles (314), "De Afris, quod propria lege sua utuntur ut rebaptizent, placuit, ut, si ad ecclesiam aliquis de haeresi venerit, interrogent eum symbolum; et si perviderint eum in Patre, et Filio et Spiritu Sancto, esse baptizatum, manus ei tantum imponantur, ut accipiat spiritum sanctum. Quod si interrogatus non responderit hanc Trinitatem, baptizetur." So the VII. Canon of Constantinople (381) by which the Eunomians who only baptized with one immersion, and the Montanists, here called Phrygians, and the Sabellians, who taught the doctrine of the Fatherhood of the Son, were counted as heathen. Vide Bright's notes on the Canons of the Councils, p. 106. Socrates, v. 24, describes how the Eunomi-Eutychians baptized not in the name of the Trinity, but into the death of Christ.
(234 )The word Xeiro/grafoon, more common in Latin than in Greek, is used generally for a bond. cf. Juv. Sat. xvi. 41, "Debitoor aut sumptos pergit non reddere nummos, vana supervacui dicens chirographa ligni." On the use of the word, vide Bp. Lightfoot on Col. ii. 14. The names of the catechumens were registered, and the Renunciation and Profession of Faith (Interrogationes et Responsa; e'perwth/seij kai/ a'pokriseij) may have been signed.
(239 )John i. 18. On the reading "only begotten God" cf. note on p. 9. In this passage in St. Basil "God" is the reading of three mss. at Paris, that at Moscow, that at the Bodleian, and that at Vienna. "Son" is read by Regius III., Regius I., Regius IV., and Regius V. in Paris, the three last being all of the 14th century, the one in the British Museum, and another in the Imperial Library at Vienna, which generally agrees with our own in the Museum.
(241 )Rom. vi. 3, with change to 2d person.
(243 )"h 9 tou= Cristou= proshgori/a . . . dhloi= to/n te Cri/sa/ta Qeo\n kai\ to\n Crisqe/nta &xxedil\i 9o\n kai\ to\ Cri/sma to\ Pneu=ma1.j
(247 )No subject occurs in the original, but "Scripture" seems better than "the Apostle" of the Bened. Tr. "Videtur fecisse mentionmen," moreover, is not the Latin for fai/netai mnhuoneu/saj, but for fai/netai mnhmoneu=sai.
(249 )1 Cor. xii. 13, loosely quoted.
(253 )cf. Deut. iv. 2, and Rev. xxi. 18, 19.
(268 )skiagrafi/a, or shade-painting, is illusory scene-painting. Plato (Crit.107 c.) calls it "indistinct and deceptive." cf. Ar. Eth. Nic. i. 3, 4, pacnlw=j kai\ e'n tu/pw." The tu/poj gives the general design, not an exact anticipation.
(273 )shmei=on, as in the LXX.cf. Numb. xxi. 9 and John iii. 14.
(280 )ne/krwsij. A.V. in 2 Cor. iv. 10, "dying," Rom. iv. 19, "deadness."
(290 )ai.e., to mean by "Moses," the law.
(299 )a'opghsi/a in Arist. Eth. iv. 5, 5, is the defect where meekness (prao/thj) is the mean. In Plutarch, who wrote a short treatise on it, it is a virtue. In Mark iii. 5, Jesus looked round on them "with anger," met0 o'rgm=j, but in Matt. xi. 29, He calls Himself pra=oj.
(303 )A.V., "are buried." Gr,. and R.V., "were buried."
(305 )In the double course (di/auloj) the runner turned (ka/mptw) the post at the end of the stadium. So "ka/myai diau/lon qa/teron kw=lon pa/lin" in Aesch. Ag. 335, for retracing one's steps another way.
(308 )to/ sarkiko\n foo/nhma. cf. the fro/nhma th=j sapko/j of Rom. viii. 6. cf. Articleix.
(317 )Trine immersion was the universal rule of the Catholic Church. cf. Greg. Nyss. The Great Catechism, p. 502 of this edition. So Tertull. de Cor. Mil. c iii., Aquam adituri, ibidem, sed et aliquanto prius in ecclesia, sub antistitis manu contestamur, nos renuntiare diabolo et pompae et angelis ejus. Dohinc ter megitamur. Sozomen (vi. 26) says that Eunomias was alleged to be the first to maintain that baptism ought to be performed in one immersion and to corrupt in this manner the tradition of the apostles, and Theodoret (Haeret. fab. iv. 3) describes Eunomius as abandoning the trine immersion, and also the invocation of the Trinity as baptizing into the death of Christ. Jeremy Taylor (Ductor dubitantium, iii. r, Sect. 13) says, "In England we have a custom of sprinkling, and that but once. . . . As to the number, though the Church of England hath made no law, and therefore the custom of doing it once is the more indifferent and at liberty, yet if the trine immersion be agreeable to the analogy of the mystery, and the other be not, the custom ought not to prevail, and is not to be complied with, if the case be evident or declared."
(323 )On the martyrs' baptism of blood, cf. Eus. vi. 4, on the martyrdom of the Catechumen Herais. So St. Cyril, of Jerusalem (Cat. Lect. iii. 10), "If a man receive not baptism, he has not salvation; excepting only the martyrs, even who without the water receive the kingdom. For when the Saviour was ransoming the world through the cross, and was pierced in the side, He gave forth blood and water, that some in times of peace should be baptized in water; others in time of persecution, in their own blood." So Tertullian (In Valentin. ii.) of the Holy Innocents, "baptized in blood for Jesus' sake" (Keble), "testimonium Christi sanguine litavere."
(324 )Tou\j logismou=j kaqairw=n. cf. 2 Cor. x. 4.
(326 )Acts v. 9 and 4. "Thou hast not lied," said to Ananias, interpolated into the rebuke of Sapphira.
(330 )u 9posta/seij, apparently used here as the equivalent of ou'si/ai, unless the negation only extends to a'rcika/j. cf. note on p. 5.
(331 )Contrast the neuter to\ o!n of Pagan philosophy with the o 9 w!n or e'yw/ eimi of Christian revelation.
(335 )to\n stereou=nta to\ pneu=ma. It is to be noticed here that St. Basil uses the masculine and more personal form in apposition with the neuter pneu=ma, and not the neuter as in the creed of Constantinople, to\ ku/rion kai\ to\ Zwopoio\n to\ e'k tou= patro\j e'kporeuo/menon, etc. There is scriptural authority for the masculine in the "o!tan de= e!lqh e'kei=noj, to\ pneu=ma th=j a'lhqei/aj" of John xvi. 13. cf. p. 15-17.
(340 )"Man greatly beloved." A.V. and R.V. Dan. x. 11.
(347 )cf. Job xxxviii. 7, though for first clause the lxx. reads o!te e'genh/qh a!stpa. On the Pythagorean theory of the harmony of the spheres vide Arist. De Coel. ii. 9. 1.
(348 )prokoph/. cf. proe/kopte of the boy Jesus in Luke ii. 52.
(349 )u/po/stasij, apparently again used in its earlier identification with ou'si/a.
(350 )Titus ii. 13, R.V. The A.V. favours the view, opposed to that of the Greek Fathers, that "the great God" means the Father. cf. Theodoret in this edition, pp. 319 and 321 and notes.
(355 )duna/meij, rendered "wonderful works" in Matt. vii. 22; "mighty works" in Matt. xi. 20, Mark vi. 14 and Luke x. 13; and "miracles" in Acts ii. 22, xix. 11, and Gal. iii. 5.
(357 )Gen. ii. 7, lxx. is e'nefu/shsen ei'j to\ pro/swpon au'tou=. "ei'j to\ poo/swpon " is thence imported into John xx. 22. Mr. C.F. H. Johnston notes, "This addition. . . is found in the Prayer at the Little Entrance in the Liturgy of St. Mark. Didymus, in his treatise on the Holy Spirit, which we have only in St. Jerome's Latin Version, twice used 'insuffians in faciem corum," §§6, 33. The text is quoted in this form by Epiphanius Adv. Haer. lxxiv. 13, and by St. Aug. De Trin. iv. 20." To these instances may be added Athan. Ep. i. § 8, and the versions of Upper and Lower Egypt, the Thebaic, known as the Sahidic, and the Memphitic, or Coptic, both ascribed to the 3rd century.
(363 )para tw= patpi/, (=chez le Père,) with little or no change of meaning, for e'n th= oi/ki/a tou= patro/j mou. John xiv. 2.
(368 )Ps. vii. 5, lxx. o!tl ou'k e!stln e'n tw= qana/tw o 9 mnhmoneu/wn sou, e'/ de\ tw= a!dh ti/j e'comoloognh/setai soi; Vulg. "In inferno autem quis confitebitur tibi?"
(372 )"The word was used as a quasi philosophical term to express the doctrine quoted by St. Basil, in § 13: it does not occur in the confession of Eunomius, which was prepared after this book, a.d. 382; but it was used by him in his Liber Apologetics (before a.d. 365) against which St. Basil wrote." Rev. C.F.H. Johnston. For "u 9pari/qmhsij" the only authorities given by the lexicons are "ecclesiastical." But the importation from the "wisdom of the world" implies use in heathen philosophy.
(374 )"This portion of the theory of general language is the subject of what is termed the doctrine of the Predicables; a set of distinctions handed down from Aristotle, and his follower Porphyry, many of which have taken a firm root in scientific, and some of them even in popular, phraseology. The predicables are a five-fold division of General Names, not grounded as usual on a difference in their meaning, that is, in the attribute which they connote, but on a difference in the kind of class which they denote. We may predicate of a thing five different varieties of class-name:
A genus of the thing (ge/noj).
A species (ei\dooj).
A differentia (diafora/).
A proprium (idio/n).
An accidens (sumbebhko/j).
It is to be remarked of these distinctions, that they express, not what the predicate is in its own meaning, but what relation it bears to the subject of which it happens on the particular occasion to be predicated." F. S. Mill, System of Logic, i. 133.
(376 )i.e. in the second book of his work against Eunomius.
(378 )oustoixi/a, a series of similar things, as in Arist. An. Pr. ii. 21, 2. In the Pythagorean philosophy, a co-ordinate or parallel series. Arist. Met. i. 5, 6, and h. Nic. I. 6, 7.
(379 )cf. Wis. xi. 20. "Thou hast ordered all things In measure and number and weight."
(380 )The term Monarxi/a first acquired importance in patristic literature in Justin's work De monarchia, against Polytheism. Of the lost letter of Irenaeus to the Roman Presbyter Florinus, who was deposed for heresy, presumably gnostic, the title, according to Eusebius (H.E.. v. 20), was peri\ Monarxiaj, h@ pepi\ to/= mh\ ei\nai to\n qeo\n poihthn kakw=n. Later it came to be used to express not the Divine unity as opposed to Polytheism or Oriental Dualism, but the Divine unity as opposed to Tritheism. Vide the words of Dionysius of Rome, as quoted by Athan. De Decretis, § 26, "Next let me turn to those who cut in pieces, divide, and destroy that most sacred doctrine of the church of God, the divine Monarchy, making it, as it were, three powers and divided subsistences and three godheads." So St. Basil Coont. Eunom. ii. Arxh/ me/n ou\n patro\j ou'oemi/a, a'rxh\ de\ tou= uiou= o 9 path/r. And in Ep. xxxviii. 'Alla/ ti/j e'sti du/namij a'gennh/twj kai/ a'/a/rxwj u 9feotw=sa h=tij e'sti\n ai'ti/a th=j a'pa/ntwn tw=n o!ntwn ai'ti/aj, e'k ga\r tou= patro\j o 9 ui 9o\j di0 ou\ ta\ pa/nta. And in Ep. cxxv. Ena ga\r oi!damen a'ge/nnhton kai\ mi/an tw=n pa/ntwn a'rxh\n, to\n pate/pa tou= kupi/ou h 9mw=n 0Ihsou= Xristou=. On the doctrine and its exponents compare § 72 of the De Sp. S.
On the other hand "Monarchians" was a name connoting heresy when applied too those who pushed the doctrine of the Unity to an extreme, involving denial of a Trinity. Of these, among the more noteworthy were Paul of Samosata, bp. of Antioch, who was deposed in 269, a representative of thinkers who have been called dynamical monarchians, and Praxeas (supposed by some to be a nickname), who taught at Rome in the reign of Marcus Aurelius, and of whom Tertullian, the originator of the term partripassians, as applied to Monarchians, wrote "Paracletum fugavit et patrem crucifixit." This heretical Monarchianism culminated I Sabellius, the "most original, ingenious, and profound of the Monarchians." Schaff. Hist. Chr. Church, i. 293. cf. Gisseler, i. p. 127, Harnack's Monarchianismus in Herzog's Real Encyclopaedie, Vol. x. Thomasius Dog. Gesch. i. p. 179, and Fialon Et. Hist. p. 241.
(382 )Mr. C.F.H. Johnston quotes as instances of the application of the word "third" to the Holy Ghost; Justin Martyr (Apol. i. 13) "We honour the Spirit of prophecy in the third rank." Tertullian (In Prax. 8) "As the fruit from the tree is third from the root, and the rivulet from the river third from the source, and the flame form the ray third form the sun." Eunomius (Lib. Apol. § 25) "observing the teaching of Saints, we have learned from them that the Holy Spirit is third in dignity and order, and so have believed him to be third in nature also." On the last St. Basil (Adv. Eunom. ii.) rejoins "Perhaps the word of piety allows Him to come in rank second to the Son. . . although He is inferior to the Son in rank and dignity (that we may make the utmost possible concession) it does not reasonably follow thence that he is of a different nature." On the word "perhaps" a dispute arose at the Council of Florence, the Latins denying its genuineness.
(384 )According to patristic usage qeologi/a proper is concerned with all that relates to the Divine and Eternal nature of our Lord. cf. Bp. Lightfoot. Ap Fathers, Part II. vol. ii. p. 75.
(385 )e 9nzome/nhn. Var. lectiones are e'nizome/hn, "seated in," and e'neikonizome/nhn, "imaged in."
(386 )cf. the embolismus, or intercalated prayer in the Liturgy of St. James, as cited by Mr. C.F.H. Johnston. "For of thee is the kingdom and the power and the glory, of Father, of Son, and of Holy Ghost, now and ever."
(387 )On the right use of the illustration of ei'kw/n, cf. Basil Ep. xxxviii., and Bp. Lightfoot's note on Col. i. 15. cf: also John i. 18 and xiv. 9, 10.
(389 )1 Cor. xi. 12. George of Laodicea applied this passage to the Son, and wrote to the Arians: "Why complain of Pope Alexander (i.r. of Alexandria) for saying that the Son is from the Father. . . . For if the apostle wrote All things are from God . . . He may be said to be from God in that sense in which all things are from God." Athan., De Syn. 17.
(394 )para/klhtoj occurs five times in the N.T., and is rendered in A.V. in John xiv. 16 and 26, xv. 26 and xvi. 7, Comforter; in 1 John ii. 1 Advocate, as applied to the Son. In the text the Son, the Paraclete, is described as sending the Spirit, the Paraclete; in the second clause of the sentence it can hardly be positively determined whether the words to/= o/qen proh=lqe/ refer to the Father or to the Son. The former view is adopted by Mr. C.F.H. Johnson, the latter by the editor of Keble's Studia Sacra, p. 176. The sequence of the sentence in John xv. 26 might lead one to regard oqen proh=lqen as equivalent to para\ tou= Patro\j e'kporeu/etai. On the other hand. St. Basil's avoidance of direct citation of the verb e'kporeu/etai, his close connexion of tou= a'postei/lantoj with o$qe/ proh=lqen, and the close of the verse in St. John's gospel e'kei=noj marturh/sei peri\ e'mou\, suggest that the megalwsu\nh in St. Basil's mind may be the megalwsu/nh of the Son. At the same time, while the Western Church was in the main unanimous as to the double procession, this passage from St. Basil is not quoted as an exception to the general current of the teaching of the Greek Fathers, who, as Bp. Pearson expresses it, "stuck more closely to the phrase and language of the Scriptures, saying that the spirit proceedeth from the Father." (Pearson On the Creed, Art. viii. where vide quotations) Vide also Thomasius, Christ. Dogm., i. 270, Namentlich auf letzere Bestimmung legten die griechischen Väter groszes Gewicht. Im Gegensatz gegen den macedonishchen Irrtum, der den Geist für ein Geschüpf des Sohnes ansah, führte man die Subsistenz desselben ebenso auf den Vater zuruck wie die des Sohnes. Man lehrte, , also der heilige Geist geht vom Vater aus, der Vater ist die a'rxh/ wie des Sohnes so auch des Geistes; aber mit der dem herkömmlichen Zuge des Dogma entsprechenden Näherbestimmung: nicht a'me/swj, sondern e'mme/swj, interventu filii geht der Geist vom Vater aus, also "durch den Sohn vom Vater." So die bedeutendsten Kirchenlehrer, während andere einfach bei der Formel stehen blieben; er gehe voin Vater aus.
(398 )Four mss. of the De S.S. read e'do/casa/ se, a variation not appearing in mss. of the Gospel.
(401 )Mat. xi. 27, "o/'dei\j oi[de to\n pate/ra ei' mh\ o 9 Ui'o/j" substituted for "ou' de= to\n pate/ra ti\j e'pignw/skei ei' mh\ o 9 Uio/j."
(406 )cf. note on p. 27 and the distinction between do/gma and kh/ougua in § 66. "The great objection which the Eastern Church makes to the Filioque, is, that it implies the existence of two a'rxai\ in the godhead; and if we believe in duo a#narxoi; we, in effect, believe in two Gods. The unity of the Godhead can only be maintained by acknowledging the Father to be the sole 0Aoxh= or phgh\ qeoth/toj, who from all eternity has communicated His own Godhead to His co-eternal and consubstantial Son and Spirit. this reasoning is generally true. But, as the doctrine of the Procession of the Spirit from the Father and the Son presupposes the eternal generation of the Son from the Father; it does not follow, that that doctrine impugns the Catholic belief in the Mi/a 0Arxh/." Bp. Harold Browne, Exp. xxxix Art., Note on Art v.
(411 )Lam. iv. 20. Sic in A.V. and R.V., the reference being to Zedekiah. cf. Jer. xxxix. 5. The Vugate reads, "Spiritus oris nostri Christus Dominus," from the Greek of the LXX. quoted by St. Basil, "Pneu=ma prosw/pou h'mw=n xristo\j ku/rioj."
(416 )John xiv. 17; xv. 26; xvi. 13; 1 John v. 6.
(418 )John xiv. 16 para/klhton. cf. Note on p. 29.
(419 )Ps. li. 12, lxx. pneu=ma h'gemoniko/n. Vulg. spiritus principalis.
(431 )Isa. xlviii. 16. Mr. C. F. Johnston remarks: "In Isaiah xlviii. 16. St. Didymus, as translated by St. Jerome, gives Spiritum suum. The Targum has the same. St. Ambrose writes: 'Quis est qui dicit; misit me Dominus Deus et Spiritus Ejus; nisi Qui venit a Patre, ut salvos faceret peccatores? Quem ut audis, et Spiritus mist; ne cum legis quia Filius Spiritum mittit, inferioris esse Spiritum crederes potestatis,' (De Sp. S. iii. 1, § 7.) The passage is quoted by St. Athanasius, St. Basil, St. Cyril Hieros., and, as far as the editor is aware, without any comment which would help to determine their way of understanding the case of to/ pneuma; but Origen, on the words 'Whosoever shall humble himself as this little child' (Comm. in Evang., Matt. xiii. 18) says, - quoting the original, which may be rendered, "'humbling himself as this little child is imitating the Holy Spirit, who humbled Himself for men's salvation. That the Saviour and the Holy Ghost were sent by the Father for the salvation of men is made plain by Isaiah saying, in the person of the Saviour, 'the Lord sent me, and His Spirit.' It must be observed, however, that the phrase is ambiguous, for either God sent and the Holy Ghost also sent, the Saviour; or, as I understand, the Father sent both, the Saviour and the Holy Ghost.'" The Vulgate and Beza both render "Spiritus." The order of the Hebrew is in favour of the nominative, as in the Vulgate and lxx. cf. Note A on Chap. xliviii. of Isaiah n the Speaker's Commentary.
(436 )John xvi. 13. cf. xiv. 26.
(442 )Ps. cvi. 32; Micah ii. 7.
(445 )ta/ th=j qeologi/aj do/gmata. cf. note on § 66.
(452 )St. Basil's view of slavery is that (a) as regards our relation to God, all created beings are naturally in a condition of subservience to the Creator; (b) as regards our relationship to one another, slaver is not of nature, but of convention and circumstance. How far he is here at variance with the well known account of slavery given by Aristotle in the first book of the Politics will depend upon the interpretation we put upon the word "nature." "Is there," asks Aristotle, "any one intended by nature to be a slave, and for whom such a condition is expedient and right, or rather is not all slavery a violation of nature? There is no difficulty in answering this question, on grounds both of reason and fact. For that some should rule, and others be ruled, is a thing not only necessary, but expedient; from the hour of their birth some are marked out for subjection, others for rule. . . . Where, then, there is such a difference as that between soul and body, or between men and animals (as in the case of those whose business it is to use their body, and who can do nothing better), the lower sort are by nature slaves, and it is better for them, as for all inferiors, that they should be under the rule of a master. . . . It is clear, then, that some men are by nature free and others slaves, and that for these latter slavery is both expedient and right." Politics, Bk. 1, Sec. 5. Here by Nature seems to be meant something like Basil's "lack of intelligence," and of the to\ kata\ qu/sin a!rxon, which makes it "profitable" for one man to be the chattel of another (kth=ma is livestock, especially mancipium. cf. Shakspere's K. and Pet., "She is my goods, my chattels." "Chattel" is a doublet of "cattle"). St. Basil and Aristotle are at one as to the advantage to the weak slave of his having a powerful protector; and this, no doubt, is the point of view from which slavery can be best apologized for.
Christianity did indeed do much to better the condition of the slave by asserting his spiritual freedom, but at first it did little more than emphasize the latter philosophy of heathendom, ei' sw=ma dou=lon, a'll0 o 9 nou=j e'leu/qeroj (Soph., frag. incert. xxii.), and gave the highest meaning to such thoughts as those expressed in the late Epigram of Damascius (c. 530) on a dead slave:
Zwsi/mh h 9 pri\n e'ou=sa mo/nw tw= sw/mati dou/lh,
Kai\ tw= sw/mati nu=n eu[ren eleuqeri/hn.
It is thought less of a slave's servitude to fellow man than of the slavery of bond and free alike to evil. cf. Aug., De Civit. Dei. iv. cap. iii. "Bonus etiamsi serviat liber est: malus autem si regnat servus est: nec est unius hominis, sed qod gravins est tot dominorum quot vitiorum." Chrysostom even explains St. Paul's non-condemnation of slavery on the ground that its existence, with that of Christian liberty, was a greater moral triumph than its abolition. (In Genes. Serm. v. 1.) Even so late as the sixth century the legislation of Justinian, though protective, supposed no natural liberty. "Expedit enim respublicae ne quis re sua utatur male." Instit. i. viii. quoted by Milman, Lat. Christ. ii. 14. We must not therefore be surprised at not finding in a Father of the fourth century an anticipation of a later development of Christian sentiment. At the same time it was in the age of St. Basil that "the language of the Fathers assumes a bolder tone" (cf, Dict. Christ. Ant. ii. 1905) and "in the correspondence of Gregory Nazianzen we find him referring to a case where a slave had been made bishop over a small community in the desert. The Christian lady to whom he belonged endeavoured to assert her right of ownership, for which she was severely rebuked by St. Basil (cf. Letter CXV.) After St. Basil's death she again claimed the slave, whereupon Gregory addressed her a letter of grave remonstrance at her unchristian desire to recall his brother bishop from his sphere of duty. Ep. 79," id.
(453 )II Thess. iii. 5. A note of the Benedictine Editors on this passage says: "It must be admitted that these words are not found in the sacred text and are wanting in three manuscripts of this work. Moreover, in the Regius Quintus they are only inserted by a second hand, but since they are shortly afterwards repeated by Basil, as though taken from the sacred context, I am unwilling to delete them, and it is more probable that they were withdrawn from the manuscripts from which they are wanting because they were not found in the apostle, then added, without any reason at all, to the manuscripts in which they occur."
(455 )2 Cor. iii. 17, 18, R.V. In Adv. Eunom. iii. 3 St. Basil had quoted v. 17 of the Son, making pneu=maa descriptive of our Lord. "This was written," adds Mr. C. F. H. Johnston, "during St. Basil's presbyterate, at least ten years earlier."
(458 )St. Basil gives a'po/eign the sense of "by" So Theodoret, Oecum., Theophylact, Bengel. cf. Alford in loc. The German is able to repeat the prep., as in Greek and Latin, "von einer Klarheit zu der andern, als vom Herrn."
(462 )pro\j qewri/an duse/fikton. The Benedictine Latin is "incomprehensibilis," but this is rather a'kata/lhptoj. The "incomprehensible" of the Ath. Creed is "immensus."
(464 )e'pi/khroj. The force of the word as applied to this life is illustrated by the 61st Epigram of Callimachus:
Ti/j ce/noj, w\ nauhge/; Deo/ntixoj e'nqa/de nekro\n
eu[re/ e'p0 ai'gialoi=j, xw=se de\ tw=de ta/fw
dakru/saj e'pi/khron eo\n bi/on . ou'de\ ga\r auto\j
h!suxoj, ai'qui/hj d0 i\sa qalassoporei=.
(466 )epiblepontaj, the reading of the Viennese ms. vulgo i'pitre/pontaj.
(469 )a'gu\mnaston e!xwn to\n nou=n. cf. Heb. v. 14.
(470 )tw= fronh/mati th=j sarko/j. cf. Rom. viii. 6 to\ ga\r fro/nhma th=j sarko\j qa/natoj.
(473 )Is. xlii. 5, LXX. patou=sin au'thn. So St. Basil's argument requires us to translate the lxx. The "walk therein" of A.V. would not bear out his meaning. For this use of fpatei/. cf. Soph., Ant. 745. ou' ga\r se/beij tima/j ge ta\j qew=n patw=n. So in the vulgate we read "et spiritum clacantibus eam." - calcare bearing the sense of "trample on," as in Juvenal, Sat. x 86, "calcemus Caesaris hostem." The Hebrew bears no such meaning.
(474 )Here the Benedictine Editors begin Chapter xxiii., remarking that they do so "cum plures mss. codices. tum ipsam sermonis seriem et continuationem secuti. Liquet enim hic Basilium ad aliud argumentum transire." Another division of the text makes Chapter XXIII. begin with the words "But I do not mean by glory."
(478 )Jer. xx. 2, LXX. ei'j to\n katar'r 9a/ktrn o 9j h'n e'n pu/lh. Katar'r 9a/kthj tw=n pulwn occurs in Dion. Halic. viii 67, in the same sense as the Latin cataracta (Livy xxvii. 27) a portcullis. The Vulgate has in nervum, which may either be gyve or gaol. The Hebrew=stocks, as in A.V. and R.V. katar'r 9a/kthj in the text of Basil and the lxx. may be assumed to mean prison, form the notion of the barred grating over the door. cf. Ducange s.v. cataracta.
(493 )cf. Matt. xxviii. 19; 1 Cor. xii. 11; Rom. viii 11; 1 Pet. i. 2.
(496 )Mr. C. F. H. Johnston conjectures the allusion to be to Hom. xxiv. "Contra Sabellianos et Arium et Anomoeos."
(498 )In 1 Tim. vi. 13, St. Paul writes tou= qeou= tou= zwopoiou=ntoj pa/nta. In the text St. Basil writes ta\ pa/nta zwogonou=ntoj. The latter word is properly distinguished from the former as meaning not to make alive after death, but to engender alive. In Luke xvii. 33, it is rendered in A.V. "preserve." In Acts vii. 19, it is "to the end they might not live." On the meaning of zwogonei=n in the lxx. and the Socinian arguments based on its use in Luke xvii. 33, cf. Pearson, On the Creed, Art. V. note to p. 257 Ed. 1676.
(514 )In Eph. ii. 18 they are combined, but no Scriptural doxology uses e'n of the Spirit.
(519 )"St. Basil's statement of the reason of the use of meta/ su/n, in the Doxology, is not confirmed by any earlier or contemporary writer, as far as the editor is aware, nor is it contradicted." Rev. C. F. H. Johnston.
(520 )"Sabellius has been usually assigned to the middle of third century, Mr. Clinton giving a.d. 256-270 as his active period. The discovery of the Philosophumena of Hippolytus has proved this to be a mistake, and thrown his period back to the close of the second and beginning of the third century. . . . He was in full activity in Rome during the Episcopate of Zephyrinus, a.d. 198-217." Professor Stokes in D.C. Biog. iv. 569. For Basil's views of Sabellianism vide Epp. CCX., CCXIV., CCXXXV. In his Haer. Fab. Conf. ii. 9 Theodoret writes: "Sabellius said that Father, Son, and Holy Ghost were one Hypostasis; one Person under three names; and he describes the same now as Father, now as Son, now as Holy Ghost. He says that in the old Testament He gave laws as Father, was incarnate in the new as Son, and visited the Apostles as Holy Ghost." So in the Ekqesij th=j kata\ me/roj pi/stewj, a work falsely attributed to Gregory Thaumaturgus, and possibly due to Apollinaris, (cf. Theod., Dial. iii.) "We shun Sabellius, who says that Father and Son are the same, calling Him who speaks Father, and the Word, remaining in the Father and at the time of creation manifested, and, on the completion of things returning to the Father, Son. He says the same of the Holy Ghost."
(521 )Apparently an inexact reference to John xiv. 23.
(523 )i.e., The Arians, who said of the Son, "There was when he was not;" and the Pneumatomachi, who made the Spirit a created being.
(525 )cf. Note on Chap I. p. 4. In the Aristotelian philosophy, ei\doj, or Forma, is the to\ ti/ h\n ei\n ei\nai, the essence or formal cause. cf. Ar., Met. vi. 7, 4. Du/namij, or Potentia, is potential action or existence, as opposed to e'ne/rgeio, actus, actual action or existence, or e'ntele/xeia. cf. Ar., Met., viii. 3, 9, and viii. 8, 11. Sir W. Hamilton, Metaph. I. 178-180.
(530 )en a!lloij tisi duna/mewn e'nergh/masi. The Benedictine translation is in aliis miraculorum operationious." It is of course quite true that du/namij is one of the four words used in the New Testament for miracle, and often has that sense, but here the context suggest the antithesis between potential and actual operation, and moreover non-miraculous. e'ne/rghma is an uncommon word, meaning the work wrought by e'ne/pgeia or operation.
(532 )Numb. xi. 25, 26, LXX. and R.V. "did so no more" for "did not cease" of A.V.
(533 )The distinction between the lo/goj e'/dia/qetoj, thought, and the logoj porforiko/j, speech, appears first in Philo. II. 154. On the use of the term in Catholic Theology cf. Dr. Robertson's note on Ath., De Syn. § xxvi. p. 463 of the Ed. in this series. Also, Dorner, Div. I. i. p. 338, note.
(539 )1 Cor. xii. 18, slightly varied in order.
(542 )An inversion of 1 Cor. xii. 13.
(546 )John iv. 23. With this interpretation, cf. Athan., Epist. i. Ad Serap. § 33, "Hence it is shewn that the Truth is the Son Himself. . . for they worship the Father, but in Spirit and in Truth, confessing the Son and the Spirit in him; for the Spirit is inseparable from the Son as the Son is inseparable from the Father."
(553 )e'n to =j genhtoi=j, as in the Bodleian ms. The Benedictine text adopts the common reading gennhtoij, with the note, "Sed discrimen illud parvi momenti." If St. Basil wrote gennhtoi=j, he used it in the looser sense of mortal: in its strict sense of "begotten" it would be singularly out of place here, as the antithesis of the reference to the Son, who is gennhto/j, would be spoilt. In the terminology of theology, so far from being "parvi momenti," the distinction is vital. In the earlier Greek philosophy a'ge/nhtoj and a'ge/nnhtoj are both used as nearly synonymous to express unoriginate eternal. cf. Plat., Phaed. D., a'rxh\ de\ a'ge/nhto/n, with Plat, Tim. 52 A., Toutwn de\ ou!twj e'xo/ntwn o 9mologhte/on e$n me\n ei\nai to kata\ tau'ta\ ei\doj e!xon a'ge/nnhton kai\ a'nw/leqron. And the earliest patristic use similarly meant by gennhto/j and a'ge/nnhtoj created and uncreated, as in Ign., Ad Eph. vii., where our Lord is called gennhto\j kai\ a'ge/nnhtoj. e'n a'ndr o/pw Qeo\j, e'n qana/tw zwh= a'lhqinh/. cf. Bp. Lightfoot's note. But "such language is not in accordance with later theological definitions, which carefully distinguished between genhto/j and gennhto/j. between a'ge/nhtoj and a'ge/nnhtoj; so that genhto/j, a'ge/nhtoj, respectively denied and affirmed the eternal existence, being equivalent to ktisto/j, a!ktistoj, , while gennhto/j, a'ge/nnhtoj described certain ontological relations, whether in time or in eternity. In the later theological language, therefore, the Son was gennrto/j even in His Godhead. See esp. Joann. Damasc., De Fid. Orth. I. 8 (I. p. 135, Lequin), xrh\ ga\r ei/de/nai o!ti to\ a'ge/nhton, dia\ tou= e 9no\j n grafo/menon, to\ a!ktiston h! to\ mh\ geno/menon shmai/nei, to\ de\ a'ge/nnhton, dia\ tw=n du/o nn grafomenon, dhloi= to\ mh\ gennhqe/n; whence he draws the conclusion that mo/noj o 9 path\o a'ge/nnhtoj and mo/noj o 9 ui'o\j gennhto/j." Bp. Lightfoot, Ap. Fathers, Pt. II. Vol. II. p. 90, where the history of the worlds is exhaustively discussed. At the time of the Arian controversy the Catholic disputants were chary of employing these terms, because of the base uses to which their opponents put them; so St. Basil, Contra Eunom. iv. protests against the Arian argument ei/ a'ge/nnhtoj o' path\r gennhto\j de\ o' ui/oj, ou'siaj.
cf. Ath., De Syn. in this series, p. 475, and De Decretis., on Newman's confusion of the terms, p. 149 and 169.
(562 )cf. note on § 15. So Athan. in Matt. xi. 22. Sfragi/j ga/r e'stin i'so/tupoj e'n e 9antw= delknu/j to\n pate/ra . cf. Athan., De Dec. § 20, and note 9 in this series, p. 163. cf. also Greg. Nyss., In Eunom. ii. 12.
(563 )The genuineness of this latter portion of the Treatise was objected to by Erasmus on the ground that the style is unlike that of Basil's soberer writings. Bp. Jeremy Taylor follows Erasmus (Vol. vi. ed. 1852, p. 427). It was vindicated by Casaubon, who recalls St. John Damascene's quotation of the Thirty Chapters to Amphilochius. Mr. C. F. H. Johnston remarks, "The later discovery of the Syriac Paraphrases of the whole book pushes back this argument to about one hundred years from the date of St. Basil's writing. The peculiar care taken by St. Basil for the writing out of the treatise, and for its safe arrival in Amphilochius' hands, and the value set upon it by the friends of both, make the forgery of half the present book, and the substitution of it for the original within that period, almost incredible." Section 66 is quoted as an authoritative statement on the right use of Tradition "as a guide to the right understanding of Holy Scripture, for the right ministration of the Sacraments, and the preservation of sacred rights and ceremonies in the purity of their original institution," in Philaret's Longer Catechism of the Eastern Church.
St. Basil is, however, strong on the supremacy of Holy Scripture, as in the passages quoted in Bp. H. Browne, On the xxxix Articles: "Believe those things which are written; the things which are not written seek not." (Hom. xxix. adv. Calum. S. Trin.) "It is a manifest defection from the faith, and a proof of arrogance, either to reject anything of what is written, or to introduce anything that is not." (De Fide. i.) cf. also Letters CV. and CLIX. On the right use of Tradition cf. Hooker, Ecc. Pol. lxv. 2, "Lest, therefore, the name of tradition should be offensive to any, considering how far by some it hath been and is abused, we mean by traditions ordinances made in the prime of Christian Religion, established with that authority which Christ hath left to His Church for matters indifferent, and in that consideration requisite to be observed, till like authority see just and reasonable causes to alter them. So that traditions ecclesiastical are not rudely and in gross to be shaken off, because the inventors of them were men."
cf. Tert., De Praes . 36, 20, 21, "Constat omnem doctrinam quae cum illis eccleiis apostolicis matricibus et originalibus fedei conspiret veritai deputandam, id sine dubio tenentem quod ecclesiae ab apostolis, apostoli a Christo, Christus a Deo accepit ." Vide Thomasius, Christ. Dogm. I. 105.
(564 )tw/n e'n th= Ekklhsi/a pefnlagme/nwn donma/twn kai\ khrugma/twn." To give the apparent meaning of the original seems impossible except by some such paraphrase as the above. In Scripture do/gma, which occurs five times (Luke ii. 1, Acts xvi. 4, xvii. 7, Eph. ii. 15, and Col. ii 14), always has its proper sense of decree or ordinances. cf. Bp. Lightfoot, on Col. ii. 14, and his contention that the Greek Fathers generally have mistaken the force of the passage in understanding do/gmata in both Col. and Eph. to mean the doctrines and precepts of the Gospel. Kh/rugma occurs eight times (Matt. xii. 41, Luke xi. 32, Rom. xvi. 25, 1 Cor. i. 21, ii. 4, xv. 14, 2 Tim iv. 17, and Tit. i. 3), always in the sense of preaching or proclamation.
"The later Christian sense of do/gma, meaning doctrine, came from its secondary classical use, where it was applied to the authoritative and categorical 'sentences' of the philosophers: cf. Just. Mart., Apol. i. 7. oi/ e'!/ Ellhsi tu\ au'toi=j a'restu\oogmati/sa/tej e'k panto/j tw= eni\ ono/mati filosof aj prosagoreu/onta, kai/per tu.n dogma/twn e'nanti/wn o!ntwn." [All the sects in general among the Greeks are known by the common name of philosophy, through their doctrines are different.] Cic., Acad. ii. 19. 'De suis decretis quae philosophi vocant dogmata.' . . . There is an approach towards the ecclesiastical meaning in Ignat., Mag. 13, bebaiwdh=sai e'n toi=j do/gmasi tou= kuri/ou kai\ tw=n apostolwn." Bp. Lightfoot in Col. ii. 14. The "doctrines" of heretics are also called do/gmata, as in Basil, Ep. CCLXI. and Socr., E. H. iii. 10. cf. Bp. Bull, in Serm. 2, "The dogmata or tenets of the Sadducees." In Orig., c. Cels. iii. p. 135, Ed. Spencer, 1658, do/gma is used of the gospel or teaching of our Lord.
The special point about St. Basil's use of do/gmata is that he uses the word of doctrines and practices privately and tacitly sanctioned in the Church (like apo/rrhta, which is used of the esoteric doctrine of the Pythagoreans, Plat., Phaed. 62.B.), while he reserves khru/gmata for what is now often understood by do/gmata, i.e. "legitima synodo decreta." cf. Ep. LII., where he speaks of the great kh/rugma of the Fathers at Nicaea. In this he is supported by Eulogius, Patriarch of Alexandria, 579-607, of whom Photius (Cod. ccxxx. Migne Pat. Gr. ciii. p. 1027) writes, "In this work," i.e. Or. II. "he says that of the doctrines (didagma/twn) handed down in the church by the ministers of the word, some are do/gmata, and others khru/gmata. The distinction is that do/gmata are announced with concealment and prudence, and are often designedly compassed with obscurity, in order that holy things may not be exposed to profane persons nor pearls cast before swine. Khru/gmata, on the other hand, are announced without any concealment." So the Benedictine Editors speak of Origen (c. Cels. i. 7) as replying to Celsus, "praedicationem Christianorum toti orbi notiorem essquam placita philosophorum: sed tamen fatetur, ut opud philosophos, ita etiam apud Christianos nonulla esse veluti interiora, quae post exteriorem et propositam omnibus doctrinam tradantur." Of khru/gata they note, "Videntur hoc nomine designari leges ecclesiasticae et canonum decreta quae promulgari in ecclesia mos erat, ut neminem laterent." Mr. C. F. H. Johnston remarks: "The o 9uoou/sion, which many now-a-days would call the Nicene dogma (tu\ tou= o 9moonsi/on do/gmata, Soc., E.H. iii. 10) because it was put forth in the Council of Nicaea, was for that reason called not do/gma, but kh/rugma, by St. Basil, who would have said that it became the kh/ougma (definition) of that Council, because it had always been the do/gma of the Church."
In extra theological philosophy a dogma has all along meant a certainly expressed opinion whether formally decreed or not. So Shaftesbury, Misc. Ref. ii. 2, "He who is certain, or presumes to say he knows, is in that particular whether he be mistaken or in the right a dogmatist." cf. Littré S.V. for a similar use in French. In theology the modern Roman limitation of dogma to decreed doctrine is illustrated by the statement of Abbé Bérgier (Dict de Théol. Ed. 1844) of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin. "Or, nous convenons que ce n'est pas un dogme de foi," because, thought a common opinion among Romanists, it had not been so asserted at the Council of Trent. Since the publication of Pius IX's Edict of 1854 it has become, to ultramontanists, a "dogma of faith."
(565 )1 Cor. ii. 7. Whether there is or is not here a conscious reference to St. Paul's words, there seems to be both in the text and in the passage cited an employment of musth/rion in its proper sense of a secret revealed to the initiated.
(566 )i.e. if nothing were of weight but what was written, what need of any authorisation at all? There is no need of khrugma for a do/gma expressly written in Scripture.
(567 )e'pi\ th= a'nadeicei. The Benedictine note is: "Non respicit Basilius ad ritum ostensionis Eucharistiae, ut multi existimarunt, sed potius ad verba Liturgiaeipsi ascriptae, cum petit sacerdos, ut veniat Spiritus sanctus a 9gia/sai kai a'nadei=cai to\n me\n a!rton tou=ton au'to\ to\ ti/mion sw=ma tou= kuri/ou. Haec autem verba e'pi\ th= a'/adeicei, sic reddit Erasmus, cum ostenditur. Vituperat eum Ducaeus; sicque ipse vertit, cum conficitur, atque hanc interpretationem multis exemplis confirmat. Videtur tamen nihil prorsus vitii habitura a haec interpretatio, Invocationis verba cum ostenditur panis Eucharistiae, id est, cum panis non jam panis est, sed panis Eucharistiae, sive corpus Christi ostenditur; et in liturgia, ut sanctitficet et ostendat hunc quidem panem, ipsum pretiosum corpus Domini. Nam io Cur eam vocem reformidemus, qua Latini uti non dubitant, ubi de Eucharistia ioquuntur? Quale est illud Cypriani in epistola 63 ad Caecilium: Vino Christi sanguis ostenditur. Sic etiam Tertullianus I. Marc. c. 14: Panem quo ipsum corpus suum repraesentat 20 Ut Graece a'nadei=cai, apofai/nein , ita etiam Latine, ostendere, corpus Christi praesens in Eucharistia significatione quadam modo exprimit. Hoc enim verbum non solum panem fieri corpus Domini significat, sed etiam fidem nostram excitat, ut illud corpus sub specie panis videndum, tegendum, adorandum astendi credamus. Quemadmodum Irenaeus, cum ait lib. iv. cap. 33: Accipiens panem suum corpus esse confitebatur, et temperamentum calicis suum sanguinem conformavit, non solum mutationem panis et vini in corpus et sanguinem Christi exprimit, sed ipsam etiam Christi asseverationem, quae hanc nobis mutationem persuadet; sic qui corpus Christi in Eucharistia ostendi et repraesentari dicunt, non modo jejuno et exiliter loqui non videntur, sed etiam acriores Christi praesentis adorandi stimulos subjicere. Poterat ergo retineri interpretatio Erasmi: sed quia viris eruditis displicuit, satius visum est quid sentirem in hac nota exponere."
This view of the meaning of a'nadei/knusqai and a1NA'DEICIj as being equivalent to poieisn and poi/hsij is borne out and illustrated by Suicer, S.V. "Ex his jam satis liquere arbitror a'uadeicai apud Basilium id esse quod alii Graei patres dicunt poiei=n vel a'pofai/nein sw=ma xristou=."
It is somewhat curious to find Bellarmine (De Sacr. Euch. iv. § 14) interpreting the prayer to God eu'logh=sai kai\ a 9lia/j I kai\ a'nadei=cai to mean "ostende per effectum salutarem in mentibus nostris istum panem salutificatum non esse panem vulgarem sed coelestem."
(568 )For the unction of catechumens cf. Ap. Const. vii. 22; of the baptized, Tertullian, De Bapt. vii.; of the confirmed, id. viii.; of the sick vide Plumptre on St. James v. 14, in Cambridge Bible for Schools. cf. Letter clxxxviii.
(569 )For trine immersion an early authority is Tertullian, c. Praxeam xxvi. cf. Greg. Nyss., De Bapt. u#dati e 9autou\j e'gkru/promen . . . kai\ tri/ton tou=to poih/santej. Dict. Ch. Ant. i. 161.
(570 )cf. my note on Theodoret in this series, p. 112.
(573 )The earliest posture of prayer was standing, with the hands extended and raised towards heaven, and with the face turned to the East. cf. early art, and specially the figures of "oranti." Their rich dress indicates less their actual station in this life than the expected felicity of Paradise. Vide, Dict. Christ. Ant. ii. 1684.
(574 )"Stood again with" - sunanasta/ntej.
(576 )Gen. i. 5. Heb. LXX. Vulg. R.V. cf. p. 64.
(577 )Vide Titles to Pss. vi. and xii. in A.V. "upon Sheminith," marg. "the eighth." LXX u/pe\r th=j o'gdo/hj. Vulg. pro octava. On various explanations of the Hebrew word vide Dict Bib. S. V. where Dr. Aldis Wright inclines to the view that it is a tune or key, and that the Hebrews were not acquainted with the octave.
(589 )Rom. viii. 16, 17. In this passage A.V. follows the neuter of the Greek original. R.V. has substituted "himself." cf. note on p. 15.
(592 )cf. Phil. iii. 21, and 1 Cor. xv. 44.
(598 )cf. Verg., Aen. ii. Quis talia fando . . . temperet a lacrymis?
(601 )i.e. of Jesus the Son of Sirach, or Ecclus. xliii. 30.
(607 )i.e. Dianius, bp. of the Cappadocian Caesarea, who baptized St. Basil c. 357 on his return from Athens, and ordained him Reader. He was a waverer, and signed the creed of Ariminum in 359; Basil consequently left him, but speaks reverentially of him in Ep. 51.
(611 )Dionysius was Patriarch of Alexandria a.d. 247-265. Basil's "strange to say" is of a piece with the view of Dionysius' heretical tendencies expressed in Letter ix. q.v. Athanasius, however, (De Sent. Dionysii) was satisfied as to the orthodoxy of his predecessor. Bp. Westcott (Dict. C. Biog. I. 851) quotes Lumper (Hist. Pat. xii. 86) as supposing that Basil's charge against Dionysius of sowing the seeds of the Anomoean heresy was due to imperfect acquaintance with his writings. In Letter clxxxviii. Basil calls him "the Great." which implies general approval.
(612 )Clem. Rom., Ep. ad Cor. lviii. Bp. Lightfoot's . Fathers, Pt. I. ii. 169.
(613 )Irenaeus is near he Apostles in close connexion, as well as in time, through his personal knowledge of Polycarp. Vide his Ep. to Florinus quoted in Euseb., Ecc. Hist. v. 20. In his work On the Ogdoad, quoted in the same chapter, Irenaeus says of himself that he th/n pswth\n tw=n 0 Apostolw=n kateilhfe/nai thn diadoxh/n "had himself had the nearest succession of the Apostles."
(614 )The reference is presumably to 1 Cor. ii. 11 and iii. 1.
(615 )i.e. Eusebius of Caesarea, the historian, so called to distinguish him from his namesake of Nicomedia. cf. Theodoret, Ecc. Hist. I. 1. The work is not extant. It may be that mentioned by Eusebius in his Praep. Evang. vii. 8, 20 under the title of peri\ th=j tw=n palaiw=n a'ndrw=n polupaidi/aj.
(616 )The quotation is from the Eighth Book.
(618 )AS to Origen's unorthodoxy concerning the Holy Spirit St. Basil may have had in his mind such a passage as the following from the First Book of the De Principiis, extant in the original in Justinian, Ep. ad Mennam. Minge, Pat. Gr. xi. p. 150. o!ti o 9 me\n qeo\j kai\path=r sune/xwn ta\ pa/nta fqa/nei eij ekaston tw=n o!ntwn metadidou\j e 9ka/stw a'po\ ton= i'di/on to\ ei\nai : w$n ga\r e!stin : e'la/ttwn de\ para to\n pate/ra o 9 Ui 9o\j fqa/nei e'pi\ mo/na ta\ logika/. den/teroj la/r e'sti tou= patro/j: e!ti de= h 9neu=ma to\ a!lio/ e'pi\ mo/nouj ton= a 9gi/ouj di iknou=menon. w!ste kata\ tou=to meizwn h\ du/namij tou= Patro\j para\ to\n Uio\n kai\ to\ pneu=ma to\ a!gion plei/wn de\ h 9 tou= Ui 9ou= papa= to\ pneu=ma to\ a!gion. The work does not even exist as a whole in the translation of Rufinus, who omitted portions, and St. Jerome thought that Rufinus had misrepresented it. Photius (Biblioth. cod. viii.) says that Origen, in asserting in this work that the Son was made by the Father and the Spirit by the Son, is most blashemous. Bp. Harold Browne, however (position of the xxxix. Art. p. 113, n. 1), is of opinion that if Rufinus fairly translated the following passage, Origen cannot have been fairly charged with heresy concerning the Holy Ghost: "Ne quis sane existimet nos ex co quod diximus Spiritum sanctum solis sanctis praestari. Patris vero et Filii beneficia vel inoperationes pervenire ad bonos et malos, justos et injustos, proetulisse per hoc Patri et Filio Spiritum Sanctum, vel majorem ejus per hoc asserere dignitatem; quod utique valde inconsequens est. Proprietatem namque gratiae ejus operisque descipsimus. Porro autem nihil in Trinitate majus minusve dicendum est, quum unius Divinitatis Fons verbo ac ratione sua teneat universa, spiritu vero oris sui quae digna sunt, sanctificatione sanctificet, sicut in Psalmo scriptum est verbo domini coeli firmati sunt et spiritu oris ejus omnis virtus eorum." De Princ. I. iii. 7.
On the obligations of both Basil and Gregory of Nazianzus to Origen, cf. Socrates iv. 26.
(619 )Of the chief writings of Julius Africanus (called Sextus Africanus by Suidas), who wrote at Emmaus and Alexandria c. 220, only fragments remain. A Letter to Origen is complete. His principal work was a Chronicon from the Creation to a.d. 221, in Five Books. Of this Dr. Salmon (D.C.B. I 56) thinks the doxology quoted by Basil was the conclusion.
(620 )Ps. cxli. was called o 9 e\pilu/xnioj yalmo/j (Ap. Const. viii. 35). In the Vespers of the Eastern Church an evening hymn is sung, translated in D.C.A. I. 634, "Joyful Light of the holy glory of the immortal Father, the heavenly the holy, the blessed Jesus Christ, we having come to the setting of the sun and beholding the evening light, praise God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. It is meet at all times that thou shouldest be hymned with auspicious voices, Son of God, Giver of Life: wherefore the world glorifieth thee."
(621 )Identified by some with two early hymns, Do/ca e'n u 9yi/stoij, and fwj i 9laro/n.
(622 )The mss. vary between e'cith/rion and a'lecith/rion, farewell gift and amulet or charm. In Ep. cciii. 229 Basil says that our Lord gave His disciples peace as an e'cith/rion dw=ron, using the word, but in conjunction with dw=ron. Greg. Naz., Orat. xiv. 223 speaks of our Lord leaving peace "w!sper a!llo ti e''cith/pion."
(623 )i.e. Gregory, bishop of Neocaesarea, known as Gregorius Thaumaturgus, or Gregory the Wonder-worker. To the modern reader "Gregory the Great" more naturally suggest Gregory of Nazianzus, but this he hardly was to his friend and contemporary, though the title had accrued to him by the time of the accepted Ephesine Council in 431 (videLabbe, vol. iv. p. 1192) Gregory the Wonder-worker, _ c. 270.
(626 )e.g. according to the legend, the Lycus. cf. Newman, Essays o Miracles, p. 267.
(627 )The story is told by Gregory of Nyssa, Life ofGreg. Thaum. Migne xliv. 926-930.
(628 )The Neocaesareans appear to have entertained a Puritan objection to the antiphonal psalmody becoming general in the Church in the time of Basil. cf. Ep. ccvii.
(629 )Firmilian, like Gregory the Wonder-worker, a pupil of Origen, was bishop of Caesarea from before a.d. 232 (Euseb. vi. 26) to 272 (Euseb. vii. 30). By some his death at Tarsus is placed in 265 or 5.
(632 )The Benedictine version for ta\j tima=j tou= kuri/on is honorem quem Dominus tribuit Spiritui. The reading of one ms. is ta=j fwna/j. There is authority for either sense of the genitive with timh/, i.e. the houours due to the Lord or paid by the Lord.
(636 )i.e. after the condemnation of Arius at Nicaea/
(637 )In Ep. ccxlii. written in 376, St. Basil says: "This is the thirteenth year since the outbreak of the war of heretics against us." 363 is the date of the Acacian Council of Antioch; 364 of the accession of Valens and Valentian, of the Semi-Arian Synod of Lampsacus, and of St. Basil's ordination to the priesthood and book against Eunomius. On the propagation by scission and innumerable subdivisions of Arianism Cannon Bright writes:
The extraordinary versatility, the argumentative subtlety, and the too frequent profanity of Arianism are matters of which a few lines can give no idea. But it is necessary , in even the briefest notice of this long-lived heresy, to remark on the contrast between its changeable inventiveness and the simple steadfastness of Catholic doctrine. On the one side, some twenty different creeds (of which several, however, were rather negatively than positively heterodox) and three main sects, the Semi-Arians, with their formula of Homoiousion, i.e. the Son is like in essence to the Father; the Acacians, vaguely calling Him like (Homoion); the Aetians, boldly calling Him unlike, as much as to say He is in no sense Divine. On the other side, the Church with the Nicene Creed, confessing Him as Homoousion, 'of one essence with the Father,' meaning thereby, as her great champion repeatedly bore witness, to secure belief in the reality of the Divine Sonship, and therefore in the real Deity, as distinguished from the titular deity which was so freely conceded to Him by the Arians." Cannon Bright, St. Leo on the Incarnation, p. 140
Socrates (ii. 41), pausing at 360, enumerates, after Nicaea:
1. 1st of Antioch
omitted the o 9mooou\sion, a.d. 341)
2. 2d of Antioch
3. The Creed brought to Constans in Gaul by Narcissus and other Arians in 342.
4. The Creed "sent by Eudoxius of Germanicia into Italy," i.e. the "Macrostich," or "Lengthy Creed," rejected at Milan in 346.
5. The 1st Creed of Sirmium; i.e. the Macrostich with 26 additional clauses, 351.
6. The 2d Sirmian Creed. The "manifesto;" called by Athanasius (De Synod. 28) "the blasphemy," 357.
7. The 3d Sirmian, or "dated Creed," in the consulship of Flavius Eusebius and Hypatius, May 22d, 359.
8. The Acacian Creed of Seleucia, 359.
9. The Creed of Ariminum adopted at Constantinople, as revised at Nike.
(638 )On the authority of the ms. of the tenth century at Paris, called by the Ben. Editors Regius Secundus, they read for pneu/matoj pa/qonj, denying pneumatoj to be consistent with the style and practice of Basil, who they say, never uses the epithet swth/oioj of the Spirit. Mr. C. F. H. Johnston notes that St. Basil "always attributes the saving efficacy of Baptism to the presence of the Spirit, and here applies the word to Him." In § 35, we have to\ awth/rion ba/ppisua.
(641 )Among the bishops exiled during the persecution of Valens were Meletius of Antioch. Eusebius of Samosata, Pelagius of Laodicea, and Barses of Edessa. cf. Theodoret, st. Ecc. iv. 12 sq. cf. Ep. 195.
(642 )The identification of an unsound Monarchianism with Judaism is illustrated in the 1st Apology of Justin Martyr e.g. in § lxxxiii. (Reeves' Trans.). "The Jews, therefore, for maintaining that it was the Father of the Universe who had the conference with Moses, when it was the very Son of God who had it, and who is styled both Angel and Apostle, are justly accused by the prophetic spirit and Christ Himself, for knowing neither the Father nor the Son; for they who affirm the Son to be the Father are guilty of not knowing the Father, and likewise of being ignorant that the Father of the Universe has a Son, who, being the Logos and First-begotten of God, is God."
(643 )i.e. the Arians, whose various ramifications all originated in a probably well-meant attempt to reconcile the principles of Christianity with what was best in the old philosophy, and a failure to see that the ditheism of Arianism was of a piece with polytheism.
(644 )The word spoudarxi/dhj is a comic patronymic of spouda/rxhj, a place-hunter, occurring in the Archarnians of Aristophanes, 595.
(646 )a'narxi/a a'po\ filarxi/aj.
(2 )cf. Joseph. ii. x. 2. So Justin M., Cohort. ad gent., Philio, Vit. Moys, and Clem. Al., Strom. I. Vide Fialon, Et. Hist. 302.
(6 )cf. note on Letter viii. on the stoixei=a or elements which the Ionian philosophers made the a'rxai of the universe. Vide Plato, Legg. x. § 4 and Arist., Met. i. 3.
(7 )Posidonius the Stoic name Moschus, or Mochus of Sidon, as the originator of the atomic theory "before the Trojan period." VideStrabo, xvi. 757. But the most famous Atomists, Leucippus and Democritus of Abdera, in the 5th c. b.c., arose in opposition to the Eleatic school, and were followed in the 3d by Epicurus. VideDiog. Laert. ix. § 30. sq. and Cicero, De Nat. Deo. I. 24-26. Ista enim flagitia Democriti, sive etiam ante Leucippi, esse corpuscula quaedam laevia, rotunda alia, partim autem angulata, curvata quae dam, et quasi adunca: ex his effectum esse coelum atque terram, nulla cogente natura, sed concursu quodam fortuito. Atqui, si haec Democritea non audisset, quid audierat? quid est in physicis Epicuri non a Democrito? Nam, esti quaedam commodavit, ut, quod paulo ante de inclinatione atomorum dixi: tamen pleraque dixit eadem; atomos, inane, imagines, infinitatem locorum, innumerabilitatemque mundorum eorum ortus, interitus, omnia fere, quibua naturae ratio continetur.
(8 )cf. the Fortuna gubernans of Lucretius (v. 108).
(9 )Fialon refers to Aristotle (De Caelo.) i. 5) on the non-infinitude of the circle. The conclusion is "Oti me\n ou\n to\ ku/klw kinou/menon ou'k e!stin a'teleu/thton ou'd0 a!peiron, a'll0 e!xei te/loj, fanero/n.N
(12 )cf.. Artist. De Caelo. I. 12, 10 Dh=lon d0 o!ti kai\ ei' genhto\n h$ fqarto/n, ou'k a'i 9dion.
(14 )Artist., De Coelo. ii. 1. 1. calls it ei\j kai\ a'i/dioj. cf. the end of the Timaeus.
(15 )cf. Cic., De nat. Deo. i. 14,, ""Cleanthes" (of Assos, c. 264 b.c., a disciple of Zeno) "autem tum ipsum mundum Deum dicit esse; tum totius naturae ment: atque animo tribuit hoc nomen; tum ultimum. et altissimum, atque undique circumfusum, et extremum, omnia cingentem atque complexum, ardorem, qui aether nominetur, certissimum Deum judicat ," and id. 15, "Chrysippus" (of Tarsus, _ c. 212 b.c.) . . . "ipsum mundum Deum dicit esse." Yet the Hymn of Cleanthes (apud Stoboeum) begins:
Ku/dist0 a/qana/twn, poluw/nome, palkrate\j ai'eei\,
Zeu\j, fu/sewj o'sxhge\, no/mon me/ta pa/nta kubep/w=n.
cfOrig., v. Celsum V. Gsafw=j dh\ to\n o!lon ko/smon (#Ellhnej) le/gousin ei\nai qeo/n, Stwi!koi\ me\n to\n prw=ton. oi/ d0 a'po\ Pla/twnoj ro\n deu/teron, tine\j d0 au'tw=n to\n tpi/ton; and Athan., De Incarn. § 2.
(16 )cf. Origen, De Principiiis, ii. 1, 3.
(17 )diako/smhsij. cf. Arist., Met. i. 5, 2.
(19 )cf. Plato, Timaeus, § 14. xxro/noj d0 ou\n met0 au'ranou= ge'gonen i!na a!ma gennhqe/ntej a!ma kai\ luqw=sin, a!n pote lu/sij tij au'tw=n gi'gnhtai kai\ kata\ to\ para'deigma th=j ai\wni'aj fu/sewj i!n, w 9j o 9uoio/tatoj au'tw= kata\ du/namin h\. Fialon (p. 311) quotes Cousin's translation at greater length, and refers also to Plotinus, Enn. II. vii. 10-12. The parallel transistoriness of time and things has become the commonplace of poets. "Immortalia ne speres monet annus et almun. Quae rapit hora diem." Hor., Carm. iv. 7.
(22 )cf. Arist., Met. iv. 1. !Arxh h 9 me\n le/getai o!qen a!n ti tou=psa/gmatoj kinhqei/h prw=ton: olon tou= mh/kouj, kai\ o'dou= . . . h 9 de\ o!qen a!n ka/llista e!kston ge/noito : oi\on kai\ maqh/sewj, ou'k a'po\ tou= prw/tou kai\ th=j tou= psa/gmatoj a'rxh=j e'ni/ote a'rkte/on, a'll0 o!qen ra=st0 a!n ma/qoi, h 9 de\, o!qen psw=ton ginetai e'nupa/rxontoj : oi\onn w 9j pg 9oi/on tso/pij, kai\ oi'ki/aj qeme/lioj .
(23 )In the Homily of Origen extant n the Latin of Rufinus (Migne Pat. Gr. xii. 146) a'oxh/ is used of the Divine Word, "In principio. Quod est omnium principuium nisi Dominus noster Christus Iesus? . . . In hoc ergo principio, hoc est in Verbo suo, Deus coelum et terram fecit." An interpretation of John viii. 25, th/n a'rxh\n o$ti kai\ lalw= u'min widely prevalent at all events in the Latin church, was "Initium quod et loquor vobis;" "I am the Beginning, that which I am even saying to you." See note to Sp. Comment. on John viii. ad fin.
(25 )On the inconceivability either of an absolute minimum of space or of its infinite divisibility, cf. Sir Wm. Hamilton, Met. ii. 371.
(26 )Aquila's version in the Hexapla of Origen for e'n a'rxh/ has e'n kefalai/w e!ktisen.
(27 )h 9 a!pasa dia/noia h$ psaktikh\ h$ poihtikh\ h$ qewrhtikh/. Arist., Met. v. i.
(28 )The one and the perfect continually overflows, and from it ?Being, Reason, and Life are perpetually derived, without deducting anything from its substance, inasmuch as it is simple in its nature, and not, like matter, compound. (Enn. iv. 5, i. 6.)" Tennemann on Plotinus, Hist. Phil. § 207..
(29 )The Ben. note is "nequi idipsum in causa fuit cur esset, hoc est, non res caeca, non res coacta, non res invite et praeter voluntatem agens in causa fuit cur mundus exstiterit. Hoc igitur dicit Basilius Deum aliter agere atque corpora opaca aut lucida. Nam corpus producit umbram vi atque necessi tate, nec liberius agit corpus lucidum: Deus vero omnia nutu conficit et voluntate. Illud e'poihsen, etc., alio modo intellexit et interpretatus est Eustathius. Illius subjicimus verba: non causam praestitit ut esset solum, sed fecit ut bonus utilem."
(30 )cf. Plat., Tim. § 10. 0Agaqo\j h/n, a'gaqw= de\ oudei\j peri\ ou'deno\j ou'de/pote e\ggi/gnetai fqo\/oj, tou/tou d0 e'kto\j w$t npa/nta o!ti ma/lista gene/sqai e'boulh/qh paoaplh/oia e 9autw=.
(31 )cf. Huxley, Lay Sermons, xii. p. 286, on the "delicate finger" of the "hidden artist" in the changes in an egg.
(33 )fame=/ de\ pu=r kai\ a'e/ra kai\ u!dwr gi/gnesqai e'c a'llh/lwn kai\ e$kaston e/ e'ka/stw u 9pa/sxein tou/twn duna/uei. Arist., Meteor. i. 3.
(36 )Fialon points to the coincidence with Arist., Met. vii. 3. 0Alla mh\n a'fairoume/nou mh/kouj kai\ pla/touj kai\ ba/qouj, ou'de/n o 9rw=men u 9poleipo/menon plh\n e'i/ ti e'oti\ to\ o'pizo/menon u 9po\ tou/twn, w!ste th\n u#lhn a'na/gkh fai\/esqai mo/nhn ou'si/an ou#tw skopoumenoij. De/gw d0 #/lhn h! kaq0 au'th/n mh/te ti\, mh/te poso\n, mh/te a!llo mhde\n le/getai oi\j w#ristai to\ o!n : e!sti ga\r ti kaq0 ou\ kathgorei=tai tou/wn e#kaston, w[ to\ ei\nai e#tepo/, kai\ tw=n kathgorew=n e 9kaa/sth. Ta\ me\n ga\r a!lla th=j ou'si/aj kathgopei=tai : au#rn de\, th=j u#lhj. \Wste to\ e#sxaton, kaq0 au 9te ti\, ou#te poso\n, ou#te a!llo ou'de/n e'stin : ou'de\ dh\ ai a'pofa/seij.
(37 )cf. Arist., De Coelo. ii. 13, 16. 0anacime/nhj de\ kai\ !Aaca/go paj kai\ Dhmo/kritoj to\ pla/toj ai!tion ei\nai/ fasi tou= me/nein au'th/n : ou' ga\r te/mnein a'll0 e\pipwmati/zein (covers like a lid) to\n a'e/ra to\n ka\twqen, o$per fai/netai ta pla/toj e!xonta tw=n swmatwn poiei=n.
(38 )The theory of Thales. cf. note on Letter viii. 2 and Arist., De Coelo. ii. 13, 13 where he speaks of Thales describing the earth floating like wood on water.
(39 )cf. Artist., De Coelo. ii. 13 (Grote'ss tr.): "The Kolophonian Xenophanes affirmed that the lower depths of the earth were rooted downwards to infinity, in order to escape the troublesome obligation of looking for a reason why it remained stationary." To this Empedokles objected, and suggested velocity of rotation for the cause of the earth's maintaining its position.
(44 )oi 9 fusikoi\ was the name given to the ionic and other philosophers who preceded Socrates. Lucian Ner. 4) calls Thales fusikw\tatoj.
(45 )cf. De Coelo. ii. 14, 4. #Eti d0 h 9 fora tw=n mopi/wn kai\ o#lhj au'th=j n\ kata\ fu/sin e'pi' to\ me/son tou= panto/j e'stin, dia\ tou=to ga\r kai\ tugxa/nei keime/nh nu=n e'pi\ tou= kentrou.
(46 )This is the doctrine of Plate vide Tim. The Combef. mss. reads not mi/cij, mixture, but me/qecij, participation
(47 )Here appears to be a reference to Arist., De Gen. Ann. ii. 3, 11, pa/shj me/n ou=n yuxh=j du/namij e 9te/ron sw/matoj e'o/ike kekoinwnhke/nai kai\ qeiote/rou tw=n kaloume/nwn stoixei/wn : w 9j de\ diafe/rousi timio/thti ai' yuxai\ kai\ a'timia a'llh/lwn ou#tw kai\ h' toiau/tn diafe/pei fu/sij, and again. pneu=ma . . . a'na/logon ou\sa tw= tw=n a#strwn stoixei/w. On the fifth element of Aristotle cf. Cic., Tusc. Disp. i. 10. Aristoteles . . . cum quatuor illa genera principiorum erat complexus, equibus omnia orirentur, quintam quandam naturam censet esse, equa sit mens. Aug., De Civ. Dei xxii. 11. 2, and Cudworth's Int. Syst.. (Harrison's Ed. 1845) iii. p. 465. Hence the word "quintessence," for which the Dictionaries quote Horard's Translation of Plutarch, "Aristoteles hath put. . . for elements foure; and for a fifth quintessence, the heavenly body which is immutable." Skeat s. v. points out that "the idea is older than Aristotle: cf. the five Skt. bhútas, or elements, which were earth air, fire, and water, and aether. This the fifth essence is aether, the subtlest and highest." It is evident that Milton had these theories in mind when he wrote (Par. Lost, iii. 716):
"Swift to their several quarters hasted then
The cumbrous elements, earth, flood, air, fire;
And this ethereal quintessence of heaven
Flew upward, spirited with various forms,
That rolled orbicular, and turned to stars Numberless."
(2 )cf. Hom., Il. xviii. 485 e'n de= ta= tei/rea pa/nta ta/ t0 ou'rano\j e'stefa/nwtai, and Tennyson's "When young night divine crowned dying day with stars." (Palace of Art).
(3 )On prime matter and its being a#swmatoj and a#morfoj vide Cudwort, Int. Syst. v. ii. § 27, and Mosheim's note. "Ingens vero quondam summorum et inclytorum virorum numerus ab eorum semper stetit partibus, quibus ex qua dixi ratione, materiam placuit decernere a'sw/maton esse, si/e xorpore xarere Xixero omnej post Platonem philosophoj hox dogma perhibet tenuisse, Axad. Quÿ\st. i. 7, =sed sub0extam putant omnibuj sine ulla spexie, atque xarentem omni illa qualitate materiam quandam ec qua omnia ecpressa atque effexta sint.= Sed 0am diu ante Platonem Pythagorÿ\orum multi ei addixti fuerunt, quod ec Timaei Locri, nobilis hujus scholae et perantiqui philosophi, De Anima Mundi libello Cap. I. p. 544, Ed. Galei) intelligitur: ta\u u!lan a#moofon de\ kaq0 au'tm=n kai a'xrhma/tiston dexo/menon de\ pa=san morfa/n."
(4 )cf. Arist., Met. vi. 7, pa/nta 0 de= ta= gigno/mena u 9po/ te/ tinoj gi/gnetai, kai\ e!k tinoj, kai= ti/ . . . to= de= e'c ou\ gi/gnetai, h$n le/gomen u$lhn . . . to\ de\ u'f0 ou[, tw=n fu/sei ti o!ntwn . . . ei\doj de\ le/gw to\ ti/ h!n ei\nai e 9ka/ston, kai\ th=n prw/thn ou'si/an.
(5 )cf. Cudworth, Int. Syst. iv. 6, and remarks there on Cic., Acad Quaest. i. 6. Arist. (IMetaph. i. 2) says Qeo\j gm=r dokei to\ ai!tion pasin ei\nai kai\ a'rxh/ tij, but does this refer only to form?
(6 )Gen. ii. 5, "every herb of the field before it grew." There seems here an indication of the actual creation, poihsij, being in the mind of God.
(7 )Fialon quotes Bossuet: "Fene trouve point que Dieu, qui a créé toutes choses, it eu besoin, comme un ouvrier vulgaire, de trouver une matiére préparée sur laquelle il travaillât, et de laquelle il dît son ouvrage. Mais, n'ayant besoin pour agir que de lui-même et de sa propre puissance il a fait tout son ouvrage. Il n'est point un simple faiseur de formes et de figures dans une matière preexistance; il a fait et la matière et la forme, c'est-à-dire son ouvrage dans son tout: autrement son ouvrage ne lui doit pas tout, et dans son fond il est indépendamment de son ouvrier. . . .
O Dieu quella a été l'ignorance des sages du monde, qu'on a appelés philosophes d'avoir cru que vons, parfait architecte et absolu formateur de tout ce qui est, vous aviez trouvé sous vos mains une matière qui vous ótait co-éternelle, informe néamoins, et qui attendait de vous sa perfection! Aveugles, qui n'entendaient pas que d'être capable de forme, c'est deja quelque forme; c'est quelque perfection, que d'être capable de perfection; et si la matière avail d'elle-même ce commencement de perfection et de forme, elle en pouvait aussitôt avoir d'ellemême l'entier accomplissement.
"Aveugles, conducteurs d'aveugles, qui tombez dans le prêcipice, et y jetez ceux qui vous suivent (St. Matthieu xv., 14), dites-mois qui a assejeti à Dieu ce qu'il n'a pas fait, ce qui est de soi aussi bien que Dieu, ce qui est indépendamment de Dieu même? Par où a t-il trouvé prise sur ce qui lui est étranger et independant et sa puissance; et par quel art ou quel pouvoir se l'est-il soumis? . . . Mais qu'est-ce après tout que celte matière si parfait, qu'elle ait elle-même ce fond de son être; et si imparfaite, qu'elle attende sa perfection d'un autre? Diu aura fait l'accident et n'aura pas fait la substance? (Bossuet, Elévations sur les mystères, 3e semaine, 2e elevat.)
(10 )Marciion and Valentinus are roughly lumped together as types of gnostic dualism. On the distinction between their systems see Dr. Salmon in D.C.B. iii. 820. Marcion, said to have been the son of a bishop of Sinope, is the most Christian of the gnostics, and "tries to fit in his dualism with the Christian creed and with the scriptures." But he expressly "asserted the existence of two Gods." The Valentinian ideas and emanations travelled farther afield.
(11 )On Manicheism, vide Beausobre's Critical History of Manicheism, and Walch, Hist. Ketz. i. 770. With its theory of two principles it spread widely over the empire in the 4th c., was vigorous in Armenia in the 9th, and is said to have appeared in France in the 12th. (cf. Bayle, Dict. s.v.) On the view taken of the heresy in Basil's time. cf. Gregory of Nyssa, Against Eunomiusi. § 35.
(12 )i.e. by those who would identify the a#bussoj (Tehôm) of Gen. i. 2 with that of Luke i. 31, and understand it to mean the abode in prison of evil spirits. The Hebrew word occurs in Job xxviii. 14 and Deut. xxxiii. 13 for the depth of waters.
(13 )With this view Plutarch charges the Stoics. Au'toi\ tw=n kakw=n a'rxh\n a'gaqo\n o!nta to=n Qeon poiou=si. (c. Stoicos,1976.) But it is his deduction form their statements - not their own statements. cf. Mosheim's note on Cudworth iv. § 13. Origen (c. Celsum vi.) distinguishes between thn kaki/an kai= ta\j a'p0 au/th=j pra/ceij, and kako/n as punitive and remedial; if the latter can rightly be called evil in any sense, God is the author of it. cf. Amos iii. 6. Vide, also, Basil's treatment of this question in his Treatise o!ti ou/k e!otin ai!tioj tw=n kakw=n o' qeoj. cf. Schoeck. Kirchengeschichte xiii, 104
(14 )Fialon points out the correspondence with Plat. Phaed. § 119, kai/ tij ei\pe tw=n paro/ntwn a'kou/saj . . . pro\j Qen, ou/k e'n toi=j pro 9sqen h 9mi=n lo/goij au'to\ to\ e'nanti/on tw=n nuni\ legome/nwn w 9mologei=to, e'k tou= e'la/ttonoj to\ mei=zon gi/gnesqai, kai\ e'k tou= meizonoj to\ e!latton, kai\ a'texnw=j au!th ei\nai h 9 ge/nesij toi=j e2nanti/oij ek tw=n e'nanti/wn; nu=n de/ moi dokei= le/gesqai o$ti tou=to ou'k a$n pote ye/noito. Kai\ o 9 Swkra/thj . . . e$fh . . . ou'k e'nnoei=j to\ diafe/ron touj ti nu=n ledome/non kai tou= to/te: to/te me\n ga\r e'le/geto e'k tou= e'nanti/ou pra/gmatoj to\ e'nanti/on pra=dma gi/gnesqai, nu=n de\ o$ti au/to\ to\ e'anti/on e 9autw= e'nanti/on ou'k a!n pote de/noito, ou!te to\ e'n h 9mi=n ou!te to\ e'n fu/sei: to/te me\n ga\r peri tw=n e'xo/ntwn tw=n e'nanti/wn e'le/gomen, e'ponoma/zontej au'ta\ th= e'kei/nwn e'pwnumi/a, nu=n de\ peri\ e 9keinwn au'tw=n w\n e'no/ntwn, e!xel th\n e'pwnumi/an ta\ o'nomazo/mena, au'ta\ d0 e'kei/na ou'k a!n pote/ famen e'qegh=sai ge/nesin a'llh/lwn de/casqai.
(15 )"Cette phrase est prise textuellement dans Denys l'aréopagite, on du moins dans l'ouvrage qui lui est attribué. (De Div. Nom. iv 18. Laur. Lyd. de mensib. ed. Roeth. 186, 28)." Fialon. In the Treatise referred to, peri\ Qei/wn 0Onoma/twn, "evil" is said to be "nothing real and positive, but a defect, a negation only. Ste/rhsij a!ra e'sti\ to\ kako\n, kai\ e!lleiyij, kai a'sqe/neia, kai\ a'summetri/a." D.C.B. i. 846.
cf. "Evil is null, is nought, is silence implying sound." Browning. Abt. Vogler.
(16 )cf. Epictetus. Ench. i. e'f h 9mi=n me\n u 9po/lhuij, o 9rmh\, o$recij, e!kklisij, kai\ e 9ni\ lo/gw o 9sa h 9me/tera e!rga.
(17 )cf. M. Aurelius II. xi. o$ ga\r xeirw mh\ poiei= a$nqrwpon, pw=j dh 9 tou=to bion a'nqrw/pon xei/rw poih/seien; . . . qa/natoj de/ ge kai\ zwh\ do/ca kai\ a'doci/a, no/noj kai\ h'donh\ plou=toj iai\ peni/a, pa/nta tau=ta e'pi/shj sumbai/nei a'nqrw/pwn toi=j te a'gaqoi$j kai\ toi=j kakoi=j, ou!te kala\ ou!te ai'sxra/ : ou't0 a'gaqa\ ou!te kaka/ e'sti. Also Greg. Nyss. Orat. Cat. and Aug., De Civ. Dei. i. 8. Ista vero temporalia bona et mala utrisque voluit esse communia, ut nec bona cupidins appetantur, quae mali quoque habere cernuntur, nec mala turpiter evitentur, quibus et boni plerumque afficiuntur.
(19 )cf. Theod. (Quaest,, in Gen. vi.) who is ready to accept the creation of angels before the creation of the world. Origen,, Hom. I. in Gen. Hom. iv in Is. taught the existence of angels "before the aeons." Greg. Nas., Orat. xxxviii. The lxx. Trans of Job xxxviii. 7, h$nesa/n me pa/ntej u$ngelai/ mou may have aided in the formation of the general opinion of the Greek Fathers. The systematization of the hierarchies is due to the pseudo, Dionysius, and was transmitted to the west through John Erigena. cf. Milman, Lat. Christ. ix. 59.
(24 )Tillemont understands Eusebius of Samosata. The Ben. note prefers Ephrem Syrus, and compares Jerome, Quaest. Heb. Col. 508.
(25 )Gen. i. 2. Vide R.V. margin. The word rachaph, "brood," is not used of wind, and itself appears to fix the meaning of the Spirit in the place. An old interpretation of the Orphic Poem Argonautica would identify the brooding Spirit of Genesis with the All Wise Love of the Greek poet:
prw=ta me\n a'rxai/ou xa/eoj megalh\faton u$mnon,
w'\ e'pa/meiye fu/seij, w$j t0 ou\rano\j e'j pe/raj h\lqen,
gh\j t0 eu'ruste/rnou ge/nesin, puqme/naj te qala/sshj,
presbu/tato/n te kai\ au'totelh= pol uhtin $Erwta ,
.o$ssa t0 e!fusen a$panta, tu\ d0 e!noiqen a!llou a!p0 a!llo
Orph., Argon. 423-427.Pon the translation of rachaph by "brooding," cf. Milton, P. Lost, vii.:
"darkness profound
Covered the abyss; but on the watery calm
His brooding wings the Spirit of God outspread,
And vital virtue infused, and vital warmth,
Throughout the fluid mass."
(26 )zwogoni/a. cf. De Sp. S. § 56, and Bp. Pearson, on the Creed. Art. V.
(28 )Light is sadi to travel straight at the rate of about 195,000 English miles a second; a velocity estimated by observations on the eclipses of Jupiter's satellites. The modern undulatory theory of light, of which Huyghens (_ 1695) is generally regarded as the author, describes light as propagated by the vibrations of the imponderable matter termed Ether or Aether.
(29 )The simile seems hardly worthy of the topic. The practice is referred to by Plutarch, Symp. Quaest. i. 9, and by Pliny, Hist. Nat. ii. 106. "Omne oleo tranqullari; et ob id urinantes ore spargere, quoniam mitiget naturam asperam lucemque deporiet." "genere" says the Delph. note, "tum credas oleum vicem conspiciliorum.
(30 )A statement not unlike the "Vibrations of the elastic medium," to which sound might now be referred. "Sed vocem Stoici corpus esse contendunt: eamque esse dicunt ictum aera: Plato autem non esse vocem corpus esse putat. Non enim percussus, inquit, aer, sed plaga ipsa atque percussio, vox est:: ou'k a 9plwj plmgh/ ae/roj e'sti\n h 9 fwnh/ : plh/ttei ga\r to\n a'era kai\ da/ktuloj parago/menoj, kai\ ou'de/pw poiei= fwnh/n : a'll0 h 9 po/sh plhgh, kai\ sfodra\, kai to/th de\ w$ste a'kousth\n genesqai." Aul. Gell., N.A. v. 15. So Diog. Laert. in Vita Zenonis; e!sti fwnh/ ah=r peplhgme/oj
(31 )Fialon quotes Bossuet 4me élév. 3me sem.: "Le roi dit Qu 'on marche; et l'armée marche; qu'on fasse telle évolution, et elle se fait; toute une armée se remue au seul commandement d'un prince, c'est à un seul petit mouvment de ces livres, c'est, parmi les choses humaines, l'image la plus excellente de la puissance de Dieu; mais an fond que c'est image est dèfectueuse! Dieu n'a point de lèvres àremuer; Dieu ne frappe point l'air pour en tirer quelque son; Dieu n'a qu'à vouloir en lui meme; et tout ce qu'il vent éternellement s'accomplit comme il l'a voulu, et au temps qu'il a marqué.
(33 )St. Basil dwells rather on the sense of "beautiful" in the lxx. kalo/u. The Vulgate has pulchra.
$Espere, kuane/aj i'ero\n, fi/le, nukto\j a!galma,
To/sson a'fauro/teroj mh/naj o!son e!coxoj a!strwn,
and Milton, P.L. iv. 605:
"Hesperus, that led The starry host, rode brightest."
(37 )lxx. The Heb.=literally "And evening happened and morning happened, one day." On the unique reckoning of the day from evening to morning, see the late Dr. McCaul in Replics to Essays and Reviews.
(41 )Gen. i. 5, LXX , and Heb.
(44 )The argument here is due to a misapprehension of the meaning of the term eighth in Psalm vi. and xi. title. cf. n.
(3 )Origen, c. Cels. vi. says to\n me\n prosexei=j dhmiourgo\n ei\nai to\n uio\n tou= Qeou= lo/gon, kai\ w 9spepei\ au'tourgo\n tou= ko/smou, to\n de\ pate/ra tou= lo/gou, tw= prostetaxe/nai tw= ui'w eautou= lo/gw= poih=sai to\n ko/smon, ei\nai prw/twj dmuiourgo/n. cf. Athan., c. gentes § 48. sq.
(4 )Solon is credited with the saying, du/skola ta\ kala\. cf. the German proverb, Gut ding wil weile haben, and Virgil in Georg. i. 121:
"Pater ipse colendi
Haud facilem esse viam voluit."
(5 )Plato said one. po/teron o'u\n o'rqwj e!na ourano\u proeirh/kamen; h! pollou\j h$ a 9pei/rouj le/gein h\n o'rqo/teron ; ei$per kata\ to\ para/deigma dedhmionpghm e/noj e!otai, to\ ya\r perie/xon pa/nta o 9po/sa nohta\ zw=a, meq0 e 9te/ron deu/teron ou'k a!n pot0 ei!h. . . ei\j o$de monogenh\j ou'rano\j gegonw\j e$sti te kai\ e!stai. Plat., Tim. § 11. On the other hand, was the Epicurean doctrine of the a'peiri/a ko/smwn, referred to in Luc. i. 73:
Ergo vivida vis animi pervicit, et extra
Processit longe flammantia moenia mundi.
(6 )So Anaximander (Diog. Laert. ii. 1,2) and Damocritus (Diog. Laert. ix. 44).
But, As Fialon points out, the Greek philosophers used ko/smoj and ou'RANO'j as convertible terms: Basil uses oo'urano/j of the firmament or sky.
(9 )"You must conceive it" (the whirlh) "to be of such a kind as this: as if in some great hollow whirl, carved throughout, there was such another, but lesser, within it, adapted to it, like casks fitted one within another; and in the same manner a third, and a fourth, and four others, for that the whirls were eight in all, as circles one within another. . . and hat in each of its circles there was seated a siren on the upper side, carried round, and uttering one voice variegated by diverse modulations; but that the whole of them, being eight, composed one harmony." (Plat., Rep. x. 14, Davies' Trans.) Plato describes the Fates "singing to the harmony of the Sirens." Id. On the Pythagorean Music of the Spheres, cf. also Cic., De Divin. I. 3, and Macrobius In Somn: Scip.
cf. Shaksp., M. of Ven.. v. 1:
"There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st
But in his motion like an angel sings,
Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubim."
And Milton, Arcades:
"Then listen I
To the celestial Sirens' harmony,
That sit upon the nine infolded spheres,
And sing to those that hold the vital sheres,
And turn the adamantine spindle round
On which the fate of gods and men is wound.
(14 )nasto/j (fr. na/ssw, press or knead) = close, firm. Democritus used it as opposed to keno/n, void. Arist. fr. 202.
(16 )Pliny (Hist. Nat. ii. 43) writes: "Si in nube luctetur flatus aut vapor, tonitrua edi: si erumpat ardens, fulmina; si longiore tractu nitatur, fulgetra. His fiindi nubew, illis perrumpi. Etesse tonitrua impactorum ignium plagas." cf. Sen., Quoest. Nat.. ii. 12.
(17 )Empedoklh\j stere/mnion ei\nai to\n ou'rano\n e'c a'e/roj sumpage/ntoj u 9no\ puro\j krustalloeidw=j, to\ purw=dej kai\ a'erw=dej e'n ekate/rw tw=n h 9misfairi/wn perie/xonta. (Plutarch peri\ tw=n o'resko/ntw=n toi=j filoso/foij, ii. 11) Pliny (Hist. Nat. xxxvii. 9) says that crystal is made "gelu (vide Sir T. Browne, Vulgar Errors, ii. 1) vehementiore concreto. . . glaciem que esso certum est; unde et nomen graeci dedere." So Seneca, Quaest. Nat. iii 25. Diodorus Siculus, however, asserts it "coalescere non a frigore sed divini ignis potentia." (Bibl. ii. 134.)
(18 )i.e. the "Lapis Specularis." or mica, which was used for glazing windows. cf. Plin., Ep. ii. 17. and Juv., Sat. iv. 21.
(19 )Mica is found in large plates in Siberia, Peru, and Mexico, as well as in Sweden and Norway.
(21 )With Christian associations it is startling to read tha the end of the Timaeus that the Cosmos is the ei'kw\n tou= Qeou= , or, according to another reading, itself Qeo/j, . . . monogenh=j w$n.
(23 )According to Plutarch (peri\ tw=n a're/sk: etc. iii. 10) Thales and the Stoics affirmed the earth to be spherical, Thales (id. 11) placing it "in the middle." Pliny, Hist. Nat. ii. 4, says that the earth "universi cardine stare pendentem librantem per quae pendeat; ita solam immobilem circa eam volubili universitate, eandem ex omnibus necti, eidemque omnia inniti."
(24 )On kolobo/j, docked, curtailed, cf. Matt. xxiv. 22.
(25 )The supremacy of fire was the idea of Heraclitus. To\ pu=r Qeo\n u'peilh/fasin !Ippasoj. . . kai= 0Hra/kleitoj. Clem. Alex., LProtrep. v. 55. Plutarch has an essay on the comparative use fulness of fire and water.
(29 )Probably the Volga is meant.
(35 )Used vaguely for any mountains in the north of Europe and Asia. Strabo (vii. pp. 295, 299) considers them fabulous.
(36 )A varia lectio is Eridanus.
(37 )Ai/gw/n is properly the Aegean Sea.
(38 )Basil's geography is bad. He might have improved it by consulting Strabo or Ptolemaeus, but has been content to go for his facts to Aristotle (Met. i. 13), whose errors he repeats. Fialon remarks "nouvelle preuve de l'indifference des cités grecques de l' Asie pour cet Occident lointain dont elles se séparèrent si facilement. If this refers to the theological separation it is hardly fair. The East in the 4th c. and 5th c. shewed no indifference to the sympathy of the W., and when the split came the "separation" was not taken "easily."
(40 )Schools of "the wisdom of the world" did, however, teach that the world was a world geno/menon kai\ fqarto/n. cf. Lucretius v. 322, "totum nativum mortali corpore constat.
(41 )So the "liquidissimus aether" of the Epicurean Lucretius (v. 501), "Suos ignes fert;" i.e. the fiery stars are of the nature of the element in which they move. cf. the Stoic Manilius i. 149, "Ignis in aethereas volucer se sustulit oras summaque complexus stellantis culmina coeli, Flammarum vallo naturae moenia fecit."
(42 )So Aristotle, Meteor. i. 3, 30. 0Opw=men dh 9 th\n ki/nhsin o$ti du/natai diakri/nein to\n a'epa kai\ e'kpurou=n w$ste kai\ ta\ fero/mena thko/mena fai/nesqai polla/kij. To\ me\n ou\n gi/gnesqai thn a'le/an kai\ th\n qermo/thta i'kanh\ e'sti paraske/a/ein kai\ h' tou= h 9li/ou fora\ mo/non.
(43 )cf. Diog. Laert. vii. on Zeno. Tre/pesqai de\ ta\ e!mpura tiu=ta kai\ ti\ i!lla a!stoa, to\n mh\n h#lion e'k th=j mega/lhj qala/tthj. So Zeno, Chrysippus, and Posidonius.
(44 )Pliny (ii. 103, 104) writes: "Itaque solis ardore siccatur liquor; . . . sic mari late patenti saporem incoqui salis, aut quia exhausto inde dulci tenuique, qod facillime, trahat vis ignea, omne asperius crassiusque linquatur: ideo summa aequarum aqua dulciorem profundam: hanc esse veriorem causam asperi saporis, quam quod mare terrae sudor sit aeternus: aut quia plurimum ex arido misceatur illi vapore, aut quia terrae natura sicut medicatas aquas inficat." The first of these trhee theories was that of Hippocrates (De Aere, Locis, et Aquis, iv. 197) and of Anaximander (Plutarch peri\ tw=n a'oe/sk, etc. ii. 552). On the second vide Arist., Prob. xxiii. 30. the idea of the sea being the earth's sweat was that of Empedocles. cf. Arist., Meteor. ii. 1.
(46 )The derivation of ou'rano\j from o 9ra/w is imaginary. Aristotle (De Coel i. 19, 9) derives it from o!roj, a boundarv. cf. 9Ori/zwn. The real root is the Skt. var=cover. M. Müller, Oxford Essays, 1856.
(50 )cf. Deut. xxxiii. 13-15, LXX.
(52 )cf. Arist., Meteor. i. 9-12, Plutarch peri\ tw=n a're/sk. etc. iii. 4.
(53 )Fialon quotes Hor., Ep. i. 18: "Ut matrona meretrici dispar erit atque Discolor."."
(54 )The well known "Per campos instructa, tua sine parte pericli suave etiam belli certamina magna tueri" (Lucr. ii. 5) may be an echo of some Greek lines in the preacher's mind, just as the preceeding "suave mari magno" is of Menander.
(55 )These Stocical atheists did also agree with the generality of the other Stoical theists n supposing a successive infinity of worlds generated and corrupted" (a'peir/a ko/smwn) "by reason of intervening periodical conflagrations." Cudworth, I. iii. 23.
(57 )cf. Jerome to Pammachius against John of Jerusalem, § 7 (in this edition vol. vi. p. 428) and Origen's Homily on Genesis, preserved in the Translation of Rufinus.
(61 )kalon me/n ou\n e'otin o$ a$n d0 au 9reto\n o$n e'paineto\n h\ h$ o$ a$n a'goqo\n o$n h 9du\ h\ o$ti a'gaqo/n. Arist., Rhet. i. 9.
cf. E. Burke (On the Sublime and Beautiful, iii. § 6): "It is true that the infiinitely wise and good creator has, of his bounty, frequently joined beauty to those things which he has made useful to us. But this does not prove that our idea of use and beauty are the same thing, or that they are in any way dependent on each other." Dr. Johnson instances a painting on a coffee-cup as beautiful, but not useful. "Boswell," Ann. 1772. St. Basil's idea is in accord with that of Ruskin (Mod P. chap. vi.). "In all high ideas of beauty it is more than probable that much of the pleasure depends on delicate and untraceable perception of fitness, propriety, and relation, which are purely intellecutal, and through which we arrive at our noblest ideas of what is commonly and rightly called 'intellectual beauty.'"
(1 )krou=ma. properly "beat," "stroke," is used of the blow of the plectrum on the string, and hence of the not produced.
(2 )cf. Plato, Rep. iii. 18, ad init., and his reference to the ialqako\j ai/xuhth/j of Homer, II. xvii. 586. The same subject is treated of the Laws ii.§ 3 and 5 and vii.
(3 )cf. Ar., Nub. 16, o'neioopolei' i@ppouj and 27, o'neiropolei= kai\ kaqeudwn ippikh/n. So Claudian, De vi. Cons. Hon. 1, sq.:
Omnia quae sensu volnuntur vota diurno,
Pectore sopito reddit amica quies.
Venator defessa toro cum membra reponit,
Mens tamen ad sylvas et sua lustra redit.
Fudicibus lites, aurigae somnia currus,
Vanaque nocturnis meta cavetur equis.
(9 )Geminum mare. . . quod Rubrum dixere nostri. . . in duos dividitur sinus. Is qui ab oriente Persicus est. . . altero siau Arabico nominato. Plin. vi. 28.
(10 )This illustration is taken from the work on which Basil has been so largely dependent, the Meterology of Aristotle (i. 14, 548). Pliny (vi. 33) writes "Daneos Portus, ex quo navigabilem alveum perducere in Nilum, qua parte ad Delta dictum decurrit lxii. mill. D. Pass. intervallo, quod inter flumen et Rubrum mare inter est, primus omnium Sesostris Aegypti rex cogitavit; max Darius Persarum; deinde Ptolemaeus sequens." Herodotus (ii. 158) attributes the canal to Necho. Strabo (xvii. 804) says Darius, in supposing Egypt to lie lower than the sea, was yendei= peisqei/j. The early canal, choked by sand, was reopened by Trajan, and choked again. Amron, Omar's general, again cleared it, but it was blocked a.d. 767. The present Suez Canal, opened in 1869, follows a new course.
(11 )i.e.Cadiz, a corruption of Gaderia, which, like Geder and Gadara, is connected with the Phoenician Gadir, an enclosure.
(12 )Pliny (vi. 15) shared a common error that the Caspian flowed into a Northern Sea. The eastern part was known as the Hyrcanian, the western as the Caspian. Strabo xi. 507, et sq.
(13 )The obelus (_) is used by Jerome to mark superfluous matter in the lxx. cf. Jer. p. 494, in Canon Fremantle's Translation. The addition in question appears neither in the Vulgate, nor in Aquila, or Symmachus, or Theodotion. Ambrose, however, in Hexaem. iii. 5 approves of it.
(2 )Empedocles, according to Plutarch (peri\ tw=n a're/sk, etc. v. 342) prw=ta tw=n zw/wn ta= de/ndra e'k gh=j a'nadu=nai/ fhsi, pri\n to\n h!lion periaplwqh=nai kai\ pri\n h 9me/ran kai\ nu\kta diakriqh=nai.
(4 )On the history of this doctrine, of which Linnaeus was the latest great exponent, and its contradiction in Darwin, see Haeckl's Schöpfungsgeschichte, vol. i. ch 2.
(5 )"To me the meanest flower that blows can give Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears." Wordsworth, Ode on Immortality.
(6 )Literally, knee - Latin geniculum. f. Xen., Anab. iv. 5, 26, and Theoph. viii. 2, 4. "Knee-jointed" is a recognised English term for certain grasses.
(7 )"Taurinus recens inter venena est." Plin. xi. 90 Taurinus recens inter venena est. 2d. xxviii. 41. cf. Dioscorid. in Alexiph. 25.
(8 )cf. Galen. De Simp. Pac. iii.
(9 )o 9 mandrago/raj touj a'nqrw/pouj koimi/zei. Xen., Symp. ii. 24.
(10 )cf. Arataeus, De Morb. Aent. ii. 11.
(11 )The Black Hellebore, or Christmas Rose, is a recgnised alterative. Whether this is the plant of Anticyra is doubtful.
(12 )puro/j=wheat. The root, which has nothing to do with pu=r, is found by Curtius in the Slavonic pyro=rye, the Bohemian pyr=quitch grass, the Lettish purji =wheat, and the Lithuanian pyragas=wheaten bread. (L. & S. in loc).
(13 )cf. Virg., Georg. i. 93: "Aut Borcae penetrabile frigus adurat." Ov. M. xiv. 763, Frigus adurat poma, and in Greek Arist., Meteor. iv. 5.
(15 )cf. Horrescunt segetes. Virgl, Georg. iii. 39.
(17 )a'mfi/komoi kai\ dasei=j. cf. Milton, "With frizzled hair implicit." P.L. vii.
(18 )cf. Milton, P.L., B. iv., "Flowers of all hue and without thorn the rose," and August. De Genesi contra Manichaeosi. 13.
(25 )The phenomenon has been observed in later days, though Basil may be at fault in his account of the cause. When pines have been cleared away in North American forests young oaklings have sprung up. The acorn lay long hid, unable to contend against the pine, but, when once the ground was clear, it sprouted. This upgrowth of a new kind of tree had been accounted for partly by the burial of germs by jays, rooks, and some quadrupeds; partly by the theory of De Candolle and Liebig that roots expel certain substances which, though unfavourable to the vitality of the plant excreting them, are capable of supporting others. So, on the pine pressure being removed, the hidden seeds sprout in a kind of vegetable manure. cf. Sir Charles Lvell's Travels in the United States and Rough's Elements of Forestry, p. 19.
(26 )Ambrose, Hexaem. iii. 13 writes: Amygdalis quoque hoc genere medicari feruntur agricolae, ut ex amaria dulces fiant fructus, ut et terebrent ejus radicem arboris, et in medium inserant surculum ejus arboris quam Graeci peu/xhn , nos piceam dicimus: quo facto succi amaritudo deponitur.
(27 )On the argument from design, cf. Aristotle, De Part. Antim. iii. 1, as quoted and translated by Cudworth, III. xxxviii. 3: "A carpenter would give a better account than so, for he would not think it suffcient to say that the fabric came to be of such a form becasue the instruments happened to fall so and so, but he will tell you that it is because himself made such strokes, and that he directed the instruments and determined their motion after such a manner, to this end that he might make the whole a fabric fit and useful for such purposes." On the strength and weakness of the argument from design, in view of modern speculation, suggestive matter is contained in Dr. Eagar's Buther's Analogy and Modern Thought, p. 49 et sq.
(29 )"Ac mihi quidem videtur, cum duae sententiae fuissent verterum philosophorum, una eorume qui censerent omnia ita fato fieri, ut id fatum vim necessitatis afferret, in qua sententia Democritus, Heraclitus, Empedocles, Aristoteles fuit; altera eorum, quibus viderentur sine ullo fato esse animorum motus voluntarii: Chrysippus tanquam arbiter honorarius, medium ferire voluisse. . . quanquam assensio non possit fieri nisi commota visa, tamen cum id visum proximam causam habeat, non principalem hanc habet rationem, ut Chrysippus vult, quam dudum diximus, non, ut illa quidem fieri possit, nulla vi extrinsecus excitata, necesse est enim assensionem viso commoveri, sed revertitur ad cylindrum, et ad turbinem suum, quae moveri incipere, nisi pulsa non possunt: id autem cum accidit suapte natura, quod superest et cylindrum volvi, et versari turbinem putat." (Circ., De fato. xviii.)
(1 )In the Theatrum spectators might be covered. cf. Mart. xiv. 29:
"In Pompeiano tectus spectabo theatro;
Nam ventus populo vela nagare solet."
cf. Dion Cassius lix. 7. These passages may, however, indicate exceptional cases.
(2 )cf. Greg., In Ez.: Propter bonos auditores malis doctoribus sermo datur: et propter malos auditores bonis doctoribus sermo subtrahitur.
(3 )"By night an atheist half believes in God." Young, N.T. v. 177. cf. also Cic., De nat. Deor. ii. 38: Quis enim hunc hominem dixerit, qui tam certos coeli motus, tam ratos astrorum ordines, tamque omnia ister se connexa et apta viderit, neget in his ullam inesse rationem, eaque casu fieri dicat, quae quanto consilio gerantur, nullo consilio assequi possumus
(4 )cf. Cic., De Nat. Deor. ii. 62. Est enim mundus quasi communis deorum atque hominum domus, aut urbs utroumque. Soli etiam ratione utentes, jure ac lege vivunt. Bp. Lightfoot quotes in illustration of Phil. iii. 20, Philo, De Conf. I. 416, M. patri/da me\n to\n ou'ra/nion xw=ron e'n w\ politeu/ontai ce/non de\ to\n peri/geion e'n w\ parw/khsan noui/zousai. So Clem. Alex., Strom. iv. 26, le/gousi ga\r oi/ Stwi$koi\ to\n me\n ou'rano\n kuri/wj po/lin tu\ de\ e'pi\ gh=j e'ntau=qa ou'k e$ti po/leij, le/gesqai ga\r, ou'k ei\nai de/, and Plato, Rep. ix. 592, B. e'n ou'ranw= i!swj para/deigma (th=j po/lewj) a'na/keitai tw= boulome/w o 9pa=n kai\ o 9rw=nti e 9auto\n katoiki/zein.
(8 )Fialon quotes Bossuet (5th elev. 3d week): "Ainsi il a fait la lumière avant que de faire les grands luminaires où il a voulu la ramasser: et il a fait la distinction des jours avant que d'avoir créé les astres dont il s'est servi pour les régler par faitement: et le soir et le matin ont été distingués, avant que leur distinction et la division parfaite du jour et de la unit fût bien marquée; et les arbres, et les arbustes, et les herbes ont germé sur la terre par ordre de Dieu, avant qu'il eût fait le saleil, qui devait être le père de toutes ces plontes; et il a détaché exprès les effects d'avec leurs causes naturelles, pour montrer que naturellement tout ne tient qu'à lui seul, et ne dépend que de sa seule volonté."
(9 )fau=sij, the act of giving light, LXX.
(10 )fwtismo/j. the condition produced by fau=sij.
(15 )pa/nth ga\r kaqarh= ke ma/l0 eu!dia tekmh/raio, pa/nta d0 e'reuqome/nh doke/ein a'ne/moio keleu/qouj, a!lloqi d0 a$llo melainome/nh doke/ein u\etoi=o. Aratus 70.
(16 )cf. Verg., Georg. i. 424:
Si vero solem ad rapidum lunasque sequentes
Ordine respicies, nunquam te crastina fallet
Hora, nequ insidiis noctis capiere serenae.
(17 )Basil seems to be confusing Joel ii. 31 and Matt. xxiv. 29.
(18 )U'pe/r ta\ e'skamme/na ppda=n is a proverbial phrase for going beyond bounds. cf. Lucian., Gall. vi. and Plat., Crat. 413, a.
(19 )"On doit d'autant plus louer le grand sens de Saint Basilequi s'inspire presqu' entièrement d'Origène et de Plotiu, sans tomber dans leur erreur. En riant toute espèce de relation entre les astres et les actes de l'homme, il conserve intacte notre liberté." Fialon, p. 425. "Quale deinde judicium de hominum factis Deo relinquitur, quibus coelestis necessitas adhibetur cum Dominus ille sit et siderum et hominum. Aut si non dicunt stellas accepta quidam potestate a summo Deo, arbitrio suo ista decernere, sed in talibus necessitatibus ingereudis illius omnino jussa complere, ita ne de ipso Deo sentiendum est, quod indignissimum visum est de stellarum voluntate sentire. Quod si dicuntur stellae significare potius ista quam facere, ut quasi locutio sit quaedam illa positio praedicens futura, non agens (non enim mediocriter doctorum hominum fuit ista sententia) non quidem ita solent loqui mathematici, ut verbi gratia disunt, Mars ita positus homicidam significat, sed homicidam non facit." August., De C. Dei. n. 1.
(21 )"@Elege de\. . . tou\j no/mouj toi=j a'raxni/oij o 9moi/ouj : kai ga\o e'kei=na e'a\n me\n e'mpe/sh ti kou=fon kai\ a'sqene\j ste/gein, e'a\n de\ mei!zon, diako/yan oi!xesqai. Solon, in Diog. Laert. ii. 1.
(23 )i.e. throwing a shadow only one way at noon, - said of those who live north and south of the tropics, while those who live in the tropics cast a shadow sometimes north, sometimes south, vide Strabo ii. 5. § 43. It was "incredible" to Herodotus that Necho's Phoenician mariners, in their circumnavigation of Africa, had "the sun on their right hand." Her. iv. 42
(24 )i.e. Arabia. cf. Lucan., Phars. iii. 247:
Ignotum vobis Arabes venistis in orbem,
Umbras mirati nemorum non ire sinistras.
(25 )"Simili modo tradunt in Syene oppido, quod est super Alexandriam quinque millibus stadiorum, solstitii die medro nullam umbram faci; puteumque ejus experimenti gratia factum, totum illuminari." Pliny ii. 75. cf. Lucan., Phars. 507, "atque umbras nunquam flectente Syene."
(28 )The Syrians and Macedonians had also an intercalary thirteenth month to accommodate the lunar to the solar cycle. Solon is credited with the introduction of the system into Greece about 594 b.c. But the Julian calendar improved upon this mode of adjustment.
(30 )"Tertia ex utroque vastitas solis aperitur, ut non sit necesse amplitudinem ejus oculorum argumentis, atque conjectura aniuri scrutari: immensum esse quia arborum in limitibus porrectarum in quotlibet passuum millia umbras paribus jaciat intervallis, tanquam toto spatio medius: et quia per aequinoctium omnibus in meridiana plaga habitantibus, simul fiat a vertice: ita quia circa solstitialem circulum habitantium meridie ad Septemtroinem umbrae cadant, ortu vero ad occasum. Quae firi nullo modo possent nisi multo quam terra major esset ." Plin. ii. 8.
(31 )Pla/twn kata\ sunau/geian, tou= me\n e'k tw=n o'fqalmw=n fwto\j e'pi\ poso\n a'por'r 9e/ontoj ei'j to\n o 9mogenh= a'e/ra, tou= de\ a'po\ tou= sw/matoj feromi/nou a'por'r 9ei=n : to\n de/ metacu\ a'e\ra eu/dia/xutou o!nta kai\eu!trepton, sunektei/nontoj tw purw/dei th=j o!yewj, au!th, le/getai platwuikh\ suuau/geia. Plut. peri\ tw=n a'resk. iv. 13. The Platonic theory of night is explained in the Timaeus, Chap. xix.
(32 )Plato (Phaed. § 133) makes the same comparision. [Eti toi/non, e!fh, pa/mmega/ te ei\nai au'to/ kai\ h 9ma=j oi/kei!n tou\j me/xri 9hraklei/wn sthlw=n a'po\ Fa/sidoj e 9n smikrw tini\ mopi/w w!sper pepi te/lma mu/rmhkaj h$ batra/xouj peri\ th\ n qa/lattan o'ikou=ntaj. Fialon names Seneca (Quaest. Nat. i. praef. 505) and Lucian (Hermotimus v. and Icaromenippus xix.) as following him. To these may be added Celsus "katagelw=n to\ 0Ioudaiwn kai\ Xristianw=n genoj" in Origen, C. Cels iv. 517, B.
(34 )cf. Alcman (ap. Plut., Sympos. iii. 10) who calls the dew Dio\j quga/thr kai\ Sela/naj; and Plutarch himself in loc. Virg., Georg. iii. 337, ""Roscida Luna", and Statius, Theb. I. 336:
"Iamque per emeriti surgens confinia Phaebi
Titanis, late mundo subvecta silenti
Rorifera gelidum tenuaverat aera biga."
(35 )The baleful influence of "iracunda Dianna" (Hor., De Art. Poet. 454) is an early belief, not yet extinct. cf. the term selh/niasmo/j for epilepsy, and "lunaticus" for the "moonstruck" madman. Vide Cass., Quaest. Med. xxv. 1. Perowne on Ps. cxxi. 6 notes, "De Wette refers to Andersen's Eastern Travels in proof that this opinion is commonly entertained. Delitzsch mentions having heard from Texas that the consequence of sleeping in the open air, when the moon was shining, was mental aberration, dizziness, and even death."
"Dass auch der Mond in heller Nacht dem ohue gehörigen Schutz Schlafenden schaden köhlen Nächte wegen leicht möglich. Vgl. Carne 'Leben und Sitten im Morgenl.'" Ewald, Dichter des A.B. ii. 266.
(36 )A fact, however explained. Plutarch (Sympos. Prob. iii. 10) discusses the question Dia\ ti/ ta\ kre/a sh/petai ma=llon u 9po\ th\n selh/nhn h$ to\n h!lion, and refers the decomposition to the moistening influence of the moon. "Air, moisture, and a certain degree of warmth, are necessary to the decay of animal bodies. . . where moisture continues present - even though warmth and air be in a great measure excluded - decay still slowly takes place." J. F. W. Johnston, Chemistry of Common Life, ii. 273.
(37 )i.e. the Atlantic. cf. Ovid., Met. xi. 258, "Hesperium fretum."
(38 )Pytheas, of Marseilles, is first named as attributing the tides to the moon. Plut. peri\ a'resk. k.t.l. iii. 17 On the ancient belief generally vide Plin. ii. 99.
(39 )"Invent jam pridem ration est praenuntians horas, non modo dies ac noctes, Solis Lunaeque defectuum. Durat tamen tradita persuasio in magna parte vulgi, veneficiis et herbis id cogi, emaque num faeminarum scientiam praevalere." Plin. xxv. v. So it was a custom to avert the spells of sorceresses, which might bring the eclipsed moon to the ground, by beating brass and shouting. cf. Juv., Sat. vi. 443,
Tam nemo tubas, nemo oera fatigat,
Una laboranti poterit succurrere lunae,"
and the "aera auxiliaria lunae" of Ov., Met. iv. 333.
(3 )Plants are neither zw=a nor e!myuxa.
(5 )Basil uses the classical greek form oi 9 pata/mioi i!ppoi, as in Herod. and Arist. The dog-Greek hippopotamus, properly a horse-river, is first found in Galen.
(6 )cf. Arist., De Part. Anim.. iii. 6. dio/per tw=n me\n i'xqu/wn ou'dei\j e!xei pneu/mona a'll0 a'nti\ tou/tou bra/gxia kaqa/per ei!rhtai e'n toi=speri a'napnoh=j : u!dati ga=r poiei=tai th\m kata/yucin, ta\ d0 a'napne/onta e!xei pneu/mona a'napnei! de\ tu\ pezu\ pa/nta.
(7 )Here Basil is curiously in contradiction to ancient as well as modern experience. Martial's epigram on Domitian's tame fish, "qui norunt dominum, manumque lambunt illam qua nihil est in orbe majus" (iv. 30) is illustrated by the same author's "natat ad magistrum delicata muraena" (x. 30), as well as by Aelian (De animal. viii. 4). "Apud Baulos in parte Baiana piscinam habuit Hortensius orator, in qua muraeuam adeo dilexit ut exanimatam flesse credatur: in eadem villa Antonia Drusi muraenae quam diligebat inaures addidit." Plin. ix. 71. So Lucian ou[toi de (ixqnej kai\ o'no/mata e!xouai kai\ e!rxontai kalou/menoi. (De Syr. Dea. 45.) John Evelyn (Dairy 1644) writes of Fontainebleau: "The carps come familiarly to hand. There was recently a tame carp at Azay le Rideau.
(8 )Narrated by Aelian (Anim i. 16) of the "glaucus," a fish apparently unknown.
(9 )Mauron/sioi. cf. Strabo. ii. 33.
(10 )e.g. Arist., De Anim. viii. 2 and Aelian, ii. 54.
3 Fish. Master, I marvel how the fishes live in the sea.
I Fish. Why, as men do a-land; the great ones eat up the little ones.
(13 )Fialon quotes Le Fontaine Le Rat et l'Huitre:
Parmi tant d'huitres toutes closes,
Une s'ééouverte, et baillant au soleil,
Par un doux Zéphyr réjouie,
Humait l'air, respirait était épanouie,
Blanche, grasse, et d'un goût, à la voir, sans pareil.
(14 )Pliny ix. 48, says of the octopus: "imposito lapillo extra corpus ne palpitatu ejiciatur: ita securigrassantur, extrahuntque carnes."
pou/lupou o'rgh\n i!sxe poluplo/kou o$j poti= pe/trh
th= prosomilh/sei toioj i'dei=n e'fa/nh.
Nu=n me\n th=j e'fe/pou, pote\ d0a'lloi=oj xpo/a gi/gnou,
kraipno/n toi sofi/h gignetai eu'tropi/hj.
Greg. Naz., Or. xxxvi.: polla\j metalam ba/nwn xro/aj w$sper tu\ tw=n petrw=n ei/ polu/podej ai\j a\n o'milh/swsi, and Arist., Hist. An. ix. 37: kai\ qhreu/ei tou/j ixqu=j to\ xrw=ma metaba/llwn kai\ poiw=n o!moion oi\j dh plhsia/zh li/qoij.
(17 )So the Cod. Colb. and Eustathius, who renders Justus hihil habet fictum sicut Job. The Ben. Ed. suspect that Bail wrote Jacob and Job. Four mss. support Jacob alone, who, whatever may be the meaning of the Hebrew in Gen. xxv. 27, is certainly a$plastoj only in the LXX., and a bad instance of guilelessness.
(20 )cf. Cudworth, Int Syst. iii. 37,23: "Besides this plastick Nature which is in animals, forming their several bodies artificially, as so many microcosms or little worlds, there must also be a general plastick Nature in the macrocosm, the whole corporeal universe, that which makes all things thus to conspire everywhere, and agree together into one harmony. Concerning which plastick nature of the universe, the Author De Mundo writes after this manner, kai\ to\/ o$lon ko/smon, dieko/smhse mi/a h' dia\ pa/ntwn dih/kousa du/namij, one power, passing through all things, ordered and formed the whole world. Again he calls the same pneu=ma kai\ e$myuxon kai\ go/nimon ou'si/an, a spirit, and a living and Generative Nature, and plainly declares it to be a thing distinct from the Deity, but subordinate to it and dependent on it. But Aristotle himself, in that genuine work of his before mentioned, speaks clearly and positively concerning the Plastick Nature of the Universe, as well as that of animals, in these words: 'It seemeth that as there is Art in Artificial things, so in the things of Nature, there is another such like Principle or Cause, which we aourselves partake of: in the same manner as we do of Heat and Cold, from the Universe. Wherefore it is more probable that the whole world was at first made by such a cause as this (if at least it were made) and that it is still conserved by the same, than mortal animals should be so: for there is much more of order and determinate Regularity in the Heavenly Bodies that in ourselves; but more of Fortuitousness and inconstant Regularity among these mortal things. Notwithstanding whihc, some there are, who though they cannot but acknowledge tat the Bodies of Animals were all framed by an Artificial Nature, yet they will need contend that the System of the Heavens sprung merely from Fortune and Chance; although there be not the least appearance of Fortuitousness or Temerity in it.' And then he sums up all into this conclusion: w$ste ei\nai fanero\n o$ti e$sti ti toiou=ton o$ dh\ kai\ kalou=men fu/sin. 'Artificial,' "Methodical,' and Plastick Nature in Animals, by which their respective Bodies are Framed and Conserved, but also that there is such a General Plastick Nature likewise in the Universe, by which the Heavens and whole World are thus Artificially Ordered and Disposed."
(22 )cf. Arist., Hist. Animal. vii. 12 and 13, and note on p. 70.
(23 )cf. Arist. and Theophrastus.
(24 )Otiosa mater est nugarum noverca omnium virtutum. St. Bernard.
(25 )"Tradunt saevitiam maris praesagire eos, correptisque opperiri lapillis, mobilitatem pondere stabilientes: nolunt volutatione spinas atterere, quod ubi videre nautici, statim pluribus ancoris navigia infraenant." Phin. ix. 5. cf. Plut., De Solert. an. 979, Oppian, Halieut. ii. 224, and Aelian, Hist. An. vii. 33.
(26 )cf. Prov. xv. 3: "The eyes of the Lord are in every place," and Ps. cxxi. 3. So Hesiod, pa/nta idw/n Dio\j o'fqalmo\j kai\ pa/nta noh/saj. Hes. Works and Days, 265
(28 )The fable is in Aelian, Hist. An. ix. 66, and is contradicted by Athenaeus, who says (vii. p. 312): 00Andre/aj de\ e'n tw= peri\ twn yeudw=j pepistenmenwn yeudo/j fhsin ei\nai to\ Mu/rainan e$xii$ mi/gnusqai proserxome/nhn e'pi\ to\ tenagw=dej, ou'de= gar e'pi\ tena/gouj e!xeij ne/mesqai, filhdou=ntaj limw/desin e'phmi/aij. Sw/stratoj de\ e'n toi=j peri\ Zw/wn sugkatati/qetai th= mi/cei.
(29 )The Pinna is a bivalve with a silky beard, of which several species are found n the Mediterranean. The beard is called by modern naturalists byssus. The shell of the giant pinna is sometimes two feet long.
(31 )"Tamen omnia haec, pariterque eodem impellentia unus ac parnus admodum pisciulus, echeneis appellatus, in se tenet. Ruant venti licet, et saeviant procellae impreat furori, viresque tantas compescit, et cogit stare navigia: quod no vincula ulla, non anchorae pondere, irrevocabili jactae. . . Fertur Actiaco marte tenuisse navim Antonii properantis circumire et exhortare suos donec transiret in aliam. . . . Tennit et nostra memoria Caii principis ab Astura Antium renavigantes." Plin. xxxii. 1. The popular error was long lived.
"Life is a voyage, and. in our life's ways,
Countries, courts, towns, are rocks or remoras." Donne, To Sir Henry Wotton.
(32 )Pliny (ix. 72) says it is sometimes five inches long. Aelian (LHist. An. i. 56) calls the wound incurable.
(33 )Pliny (ix. 72) calls it tactu pestilens, and says (xxxii. 3) that no ohter fish eats it, except the mullet.
(1 )Codex Colb. I has the title "about creeping things and beasts."
(9 )It may be supposed "that the souls of brutes, being but so many eradiations or effuxes from that source of life above, are, as soon as ever those organized bodies of theirs, by reason of their indisposition, become uncapable of being further acted upon by them, then to be resumed again and retracted back to their original head and fountain. Since it cannot be doubted but what creates anything out of nothing, or sends it forth from itself, by free and vountary emanation, may be able either to retract the same back again to its original source, or else to annihilate it at pleasure. And I find that there have not wanted some among the Gentile philosophers themselves who have entertained this opinion, whereof Porphyry is one, lu/etai e 9ka/oth du/namij a!logoj eij th\n o$lhn zwhn zwnhn tou= pa/ntoj." Cudworth, i. 35.
(10 )Empedocles is named as author of the lines:
h#dh ga\r pot0 e'gw\ geno/mhn kou/rhte ko/roj te,
Qa/mnoj t0 oi'wno/j te kai\ ei'n a'li\ e!llopoj i'xqu/j.
cf. Diog. Laert. viii. 78 and Plutarch, D Solert. An. ii. 964. Whether the "faba Pythagorae cognata" of Hor., Sat. ii. 6, 63, implies the transmigration of the soul into it is doubtful. cf. Juv., Sat. xv. 153. Anaximander thought the human beings were originally generated from fish. Plut., Symp. viii. 8.
(12 )Fialon quotes Bosseut, 1st Elev. 5th week: "Qui a donné aux oiseaux et aux poissons ces rames naturelles, qui leur font fendre les eaux et les airs? Ce qui peut être a donné lieu à leur Créateur de les produire ensemble, comme animaux d'um dessin à peu près semblable: le vol des oiseaux semblant, etre une espèce de faculté de nager dans une liqueur plus subtile, comme la faculté de nager dans les poissons est une espèce de vol dans une liqueur plus épaisse ."
The theory of evolutionists is, as is well known, that birds developed out of reptiles and reptiles from fish. Vide E. Haeckel's monophyletic pedigree in his History of Creation.
(13 )doepani/j, i.e. sickle-bird.
(14 )These are the terms of Aristotle, Hist. An. i. 5.
(15 )cf. Arist., Hist. An. viii. 3.
(16 )Whence the proverb koloio\j poti\ koloio\n. Arist., Eth. Nic. I. viii. 6.
(17 )"Super omnia humanas voces reddunt, posittaci quidem sermocinantes." Plin. x. 53.
(18 )Arist., Hist. An. ix. 10.
(19 )Arist., Hist. An. v. 21, and Plin. xi. 17. "Ecce in re parva, villisque nostra annexa, cujus assidua copia est, non constat inter auctores, rex nullumne solus habeat aculeum, majestate tantum armatus: an dederit eum quidem natura, sed usum ejus illitantum negaverit. Illud constat imperatorem aculeo non uti."
(21 )The ancient belief was that honey fell from heaven, in the shape of dew, and the bee only gathered it from leaves. So Verg., Ec. iv. 30, "roscida mella," and Georg. iv. 1, "aerii mellis coelestia dona." cf. Arist., H. A. v. 22 meli\ de\ to\ pi/pton e'k tou= a'e/roj, kai ma/lista tw=n a!strwn a'natolai=j, kai\ o!tan kataskh/fh h 9 irij, and Plin. xi. 12. Sive ille est coeli sudork sive quaedan siderum saliva, sine purgantis se aeris succus, . . . magnam tamen coelestis naturae voluptatem affert." So Coleridge (Kubla Khan):
"For he on honey dew hat fed
And drunk the milk of Paradise."
(22 )Prov. vi. 8, lxx. The reference to the bee is not in the Hebrew.
(23 )cf. Aelian. v. 13.gewmetri/an de\ kai\ ka/llh sxhma/twn kai\ w 9rai/aj pla/seij au'tw=n a!neu te/xnhj te kai\ kano/nwn kai\ tou= kaloume/nou n'po\ tw=n sofw=n diabh/tou, to\ ka/lliston sxhma/twn e'cagwno/n te kai\ e 9ca/pleuron kai\ i'sogw/nion a'podei/knuntai ai' me/littai.
(24 )The mathematical exactness of the bee is described by Darwin in terms which make it even more marvellous than it appeared to Basil. "The most wonderful of all known instincts, that of the hive bee, may be explained by natural selection having taken advantage of numerous slight modifications of simpler instincts; natural selection having by slow degrees more and more perfectly led the bees to sweep equal spheres at a given distance from each other in a double layer, and to build up and excavate the wax along the planes of intersection." Origin of Species, ii. 255, ed. 1861 According to this view the beings from whom hive bees, as we know them, are descended were gifted with certain simple instincts capable of a kind of hereditary unconscious education, resulting in a complex instinct which constructs with exact precision the hexagonal chamber best fitted for the purpose it is designed to fulfil, and then packs it. And it is interesting to note how the great apostle of abstract selection personifies it as a "taker" of "advantage," and a "leader."
(25 )Arist., Hist. An. ix. 10.
(26 )From pelargo/j. On the pious affection of the stork, cf. Plato, Alc. i. 135 (§ 61), Arist., H.A. ix. 13, 20, Aelian, H.A. iii. 23 and x. 16, and Plin. x. 32. From pelargo\j was supposed to be derived the Pythagorean word pelarga=n Diog. Laert. viii. 20), but this is now regarded as a corruption of pedarta=n.
(27 )"Hirundines luto construunt, stramine roborant: si quando inopia est luti, madefactae multa auqa pennis pulverem spargunt.: Plin. x. 49. cf. Arist., Hist. An. ix. 10.
(28 )"Chelidoniam visui saluberriman hirundines monstravere, vexatis pullorum oculis illa medentes." Plin. viii. 41. cf. Aelian, H.A. iii. 25. Chelidonia is swallowwort or celandine.
(29 )"Foetificant bruma, qui dies halcyonides vocantur, placido mari per eos et navigabii, Siculo maxime. Plin. x. 47. cf. Arist., H.A. v. 8, 9, and Aelian, H. N.. i. 36. So Theoc. vii. 57:
0C a'lkuo/nej storeseu=nti ta\ ku/mata, ta/n te qa/lassan
To/n te no/ton to/nt0 eu\ron o$j e!sxata fuki/a kinei$.
Sir Thomas Brown (Vulgar Erros) denies the use of a kingfisher as a weather-guage, but says nothing as to the "halcyon days." Kingfishers are rarely seen in the open sea, but haunt estuaries which are calm without any special miracle. Possibly the halcyon was a tern or sea-swallow, which resembles a kingfisher, but they brood on land.
(31 )Ar. vi. 6 and ix. 34. "Melanaetos. . . sola aquilarum foetus suos alit; ceterae. . . fugant." Plin. x. 3. "Pariunt ova terna: excludunt pullos binos: visi sunt et tres aliquando." id. 4, following Musaeus (apud Plutarch, In Mario, p. 426). w 9j tri/a me\n ti/ktei, du/o d0 eÖ\n d0 a'legizei. On the osprey, see Arist., H.A. ix. 44 and Pliny loc. "Nidos nemo attigit: ideo etiam fuere qui putarent illos ex adverso orbe advolare, nidificant enim in excelsissimis rupibus." cf. also Aelian, ii. 46: gu=pa de\ a!rrena ou! fasi gi/gnesqai/ pote a 9lla/ qhlei/aj a 9pa/soj.
(32 )Arist., Hist. An. vi. 6 and ix. 15. So Pliny x. vii. "Nidos nemo attigit: ideo etiam fuere qui putarent illos ex adverso orbe advolare, nidificant enim ix excelsissimis rupibus." cf. also Aelian, ii. 46: gu>\\pa de\ a!rrena ou! fasi gi/gnesqai/ pote a'lla\ qhlei/aj a9pa/saj.
(33 )This analogy is repeated almost in identical words in Basil's Hom. xxii. De Providentia. cf. also his Com. on Isaiah. St. Ambrose repeats the illustration (Hex. 20). The analogy, even if the facts were true, would be false and misleading. But it is curious to note that were any modern divine desirous of here following in Basil's track, he might find the alleged facts in the latest modern science, - e.g. in the so-called Parthenogenesis, or virginal reproduction, among insects, as said to be demonstrated by Siebold. Haeckel (Hist. of Creation, Lankester's ed. ii. p. 198) represents sexual reproduction as quite a recent development of non-sexual reproduction.
(35 )The Greek word stere/wma, from stereo/j, strong, is traceable to the root star, to spread out, and so indirectly associated with the connotation of the Hebrew rakia.
(36 )Arist., H.A. viii. 75. Pliny x. 43. "Lusciniis diebus ac noctibus continuis quindecim garrulus sine intermissu cantus, desante se frondium germine, non in novissimum digna miratu ave."
(37 )So also Basil in Hom. on Isaiah iii. 447. cf. Pliny x. 81, "cui et membranaceae pinnae uni."
(38 )cf. Livy v. 42 and Plutarch, Camillus, or Verg. viii. 655. The alternative tradition of the mine is preserved by Servius.
(39 )cf. Aelian, H.A. ii. 46. kai\ me/ntoi kai\ tai=j e 9kdh/moij stratiai=j e/pontai lu=pej kai\ ma/la ge mantikw=j o#ti ei'j po/lemon xwru=sin ei'do/tej kai\ o#ti ma/xh pa=soe e'rga/zetai nekrou\: kai\ tou=to e'gnwko/tej.
cf. Pliny x. 88: "vultures sagacius odorantur."
(41 )Fialon, quoting the well known ode of Anakreon, "makapi/zome/n oe te/ttic," and Plato's theory of the affection of grasshoppers and the muses in the Phaedrus, contrasts the "cantu querulae rumpent arbusta ciacadae" of Vergil (George. lii. 328) and points out that the Romans did not share the Greed admiration for the grasshopper's song.
(42 )"Insecta multi negarunt spirare, idque ratione persuadentes, quoniam in viscera interiora nexus spirabilis non inesset. Itaque vivere ut fruges, arboresque: sed plurimum interesse spiret aliquid an vivat. Eadem de causa nec sanguinem iis esse qui sit nullis carentibus corde atque jecore. Sic nec spirare ea quibus pulmo deist unde numerosa series quaestionum exoritur. Iidem enim et ovcem esse his negant, in tanto murmure apium, cicadarum sono . . . nec video cur magis possint non trahere animam talia, et vivere, quam spirare sine visceribus." Plin. xi. 2.
(43 )Arist., De Part. An. iv. 12.
(44 )This word is curiously rendered by Eustathius verucae and by Ambrose caulis. Garnier (Praef. in Bas. 28) thinks that the latter perhaps found in some corrupt ms. kra/mbn=hn for ka/mphn.
(49 )The ku/boi were marked on all six sides, the a'stra/galoi on only four, the ends being rounded.
(50 )With Basil's description of the gaming tables, presumably of Caesarea, cf. Ovid's of those of Rome:
"LIra subit, deforme malum, lucrique cupido;
Furgiaque et rixae, sollicitusque dolor.
Crimina dicuntur, resonat clamoribus aether,
Invocat iratos et sibi quisque deos,
Et lacrymis vidi saepe madere genis.
De A.A. iii. 373 seqq
(51 )"Cernis ut ignavnum corrumpant otia corpus." Ovid, I. Pont. 6. "Facito aliquid operis ut semper Diablous inveniat ie occupatum. Jerome, In R. Monach.
(2 )Fialon thinks that this plain reference to Origen may have been evoked by some criticisms on the IIIrd Homily. (cf. p. 71) St. Basil's literalism and bold departure from the allegorizing of Origen and from the milder mysticism of Eusebius are remarked on in the Prolegomena.
(4 )qalh=j kai\ oi Stwi!koi\ kai\ oi 9 a'p0 au'tw=n sfairoeidh= th\n gh=n. 0Anaci/mandroj li/qw ki/oni th\n gh=n prosferh= tw=n epipe/dwn. !Aacime/nhj, trapezoeidh=. Aeu/kippoj, tumpanoeidhj. Dhmo/kritoj, diskoeidh= me\n tw= pla/tei, koi/lhn de\ to\ me/son. Plut. peri\ tw=n a'resk. iii. 10. Arist. (De. Coelo ii. 14) follows Thales. So Manilus I. 235:
"Ex quo colligitur terrarum forma rotunda."
(6 )cf. note on Hom. v. p. 76.
(7 )"Sed, si quaeque suo ritu procedit, et omnes
Faedere naturae certo discrimina servant." Luc. v. 921
(8 )cf. Plin. ix. 84: Verum omnibus his fidem Nili Inundatio affert omnia exedente miraculo: quippe detegente eo musculi reperiuntur inchoato opere genitalis aquae terroeque, jam parte corporis viventes, novissima effigie etiamnum terrena ." So Mela De Nilo i. 9. "Glebis etiam infundit animas, ex ipsoque humo vitalia effing it ," and Ovid, Met. i. 42:
"Sic ubi deseruit madidos septemfluus agros
Nilus, et antiquo sua flumina reddidit alveo,
Aethereoque recens exarsit sidere limus,
Plurima cultores versis animalia glebis Inveniunt."
(9 )Arist. H.A. vi. 16. Ai 9 e'gxe/luj gi/gnontai ek tw=n kaloume/nwn gh=j e'/te/rwn a$ au'to/mata suni/statai en tw=phlw= kai\ e'n th= gh= e'ni/kmy. Kai\ n$dh ei'sin w'mme/nai ai' me\n e'kdu\nousai e'k tou/twn, ai de\ e'n diak/izome/noij kai\ diairoume/noij gi/gnontai fanepai/.
(10 )Arist., Part. An. iv. 10, 18. mo/non o'rqo/n e'sti tw=n zy/wn o 9 a!nqowpoj.
(15 )Plut. po/t. tw=n. z. K.T.l. xelw=nai me\n o'ri/ganon, galai= de\ ph/ganon, o!ta/ o!fewj fa/gwsin, e'pesqi/ousai.
cf. Pliny xx. 68: "Tragoriganum contra viperae ictum efficacissimum."
(16 )o 9 dra/kwn o 9 tw= mara/qrw to\n o'fqalmo\n a'mblnw/ptonta leptu\nwn kai\ diaxara/ttwn. Plut. po/tepa tw=n z. k.t.l. 731.
(17 )Ar., Hist. An. ix. 6. peri\ de th=j tw=n e'xinwn ai/sqh\sewj sumbe/bhke pollaxou= teqewrh=sqia o!ti metaballontwn bope/wn kai\ no/twn oi= me=n e'n th= gh= ta\j o'pa\j an 9tw=n metamei/bousi oi\ d0 e'n tai=j oi/kiaij tpefo/menoi metaba/llousi pro\j tou=j toi/xouj.
(18 )u'etou= poiei=tai shmei=on o 9 Aratoj
0h$ koi/lhj mu/rmhkej o'xh=j e'c w!ea pa/nta
Qa=sson a'nhne/gkanto.0
kaitinej ou'k w'a\ fpa/fonsin, a'lla\ i!na tou\j a'pokeime/nouj karpou\j o!tan eu'rw=ta suna/gontaj ai!sqwntai kai\ fobhqw=si fqopa\n kai\ oh=yin a'nafero/ntwn, u 9perba/llei de\ pa=san e 9pinoian sune/sewj h 9 tou= purou= th=j blasth/sewj prokata/lhyij. Plut. pot. tw=n. z. k.t.l. 725.
(20 )This is the Stoic doctrine. "Stoicorum quidem facilis conclusio est; qui cum finem bonorum esse senserint, congruere naturae, cumque ea convenienter vivere." cf. Cic., De Fin. iii. 7, 26, and De Nat. D.i. 14, and Hor., Ep., i. x. 12.. "Vivere naturae si convenienter oporet." So the Stoics' main rule of life is o'mologoume/nwj th= fu/sei zh=n. But with Basil this apparent disregard of the doctrine of original sin and the need of grace for redemption must be understood in the light of the catholic doctrine that sin is the corruption of human nature (cf. Art. ix. of Original or Birth Sin), which nature, though corrupt and prone to evil, retains capacities for good. But these capacities do need grace and training. cf. Basil's Homily on Ps. xlv. 166. "What is said about the Saviour had a double sense on account of the nature of the Godhead and the Economy of the incarnation. So, looking to the humanity of God, it is said 'thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity,' instead of saying 'the rest of men by toil and discipline and careful attention mostly attain a disposition towards good and an aversion from vice. But thou hast a kind of natural relationship to good and alienation from iniquity.' And so to us, if we will, it is not hard to acquire a love of righteousness and a hatred of iniquity." i.e. In Christ, redeemed humanity loves good, and all men 'naturally' do need toil and discipline. The heredity of sin is recognised by Basil. (e.g. in Hom. in Famen. 7.) Man fell from grace given, and must return to it. (Serm. Ascet. in init.) It must always be remembered that questions of original sin, the will, and grace never had the same importance in the Greek as they had in the Latin church. cf. Dr. Travers Smith on St. Basil (c. ix. p. 108) and Böhringer (Das Vierte Fahrhundert. Basil, p. 102) who remarks: Wenner auch noch von einer "Wieder herstellung des freien Willens, den wir zu brauchbaren Gefässen für den Herrn und zu jedem guten Werke fähig Werden" (De spir. sanct. 18) spricht, so hat er dies doch nirgends begründet, obschon er bei der Besprechung der Folgen des Falls zuweilen sich äussert, es sei der Mensch der von dem Schöpfer erhaltenen Freiheit beraubt worden. Im Allgemeinen setzt er den frein Willen auch nach dem Fall im Menschen so gut wieder Voraus, wie vor dem Fall, so dass jene Aeusserungen kaum mehr als den Werth einer Redensart haben. Im Ganzen eriunert seine Darstellung wieder an diejenige des Athanasius, dessen Einfluss Man nicht verkennen kann.
(21 )In Eph. vi. the word is "obey."
(23 )Fialon quotes Luc. ii. 367-370:
"Praeterea teneri tremulis cum vocibus haedi
Cornigeras norunt matres, agnique petulci
Balantum pecudes: ita, quod natura reposcit,
Ad sua quisque fere decurrunt ubera lactis."
(24 )cf. Ovid (Halieut. ad init.):
Accepti mundus legim; dedit arma per omnes,
Admonuuitque sui. Vitulus sic namque minatur,
Qui nondum gerit in tenera jam cornua fronte."
(25 )cf. Plutarch (pot. twn z.fr. k.t.l. 726). oi\ de\ dialektikol fasi to\n ku/na tw= dia\ pleio/nwn diezeugme/nw xpw/menon e'n toi=spolusxide/sin a'tpapoi=j aullogizesqai pro\j e 9auto\n h!toi th/nde to\qhri/on w!pmhken h$ th/de h$ th/nde : a'lla\ mh\n ou!te th/nde ou!te th/nde, th/de loipo\n a!pa. But the dog is said to smell the first, the second, and the third. If he started off on the third without smelling, he would reason. As it is, there is no "syllogism."
(26 )Also take from Plutarch (po/teoa tw=n z. 726), who tells stories of a dog found by King Pyrrhus on a journey, and of Hesiod's dog.
(27 )cf. Herod. iii. 108. Aristotle (Hist. An. 31) refutes this.
(28 )cf. Pliny (x. 72): "Tertia die intra utrum catulos excludit, deinde singulos singulis diebus parit, viginti fere numero. Itaque ceterae, tardiatis impatientes, perrumpunt latera, occisa parente. cf. Herod. iii. 109.
So Prundentius (Hamartigenia 583):
"Sic vipera, ut aiunt,
Dentibus emoritur fusae per viscera prolis."
See Sir T. Browne's Vulgur Errors, iii. 16 .
(29 )Pliny (xi. 78) says ruminantibus geminus , but is supposed to be a misreading for quadrigeminus, or ma mistaken interpretation of Aristotle (H.A. ii. 19), whom Basil is no doubt following.
(30 )See Sir T. Browne, Vulgar Errors, iii. 1.
(31 )Arist. H.A. viii. 12 and ix. 72. Pliny vii. 10.
(36 )"E Coelo descendit g/w=qi seauto/n" (Juv. xi. 27). Socrates, Chilo, Thales, Cleobulus, Bias, Pythagoras, have all been credited with the saying. "L'église chrétienne s'en empara comme de tout ce qu'elle trouvait de grand et de bon dans l'ancienne grèce. Fialon.
St. Basil has a Homily on the text pro/sexe seautw= (Deut. xv. 9. lxx.)
(45 )to\ a'no/moion. Arius had taught that the Persons are a'no/moioi pa/mpan a'llh/lwn.
(2 )Another ms. reading is "To Eustathius, Presbyter of Antioch." The benedictine note is "Eustathius was not a Presbyter, but a heathen, as is indicated by Basil's words, 'Are not these things work of fate, - of necessity, as you would say?'"
(3 )The word tu/xh does not occur in the N.T.
(4 )wj oudei/s 0Odusseu/j. The Ben. translation is "citius quam quisquam Ulysses." But the reason of the escape of Ulysses was not his speed, but his stopping the ears of his crew with wax and tying himself to the mast. cf. Hom. Od. xii. 158. The "city on the Hellespont," is, according to the Ben. note, Constantinople; but Constantinople is more than 100 m. from the Dardanelles, and Basil could hardly write so loosely.
(5 )Apparently not the Roman Province of Asia, but what we call Asia Minor, a name which came into use in Basil's century. The "metropolis" is supposed to mean Caesarea.
(6 )Nu/sioj=0Indiko/j. cf. Soph. Aj. 707. Nyssa was in the Punjab.
(1 )Placed circa 358, on Basil's retiring to Pontus. Translated in part by Newman, The Church of the Fathers, p. 131, ed. 1840. With the exception of the passages in brackets [ ], the version in the text is that of Newman.
(3 )gunaiko\j fulakh/, rather "guardianship of his wife."
(4 )oi'ketw=n psostasi/ai, rather "protection of his servants."
(5 )Rather "for just as it is impossible to write on the wax without previously erasing the marks on it, so is it impossible to communicate divine doctrines to the soul without removing from it its preconceived and habitual notions."
(6 )The following paragraph is altogether omitted by Newman.
(11 )Here Newman notes that Basil seems sometimes to have fallen short of his own ideal. His translation ends at this point.
(12 )Basil's admirable little summary of the main principles of conversation may have been suggested by the recollection of many well know writers. On such a subject no wide reader could be original. cf. inter alios, the a!koue polla/ la/lei d0 o'lina of Bias; the glw=tta mh= protrexe/tw tou= /ou= of Pittacus. Aulus Gellius (Noct. Att. I. 15), referring to the
Glw/sshj toi Qhsauro\j e'n a'nQrw/poisin a!pistoj
Feidwlh=j plei/sth de= xa/pij kata\ me/tron i'ou/shj
of Hesiod, says: "Hesiodus poetarum prudentissimus linguam non vulgandam sed recondendam esse dicit, perinde ut thesaurum. Ejusque esse in promendo gratiam pluriman, si modesta et parca et modulata sit."
On the desirability of gentleness in blame, cf. Ambrose, In Lucam.: "Plus proficit amica correctio quam accusatio turbulenta: illa pudorem incutit, haec indignationem movet."
(13 )This was the mark of the old heathen philosophers. cf. Aristoph., Birds 1282, e'rru/pwn e'swkra/twn.
(14 )a'skhth\j, firstly an artisan, came to = a'qlhth\j, and by ecclesiastical writers is used for hermit or monk. The e'rhmithj, or desert dweller, lives either in retreat as an anchoret, or solitary, monaxo/j, whence "monk;" or in common with others, in a koino/bion, as a "coenobite." All would be a'skhtai/.
(1 )Placed at the beginning of the retreat in Pontus.
(2 )A governor of Cappadocia, friendly to Basil and to Gregory of Nazianzus. (cf. Greg., Ep. cxciv.)
(3 )i.e. the staff or baton used at Sparta for dispatches. The strip of leather on which the communication was to be mad is said to have been rolled slantwise round it, and the message was then written lengthwise. The correspondent was said to have a staff of a size exactly corresponding, and so by rewinding the strip could read what was written. Vide Aulus Gellius xvii. 9.
(4 )Plutarch pol. paragg.. xxii. h$ to\ tou= Dhmosqi/nouj o!ti nu=n ou'k e!sti Dhmosqe/nhj a'lla= kai= Qesmoqe/thj h$ xorhgo\j h$ stefanhfo/roj.
(5 )Rep. vi. 10. oi[on e'n xeimw=ni koniortou= kai\ za/lhj u\po\ pneu\matoj ferome/nou u 9po\ teixi/on a=posta\j.
(1 )Placed about 358. Olympius sends Basil a present in his retreat, and he playfully remonstrates.
(2 )cf. Letters xii., xiii., lxiii., lxiv., and ccxi.
(3 )The founder of the Stoic school.
(4 )The tpi/bwn, dim. tribw\nion, or worn cloak, was emblematic of the philosopher and later of the monk, as now the cowl. cf. Lucian, Pereg. 15, and Synesius, Ep. 147.
(5 )Cleanthes, the Lydian Stoic, was hence called fre/antloj, or well drawer. On him vide Val. Max. viii. 7 and Sen., Ep. 44.
(2 )cf. Letter 290. The identification of the two Nectarii is conjectural. "Tillemont is inclined to identify Basil's correspondent with the future bishop of Constantinople, but without sufficient grounds." D.C.B. see.
(3 )cf. Luke xiii. 16 and 2 Cor. xii. 7.
(1 )To be placed with Letter V.
(2 )i.e. from his knowledge of what Emmelia had been to him. Yet to the celibate the wife of Nectarius might have anticipated the well known retort of Constance to Pandulph in King John.
(1 )i.e. Gregory of Nazianzus.
(1 )This important letter was written a.d. 360, when Basiil, shocked at the discovery that Dianius, the bishop who had baptized him, had subscribed the Arian creed of Ariminum, as revised at Nike (Theod., Hist. Ecc. II. xvi.), left Caesarea, and withdrew to his friend Gregory at Nazianzus. The Benedictine note considers the traditional title an error, and concludes the letter to have been really addressed to the monks of the Coenobium over which Basil had presided. But it may have been written to monks in or near Caesarea, so that title and sense will agree.
(2 )patri/j seems to be used of the city or neighbourhood of Caesarea, and so far to be in favour of Basil's birth there.
(3 )i.e. the life of the city, presumably Nazianzus, from which he is writing.
(4 )cf. the Arian formula h\n pote\ o#te ou'k h\n.
(7 )cf. p. 16, note. This is one of the few instances of St. Basil's use of the word qeo/j of the Holy Ghost.
(8 )For the four elements of ancient philosophy modern chemistry now catalogues at least sixty-seven. Of these, earth generally contains eight; air is a mixture of two; water is a compound of two; and fire is the visible evidence of a combination between elements which produces light and heat. On the "elements" of the Greek philosophers vide Arist., Met.i. 3. Thales (_c. 550. b.c.) said water; Anaximenes (_c. b.c. 480) air; and Heraclitus (_c. b.c. 500) fire. To these Empedocles (who "ardentem frigidus Aetnam insiluit, c. b.c. 440) added a fourth, earth.
(9 )Asserted at Seleucia and Ariminum.
(10 )cf. D. Sp. S. § 4 on Aetius' responsibility for the Anomoean formula.
(20 )Deut. vi. 13, LXX., where the text runs ku/sion to\n qeo/n sou fobhqh/sh. St. Basil may quote the version in Matt. iv. 10 and Luke iv. 8, psoskunh/seij. The Hebrew=fear.
(26 )i.e. of His work on earth as God manifest in the flesh. Vide note, p. 7.
(30 )John vi. 5y, R.V. The Greek is e'gw\ zw= dia\ to\n pate/pa , i.e. not through or by the Father, but "because of" or "on account of" the Father. "The preposition (Vulg. propter patrem'>) describes the ground or object, not the instrument or agent (by, through dia\ tou= p.). Complete devotion to the Father is the essence of the life of the Son; and so complete devotion to the Son is the life of the believer. It seems better to give this full sense to the word than to take it as equivalent to 'by reason of;' that is, 'I live because the Father lives.'" Westcott, St. John ad loc.
(33 )With this striking exposition of Basil's view of the spiritual meaning of eating the flesh and drinking the blood, f. the passage from Athanasius quoted by Bp. Harold Browne in his Exposition of the XXXIX. Articles, p. 693. It is not easy for Roman commentators to cite passages even apparently in support of the less spiritual view of the manducation, e.g. Fessler, Inst. Pat. i. 530, and the quotations under the word "Eucharistia," in the Index of Basil ed Migne. Contrast Gregory of Nyssa, in chap xxxvii. of the Greater Catechism.
(42 )tw= stenw th=j proqesmi/aj. n 9 proqesmi/a sc. h 9me/ra was in Attic Law a day fixed beforehand before which money must be paid, actions brought, etc. cf. Plat. Legg, 954, D. It is the "time appointed" of the Father in Gal. iv. 2.
(45 )cf. John xv. 3, "Now ye are clean through the word."
(47 )The Ben. note is Totahaec explicandi ratio no sua sponte deducta, sed vi pertracta multis videbitur. Sed illud ad excusandum difficilius, quod ait Basilius angelorum scientiam crassam esse, si comparetur cum ea quae est facie ad faciem. Videtur subtilis explicatio, quam nic sequitur, necessitatem ei imposuisse ita de angelis sentiendi. Nam cum diem et horam idem esse statueret, ac extremam beatitudinem; illud Scriptura, sed neque angeli sciunt, cogebat illis visionem illam quae fit facie ad faciem, denegare; quia idem de illis non poterat dici ac de Filio eos de se ipsis scire id quod sunt nescire quod non sunt. Quod si hanc hausit opinionem ex origenis fontibus, qui pluribus locis eam insinuat, certe cito deposuit. Ait enim tom P. p. 320. Angeloj in di/inum faxiem xontinenter intentoj oxuloj habere. Idem doxet in Xom. Is. p. 515, n. 185, et De Sp. S. cap. XVI.
(48 )dia\ tw=n a'llotri/wn. cf. 1 Cor. xiii. 12, where St. Paul's word is e!soptpon. St. Basil's ka/toptron may rather be suggested by 2 Cor. iii. 18, where the original is katoptrizo/menoi.
(50 )ko/smwn. The Ben. note quotes Combefis as saying, "Dura mihihic vox: sit pro stoixei/wn, per cognata corpori elementa," and then goes on, sed hac in re minus vidit vir eruditus; non enim idem sonat illa vox ac mundi, quasi plures ejusmodi mundos admittat Basilius; sed idem ac ornatus, sive ut ait Basilius in Epist. vi. ta\ pepi\ gh=n ka/llh, pulchritudines quae sunt circa terram. In Com. in Is. n. 58, p. 422. Ecclesia dicitur pre/pousin e 9auth= kosmi/oij kekosmhue/nh, convenientibus sibi ornamentis instructa eadem voce utitur Gregorius Nazianz. Ep. cvii.
(52 )Matt. xx. 23. cf. n. Theodoret, p. 28.
(55 )John xvii. 21 and 22, slightly varied.
(56 )Basil also refers to this passage in the treatise, C. Eunomium I. 20: "Since the Son's origin (a'rxh\) is from (a/po/) the Father, in this respect the Father is greater, as cause and origin (w 9j ai!tioj kai a'oxh/). Whence also the Lord said thus my Father is greater than I, clearly inasmuch as He is Father (kaqo\ path/r). Yea; what else does the word Father signify unless the being cause and origin of that which is begotten by Him?" And in iii. 1: "The Son is second in order (ta/cei) to the Father, because He is from Him (a/po/) and in dignity (a'ciw/mati) because the Father is the origin and cause of His being." Quoted by Bp. Westcott in his St. John in the additional notes on xiv. 16, 28, pp. 211 seqq., where also will be found quotations from other Fathers on this passage.
(57 )The text of Prov. viii. 22 in the LXX. is ku/riose!ktoise/ me a'rxhn o 9dw=n au'tou= eij e$oga au'touj. The rendering of A.V. is "possessed," with "formed" in the margin.
The Hebrew verb occurs some eighty times in the Old Testament, and in only four other passages is translated by possess, viz., Gen. xiv. 19, 22, Ps cxxxix. 13, Jer xxxii. 15, and Zec. xi. 5. In the two former, though the LXX. renders the word in the Psalms e'kth/sw, it would have borne the sense of "create." In the pasage under discussion the Syriac agrees with the LXX., and among critics adopting the same view Bishop Wordsworth cites Ewald, Hitzig, and Genesius. The ordinary meaning of the Hebrew is "get" or "acquire," and hence it is easy to see how the idea of getting or possessing passed in relation to the Creator into that of creation. The Greek translators were not unanimous and Aquila wrote e'kth/sato. The passage inevitably became the Jezreel or Low Countries of the Arian war, and many a battle was fought on it. The depreciators of the Son found in it Scriptural authority for calling Him kti/sma, e.g. Arius in the Thalia, is quoted by Athanasius in Or. c. Ar. I. iii. § 9, and such writings of his followers as the Letter of Eusebius of Nicomedia to Paulinus of Tyre cited in Theod., Ecc. Hist. I. v., and Eunomius as quoted by Greg. Nyss., c. Eunom. II. 10; but as Dr. Liddon observes in his Bampton Lect. (p. 60, ed. 1868), "They did not doubt that this created Wisdom was a real being or person."
e!ktise was accepted by the Catholic writers, but explained to refer to the manhood only, cf. Eustathius of Antioch, quoted in Theod., Dial. I. The view of Athanasius will be found in his dissertation on the subject in the Second Discourse against the Arians, pp. 357-385 of Schaff & Wace's edition. xf. Bull, Def. Fid. Nic. II. vi. 8.
(60 )1 Cor. xv. 28. i.e. Because the Son then shall be subjected, He is previously a$nupo/taktoj, not as being "disobedient" (1 Tim. i. 9), or "unruly" (Tit. i. 6. 10), but as being made man, and humanity, though subject unto Him, is not yet seen to be "put under Him" (Heb ii. 8).
(63 )cf. Isa. liii. 4 and Matt. viii. 17.
(69 )In Letter cciv. The name of Dia/boloj is more immediately connected with Diaba/llein, to caluminate. It is curious that the occasional spelling (e.g. in Burton) Divell, which is nearer to the original, and keeps up the association with Diable, Diavolo, etc., should have given place to the less correct and misleading "Devil."
(72 )paraywyh= a'po\ tou= mh/ o!ntoj ei'j to\ ei\nai. For paragwgh/ it is not easy to give an equivalent; it is leading or bringing with a notion of change, sometimes a change into error, as when it means a quibble. It is not quite the Ben. Latin "productio." It is not used intransitively; if there is a paragwgh\, there must be o 9 para/gwn, and similarly if there is evolution or development, there must be an evolver or developer.
(73 )Ps. xxxiii. 6. tw= pneu/mati tou= sto/matoj au'tou=, LXX.
(78 )The Greek word nao/j (nai/w) = dwelling-place. The Hebrew probably indicates capacity. Pour "temple," from the latin Templum (te/menoj - TAM) is derivatively a place cut off.
(80 )Matt. iv. 10. f. note on p. .
(81 )1 Cor. ii. 10, 11. On the derivation of Qeo/j from qe/w (ti/qhmi) or qea/omai, cf. Greg. Naz.
Skeat rejects the theory of connexion with the Latin Deus, and thinks that the root of tiqhmi may be the origin.
(83 )Ps. cxviii. 16. P.B. "doeth valiantly," A.V. e'poi/hse du/na min, LXX.
(88 )Luke xvii. 21, e'nto\j u'mw=n. Many modern commentators interpret "in you midst." "among you" So Alford, who quotes Xen., Anab. I. x 3 for the Greek, Bp. Walsham How. Bornemann. Meyer. The older view coincided with that of Basil; so Theophylact, Chrysostom, and with them Olshausen and Godet.
To the objection that the words were said to the Pharisees, and that the kingdom was not in their hearts, it may be answered that our Lord might use "you" of humanity, even when addressing Pharisees. He never, like a merely human preacher, says "we."
(92 )Ecclus. xi. 3. The ascription of this book to Solomon is said by Rufinus to be confined to the Latin church, while the Greeks know it as the Wisdom of Jesus son of Sirach (vers. Orig., Hom. in Num. xvii.).
(93 )Attributed to Cleobulus of Lindos. Thales is credited with the injunction me/trw xpw=. cf.. my note on Theodoret, Ep. cli. p. 329.
(1 )To be ascribed to the same period as the preceding.
(2 )In Lucian (Hermot. 54) the proverb is traced to a story of Pheidias, who, "after a look at a claw, could tell how big the whole lion, formed in proportion would be." A parallel Greed adage was e'kton= kraspe/dou to\ pa=n u 9fasma. Vide Leutsch., Corp. Paraemiog. Graec. I. 252.
(4 )i.e. Sabellius. Basil is the first writer who asserts his Aftican birth. In Ep. ccvii. he is "Sabellius the Libyan." His active life was Roman; his views popular in the Pentapolis.
(5 )ou' tauto\n tw= u 9pokeime/nw=. Aristotle, Metaph. vi. 3, 1, says, ma/lista dokei= ei\nai ou'si/a to\ u 9pokei/menon to\ prw=ton. On the distinction between o 9moou/sioj and tauto\n tw= u 9pokeime/nw, cf. Athan., Exp. Fid. ii., and Greg. Nyss answer to Eunomius, Second Book, p 254 in Schaff and Waces's ed. Vide also Prolegg. to Athan., p. xxxi. in this series. Epiphanius says of Noetus, monotu/pwj tun au'to\n pate/ra kai\ Ui\o\n kai a!gion pneu=ma. . . h 9ghsa/menoj (Haeres. lvii. 2) and of Sabellius, Dogmati/zei ou[toj kai\ oi 9 a'p0 au'tou= Sabellianoi\ to\n au'to\n ei\nai Pate/ra to\n au'to\n Uio\n to\n au'to\n ei\nai a!gion pneu=ma, w 9j ei\nai e\n mia= i/posta/sei trei=j o'nomasi/aj. (Haeres. lxii. i.)
(10 )i.e. at the Acacian council of Constantinople in 360, at which fifty bishops accepted the creed of Arminum as revised at Nike, proscribing ou\sia and i po/srasij, and pronounced the Son to be "like the Father, as say the Holy Scriptures." cf. Theod. II. xvi. and Soc. II. xli. In 366 Semiarian deputies from the council of Lampsacus represented to Liberius at Rome that kata\ pa/nta o@moioj and o'moou/sioj were equivalent.
(11 )la/qe biw/oaj is quoted by Theodoret in Ep. lxii. as a saying of"one of the men once called wise." It is attributed to Epicurus. Horace imitates it in Ep. I. xvii. 10: "Nec vixit male qui natus moriensque fefellit." So Ovid. Tristia III. iv. 25: "crede mihi; bene qui latuit, bene vixit," and Eurip., Iph. in Aul. 17:
Zhlw= se\, ge/rou,
Zhlw=d0 a 9ndrw=n o@j a'kindunon
Bi/on e'cepe/raj0 a\gnw\j a 9kleh/j..
Plutarch has an essay on the question, ei/ kalw=j e 9i/rhtai to\ la/qe biw/oaj.
(1 )Placed during the retreat.
(2 )pro\j e'lenqe/ran. The Benedictine note, after giving reasons why the name Julitta should not be introduced into the address, continues: "neque etiam in hac et pluribus aliis Basilii epistolis e'lenqe/ra nomen proprium est, sed viduam matronam designat. Sic Gregorius Naz. in Epist. cxlvii., e'lenqe/pan Alypii, id est viduam, apellat Simpliciam quam ipsius quondam conjugem fuisse dixerat in Epist. clxvi." The usage may be traceable to Rom. vii. 3.
(3 )A second name was given at baptism, or assumed with some religious motive. In the first three centuries considerations of prudence would prevent an advertisement of Christianity through a name of peculiar meaning, and even baptismal names were not biblical or of pious meaning and association. Later the early indifference of Christians as to the character of their names ceased, and after the fourth century heathen names were discouraged. cf. D.C.A. ii. 1368. "Dionysius," though of pagan origin, is biblical; but "martyrs often encountered death bearing the names of these very divinities to whom they refuse to offer sacrifice." So we have Apollinarius, Hermias, Demetrius, Origenes (sprung from Horus), Arius, Athenodorus, Aphrodisius, and many more.
(2 )Possibly to Olympius, the recipient of XII. cf. Letter ccxi.
(1 )Of the same date as the preceding.
(2 )Olympius was an influential friend f Basil's, and sympathized with him in his later troubles, and under the attacks of Eustathius. cf. Letters ccxi., lxiii., lxiv.
(1 )Placed with the preceding.
(2 )mh=lon. But, like the Latin malum, this word served for more than we mean by "apple." So the malum Cydonium was quince, the malum Persicum, peach, etc.
(1 )Placed after Basil's choice of his Pontic retreat. Translated by Newman, whose version is here given (Church of the Fathers, 126). On the topography, cf. Letters iii., x., ccxxiii., and remarks in the Prolegomena.
(3 )The hill of which the western half is covered by the ruins of Amphipolis, is insulated by the Strymon on the north-west and south, and a valley on the east. To the north-west the Strymon widens inot a lake, compared by Dr. Arnold to that formed by the Mincio at Mantua. cf. Thucyd. iv. 108 and v. 7.
(4 )Tiberina was a district in the neighbourhood of Gregory's home at Arianzus. cf. Greg. Naz., Ep. vi. and vii.
(5 )Alcamaeon slew his mother; but the awful Erinnys, the avenger of matricide, inflicted on him a long and terrible punishment, depriving him of his reason, and chasing him about from place to place without the possibility of repose or peace of mind. He craved protection and cure from the god at Delphi, who required him to dedicate at the temple, as an offering, the precious necklace of Kadmus, that irresistible bribe which had originally corrupted Eriphyle. He further intimated to the unhappy sufferer that, though the whole earth was tainted with his crime and had become uninhabitable for him, yet there was a spot of ground whihc was not under the eye of the sun at the time when the matricide was committed, and where, therefore, Alcmaeon might yet find a tranquil shelter. The promise was realised at the mouth of the river Achelous, whose turbid stream was perpetually depositing new earth and forming additional islands. Upon one of these Alcmaeon settled permanently and in peace." Grote, Hist. Gr.. I. 381.
(1 )Written from the Pontic retreat.
(2 )Comes rei privatae, "who managed the enormous revenues of the fiscus and kept account of the privileges granted by the Emperor (liber beneficiorum. Hyginus. De Const. Limit. p. 203, ed. Lachm. and Du Cange s.v.)." D.C.B. I. 634.
(3 )There is confusion here in the text, and the Benedictines think it unmanageable as it stands. But the matte is of no importance.
(1 )Placed by the Ben. Ed. in the reign of Julian 361-363.
(2 )Eunomius the Anomoean, bp. of Cyzicus, against whose Liber Apologeticus Basil wrote his counter-work. The first appearance of the ai/retiko\j a!nqrwpoj, the "chooser" of his own way rather than the common sense of the Church, is in Tit. iii. 10. ai/reti/zein is a common word in the LXX., but does not occur in Is. xlii. 1, though it is introduced into the quotation in Matt. xii. 18. a$iresij is used six times by St. Luke for "sect;" twice by St. Paul and once by St. Peter for "heresy." Augustine, C. Manich. writes: "Qui in ecclesia Christi morbidum aliquid pravumque quid sapiunt, si, correcti ut sanum rectumque sapiant, resistunt contumaciter suaque pestifera et mortifera dogmata emendare nolunt, sed defensare persistunt hoeretici sunt."
(3 )As an argument against Eunomius this Letter has no particular force, inasmuch as a man may be a good divine though a very poor entomologist, and might tell us all about the ant without being better able to decide between Basil and Eunomius. It is interesting, however, as shewing how far Basil was abreast of the physiology of his time, and how far that physiology was correct.
(1 )Placed during the reign of Julian.
(2 )Nothing is known of this Origen beyond what is suggested in this letter. He is conjectured to have been a layman, who, alike as a rhetorician and a writer, was popularly known as a Christian apologist.
(1 )Placed in the reign of Julian.
(2 )Ms. variations are Macrinus and Machrinus.
(1 )Placed by the Ben. Ed. shortly after Basil's ordination as priest.
(2 )i.e. Gregory of Nazianzus, and so Letter xiv.
(1 )Of about the same date as the preceding.
(3 )The Ben. note quotes Ammianus Marcellinus xxvi. 6, where it is said of Petronius, father-in-law of Valens: "ad nudandos sine discretione cunctos immaniter flagrans nocentes pariter et insontes post exquisita tormenta quadrupli nexibus vinciebat, debita jam inde a temporibus principio Aureliani persrutans, et impendio maerens si quemquam absolvisset indemnem;" and adds: "Est ergo quadruplum hoc loco non quadrimenstrua pensio, non superexactio, sed debitorum, quae soluta non fuerant, crudelis inquisitio et quadrupli poena his qui non solverant imposita."
(4 )tetraktuj was the Pythagorean name for the sum of the first four numbers (1+2+3+4=10), held by them to be the root of all creation. cf. the Pythagorean oath:
Nai\ ma\ to\n a 9mete/pa yu\xa parado/nta tetraktu'n,
Paga\n a'ena/ou fu/sewj p 9izw/mat0 e!cousan.
cf. my note on Theodoret, Ep. cxxx. for the use of tetraktu/j for the Four Gospels.
(5 )Toi=j kaloi=j pa/nta meta\ th=j tou= kalou= prosqh/khj gi/nesqai. The pregnant sense of kalo/j makes translation difficult.
(15 )cf. 2 Cor. xii. 20 and 1 Peter ii. 15.
(16 )cf. 1 Peter iii. 16, 17, and James iv. 11.
(18 )This charge is probably founded on Luke vi. 21 and 25, and James iv. 9. Yet our Lord's promise that they who hunger and weep "shall laugh," admits of fulfilment in the kingdom of God on earth. Cheerfulness is a note of the Church, whose members, "if sorrowful," are yet "alway rejoicing." (2 Cor. vi. 10.)
(20 )It is less easy to find explicit Scriptural sanction even for such a modified rule of silence as is here given by St. Basil. St. Paul can only be quoted for the "silence" of the woman. But even St. Basil's "silence" with a view to preserving his coenobium form vain conversation, is a long way off the "silence" of St. Bruno's Carthusians.
(32 )Phil. iv. 5, to\ e'pielike/j. In 1 Tim iii. 3, "patient" is e'pieikh\j.
(33 )Rom xii. 10 and 1 Pet. ii. 17.
(35 )Matt. vi. 29, Luke xii. 27.
(51 )tw= proestw$ti. o 9 proestw\j is the "president" in Justin Matryr's description of the Christian service in Apol Maj. i.
(56 )cf. Matt. xxiv. 14; Luke xii. 40.
(59 )cf. Mark x. 23, 24; Luke xviii. 24.
(1 )Written at Caesarea during his presbyterate.
(1 )Placed before Basil's epsicopoate.
(2 )Vide note on Letter xxv. Nothing more is known of the elder of these two Athanasii than is to be gathered from this letter.
(3 )Ex. xxiii. 1, LXX. and marg.
(1 )Placed, like the former, before the episcopate.
(2 )This Athanasius was appointed to the see of Ancyra (Angora) by the influence of Acacius the one-eyed, bp. of Caesarea, the inveterate opponent of Cyril of Jerusalem, and leader of the Nomoeans. He therefore started his episcopate under unfavorable auspices, but acquired a reputation for orthodoxy. cf. Greg. Nyss., Contra Eunom. I. ii. 292. On Basil's high opinion of him, cf. Letter xxix.
(2 )Caesarius was the youngest brother of Gregory of Nazianzus. After a life of distinguished service under Julian, Valens, and Valentinian, he was led, shortly after the escape narrated in this letter, to retire from the world. A work entitled Pu/steij, or Quÿ\stionej (si/e Dialogi) de Rebuj Di/inuj, attributed to him, is of doubtful genuineness. Vide D>C>B> s.v. The earthquake, from the effects of which Caelsarius was preserved, took place on the tenth of October, 368. cf. Greg. Naz, Orat. x.
(2 )This, the first of twenty-two letters addressed by Basil to Eusebius of Samosata, has no particular interest. Eusebius, the friend of Basil, Gregory of Nazianzus, and of Melctius, was bishop of Samosata (in Commagene on the Euphrates, now Samsat) from 360 to 373, and was of high character and sound opinions. Theodoret (Ecc. Hist. iv. 15), in mentioning his exile to Thrace in the persecution under Valens, calls him "that unflagging labourer in apostolic work," and speaks warmly of his zeal. Concerning the singular and touching circumstance of his death, vide Theodoret, E.H. v. 4, and my note in the edition of this series, p. 134.
(3 )Samosata was about two hundred miles distant from Caesarea, as the crow flies.
(2 )ie.e on the death of Musonius, bp. of Necoaesarea. Musonius is not named, but he is inferred to be the bishop referred to in Ep. ccx., in which Basil asserts that sound doctrine prevailed in Neocaesarea up to the time of "the blessed Musonius, whose teaching still rings in your ears."
(4 )i.e. Gregory Thaumaturgus.
(2 )cf. Letters xxiv. and xxv., and note.
(2 )Emmelia. Vide account of Basil's family in the prolegomena.
(1 )Placed in 369. cf. note on Letter ccxxxvi.
(2 )Nothing more is known of the Hypatius. Gregory of Nazianzus (Ep. 192) writes to a correspondent of the same name.
(2 )i.e. Magister officiorum. Sophronius was a fellow student with Basil at Athens, and a friend of Gregory of Nazianzus. He secured the favour of Valens, who was staying at Caesarea in 365, by conveying him intelligence of the usurpation of Procopius at Constantinople. (Amm. Marc. xxv. 9.) On the circumstance which gave rise to this letter, cf. Greg. Naz., Ep. xviii. Letters lxxvi., xcvi., clxxvii., xlxxx., cxcii., and cclxxii. are addressed to the same correspondent, the last, as it will be seen, indicating a breach in their long friendship.
(3 )The word Episcopus in this and in the following letter is supposed by Maran to have crept into the text from the margin. Gregory of Nazianzus is referred to , who was not then a bishop. Gregory the Elder, bishop of Nazianzus, was in good circumstances, and had not adopted the monastic life.
(4 )cf. Letter xxvi. Caesarius died in 368, leaving his brother Gregory as executor.
(5 )tou/toij. So the mss., but the editors here substituted tou/tw, i.e. Gregory, and similarly the singular in the following words.
(2 )cf. Ep. xxxiii., lxxv., cxlvii., clxxviii., ccciv., and also ccxcvi., though the last is also attributed to Greg. Naz. He was an important lay compatriot of Basil. Tillemont was of opinion that the dear brother Gregory referred to in this letter is Gregory of Nyssa; but Maran points out that the events referred to tare the same as those described in Letter xxxii., and supposes the word episcopus to have been inserted by a commentator.
(2 )Silvanus, Metropolitan of Tarsus, one of the best of the Semi-Arians (Ath., De synod. 410, died, according to Tillemont, in 373, according to Maran four years earlier, and was succeeded by an Arian; but events did not turn out so diastrously as Basil had anticipated. The majority of the presbyters were true to the Catholic cause, and Basil maintained friendship and intercourse with them. cf. Letters lxvii., cxiii., cxiv.
(3 )Basil is supposed to have in the meanwhile carried out his previously-expressed intention of paying Eusebius a visit.
(1 )Of the same time as the preceding.
(1 )This important letter is included as among the works of Gregory of Nyssa, as addressed to Peter, bp. of Sebaste, brother of Basil and Gregory. The Ben. note says "Stylus Basilii fetum esse clamitat." It was moreover, referred to at Chalcedon as Basil's. [Mansi, T. vii. col. 464.]
(3 )u 9festw=san. / 9po/stasij is derivatively that which "stands under" or subsists, o$ / 9fe/othke. cf. my note on Theodoret, p. 36.
(6 )The mss. vary as to this parenthetical clause, and are apparently corrupt. The rendering above is conjectural, but not satisfactory.
(8 )o' mouogeuh/j qeo\j is the reading of the Sinaitic and Vatican mss. in John i. 18. The insertion of the words ou'de/ o 9 uioj, adopted by R.V. in Matt. xxiv. 36, but of which St. Basil knows nothing, as appears from his argument on the difference between the statements of St. Matthew and St. Mark on this subject in Letter ccxxvi., is supported by these same tow mss.
(12 )a'gennh/twj kai\ a'na/rxwj u\festw=sa.
(13 )For similar statements by St. Basil, cf. De Sp. S. p. ?? cf. also Cont. Eunom. I: e'pedh ga\r a/po\ tou\ patro\j h 9 a'rxh\ tw /i 9w= kata\ tou=to mei/zwn o 9 path\r w 9j ai!toj kai\ a'rxh\.
(15 )meta\ to\n ui 9on. So the Benedictine text with four mss. in the Paris Library, and the note. "meta\ tou= ui/ou=" is a reading which is inadmissible, repeating as it does the sense of the following clause kai\ ou\n au'tw=. The sense in which the Son is both "after the Son" and "with the Son" is explained further on by St. Basil, where he says that the tree Persons are known in consecution of order but in conjunction of nature.
(17 )Rom. viii. 9; 1 Cor. ii. 12.
(18 )Apparently a mistaken interpretation of the LXX. version of Ps. cxix. 131, ei#lkusa pneu=ma = "I drew breath." A.V. and R.V., "I panted." Vulg., attraxi spiritum.
(19 )w#sper e'k ai'ni/gmati. cf. 1 Cor. xiii. 12. e'n ai'ni/gmatior e'cai'nigma/twn, as in Aesch., Ag. 1113 = by dark hints. The bold oxymoron concluding this sentence is illustrated by Ovid's "impietate pia" (Met. viii. 477), Lucan's "concordia discors" (Phars. I. 98), or Tennyson's "faith unfaithful."
(20 )The scientific part of the analogy of the rainbow is of course obsolete and valueless. the general principle holds good that what is beyond comprehension in theology finds its parallel in what is beyond comprehension in the visible world. We are not to be staggered and turn dizzy in either sphere of thought at the discovery that we have reached a limit beyond which thought cannot go. We may live in a finite world, though infinite space is beyond our powers of thought: we may trust in God revealed in the Trinity, though we cannot analyse or define Him.
(22 )The simpler explanation of the use of the word hypostasis in the passage under discussion is that it has the earlier sense, equivalent to ou'si/a. cf. Athan., Or. c. Ar. iii 65, iv. 33, and Ad. Apos. 4.
(25 )This phrase is not in the Epistles, nor indeed does the substantive a'gaqo/thj occur in the N.T. at all. "Image of his goodness" is taken form Wisdom vii. 26, and erroneously included among the "words of the Apostle."
(1 )To be placed probably in 362, if genuine.
(2 )These Letters are placed in this order by the Ben. Editors as being written, if genuine, before Basil's episcopate. Maran (Vita S. Bas. Cap. ii.) is puzzled at Basil's assertion in xli. that he learned the Bible with Julian, and points out that at Athens they devoted themselves to profane literature. But this may have allowed intervals for other work. In 344, when Basil was at Caesarea, Julian was relegated by Constantius to the neighbouring fortress of Macellum, and there, with his elder half-brother Gallus, spent six years in compulsory retirement. Sozomen tells us that the brothers studied the Scripture and became Readers (Soz. v. 2 ; Amm. Marc. xv. 2, 7). Their seclusion, in which they were reduced to the society of their own household (Greg. Naz., Or. iii., Julian, Ad. Ath. 271 c.), may not have been so complete as to prevent all intercourse with a harmless schoolboy like Basil. "Malgré l'authorité de dom Maran, nous croyons avec Tillemont, Dupont et M. Albert de Broglie, que cette lette a été réellement adressée par Julien, non a un homonyme de St. Basile mais à St. Basile lui-même." Etude historique et littéraire sur St. Basile. Fialon.
(3 )i.e. "your words are friendly." cf. Plat., Legg. 702 D. ou' po/lemo/n ge e'pagge/lleij w\ Kleinia.
(4 )w\ xruso\n a'ggei/laj e''pw=n. Aristoph., Plut. 268
(5 )A playwright of Athens, who put a boastful epigram on his own statue, and became a byword for self-praise. Vide Suidas s.v., sauto\n e'painei=j.
(1 )If genuine, which is exceedingly doubtful, this letter would be placed in the June or July of 362.
(2 )i.e. of Constantius Chlorus. Vide pedigree prefixed to Theodoret in this edition, p. 32. Julian was the youngest son of Julius Constantius, half-brother of Constantine the Great.
(3 )The fact of the early acquaintance of Basil and Julian does not rest wholly on the authority of this doubtful letter. cf. Greg. Naz., Orat. iv.
(4 )A strong argument against the genuineness of this letter is the silence of Gregory of Nazianzus as to this demand on Basil (Or. v. 39). For Julian's treatment of Caesarea Basil was in his Pontic retreat. On the punning conclusion, vide note on Letter xli. (a$ a'ne/gnwn e!gnwn kai\ kate/gnwn.)
(1 )If genuine, of the same date as xl.
(2 )faouakou\j mhdamou= ei\nai. The Ben. Ed. compares the form of expression the phrase of St. Cyprian: "legibus vestris bene atque utiliter censuistis delatores non esse." cf. Letter lv.
(3 )'A a'ne/gnwj ou'k e!gnwj : ei'ga\r e!gnwj, ou'k a$n kate/gnwj. In Soz. v. 18, Julian's words, a$ a!ne/gnwn e!gnwn kai\ ka\te/gnwn, are stated to have been written to ' the bishops' in reference to Apologies by the younger Apollinariusm bp. of the Syrian Laodicea (afterwards the heresiarch) and others. The reply is credited to 'the bishops,' with the remark that some attribute it to Basil.
(1 )This and the four succeeding letters must be placed before the episcopate. Their genuineness has been contested, but apparently without much reason. In one of the Parisian Codices the title of xlii. is given with the note: "Some attribute this work to the holy Nilus." Ceillier (iv. 435-437) is of opinion that, so far as style goes, they must stand or fall together, and points out that xlvii. is cited entire as Basil's by Metaphrastes.
(7 )mh\ e'chghtiko\j a'lla filo/peustoj, as suggested by Combefis for filo/pistoj.
(9 )Another reading is (exhibiting yourself).
(12 )Matt. x. 37, with a'delfouj added perhaps from Luke xiv. 26.
(13 )Luke xiv. 27 and Matt. x. 38.
(14 )For the contrary view of life, cf. Seneca, Ep. 61: "Omnia nobis mala solitudo persuadet; nemo est cui non sanctius sit cum quolibet esse quam secum."
(20 )The Ben. note on this painful picture suggests that the description applies to Palestine, and compares the account of Jerusalem to be found in Gregory of Nyssa's letter on Pilgrimages in this edition, p. 382. On Basil's visit to the Holy Land, cf. Ep. ccxxiii. § 2.
(22 )cf. Esdras ii. 14; Irenaeus, Adv. Haer. iii, 21, 2; Tertullian, De Cult. Fam.. i. 3; Clem. Alex., Strom. i. 22.
(23 )Matt. xviii. 20; a curious misapplication of the text.
(1 )Ranked with the preceding, and of dubious genuineness.
(2 )a'ggareuo/menoj. cf. Matt. v. 41.
(1 )To be ranked with the former letter.
(2 )One ms. adds, in a later hand, Alexius.
(3 )i/ereu/j. When first this word and its correlatives came to be used of the Christian ministry it was applied generally to the clergy. cf. Letter of the Council of Illycricum in Theod., Ecc. Hist. iv. 8, and note on Letter liv. p. 157.
(1 )To be ranked with the preceding.
(2 )cf. note on Letter xlii. p. 145. Maran, Vit. S. Bas. cap. xii., regards this implied sojourn at Jerusalem as unfavourable to the genuineness of the letter; but supposing the letter to be genuine, and grounds to exist for doubting Basil to have spent any long time in the Holy Land, there seems no reason why "Jerusalem" may not be taken in a figurative sense for the companionship of the saints. See also Proleg. on Basil's baptism.
(5 )cf. Prov. vii. 22, 23, LXX.
(1 )Placed with the preceding.
(7 )Ta/gmata, with two mss. The alternative reading is pneu/mata.
(12 )These words occur in the mss. after "moderate fare," below, where they make no sense. The Ben. Ed. conjectures that they may belong here.
(18 )The numfagwgo/j wasthe friend who conducted the bride form her parents'' or her own house to the bridegroom's. cf. Luc., Dial Deor. 20, 16.
(27 )cf. Jer. ii. 12, 13, LXX.
(31 )St. Basil has no idea of the image and likeness of God being a bodily likeness, as in the line of Xenophanes.
(32 )i.e. by the old Jewish law. Deut.xvii. 6. Adultery was not capital under the Lex Julia, but was made so by Constantine.
(1 )Placed in 370. The letters numbered 47 to 291, inclusive, are placed by the Benedictine editors during St. Basil's episcopate.
(2 )On this title Benedictine editors remark that no careful reader can fail to note that the letter is written not by Basil but about Basil. "Hodie," they write, "inter eruditos fere convenit eam a Gregorio patre, filii monu, ad Eusebium Samosatensem scrptam fuisse. Nam senem se esse declarat auctor Epistolae et in Cappadocia Episcopum, ut qui litteris cleri ad electionem Episcopi, et Ecclesiae Caesarienis defesionem invitatus fuerit. Is autem ad quem scribit et eadem dignitate praeditus erat, et laboribus pro Ecclesia susceptis clarus, et amicus Basilio, nec Cappadociae vicinus. Omnia in Eusebium Sammosatensem mirifice conveniunt, quem Basilii ordinationi scimus interfuisse, and they give, moreover, as their descriptive heading: "Gregorius Theologi pater eusebium Samosatensem, misso Eustathio diacono, invitat ad electionem Episcopi Caesariensis ut eo adjuvante Basilius elgi possit." Fialon, however, apparently forgetting the reference to old age, writes (Etude Hist. p. 87, n.): "Cette lettre est évidemment de Grégoire de Nazianze," meaning the younger. The election of St. Basil, who probably "voluit episcopari" to the archiepiscopal throne, was indeed mainly due to the intervention of the elder Gregory. Basil's unfortunate and indefensible disingenuousness in summoning the younger Gregory to Caesarea on the plea of his own severe illness defeated its object. But for the prompt and practical intervention of Gregory the elder, and this appeal to Eusebius of Samosata, the archbishopric might have fallen into unworthy, or at least inferior, hands. Vide Biog. Notice in Proleg.,
(4 )Esebius, at the time of his election an unbaptized layman, was elevated to the throne of Caesarea on the death of Dianius in 362. In this case too it was due to the counsels of the elder Gregory that the objections both of Eusebius and of the bishops, forced by the opposing party to consecrate him, were finally overcome. It was he who ordained Basil to the presbyterate and chafed against the ascendancy of his more able and brilliant subordinate.
(5 )In 365 Valens came to Caesarea with Arian bishops, and endeavoured to put down the Catholics. Basil returned from his retreat in order to aid Eusebius in resisting the attack, and seems to have shown much tact and good feeling as well as vigour and ability. cf. Greg. Naz., Or. xx. 340.
(6 )cf. Letter cxxxvi., where it appears that Basil kindly nursed a deacon Eustathius. The fact of an Eustathius being one of Basil's deacons is so far in favour of Basil's having written the letter. But Eustathius was a common name, and Eustathius, a monk, is mentioned in the will of Gregory of Nazianzus.
(1 )Placed at the beginning of the episcopate.
(3 )The Cappadocians were of notoriously bad character, and shared with the Cretans and Cilcians the discredit of illustrating tri/a ka/ppa ka/kista. cf. note on Theodoret, Ecc. Hist. II. xi. p. 75. It was Phrygians, however, who were specially notorious for cowardice. cf. the proverb: "More cowardly than a Phrygian hare." cf. Lightfoot, Coloss., etc., p 378 n. But Cappadocia may claim the counter credit of having given birth to three of the most famous divines, Basil and the two Gregorys.
(4 )On the death of Eudoxius, in 370, Demophilus was elected by the Arians to fill the vacant see. Eustathius, the deposed bishop of Antioch, ordained Evagrius. Eustathius and Evagrius were both banished by Valens, and their adherents cruelly treated. Soc., Ecc. Hist. iv. 14, 16; Soz., Ecc. Hist. vi. 13, 14, and Philost., Ecc. Hist. ix. 10.
(5 )After the departure of Eusebius at the close of the visit which he had undertaken, in accordance with the request of the previous letter, in order to secure basil's consecration to the vacant see.
(6 )On the difficulties thrown in Basil's way by the bishops who had opposed his election, cf. Letters xcviii., cxli., and cclxxxii.
(1 )Of about the same date as the preceding.
(1 )Placed at the beginning of the Episcopate.
(2 )The Benedictine title runs, Basilius gratias agit Episcopo cuidam, and a Ben. note points out that the common addition of "of Rome" to the title must be an error, because Damasus, not Innocent, was Bishop of Rome at the time. Combefis supposed that the letter was written to Innocent, then a presbyter, and that the allusion at the end of the letter is to Damasus; the Ben. note says absurde. Innocent did not become Bishop of Rome till 402, three years after Basil's death. Whatever was the see of the recipient of this letter, it was one of importance. cf. Letter lxxxi.
(1 )Placed at the beginning of Basil's episcopate, c. 370.
(2 )Bosporius, an intimate friend of Basil and of Gregory of Nazianzus, was bishop of Colonia, in Cappadocia Secunda. Basil left Caesarea in 360 in distress at hearing that Dianius had subscribed the creed of Ariminum, but was hurt at the charge that he had anathematized his friend and bishop. Dianius died in Basil's arms in 363.
(4 )sukofanti/a a!ndra tapeinoi=, for Eccles. vii. 7, LXX. sukofanti/a peride/rei sofi/n: opression maketh a wise man mad, A.V.; extortion maketh a wise man foolish, R.V.
(7 )Here Caesarea appears to be called patpi/j. cf. Ep. viii. Vide Proleg.
(8 )i.e. the Homoean creed of Ariminum, as revised at Nike and accepted at theAcacian Synod of Constantinople in 360. George is presumably the George bp. of Laodicea, who at Seleucia opposed the Acacians, but appeears afterwards to have become reconciled to that party, and to have joined them in persecuting the Catholics at Constantinople. cf. Basil, Ep. ccli.
(1 )Placed at the beginning of St. Basil's episcopate, c. 370.
(2 )Canonicae, in the early church, were women enrolled in a list in the churches, devoted to works of charity, and living apart from men, though not under vows, nor always in a coenobium. In Soc., H.E. i. 17 they are described as the recipients of St. Helena's hospitality. St. Basil is supposed to refuse to recognise marriage with them as legitimate in Ep. cclxxxviii. The word kanonikw=n may stand for either gender, but the marriage of Canonici was commonly allowed. Letter clxxiii. is addressed to the canonica Theodora.
(4 )kh/rugma. On Basil's use of this word and of dogma, vide note on p. 41.
(5 )i.e. the two remarkable Antiochene synods of 264 and 269, to enforce the ultimate decisions of which against Paul of Samosata appeal was made to the pagan Aurelian. On the explanation of how the Homoousion came to be condemned in one sense by the Origensit bishops at Antioch in 260, and asserted in another by the 318 at Nicaea in 325, see prolegomena to Athanasius in Schaff and Wace's ed. p. xxxi.
(6 )cf.Ath., De Syn. § 45, Hil., De Trin. iv. 4, and Basil, Cont. Eunom. i. 19. "Wurde seiner Lehre: 'Gott sey mit dem Logos zugleich Eine Person, e$n proswpon Iwie der Mensch mit seiner Vernunft Eines sey,' entgegengehalteh, die Kirchenlehre verlange Einen Gott, aber mehrere pro/swpa desselben, so sagte er. da auch ihm Christus eine Person (nämlich als Mensch) sey, so habe auch sein Glaube mehrere pro/swpa, Gott und Christus stehen sich als o 9mo ou/sioi, d. h. wahrscheinlich gleich persönliche gegenüber, Diese veratorische Dialetik konnte zwar nicht täuschen; wohl aber wurde das Wort o 9moou/sioj, so gerbraucht und auf die Person überhaupt bezogen, dadurcheine Weile verdächtig (man fürchtete nach Athan. De Syn. Ar. et Sel. c. 45. eine menschliche Person nach Paul in die Trinität einlassen zu müssen), bis das vierte Jahrhundert jenem Wort bestimmten kirchlichen Stempel gab." Dorner, Christologie. B. i. 513.
(7 )Vide also Thomasius, Christliche Dogmengesckichte, B. 1, p. 188.
(1 )Placed in the beginning of the episcopate.
(2 )"A class of ministers between bishops proper and presbyters, defined in the Arabic version of the Nicene canons to be 'loco episcopi super villas et monasteria et sacerdotes villarmum; called into existence in the latter part of the third century, and first in Asia Minor, in order to meet the wants of episcopal supervision in the country parts of the now enlarged dioceses without subdivision: first mentioned in the Councils of Ancyra and Neo-Caesera a.d. 314." D.C.A. i. 354. Three mss. give the title "to the bishops under him." The Ben. Ed. remarks: "Liquet Basilium agere de episcopis sibi subditis. Nam qui proprie dicebantur chorepiscopi, manus non ponebant, sed clero inferiores ministros ascribeant, ut videre est in epist. sequenti. Sed tamen ipsi etiam episcopi, qui Ecclesias metropoli subjectas regebant, interdum vocabuntur chorepiscopi. Queritur enim Gregorius Naz. in carmine De vita sua. quod a Basilio, qui quinquaginta chorepiscopos sub se habebat, vilissimi oppiduli constitutus episcopus fuisset.
tou/toij m0 o/ penth/konta xwrepisko/poij
stenou/menoj de/dwken.
Hoc exemplo confirmatur vetustissimorun codicum scriptura quam secuti summus.
(3 )cf. note on Theodoret, iv. 20, p. 125.
(1 )Placed at the same time as the foregoing.
(3 )The Ben. note runs, "Ministros, sive subdiaconos, sacratorum ordini ascribit Basilius. Synodus Laodicena inferiores clericos sacratorum numero non comprehendit, sed numerat sacratos a presbyteris usque ad diaconos, apo presbute/rwn e$wj diako/nwn, can. 24, distinguit canone 27, ieratikou\j, h$ klhrikou/j h$ laikou/j, sive sacratos, sive clericos, sive laicos. Et can. 30. Oti ou' dei= ieratiko\n h$ klhriko/n h$ a'skhth\n e'n balaneiw meta\ gunaikw=n a'polou/esqai, mhde pa/nta Cositiano\n h$ lai$ko/u. Non oportet sacratum vel clericum aut ascetam in balneo cum mulieribus lavari. sed nec ullum Christianum aut Laicum. Non sequuniur hujus synodi morem ecclesiastici scriptores. Basilius, epsit. 287, excommunicato omne cum sacratis commercium intercludit. Et in epist. 198, i'eratei=on intelligit coetum clericorum, eique ascribut clericos qui epistolas episcopi perferbant. Athanasius ad Rufinianum scribens, rogat eum ut epistolam legat i/eratei/w et populo. Gregorius Nazianzenus lectores sacri ordinis, i/epou\ tagmatoj, partem esse agnoscit in epist. 45. Notandus etiam canon 8 apostolicus, ei tij e'pi/okopoj h$ etc. presbu/teroj h$ dia/konoj h$ e'k tou i 9eoarikou= katalo/gon, etc. Si quis episopus vel presbyter vel diaconus, vel ex sacro ordine. Haec visa sunt observanda, quia pluribus Basilii locis, quae dinceps occurrent, non parum afferent lucis." The letter of the Council in Illyricum uses i 9eratiko\n ta/gua in precisely the same way. Theod., Ecc. Hist. iv. 8, where see note on p. 113. So Sozomen, On the Council of Nicaea, i. 23. Ordo, the nearest Latin equivalent ot the Greek ta/gma, was originally used of any estate in the church, e.g. St. Jerome, On Isaih v. 19, 18.
(4 )meta\ th\n prw/thn e'pine/uhsin. 0pine/mhsij os om ;ater Greel tje recpgmosed equivalent for "indictio" in the sense of a period of fifteen years (Cod. Theod. xi. 28. 3). I have had some hesitation as to whether it could possibly I this passage indicate a date. But e'pine/mhsij does not appear to have been used in its chronological sense before Evagrius, and his expression (iv. 20) tou\j perio/douj tw=n ku/klwn kaloume/nwn e'pinemh/sewn looks as thought the term were not yet common; e'pi/e/mhsij here I take to refer to the assignment of presbyters to different places on ordination. I am indebted to Mr. J. W. Parker for valuable information and suggestions on this question.
(1 )Placed at the beginning of the Episcopate.
(3 )On the subject of the subintroductae or sunei/saktoi, one of the greatest difficulties and scandals of the early church, vide the article of Can. Venables in D.C.A. ii. 1937. The earliest prohibitive canon against the custom is that of the Council of Elvira, a.d. 305. (Labbe i. 973.) The Canon of Nicaea, to which Basil refers, only allowed the introduction of a mother, sister, or aunt. The still more extraordinary and perilous custom of ladies of professed celibacy entertaining male sune saktoi, referred to by Gregory of Nazianzus in his advice to virgins, a#rsena pa/nt0 a'le/eine sunei/sakton de\ ma/liota, may be traced even so far back as "the Shepherd of Hermas" (iii. Simil. ix. 11). On the charges against Paul of Samosata under this head, vide, Eusebius, vii. 30.
(1 )Placed at the beginning of the Episcopate.
(2 )A layman, of whom nothing more is known.
(2 )This letter, the first of six to Meletius of Antioch, is supposed to be assigned to this date, because of Basil's statement that the state of the Church of Caesera was still full of pain to him. Basil had not yet overcome the opposition of his suffragans, or won the position secured to him after his famous intercourse with Valens in 372. Meletius had now been for seven years exiled from Antioch, and was suffering for the sake of orthodoxy, while not in full communion with the Catholics, because of the unhappy Eustathian schism.
(3 )This Theophrastus may be identified with the deacon Theophrastus who died shortly after Easter a.d. 372. (cf. Letter xcv.) The secret instructions given him "seem to refer to Basil's design for giving peace to the Church, which Basil did not attempt to carry out before his tranquilization of Cappadocia, but may have had in mind long before." Maran, Vit. Bas. chap. xvi.
(2 )Three mss. give the title Grhgopi/w e'pisko'pw kai\ a'delfw=, but, as is pointed out by the Ben. Ed., the letter itself Is hardly one which would be written to one with the responsibilities of a bishop. Basil seems to regard his brother as at liberty to come and help him at Caesera. Gregory's consecration to the see of Nyssa is placed in 372, when his reluctance had to be overcome by force. cf. Letter ccxxv. On the extraordinary circumstance of his well meant but futile forgery of the name of his namesake and uncle, bishop of an unknown see, vife Prolegom.
(3 )Bishop of Tyana, estranged from Basil, cf. Letters cxx., cxxi., cxxii., and ccx.
(5 )Negat Basilius se adfuturum, nisi decenter advocetur, id est, nist mittantur qui euim in indictum locum deducant. Erat Basilius, nt in ejus modi officiis exhibendis diligentissimus, ita etiam in reposcendis attentus. Meletius Antiochenus et Theodorus Nicopolitanus, cum Basilium ad celebritatem quamdam obiter advocassent per Hellenium Nazianzi Peraequatorem, nec iterum misissent qui de visdem adomoneret aut deduceret; displicuit Basilio perfunctoria invitandi ratio, ac veritus ne suspectus illis esset, adesse noluit." Note by Ben. Ed.
(1 )Placed in 361, at about the same time as the preceding.
(2 )Vide n. on preceding page.
(1 )Of the same time as the preceding.
(2 )This, the first of Basil's six extant letters to Athanasius, is placed by the Ben. Ed. in 371. It has no certain indication of date. Athanasius, in the few years of comparative calm which preceded his death in May, 373, had excommunicated a vicious governor in Libya, a native of Cappadocia, and announced his act to Basil. The intercourse opened by this official communication led to a more important correspondence.
(2 )A town in Northern Cappadocia, on the right bank of the Halys, on or near a hill whence it was named, on the road between Ancyra and Archelais. The letter appears to Maran (Vita S. Bas. xvi.) to have been written before the encouragement given to the Arians by the visit of Valens in 372. The result of Basil's appeal to the Parnassenes was the election of an orthodox bishop, expelled by the Arians in 375, and named Hypsis or Hypsinus. cf. Letter ccxxxvii., where Ecdicius is said to have succeeded Hypsis; and ccxxxviii., where Ecdicius is called Parnasshno/j.
(1 )Of about the same date as the preceding.
(2 )Another reading is Helladius. cf. Letters lxiv., lxxvii., and ixxviii. The identification of these Elpidii is conjectural. The name was common.
(1 )Of about the same date as the preceding.
(1 )Placed about 371, or, at all events, according to Maran, before the year 373, when the ill will of Atarbius towards Basil was violently manifested.
(2 )Atarbius is recognised as bishop of Neocaesarea, partly on the evidence of the Codices Coislinanus and Medicaeus, which describe him as of Neocaesarea, partly on a comparison of Letters lxv. and cxxvi., addressed to him with the circumstances of the unnamed bishop of Neocaesarea referred to in Letter ccx. Moreover (cf. Bp. Lightfoot, D.C.B. i. 179) at the Council of Constantinople he represented the province of Pontus Polemoniacus, of which Neocaesarea was metropolis. On the authority of an allusion In Letter ccx/sec/ 4. Atarbius is supposed to be a kinsman of Basil..
(5 )i.e. the attacks of Valens on the Church.
(1 )Placed in 371. cf. Letter lxii.
(2 )u 9per th=j paroiki/aj tw=n kaq0 h 9ma=j merw=n. On the use of paroiki/a in this sense, cf. Bp. Lightfoot, Ap. Fathers I. ii. 5. So Apollon. in Eus., H.E. v. 18. h 9 i 9di/a paroiki/a, of the Christian society. Thus the meaning passes to parochia and parish.
(3 )"Them" is referred by the Ben. Ed. not to the sovereigns (tw=n kratou/ntwn they understand to mean Valens) but to the Western bishops.
(4 )A various reading ("Tres mss. et secunda manu Medicoeus," Ben. Ed.) for pogia=j reads politei/aj "the life and conversation of your Holiness." - Athanasius was now about 75. His death is placed in 373.
(5 )To end the schism caused by the refusal of the Eustathian or old Catholic party to recognise Meletius as bishop of the whole orthodox body. The churches of the West and Egypt, on the whole, supported Paulinus, who had been ordained by Lucifer of Cagliari, bishop of the old Catholics. The Ben. Ed. supposes the word oi'konomh=sai, which I have rendered "control," to refer to Paulinus. The East supported Meletius, and if the oi/konomi/a in Basil's mind does refer to Paulinus, the "management" meant may be management to get rid of him.
(1 )Of the same year as the preceding.
(2 )i.e. Paulinus and his adherents.
(1 )Of the same period as the preceding.
(2 )i.e. the Romans; specially the proposed commissioners. It was a sore point with Basil that Marcellus, whom he regarded as a trimmer, should have been "received into communion by Julius and Athanasius, popes of Rome and Alexandria." Jer., De Vir. Illust. c. 86.
(3 )On the heretical opinions attributed to Marcellus of Ancyra, cf. Letters cxxv. and cclxii.
(4 )Although he strongly espoused the Catholic cause of Nicaea later in attacking the errors of Asterius, he was supposed to teach that the Son had no real personality, but was merely an external manifestation of the Father.
(1 )Of the same period as the preceding.
(2 )"This letter is obviously addressed to Pope Damasus." - Be Ed. n.
(3 )The Ben. Ed. points out that what is related by Basil, of the kindness of the bishops of Rome to other churches, is confirmed by the evidence both of Dionysius, bishop of Corinth (cf. Eusebius, Hist. Ecc. iv. 23), of Dionysius of Alexandria (Dionysius to Sixtus II. Apud Euseb., Ecc. Hist. vii. 5), and of Eusebius himself who in his history speaks of the practice having been continued down to the persecution in his own day. The troubles referred to by Basil took place in the time of Gallienus, when the Scythians ravaged Cappadocia and the neighbouring countries. (cf. Sozomen, ii. 6.) Dionysius succeeded Sixtus II. at Rome in 259.
(1 )Placed in the same period.
(2 )When Gregory, on the elevation of Basil to the Episcopate, was at last induced to visit his old friend, he declined the dignities which Basil pressed upon him (th/nde th=j kaqe/draj tiuh/n, i.e. the position of chief presbyter or coadjutor bishop, Orat. xliii. 39), and made no long stay. Some Nazianzene scandal-mongers had charged basil with heterodoxy. Gregory asked him for explanations, and Basil, somewhat wounded, rejoins that no explanations are needed. The translation in the text with the exception of the passages in brackets, is that of Newman. cf. Proleg. and reff. to Greg. Naz.
(1 )Placed at about the same period as the preceding.
(2 )cf. Letter lxiv. Letters lxxii. and lxxiii. illustrate the efforts made by basil to mitigate the troubles caused by slavery, and to regulate domestic as well as ecclesiastical matters.
(1 )Of the same date as the preceding.
(1 )About the same date as the preceding.
(2 )A dignitary of Cappadocia otherwise unknown, whom Basil asks to intercede with the Emperor Valens to prevent that division of Cappadocia which afterward led to so much trouble. Basil had left Caesarea in the autumn of 371, on a tour of visitation, or to consecrate his brother bishop of Nyssa (Maran, Bit. Bas. Cap. xix.), and returned to Caesarea at the appeal of his people there.
(3 )cf. the opening of the Odyssey, and the imitation of Horace, De Arte Poet. 142:
Qui mores hominum multorum vidit et urbes."
(4 )Now Podando, in Southern Cappadocia, made by Valens the chief town of the new division of the province.
(5 )So the Spartans named the pit into which condemned criminals were thrown. Pausanias, Book IV. 18, 4. Thucyd., i. 134. Strabo, viii. 367.
(6 )i.e. on the seizure of the Acropolis by Pisistratus, Solon, resisting the instance of his friends that he should flee, returned them for answer, when they asked him on what he relied for protection, "on my old age." Plutarch, Solon 30. The senate being of the faction of Pisistratus, said that he was mad. Solon replied:
Dei/cei dh\ mani/hn me\n e'mh\n Baio\j xro/noj a'stoi=j,
Deicei a'lhqei/hj e'j me/son e'rxome/hj
Diog. Laert. 1-49
(1 )About the same date as the preceding.
(2 )cf. Letters xxxiii. cxlvii. clxxviii. cxcvi. and ccciv.
(1 )Of the same date as the preceding.
(2 )i.e. magister offciorum. cf. Letters xxxii., xcvi., clxxvii., clxxx., cxciii., cclxxii.
(1 )Of the same date as the preceding.
(2 )Perhaps to Elpidius. Therasius is probably the governor referred to in Letter xcvi. to Sophronius.
(3 )The text is here corrupt. The Ben. Ed. say "corruptissimus."
(2 )cf. Letter cxic. Sebaste is Siwas on the Halys. On Eustathius to Basil a type at once of the unwashable Ethiopian for persistent heresy (Letter cxxx. 1) and of the wind-driven cloud for shiftiness and time-serving, (Letter ccxliv. 9.) Vide proleg.
(1 )Placed in 371 or early in 372.
(2 )cf. Letter 1. The see of this Innocent Is unknown. cf Letter lxxxi. and note. To the title of this letter on e manuscript adds "of Rome," as the Ben. Ed. note "prorsus absurde".
(3 )e!kgonoj, i.e. the spiritual offspring of Hermogenes, by whom he had been ordained.
(4 )Bishop of Caesarea, in which see he preceded Dianius. cf. Letters ccxliv. 9 and cclxiii. 3. "The great Synod" is Nicaea. Baronius on the year 325 remarks that Basil's memory must have failed him, inasmuch as not Hermogenes but Leontius was present at Nicaea as Bishop Caesarea. But Hermogenes may have been present in lower orders. cf. Stanley, East. Ch. pp. 105, 140.
(1 )Placed at the end of 371 or the beginning of 372.
(2 )The fitness of this figure in a letter to the bishop of Alexandria will not escape notice. At the eastern extremity of the island of Pharos still stood the marble lighthouse erected more than 600 years before by Ptolemy II., and not destroyed till after the thirteenth century.
(3 )On Basil's use of this nautical metaphor, cf. De Spirtu Sancto, chap.xxx. It is of course a literary commonplace, but Basil's associations all lay inland.
(4 )The story of "the boy bishop" will be remembered, whose serious game of baptism attracted the notice of Alexander and led to the education of Athanasius in the Episcopal palace. Soc., Ecc. Hist. i. 15. Rufinus i. 14. cf. Keble, Lyra Innocentium, "Enacting holy rites."
(2 )Censitor, i.e. the magistrate responsible for rating and taxation in the provinces.
(3 )cf. Aristotle Eth. Nic. viii. 12, 3; and Cic. Loel. xxi. So, amicus est tanquam alter idem.
(2 )Probably Elias. cf Letters xciv. and xcvi. The orphan grandson of the aged man in whose behalf Basil writes had been placed on the Senatorial roll, and the old mane in consequence was compelled to serve again.
(2 )The distress of the Cappadocians under the load of taxes is described in Letter lxxiv. An objectionable custom arose, or was extended, of putting the country people on oath as to their inability to pay.
(1 )Of the same date as the preceding.
(2 )Probably to Elias. Three manuscripts add "of recommendation on behalf of presbyters about the carrying off of corn."
(1 )Of the same date as the preceding.
(3 )Patri/j. The Ben. Ed suppose the reference to be here to Annesi. cf. Letters viii. and li.
(2 )xrusi/on poagmateutiko/n, Lat. aurum comparatitium. The gold collected for the equipment of troops. Cod. Theod. vii. 6. 3. The provinces of the East, with the exception of Osroene and Isauria, contributed gold instead of actual equipment. The Ben. note quotes a law of Valens that this was to be paid between Sept. 1 and April 1, and argues thence that this letter may be definitely dated in March, 372, and not long before Easter, which fell on April 8.
(2 )It is the contention of Tillemont that this cannot apply to the great Athanasius, to whom Meletius is not likely to have refused communion, but is more probably to be referred to some other unknown Athanasius. Maran, however, points out (Vit. Bas. xxii.) not only how the circumstances fit in, but how the statement that communion was refused by Meletius is borne out by Letter cclviii. § 3, q.v. Athanasius was in fact so far committed to the other side in the unhappy Antiochene dispute that it was impossible for him to recognise Meletius. cf. Newman, Church of the Fathers, chap. vii.
(2 )By Newman, who translates the first paragraphs, this letter, as well as xcii., is viewed in close connection with Letter lxx., addressed to Damasus.
(3 )kh/rugma. cf. note on the De Sp. Sancto. p. 41.
(2 )Or, in some mss., the Illyrians. Valerianus, bishop of Aquileia, was present at the Synod held in Rome in 371 (Theodoret, Hist. Ecc. ii. 2.) and also at the Synod in the same city in 382. (Theod. Ecc. Hist. v. 9, where see note.) Dorotheus or Sabinus had brought letters from Athanasius and at the same time a letter from Valerianus. Basil takes the opportunity to reply.
(5 )Tillemont conjectures Barses of Edessa.
(11 )Of Batnae. cf. Lettercxxxii.
(14 )For Iatrius, Maran would read Oterius of Melitine.
(16 )Maran would read Isaaces, and identify him with the Isacoces of Armenia Major.
(17 )Probably of Nyssa, lately consecrated
(19 )After noting that the Synodical Letter is to be found in Theodoret and in Sozomen (i.e. is in Theodoret I. viii. and in Socrates I. ix.) the Ben. Ed. express surprise that Basil should indicate concurrence with the Synodical Letter, which defines the Son to be th=j au'th=; u 9postasewj kai\ ou'si/aj, while he is known to have taught the distinction between u 9po/stasij and ou'si/a. As a matter of fact, it is not in the Synodical Letter, but in the anathemas originally appended to the creed, that it is, not asserted that the Son is of the same, but, denied that He is of a different ou'ui/a or u/po/stasij. On the distinction between ou'si/a and u 9to/stasij see Letters xxxviii., cxxv., and ccxxxvi. and the De Sp. Sancto. § 7. On the difficulty of expressing the terms in Latin, cf. Letter ccxiv. As upo/stasij was in 315 understood to be equivalent to ou'si/a, and in 370 had acquired a different connotation, it would be no more difficult for Basil than for the Church now, to assent to what is called the Nicene position, while confessing three hypostases. In Letter cxxv: Basil does indeed try to shew, but apparently without success, that to condemn the statement that He is of a different hypostasis is not equivalent to asserting Him to be of the same hypostasis.
(4 )A various reading is "martyr." In Letter cxxcvii. to S. Ambrose, S. Basil, states that the same honour was paid to S. Dionysius of Milan in his place of sepulture as to a martyr. So Gregory Thaumaturgus was honoured at Neocaesarea, and Athanasius and Bail received like distinction soon after their death.
(5 )The custom of the reservation of the Sacrament is, as is well known, of great antiquity. cf. Justin Martyr, Apol. i. 85; Tertull., De Orat. xix. and Ad Ux. ii. 5; S. Cyprian, De Lapsis cxxxii.; Jerome, Ep. cxxv. Abuses of the practice soon led to prohibition. So an Armenian Canon of the fourth century (Canones Isaaci, in Mai, Script. Vet. Nov. Coll. x. 280) and the Council of Saragossa, 380; though in these cases there seems an idea of surreptitious reservation. On the doctrine of the English Church on this subject reference may be made to the Report of a Committee of the Upper House of the Convocation of Canterbury in 1885.
The Rubric of 1549 allowed reservation, and it does not seem to have been prohibited until 1661. Bishop A. P. Forbes on Article xxviii. points out that in the Article reservation is not forbidden, but declared not to be of Christ's institution, and consequently not binding on the Church. The distinction will not be forgotten between reservation and worship of the reserved Sacrament.
(1 )Placed in 372, at the departure of Valens.
(2 )Among the honourable functions of the clergy was that of acting as guides and escort, parape/mpontej cf. Letters xcviii. and ccxliii.
(3 )The church and hospital, of which mention is here made, were built in the suburbs of Caesarea. Gregory of Nazianzus calls it a new town. cf. Greg. Naz., Or. xx. and Theodoret, Ecc. Hist. iv. 19, and Sozomen, vi. 34. On Alexander's ear, cf. Letter xxiv.
(2 )Theodotus of Nicopolis was distressed at Basil's being in communion with Eustathius.
(2 )On the whole circumstances of the difficulties which arose in consequence of the civil division of Cappadocia, and the claim put forward in consequence by Anthimus, bp. of Tyana, to exercise metropolitan jurisdiction, see the biographical notice in the Prolegomena.
(3 )i.e. of the Incarnation. cf. note on p. 7, and on Theodoret, p. 72.
(2 )On a proposed meeting of bishops, with an allusion to the consecration of the younger Gregory.
(3 )Tillemont supposes the reference to be to Gregory of Nyssa. Maran, however (Vit. Bas. xxiv.), regards this as an error, partly caused by the introduction into the text of the word e'mo/n, which he has eliminated; and he points out the Gregory of Nyssa, however unwilling to accept consecration, never objected after it had taken place, and was indeed sent to Nazianzus to console the younger Gregory of that place in his distress under like circumstances. Moreover, Gregory of Nyssa was consecrated n the ordinary manner on the demand of the people and clergy with the assent of the bishops of the province. (cf. Letter ccxxv.) Gregory the younger, however, was consecrated to Sasima without these formalities.
(2 )cf. Letter ccxiv. On Terentius vide Amm. Marcellinus, xxvii. 12 and xxxi. He was an orthodox Christian, though in favour with Valens. In 372 he was in command of twelve legions in Georgia, and Basil communicates with him about providing bishops for the Armenian Church. According to some manuscripts of Letter cv., q.v., his three daughters were deaconesses.
(3 )katagagw/n. So six mss., but the Ben. Ed. seem rightly to point out that the invitation never resulted in actual "conducting."
(4 )i.e.The Armenian Nicopolis.
(2 )cf. Letters clxxvi. and cclii. Eupsychius suffered for the part he took in demolishing the Temple of Fortune at Caesarea. cf. Sozomen, Ecc. Hist. v. 11. An Eupsychius appears in the Bollandist acts under April 9th. Vide Prolegomena.
(3 )The Ben. note, in answer to the suggested unlikelihood of Basil's being plotted against by his brother, calls attention to the fact that this opposition was due not to want of affection but to want of tact, and compares Letter lviii. on Gregory's foolish falsehood about their uncle.
(2 )To the title has been added "to the wife of Arinthaeus," but no manuscript known to the Ben. Ed. contained it.
(2 )On the appointment of a bishop for that see in the North East of Armenia Minor.
(4 )the relative referred to is Poemenius. cf. Letter cxxii.
(1 )Of the same date as the preceding.
(2 )On the rating of the clergy.
(3 )tou=j tou= qeou= i 9erwmenouj, presbute/rouj kai\ diako/nouj. The Ben. note points out that the words priests and deacons probably crept into the mss., in all of which it is found, from the margin, inasmuch as by i 9erwme/nouj and cognate words Basil means the whole clergy. cf. Letter liv. and note on p. 157.
(2 )cf. Letter xcix. and note.
(2 )Among others, conspicuous instances of the statement in the text ore Cornelius, St. Martin, John de Joinville, Peter du Terreil, Sieur de Bayard, Henry Havelock, and Charles Gordon.
(2 )On the pressure put upon her by the guardian of her heirs.
(1 )Of the same date as the preceding.
(2 )On the tribute of iron paid in Mount Taurus.
(2 )Asking for the merciful consideration of Domitianus, a friend of Basil.
(2 )That the Nicene Creed alone is to be required of the brethren.
(2 )Like the preceding Letter, on the sufficiency of the Nicene Creed.
(2 )The Ben. E. note that in the imperial codex No. lxvii. appears an argument of this letter wanting in the editions of St. Basil. It is as follows: "Letter of the same to Simplicia about her eunuchs. She was a heretic. The blessed Basil being ill and entering a bath to bathe, Simplicia told her eunuchs and maids to throw his towels out. Straightway the just judgment of God slew some of them, and Simplicia sent money to the blessed Basil to make amends for the injury. Basil refused to receive it, and wrote this Letter." This extraordinary preface seems to have been written by some annotator ignorant of the circumstances, which may be learnt from Greg. Naz. Letter xxxviii. It appears that a certain Cappadocian church, long without a bishop, had elected a slave of Simplicia, a lady wealthy and munificent, but of suspected orthodoxy. Basil and Gregory injudiciously ordained the reluctant slave without waiting for his mistress's consent. The angry lady wrote in indignation, and threatened him with the vengeance of her slaves and eunuchs. After Basil's death she returned to the charge, and pressed Gregory to get the ordination annulled. cf. Maran, Vit. Bas. chap xxv.
(3 )Presumably the slaves and eunuchs mentioned below. If the letter is genuine it is wholly unworthy of the Archbishop of Caesarea.
(2 )A young soldier whom Basil would win from the army to ascetic life.
(1 )Answer of Firminius to the preceding.
(1 )Placed at the end of 372 or the beginning of 373.
(2 )The mss. vary between Jovinus and Jobinus. cf. Theodoret, Ecc. Hist. iv. 13.
(1 )Placed in the end of 372 or beginning of 373.
(2 )On the misconduct of Basilius and Sophronius, two disciples of Eustathius.
(2 )Basil keeps up his support of the claims of Meletius, now in exile in Armenia, to be recognised as Catholic bishop of Antioch, and complains of the irregular ordination of Faustus as bishop of an Armenian see by Basil's opponent, Anthimus of Tyana. Sanctissimus, the bearer of the letter, is supposed by Tillemont (vol. ix. p. 210) to be a Western on account of his Latin name. Maran (Vit. Bas. 26) points out that Orientals not infrequently bore Latin names, and supposes him to be a presbyter of Antioch.
(3 )The title was not even at this time confined to bishops, and who this papa is is quite uncertain. The title is not generally limited to the bishop of Rome until the eighth century. So late as 680 Cyrus is called pope of Alexandria at the Sixth Council. (Mansi xi. 214.) It was not till 1073 that Gregory VII. asserted an exclusive right to the name. (Gieseler, vol. 1, 2, 405.)
(1 )Of the same date as the preceding.
(2 )On the same subject as the preceding. cf Letters cii., ccxxvii., ccxxviii., ccxxix., and cxxx.
(2 )On Basil's relations with Eustathius of Sebasteia (Siwas in Armenia Minor), the Vicar of Bray of the Arian controversies, who probably subscribed more creeds than any other prominent bishop of his age, se Letters cxxx. and ccxliv., and p. 171, n.
(4 )Marcellus of Ancyra (Angora) was represented to teach that the Son had no real personality, but was only the outward manifestation (Porforiko\j Ao/goj) of the Father, but he could always defend himself on the ground that he was in communion with Julius and Athanasius, popes of Rome and Alexandria. cf. Jer., De Vir. Ill.. chap. lxxxvi.
(5 )cf. Letters xxxviii. and xcii. Basil is anxious to show that his own view is identical with the Nicene, and does not admit a development and variation in the meaning of the word hypostasis; but on comparing such a passage as that in Athan. c. Afros, "hypostasis is substance, and means nothing else but very being" (h\ de\ u 9po/stasij ou'si/a e'sti\ kai\ ou'de\n a'llo\ shmaino/menon e#xei h$au'to\ to\ o!n) with St. Basil's words in the text it appears plain that hypostasis is not used throughout in the same sense. An erroneous sense of "three hypostases" was understood to be condemned at Nicaea, though Athanasius, e.g. "In illud omnia," etc., Schaff and Wace's ed., p. 90, does himself use the phrase, writing probably about ten years after Nicaea; but he more commonly treats ousi/a and u\po/stasij as identical. See specially the Tomus ad Antiochenos of a.d. 362 on the possible use of either "three hypostases" or "one hypostasis." cf. also n. on p. 179.
(6 )I give the creed in the original Greek. The passages in brackets indicate the alterations of the Constantinopolitan revision according to the text of Chalcedon.
(7 )"Deum de Deo" is inserted in the Sarum Breviary.
(9 )cf. De Sp. S. § 25, p. 17. On those who described the Spirit as merely a ministering spirit, vide Athan., Ad Serap. i. (lego/ntwn au'to\ mh\ mo/non kti/sma, a'lla\ kai\ tw=n leitourgikw=n pneuma\twn e$n au'to\ ei\nai). This new party arose in the Delta about 362, and was first known as "Tropici." They were condemned at the synod held at Alexandria on the return of Athanasius from his third exile. Its Synodical Letter is the Tomus ad Antiochenos.
(2 )Bishop of Neocaesarea. Vide Letter lxv.
(2 )On Basil's difficulties while at Nicopolis, with a request for the sympathy of Eusebius.
(2 )On the difficulty of reconciliation with Eustathius.
(3 )Maran supposes this to be the place referred to in Letter ccliv. 2.
(2 )A refutation of a charge that he was the author of an Apollinarian document.
(3 )The Ben. note adduces this letter and Letter ccxxiv. as shewing two kinds of communion, (1) Personal in the Eucharist and prayer, and (2) by letter.
(2 )Bishop of Castabala, whither he was translated from Eleutheropolis. cf. Letters ccliv. and ccxlv.
(6 )There is no other mention in Basil's letters of Eustathius being guilty of re-ordination. The Ben. note, however, states that Basil is not accurate in saying that there was no heretical precedent for such proceedings. The Arians are charged with it in the Book of Prayers of Faustus and Marcellinus, Bib. Patr v. 655. cf. also the letter of Constantius to the Ethiopians against Frumentius. Athan., Apol. ad Const. § 31.
(2 )cf. Letters xii. and xiii.
(3 )cf. Letter cxxv. and Greg. Naz., Orat. i. and xxix.
(2 )cf. Letter xcii. He was present at the Council of Constantinople.
(1 )Peter II. succeeded Athanasius in May, 373. Athanasius died May 2.
(2 )cf. Letter cix. Theodoret, Hist. Ecc. iv. 24. He was a pupil of Silvanus, bishop of Tarsus. Letter ccxliv. Theodoret, Ep. xvi., refers to his obligations to him as a teacher. In 378 he became bishop of Tarsus. Only some fragments of his works remain, the bulk having been destroyed, it is said, by the Arians.
(2 )On his own sickness and the troubles of the Church. On his bad health. cf. Letters ix., xxvii., cxcviii., ccii., cciii., and ccxvi. The translation of the first section is Newman's.
(2 )Compare Letters clxxxvi. and clxxxvii.
(3 )Possibly the person to whom the disturbance at Palladia's house was due.
(2 )The translation of Sec. 1, down to "medical men," is partly Newman's.
(3 )On Evagrius, known generally as Evagrius of Antioch, to distinguish him from Evagrius the historian, see especially Theodoret, Ecc. Hist. v. 23. He had travelled to Italy with Easebius of Vercellae. His communication to Basil from the Western bishops must have been disappointing and unsatisfactory. On his correspondence with Basil, after his return to Antioch, see Letter clvi. His consecration by the dying Paulinus in 388 inevitably prolonged the disastrous Meletian schism at Antioch.
(4 )i.e. that Basil, as primate, should either consecrate them an orthodox bishop, or, if this was impossible under Valens, should take them under his own immediate episcopal protection.
(6 )He was succeeded by Joh I. cf. Letter clxi. and note.
(2 )On the cruel persecution roused by Valens in Alexandria shortly after the death of Athanasius in 373, and the horrors perpetrated there, see the letter of Peter, Athanasius' successor, in Theod. iv. 19.
(3 )e'n th= politei\a kama/touj; or, possibly, labours in life, i.e. ascetic life. The Ben. ed. prefer the latter.
(3 )Here follows in the text the Nicene Creed with the anathemas. The Ben. note points out that the Nicene Creed was brought to Caesarea by St. Leontius, and was vigorously defended by his successor Hermogenes. cf. Letter lxxxi. Dianius, who next followed in the see, signed several Arian formulae. The Nicene Creed, however, had been maintained at Caesarea, and in Letter li. Dianius is described as supporting it.
(2 )On his being hindered from traveling by ill health, and on his difficulties with the bishops in communion with him.
(4 )The Ben. note is: "Canones illos qui apostolis affict fuere, nonnunquam citat Basilius in Epsitolis canonics. Videtur hol loco respicere ad vigesimum (?xxxvii.) septimum,ubi praescibitur, ut in unaquaque provincia episcopi nihil majoris rei incipiant sine sententia illius, qui inter eos primus, ac unus quisque iis contentus sit, quae ad paroeciam suam pertinent: sed nec ille absque omnium voluntate quidquam faciat. Erat Basilius hujus canonis observandi studiosus, et quamvis noninis fama et sidis dignitate plurimum posset, nunquam ab eo communionis restitutionem impetrare potuerunt Marcelli discipuli, antequam Petri Alexandrini auctoritates accesisset: et cum ab Episcopis in Palaestina Exsulantibus non ex spectato aliorum Episcoporum consensu restiuti fuissent, factum moleste tulit et libere reprehendit ." Epist. cclxv.
(2 )On the exemption of hospitals form taxation.
(3 )cf. Letters c. and cclii., and note on p. 184.
(1 )Of the same date as the preceding.
(2 )On a possible visit of Eusebius to Caesarea.
(4 )"Vita vere mortalis spes est vitae immortalis." St. Augustine in Ps. iii. "Spes aeternitatem animum ergit, et idcirco nulla mala sentit." St. Greg., Moral. cf. Ovid. I. Pon. 7:
Quamvis est igitur meritis indebita nostris,
Magna tamen spes est in bonitate Dei.
(2 )Nephew of Eusebius, who had written a salutation in his uncle's letter. cf. Letter clxviii.
(2 )To commend Maximus, late prefect of Cappadocia and in great distress.
(2 )A trajan was commander-in-chief under Valens. cf. Theod. iv. 30 and Amm. Marcellinus xxxi. He was killed at the battle of Adrianople in 378. This may have been the same officer.
(2 )The Ben. notes points out that though in all the mss. the inscription is tw= au'tw= to the same, that is to Trajan, the internal evidence points to its having been written to some one else. Trajan had had no personal knowledge of the troubles of Maximus.
(2 )Amphilochius, not yet consecrated to Iconium, had abandoned his profession as an advocate, and was living in retirement at Ozizala, a place not far from Nazianzus, the see of his uncle Gregory, devoted to the care of his aged father, whose name he bores. Heraclidas, it appears, had also renounced bar, and devoted himself to religious life; but did not join Amphilochius on the ground that he was living in Basil's hospital at Caesarea. cf. the letters of Gregory, first cousin of Amphilochius. On the relationship, see Bp. Lightfoot in D. C. B. i. p. 104, and pedigree in prolegomena.
(9 )It will be observed that St. Basil's quotation here does not quite bear out his point. There is no "by them" in Acts iv. 35. "Distribution was made unto every man according as he had need." In Acts ii. 45 the primitive communists are said themselves to have "parted to all men as every man had need," the responsibility of distribution being apparently retained.
(2 )cf. Letter cixxxi. On those who had renounced communion with Eustathius the bishop.
(3 )i.e. Eustathius, the bishop, isrushing upon the knife.
(4 )The view of the Ben. Ed. is that the bales thrown overboard represent the loss of unity incurred by the Sebastenes by leaving the communion of Eustathius for his own. cf. Letter ccxxxvii.
(2 )cf. Greg. Naz., Letters cxxxiii. and cxxxiv. and Theodoret, Ecc. Hist. iv. 30. and Amm. Marc. xxxi. 7.
(2 )cf. Letters clxiv. and clxv. Ascholius baptized Theodosius at Thessalonica in 380, and was present at the Council of Constantinople in 381. Soc., Ecc. Hist. v. 6 and 8.
(2 )Supposed by Maran (Vit. Bas.) to be Julius Soranus, a relative of Basil, and dux of Scythia. Maran supposes that a copyist added these words to the title because Soranus was "a trainer" (alei/pthj) and encourager of martyrs: in Letter clxiv. Basil calls Ascholius "a trainer" of the martyr Sabas.
(3 )khou/gmata. On St. Basil's use of this word for decree, vide De Sp. S. c. 66. Here it seems to have the force of an appointed liturgy. cf. the letter of Firmilianus to Cyprian. (Ep. Cyp. 75.)
(4 )This is one of the earliest references to the preservation of relics. So late as the case of St. Fructuosus (Acta SS. Fructuosi, etc.), who died at Tarragona in 259, the friends are forbidden to keep the relics. On St. Basil's views on the subject. cf. Hom. in Mart. Jul. 2 and Hom. de SS. xl. MM.S. So Gregory of Nyssa. Hom. i. in in xl. Mar. ii. 935. As early as the time of St. Augustine (_430) a thriving trade in forged relics had already begun. (Aug., De Opere Monach. 28.) cf. Littledale's Plain Reasons, p. 51.
(2 )cf. Letters cxlvi. and ccxxxix. Maran. (Vit. Bas). is of opinion that as these two letters, clvii. and clviii., written at the same time, are very much in the same terms, they cannot be to the same person, and thinks that the sluggishness, which Basil complains of, fits with Eusebius much better than with Antiochus, who could not travel without his uncle's permission.
(2 )On the Nicene Creed and the Holy Ghost.
(2 )On the marriage with a deceased wife's sister. cf. Letter xcccv.
(13 )On the ancient dislike of stepmothers,cf. Herod. iv. 154, and Eurip., Alcetis 309, where they are said to be as dangerous to the children as vipers. Meanander writes deino/teron ou'de\n a#llo mptruia=j kako/n.
(14 )1 Thess. iv. 4. So A.V., apparently taking skeu=oj for body with Chrys., Theodoret, and others. The Greek is, most simply, not "possess," but get, and is in favour of the interpretation of Theod. of Mops., Augustine, and others, "get his wife." See Ellicott, Thess. p. 53.
(3 )1 Sam. ix. 3. So six mss. Editors have substituted "enemies." The letter does not exist in the Codes Harlaeanus. Onoi is supposed to meant that Faustinus and John, the predecessors of Amphilochius in the see of Iconium, were not very wise bishops. e#xqroi might mean that they were Arian. cf. Letter cxxxviii.
(4 )cf. Ps. lv. 22 and 1 Pet. v. 7.
(2 )On Basil's hopes of visiting Eusebius.
(3 )Eutyches was a Cappadocian, who was taken prisoner by the Goths, in the reign of Gallienus, in a raid into Cappadocia. It was through the teaching of these captives that the ancestors of Ulphilas became Christians. cf. Philost., H.E. ii. 5.
(4 )The Ben. note illustrates these modes of martyrdom from the letter of the Gothic Church, supposed to have been written by Ascholius, sent to Caesarea with the body of Saint Sabas, who suffered under Athanaricus, king of the Goths, in the end of the fourth century. "They bring him down to the water, giving thanks and glorifying God; then they flung him down, and put a block about his neck, and plunged him into the depth. So slain by wood and water, he kept the symbol of salvation undefiled, being 38 years old.: cf. Ruinart., Act. Sinc. p. 670.
(2 )So all the mss. But it is the opinion of Maran that there can be no doubt of the letter being addressed, not to Ascholius, but to Soranus, duke of Scythia. We have seen in letter 255 that Basil requested his relative Julius Soranus to send him some relics of the Gothic martyrs. This letter appears to refer to his prompt compliance with the request by sending relics of Saint Sabas.
(2 )This letter is numbered lxv. among those of Gregory of Nazianzus, to whom it is to be attributed. It is only found in one ms. of the letters of Basil (Coisl. i.)
(2 )Nephew of Eusebius. cf Letters cxlivi, clvii., and clviii.
(3 )Eusebius was now in exile in Thrace. On this picturesque scene of his forced departure from his diocese, the agony of his flock at losing him, and his calm submission to the tyranny of Valens, see Theodoret iv. 12 and 13, pp. 115, 116, of this edition.
(1 )Placed in 374, on the misconduct of Glycerius, a deacon.
(2 )Tillemont says either of Nyssa or Nazianzus. In thems. Coisl. I. it is preceded by lxxi., unquestionably addressed to Gregory of Nazianzus, and inscribed "to the same." In the Codes Harl it is inscribed Grhgori/w e 9tai/rw. Garnier, however (Viat S. Bas. xxxi. § iv.) allows that there are arguments in favor of Gregory of Nyssa. Probably it is the elder Gregory who is addressed. See Prolegomena.
(3 )Or Veësa, or Synnasa; the mss. vary.
(4 )e'pistolh=j is read in the version of this letter appearing in the works of Greg. Naz., and Combefis is no doubt right in thinking that it makes better sense than e'pisth/mhj, reading of the chief mss. here.
(5 )cf. Prolegomena, and Ramsay's Church and Roman Empire, Cap. xviii.
(1 )Placed with the preceding.
(2 )tou= baqmou=. cf. 1 Tim. iii. 13. oi 9 kalw=j diakonhsantej Baqmo\n e 9autoi=j kalo\n peripoiou=ntai.. There seems an evident allusion to this passage, but not such as to enable Basil to be positively ranked with Chrysostom in his apparent interpretation of baqmo/j objectively of preferment, or with Theodoret in his subjective idea of honour with God. Apparently the "degree" is the Diaconate.
(3 )otolh/. The technical use of this word for a "stole" is not earlier than the ninth century. It was indeed used for a sacred vestment, e.g. the sacred robe which Constantine presented to Macarius, Bishop of Jersusalem. (Theodoret ii. 27.) In Latin "stola" designated the distinctive dress of the matron, and it seems to be used with a suggestion of effeminacy.
(1 )Placed with the preceding.
(2 )This Sophronius is distinguished by Maran from the Sophronius, magister offciorum, to whomLetter xxxii., lxxvi., and xcvi. have already been addressed, and who is also the recipient of clxxvi., clxxx., cxcii., cclxii. Nothing else is know of him.
(2 )On the Canonicae, pious women who devoted themselves to education, district visiting, funerals, and various charitable works, and living in a community apart from men, cf. Soc. i. 17, "virgins in the register," and Sozomen viii. 23, on Nicarete. They were distinguished from nuns as not being bound by vows, and from deaconesses as not so discharging ministerial duties.
(2 )"Prayer ardent opens heaven." Young, N.T. viii., 721.
(1 )Written probably early in 374.
(2 )One ms. reads Magninianus. On the identification of this officer with the recipient of cccxxv., see that letter.
(3 )But what Basil declined to do at the prompting of Magnenianus, he shortly afterwards did for Amphilochius, and wrote the De Spiritu Sancto.
(4 )Maran (V. Basil xxx.) thinks that the allusion is to Atarbuis of Neocaesarea and to some of his presbyters. cf. Letter ccx.
(2 )An invitation to feast of St. Eupsychius, with a request to arrive three days before the actual day of the festival, which was observed on the 7th of September. (cf. Letter c. and note, and the invitation to the Pontic bishops in cclii.)
(3 )i.e. Damas and Eupsychius.
(4 )So the date stands in eight mss. However it arose, 5th is a mistake for 7th, the day of St. Eupsychius in the Greek Kalendar.
(5 )Mnh\mh. The Ben. Ed. understand by this word the church erected by Basil in his hospital (cf. Letter xciv) at Caesarea. In illustration of the use of muh/uh in this sense Du Cange cites Act. Conc. Chalced. i. 144, and explains it as being equivalent to "memoria," i.e. "aedes sacra in qua extat sancti alicujus sepulcrum." cf.Nomocan. Photii. v. § 1. For the similar use of "memoria," in Latin, cf. Aug., De Civ. Dei. xxii. 10: "Nos autem martvribus nostris non templa sicut diis sed memorias sicut hominibus mortuis fabricamus."
(1 )Placed with the preceding.
(2 )Also recommending the interests of Eusebius.
(3 )The Ben. note considers the circumstances referred to are the cruelties of Valens to those who were accused of enquiring by divination as to who should succeed him on the throne. cf. Ammianus Marcellinus xxix. 1, 2.
(2 )Possibly commendatory of the same Eusebius.
(2 )In Armenia Minor, now Malatia. Basil asks him for and offers sympathy in the exile of Eusebius. Otreius was at Tyana in 367, and at Constantinople in 381 (Labbe ii. 99 and 955).
(3 )Where Eusebius was in exile.
(2 )Specially the exile of Eusebius.
(2 )xa/rin e!xein toi=j oikonomrqei=sin, with the Cod. Med., instead of e'pi\ toi=j oi\konomhqei=sin. The Ben. note points out that this expression of gratitude to the troubles themselves is of a piece with the expression of gratitude to enemies in the De. Sp. S. vi. § 13. (p. 8), and concludes: "Sic etiam Machabaeorum mater apud Gregorium Nazianzenum orat. xxii. ait se tyranno pene gratias agere.
(3 )cf. Prov. xvii. 3 and xxvii. 21.
(2 )Nothing more is known of this Eustathius. Himmeria is in Osrhoene.
(2 )Nothing more is known of this Theodotus.
(3 )The Greek proverb was di\j kra/mbh qa/natoj, vide Politian. Miscel. 33. cf. "Occidit miseros crambe repetita magistros." Juv. vii. 154.
(4 )kourotpo/foj. Ithaca is a'gaqh\ kourotro/foj, because it bore and bred hardy men. Od. ix. 27.
(2 )In this letter Basil replies to several questions of Amphilochius concerning the Canons, and also concerning the interpretation of some passages of Holy Scripture. Maran dates it at the end of 374.
(4 )i.e. the followers of Novatian. cf. Eusebius vi. 43. cf. De. Sp. Scto. ch. x. p. 17 and note.
(5 )Or Pepuziani, another name for the Montanists. "Epiphanius may safely be disregarded, who, treating of the Montanists, in the 48th section of his work on heresies, treats of the Pepuziani, in the 49th, as a kindred, but distinct, sect" Dr. Salmon in D. C. B. iv. 303 . The name is derived from Pepuza in Western Phrygia, the Montanist, or Cataphrygian, "Jerusalem." (Eus. H.E. v. 18.
(6 )i.e. of Alexandria. Jerome (Vir. ilust. lxix.) says that he agreed with Cyprian and the African Synod on the rebaptizing of heretics. The Ben. note says: "Videtur hac in re major auctoriatas Basilio attribuenda quam Hieronymo. Plus operae insumpserat Basilius in ea re examinando."
(8 )Archbp. Trench (N.T. Syn. 330) quotes Augustione (Con. Crescon. Don. ii. 7): "Schisma est recens congregationis ex aliquâ sententiarum diversitate dissensio; haeresis autem schisma inveteratum;" and Jerome (Ep. ad Tit. iii. 10): "Inter haeresim et schisma hoc esse arbitrantur, quod haeresis perversum dogma habeat; schisma propter episcopalem dissensionem ab ecclesiâ separetur; quod quidem in principio aliquâ ex parte intelligi queat. Caeterum nullum schisma non sibi aliquam confingit haeresim, ut recte ab ecclesia recessisse videatur."
To these may be added Aug. (Quaest. in Matt. xi. 2): "Solet autem etiam quaeri schismatici quid ab haereticis disent, et hoc inveniri quod schismaticos non fides diversa faciat sed communionis disrupta societas. Sed utrum inter zizania numerandi sint dubitari potest, magis autem videntr spicis corruptis esse similiores, vel paleis aristarum fractis, vel scissis et de segete abruptis."
(9 )tw=n a'posxisa/ntwn, w 9j e!ti e'k th=j e/kklhsi/aj o!ntwn.
The Ben. note is "Quod autem addit Basilius, ut adhuc ex Ecclesia exsistentium, non idcirco addit quod schismaticos in Ecclesiae membris numeraret. Illius verba si quis in deteriorem partem rapiat, facilis et expedita responsio, Nam sub finem hujus, canonis de Encratitis ipsis, id est, de haereticis incarnationem et Dei singularitatem negantibus, ait sibi non jam integrum esse eos qui huic sectae conjunci sunt ab Ecclesia separare, quia duos eorum episcopos sine baptismo ac sine nova ordinatione receperat. Nemo autem suspicabitur Basilium ejusmodi haereticos ab Ecclesia alienissimos non judicasse. Quare quidquid schismaticis tribuit, in sola baptismi societate positum est. Nam cum Cyprianus et Firmilianus schismaticos et haereticos ita ba Ecclesia distractos crederent, ut hihil prosus ad eos ex fontibus Ecclesiae perflueret; Basilius huic sententiae non assentitur, et in schismaticis quia fidem Ecclesiae retinent, vestigium quoddam agnoscit necessitudinis et societatis cum Ecclesia, ita ut valida sacramentorum administratio ab Ecclesia ad illos permanare possit. Hinc sibi integrum negat detestandos haereticos ab Ecclesia separare, quorum baptisma ratum habuerat. Idem docent duo praestantissimi unitatis defensores. Optatus et Augustinus. Quod enim scissum est, inquit Optatus lib. iii. n. 9, ex parte divisum est, non ex foto: cum constet merito, quia nobis et vobis ecclesiastica una est conversatio, et si hominum litigant mentes, non litigant sacramenta. Vid. lib. iv. n. 2. Sic etiam Augustinus lib. i De baptismo n. 3: Itaque isti (haeretici et schismatici) in quibusdam rebus nobiscum sunt: in quibus autem nobiscum non sunt, ut veniendo accipiant, vel redeundo recipiant, adhortamur. Vid. lib. iii. n. 26. Sic ex Basilio haeretici nobiscum sunt quoad baptisma ."
(10 )touj e'n baqmw=. cf. note on p. 218.
(11 )As being on e of Basil's predecessors in the see of Caesarea.
(12 )"Hoc Encratitarum facinore non corrupta essentialis baptismi forma. Sed novae quaedam adjectae caerimoniae." Ben. Ed.
(13 )i.e. those who used water instead of wine in the Eucharist, as Tatian and his followers. cf. Clem. Al., Strom. i. 19 and Cyprian. Ep. lxiii.
(14 )The Ben. note points out that the improper proceeding of the Encratites consisted not in any corruption of the baptismal formula, but in the addition of certain novel ceremonies, and proceeds: "Nam in canone 47 sic eos loquentes inducit.. In Patrem et Filium et Spiritum baptizati summus. Hinc eorum baptisma ratum habet, si qua inciderit magni momenti causa. Quod autem ait hoc facinus eos incipere, ut reditum sibi in Ecclesiam intercludatn, videtur id prima specie in eam sententiam accipiendum, quasi Encratitae baptisma suum ea mente immutassent, ut Catholicos ad illud rejiciendum incitarent, sicque plures in secta contineret odium et fuga novi baptismatis. Abhorrebat enim ab omnium anaimis iteratus baptismus, ut pluribus exemplis probat Augustinus, lib. v. De baptismo, n. 6. Videtur ergo prima specie Encratitis, ea, quam dixi, exstitisse causa, cur baptismum immutarent. Atque ita hunl locum interpretatur Tillemontius, tom.iv. p. 628. Sic etiam illius exemplo interpretatus sum in Praef. novae Cypriani operum editioni praemissa cap. 4. p. 12. Sed huic interpretationi non convenit cum his quae addit Basilius. Vereri enim se significat ne Catholici, dum Encratitas ab hac baptismi immutatione deterrere volunt, nomium restricti sint et severi in eorum baptismo rejiciendo. Sperabant ergo Catholici tardiores ad ejus modi baptisma Encratitas futuros, si illud Catholici ratum habrere nollent; nedum ipsi Encratitae baaptisma a Catholicis rejiceretur. Quamobrem haec verba, ut reditum sibi in Ecclesiam intercludant, non consilium et propositum Encratitarum designant, sed incommodum quod ex eorum facinore consequebatur; velut si docamus aliquem scelus admittere, ut aeternam sibi damnationem accersat."
(15 )cf. note on p. 42. St. Cyprian (Ep. lxx.) says that heretics who have no true altar cannot have oil sanctified by the altar. "Gregory of Nazianzus, Orat. (xlviii in Jul.) speaks of oil sanctified or consecrated on the spiritual or divine table; Optatus of Milevis (c. Don. vii. 102) says that this ointment is compounded (conditur) in the name of Christ; and the Pseudo-Dionysius (De Hierarch. Eccles. c. 4) mentions the use of the sign of the cross in the consecration of it." D. C. A. i. 355.
(16 )This is the only known reference to these two bishops.
(17 )"Respicit, ni falor, ad canonem 25 apostolorum, ad quem Balsamon et Zonaras observant nonnulla esse peccata, quibus excommunicatio, non solum depositio, infligitur; velut si quis pecunia, vel magistratus potentia, sacedotium assequatur, ut sancitur Can. 29 et 30." Ben. note.
(19 )"Duo veteres libri ountrimmou= th=j kardi/aj." Ben. note.
(21 )John iv. 18. For the more usual modern interpretation that the sixth union was an unlawful one, cf. Bengel. Matrimonium hoc sextum non erat legitimum, vel non consummatum, aut desertio aliudve impedimentum intercesserat, ex altera utra parte..
(22 )tw=n kanouikw=n. The Greek is of either gender. The Ben. note is: Clericos sive eos qui in canone recensentur hac voce designari hactenus existimarunt Basilii interpretes, ac ipsi etiam Zonares et Balsamon. Sed ut canonicas sive sacras virgines interpreter, plurimis rationum momentis adducor: I. Basilius hoc nomine clericos appellare non solet, sed sacras virgines, ut persici potest ex epistolis 52 et 175; 2. praescriptum Basilii non convenit in clericos, quorum nonnullis, nempe lectoribus et aliis ejus modi venia dabatur ineundi matrimonii, quamvis in canone recenserentur: 3. prohibet Basilius ejusmodi stupra quae honesto matrimonii nomine praetexi solebant. At id non inconcessum erat matrimonium, alios vero matrimonium post ordinationem inire nulla porsus Ecclesia patiebatur, aut certe matrimonii pretium erat depositio. Contra virginibus nubentibus non longior poena pluribus in locis imponebatur, quam digamis, ut perspicitur ex canone 18, ubi Basilius hance consuetudinem abrogat, ac virginum matrimonia instar adulterii existimat.
(23 )So the mss. But the Ben. note points out that there must be some error, if a sin knowingly committed was punished by excommunication for fifteen years (Canons lviii., lxii., lxiii.), and one unwittingly committed by a punishment of twice the duration.
(25 )The Ben. note continues: "Deinde vero testatur Basilius eos fere hominis aetatem satanae traditos fuisse. At aetas hominis (genea/) saepe annorum viginti spatio existimatur; velut cum ait Dionysius Alexandrinus Alexandrinus apud Eusebium, lib. vii. cap. 21. Israelitas in deserto fuisse duabus aetatibus. Ipse Basilius in Epistola 201, quae scripta est anno 375, Neocaeaetatem succenseant; quos tamen non ita pridem amicos habuerat; ac anno 568, Musonii morte affictos litteris amicissimis consolatus fuerat. Saeculum apud Latinos non semper stricte sumitur; velut cum ait Hieronymus in Epist. 27 ad Marcellum, in Christi verbis explicandis per tanta jam saecula tantorum ingenia sudasse; vel cum auctor libri De rebaptismate in Cyprianum tacito nomine invehitur, quod adversus prisca consulta post tot saeculorum tantam seriem nunc primum repente sine ratione insurgat, p. 357. De hoc ergo triginta annorum numero non paucos deducendos esse crediderim.
(30 )The Ben. note is, Sequitur in hoc canone Basilius Romanas leges, quos tamen fatetur cum evangelio minus consentire. Lex Constantini jubet in repudio mittendo a femina haec sola crimina inquiri, si homicidam, vel medicamentarium, vel scpulcrorum dissolutorem maitum suum esse probaverit. At eadem lege viris conceditur, ut adulteras uxores dimittant. Aliud discrimen hoc in canone uxores inter et maritos ponitur, quod uxor injuste dimissa, si ab alia ducatur, adulterit notam non effugait; dimissus autem injuste maritus nec adulter sit, si aliam ducat, nec aquae ab co ducitur, adultera. Caeterum Basilius ante episcopatum eodem jure uxorem ac maritum esse censebat. Nam in Moral. reg. 73 statuit virum ab uxore, aut uxorem a viro non debere separari, nisi quis deprehendatur in adulterio. Utrique pariter interdict novis nuptiis, sive repudient, sive repudientur.
(32 )The Ben. note refers to the case of Dracontius, who had sworn that he would escape if her were ordained bishop, and so did; but was urged by Athanasius to discharge the duties of his diocese, notwithstanding his oath.
(33 )On this obscure passage the Ben. note is: Longinus presbyter erat in agro Mestiae subjecto. Sed cum is depositus essit ob aliquod delictum, ac forte honorem sacerdotii retiucret, ut nonnumquam fiebat, Severus episcopus in ejus locum transtulit Cyriacum, quem antea Mindanis ordinaverat, ac jurare coegerat se Mindanis mansurum. Nihil hac in re statui posse videbatur, quod non in magnam aliquam diffcultatem incurreret. Nam si in agro Mestiae subjecto Cyriacus remaneret, perjurii culpam sustinebat. Si rediret Mindana, ager Mestiae subjectus presbytero carebat, atque hujus incommodi culpa redundabat in caput Longini, qui ob delictum depositus fueret. Quid igitur Basilius? Utrique occurrit incommodo; jubet agrum, qui Mastiae subjectus erat Vasodis subjici, id est loco, cui subjecta erant Mindana. hocex remedio duo consequebatur Basilius, ut et ager ille presbytero non carerct, et Cyriacus ibi remanens Mindana tamca redire censeretur, cum jam hic locus eidem ac Mindana chorepiscopo pareret.
(35 )Ap. Can. xiii. 14" "It is clear from the Philosophumena of Hippolytus (ix. 12) that by the beginning of the 3d century the rule of monogamy for the clergy was well established, since he complains that in the days of Callistus 'digamist and trigamist bishops, and priests and deacons, began to be admitted into the clergy.' Tertullian recognises the rule as to the clergy. Thus in his De Exhortatione Castitatis (c. 7) he asks scornfully; 'Being a digamist, dost thou baptize? Dost thou make the offering?'" Dict. C. A. I. 552.
(36 )The Ben. note quotes Balsamon, Zonaras, and Alexius Aristenus as remarking on this that Basil gives advice, not direction, and regards the hands, not the hearts, of soldiers as defiled; and as recalling that this canon was quoted in opposition to the Emperor Phocas when he wished to reckon soldiers as martyrs. The canon was little regarded, as being contrary to general Christian sentiment.
cf. Ep. xlviii. p. 557 of this edition: "In war it is lawful and praiseworthy to destroy the enemy; accordingly not only are they who have distinguished themselves in the field held worthy of great honours, but monuments are put up proclaiming their achievements."
(37 )cf. Nic. xvii. Canon Bright (On the Canons, etc., p. 56) remarks: "It must be remembered that interest, called to/koj and fenus, as the product of the principal, was associated in the early stages of society, - in Greece and Rome as well as in Palestine, - with the notion of undue profit extorted by a rich lender from the needy borrower (see Grote, Hist. Gr. ii. 311 H.;, Arnold, Hist. Rome i. 282; Mommsen, Hist. R. i. 291). Hence Tacitus says, 'sane vetus urbi fenebre malcum, et seditionum discordiarumque creberrima causa' (Ann. vi. 16), and Gibbon calls usury 'the inveterate grievance of the city, abolished by the clamours of the people, revived by their wants and idleness.'" (v. 314.)
(1 )Placed in 374 or the beginning of 375.
(2 )cf. Letter cli. This doctrinal statement is also found among the works of Gregory of Nyssa; but is more probably to be attributed to Basil. Vide Tillem. Mém. Ecc. ix. 678.
(8 )Num. xxii. 20. Contrast Bp. Butler,Serm. vii.
(9 )cf. St. John xvii. 11 and 17.
(1 )Placed by Maran in 374. After Easter 375 by Tillemont.
(2 )Isauria, the district of Pisidia, forming the S. W. corner of the modern Karamania, was under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Iconium. "In the heart of the Roman monarchy, the Isaurians long continued a nation of wild barbarians. Succeeding powers, unable to reduce them to obedience either by arms or policy, were compelled to acknowledge their weakness by surrounding the hostile and independent spot with a strong chain of fortifications (Hist. Aug. 197) which often proved insufficient to restrain the invasions of these domestic foes." Gibbon. chap. X. Raids and Arian persecution had disorganised the Isaurian Episcopate. (Maran, Vit. Bas.)
(7 )Here the mss. vary, and the sense is obscure. Ben.Ed. su\n h 9mi=n. al. sune/sin.
(8 )"Videtur illa dignitas, quam se amici causa alicujus petiturum promittit Basilius, non administratio aliqua fuisse, sed tantum codicillaria dignitas. Hoc enim consilio hanc dignitatem petere statuerat, ut amici domus magnum aliquod incommodum effugeret. Porro in hunc usum impetrari solebant codicilli, ut curia, vel saltem duumviratus et civitatis cura vitarentur. Pretio autem impetratos non mod nulla immunitas, sed etiam multa sequebatur ut perspictur ex Cod. Theod. vi. 22. Sic enim habet lex secunda imperatoris Constantii: 'Ab honoribus mercandis per suffragia, vel qualibet ambitione quaerendis, certa multa prohibuit: cui addimus et quicunque, fugientes obsequia curiarum, umbras et nomina affectaverint dignitatem, tricenas libras argenti inferre cogantur, manente illa praeterita inlatione auri qua perpetua lege constructi sunt.' Unde miror Basilium ab hac via tentanda non omnino alienum fuisse. Sed forte hae leges non admodum accurate servabuntur sub Valente." Ben. note.
(2 )So the mss. and Editors. The Ben. note would have it addressed to the recipient of the preceding. Tillemont thinks it written to one of the Lycian bishops referred to in Letter ccxviii.
(3 )h/mi=n. Some mss. have u 9mi=n.
(7 )Whether the proposed meeting took place, and, indeed, what meeting is referred to , cannot be determined. Basil met Amphilochius and some neighbouring bishops in Pisidia in 375. But before this he counts the Isaurians as already in communion with him (Letter cciv.). Perhaps all that the meeting was desired to bring about was effected by correspondence. This is the explanation of the Ben. Ed.
(2 )psodiarpasqw=men with two mss. prodiama/otoiuen has better authority, but is bad Greek, and makes worse sense.
(2 )Ambrose was placed in the archiepiscopate of Milan in 374. The letter of Basil is in reply to a request the for restoration to his native city of the relics of St. Dionysius of Milan, who died in Cappadocia in 374. cf. Ath., Ep. ad Sol.; Amb. iii. 920.
(6 )cf. Rom. xiv. 10 and 2 Cor. v. 10.
(2 )The Ben. Ed. note: "Saepe vituperantur apud sanctos Patres, qui sacra in privatil aedibus sive domesticis oratoriis celebrant. Hinc Irenaeus, lib. iv. cap. 26, oporetere ait eos, qui absistunt a principali successione et quocunque loc colligunt, suspectos habere, vel quasi haereticos et malae sententiae, vel quasi scindentes et elatos et sibi placentes; aut rursus ut hypocritas quaestus gratia et vanae gloriae hoc operantes. Basilius, in Psalm xxvii. n. 3: Non igitur extra sanctam hanc aulam adorare oporet, sed intra ipsam, etc. Similia habet Eusebius in eundem psalmum, p. 313. Sic etiam Cyrillus Alexandrinus in libro adversus Anthropomorphitas, cap. 12, et in libro decimo De adorat., p. 356. Sed his in locis perspicuum est haereticorum aut schismaticorum synagogas notari, vel quas vocat Basilius, can. 1. parasunagwga/j, sive illicitos conventus a presbyteris aut episcopis rebellibus habitos, aut a populis disciplinae expertibus. At interdum graves causae suberant, cur aacra in privatis aedibus impermissa non essent. Ipsa persecutio necessitatem hujus rei saepe afferbat, cum catholici episcopourm haereticorum communionem fugerecent, ut Sebastiae ecclesiarum aditu prohiberentur. Minime ergo mirum, si presbyteris Antiochenis eam sacerdotii perfunctionem Basilius reliquit, quae et ad jurisjurandi religionem et ad temporum molestias accommodata videbatur. Synodus Laodicena vetat, can. 58, in domibus fieri oblationem ab episcopis vel presbyteris. Canon 31. Trullanus id clericis non interdicit, modo accedat episcopi consenus. Non inusitata fuisse ejusmodi sacra in domesticis oratoriis confirmat canon Basilii 27, ubi vetatur, ne presbyter illicitis nuptiis implicantus privatim aut publice sacerdotii munere fungatur. Eustathius Sebastenus Anncyrae cum Arianis in domibus communicavit, ut ex pluribus Basilii epistolis discimus, cum apertam ab eis communionem impetrare non posset."
(3 )Videtur infidelis ille vir unus aliquis fuisse ex potentioribus Arianis ejusque furor idcirco in presbyteros Antiochenos incitatus quod hi ecclesiam absente Meletio regerent, ac maximam civium partem in illius fide et communione retinerent.
(4 )a 9palw=j, with four mss., al. a 9plw=j.
(6 )"Hoc Basilii decretum de professionis aetate citatur in canone quadragesimo synodi in Trullo" (a.d. 691( "et decem et septem annin quos Basilius requirit, ad decem rediguntur.:
(8 )"Male Angli in Pandectis et alit interpretes reddunt, quae in catechumenica vita fiunt. Non enim dicit Basilius ea non puniri quae n hoc statu peccantur, sed tantum peccata anis baptismum commissa baptismo expiari, nec jam esse judicio ecclesiastico obnoxia. Hinc observat Zonaras non pugnare hunc canonem cum canone quinto Necoaesariensi, in quo poenae catechumenis peccantibus decernuntur."
(11 )"Non solus Basilius hanc conseutudinem secutus. Auctor constitutionum apostolicarum sic loquitur lib. vi. cap. 14: qui corruptam retinet, naturae legem violat: quando quidem qui retinet adulteram, stultus est et impius. Abscinde enim eam, inquit, a carnibus tuis. Nam adjutrix non est, sed insidiatrix, quae mentem ad alium declinarit. Canon 8, Neocaesariensis laicis, quorum uxores adulterii convictae, aditum ad ministerium ecclesiasticum claudit; clericis depositionis poenam irrogat, si adulteram nolint dimittere. Cannon 65 Eliberitanus sic habeet: Si cujus clerici uxor fuerit maechari, et non eam statim projecerit, nec in fine accipiat communionem. Hermas lib. 1, c. 2, adulteram ejici jubet, sed tamen poenitentem recipi. S. Augustinus adulterium legitimam esse dimittendi causam pronuntiat, sed non necessariam, lib. ii. De Adulter. nuptiis, cap. 5, n. 13."
(12 )Probably Letter clx. to Diodorus is referred to.
(13 )Diakonoume/nhn. So the Ben. Ed. Another possible rendering is "received into the order of deaconesses."
(15 )"0Aqe/smw ga/mw."Illicitas nuptias.
(20 )The Ben. Ed. point out that in Canon xxii. four years is the allotted period, as in the case of fornicators.
(21 )St. Basil on Isaiah iv. calls sins wilfully committed after full knowledge "sins unto death." But in the same commentary he applies the same designation to shins which lead to hell. The sense to be applied to the phrase in Canon xxxii. is to be learnt, according to the Ben. note, form Canons lxix. and lxx., where a less punishment is assigned to mere wilful sins unto death than in Canon xxxii.
(23 )Or, according to another reading, in every way.
(25 )This is Can. xciii. of the Council in Trullo.
(26 )Generally reckoned rather as Manichaeans than as here by Basil as Marcionites, but dualism was common both systems.
(27 )A Manichaean sect, who led a solitary life. Death is threatened against them in a law of Theodosius dated a.d. 322 (Cod. Theod. lib. xvi. tit. 5, leg. 9), identified by the Ben. Ed. with the Hydroparastatae.
(28 )A Manichaean sect. cf. Epiphanius ii. 18. In the work of Macarius Magnes, published in Paris 1876, they are identified with the Encratites.
(31 )cf. however Canon iv., where trigamy is called polygamy or at best a limited fornication, and those guilty of it subjected to exclusion from the Eucharist.
(2 )Tillemont conjectures that the drive was to St.Eupsychius, but the day of St. Eupsychius fell in September, which the Ben. note thinks too late for the date of this letter. The memorials of St. Julitta and St. Gordius were also near Caesarea, but their days fell in January, which the same note thinks too early. Gregory of Nyssa (Migne iii. p. 653) says that there were more altars in Cappadocia than in all the world, so that we need have no difficulty in supposing some saint whose date would synchronize with the letter. Basil, however, may have tried to drive to the shrine of some martyr on some other day than the anniversary of his death.
(2 )On this letter Newman notes the Eustathius brought about a separation of a portion of the coast of Pontus from the Church of Caesarea, which for a time caused Basil great despondency, as if he were being left solitary in all Christendom, without communion with other places. With the advice of the bishops of Cappadocia, he addressed an expostulation with these separatists for not coming to him. (Ch. of the Fathers, p. 95) The portion of the translation of this letter enclosed in brackets is Newman's.
(3 )e 9cith/rion dw=ron. cf. note on p. 46.
(2 )Newman introduces his extracts form the following letter with the prefatory remark: "If Basil's Semi-Arian connexions brought suspicion upon himself in the eyes of Catholic believers, much more would they be obnoxious to persons attached, as certain Neocaesareans were, to the Sabellian party, who were in the opposite extreme to the Semi-Arians and their especial enemies in those times. It is not wonderful, then, that he had to write to the church in question in a strain like to following." (Ch. of the Fathers. p. 98) The passages in brackets are Newman's version. The prime agent in the slandering of Basil was presumably Atarbius, bishop of Neocaesarea.
(6 )The allusion may be to Mark xi. 23, but St. Paul would probably reply to Basil that each of the points enumerated might proceed not from love, but from vanity, ambition, or fanaticism.
(8 )i.e. o\ diaboloj. The little paronomasia is untranslatable.
(15 )u/p0 o'do/nta. Ben. Lat., intra dentes.
(16 )The Greek is paroiki/a which is used both for what is meant by the modern "diocese" and by the modern "parish." Of the sense of diocese instances are quoted among others in D.C.A. s.v. "Parish," form Iren. ad Florin. apud Euseb. H.E. v. 20; and Alexan, Alexandrin. Ep. apud Theodoret, H.E. i. 3.
(17 )toi=j lo/goij pneu/matoj a 9gi/on, the reading of the mss. Bas. Sec. and Paris. The commoner reading is logi/oij.
(2 )Of what see is uncertain. He was in friendly relations with Basil, and therefore was not in communion with Eustathius of Sebaste. (Letter ccli.)
(2 )i.e. Atarbius ofNeocaesarea.
(3 )Basil is described as the earliest authority for making Sabellius an African birth. (D. C. B. iv. 569) There is no contemporary authority for the statement.
(5 )tw=n logi/wn. cf. note on Theodoret, p. 155.
(6 )The Ben. note observes that in this passage Litanies do not mean processions or supplications, but penitential prayers. The intercessory prayers which occur in the liturgy of St. Basil, as in the introductory part of other Greek liturgies, are not confined to quotations form Scripture.
(7 )This reproach appears to be in contradiction with the statement in De Spiritu Sancto, § 74 (page 47), that the Church of Neocaesarea had rigidly preserved the traditions of Gregory. The Ben. note would remove the discrepancy by confining the rigid conservatism to matters of importance. In these the Neocaesareans would tolerate no change, and allowed no monasteries and no enrichment of their liturgies with new rites. "Litanies," however, are regarded as comparatively unimportant innovations. The note concludes: Neque enim secum ipse pugnat Basilius, cum Neocaesarienses iaudat in libro De Spiritu Sancto, quod Gregorii instituta arctissime teneant. hic autem vituperat quod ea omnino reliquerint. Illic enim respicit ad exteriora instituta, hic autem ad virtutum exemplar, convicii et iracundiae fugam, odium juris jurandi et mendacii.
(1 )Placed in 375, the year after the composition of the De Spiritu Sancto. It apparently synchronizes with Letter ccxxiii., in which Basil more directly repels those calumnies of the versatile Eustathius of Sebaste which he had borne in silence for three years. On Annesi, from which he writes, and the occasion of the visit, see Prolegomena.
(2 )Macrina, at her residence at Annesi.
(3 )cf. Ep. ccxvi., where he speaks of going to the house of his brother Peter near Neocaesarea. One of the five brothers apparently died young, as the property of the elder Basil was at his death, before 340, divided into nine portions, i.e. among the five daughters and four surviving sons, the youngest, Peter, being then an infant. (Greg. Nyss. Vita Mac. 186) Naucratius, the second son, was killed by an accident while hunting, c. 357. Gregory of Nyssa must, therefore, be referred to in the text, if by "brothers" is meant brothers in blood. Was it to Peter's "cottage" or some neighbouring dwelling that Gregory fled when he escaped from the police of the Vicar Demosthenes, in order not to obey the summons of Valens to his synod at Ancrya? Is the cottage of Peter "some quiet spot" of Ep. ccxxv.? The plural a'delgw=n might be used conventionally, or understood to include Peter and a sister or sisters.
(4 )i.e.when he was resident at Caesarea n his earlier manhood. If Letter ccclviii. (from Libanius to Basil refers to this period, it would seem that for a time Basil did undertake school work.
(5 )i.e. Gregory Thaumaturgus. cf. note on p. 247.
(6 )Musonius, bp. of Neocaesarea, who died in 368. cf. ep. xxviii.
(7 )cf. De Sp. S. § 77, p. 49 and Ep. clxxxix. p. 229.
(8 )e$n pra=gma polu/proswpon. Another ms. reading is poluw/noumon, "ofmany names."
(11 )John v. 43. Slightly varied.
(13 )The allusion is supposed to be to Atarbius.cf. Letter lxv.
(15 )cf. De Sp. S. § 44, p. 2.
(17 )Tyana, at the north of Mount Taurus, is the city which gave a distinctive name to Apollonius the Thaumaturge. That Basil should speak in kindly and complimentary terms of Anthimus is remarkable, for from few contemporaries did he suffer more. It was the quarrel in which Anthimus attacked and plundered a train of Basil's sumpter mules, and Gregory of Nazianzus fought stoutly for his friend, that led to Basil's erecting Sasima into a bishopiric, as a kind of buffer see against his rival metropolitan. (Greg. Naz., Or. xliii. 356, Ep. xxxi. and Carm. i. 8.) See Prolegomena.
(18 )The e!kqesij th=j pi/stewj of Gregory Thaumaturgus. cf. Ep. cciv. and the De Sp. Scto. § 74. On the genuineness of the e!kqesij, vide iD. C. Biog. i. 733. cf. Dorner's Christologie I. 737. It is given at length in the Life of Greg. Thaumat. by Gregory of Nyssa, and is found in the Latin Psalter, written in gold, which Charlemagne gave to Adrian I. Bp. Bull's translation is as follows:
"There is one Lord, Alone of the Alone, God of God, Impress and Image of the Godhead, the operative Word; Wisdom comprehensive of the system of the universe, and Power productive of the whole creation; true Son of true Father, Invisible of Invisible and Incorruptible of Incorruptible, and Immortal of Immortal, and Eternal of Eternal. And there is one Holy Ghost, who hath His being of God, who hath appeared through the Son,, Image of the Son, Perfect of the Perfect; Life, the cause of all them that live; Holy Fountain, Holiness, the Bestower of Sanctification, in whom is manifested God the Father, who is over all and in all, and God the Son, who is through all. A Perfect Trinity, not divided nor alien in glory and eternity and dominion."
(19 )The Ben. note refused to believe that so Sabellian an expression can have been used by Gregory. Basil's explanation is that it was used in controversy with a heathen on another subject, loosely and not dogmatically. The words are said not to be found in any extant document attributed to Gregory, whether genuine or doubtful. But they may be matched in some of the expressions of Athanasius. cf. p. 195 Ath., Tom. ad Af. § 4 and Hom. in Terem. viii. 96.
(2 )cf. Letters iv., xii., xiii., cxxxi.
(2 )An old schoolfellow of Bail's, of whom nothing seemsto be known but what is gathered from this letter.
(3 )i.e. the Anomoeans. On the use of the word dogma for an heretical tenet, cf. note on p. 41.
(4 )The Ben. note remarks that at first sight Eustathius of Sebasteia seems to be pointed at, for in Letter cxxviii. Basil speaks of him as occupying a contemptible half-and-half position. But, continues the note: Si res attentius consideretur, non Eustathium proprie hoc loco, sed generatim eosdem haereticos, quos contra liber De Spiritu Sancto scriptus est, perspicuum erit notari. Nam medius ille Eustathii status in eo positus erat, quod nec catholicus potentioribus Arianis catholicis videri vellet. Nondum aperti cum Arianis conjunctus, nec probare quae ipsi a Basilio proponebantur. At quos hic commemorat Basilius, hi catholicae doctrinae bellum apertum in dixerant, et quamvis dissimilitudinis impietatem fugere viderentur, iisdem tamen, ac Anomoei, principiis stabant. Hoc eis exprobat Basilius in libro De Spiritu Sancto, cap. 2, ubi impias eorum de Filio ac Spiritu sancto nugas ex principiis Aetii deductas esse demonstrat, idem haeretici non desierunt nefaria Basillii expellendi consilia inire. Eorum convicia in Basilium, insidias et nefarias molitiones, furorem ac bellum inexpiabile, vide in libro De Spiritu Sancto, num. 13, 25, 34, 52, 60, 69, 75.
(5 )Maran (Vit. Bas. vi) conjectures this bishop to be Meletius, and refers to the beginning of Letter ccxvi. with an expression of astonishment that Tillemont should refer this letter to the year 373.
(3 )On the divisions of Antioch, cf. Theod., H.E. iii. 2. Basil was no doubt taking the wise course in supporting Meletius, whose personal orthodoxy was unimpeachable. But the irreconcilable Eustathians could not forgive him his Arian nomination.
(4 )This description might apply to either of the two letters written by Damasus to Paulinus on the subject of the admission to communion of Vitalius, bishop of the Apollinarian schism at Antioch. (Labbe. Conc. ii. 864 and 900 , and Theod H.E. v. ii.) The dates may necessitate its being referred to the former.
(6 )cf. Letter cclviii. and the Prolegomena to Athanasius in this edition, p. lxi. The events referred to took place in the winter of 363, when Athanasius was at Antioch, and in the early part of 364 on his return to Alexandria.
(8 )St. Basil seems quite unaware of any paramount authority in a letter from Rome. cf. Prolegomena.
(9 )Vide notes, pp. 7 and 12. On Sabellius, cf. note on Letter ccxxxvi.
(12 )On the point treated of in this letter, cf. note on p. 5 and Letter xxxviii. p. 137. But in the De S.S. cap. 38 (p. 23) St. Basil himself repudiates the assertion of three "original hypostases," when he is apparently using u/po/stasij in the Nicene sense.
(2 )i.e. of Nyssa, an unsuitable envoy to Damascus.
(2 )On this word other the Ben. note grounds the argument that Meletius had proposed a journey which Basil had not undertaken, and hence that the unnamed bishop of Letter xxciii. is Meletius; and further that the fact of the bishop not being named in ccxiii., and the obscurity of this and of other letters, may indicate the writer's hesitation to put particulars in his letters which might be more discreetly left to be conveyed by word of mouth.
(3 ).e. the settlement on the Iris, where Peter had succeeded Basil as Head.
(1 )The third canonical letter, written on Basil's return from Pontus, in 375.
(2 )This is the sudden disappearance of Gregory from Nazianzus at the end of 375, which was due at once to his craving for retirement and his anxiety not to complicate the appointment of a successor to his father (who died early in 374) in the see of Nazianzus. He found a refuge in the monastery of Thecla at the Isaurian Seleucia. (Carm. xi. 549).
(3 )The Ben. note appositely points out that any astonishment, such as expressed by Tillemont, at the consecration of a neophyte, is quite out of place, in view of the exigencies of the times and the practice of postponing baptism. St. Ambrose at Milan and Nectarius at Constantinople were not even "neophytes," but were actually unbaptized at the time of their appointment to their respective sees. "If there is any one among the lately baptized," argues the Ben. note, is tantamount to saying "If there is any one fit to be bishop."
(4 )e'i/te e'n baquw=. This is understood by Balsamon and Zonaras to include Presbyters, Deacons, and sub -deacons; while the ministry conferred without imposition of hands refers to Readers, Singers, Sacristans, and the like. Alexius Aristenus ranks Singers and Readers with the higher orders, and understands by the lower, keepers of the sacred vessels, candle-lighters, and chancel door keepers. The Ben. note inclines to the latter view on the ground that the word "remain" indicates a category where there was no advance to a higher grade, as was the case with Readers and Singers.
(6 )i.e. in Cannon viii. p. 226 and Cannon xi. p. 228.
(7 )Here reading, punctuation, and sense are obscure. The Ben. Ed. have e!cw me\n o!ntej, th=j koinwni/aj ei!rgontai, and render "Si sint quidem laici, a boni communione arcentur." But e!cw o!ntej, standing alone, more naturally mans non-Christians. Basamon and Zonaras in Pandects have e!cw me\n o!ntej th=s 0Ecclhci/aj ei/rgontai th=j koinwni/aj tou\ a'gaqou=.
(9 )a 9gia/smasi. The Ben. Ed. render Sacramento. In the Sept. (e.g. Amos vii. 13) the word = sanctuary. In patristic usage both S. and P. are found for the Lord's Supper, or the consecrated elements; e.g. a 9ni/asma in Greg. Nyss., Ep. Canon. Can. v. The plural as in this place "frequentius." (Suicer s.v.).
(10 )meta\ tw=n e'n u 9poptw/sei. The u 9popi/ptontej or substrati constituted the third and chief station in the oriental system of penance, the first and second being the prosklai/ontej, flentes or weepers, and the a'kow/menoj, audientes, or hearers.. In the Western Church it is the substrati who are commonly referred to as being in penitence, and the Latin versions of the Canons of Ancyra by Dionysius Exiguus and Martin of Braga render u 9popi/ptontej and u 9poptw=stj by poeniltentis and poenitentia. In Basil's Canon xxii. p. 238, this station is specially styled meta/noia. cf. D. C. A. ii. 1593. "Meta/noia notat poenitentiam eorum qui ob delicta sua in ecclesia e'pitimioij e'swfroni/zonto (Zonaras, Ad. Can. v. Conc. Antioch, p. 327), quique dicebantur oi e'n metano a o!ntej. Chrysostom, IIom. iii. in Epist. ad Eph. in S. Coenae communione clamabat kh/ruc o!soi e'n metanoi/a a'pe/lqeta. pa/ntej." Suicer s.v.
(11 )cf. Can. xxii. p. 228. The Ben. note is "Labornt Balsamon et Zonaras in hoc canone conciliando cum vicesimo secundo, atque id causae afferunt, cur in vicesimo secundo quatuor anni, septem in altero decernantur, quod Basilius in vicesimo secundo antiqua Patrum placita sequatur, suam in altero propiram sententiam exponat. Eundem hunc canonem Alexius Aristenus, ut clarum et perspicuum, netat explicatione indigere. Videbat nimirum doctissimus scriptor duplicem a Basilio distingui fornicationem, leviorem alteram, alteram graviorem levior dicitur, quae inter personasmatrimonio solutas committitur: grvior, cum conjugati hominis libido in mulierem solutam erumpit. Priori anni quatuor, septem alteri imponuntur. Manifesta res est ex canone 21, ubi conjugati peccatum cum soluta fornicationem appellat Basilius, ac longioribus poenis coerceri, non tamen instar adulterii, tesatur. In canone autem 77 eum qui legitiman uxorem dimittit, et aliam ducit, adulterum quidem esse ex Domini sententia testatur, sed tamen ex canonibus Patrum annos septem decernit, non quindecim, ut in adulterio cum aliena uxore commisso. Secum ergo non pugnat cum fornicationi nunc annos quatuor, nunc septem, adulterio nunc septem, nunc quindecim indicit. Eamdem in sententiam videtur accipiendus canon quartus epistolae Sancti Gregorii Nysseni ad Letoium. Na cum fornicationi novem annos, adulterio decem et octo imponit, gravior illa intelligenda fornicatio, quam conjugatur cum soluta committit. Hinc ilium adulterium videri fatetur his qui accuratius examinant.
(12 )cf. Can. xviii. Augustine (De Bono Viduitatis, n. 14) represents breaches of the vows of chastity as graver offenses than breaches of the vows of wedlock. The rendering of th= o'ikonomia th=j kaq0 e 9auth$n zwh=j by continency is illustrated in the Ben. note by Hermas ii. 4 as well as by Basil, Cannon xiv and xliv.
(13 )This Canon is thus interpreted by Aristenus, Matrimnium cum propinqua legibus prohibitum eadem ac adulterium poena castigatur: et cum diversoe sint adulterorum poenoe sic etiam pro ratione propinquitatis tota res temperabitur. Hinc duas sorores ducenti vii. anni poenitentioe irrogantur, ut in adulterio cum muliere libera commisso. non xv. ut in graviore adulterio, or does it mean that incestuos fornication shall be treated as adultery?
(14 )By minister Balsamon and Zonaras understand the subdeacon. Aristenus understands all the clergy appointed without imposition of hands. The Ben. ed. approve the latter. cf. n. on Canon li. p. 236, and Letter liv. p. 157.
(15 )On the earlier part of the canon the Ben. note says: "Balsamon, Zonaras, et Aristenus varia commentantur in hunc canonem, sed a mente Basilii multum abludentia. Liquet enim hoc labiorum peccatum, cui remissor poena infligitur ipsa actione, quam Basilius minime ignoscendam esse judicat, levius existimari debere. Simili ratione sanctus Pater in cat, levius existimari debere. Simili ratione sanctus Pater in cap. vi. Isaiae n. 185, p. 516, labiorum peccata actionibus, ut leviora, opponit, ac prophetae delecta non ad actionem et operationem erupisse, sed labiis tenus constitisse observat. In eodem commentario n. 170, p. 501, impuritasis peccatum variis gradibus constaree demonstrat inter quos enumerat r'h/mata fqoropoia\, verba ad corruptelam apta, o 9mili/aj maxra/j, longas confabulationes, quibus ad stuprum pervenitur. Ex his perspici arbitror peccatum aliquod in hoccanone designari, quod ipsa actione levius sit: nedum ea suspicari liceat, quae Basilii interpretibus in mentem venerunt. Sed tamen cum dico Basilium in puniendis labiorum peccatis leniorem esse, non quodlibet turpium sermonum genus, non immunda colloquia (quomodo enim presbyteris hoc vitio pollutis honorem cathedrae rliquisset?), sed ejusmodi intelligenda est peccandi voluntas, quae foras quidem aliquo sermone prodit, sed tamen quominus in actum erumpat, subeunte meliori cogitatione, reprimitur. Quemadmodum enim peccala, quae sola cogitatione committuntur, idcirca leviora esse pronuntiat Basilius, comment, in Isaiam n. 115. p. 459. et n. 243, p. 564, qui repressa est actionis turpitudo; ita hoc loco non quaelibet labiorum peccata; non calumnias, non blasphemias, sed ea tantum lenius tractat, quae adeo gravia non erant, vel etiam ob declinatam actionis turpitudinem, ut patet ex his berbis, seque eo usque pecasse confessus est, aliquid indulgentiae merere videbantur."
On the word kaqairoqh/setai it is remarked: "In his canonibus quos de clericorum peccatis edidit Basilius, duo videntur silentio praetermissa. Quaeri enim possit 10 cur suspensionispoenam soli lectori ac ministro, sive subdiacono, imponat, diaconis autem et presbyteris depositionem absque ulla prorsus exceptione infligat, nisi quod eis communionem cum diaconis et presbyteris relinquit, si peccatum non ita grave fuerit. Erat tamen suspensionis poena in ipsos presbyteros non inusitata, ut patet ex plurimis apostolicis canonibus, in quibus presbyteri ac etiam ipsi episcopi segregantur, ac postea, si sese non emendaverint, deponuntur. Forte hae c reliquit Basilius episcopo dijudicanda quemadmodum ejusdem arbitrio permittet in canonibus 74 et 84, ut poenitentiae tempus imminuat, si bonus evasint is qui peccavi. 20 Haec etiam possit institui quaestio, utrumne in gravissimis quidem criminibus poenitentiam publicam depositioni adjercerit. Adhibita ratio in Canone 3, cur aliquid discriminis clericos inter et laicos ponendum sit, non solum ad gravia peccata, sed etiam ad gravissima pertinet. Ait enim aequum esse ut, cum laici post poenitentiam in eumdem locum restituantur, clerici vero non restituantur, liberalius et mitius cum clericis agatur. Nolebat ergo clericos lapsos quadruplicem poenitentiae gradum percurrere. Sed quemad modum lapso in fornicationem diacono non statim communionem reddit, sed ejus conversionem et morum emendationem probandam esse censit, ut ad eumdem canonem tertium observavimus, ita dubium esse non potest quin ad criminis magnitudinemprobandi modum et tempus accommodaverit.
(16 )The Ben. ed. suppose for the purpose of learning sorcery. cf. Can. lxxxiii., where a lighter punishment is assigned to consulters of wizards.
(17 )e'comologou/menoj. "The verb in St. Matt. xi. 25 expresses thanksgiving and praise, and in this sense was used by many Christian writers (Suicer, s.v.). But more generally in the early Fathers it signifies the whole course of penitential discipline, the outward act and performance of penance. From this it came to mean that public acknowledgment of sin which formed so important a part of penitence. Iranaeus (c. Haer. i. 13, § 5) speaks of an adulterer who, having been converted, passed her whole life in a state of penitence (e'comologoume/nh, in exomologesi); and confessing his errors (e'comologou/menoj)." D. C. A. I. 644.
(18 )Here we see "binding and loosing" passing from the Scriptural sense of declaring what acts are forbidden and committed (Matt. xvi. 19 and xxiii. 4. See note of Rev. A. Carr in Cambridge Bible for Schools) into the later ecclesiastical sense of imposing and remitting penalties for sin. The first regards rather moral obligation, and, as is implied in the force of the tenses alike in the passages of St. Matthew cited and in St. John xx. 23, the recognition and announcement of the divine judgment already passed on sins and sinners; the later regards the imposition of disciplinary penalties.
(19 )to Ij e'xouologmoume/nouj.
(20 )e.g. according to the Ben. note, Manasseh and Hezekiah.
(21 )The Ben. note points out the St. Basil refers to the repudiation of a lawful wife from some other cause than adultery. It remarks that though Basil does not order it to be punished as severely as adultery there is no doubt that he would not allow communion before the dismissal of the unlawful wife. It proceeds "illud autem difficilius est stature, quid de matrimonio post ejectam uxorem adulteram contracto senserit. Ratum a Basilio habitum fuisse ejusmodi matrimonium pronuntiat Aristentus. At que id quidem Basilius, conceptis verbis non declarat; sed tamen videtur hac in re a saniori ac meliori sententia discessisse. Nam 10 macitum injuste dimissum ab alio matrimonio non excludit, ut vidimus in canonibus 9 et 35. Porro non videtur jure dimittenti denegasse, quod injuste dimisso concedebat. 20 Cum jubeat uxorem adulteram ejici, vix dubium est quin matrimonium adulterio uxoris fuisset mariti, ac multo durior, quam uxoris conditio, si nec adulteram retinere, necaliam ducere integrum fuisset.
(23 )The Ben. note is Prima specie non omnio perspicuum est utrum sorores ex utroque parente intelligat, an tantum ex alterutro. Nam cum in canone 79 eos qui suas nurus accipiunt non severius puniat, quam cui cum sorore ex matre vel ex patre rem habent, forte videri posset idem statuere deiis qui in novercas insaniunt. Sed tamen multo probbailus est eamdem illis poenam imponi, ac iis qui cum sorore ex utroque parente contaminantur. Non enim distinctione utitur Basilius ut in canone 75; nec mirum si peccatum cum noverca gravius quam cum nuru, ob factam patri injuriam, judicavit.
(24 )i.e. probably only into the place of standers. Zonaras and Balsamon understand by polygamy a fourth marriage; trigamy being permitted (cf. Canon l. p. 240) though discouraged. The Ben. annotator dissents, pointing out that in Canon iv. Basil calls trigamy, polygamy, and quoting Gregory of Nazianzus (Orat. 31) as calling a third marriage paranomi/a. Maran confirms this opinion by the comparison of the imposition on polygamy of the same number of years of penance as are assigned to trigamy in Canon iv. "Theodore of Canterbury a.d. 687 imposes a penance of seven years on trigamists but pronounces the marriages valid (Penitential, lib. 1. c. xiv. § 3). Nicephorus of Constantinople, a.d. 814, suspends trigamists for five years. (Hard. Concil. tom. iv. p. 1052.) Herard of Tours, a.d. 858 declares any greater number of wives than two to be unlawful (Cap cxi. ibid. tom. iv. p. 1052) Leo the Wise, Emperor of Constantinople, was allowed to marry three wives without public remonstrance, but was suspended from communion by the patriarch Nicholas when he married a fourth. This led to a council being held at Constantinople, a.d. 920, which finally settled the Greek discipline on the subject of third and fourth marriages. It ruled that the penalty for a fourth marriage was to be excommunication and exclusion from the church; for a third marriage, if a man were forty years old, suspension for five years, and admission to communion thereafter only on Easter day. If he were thirty years old, suspension for four years, and admission to communion thereafter only three times a year.." Dict. Christ. Ant.. ii. p. 1104.
(25 )The Ben. n. thinks that the Fathers of Ancyra are meant, whose authority seems to have been great in Cappadocia and the adjacent provinces.
(26 )metanoi/aj. cf. note on p. 256; here the word seems to include both repentance and penance.
(2 )i.e. the inhabitants of the Roman province of Asia. cf. Acts xx. 4. Asianoi\ de\ Tuxiko\j kai\ Tro/fimo:.
(3 )Corydalla, now Hadginella, is on the road between Lystra and Patara. There are ruins of a theatre. cf. Plin. v. 25.
(5 )So the Ben. ed. Other readings are e'n Ku/roij and e'n Nu/roij. On Myra cf. Acts xxvii. 5, on which Conybeare and Howson refer to Fellows' Asia Minor, p. 194 and Spratt and Forbes's Lycia.
(6 )Afterwards bishop of Myra, and as such at Constantinople 381, Labbe I, 665.
(9 )Now Marci, where the ruins are remarkable.
(6 )cf. Homer of #Erij, Il. iv. 442:
h# t0 o'li/gh me\n prw=ta koru/ssetai, au'ta\r e!peita
ou'ranw= e'sth/rice ka/rh kai\ e'pi\ xqoni\ bai/nei.
(2 )The Syrian Beraea, Aleppo, or Haleb. cf. Letter clxxxv. p. 222.
(2 )The Syrian Chaecis, now Kinesrin. Maran Vit. Bas. Chap xxxiii. supposes this letter to have been probably carried with Letter ccxxi. by Acacius.
(3 )Maran Vit. Bas. l. c. says that these words cannot refer to the persecution of Valens in Cappadocia in 371, for that persecution went on between Constantinople and Cappadocia, and did not start from the East. There need be no surprise, he thinks, at the two preceding letters containing no mention of this persecution, because Acacius, who was a native of Bera, would be sure to report all that he had observed in Cappadocia. I am not sure that the reference to a kind of prairie fire spreading from the East does not rather imply a prevalence of heresy than what is commonly meant by persecution. Meletius, however, was banished from Antioch in 374 and Eusebius from Samosata in the same year, as graphically described by Theodoret H. E. iv. 13.
(4 )kau/swna. cf. Matt. xx. 12. Luke xii. 55, and James i. 11.
(2 )On the mutual relations of Basil and Eustathius up to this time, cf. Prolegomena
(6 )cf. h 9 sukofanti/a perife/rei sofo/n. Eccles. vii. S, LXX. Calumnia conturbat sapientem et perdet robur cordis illius. Vulg.
(17 )With St. Basil's too great readiness to believe in Eustathius because of his mean garb contrast Augustine De Serm. Dom. "Animadvertendum est non in solo rerum corporearum nitore atque pompa, sed etiam in ipsis sordibus lutosis esse possee jactantiam, et eo periculosiorem quo sub nomine servitutis Dei decipit."
(18 )i.e. Apollinarius. cf. Letters cxxx. p. 198, and ccxxiv.
(19 )i.e. Silvanus of tarsus. cf. Letters xxxiv. p. 136, and lxvii. p. 164.
(20 )I have not been able to identify Eusinoe. There was an Eusene on the north coast of Pontus. i.e. in 364, the year after St. Basil's ordination as presbyter, and the publication of his work against Eunomius. The Council of Lampsacus, at which Basil was not present, repudiated the Creeds of Ariminum and Constantinople (359 and 360), and reasserted the 2d dedication Creed of Antioch of 341. Maran dates it 364 (vit. Bas. x.).
(23 )a'fe/lkontai. So the Harl. ms. for e'fe/lkontai. On the sense which may be applied to either verb cf. Valesius on Am. Marcellinus xviii. 2, whom the Ben. Ed. point out to be in error in thinking that Basil's idea is of drawing a curtain or veil over the proceedings, and Chrysostom Hom. liv. in Matt. 0Epi\ toi=j dikastai=j, o#tan dhmosi/a krinwsi, ta\ parapeta/smata sunelku/santej oi 9 parestw=tej pa=sin a'ntou\j deiknu/ousi. This meaning of drawing so as to disclose is confirmed by Basil's pa/ndhmoi pa=si gignontai in this passage and in Hom. in Ps. xxxii.
(24 )The Ben. note compares the praise bestowed on Candidianus by Gregory of Nazianzus for trying cases in the light of day (Ep. cxciv) and Am. Marcellinus xvii. 1, who says of Julian, Numerium Narconensis paulo ante rectorem, accusatum ut furem, inusitato censorio vigore pro tribunali palam admissis volentibus audiebat.
(26 )Though this phrase commonly means the reigning emperor, as in Letter lxvi., the Ben. note has no doubt that in this instance the reference is to Euzoius. In Letter ccxxvi. § 3. q.v., Basil mentions reconciliation with Euzoius as the real object of Eustathius's hostility. Euzoius was now in high favour with Valens.
(2 )Vicar of Pontus. It is doubtful whether he is the same Demosthenes who was at Caesarea with Valens in 371,, of whom the amusing story is told in Theodoret Hist. Ecc. iv. 16, on which see note. If he is, it is not difficult to understand his looking with no friendly eye on Basil and his brother Gregory. He summoned a synod to Ancyra in the close of 375 to examine into alleged irregularities in Gregory's consecration and accusations of embezzlement. The above letter is to apologize for Gregory's failing to put in an appearance at Ancyia, and to rebut the charges made against him. Tillemont would refer Letter xxxiii. to this period. Maran Vit. Bas. xii. 5 connects it with the troubles following on the death of Caesarius in 369.
(3 )Saepe vicario Basilius in hac epistola leniter insinuat, res ecclesiasticas illius judicii non esse." Ben. Note.
(4 )From Letter ccxxxvii. it would appear that Deomsthenes was now in Galatia, where he had summoned a heretical synod. The Ben. note quotes a law of Valens of the year 373 (Cod. Theod. ix. (Tit. i. 10): Ultra provincioe terminos accusandi licentia non progrediatur. Opertet enim illic criminum judicia agitari ubi facinus dicatur admissum. Peregrina autem judicia praesentibus legibus coercemus.
(3 )The events referred to happened ten years before the date assigned for this letter, when the Semi-Arians summoned Eudoxius to Lampsacus, and sentenced him to deprivation in his absence. (Soc. H.E. iv. 2-4; Soz. H.E. vi. 7.) On the refusal of Valens to ratify the deposition and ultimate banishment of the Anti-Eudoxians, Eustathius went to Rome to seek communion with Liberius, subscribed the Nicene Confession, and received commendatorry letters from Liberius to the Easterns. Soc. H. E. iv. 12. Eudoxius died in 370.
(4 )On the action of Eustathius on this occasion, cf. Letter ccli. Basilides is described as a Paphlagonian. On Ecdicius, intruded by Demosthenes into the see of Paranassus, cf. Letter ccxxxvii.
(5 )So the Ben. ed. for me/xri nu=n, with the idea that the action of Eusthathius in currying favour with the Catholics of Amasea and Zela by opposing the Arian bishops occupying those sees, must have taken place before he had quite broken with Basil. Tillemont (ix. 236) takes nu=n to mean 375. Amasea and Zela (in Migne erroneously Zeli. On the name, see Ramsay's Hist. Geog. Asia M. 260) are both on the Iris.
(6 )A chorepiscopus; not of course to be confounded with Eustathius of Sebaste.
(8 )i.e. after their return from Rome, and another Synod in Sicily, in 367.
(11 )suna/feia. cf. note on p. 16.
(2 )i.e. in Armenia. cf. Letter cxcv. p. 234. The removal of Euphronius to Nicopolis was occasioned by the death of Theodotus and the consecration of Fronto by the Eustathians, to whom the orthodox Colonians would not submit.
(1 )Of the same date as the preceding.
(2 )On Poemenius, bishop of Satala in Armenia. cf. p. 185.
(3 )i.e. Theodotus. cf. Letter cxxi. and cxxx. pp. 193 and 198.
(1 )Of the same date as the preceding.
(2 )tou= kalou=, or "the good man:" i.e. Euphronius.
(3 )Tit. i. 9. cf. 1 Tim. i. 15; 1 Tim. iii. 1; 2 Tim. ii, 11; and Tit. iii. 8.
(2 )It is doubtful whether this Elpidius is to be identified with any other of the same name mentioned in the letters.
(3 )On the withdrawal of Gregory of Nyssa, cf. note, p. 267.
(4 )Doara was one of the bishoprics in Cappadocia Secunda under Tyana; now Hadji Bektash. Ramsay, Hist. Geog. Asia Minor p. 287.
(5 )i.e. Demosthenes. Such language may seem inconsistent with the tone of Letter ccxxv., but that, it will be remembered, was an official and formal document, while the present letter is addressed to an intimate friend.
(1 )Placed in 376. Maran, Vit. Bas. xxxv., thinks that this letter is to be placed either in the last days of 375, if the Nativity was celebrated on December 25, or in the beginning of 376, if it followed after the Ephphany. The Oriental usage up to the end of the fourth century, was to celebrate the Nativity and Baptism on January 6. St. Chrysostom, in the homily on the birthday of our Saviour, delivered c. 386, speaks of the separation of the celebration of the Nativity from that of the Ephphany as comparatively recent. cf D. C. A., 1, pp. 361, 617
(2 )i.e the incarnation. cf. pp. 7 and 12, n.
(3 )The reading of the Ben ed. is lamphnw=n. The only meaning of lamph/nh in Class. Greek is a kind of covered carriage, and the cognate adj. lauph/nikoj is used for the covered waggons of Numb. vii. 3 in the LXX. But the context necessitates some such meaning as lamp or candle. Ducange s.v. quotes John de Janua "Lampenae sunt stellae fulgentes." cf. Italian Lampana i.e. lamp.
(2 )St. Basil's word may point either at the worshippers of a golden image in a shrine in the ordinary sense, or at the state of things where, as A. H. Clough has it, "no golden images may be worshipped except the currency."
(4 )a'gennhsi/a. cf. Prolegomena on the Books against Eunomius, and p. 39. n.
(3 )A various reading gives the sense "but do not know what is beyond my comprehension."
(11 )Referred by the Ben. Ed. to Ex. xxv. 21 and 22. The first clause is apparently introduced from Ex. xvi. 34.
(1 )This letter is also dated in 376, and treats of further subjects not immediately raised by the De Spiritu Sancto: How the prediction of Jermiah concerning Jeconiah; Of an objection of the Encratites; Of fate; Of emerging in baptism; Of the accentuation of the word fa/goj; Of essence and hypostasis; Of the ordaining of things neutral and indifferent.
(3 )Mark x. 18. i.e. in Adv. Eumon. iv. vide Proleg.
(4 )The manuscripts at this point are corrupt and divergent.
(10 )cf. Ep. cclxi. 2. The reference is to the system of Apollinarius, which denied to the Son a yuxxh/ logikh/ or reasonable soul.
(11 )oi\konomikw=j, i.e. according to the oecconomy of the incarnation. cf. note on p. 7.
(13 )Matt. xxiv. 36. R.V. in this passage inserts "Neither the Son," on the authority of §, B. D. Plainly St. Basil knew no such difference of reading. On the general view taken by the Fathers on the self-limitation of the Saviour, cf. C. Gore's Bampton Lectures (vi. p. 163, and notes 48 and 49, p. 267)
(19 )Is. xi. 10. The LXX. is kai\ o 9nista/menoj a!rxein e'qnw=n.
(20 )Is. xlii. 6, and 2 Kings vii. 13.
(22 )Amphilochius's doubt may have arisen from the fact that fago/j, the Doric form of fhgo/j, the esculent oak of Homer, is oxytone.
(23 )"a'su/gxutoj," unconfounded, or without confusion, is the title of Dialogue II. of Theodoret. cf. p. 195. n.
(24 )The Benedictine note is Videtur in Harlaeano codice scriptum prima manu ei\j to\n qeo/n. Their reading is eij to\ qei=on pneu=ma to\ a!gion. cf. Ep. viii., § 2, where no variation of mss. is noted and Ep. cxli, both written before he was bishop. cf. Proleg. Gregory of Nazianzus, Or. xliii., explains the rationale of St. Basil's use of the word "God," of the Holy Ghost; alike in his public and private teaching he never shrank from using it, whenever he could with impunity, and his opinions were perfectly well known, but he sought to avoid the sentence of exile at the hands of the Arians by its unnecessary obtrusion. He never uses it in his homily De Fide, and the whole treatise De Spiritu Sancto, while it exhaustively vindicates the doctrine, ingeniously steers clear of the phrase.
(26 )The Ben. Edd. note "Existimat Combefisius verbum metasxhmati/zeoqai sic reddendum esse, in various formas mutari. Sed id non dicebat Sabellius. Hoc tantum dicebat, ut legimus in Epist. ccxiv. Unum quidem hypostasi Deum esse, sed sub diveris personis a Scripturare praesentari. According to Dante the minds of the heresiarchs were to Scripture as had mirrors, reflecting distorted images; and, in this sense, metasxhmatizein might be applied rather to them.
"Si fe Sabellio ed Arro e quegli stolti,
Che furon come spade alle scritture
In render torti li dir itti volti."
Par. xiii. 123 (see Cary's note).
(27 )e'c oi1konomi/aj. In Ep. xxxi. Basil begins a letter to Eusebius of Samosata: "The dearth has not yet left us, we are therefore compelled still to remain in the town, either for stweardship's sake or for sympathy with the afflicted." Here the Benedictines' note is Saepe apud Basilium oikonomi/a dicitur id quod pauperibus distribuitur. Vituperat in Comment. in Isa. praesules qui male patram peouniam accipiunt vel ad suos usus, h@ e'pi\ lo/gw th=j tw=n ptwxeuo/ntwn e'n th= 0Ekklhsi/a olkonomi/aj, vel per causam distribuendi pauperibus Ecclesiae. In epistola 92 Orientales inter mala Ecclesiae illud etiam deplorrant quod ambitiosi praesules oi'konom as aj ptwxwn, pecunias pauperibus destinatas in suos usus convertant.
(4 )i.e. at Parnassus. Parnassus is placed by Ramsay at a ford a few miles higher up the Halys than Tchikin Aghyl. (Hist Geog. of Asia Minor, p. 255.)
(6 )fulokrinw=n. The word occurs also in the De Sp. S. § 74, and in Letter cciv. § 2. Another reading in this place is filokrinw=n, "picking out his friends."
(7 )Mansi iii. 502. The fruitlessness of Ancyra necessitated a second. On Gregory's deposition and banishment, see Greg. Nyss., De Vit Macr. ii. 192, and Ep. xviii. and xxii. Also Greg. Naz., Ep. cxlii.
(8 )Tillemont supposes this to refer to some one sent on a visitation to the Churches. The Ben. note prefers to apply it to the unknown intruder into the see of Nyssa, of whom Basil speaks with yet greater contempt in Letter ccxxxix.
(2 )On the appointment of Fronto to succeed Theodotus.
(2 )0Ioudai!kh=j a 9lw/sewj, which the Ben. note is no doubt right in referring to the events of 70.
(3 )The sudden change from the vaguer plural marks thestrong contempt of the writer for the individual pointed at.
(4 )The paronomasia in a!ndra and a'ndra/podon is untranslatable.
(5 )Sanctissimus, the envoy of Damasus, seems to have paid two visits to the East. For letters of introduction given him by Basil, see Letters cxx., ccxxi., ccxxv., ccliv., cxxxii., and ccliii.
(6 )Homer, Il. ix. 695-5 (Chapman).
(3 )kateca/nqh. cf. the use of katacai/nw (=card or comb) in the Letter of the Smyrneans on the Martyrdom of Polycarp, § 2 on the difference between the persecution of the Catholics by Valens and that of the earlier Christians by earlier emperors, though exile and confiscation were suffered in Basil's time.
(5 )xoiste/mporoi. cf. the use of the cognate subst. xristem popi/a in the letter of Alexander of Alexandria in Theodoret, Ecc. Hist. i. 3. xriste/mpopoj occurs in the Didache, § 12, and in the Pseud. Iq., eg., ad Mag. ix.
(6 )i\ereu=si. cf. note in Letter liv. p. 157.
(2 )This and the following letter refer to the earlier of two missions of Dorotheus to the West. In the latter he carried Letter cclxiii. The earlier was successful at least to the extent of winning sympathy. Maran (Vit. Bas. cap. xxxv.) places it not earlier than the Easter of 376, and objects to the earlier date assigned by Tillemont.
(5 )Valens began the thirteenth year of his reign in the March of 376, and this fact is one of Maran's reasons for placing this letter where he does. Tillemont reckons the thirteen ears from 361 to 374, but Maran points out that if the Easterns had wanted to include the persecution of Constantius they might have gone farther back, while even then the lull under Julian would have broken the continuity of the attack. Vit. Bas. xxxv. cf. note on p. 48.
(6 )A rhetorical expression not to be taken literally. Some of the enormities committed under Valens. e.g. the alleged massacre of the Orthodox delegates off Bithynia in 370 (Soz. vi. 14. Theod. iv. 21), would stand out even when matched with the cruelties perpetrated under Nero and Diocletioan, if the evidence fro them were satisfactory. cf. Milman, Hist Christ. iii. 45. The main difference between the earlier persecutions, conventionally reckoned as ten, and the persecution of the Catholics by Valens, seems to be this, that while the former were a putting in force of the law against a religio non licita, the latter was but the occasional result of the personal spite and partizanship of the imperial heretic and his courtiers. Valens would feel bitterly towards a Catholic who thwarted him. Basil could under Diocletian hardly have died in his bed as archbishop of Caesarea.
(3 )i.e. Gratian, who succeeded Valentinian I. in 375.
(4 )For the midnight banishment. cf. the story of the expulsion of Eusebisu from Samosata in Theod. iv. 13. Of death following on exile Basil did not live to see the most signal instance - that of Chrysostom n 407.
(5 )cf. Dan. iii. 10. The whips seem as rhetorical as the image and the flame.
(7 )e'pi tai=j su/naceoi kai= th= koinwni/a tw=n pneumatikw=n capisma/twn.
(8 )Song of the Three Children, 14.
(11 )paroiki/a. The word seems here to have a wider sense even than that of "diocese."
(15 )I suggest this rendering of propompai\ tw=n e'codeuo/ntwn with hesitation, and feel no certainty about the passage except that the Ben. tr., "deductiones proficiscentium," and its defence in the Ben. note, is questionable. The escort of a bishop on a journey is quite on a different plane from the ministrations which Basil has in mind. propompaia\ is used by Chrysostom of funerals, and Combefis explains "excedentium deductae fune bres, deducta funera;" but the association of ideas seems to necessitate some reference to the effect of vicious teaching on the living. There may be an indirect allusion to the effect on the friends at a funereal, but to take e'codeuo/ntwn to mean "the dying" seems the simplest. e'codeuqei/j is used of Sisera in Judges v. 27, LXX. cf. p. 180 n., where perhaps this rendering might be substituted, an Canon bright on Canon xiii of Nicaea.
(2 )"Aigaiai is the more correct form." Ramsay, Hist Geog. A.M. 116. In the gulf of Issus, now Ayas. St Julianus, son of a senator of Anazarbus, is said to have suffered there. (Basil, Menol. and, possibly, Chrysost., Hom. in Jul. Mart.)
(4 )i.e. the formula proposed to Eustathius by Basil, and signed in 373 by him with Fronto, Serverus, and others, and appearing as Lettter cxxv.
(8 )cf. Letter cxxx. The journey of Eustathius to Cilicia was the occasion of his presenting an Arian creed to a certain Gelasius.
(9 )cf. Letter ccxxvi. The letter of repudiation was conveyed by Eustathius the chorepiscopus.
(10 )Fragments of Apollinarius are extant in the works of Theodoret and Gregory of Nyssa, and in Mai's Script. Vet. Nov. col. vii., and Spicil. Rom. x. 2. cf. Thomasius, Christ. Dogm. 451. cf. Ep. ccixiii. p. 302.
(11 )Diodorus now presbyter of Antioch, did not become bishop of Tarsus till about the time of Basil's death. On his services to the Church at Antioch, cf. Theod., H. E. ii. 19. and Soc., H. E. vi. 8. The controversy as to his alleged Nestorianism belongs to a later date. On the relations between Diodorus and Apollinarius, cf. Dorner, Christ. i. pp. 976 and 1022.
(12 )In Letter cxxxi. the name appears as Dazinas, or Dexinas. in this place the mss. agree in the form Dazizas.
(14 )Eustathius, Silvanus, and Theophilus went to Rome after the Lampsacene Council of 365.
(15 )The Synod of Tyana had been ready to recognise the Eustathians as Catholics in 374. The Semi-Arian Council of Cyzicus was held in 375 or 376 (Mansi iii. 469).
(16 )i.e. at Constantinople in 360.
(19 )The Ben. note on this passage suggests that the reference to Jermiah is an argument supposed to be put forward by Eustathius, and immediately answered by Basil, but there seems no necessity of this. Basil says nothing for or against the powers of the bishops who condemned Eustathius; he only points out the inconsistency of Eustathius in accepting their powers to ordain when it suited his purpose, while he refused to admit their authority to depose. It is enough for Basil's argument that Eustathius treated him as having authority. On Basil's own views as to the validity of heretical ordination, cf. Canon I., Letter clxxxviii.
(20 ).e. bishops and presbyters whose spiritual descent is to be traced to Euippius, viz.: Eustathius and his clergy. Over what see Euippius presided is unknown.
(22 )Constrast the famous appeal of Antigone in Soph., Ant. 454 to the eternal principles of right and wrong; ou' ga/r ti nu=n ge kaxqe\j, a'll0 a'ei/ pote zh= tau=ta kou'dei\j ai\den e'c o#tou 0fa/nh. The Christian saint can make the more personal reference to the a'yeude\j sto/ma.
(24 )cf. Letter lxxxi. p. 172. Hermogenes was bishop of Caesarea, in which see he preceded Dianius. He acted as secretary at Nicaea, when yet a deacon. "The actual creed was written out and read, perhaps in consideration of Hosius' ignorance of Greek, by Hermogenes." (Stanley, Eastern Church, p. 140, ed. 1862.)
(25 )In 358, when the o@moiouvsion was accepted.
(26 )In 359, when the Semiarians supported the Antiochene Dedication Creed of 341.
(27 )In 360, when the Acacians triumphed, and Eustathius with other Semiarians were deposed. The Creed of Ariminum, as revised at Nike, was accepted.
(28 )In 364, when the Creeds of Ariminum and Constantinople were condemned by the Semiarians, and the Dedication Creed was reaffirmed.
(29 )The Creed of Nike in Thrace was the Creed of Arminum revised, and it seems out of order to mention it after Lampsacus.
(30 )In 375 or 6. This is the formula referred to in Letter cci. 4, as the latest. On the variety of Creeds, cf. p. 48, n.
(2 )i.e. of Castabala, who had accompanied Eustathius to Rome, and was closely associated with him. cf. p. 198.
(3 )diakomi/sai. Two mss. have diakonh=sai.
(2 )It is rare to find in Basil's letters even so slight an allusion as this to the general affairs of the empire. At or about the date of this letter the Goths, hitherto kept in subjection by the legions of Valens, were being driven south by the Huns and becoming a danger to the empire. Amm. Marc. xxxi. 4. Turbido instantium studio, orbis Romani pernicies decebatur.
(3 )The word katakonduli/zw374 type=foot here used (it occurs in Aeschines) is a synonym, slightly strengthened, for the kolafizw of St. Paul. St. Basil seems plainly to have the passage quoted in his mind.
(4 )I have failed to find further mention of theis Asclepius. An Asclepius of Cologne is commemorated on June 30.
(2 )i.e. with Euzoius, Eudoxius, and the more pronounced Arians.
(3 )tw=n e 9terodidaskalou/ntwn. cf. i Tim. I. 3. The Ben. note compares Greg., Orat. xii. 203.
(2 )Euassai. Possibly Ptolemy's Sei/ona. Ramsay, Hist. Geog. A. M. 304. Now Yogounes, i.e. #Agios 0Iwa/nnhj.
(5 )i.e. in January 360. Soc. ii. 41-43; Soz. iv. 24.
(6 )The Synod of Lampsacus in 365 is probably referred to, but Socrates (v. 14) mentions several synods of the Homoiousians.
(11 )i.e. Basilides, bishop of Gangra. cf. Letter ccxxvi. p. 268.
(13 )i.e. the Arian bishop of Amasia, who was intruded into the place of Eulalius. On the state of the Amasene church at his time, cf. Soz. vii. 2.
(14 )cf. Letter ccxxvi. p. 268.
(15 )cf. De Sp. S. xii. p. 18.
(2 )In the title the word dioi/khsij is used in its oldest ecclesiastical sense of a patriarchal jurisdiction commensurate with the civil diocese, which contained several provinces. cf. the Ixth Canon of Chalcedon, which gives an appeal from the metropolitan, the head of the province, to the exarch of the "diocese." "The title exarch is here applied to the primate of a group of provincial churches, as it had been used by Ibas, bishop of Edema, at his trial in 448; alluding to the 'Eastern Council' which had resisted the council of Ephesus, and condemned Cyril, he said. 'I followed my exarch,' meaning John of Antioch (Mansi vii. 237; compare Evagrius iv. 11, using 'patriarchs' and 'exarchs' synonymously). Reference is here made not to all such prelates, but to the bishops of Ephesus, Caesarea in Cappadocia, and Heraclea, if, as seems possible, the see of Heraclea still nominally retained its old relation to the bishop of Thrace." Bright, Canons of the First Four Gen. Councils, pp. 156, 157.
The Pontic diocese was on of Constantine's thirteen civil divisions.
(3 )cf. p. 184, n. cf. Proleg. Eupsychius, a noble bridegroom of Caesarea, was martyred under Julian for his share in the demolition of the temple of Fortune. Soz. v. 11. cf. Greg. Naz., Ep. ad Bas. lviii. September 7 was the day of the feast at Caesarea.
(2 )This and the tree following letters are complimentary and consolatory epistles conveyed by Sanctissimus on his return to Rome. It does not appear quite certain whether they are to be referred to the period of his return from his second journey to the East in 376, or that of his earlier return in 374. cf. Letters cxx. and ccxxi.
(2 )cf. Letter xcii. p. 177. On Pelagius bishop of the Syrian Laodicea, see Theod., H.E. iv. 13 and v. 8. Philostorg., H.E. v. 1. Sozomen, H.E. vi. 12, and vii. 9.
(2 )cf. Letter xcii. p. 177. Vitus of Charrae (Haran) was bishop of Constantinople in 381. (Labbe, ii. 955.) cf. Sozomen, H.E. vi. 33.
(2 )Maran (Vit. Bas. xxxvi. 5) remarks that the Acacius heading this list is probably the Acacius who in 375 had invited Basil in the name of the Church of Beroea, and was afterwards famous alike for his episcopate at Beroea and his hostility to St. Chrysostom. cf. Letter ccxx. p. 260.
(2 )Maran conjectures an allusion to Fronto.
(2 )The learned and saintly bishop of Salamis in Cyprus. About this time he published his great work against heresy, the Pana/rion, and also travelled to Antioch to reconcile the Apollinarian Vitalis to Paulinus. On the failure of his efforts, and the complicated state of parties at Antioch at this time, cf. Epiphan., lxxvii. 20-23; Jerome. Epp. 57, 58, and Soz., H. E. vi. 25.
(4 )This Palladius may possibly be identified with the Palladius of Caesarea of Athanasius, Ep. ad Pall . Minge, Pat. xxvi. 1167, and in the Ath. of this series, p. 580.
(5 )The Ben. note remarks "Cum nonnulli formulae Nicenae aliquid de Incarnatione adderent ad comprimendos Apollinaristas, id Basilius nec examinaverat," etc. I rather understand the present prosufai/nomena to refer to the proposals of Innocent to Palladius.
(6 )Yet Basil will admit an addition which he holds warranted, in the case of the glorification of the Spirit, and would doubtless have acquisced in the necessity of the additions finally victorious in 451.
(7 )cf. note on Theodoret in this series, p. 320.
(8 )In 377 Meletius was in exile, and Paulinus the bishop of the "old Catholics," or Eustathians (Soc., H. E. iv. 2, v. 5) opposing Vitalius, who was consecrated to the episcopate by Apollinaris. on the confusing resulting from these three nominally orthodox claimants, vide Jerome's Letter xvi. in this series, p. 20.
(10 )From Magusa in Arabia, cf. Plin., Nat. Hist. vi. 32.
(11 )With the statements of Basil may be compared those of Bardesanes in Eusebius. Praep. Evan. vi. 275 and of Epiphanius in his Exp. Cathol. Fid.
(2 )Bishop of Antioch in Pisidia. Soc. vii. 36; Theod. v. 8.
(10 )Gen. iv. 11, 12, 14, 15, LXX.
(24 )The Ben. note strongly objects to this slur upon the constancy of the faith of the Blessed Virgin, and is sure that St. Basil's error will not be thus corrected without his own concurrence. It supposes this interpretation of the passage in question to be derived from Origen, Hom. xxviii. In Lucam, and refers to a list of commentators who have followed him in Petavius, De Incar. xiv. 1.
(1 )This letter is placed in 377. Fessler styles it "celebrima." The Benedictine heading is "Cum scripsissent Basilio Sozopolitani nonnullos carnem coelestem Christo offingere et affectus humanos in ipsam divinitatem conferre; brevitar hunc errorem refellit; ac demonstrat hihil nobis prodesse passiones Christi si non eadem ac nos carnem habuit. Quod spectat ad affectus humanos, probat naturales a Christo assumptos fuisse, vitiosos vero nequaquam."
(2 )Sozopolis, or Suzupolis, in Pisidia (cf. Evagrius, Hist. Ecc. iii. 33), has been supposed to be the ancient name of Souzon, S. of Aglasoun, where ruins still exist. On its connexion with Apollonia. cf. Hist. Geog. A.M. p. 400.
(4 )Here the Ben. Ed. call attention to the fact that S. Basil may by this word indicate the appearance of the Son to the patriarch's before the Birth from the Virgin, and compares a similar statement in his Book Cont. Eunom. II.. as well as the words of Clemens Alex. in the work Quis Dives Salvandus, n. 8, in which the Son is described as a'po\ gene/sewj me/xri tou shmei/ou th\n a'nqrwpo/thta diatre/xwn.
(6 )krataia= with the ed. Par. seems to make better sense than krufai/a, which has better authority.
(8 )Autrwth/j. cf. Acts vii. 35, where R.V. gives redeemer as marginal rendering. Autrwth/j = prayer of the lu/tpou, which is the means of release (lu/w). The word is used of Moses in the Acts in a looser sense than here of the Saviour.
(9 )On the use of "dogma" for heretical opinion, cf. De Sp. S. note on § 66.
(12 )On the Docetism of Valentinus vide Dr. Salmon in D. C. Biog. i. 869. "According to V. (Irenaes i. 7) our Lord's nature was fourfold: (1) He had a yuxh/ or animal soul; (2) He had a pneu=ma or spiritual principle derived from Achamoth; (3) He had a body, but not a material body, but a heavenly one. . . . (4) The pre-existent Saviour descended on Him in the form of a dove at His Baptism. When our Lord was brought before Pilate, this Saviour as being incapable of suffering withdrew His power;" (cf. the Gospel of Peter, "The Lord cried, saving, 'My Power, my Power, Thou hast left me.'") "and the spiritual part which was also impassible was likewise dismissed; the animal soul and the wonderfully contrived body alone remaining to suffer, and to exhibit on the cross on earth a representation of what had previously taken place on the heavenly Stauros. It thus appears that Valentinus was only partially docetic." But cf. Iren. v. 1, 2, and iii. 22.
(15 )Rom. viii. 3, R. V. marg.
(2 )cf. Letters cxxiii. and ccclxvi.
(6 )The sentence in all the mss. (except the Codex Coislin. II., which has o 9 trapei\j) begins ou' trapei/j. The Ben. Ed. propose simply to substitute ei/ for ou' and render "Si enium conversus est. proprium constituit corpus. quod videlicet densata in ipsa decitate, substitit." I have endeavoured to force a possible meaning on the Greek as it stands, though paxunqei/ohj more naturally refers to the unorthodox change than to the orthodox conjunction. The original is ou gap trapei\j oi'kei=on u 9pesth/sato sw=ma, o#per, paxunqei/shj au'tw= th=j qei!kh= fu/sewj, u 9pe/sth.
(3 )In 358, when the homoiousion was accepted, and twelve anathemas formulated against all who rejected it.
(4 )Before 359. Mansi iii. 201.
(5 )Ecc. xii. 12, LXX. cf. Ep. ccxliv. p. 286.
(2 )See Soz., H. E. vi. 34, who says that Barses, with Eulogius, was not consecrated to any definite see. cf. also Theodoret H. E. iv. 16, where it is stated that his bed was preserved at Aradus.
(3 )Domnius was a not uncommon name, and there are several mentioned about the same time, e.g. Nilus, lEpp. iii. 43 and 144.
(6 )This passage shews in what sense St. Basil understands do/guata in Eph. ii. 15 and Col. ii. 14. cf. note on p. 41.
(9 )Here the Ben. note is Mirum id videtur ac prima specie vix credibile, Marcellum ob impios errores ex ecclesia exiisee. Nam. S. Athanasius suspectum illum quidem, sed tamen purgatum habuit, teste Epiphanio, Haeres. lxxii. lxxii. p. 837. Hinc illius discipuli communicatorias beatissimi papae Athanasii litteras ostenderunt confessoribus Aegyptiis, ibid. p. 843. Testatur idem Epiphanius varia esse Catholicorum de Marcello judicia, aliis eum accusantibus, aliis defendentibus, p. 834. Paulinus ejus discipulos sine discrimine recipiebat, ut in superiore epistola vidimus. ipse Basilius in epist. 69 queritur quod eum Ecclesia Romana in communionem ab initio suscepisset. Quomodo ergo exiise dicitur ex Ecclesia qui tot habuit communicatores? Sed tamen S. Basilii testimonium cum sua sponte magni est momenti (non enim ut in dijudicandis Marcelli scriptis, ita in ejusmodi facto proclive fuit errare), tum etiam hoc argumento confirmatur quod Athanasius extremis vitae suae annis Marcellum a communione sua removerit. Neque enim, si semper cum eo communicasset Athanasius, opus habuissent illius discipuli confessione fidei ad impetrandam confessorum Aegyptiorum communionem: nec Petrus Athanasii successor canones violatos, concessa illis communione, quereretur, ut videmus in epistola sequenti, si Aegyptum inter ac Marcellum ejusque clerum et plebem non fuisset rupta communio. Videtur ergo Marcellus sub finem vitae aliquid peccasse, quod Athanasium ab ejus communione discedere cogeret: et cum jamdudum a tota fere oriente damnatus esset, amissa Athanassi communione, quae unicum fere illius refugium erat, desertus ab omnibus videri debuit, nec ei nova ignominia notato prodesse poterat concessa olim a Romana Ecclesia communio.
(2 )cf. Letter cxxxiii. p. 200.
(3 )The Ben. note points out that the accusation against Eusebius (of Samosata) and Meletius was monstrous, and remarks on the delicacy with which Basil approaches it, without directly charging Petrus, from whom it must have come, with the slander involved.
(4 )Ome Ms. contains a note to the effect that this letter was never sent. Maran (Vit. Bas. xxxvii.) thinks the internal evidence is in favour of its having been delivered.
(1 )Placed in 377, or in the beginning of 378.
(2 )To be distinguished from Libanius the bishop, p. 177, and Libanius the professor, mentioned later.
(3 )Dhsero/rwn, or Deserto/rwn, the accepted reading, is a curious Latinism for the Greek a'u'to/uoloi. Eusebius was in exile in Thrace, and the now the Goths were closing round Valens.
(2 )On this subject see before Letters cxcix. and ccxvii. pp. 238 and 256. See Preb. Meyrick in D. C. A. ii. 1102: "It means not exactly the same as our word ravishment, but the violent removal of a woman to a place where her actions are no longer free, for the sake of inducing her or compelling her to marry. . . . By some raptus is distinguished into the two classes of raptus seductionis and raptus violentiae." cf. Cod. Theod. ix. tit. xxiv. legg. 1, 2, and Cod. Justin. ix.-xiii. lleg. 1 Corp. Juris. ii. 832.
(3 )kh/rugua. The Ben. note is no doubt right in understanding the word not to refer to any decree on this particular case, but to Basil's general rule in Canon xxx. cf. p. 239. On the use of kh/ougma by Basil, see note on p. 41.
(1 )Placed at the end of Basil's life.
(2 )Apparently a schoolfellow of Basil, not to be identified with any of the others of the name.
(1 )Written in the last years of Basil's life.
(1 )Written in the last years of Basil's life.
(1 )Of the same time as the preceding.
(1 )Placed at the same time as the preceding.
(1 )Placed in the last years of Basil's life.
(1 )Placed at the end of Basil's life.
(2 )A district in Armenia Minor. Ramsay, Hist. Geog. A.M. 314.
(3 )cf. Ep. ccli. p. 291. Euassai or Evesus is about fifty miles north of Caesarea.
(2 )A registrar of prisons, or prison superintendent. Cod. Just>. ix. 4. 4. Dis. xlviii. 20. 6.
(2 )On the word summopi/aj the Ben. note is: "Hac voce non designatur tota diocesis, sed certos quidam pagorum numerus chorepiscopo commissus, ut patet ex epsit. /foreign> cxlii.," lq.v., "erat autem chorepiscoporum sedes insigni alieui affixa pago, cui alli pagi attribuebantur. Unde Basilius in epsit. clxxxviii. § 10. lAuctor est Amphilochio ut agrum Mestiae subjectum Vasodis subjiciat.
(3 )glau=k0 9aqh/naze. Arist., Av. 301.
(2 )See geographical note in Prolegomena.
(1 )fora/dwn te/lesua. "Recte Scultetum castigat Combefisius quod raptim vectigal reddiderit. At idem immerito putat ob equarum possessionem tributum aliquod ejusmodi hominibus impositum fuisse. Perspicuum est equas ipsas iis, quibus patrocintur Basilius, imperatas fuisse, idque in multae magis quam in tributi loco; si quidem eos comes rei privatae falsis crimintionibus deceptus damnaverat. Sic etiam Greg. Naz., Ep. clxxxiv. Nemesium flectere conatur qui Valentiniano equarum multam ob aliquod delictum inflexerat. Nec mirum est in Cappadocia, quae optimos equos alebat, ejusmodi multas impossitas fuisse ." Ben. note.
(1 )9Hgemo/ni Sebastei'aj. The Ben. Ed. think that here and in Letter lxiii. h 9geuw/n means not governor but Head of the Senate. cf. Cod. Theod. xii., i. 127, 189 So in Letter lxxxvi. The "praepositus pagorum" is styled h'gemw/n.
(1 )Ramsay, Hist. Geog. A. M. p. 55.
(1 )Vide Greg. Naz., Ep. lvil.
(1 )Of the use of this word to indicate the lines in mss., cf. Aristoph., Thesm. 782, and Anth., Pal. vi. 82.
(2 )i.e. in the Labyrinth of Crete.
Ope virginea, nullis iterata priorum,
Janua difficilis filo est inventa relecto.
Ov., Metam. viii. 172.
(1 )"Basilii et Libanii epistolae mutuae, quas magni facit Tillemontius, probatque ut genuinas, maxime dubiae videntur Garuier, in Vit. Bas. cap. 39, p. 172 seqq., is tamen illas spartim edidit. . . . Schroeckh Garn. dubitationi deomnium illarum epist. mutuarum nuqei/a quaedam opponit." Fabricius. Harles., Tom. ix.
Maran (Vit. Bas. xxxix. 2) thinks that the Libanian correspondence, assuming it to be genuine, is to be assigned partly to the period of the retreat, partly to that of the presbyterate, while two only, the one a complaint on the part of Libanius that bishops are avaricious, and Basil's retort, may perhaps have been written during the episcopate. He would see no reason for rejecting them on the ground merely of the unlikelihood of Basil's corresponding with a heathen philosopher, but he is of opinion that the style of most of them is unworthy both of the sophist and of the archbishop. Yet there seems no reason why they should have been invented. It is intelligible enough that they should have been preserved, considering the reputation of the writers; but they suggest no motive for forgery. The life of Libanius extended from 314 to nearly the end of the fourth century. J.R. Mozlev, in D. C. B. (iv. 712) refers to G. R. Siever (Das Leben des Libanius, Berlin, 1868) as the fullest biographer.
(1 )pantaxou= diete/lese kratw=n. "Ubique constantem perdurasse." Ben. Ed. "Ubique firma memoria fuerit." Combetis Firmus may possibly be the father of the young student.
(1 )A famous athlete of Scotussa. Paus. vi. 5.
(2 )The athlete of Crotona, who was crowned again and again at the Pythian and Olympian games.
(3 )o\ qlibein kai\ kate/xein duna/menoj, palaistiko/j : o 9 de\ w\sai th= plhgh=, pustiko/j : o 9 de\ a'mfote/roij tou/toij, pagkratiastiko/j. Arist., Rhet. i. v. 14.
(4 )The story that Xerxes had made a canal through the isthmus of Athos was supposed to be an instance of gross exaggeration. cf. Juv. x. 174: Creditur olim Velificatus Athos et quidquid Graecia mendax Audlet in historia," and Claudian iii. 336: "Remige Medo solicitatus Athos." But traces of the canal are said to be still visible.
(5 )This might lead to the idea that Basil knew some Hebrew, but the close of the sentence indicates that he means the Greek of the LXX., in which he always quotes Scripture.
(1 )cf. Eph. iv. 27, and the passage quoted by Alford form Plut., De Am. Frat. 488 B., to the effect that the Pythagoreans, whenever anger had caused unkindly words, shook hands before sundown, and were reconciled.
(1 )ms. vary between e'nplh/ktoij, e'nple/ktoij, a'plh/ktoij, a'pra/ktoij.
(1 )Rhadamanthus and Minos were both said to be sons of Zeus and Eurpoa. cf. Verg., lAen. vi. 566 and Pind., Ol. ii. 75.
(1 )poa=gma dusgri/piston. gripi/zw = I catch fish, from gri=foj, a creel.
(1 )With a play on xa/rac, the word used for stakes.
(4 )Non illepide auctor epistolae fluvium obstring it resituendi promisso, ut gratuito a se, dari ostendat." Ben. note.
(1 )grith/, an unknown word. Perhaps akin to krioth. cf. Duncange s.v.
(1 )grith/, an unknown word. Perhaps akin to krioth. cf. Duncange s.v.
(1 )This letter is almost undoubtedly spurious, but it has a certain interest, from the fact of its having been quoted at the so-called 7th Council (2d of Nicaea) in 787. Maran (Vit. Bas. xxxix.) is of opinion that it is proved by internal evidence to be the work of some Greek writer at the time of the Iconoclastic controversy. The vocabulary and style are unlike that of Basil.
(2 )Neuter sc. pro/swpa, not u 9posta/seij, as we should expect in Basil.
(3 )e!nsarkon oi'konomi/an an expression I do not recall in Basil's genuine writings.
(4 )Qeoto/kon. the watchword of the Nestorian controversy, which was after Basil's time.
(1 )Introduced by the Ben. with the following preface: "En magni Basilii epistolam, ex prisco codice lxi. f. 324, a me exscriptam quae olim clarissimis quoque viris Marcianae bibliothecae descriptoribus Zannetro atque Morellio inedita visa est; atque utrum sit alicubi postremis his annis edita, mihi non consat, sed certe in plenissima Garnerii editione desideratur. Ea scribitur ad Urbicum monachum, ad quem aliae duae Basilii epistolae exstant, nempe 123 and 262, in Garneriana editione. Argumentum titulusque est De Continentia, neque ver scriptum hoc Basilianum diutius ego celandum arbitror praesertim quia Suidas ac Photius nihil praestantius aut epistolari characteri accommodatius Basilii epistolis esse judicarunt. Mai, biblioth. nov. patr. iii. 450.
(3 )The Ben. note is: "Hac super re reverentissime theologiceque scribit Athanasius Corinthi episcopus in fragmento quod nos edidimus A.A. class l. x. p. 499-500, quod incipit: Zhtou=men, ei' h 9 plh/rwsij tw=n brwma/twn e'pi\ Xristou= e'ke/kthto kai\ ke/nwsin. Erat enim haec quoque una ex objectionibus haereticorum. Definit autem, corpus Christi hac in re fuisse caeteris superius, sicuti etiam in insolita nativitate. Ulitur quoque Athanasius exemplo trinitatis illius apud Abrahamum convivantis, neque tamen naturali necessitati obtem perantis; quod item de Christo post resurrectionem edente intelligendum dicit.