(From the 1765 Venice edition of André Galland's
"Library of the Ancient Fathers", Tome 1, folio-size,
p. 9)
Author: André Galland
Googlebooks PDF: PG001
Chapter 7
These things, beloved[[45]], we enjoin not only admonishing not only you, but also remindi{ng} ourselves[[46]]; for we are in the same aren{a}[[47]][[A]] and the same contest lie{s} upon us. Thus, let us abandon empty a{nd} vain thoughts, and let {us} accede to the glorious and august rule[[49]] of our {holy voca}tion[[48]]. <{Let} us {behold>} what <is> good, and what <is> pleasing {and se}emly before the <one who cre{ated}> us. <Let us {look intently}>[[50]] toward the blood of the Christ, {and} let us {see} how precious to God is his {blood}[[51]], which, poured out on account of our {salv}ation, offered to all the wo{rld} grace of repentance. <Let us {hark back}>[[52]] to all the generations, {and} <let us {clo}sely observe>} that in generation {and} generation the Lord g{a}ve occasion[[53]] of repentance to those wishing to be converted to him[[54]]. Noah heralded repentance[[61b]], and the ones[[55]] who heeded were saved. Jonah to the Ninevites heralded catastrophe[[62b]], but the ones who repented of their sins, having supplicated God, made atonement, and they acquired salvation, although being foreign to God.
Citations
61b. Genesis 7; Wisdom 10:4; Ecclesiastes 44,17; Hebrews 11:7; 1 Peter 3:20; 2 Peter 2:5
62b. John 3
62b. John 3
Notes
45. "These things, beloved": Here, <with> an altered style, the roughness of the previous reprimand he with a milder address softens and mollifies, "and inserting lighter <words>", as the golden Mouth somewhere says, "and placing himself <in the middle>, he smooths the vehemence of the castigation." And in this he fulfills the role of the true, faithful, and restless pastor, to whom by the Apostle both duties, that is, of encouraging and castigating, are equally joined: to neglect either of which by fear or fawning, "not of <the> teacher", as Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Galatians <says>, "but <it> would be of <the> corrupter and <the> enemy." Thus Christ by his own example instructed the apostles, whom sometimes he praises and proclaims <as> blessed, but sometimes sharply rebukes and reprimands. Thus the Apostle taught Clement, who <sc. Paul> oftentimes in his epistles (as Chrysostom in the same place <as cited above says>) "treading according to the footstep of the teacher embroiders the word towards the need of the pupils, now on the one hand burning and cutting, now on the other adding mild remedies, now on the one hand coming <with the> rod, now on the other <with> love and a spirit of meekness," as he <sc. Paul> says of his very self to the Corinthians.[[B]]--The same <sc. Young>
46. "Reminding": Thus <Henry> Wotton and Davies correct "reminding"[[C]], the manuscript fault from an error of a librarian. More rightly than Leclerc, whose emendation, "intending to remind", in the future <tense> less aptly coheres with the preceding, "admonishing".--Gallandi
47. "We are in the same arena": <The word> "arena" indicates not only the place of struggle and contest, but the struggle itself, and with this meaning should Balsamon be understood at canon 63 of the sixth synod in Trullo[[D]], where he thus says about Simeon the Metaphrast: "And so grace to the <lately deceased> blessed <sc. Metaphrast>, to the one <who embellished <sc. through writing>> the martyrial arenas in defense of the truth, with much toil and sweat in praise of God and everlasting glory of the holy martyrs." The translator translates 'ditches', but not quite correctly. Thus here and there in <the writings of> Chrysostom <this word is used>: "We were called towards greater arenas", and "we stripped naked <sc. as athletes in a gymnasium> towards larger arenas". Also, sometimes our life on the earth, miserable, laborious, full of annoyances and difficulties, and met with various temptations of the antagonist, is metaphorically not inelegantly sketched with this word. Thus the Ephraim the Syrian's Greek metaphrast, who is extant in the library of a most noble and illustrious man, the earl of Arundel and marshal of England[[E]], says: "On Virginity: For this life seems like an arena; contestants perfect in their eagerness fearlessly show themselves in the arena, but the cowardly and flaccid in their flaccidity flee out of the arena." And in the same place: "Without struggle no one is crowned in life, and in the government of training, without struggle no one is able to attain <the> unfading crown and eternal life." Thus Chrysostom <in> homily 23 on the earlier <epistle> to the Corinthians: "For also it was necessary <for> one remaining in the arena, to contend and not, after the assembly <has been> dispersed, to weep unprofitably", where <this> passage regarding useless penance after death is remarkable. Which opinion Ephraim the Syrian <in the work> "On repentance" supports: "Here, therefore, let us lack until it is <the opportune time>, thus <as long as> we are in this life, we are able always to shame God, <but it> is easy for us also to knock on the door of his compassion; Let us pour out tears until it is <the opportune time> to receive tears, so that having gone off to the life there, we may not weep uselessly; there tears count towards nothing. For as much as we wish, that much also grants God the good; here he hears our appeals, and here he grants, <when> we are supplicating; here he obliterates our crimes, <when> we are conciliatory;[[F]] here <is there opportunity for> appeal, but there <there is> compensatory judgment; here <there is> acquiescence, there <there is> inquisition. Here <there is> magnanimity, there <there is> severity; here <accommodation>, but there exactness; here <individual freedom>, there <the> court of law; here amnesty, there oppression; here enjoyment, there torture", etc. Also Basil <in> "To a fallen virgin", tome 2, page 755. Also, Asterius <in> the homily "On the rich man and Lazarus" <says>: "But the proper <opportune time> having come, and the inexorable command tears it <sc. the soul> away <from> the communion <with> the body, a reckoning will come of the <things which have been lived>, and unprofitable repentance, after <its> usefulness; for regret aids then, whenever the <one changing one's mind> has ability of correction," and Justin Martyr in the "Apology" <says>: "In <Hades> repentance is <too late>." But let us return to the path, and let us no longer wander beyond the arena. Cyril of Alexandria <in> book 1 of "Delicacies" <recounts> that God grants nothing to the saints without toil and sweat, and that <no one> by wishes and desires before "physical exercises"[[G]] <does He> crown "and enrich with the bounty of athletes." And Clement <of Alexandria> in the "Exhoration" <says>: "Therefore, conspicuously disrobing in the race-course of truth, let us nobly strive" (perhaps, strive)[[H]], "<while> on the one hand the holy word is officiating, and on the other hand the Lord of all is <presiding over the game>; for the contest for you in not small, immortality is set forth <as a prize>." And <in> book 7 of "Miscellanies": "This is the true athlete, he <who> in the great race-course, the beautiful universe, <is> crowned <for> the true victory against all passions; for the <game-presider> <is> the all-powerful God, and the umpire <is> the only-begotten Son of God, and the spectators <are> angels, and the <all-encompassing decathelon>[[I]] <is> not against blood and flesh, but the spiritual powers of <deeply emotional> passions <which powers are> operating through the flesh." Which passage Tertullian most elegantly expresses "to the Martyrs": "You <women> are about to undergo the good struggle, in which the living God is the <games-presider>, the holy Spirit <is> the <trainer>, [the crown <is> of eternity, the prize <is> of angelic <essence> <and> citizenship in the heavens <and> glory <in eternity>][[J]]. And so your overseer Jesus Christ, who anointed you with the Spirit, also to this arena has led <you> forth," etc. But it should be feared lest, while we we dwell rather long upon the explanation of this word and amass various testimonies, we appear to certain ones <to be> <rather tedious>: for which reason, this arena having been surmounted, later only desultorily from here on forth will we sample certain things: for to advance [on foot][[K]] and to pursue individual items rather carefully, even if we wished this most of all, neither does the printer suffer, who presses <on our> heels and complains that his services are idle.--Young
Although we know from Julius Pollux that this word was said "properly about pentathletes <who are> good at leaping", and <the words> "arena" and "rod" are joined together with it, as evidently "a rod" is "the measure of a jump, and the boundary <is> the <dug line>", which words we see here at once placed, we prefer to translate "the <trench>" <as> arena, since indeed although in the stadium all kinds of exercises were celebrated, nevertheless [he <Paul?> seemed by <his own> rule to attend to the runners][[L]]. But since regarding the usage of <the word> "trenches" in authors <dealing with competitive games> <there is> quite deep silence, I consider it should briefly be noted that in the jump of the athletes not only <was> reckoning had <of> up to what point someone sprang out forwards, but that he leaped upwards; by which degree when <it> was sufficiently done, precisely then was it allowed to contend about the measured-out space; since indeed whoever sought gains, <with> the obstacles of furrows having been passed over, was said to have played a vain effort and <to be> "<out of bounds>".--Fell
48. "Of the holy vocation": Mill testifies, <that> which Wotton did not see, that the manuscript <is> thus, "of t...tion"[[M]], and the gap admits not but six or seven letters. And so for that reason he would prefer to restore, "of c{omple}tion"; which among the holy Fathers signifies baptism,whose rule first of all requires the renunciation of empty and vain thoughts, about which this discussion <is>. You may see <Johannes Henricus> Svicerus's "Ecclesiastical Thesaurus", see <entry for> "completion".--Gallandi
49. "Rule": The word, <if any is so>, <is> <sports-related>, as noted above,[[N]], in which manner <it> is almost perpetually used by the divine Paul <in> 2 Cor 10:13, 15, 16 <and> Gal 6:16; almost the same as line, and sometimes as trench[[O]]. Therefore, Young sufficiently unhappily rendered <it as> "norm"; we have substituted, "line".--Fell
50. "Let us look intently": Thus Young <restores the text> along with the <published versions>. Or <should it> rather <be restored>, "Let us {look off}"? Perhaps the holy Father looks back to that <passage of> Hebrews 12:2 : "Looking off to the founder and completer of faith, Jesus".--Gallandi
51. "How precious to God is his blood": Clement seems here <to be imitating> St. Peter, who also himself <in> 1 <Pet> 1:19 calls the blood of <Our Lord Jesus Christ> "precious".--The same <sc. Gallandi>
52. "Let us hark back": Thus <restores> Wotton, contending that that word, or another, "<let us go back>", coincide more with the <phrase> "to all the generations", which already went past; and he translates: "Let us run back to all generations". Perhaps <this is> better than "Let us {look intently}", which here again Young and the <published versions> present. [<Davies?>] would prefer, "Let us {go up}".--The same <sc. Gallandi>
53. "Occasion of repentance": Perhaps <this should be emended to read> "form" <sc. of repentance>, that is, "pattern", as is verse 15, chapter 44 of the Wisdom of Sirach, to which passage our author seems to have looked back.--Young
54. More elegantly indeed Cotelier thus translates these <words>: "Let us run back to all ages of the world, and let us learn that in each age penitance's," etc.; but it seemed more satisfactorily to express the Greek letter.--Coustant
55. "and the ones": The article, "the ones", is absent from the <published editions>, which <article> Mill and Wotton restore from the manuscript.--Gallandi
47. "We are in the same arena": <The word> "arena" indicates not only the place of struggle and contest, but the struggle itself, and with this meaning should Balsamon be understood at canon 63 of the sixth synod in Trullo[[D]], where he thus says about Simeon the Metaphrast: "And so grace to the <lately deceased> blessed <sc. Metaphrast>, to the one <who embellished <sc. through writing>> the martyrial arenas in defense of the truth, with much toil and sweat in praise of God and everlasting glory of the holy martyrs." The translator translates 'ditches', but not quite correctly. Thus here and there in <the writings of> Chrysostom <this word is used>: "We were called towards greater arenas", and "we stripped naked <sc. as athletes in a gymnasium> towards larger arenas". Also, sometimes our life on the earth, miserable, laborious, full of annoyances and difficulties, and met with various temptations of the antagonist, is metaphorically not inelegantly sketched with this word. Thus the Ephraim the Syrian's Greek metaphrast, who is extant in the library of a most noble and illustrious man, the earl of Arundel and marshal of England[[E]], says: "On Virginity: For this life seems like an arena; contestants perfect in their eagerness fearlessly show themselves in the arena, but the cowardly and flaccid in their flaccidity flee out of the arena." And in the same place: "Without struggle no one is crowned in life, and in the government of training, without struggle no one is able to attain <the> unfading crown and eternal life." Thus Chrysostom <in> homily 23 on the earlier <epistle> to the Corinthians: "For also it was necessary <for> one remaining in the arena, to contend and not, after the assembly <has been> dispersed, to weep unprofitably", where <this> passage regarding useless penance after death is remarkable. Which opinion Ephraim the Syrian <in the work> "On repentance" supports: "Here, therefore, let us lack until it is <the opportune time>, thus <as long as> we are in this life, we are able always to shame God, <but it> is easy for us also to knock on the door of his compassion; Let us pour out tears until it is <the opportune time> to receive tears, so that having gone off to the life there, we may not weep uselessly; there tears count towards nothing. For as much as we wish, that much also grants God the good; here he hears our appeals, and here he grants, <when> we are supplicating; here he obliterates our crimes, <when> we are conciliatory;[[F]] here <is there opportunity for> appeal, but there <there is> compensatory judgment; here <there is> acquiescence, there <there is> inquisition. Here <there is> magnanimity, there <there is> severity; here <accommodation>, but there exactness; here <individual freedom>, there <the> court of law; here amnesty, there oppression; here enjoyment, there torture", etc. Also Basil <in> "To a fallen virgin", tome 2, page 755. Also, Asterius <in> the homily "On the rich man and Lazarus" <says>: "But the proper <opportune time> having come, and the inexorable command tears it <sc. the soul> away <from> the communion <with> the body, a reckoning will come of the <things which have been lived>, and unprofitable repentance, after <its> usefulness; for regret aids then, whenever the <one changing one's mind> has ability of correction," and Justin Martyr in the "Apology" <says>: "In <Hades> repentance is <too late>." But let us return to the path, and let us no longer wander beyond the arena. Cyril of Alexandria <in> book 1 of "Delicacies" <recounts> that God grants nothing to the saints without toil and sweat, and that <no one> by wishes and desires before "physical exercises"[[G]] <does He> crown "and enrich with the bounty of athletes." And Clement <of Alexandria> in the "Exhoration" <says>: "Therefore, conspicuously disrobing in the race-course of truth, let us nobly strive" (perhaps, strive)[[H]], "<while> on the one hand the holy word is officiating, and on the other hand the Lord of all is <presiding over the game>; for the contest for you in not small, immortality is set forth <as a prize>." And <in> book 7 of "Miscellanies": "This is the true athlete, he <who> in the great race-course, the beautiful universe, <is> crowned <for> the true victory against all passions; for the <game-presider> <is> the all-powerful God, and the umpire <is> the only-begotten Son of God, and the spectators <are> angels, and the <all-encompassing decathelon>[[I]] <is> not against blood and flesh, but the spiritual powers of <deeply emotional> passions <which powers are> operating through the flesh." Which passage Tertullian most elegantly expresses "to the Martyrs": "You <women> are about to undergo the good struggle, in which the living God is the <games-presider>, the holy Spirit <is> the <trainer>, [the crown <is> of eternity, the prize <is> of angelic <essence> <and> citizenship in the heavens <and> glory <in eternity>][[J]]. And so your overseer Jesus Christ, who anointed you with the Spirit, also to this arena has led <you> forth," etc. But it should be feared lest, while we we dwell rather long upon the explanation of this word and amass various testimonies, we appear to certain ones <to be> <rather tedious>: for which reason, this arena having been surmounted, later only desultorily from here on forth will we sample certain things: for to advance [on foot][[K]] and to pursue individual items rather carefully, even if we wished this most of all, neither does the printer suffer, who presses <on our> heels and complains that his services are idle.--Young
Although we know from Julius Pollux that this word was said "properly about pentathletes <who are> good at leaping", and <the words> "arena" and "rod" are joined together with it, as evidently "a rod" is "the measure of a jump, and the boundary <is> the <dug line>", which words we see here at once placed, we prefer to translate "the <trench>" <as> arena, since indeed although in the stadium all kinds of exercises were celebrated, nevertheless [he <Paul?> seemed by <his own> rule to attend to the runners][[L]]. But since regarding the usage of <the word> "trenches" in authors <dealing with competitive games> <there is> quite deep silence, I consider it should briefly be noted that in the jump of the athletes not only <was> reckoning had <of> up to what point someone sprang out forwards, but that he leaped upwards; by which degree when <it> was sufficiently done, precisely then was it allowed to contend about the measured-out space; since indeed whoever sought gains, <with> the obstacles of furrows having been passed over, was said to have played a vain effort and <to be> "<out of bounds>".--Fell
48. "Of the holy vocation": Mill testifies, <that> which Wotton did not see, that the manuscript <is> thus, "of t...tion"[[M]], and the gap admits not but six or seven letters. And so for that reason he would prefer to restore, "of c{omple}tion"; which among the holy Fathers signifies baptism,whose rule first of all requires the renunciation of empty and vain thoughts, about which this discussion <is>. You may see <Johannes Henricus> Svicerus's "Ecclesiastical Thesaurus", see <entry for> "completion".--Gallandi
49. "Rule": The word, <if any is so>, <is> <sports-related>, as noted above,[[N]], in which manner <it> is almost perpetually used by the divine Paul <in> 2 Cor 10:13, 15, 16 <and> Gal 6:16; almost the same as line, and sometimes as trench[[O]]. Therefore, Young sufficiently unhappily rendered <it as> "norm"; we have substituted, "line".--Fell
50. "Let us look intently": Thus Young <restores the text> along with the <published versions>. Or <should it> rather <be restored>, "Let us {look off}"? Perhaps the holy Father looks back to that <passage of> Hebrews 12:2 : "Looking off to the founder and completer of faith, Jesus".--Gallandi
51. "How precious to God is his blood": Clement seems here <to be imitating> St. Peter, who also himself <in> 1 <Pet> 1:19 calls the blood of <Our Lord Jesus Christ> "precious".--The same <sc. Gallandi>
52. "Let us hark back": Thus <restores> Wotton, contending that that word, or another, "<let us go back>", coincide more with the <phrase> "to all the generations", which already went past; and he translates: "Let us run back to all generations". Perhaps <this is> better than "Let us {look intently}", which here again Young and the <published versions> present. [<Davies?>] would prefer, "Let us {go up}".--The same <sc. Gallandi>
53. "Occasion of repentance": Perhaps <this should be emended to read> "form" <sc. of repentance>, that is, "pattern", as is verse 15, chapter 44 of the Wisdom of Sirach, to which passage our author seems to have looked back.--Young
54. More elegantly indeed Cotelier thus translates these <words>: "Let us run back to all ages of the world, and let us learn that in each age penitance's," etc.; but it seemed more satisfactorily to express the Greek letter.--Coustant
55. "and the ones": The article, "the ones", is absent from the <published editions>, which <article> Mill and Wotton restore from the manuscript.--Gallandi
My Notes
A. The discussion surrounding this word has been somewhat difficult to render so as to underscore the metaphor in play. "Skamma" literally means a 'furrow' or 'dug ditch' that often was used to mark the boundaries for a wrestling match. Hence, it became a metonym for any kind of struggle or exertion.
Unfortunately, this metaphor has become otiose in contemporary English. So the closest parallel I could think of for such a dual meaning that still maintained the literal sense of the Greek, was our use of the word "ring", as in the physical boundaries of a "boxing ring". But since that use of "ring" in English is highly idiomatic and sounds awkward otherwise, I've chosen to translate "arena".
B. The attribution of this quotation is a bit vague. The Greek is substantially Chysostom's from the beginning of his first homily on Galatians describing Paul's preaching style, but it is slightly paraphrased by Young to fit his descriptive purposes.
C. The manuscript text and the emendation are essentially the same word. The latter, which merely drops the present tense stem reduplication (i.e., mimne -> mne), is considered a late form of the former.
D. This reference is a bit confusing. The "sixth synod" sometimes refers to the Third Council of Constantinople of 680, which also goes by the names of the Sixth Ecumenical Council or the Trullan Synod. But the Quinisext Council of 692, a.k.a. the Council in Trullo, is also called the "sixth synod". Part of the reason for this is that these church meetings were closely related in terms of purpose.
I've found the relevant passages in the the commentaries of Balsamon, and in fact he names the former as "sixth synod" and the latter as "so-called sixth synod". Only the latter produced canons, so that is what is referred to here.
A. The discussion surrounding this word has been somewhat difficult to render so as to underscore the metaphor in play. "Skamma" literally means a 'furrow' or 'dug ditch' that often was used to mark the boundaries for a wrestling match. Hence, it became a metonym for any kind of struggle or exertion.
Unfortunately, this metaphor has become otiose in contemporary English. So the closest parallel I could think of for such a dual meaning that still maintained the literal sense of the Greek, was our use of the word "ring", as in the physical boundaries of a "boxing ring". But since that use of "ring" in English is highly idiomatic and sounds awkward otherwise, I've chosen to translate "arena".
B. The attribution of this quotation is a bit vague. The Greek is substantially Chysostom's from the beginning of his first homily on Galatians describing Paul's preaching style, but it is slightly paraphrased by Young to fit his descriptive purposes.
C. The manuscript text and the emendation are essentially the same word. The latter, which merely drops the present tense stem reduplication (i.e., mimne -> mne), is considered a late form of the former.
D. This reference is a bit confusing. The "sixth synod" sometimes refers to the Third Council of Constantinople of 680, which also goes by the names of the Sixth Ecumenical Council or the Trullan Synod. But the Quinisext Council of 692, a.k.a. the Council in Trullo, is also called the "sixth synod". Part of the reason for this is that these church meetings were closely related in terms of purpose.
I've found the relevant passages in the the commentaries of Balsamon, and in fact he names the former as "sixth synod" and the latter as "so-called sixth synod". Only the latter produced canons, so that is what is referred to here.
E. I presume this is Thomas Howard.
F. It is difficult to capture in English the precise polar sense of the ensuing sequence of antitheses. But one should also keep in mind that the Greek text is itself a translation from the Syriac, and consequently the original semantic fields may already shifted.
G. A cognate English translation would be "gymnastics", and the connotations of the word are decidedly physical; however, there remains the question of how literally the Pauline athletic metaphor is meant to be taken in any given author.
H. This is an editorial remark, I'm guessing by Young, that suggests the imperative plural, "strive!", instead of the hortatory subjunctive, "let us strive".
I. The Greek sports terminology doesn't match up to modern activities. But the sense requires the sport that uses all of a competitor's athletic resources.
J. Tertullian's elliptical style makes this rhetorically enumerative list somewhat grammatically obscure.
L. This seems to be Fell's way of accounting for the semantic discrepancy between Pollux's technical restriction to jumpers and Paul's frequent analogies with runners. Pollux's reputation for verbal sophistry, however, suggests that his meaning may be too narrow.
M. English rendering does not adequately communicate the textual problem, but the note seems sufficiently clear.
F. It is difficult to capture in English the precise polar sense of the ensuing sequence of antitheses. But one should also keep in mind that the Greek text is itself a translation from the Syriac, and consequently the original semantic fields may already shifted.
G. A cognate English translation would be "gymnastics", and the connotations of the word are decidedly physical; however, there remains the question of how literally the Pauline athletic metaphor is meant to be taken in any given author.
H. This is an editorial remark, I'm guessing by Young, that suggests the imperative plural, "strive!", instead of the hortatory subjunctive, "let us strive".
I. The Greek sports terminology doesn't match up to modern activities. But the sense requires the sport that uses all of a competitor's athletic resources.
J. Tertullian's elliptical style makes this rhetorically enumerative list somewhat grammatically obscure.
L. This seems to be Fell's way of accounting for the semantic discrepancy between Pollux's technical restriction to jumpers and Paul's frequent analogies with runners. Pollux's reputation for verbal sophistry, however, suggests that his meaning may be too narrow.
M. English rendering does not adequately communicate the textual problem, but the note seems sufficiently clear.
N. Fell's Oxford Latin syntax is often difficult. The sense here is: "If indeed any Greek word is sports-related, certainly this word is, as we noted above".
O. For the discussion of Fell's usage of the translation, "trench", see n.47. I confess that I don't quite see the sports-related connotation of "kanon" in the cited passages, however much it may be present elsewhere.
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