IN the EPISTLES of IGNATIUS there is a harshness of style, but a lively spirit, and a noble enthusiasın, especially in that to the Romans. He tells the Ephesians that he had a design to write them another letter, and to instruct them in some points, μάλισα ἐὰν ὁ Κύριός μοι ἀποκαλύψη, especially if the Lord should reveal any thing to me. Whence it seems not improbable that he had been favoured with some revelations. ΧΧ. The same inference may be made from these words to the Philadelph. vii. When I exhorted you to adhere to your bishop, presbyters, and deacons, some of you suspected that I had been informed of dissentions amongst you, μάρτυς δέ μοι ἐν ᾧ δέδεμαι, ὅτι ἀπὸ (αρκὸς ἀνθρωπίνης οὐκ ἔγε νων. τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα ἐκήρυσσεν λέγων τάδε. Χωρὶς τὸ ἐπισκοπε μηδὲν ποιάτε. Testis autem mihi is est, in quo vinctus sum, quod a carne humana non cognoverim; sed Spiritus annunciavit, dicens ista, Sine Episcopo nihil facite. 3 Ad Rom. vii. Ζὼν — γράφω ὑμῖν, ἐρῶν τε ἀποθανεῖν. ὁ ἐμὸς ἔρως ἐςαύρωται, καὶ οὐκ ἔσιν ἐν ἐμοὶ, πῦρ φιλοῦλον· ὕδωρ δὲ ζῶν, καὶ λαλῶν ἐν ἐμοὶ, ἔσωθέν μοι λέγον, δεῦρο πρὸς τὸν πατέραι Vivens enim scribo vobis amore captus moriendi. Meus amor crucifixus est ; · et non est in me ignis amans materiæ. Sed aqua vivens et loquens in me, intus mihi dicit ; Veni ad Patrem. There is in this something very sublime and pathetic. The expression ὕδωρ λαλών resembles the vocales unda which inspired the poets and prophets. Statius Silv. i. ii. 6. Et de Pieris vocalem fontibus undam. An oracle of Apollo Delphicus given to Julian, and. preserved by Cedrenus: Εἴπαθε τῷ βασιλεῖ, χαμαὶ πέσε δαίδαλος αὐλα. Οὐ παγὰν λαλέσσαν, ἀπέσβετο καὶ λάλον ύδωρ. . Dicite regi, humi cecidit elegans aula. Non amplius Phoebus habet casam, non vaticinatricem laurum, Non fontem loquentem, extincta est etiam garrula aqua. In these verses, which, to do them justice, are elegant, Apollo, to raise Julian's compassion, deplores the silence of his oracles and of the speaking streams. the first line read βασιλῆι. Anacreon, xiii. οἱ δὲ Κλάρκ παρ ̓ ὄχθαις Δαφνηφόροιο Φοίβκ Λάλον πιόντες ὕδωρ Nec non aquam bibentes Apollinis loquacem Ripis Clari, furore Acti subinde clamant. In Vetus Interpres (says Cotelerius): Et non est in me ignis amans aliquam aquam : sed vivens et loquens est Hoc est Græce; Καὶ οὐκ ἔσιν ἐν ἐμοὶ πῦρ φιλῶν τι In Interpolatà ἀλλόμενον ἐν ἐμοί. in me. ὕδωρ· ζῶν δὲ καὶ καλῶν, από λαλόμενον ἐν ἐμοί. Καὶ οὐκ ἔσιν ἐν ἐμοὶ πῦρ φιλῶν τι· ὕδωρ δὲ ζῶν, Et non est in me ignis qui aliquid amet: sed aqua viva, intra me faliens. Ex antiquo Interprete; Et non est in me, aqua autem alia viva manet in me. Legebat quippe ἄλλο et μένι, loco αλλόμενον : et omisit quæ non intelligebat. Apud Metaphrastem, quem sequuntur Græci in Menzo ; Οὐκ ἔσιν ἐν ἐμοὶ πῦρ φιλοϋλον ὕδωρ δὲ μᾶλλον ζῶν aaar Ev poí. Et non est in me ignis amans materiæ: aqua vero potius vivens et loquens in me, Perplaceret mihi; Καὶ οὐκ ἔσιν ἐν ἐμοὶ πῦρ φιλοϋλον· ὕδωρ δὲ ζῶν, καὶ ἀλ λόμενον ἐν ἐμοί. Νam φιλόϋλον Julianus Ignatii interpolati codex retinuit. annóμeror autem confirmatur per illud Johan και λαλῶν ἐν ἐμοί. VOL. I. P nis nis iv. 14. τὸ ὕδωρ ὅ δώσω αύτω γενήσεται ἐν αὐτῷ πηγὴ ὕδαλος ἀλη λημένα εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον. Aqua quam ego dabo ei, fiet in eo fons aquæ salientis in vitam æternam. Græci conjunctim; Οὐκ ἔσχες πῦρ φιλοῦλον ἐν σοὶ, Ιγνατιε· ὕδωρ δὲ ζῶν μᾶλλον καὶ καλῶν, δεῦρο πρὸς τὸν πατέρα· ὕδωρ τὸ ἀλλόμενον, τὸ ἐκ ζωῆς εἰς ζωὴν μέιο χελευον ἡμᾶς. Le Clerc says, Est in Exemplari Greco, συς φιλοϋλον. Ignis materialis est φιλόϋλος, amans materiæ; qua nempe abitur. Sed spiritualis ignis, quo urebatur Ignatius, materiæ, hoc est, rerum corporearum, amans non erat. Quod est nonnihil coactum, ut et sequentin de aqua in eo l10quente. Sed sancti viri sermo refertus est ejusmodi viotentis adlusionibus. The ap must not be altered: it is sufficiently confirmed by the citations of Cotelerius in this very note where he is inclined to reject it; and it is more elegant and proper than Le Clerc imagined. Ignatius, who was a Syrian, and a bishop of Antioch, was well acquainted with the oracle of Apollo Daphneus, and with the Castalian fountain, which were at his door, and which are frequently mentioned by ecclesiastical writers. Sozomen in his description of Daphne, says, "Ην δ' ἐνθάδε Δαφναίο ̓Απόλλωνος περικαλλὲς ἄ γαλμα, και νέως μεγαλοφυῶς τε καὶ φιλοτίμως ἐξειργασμένος—ἐπιτεύετο δὲ παρὰ τοῖς τάδε πρεσβεύεσι, ῥῶν αὐτόθι και ὕδωρ μαντικὸν ἀπὸ Καταλίας τῆς πηγῆς, ὁμοίως τῆς ἐν Δελφοῖς ἐνεργείας τε και προσηγο ρίας λαχέσης. Erat enim illie Apollinis Daphncei pulcherrimum simulacrum et templum magnifice atque ambitiose constructum.-Credebatur etiam ab illis qui ista colunt et prædicant, aquam illic divinatricem fluere ex fonte Castalio, qui idem nomen eandemque efficaciam haberet, quam ille Delphicus. v. 19. Ignatius therefore opposes to the speaking prophetic waters of the Pagans, the living waters mentioned by out our Lord in John iv. 14. which speak better and nobler things than the fabulous and poetic fountains. The interpolator, who could not put himself in the place of Ignatius, and had not the same thoughts and images which arose in the mind of the martyr, flung away up anr, the speaking water, which he understood not, and for which he had no taste, and put in dup annoμevor to make it a closer copy from St John. · In the interpolated epistle up prTi is absurd; but φιλοϋλον πῦρ makes good sense. He who in this passage, which we have been examining, can prefer the larger to the shorter epistle, must be a critic, who, of different expressions, likes the worst the best, and should be fed with chaff. They who contend for the larger epistles would do well to weigh one thing, which they never seem to think of, namely, that whilst they want to support I know not what, they are hurting the reputation of an apostolical father, whom they have in great esteem; for if the passages which I have already pointed out, and those which others have censured, could be shewed to be genuine, Ignatius would be much less valued than he is by men of sense and judgment. But tho' the shorter epistles are on many accounts preferable to the larger, yet I will not affirm that they have undergone no alteration at all. Ignatius suffered under Trajan about the beginning of the second century. Here was a good man put to death by a good emperor; but the Pagans then began to perceive that Christianity, if it prevailed, would prove the ruin of their religion, and some of them probably persuaded Trajan to act contrary to his disposition, which was mild and placable. Pliny, in his epistle to that emperor, says, that in his province the temples had been in a manner deserted, sacrificing left off, and the worship of the gods neglected. Trajan forbad the Christians to be sought after, and yet ordered them to be punished if convicted. O sententiam necessitate confusam! negat inquirendos, ut innocentes; et mandat puniendos, ut nocentes,-Quid temet ipsum censurá circumvenis? Si damnas, cur non inquiris? si non inquiris, cur non et absolvis? Thus Tertullian, in his Apologetic, inveighs, ingeniously enough against the inconsistency and absurdity of this sentence, and has had the good fortune to engage most of his readers in the same way of thinking; and yet, after all, the emperor's decree was not quite so absurd as Tertullian imagined. Trajan had no hatred towards the men, and pitied their case, but disliked their religion for the reason above mentioned; therefore he was willing to treat the Christians gently, but would neither repeal the laws to which they were obnoxious, nor give them leave to exercise their religion freely. Ignatius expressed an earnest desire to suffer for the sake of Christ, and a great joy at the expectation of it; but it appears not that he rashly sought or provoked danger. To him might be applied these lines of Lucan*, which suit him as if they were made for him : Projeci vitam, comites, totusque futuræ Mortis agor stimulis.-Agnoscere solis Permissum est, quos jam tangit vicinia fati, Victurosque Dei celant, ut vivere durent, Felix esse mori. He speaks of himself with modesty and humility; he exhorts the Christians to live peaceably together, and to pay a high regard to their bishops and pastors, and has gone too far in his expressions: but it is something of an excuse for him that the state of the times Le Clerc, Hist. Eccl. p. 566. led |