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Chapter XXIV. Theophilus Bishop of Antioch.
1 Of Theophilus,hyperlink whom we have mentioned as bishop of the church of Antioch,hyperlink three elementary works addressed to Autolycus are extant; also another writing entitled Against the Heresy of Hermogenes,hyperlink in which he makes use of testimonies from the Apocalypse of John, and finally certain other catechetical books.hyperlink
2 And as the heretics, no less then than at other times, were like tares, destroying the pure harvest of apostolic teaching, the pastors of the churches everywhere hastened to restrain them as wild beasts from the fold of Christ, at one time by admonitions and exhortations to the brethren, at another time by contending more openly against them in oral discussions and refutations, and again by correcting their opinions with most accurate proofs in written works.
3 And that Theophilus also, with the others, contended against them, is manifest from a certain discourse of no common merit written by him against Marcion.hyperlink This work too, with the others of which we have spoken, has been preserved to the present day.
Maximinus,hyperlink the seventh from the apostles, succeeded him as bishop of the church of Antioch.
Chapter XXV. Philip and Modestus.
1 Philip who, as we learn from the words of Dionysius,hyperlink was bishop of the parish of Gortyna, likewise wrote a most elaborate work against Marcion,hyperlink as did also Irenaeushyperlink and Modestus.hyperlink The last named has exposed the error of the man more clearly than the rest to the view of all. There are a number of others also whose works are still presented by a great many of the brethren.
Chapter XXVI. Melito and the Circumstances Which He Records.
1 In those days also Melito,hyperlink bishop of the parish in Sardis, and Apolinarius,hyperlink bishop of Hierapolis, enjoyed great distinction. Each of them on his own part addressed apologies in behalf of the faith to the above-mentioned emperorhyperlink of the Romans who was reigning at that time.
2 The following works of these writers have come to our knowledge. Of Melito,hyperlink the two books On the Passover,hyperlink and one On the Conduct of Life and the Prophets,hyperlink the discourse On the Church,hyperlink and one On the Lord's Day,hyperlink still further one On the Faith of Man,hyperlink and one On his Creation,hyperlink another also On the Obedience of Faith, and one On the Senses;hyperlink besides these the work On the Soul and Body,hyperlink and that On Baptism,hyperlink and the one On Truth,hyperlink and On the Creation and Generation of Christ;hyperlink his discourse also On Prophecy,hyperlink and that On Hospitality;hyperlink still further, The Key,hyperlink and the books On the Devil and the Apocalypse of John,hyperlink and the work On the Corporeality of God,hyperlink and finally the book addressed to Antoninus.hyperlink
3 In the books On the Passover he indicates the time at which he wrote, beginning with these words: "While Servilius Paulus was proconsul of Asia, at the time when Sagaris suffered martyrdom, there arose in Laodicea a great strife concerning the Passover, which fell according to rule in those days; and these were written."hyperlink
4 And Clement of Alexandria refers to this work in his own discourse On the Passover,hyperlink which, he says, he wrote on occasion of Melito's work.
5 But in his book addressed to the emperor he records that the following events happened to us under him: "For, what never before happened,hyperlink the race of the pious is now suffering persecution, being driven about in Asia by new decrees. For the shameless informers and coveters of the property of others, taking occasion from the decrees, openly carry on robbery night and day, despoiling those who are guilty of no wrong." And a little further on he says: "If these things are done by thy command, well and good. For a just ruler will never take unjust measures; and we indeed gladly accept the honor of such a death.
6 But this request alone we present to thee, that thou wouldst thyself first examine the authors of such strife, and justly judge whether they be worthy of death and punishment, or of safety and quiet. But if, on the other hand, this counsel and this new decree, which is not fit to be executed even against barbarian enemies, be not from thee, much more do we beseech thee not to leave us exposed to such lawless plundering by the populace."
7 Again he adds the following:hyperlink "For our philosophy formerly flourished among the Barbarians; but having sprung up among the nations under thy rule, during the great reign of thy ancestor Augustus, it became to thine empire especially a blessing of auspicious omen. For from that time the power of the Romans has grown in greatness and splendor. To this power thou hast succeeded, as the desired possessor,hyperlink and such shalt thou continue with thy son, if thou guardest the philosophy which grew up with the empire and which came into existence with Augustus; that philosophy which thy ancestors also honored along with the other religions.
8 And a most convincing proof that our doctrine flourished for the good of an empire happily begun, is this-that there has no evil happened since Augustus' reign, but that, on the contrary, all things have been splendid and glorious, in accordance with the prayers of all.
9 Nero and Domitian, alone, persuaded by certain calumniators, have wished to slander our doctrine, and from them it has come to pass that the falsehoodhyperlink has been handed down, in consequence of an unreasonable practice which prevails of bringing slanderous accusations against the Christians.hyperlink
10 But thy pious fathers corrected their ignorance, having frequently rebuked in writinghyperlink many who dared to attempt new measures against them. Among them thy grandfather Adrian appears to have written to many others, and also to Fundanus,hyperlink the proconsul and governor of Asia. And thy father, when thou also wast ruling with him, wrote to the cities, forbidding them to take any new measures against us; among the rest to the Larissaeans, to the Thessalonians, to the Athenians, and to all the Greeks.hyperlink
11 And as for thee,-since thy opinions respecting the Christianshyperlink are the same as theirs, and indeed much more benevolent and philosophic,-we are the more persuaded that thou wilt do all that we ask of thee." These words are found in the above-mentioned work.
12 But in the Extractshyperlink made by him the same writer gives at the beginning of the introduction a catalogue of the acknowledged books of the Old Testament, which it is necessary to quote at this point. He writes as follows:
13 "Melito to his brother Onesimus,hyperlink greeting: Since thou hast often, in thy zeal for the word, expressed a wish to have extracts made from the Law and the Prophets concerning the Saviour and concerning our entire faith, and hast also desired to have an accurate statement of the ancient book, as regards their number and theirorder, I have endeavored to perform the task, knowing thy zeal for the faith, and thy desire to gain information in regard to the word, and knowing that thou, in thy yearning after God, esteemest these things above all else, struggling to attain eternal salvation.
14 Accordingly when I went East and came to the place where these things were preached and done, I learned accurately the books of the Old Testament, and send them to thee as written below. Their names are as follows: Of Moses, five books: Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus,hyperlink Deuteronomy; Jesus Nave, Judges, Ruth; of Kings, four books; of Chronicles, two; the Psalms of David,hyperlink the Proverbs of Solomon, Wisdom also,hyperlink Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Job; of Prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah; of the twelve prophets, one bookhyperlink ; Daniel, Ezekiel, Esdras.hyperlink From which also I have made the extracts, dividing them into six books." Such are the words of Melito.
Footnotes
191 Eusebius is the only Eastern writer of the early centuries to mention Theophilus and his writings. Among the Latin Fathers, Lactantius and Gennadius refer to his work, ad Autolycum; and Jerome devotes chap. 25 of his de vir. ill. to him. Beyond this there is no direct mention of Theophilus, or of his works, during the early centuries (except that of Malalas, which will be referred to below). Eusebius here calls Theophilus bishop of Antioch, and in chap. 20 makes him the sixth bishop, as does also Jerome in his de vir. ill. chap. 25. But in his epistle, ad Algas. (Migne, Ep. 121), Jerome calls him the seventh bishop of Antioch, beginning his reckoning with the apostle Peter. Eusebius, in his Chron., puts the accession of Theophilus into the ninth year of Marcus Aurelius (169); and this may be at least approximately correct. The accession of his successor Maximus is put into the seventeenth year (177); but this date is at least four years too early, for his work, ad Autolycum, quotes from a work in which the death of Marcus Aurelius (who died in 180) was mentioned, and hence cannot have been written before 181 or 182. We know that his successor, Maximus, became bishop sometime between 189 and 192, and hence Theophilus died between 181 and that time. We have only Eusebius' words (Jerome simply repeats Eusebius' statement) for the fact that Theophilus was bishop of Antioch (his extant works do not mention the fact, nor do those who quote from his writings), but there is no good ground for doubting the truth of the report. We know nothing more about his life.
In addition to the works mentioned in this chapter, Jerome (de vir. ill.) refers to Commentaries upon the Gospel and the book of Proverbs, in the following words: Legi sub nomine ejus in Evengelium et in Praverbia Salomonis Commentarios qui mihi cum superiorum volumnum elegantia et phrasi non videntur congruere. The commentary upon the Gospel is referred to by Jerome again in the preface to his own commentary on Matthew; and in his epistle, ad Algasiam, he speaks of a harmony of the four Gospels, by Theophilus (qui quatuor Evangelistarum in unumopus dicta campingens), which may have been identical with the commentary, or may have formed a basis for it. This commentary is mentioned by none of the Fathers before or after Jerome; and Jerome himself expresses doubts as to its genuineness, or at least he does not think that its style compares with that of the other works ascribed to Theophilus. Whether the commentary was genuine or not we have no means of deciding, for it is no longer extant. There is in existence a Latin commentary on the Gospels in four books, which bears the name of Theophilus, and is published in Otto's Corpus Apol. Vol. VIII. p. 278-324. This was universally regarded as a spurious work until Zahn, in 1883 (in his Forschungen zur Gesch. des N. T. Canons, Theil II.) made an elaborate effort to prove it a genuine work of Theophilus of Antioch. Harnack, However, in his Texte und Unters. I. 4, p. 97-175, has shown conclusively that Zahn is mistaken, and that the extant commentary is nothing better than a Post-Nicene compilation from the works of various Latin Fathers. Zahn, in his reply to Harnack (Forschungen, Theil III. Bellage 3), still maintains that the Commentary is a genuine work of Theophilus, with large interpolations, but there is no adequate ground for such a theory; and it has found few, if any, supporters. We must conclude, then, that if Theophilus did write such a commentary, it is no longer extant.
The three books addressed to Autolycus (a heathen friend otherwise unknown to us) are still extant in three Mediaeval mss. and have been frequently published both in the original and in translation. The best edition of the original is that of Otto (Corp. Apol. Vol. VIII.); English translation by Dods, in the Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. II. p. 85-121. The work is an apology, designed to exhibit the falsehood of idolatry and the truth of Christianity. The author was a learned writer, well acquainted with Greek philosophy; and his literary style is of a high order. He acknowledges no good in the Greek philosophers, except what they have taken from the Old. Testament writers. The genuineness of the work has been attacked, but without sufficient reason.
From Book II. chap. 30 of his ad Autol. we learn that Theophilus had written also a work On History. No such work is extant, nor is it mentioned by Eusebius or any other Father. Malalas, however, cites a number of times "The chronologist Theophilus," and it is possible that he used this lost historical work. It is possible, on tne other hand, that he refers to some other unknown Theophilus (see Harnack, Texte und Unters. I. 1, p. 291).
192 In chap. 20, above.
193 This work against Hermogenes is no longer extant. Harnack (p. 294 ff.) gives strong grounds for supposing that it was the common source from which Tertullian, in his work ad Hermogenem, Hippolytus, in his Phil. VIII. 10 and X. 24, and Clement of Alexandria, in his Proph. Selections, 56, all drew. If this be true, as seems probable, the Hermogenes attacked by these various writers. is one man, and his chief heresy, as we learn from Tertullian and Hippolytus, was that God did not create the world out of nothing, but only formed it out of matter which, like himself, was eternally existent.
194 These catechetical works (tina kathxhtika biblia), which were extant in the time of Eusebius, are now lost. They are mentioned by none of the Fathers except Jerome, who speaks of alii breves elegantesque tractatus ad aedificationem Ecclesiae perti-nentes as extant in his time. We know nothing more of their nature than is thus told us by Jerome.
195 This work, which is also now lost, is mentioned by no other Father except Jerome, who puts it first in his list of Theophilus' writings, but does not characterize it in any way, though he says it was extant in his time. Irenaeus, in four passages of his great work, exhibits striking parallels to Bk. II. chap. 25 of Theophilus' ad Autol., which have led to the assumption that he knew the latter work. Harnack, however, on account of the shortness of time which elapsed between the composition of the ad Autol. and Irenaeus' work, and also on account of the nature of the resemblances between the parallel passages, thinks it improbable that Iren`us used the ad Autol., and concludes that hew as acquainted rather with Theophilus' work against Marcion, a conclusion which accords best with the facts known to us.
196 Here, and in Bk. V. chap. 19, §1, Eusebius gives this hishop's name as Maximinus. In the Chron. we find Macimoj, and in Jerome's version Maximus, though one ms. of the latter gives Maximinus. According to the Chron. he became bishop in 177, and was succeeded by Serapion in 190. As remarked in note 1, above, the former date is incorrect, for Theophilus must have lived at least as late as 181 or 182. We cannot reach certainty in regard to the date either of his accession or of his death; but if Eusebius' statement (in Bk. V. chap. 19), that Serapion was bishop while Commodus was still emperor, is to be believed (see further, Bk. V. chap. 19, note 1), Maximinus must have died at least as early as 192, which gives us for his episcopate some part of the period from 181 to 192. We know no particulars in regard to the life of Maximinus.
197 See above, chap. 23, §5.
198 Philip's work against Marcion which Eusebius mentions here is no longer extant, and, so far as the writer knows, is mentioned by no other Father except Jerome (de vir. ill. 30), who tells us only what Eusebius records here, using, however, the adjective praeclarum for Eusebius' dpondaiotaton.
199 On Irenaeus, see above, chap. 21, note 9.
200 Modestus, also, is a writer known to us only from Eusebius (here, and in chap. 21) and from Jerome (de vir. ill. 32). According to the latter, the work against Marcion was still extant in his day, but he gives us no description of it. He adds, however, that a number of spurious works ascribed to Modestus were in circulation at that time (Feruntur sub nomine ejus et alia syntagmata, sed ab eruditis quasi yeudografa repundiantur). Neither these nor the genuine works are now extant, so far as we know.
201 The first extant notice of Melito, bishop of Sardis, is found in the letter addressed by Polycrates to Bishop Victor of Rome (c. 190-202 a.d.) in support of the Quartodeciman practice of the Asia Minor churches. A fragment of this letter is given by Eusebius in Bk. V. chap. 24, and from it we learn that Melito also favored the Quartodeciman practice, that he was a man whose walk and conversation were altogether under the influence of the Holy Spirit, and that he was buried at Sardis. Polycrates in this fragment calls Melito a eunuch. Whether the word is to be understood in its literal sense or is to be taken as meaning simply that Melito lived in "virgin continence" is disputed. In favor of the latter interpretation may be urged the fact that the Greek word and its Latin equivalent were very commonly used by the Fathers in this figurative sense, e.g. by Athenagores, by Tertullian, by Clement of Alexandria, by Cassianus (whose work on continence bore the title peri egkrateiaj, h peri eunouxiaj), by Jerome, Epiphanius, Chrysostom, Theodoret, Gregory Nazianzen, &c. (see Smith and Wace's Dict. of Christ. Biog., article Melito, and Suicer's Thesaurus). On the other hand, such continence cannot have been a rare thing in Asia Minor in the time of Polycrates, and the fact that Melito is called specifically "the eunuch" looks peculiar if nothing more than that is meant by it. The case of Origen, who made himself a eunuch for the sake of preserving his chastity, at once occurs to us in this connection (see Renan, L'eglise chret. p. 436, and compare Justin Martyr's Apol. I. 29). The canonical rule that no such eunuch could hold clerical office came later, and hence the fact that Melito was a bishop cannot be urged against the literal interpretation of the word here. Polycrates' meaning hardly admits of an absolute decision, but at least it cannot be looked upon as it is by most historians as certain that he uses the word here in its figurative sense.
Polycrates says nothing of the fact that Melito was a writer, but we learn from this chapter (§4), and from Bk. VI. chap. 13, that Clement of Alexandria, in a lost work, mentioned his writings and even wrote a work in reply to one of his (see below, note 23). According to the present chapter he was a very prolific writer, and that he was a man of marked talent is clear from Jerome's words in his de vir. ill. chap. 24 (where he refers to Tertullian's lost work, de Ecstasi): Hujus [i.e. Melitonis] elegans el declamatorium ingenium Tertullianus in septem libris, quos scripsit adversus ecclesiam pro Montano, cavillatur, dicens eum a plerisque nos- trorum prophetam putari. In spite of the fact that Tertullian satirized Melito's talent, he nevertheless was greatly influenced by his writings and owed much to them (see the points of contact between the two men given by Harnack, p. 250 sqq.). The statement that he was regarded by many as a prophet accords well with Polycrates' description of him referred to above. The indications all point to the fact that Melito was decidedly ascetic in his tendencies, and that he had a great deal in common with the spirit which gave rise to Montanism and even made Tertullian a Montanist, and yet at the same time he opposed Montanism, and is therefore spoken of slightingly by Tertullian. His position, so similar to that of the Montanists, was not in favor with the orthodox theologians of the third century, and this helps to explain why, although he was such a prolific and talented writer, and although he remained orthodox, he nevertheless passed almost entirely out of the memory of the Church of the third and following centuries. To this is to be added the fact that Melito was a chiliast; and the teachings of the Montanists brought such disrepute upon chiliasm that the Fathers of the third and following centuries did not show much fondness for those who held or had held these views. Very few notices of Melito's works are found among the Fathers, and none of those works is to-day extant. Eusebius is the first to give us an idea of the number and variety of his writings, and he does little more than mention the titles, a fact to be explained only by his lack of sympathy with Melito's views.
The time at which Melito lived is indicated with sufficient exactness by the fact that he wrote his Apology during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, but after the death of his brother Lucius, i.e. after 169 (see below, note at); and that when Polycrates wrote his epistle to Victor of Rome, he had been dead already some years. It is possible (as held by Piper, Otto, and others) that his Apology was his last work, for Eusebius mentions it last in his list. At the same time, it is quite as possible that Eusebius enumerates Melito's works simply in the order in which he found them arranged in the library of Caesarea, where he had perhaps seen them. Of the dates of his episcopacy, and of his predecessors and successors in the see of Sardis, we know nothing.
In addition to the works mentioned in this chapter by Eusebius, who does not pretend to give a full list, we find in Anastasius Sinaita's Hodegos seu dux viae c. aceph. fragments from two other works entitled eij to paqoj and peri sarkwdewj xristou (the latter directed against Marcion), which cannot be identified with any mentioned by Eusebius (see Harnack, I. 1, p. 254). The Codex Nitriacus Musei Britannici 12,156 contains four fragments ascribed to Melito, of which the first belongs undoubtedly to his genuine work peri yuxhj kai swmatoj, which is mentioned in this chapter by Eusebius. The second purports to be taken from a work, peri staurou, of which we hear nowhere else, and which may or may not have been by Melito. The third fragment bears the title Melitonis episcopi de fide, and might be looked upon as an extract from the work peri pistewj, mentioned by Eusebius (as Otto regards it); but the same fragment is four times ascribed to Irenaeus by other early authorities, and an analysis of these authorities shows that the tradition in favor of Irenaeus is stronger than that in favor of Melito, and so Harnack mentions a work, peri pistewj, which is ascribed by Maximus Confessor to Iren`us, and from which the quotation may have been taken (see Harnack, ibid. p. 266 ff.). The fourth fragment was taken in all probability from Melito's work, peri paqtouj, mentioned by Anastasius. An Apology in Syriac, bearing the name of Melito, is extant in another of the Nitrian mss. in the British Museum (No. 14,658), and has been published with an English translation by Cureton, in his Spic. Syr. (p. 41-51). It has been proved, however, that this Apology (which we have entire) was not written by Melito, but probably by an inhabitant of Syria, in the latter part of the second, or early part of the third century,-whether originally in the Greek or Syriac language is uncertain (see Harnack, p. 261 ff., and Smith and Wace, Vol. III. p. 895). In addition to the genuine writings, there must be mentioned also some spurious works which are still extant. Two Latin works of the early Middle Ages, entitled de transitu Mariae and de passione S. Joannis Evangelistae, and also a Catena of the latter Middle Ages on the Apocalypse, and a Clavis Scripturae of the Carlovingian period (see below, note 18), bear in some mss. the name of Melito. This fact shows that Melito's name was not entirely forgotten in the Occidental Church of the Middle Ages, though little exact knowledge of him seems to have existed.
On Melito and his writings, see Piper's article in the Theol. Studien und Kritiken, 1838, p. 54-154; Salmon's article in Smith and Wace, and especially Harnack's Texte und Unters. I. 1, p. 240-278. The extant fragments of Melito's writings are given in Routh's Rel. Sac. I. 111-153, and in Otto's Corp. Apol. IX. 374-478, and an English translation in the Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. VIII. p. 750-762.
202 On Apolinarius and his writings, see chap. 27.
203 Marcus Aurelius.
204 The following list of Melito's works is at many points very uncertain, owing to the various readings of the mss. and versions. We have as authorities for the text, the Greek mss. of Eusebius, the History of Nicephorus, the translation of Rufinus, chap. 24 of Jerome's de vir. ill., and the Syriac version of this passage of Eusebius' History, which has been printed by Cureton, in his Spic. Syr. p. 56 ff.
205 The quotation from this work given by Eusebius in §7, perhaps enables us to fix approximately the date at which it was written. Rufinus reads Sergius Paulus, instead of Servilius Paulus, which is found in all the Greek mss. Sergius Paulus is known to have had his second consulship in 168, and it is inferred by Wad-dington that he was proconsul about 164 to 166 (see Fastes des provinces Asiatiques, chap. 2, §148). No Servilius Paulus is known in connection with the province of Asia, and hence it seems probable that Rufinus is correct; and if so, the work on the Passover was written early in the sixties. The fragment which Eusebius gives in this chapter is the only part of his work that is extant. It was undoubtedly in favor of the Quartodeciman practice, for Polycrates, who was a decided Quartodeciman, cites Melito in support of his position.
206 The exact reading at this point is disputed. I read, with a number of mss. to peri politeiaj kai profhtwn, making but one work, On the Conduct of Life and the Prophets. Many mss. followed by Valesius, Heinichen, and Burton, read ta instead of to, thus making either two works(one On the Conduct of Life, and the other On the Prophets), or one work containing more than one book. Rufinus translates de optima conversatione liber unus, sed et de prophetis, and the Syriac repeats the preposition, as if it read kai peri politeiaj kai peri profhtwn. It is not quite certain whether Rufinus and the Syriac thought of two works in translating thus, or of only one. Jerome translates, de vita prophetarum librum unum, and in accordance with this translation Otto proposes to read twn profhtwn instead of kai profhtwn. But this is supported by no ms. authority, and cannot be accepted.
No fragments of this work are extant.
207 o peri ekklhsiaj. Jerome, de ecclesia librum unum.
208 o peri kuriakhj logoj. Jerome, de Die Dominica librum unum.
209 Valesius, Otto, Heinichen, and other editors, following the majority of the mss., read peri fusewj anqrwpou, On the Nature of Man. Four important mss., however, read peri pistewj anqrwpou, and this reading is confirmed both by Rufinus and by the Syriac; whether by Jerome also, as claimed by Harnack, is uncertain, for he omits both this work and the one On the Obedience of Faith, given just below, and mentions a de fide librum unum, which does not occur in Eusebius' list, and which may have arisen through mistake from either of the titles given by Eusebius, or, as seems more probable, may have been derived from the title of the work mentioned below, On the Creation and Generation of Christ, as remarked in note 15. If this supposition be correct, Jerome omits all reference to this work peri pistewj anqrwpou. The text of Jerome is unfortunately very corrupt at this point. In the present passage pistewj is better supported by tradition than fusewj, and at the same time is the more difficult reading, and hence I have adopted it as more probably representing the original.
210 o peri plasewj. Jerome, de plasmate librum unum.
211 All the Greek mss. combine these two titles into one, reading o peri upakohj pistewj aisqhthriwn: "On the subjection (or obedience) of the senses to faith." This reading is adopted by Valesius, Heinichen, Otto, and others; but Nicephorus reads o peri upakohj pistewj, kai o peri aisqhthriwn, and Rufinus translates, de obedientia fidei, de sensibus, both of them making two works, as I have done in the text. Jerome leaves the first part untranstated, and reads only de sensibus, while the Syriac reproduces only the words o peri upakohj (or akohj) pistewj, omitting the second clause. Christophorsonus, Stroth, Zimmermann, Burton, and Harnack consequently read o peri upakohj pistewj, o peri aisqhthriwn, concluding that the words o peri after pistewj have fallen out of the Greek text. I have adopted this reading in my translation.
212 A serious difficulty arises in connection with this title from the fact that most of the Greek mss. read o peri yuxhj kai swmatoj h nooj, while the Syriac, Rufinus, and Jerome omit the h nooj entirely. Nicephorus and two of the Greek mss. meanwhile read hn en oij, which is evidently simply a corruption of h nooj, so that the Greek mss. are unanimous for this reading. Otto, Crusè, and Salmon read kai nooj, but there is no authority for kai instead of h, and the change cannot be admitted. The explanation which Otto gives (p. 376) of the change of h to kai will not hold, as Harnack shows on p. 247, note 346. It seems to me certain that the words h nooj did not stand in the original, but that the word nooj, (either alone or preceded by h or kai) was written upon the margin by some scribe perhaps as an alternative to yuxhj, perhaps as an addition in the interest of trichotomy, and was later inserted in the text after yuxhj and swmatoj, under the impression that it was an alternative title of the book. My reasons for this opinion are the agreement of the versions in the omission of nooj, the impossibility of explaining the h before nooj in the original text, the fact that in the Greek mss., in Rufinus, and in the Syriac, the words kai peri yuxhj kai swmatoj are repeated further down in the list,-a repetition which Harnack thinks was made inadvertently by Eusebius himself, and which in omitting nooj confirms the omission of it in the present case,-and finally, a fact which seems to me decisive, but which has apparently hitherto escaped notice, that the nooj, follows instead of precedes the swmatoj, and thus breaks the logical order, which would certainly have been preserved in the title of a book.
213 o peri loutrou; Jerome, de baptismate.
214 Apolinarius (according to chap. 27) also wrote a work On Truth, and the place which it holds in that list, between an apologetical work addressed to the Greeks and one addressed to the Jews, makes it probable that it too bore an apologetic character, being perhaps devoted to showing that Christianity is pre-eminently the truth. Melitos work on the same subject very likely bore a similar character, as suggested by Salmon.
215 Six mss., with Nicephorus, read ktisewj, "creation," but five mss., with the Syriac and Rufinus, and possibly Jerome, read pistewj. The latter reading therefore has the strongest external testimony in its favor, but must be rejected (with Stroth, Otto, Heinichen, Harnack, etc.) as evidently a dogmatic correction of the fourth century, when there was an objection to the use of the word ktisij in connection with Christ. Rufinus divides the one work On the Creation and Generation of Christ into two,-On Faith and On the Generation of Christ, and his prophecy, connecting the second with the next-mentioned work. Jerome omits the first clause entirely at this point, and translates simply de generatione Christi librum unum. The de fide, however, which he inserts earlier in his list, where there is no corresponding word in the Greek, may be the title which he omits here (see above, note 9), displaced, as the title de sensibus is also displaced. If this be true, he becomes with Rufinus and the Syriac a witness to the reading pistewj instead of ktisewj, and like Rufinus divides the one work of Ensebius into two.
216 All the Greek mss. read kai logoj autou peri profhteiaj, which can rightly mean only "his work on Prophecy"; but Jerome translates de prophetia sua librum unum, and Rufinus de prophetia ejus, while the Syriac reads as if there stood in the Greek peri logou tnj profhteiaj autou. All three therefore connect the autou with the profhteiaj instead of with the logoj, which of course is much more natural, since the autou with the logoj seems quite unnecessary at this point. The translation of the Syriac, Rufinus, and Jerome, however, would require peri profhteiaj autou or peri thj autou profhteiaj, and there is no sign that the autou originally stood in such connection with the profhteiaj. We must, therefore, reject the rendering of these three versions as incorrect.
217 peri filoceniaj. After this title a few of the mss., with Rufinus and the Syriac, add the words kai peri yuxhj kai swmatoj, a repetition of a title already given (see above, note 12).
218 h kleij; Jerome, et alium librum qui Clavis inscribitur. The word is omitted in the Syriac version. The nature of this work we have no means of determining. It is possible that it was a key to the interpretation of the Scriptures, designed to guide the reader in the study especially of the figures of the prophecies (cr. Otto, p. 401) and of the Apocalypse. Piper is right, however, in saying that it cannot have been intended to supply the allegorical meaning of Scripture words, like the extant Latin Clavis of Pseudo-Melito, mentioned just below; for Melito, who like Tertullian taught the corporeality of God, must have been very literal-not allegorical-in his interpretation of Scripture. A Latin work bearing the title Melitonis Clavis Sanctae Scripturae was mentioned by Labbe in. 1653 as contained in the library of Clermont College, and after years of search was recovered and published by Pitra in 1855 in his Spicileg. Solesm. Vols. II. and III. He regarded the work as a translation, though with interpolations, of the genuine kleij of Melito, but this hypothesis has been completely disproved (see the article by Steitz in the Studien und Kritiken, 1857, p. 184 sqq.), and the work has been shown to be nothing more than a medi`val dictionary of allegorical interpolations of Scripture, compiled from the Latin Fathers. There is, therefore, no trace extant of Melito's Key.
219 All the Greek mss. read kai ta peri tou diabolou, kai tnj apokaluyewj 'Iwannou, making but one work, with two or more books, upon the general subject, The Devil and the Apocalypse of John. The Syriac apparently agrees with the Greek in this respect (see. Harnack, p. 248, note 350); but Jerome and Rufinus make two works, the latter reading de diabolo librum unum, de Apocalypsi Joannis librum unum. Origen, in Psalm. III. (ed. Lommatzsch, XI. p. 411), says that Melito treated Absalom as a type of the devil warring against the kingdom of Christ. It has been conjectured that the reference may be to this work of Melito's, and that reference is an argument for the supposition that Melito treated the devil and the Apocalypse in one work (cf. Harnack, p. 248, and Smith and Wace, p. 898).
220 o peri enswmatou qeou. Jerome does not translate this phrase, but simply gives the Greek. Rufinus renders de cleo corpore induto, thus understanding it to refer to the incarnation of God, and the Syriac agrees with this rendering. But as Harnack rightly remarks, we should expect, if this were the author's meaning, the words peri enswmatwewj feou, or rather logou. Moreover, Origen (Selecta in Gen. I. 26; Lommatzsch, VIII. p. 49) enumerates Melito among those who taught the corporeality of God, and says that he had written a work peri tou enswmaton einai ton qeon. It is possible, of course, that he may not have seen Melito's work, and that he may have misunderstood its title and have mistaken a work on the incarnation for one on the corporeality of God; but this is not at all likely. Either he had read the book, and knew it to be upon the subject he states, or else he knew from other sources that Melito believed in the corporeality of God, and hence had no doubt that this work was upon that subject. There is no reason in any case for doubting the accuracy of Origen's statement, and for hesitating to conclude that the work mentioned by Eusebius was upon the corporeality of God. The close relationship existing between Melito and Tertullian has already been referred to, and this fact furnishes confirmation for the belief that Melito held God to be corporeal, for we know Tertullian's views on that subject. Gennadius (de eccles. dogmat. chap. 4) classes Melito and Tertullian together, as both teaching a corporeality in the Godhead. What was the source of his statement, and how much dependence is to be put upon it, we cannot say, but it is at least a corroboration of the conclusion already reached. We conclude then that Rufinus and the Syriac were mistaken in their rendering, and that this work discussed the corporeality, not the incarnation, of God.
221 epi pasi kai to proj 'Antwninon biblision. biblision (libellus) was the technical name for a petition addressed to the emperor, and does not imply that the work was a brief one, as Piper supposes. The Apology is mentioned also in chap. 13, above, and at the beginning of this chapter. Jerome puts it first in his list, with the words: Melito Asianus, Sardensis episcopus, librum imperatori M. Antonini Vero, qui Frontonis oratoris discipulus fuit, pro christiano dogmate dedit. This Apology is no longer extant, and we have only the fragments which Eusebius gives in this chapter. As remarked in note 1, above, the extant Syriac Apology is not a work of Melito's. The Apology is mentioned in Jerome's version of the Chron., and is assigned to the tenth year of Marcus Aurelius, 120 a.d. The notice is omitted in the Armenian, which, however, assigns to the eleventh year of Marcus Aurelius the Apology of Apolinarius, which is conuected with that of Melito in the Ch. Hist. Moreover, a notice of the Apology is given by Syncellus in connection with the tenth year of Marcus Aurelius, and also by the Chron. Pasch.; so that it is not improbable that Eusebius himself mentioned it in his Chron., and that its omission in the Armenian is a mistake (as Harnack thinks likely). But though the notice may thus have been made by Eusebius himself, we are nevertheless not at liberty to accept the date given as conclusive. We learn from the quotations given by Eusebius that the work was addressed to the emperor after the death of Lucius Verus, i.e. after the year 169. Whether before or after the association of Cornmodus with his father in the imperial power, which took place in 176, is uncertain; but I am inclined to think that the words quoted in §7, below, point to a prospective rather than to a present association of Cornmodus in the empire, and that therefore the work was written between 169 and 176. It must be admitted, however, that we can say with certainty only that the work was written between 169 and 180. Some would put the work at the beginning of those persecutions which raged in 177, and there is much to be said for this. But the dates of the local and minor persecutions, which were so frequent during this period, are so uncertain that little can be based upon the fact that we know of persecutions in certain parts of the empire in 177. Piper, Otto, and others conclude from the fact that the Apology is mentioned last by Eusebius that it was Melito's latest work; but that, though not at all unlikely, does not necessarily follow (see above, note 1).
222 A Sagaris, bishop and martyr, and probably the same man, is mentioned by Polycrates in his epistle to Victor (Euseb. V. 24) as buried in Laodicea. This is all we know of him. The date of his martyrdom, and of the composition of the work On the Passover, depends upon the date of the proconsulship of Servilius (or Sergius) Paulus (see above, note 5). The words empesontoj kata kairon have unnecessarily caused Salmon considerable trouble. The words kata kairon mean no more than "properly, regularly, according to appointment or rule," and do not render ekeinaij taij hmeraij superfluous, as he thinks. The clause kai egrafh tauta ("and these were written") expresses result,-it was in consequence of the passover strife that Melito wrote this work.
223 This work of Clement's, On the Passover, which he says he wrote on occasion of Melito's work, was clearly written in reply to and therefore against the work of Melito, not as a supplement to it, as Hefele supposes (Conciliengesch. I. 299). The work of Clement (which is mentioned by Eusebius, VI. 13, in his list of Clement's writings) is no longer extant, but some brief fragments of it have been preserved (see Bk. VI. chap. 13, note 8).
224 This statement of Melito's is a very remarkable one. See chap. 8, note 14.
225 The resemblance between this extract from Melito's Apology and the fifth chapter of Tertullian's Apology is close enough to tie striking, and too close to be accidental. Tertullian's chapter is quite different from this, so far as its arrangement and language are concerned, but the same thought underlies both: That the emperors in general have protected Christianity; only Nero and Domitian, the most wicked of them, have persecuted it; and that Christianity has been a blessing to the reigns of all the better emperors. We cannot doubt that Tertullian was acquainted with Melito's Apology, as well as with others of his works.
226 euktaioj.
227 The reference here seems to be to the common belief that the Christians were responsible for all the evils which at any time happened, such as earthquakes, floods, famines, etc.
228 af wn kai to thj sukofantiaj alogw sunhqeia peri touj toioutouj ruhnai sumbebhke yeudoj. The sentence is a difficult one and has been interpreted in various ways, but the translation given in the text seems to me best to express the writer's meaning.
229 ellrafwj: i.e. in edicts or rescripts.
230 This epistle to Fundanus is given in chap. 9, above. Upon its genuineness, see chap. 8, note 14.
231 On these epistles of Antoninus Pius, see chap. 13, note 9. These ordinances to the Larisseans, Thessalonians, Athenians, and all the Greeks, are no longer extant. What their character must have been is explained in the note just referred to.
232 peri toutwn.
233 en dh taij grafeisaij autw eklogaij. Jerome speaks of this work as Eklogwn, libros sex. There are no fragments of it extant except the single one from the preface given here by Eusebius. The nature of the work is clear from the words of Melito himself It was a collection of testimonies to Christ and to Christianity, drawn from the Old Testament law and prophets. It must, therefore, have resembled closely such works as Cyprian's Testimonia, and the Testimonia of Pseudo-Gregory, and other anti-Jewish works, in which the appeal was made to the Old Testament-the common ground accepted by both parties-for proof of the truth of Christianity. Although the Eclogae of Melito were not anti-Jewish in their design, their character leads us to classify them with the general class of anti-Jewish works whose distinguishing mark is the use of Old Testament prophecy in defense of Christianity (cf. the writer's article on Christian Polemics against the Jews, in the Pres. Review, July, 1888, and also the writer's Dialogue between a Christian and a Jew, entitled 'Antibolh Papisou kai filwnoj, New York, 1889).
On the canon which Melito gives, see Bk. III. chap. 10, note 1.
234 This Onesimus is an otherwse unknown person.
235 Some mss., with Rufinus, place Leviticus before Numbers, but the best mss., followed by Heinichen, Burton, and others, give the opposite order.
236 yalmwn Dabid. Literally, "of the Psalms of David" [one book].
237 h kai Sofia: i.e. the Book of Proverbs (see above, p. 200).
238 Literally, "in one book" (twn dwdeka en monobiblw).
239 'Esdraj: the Greek form of the Hebrew name )rz;Melito refers here to the canonical Book of Ezra, which, among the Jews, commonly included our Ezra and Nehemiah (see Bk. III. chap. 10, note 1).