(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 23
The merciful in all a{and benef}icent father has affections f{or} <those> fearing him, {both} kindly and gently renders back hi{s} graces to <those> approachi{ng} to him with simple purpose. <For which reason>, let us not <be double-spirited>[[64]], nor let our soul appear[[65]] above his exceeding and honorable gifts. Far let be from us the Scripture itself[[66]], where it says: "Wretched are[[67]] the double-spirited, the <ones hesitating> <in their> soul, the <ones saying>: 'These things we heard even at <the time of> our fathers[[68]], and look, we have grown old, and none of these things has happened to us.' O mindless ones[[69]], compare yourselves to a tree; take up a vine; first, indeed, <it> sheds leaves, then a shoot appears, then a leaf, then a flower, and after these an unripe grape, then a <ripened> bunch of grapes. See that in a brief <appointed time> the fruit of the tree comes down to ripeness[[7b]]." In truth, quickly and suddenly his will will be accomplished, <with> Scripture also <joining as witness to it>, that "he will come quickly and will not delay, and suddenly will come[[70]] the Lord to his temple, even the holy one[[71]] whom you expect[[8b]]."
Biblical Citations
7b. James 1:8 ; 2 Peter 3:4
8b. Habakkuk 2:3; Malachi 3:1 ; Hebrews 10:37
Notes
64. "let us not be double-spirited": That double spirit in <the writings of> holy authors <is accustomed> to hear <sc. himself named> most badly, so that the double-spirited man is unstable, varying, of flux, <and> in fact of no faith, who that heart, which is owed in wholeness to God the Best and greatest, is divided and separated between itself and Satan, piety and the gains of profit, and the enticements of pleasures. Now, "to appear" is [<for> images "to become visible" and to lay hold of appearances]. Thence, <in> Jeremiah 17:3, what elsewhere are rendered <as> "evil spirits", have merited to be called "apparitions" by the 70 translators; completely with which meaning the same word occurs <in> Wisdom 17:3. Therefore, <they> who please <indeed their very selves> with empty self-love, and <die for love of> <their very selves>, as without merit, thus also without a rival, and whom the blessed Jude calls "dreamers", they are of whose fall and sickness Saint Clement urges and persuades to beware.--Fell
65. "let <...> appear": This passage has tortured the thinking of learned men. Others would prefer <to emend it to>, "let be in doubt", or "let become confused". Others, "let judge". But why should the manuscript's reading be disturbed? Indeed, rare <is> the word ["I make appear"][[A]], or "I appear", as Frey noted, but <it is a word> which especially fits this passage. Now, <consider> these <words>, <by> the author Varinus: "<It> occurs from 'I <see/know>' <in the sense of> 'I make like'; <with> the 'i' having turned into 'n', as in 'always' <to> 'alway', and <with> the 'e' having been turned into 'i', as in 'I have' <to> 'I ave', and <from> similar things[[B]]." Hence, apparitions are "phantoms, dreams, <the very things> which not being present, one suspects, likenesses, representations." Hesychius teaches the same: "appears, resembles, comes to light, seems, aims at, equals, subtly fools." Therefore, Clement's opinion seems <that it> should be translated thus: "Nor let <our soul> devise for itself empty apparitions and phantoms," or, "Nor let our soul be deceived by figments of its mind."--Gallandi
--"Nor let <...> appear": Perhaps, "let be in doubt", by a slight change of letters, or rather, "let become dizzy", which is the same, and is used oftentimes by Chrysostom, as <in> homily 25 on the Epistle to the Hebrews, making words about Abraham and his faith, which had not wavered, although the commands of God seemed clearly contrary to <his> promises: "You saw the conflict of commands and <the> promise, he commanded <things> opposite to the promises, and neither thus did the just become confused, nor did he say he had been deceived," and a little later in the same place: "He had commanded to do <things> opposite to the promises, but neither thus was he bewildered, nor did he become confused, nor did he consider that he had been deceived", and <in> homily 19 on the Epistle to the Ephesians, where he asserts that about divine Providence <it> should not be doubted, although the causes and reasons of many things <hide from> us, which he illustrates with eminent <analogies> from the works of craftsmen, of painter, of bees, of ants, of spiders, and of swallows. "But go off to the <carpenter's workshop>, and you do not examine closely the reason, <and at any rate> you know nothing of the <things that happen> there, and <it> seems to you <that there> are many difficulties, such as whenever he bores the wood [<or> whenever he changes configuration]; but rather to an easier skill <let me lead> you, such as that of the painters, and there you will become confused; for tell me, not at all simple to you <does it> seem to do what he does? For what do the lines and the [enclosures] of the lines mean to him? But <let him apply] the colors, then to you the skill will appear beautiful, and nevertheless neither thus accurately will you be able to comprehend anything".--Young
66. "the Scripture itself": What if with Davies, <with> the accent <having been changed>, we should read, "this scripture", [[Lat. Trans. Om.]]?--Gallandi
--"the Scripture itself": An apocryphal scripture; testimony of which, as prophetic, is found in <Clement's> Epistle 2, chapter 11. I have noted at the margin howsoever similar passages of canonical books.--Cotelier
67. "wretched are": About this passage, since <it> exists nowhere in Scripture, nothing else can be responded, but <that> which earlier regarding the words of Moses, "But I am vapor from a pot", was brought forth by us from Chrystostom. Now, he appears to have looked bad to the passage of the epistle of Peter II, chapter 3, <verse> 4: "And saying: Where is the promise of his arrival? For from which <time> <our> fathers were put to sleep, everything thus remains <as> from <the> beginning of foundation".--Young
68. "at the time of our fathers": The editions <print>, "from <the time>". Wotton restored the word "at" from he manuscript codex, which exhibits it thus here, as <in> chapter 11 of <Clement's> other epistle, where these same <words> are had almost verbatim. Which reading indeed more pleases Leclerc. Now, this passage Dodwell illuminates both in "Cyprianic Dissertation" 12, section 33, and in "Irenaic Dissertation" 1, section 20. In both, however, he reads "from" in place of "at", following the Youngian edition.--Gallandi
69. "O mindless ones": These words and the following are not Clement's, as is manifest from the second Epistle <of Clement>, but of the same author, of whose are the earlier <words[[cf. nts. 66, 67]]>. The reverend Pearson and the most sagacious G. Wendelin advised this some time ago.--Colomiès
70. "and will not delay, and suddenly will come": Those <words>, which are omitted in all editions, except the London, Wotton restored from the manuscript. Nor is it undeservedly suspected that Young or the librarian who first copied out this epistle from that Codex, overlooked them because he turned <his> eyes from the earlier "will come" to the latter.--Gallandi
71. "even the holy one": Cotelier conjectures that through contraction the initially written "angel" later passed over into "holy".--The same <sc. Gallandi>
My Notes
A. The note gives both the active and middle voice forms of this verb. The active form does not appear in the LSJ lexicon, so I've hazarded a guess as to what it could mean.
B. This note is impossible to render into English. Here it is with the transliterated Greek words in question: "It occurs from the word 'eidw' in the sense of 'homoiw'; with the letter 'i' having turned into the letter 'n', as in 'aiei' <changing to > 'aien', and the letter 'e' having been turned into the letter 'i', as in 'ekhw' <changing to> 'ikhw', and from similar things.
Biblical Citations
7b. James 1:8 ; 2 Peter 3:4
8b. Habakkuk 2:3; Malachi 3:1 ; Hebrews 10:37
Notes
64. "let us not be double-spirited": That double spirit in <the writings of> holy authors <is accustomed> to hear <sc. himself named> most badly, so that the double-spirited man is unstable, varying, of flux, <and> in fact of no faith, who that heart, which is owed in wholeness to God the Best and greatest, is divided and separated between itself and Satan, piety and the gains of profit, and the enticements of pleasures. Now, "to appear" is [<for> images "to become visible" and to lay hold of appearances]. Thence, <in> Jeremiah 17:3, what elsewhere are rendered <as> "evil spirits", have merited to be called "apparitions" by the 70 translators; completely with which meaning the same word occurs <in> Wisdom 17:3. Therefore, <they> who please <indeed their very selves> with empty self-love, and <die for love of> <their very selves>, as without merit, thus also without a rival, and whom the blessed Jude calls "dreamers", they are of whose fall and sickness Saint Clement urges and persuades to beware.--Fell
65. "let <...> appear": This passage has tortured the thinking of learned men. Others would prefer <to emend it to>, "let be in doubt", or "let become confused". Others, "let judge". But why should the manuscript's reading be disturbed? Indeed, rare <is> the word ["I make appear"][[A]], or "I appear", as Frey noted, but <it is a word> which especially fits this passage. Now, <consider> these <words>, <by> the author Varinus: "<It> occurs from 'I <see/know>' <in the sense of> 'I make like'; <with> the 'i' having turned into 'n', as in 'always' <to> 'alway', and <with> the 'e' having been turned into 'i', as in 'I have' <to> 'I ave', and <from> similar things[[B]]." Hence, apparitions are "phantoms, dreams, <the very things> which not being present, one suspects, likenesses, representations." Hesychius teaches the same: "appears, resembles, comes to light, seems, aims at, equals, subtly fools." Therefore, Clement's opinion seems <that it> should be translated thus: "Nor let <our soul> devise for itself empty apparitions and phantoms," or, "Nor let our soul be deceived by figments of its mind."--Gallandi
--"Nor let <...> appear": Perhaps, "let be in doubt", by a slight change of letters, or rather, "let become dizzy", which is the same, and is used oftentimes by Chrysostom, as <in> homily 25 on the Epistle to the Hebrews, making words about Abraham and his faith, which had not wavered, although the commands of God seemed clearly contrary to <his> promises: "You saw the conflict of commands and <the> promise, he commanded <things> opposite to the promises, and neither thus did the just become confused, nor did he say he had been deceived," and a little later in the same place: "He had commanded to do <things> opposite to the promises, but neither thus was he bewildered, nor did he become confused, nor did he consider that he had been deceived", and <in> homily 19 on the Epistle to the Ephesians, where he asserts that about divine Providence <it> should not be doubted, although the causes and reasons of many things <hide from> us, which he illustrates with eminent <analogies> from the works of craftsmen, of painter, of bees, of ants, of spiders, and of swallows. "But go off to the <carpenter's workshop>, and you do not examine closely the reason, <and at any rate> you know nothing of the <things that happen> there, and <it> seems to you <that there> are many difficulties, such as whenever he bores the wood [<or> whenever he changes configuration]; but rather to an easier skill <let me lead> you, such as that of the painters, and there you will become confused; for tell me, not at all simple to you <does it> seem to do what he does? For what do the lines and the [enclosures] of the lines mean to him? But <let him apply] the colors, then to you the skill will appear beautiful, and nevertheless neither thus accurately will you be able to comprehend anything".--Young
66. "the Scripture itself": What if with Davies, <with> the accent <having been changed>, we should read, "this scripture", [[Lat. Trans. Om.]]?--Gallandi
--"the Scripture itself": An apocryphal scripture; testimony of which, as prophetic, is found in <Clement's> Epistle 2, chapter 11. I have noted at the margin howsoever similar passages of canonical books.--Cotelier
67. "wretched are": About this passage, since <it> exists nowhere in Scripture, nothing else can be responded, but <that> which earlier regarding the words of Moses, "But I am vapor from a pot", was brought forth by us from Chrystostom. Now, he appears to have looked bad to the passage of the epistle of Peter II, chapter 3, <verse> 4: "And saying: Where is the promise of his arrival? For from which <time> <our> fathers were put to sleep, everything thus remains <as> from <the> beginning of foundation".--Young
68. "at the time of our fathers": The editions <print>, "from <the time>". Wotton restored the word "at" from he manuscript codex, which exhibits it thus here, as <in> chapter 11 of <Clement's> other epistle, where these same <words> are had almost verbatim. Which reading indeed more pleases Leclerc. Now, this passage Dodwell illuminates both in "Cyprianic Dissertation" 12, section 33, and in "Irenaic Dissertation" 1, section 20. In both, however, he reads "from" in place of "at", following the Youngian edition.--Gallandi
69. "O mindless ones": These words and the following are not Clement's, as is manifest from the second Epistle <of Clement>, but of the same author, of whose are the earlier <words[[cf. nts. 66, 67]]>. The reverend Pearson and the most sagacious G. Wendelin advised this some time ago.--Colomiès
70. "and will not delay, and suddenly will come": Those <words>, which are omitted in all editions, except the London, Wotton restored from the manuscript. Nor is it undeservedly suspected that Young or the librarian who first copied out this epistle from that Codex, overlooked them because he turned <his> eyes from the earlier "will come" to the latter.--Gallandi
71. "even the holy one": Cotelier conjectures that through contraction the initially written "angel" later passed over into "holy".--The same <sc. Gallandi>
My Notes
A. The note gives both the active and middle voice forms of this verb. The active form does not appear in the LSJ lexicon, so I've hazarded a guess as to what it could mean.
B. This note is impossible to render into English. Here it is with the transliterated Greek words in question: "It occurs from the word 'eidw' in the sense of 'homoiw'; with the letter 'i' having turned into the letter 'n', as in 'aiei' <changing to > 'aien', and the letter 'e' having been turned into the letter 'i', as in 'ekhw' <changing to> 'ikhw', and from similar things.
