Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/1038

Rh 1024 MELITO. BrjTripiuu, De Obedientia Sensuuni Fidei praestanda s. De Obedieiitia Scnsuum Fidei. Niccphorus Cal- listi speaks of two works, U^pi vTraKoijs -rriaTews, and UepL atVflrjTTjpiwj/ ; and Jerome, in his catalogue of the works of Melito, enumerates consecutively De Se7isihus and De Fide, which Sophronius renders Hepl Siapoias and Ilepl rajp- TVLffTwv. Ru- finus also gives two titles as of separate books, De Obedientia Fidei and De Sensibus, which two titles represent the one title given in the present text of Eusebius. 8. Hepl pvxvs Koi adiixarros t] voos, De Anima el Corpore sen de Me?iie : or, as Rufinus renders it, De Anima et Corpore et Mente. Jeiome has only De Anima et Corpore. 9. TVepX Kompov, De Baptismate s. De Lavacro. One MS. of Euse- bius, supported by Nicephorus Callisti, speaks of this work as a portion of No. 8. 1 0. IlepJ dATjOtias, De Veritate. 1 1 . Ilepl /CTiVecos kcli yeueaews Xpia- Tov, De Creaiione et Generatione Chrisii. Some MSS. read rriareu:s instead of /crtVecos ; but this reading was probably introduced after the rise of the Arian controversy caused the word Kriaecas to be regarded as heterodox. Rufinus has De Fide (as if he had read Uepl Trt'o-Teojs instead of Uepl KTiVewj) and De Generatione Christi as the titles of two separate books. Jerome has only De Genera- tione C/irisii, omitting to render the obnoxious word KTla-ecas. 12. Uipl Trpoc^rjrei'as, De Pro- pJietia. Jerome renders the title De Prophetia sita. Rufinus, who has De Proplietia ejus, connects this title by the conjunction et with the title of the latter work mentioned under No. 1 1, De Genera- tione Christi et de Prophetia ejus. It may be men- tioned, in vindication of Jerome's version, that according to the testimony of Tertullian (in a work now lost, but which Jerome (/. c.) cites, and which was written after he became a Montanist), Melito was regarded by many persons (whether among the Montanists or the Catholics, is not clear) as a prophet. 13. Uepl (piKo^jvlas, De Pkiloxenia s. De Hospitalitate. 14. 'H /cAely, Clavis ; of which we shall speak presently. 15. Uepl rod Sm€6ov kuI ttjs diroKaAv^ecos 'ludvyov, De Diaholo et de Apocalypsi Joannis. Both Rufinus and Jerome speak of two books, one De Diaholo, the other De Apocalypsi; they are perhaps right. 16. Uepl kvawfxarov ©ecu, De Deo Corpore induto. From a passage in Origen, quoted by Theodoret {Quaest. in Genesim, c. 20), Melito appears to have believed that God possessed a bodily form, and to have written in support of that doctrine. This work was probably the one referred to by Origen ; and it is in vain that some modern critics have argued that it was written on the incarnation of Christ. Anastasius Sinaita, in his '05t77os, Dux Viae adverstis Acephalos, c. 13, has, indeed, quoted a passage from Melito's book, Uepl aapKooffeus Xpicrrov, De hicamatione Christi, but this appears to be a different work from the present, and is not mentioned by Eusebius. 17. Upos 'h-vrtavivov Bi§iSiOU, Libellus (sc. supplex) ad Antoninum. This was the Apoloyia or defence of Christianity already mentioned. 18. ^EKoyai, Eclogae, sc. ex Libris Vet. Testamenti, comprised, according to Jerome, in six books. This last work is not mentioned by Eusebius when enume- rating the works of Melito, but he afterwards gives a quotation from it. (Euseb. H. E. iv. 26.) To this catalogue, furnished by Eusebius, we may aid. the following works on the authority of Anastasius Sinaita, who lived in the middle of the MELITO. sixth century. 19. Uepl (rapKaxTeas XpiaroS, De Incarnatione Christi, consisting of at least three books, and directed, partly or wholly, against Marcion. (See above, No. 16.) 20. Aoyos els TO Trddos, Oratio in Passionem. Besides these genuine writings of Melito, another has been ascribed to him, De Transitu Beatae Viryinis, which is extant in Latin, and appears in most editions of the Biblioiheca Patrum, but it is gene- rally allowed to be spurious. It is mentioned, but without the author's name, in the Decretum of Pope Gelasius I., in which it is placed among the spurious books; and is mentioned as extant, under the name of Melito, by the venerable Beda (Be- tractat. in Acta, cap. 8, Opera, vol. vi. col. 15, ed. Col. 1612), who describes it as a forgery, and points out its inconsistencies with the Scripture narratives. The number of his genuine works sufficiently shows the industry of Melito, and their subjects indicate the variety of his attainments ; and the eulogies of the most learned fathers, and their tes- timony of the high reputation which Melito en- joyed, make us regret that of all these writings only a few fragments have descended to our times. It is, however, to be observed that these eulogies are qualified by intimations of his gross error as to the Deity. The express declaration of Origen as to his belief that God had a bodily form is sup- ported by the testimony of Gennadius of Massilia {Lib. Dogm. Eccles. c. 4). Modern writers seek in vain to exculpate him ; and Tillemont, though un- willing to conclude positively that a writer so emi- nent could have held so gross an error, admits that, possibly, this imputation, or the ascription to him of the bookZ)e Transitu B, Viryinis, may have prevented the church from honouring his memory by an appointed office. Modern Roman Catholics, as Bellarmin, Baronius, Halloix, Tillemont, Ceil- lier, &c., do not hesitate to give him the title of " Saint," and Tillemont pleads that they are in this only following the tradition of the Asiatic church. The book published in French (12rao. 1662), under the title of Apocalypse de Aleliton, was a satire against the monks. The fragments of Melito's writings are as fol- lows. We prefix to the notice of each the number of the work, from which it is taken, in the cata- logue of the works of this father already given. 1 . A fragment of the work De Pascha, preserved by Eusebius {H. E. iv. 26), showing when Melito wrote it. 17. Several fragments of the Apoloyia^ all but one, preserved by Eusebius {I. c), and the remaining one in the Chronicon Paschale (p. 259, ed. Paris, 207, ed. Venice, and vol. i. p. 483, ed. Bonn). 1 8. A very valuable passage preserved by Eusebius (I. c.) from the Ecloyae, or rather from the introductory letter to the Eclogae addressed to " Onesimus, my brother" (whether his natural brother, or simply a fellow-Christian, is not clear), containing the earliest catalogue of " the books of the Old Covenant (or Testament)," given by a Christian writer. II is catalogue agrees with the received canon of the Old Testament, except that it omits the books of Nehemiah and Esther ; but Nehemiah is perhaps included under the title Esra or Esdras. None of the books of the Apocrypha are mentioned : the book of Wisdom has been thought to be included, but, according to the tes- timony of several ancient MSS. of Eusebius, sup- ported by Rufinus and Nicephorus Callisti, the