Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/579

Rh IGNATIUS, or Coitalatorum. 9. Tlp6s rods iv Tapcr^, Ad Tar- senscs ; 10. Tipos 'Avriox^'is, Ad Antiocheuos ; 11. IIpos "HpcDua^ SiaKovov 'Avriox^ioiS, Ad Ileronem Diaconum Aiitiochiac ; 12. Upos ^iKnvn7)(riovs^ Ad Philippenses. Some copies add to the title of this epistle the words Ilepl BaTrTtV^aTos, De Buptis- mate ; an addition which by no means correctly describes the contents. Of four of these spurious epistles two ancient Latin versions are extant, the common version and that published by Usher ; of that to the Philippians, there is only one version (viz. the common). The epistle to Polycarp in the common Latin version is defective ; contain- ing only about one third of what is in the Greek text. There is also extant, both in the Greek and in the two Latin versions, an epistle of Mary of Cassobelae (called also Upocr-^XvTos, Proselyta) to Ignatius, to which his letter professes to be an answer. The remaining three epistles ascribed to Ignatius are found only in Latin : they are very short, and have long been given up as spurious : they are, 13. S. Joanni Eixmyelistae ; 14. Ad Emidem ; and, 15, Beatae Viryini. With these is found a letter of the Virgin to Ignatius, Deata Virgo Ig- naiio, professing to be an answer to his letter. This also is given np as spurious. The whole, indeed, of the Epistles, the first seven as well as the rest, have been vehemently assailed, and by some eminent scholars; but the above statement is in accordance with the general opinion of the learned. The extent and celebrity of the controversy respecting these writings, and the importance of the letters in their bearing on the much-disputed question of primitive church government, require some notice to be taken of the discussion. In a. d. 1495 the three Latin epistles and the letter of the Virgin were printed at Paris, subjoined to the Vita el Processus S. Thoinae Canluaretisis Martyris super Libertute Ecdesiustica. In A. D. 1498, three years after the appearance of these letters, another col- lection, edited by Jacobus Faber of Etaples (Sta- pulensis), was printed at Paris in folio, containing the common Latin version of eleven letters, that to Mary of Cassobelae not being among them. They were published with some of the works ascribed to Dionysius Areopagita and an epistle of Polycarp, These eleven epistles were reprinted at Venice, A. D. 1502, Paris, A. D. 1515, Basel, 1520, and Stras- burg, 1527. In 1516, the preceding fourteen epistles, with the addition of the letter to Mary of Cassobelae, were edited by Syraphorianus Chara- perius of Lyons, and published at Paris in 4to. with seven letters of St. Antony, commonly called the Great. The whole of the letters ascribed to Ignatius were now before the public in Latin, nor does their genuineness appear to have been as yet suspected. They were repeatedly reprinted in the course of the sixteenth century. In A. D. 1557 the twelve epistles of Ignatius in Greek were published by Valentinus Paceus or Pacaeus in 8vo. at Dillingen in Suabia on the Danube, from an Augsburg MS. They were reprinted at Paris, A. D. 1558 with critical emendations. The same twelve Greek epistles from another MS. from the library of Gaspar a Nydpryck, were published by Andreas Gesner with a Latin version by Joannes Brunnerus, fol. Zurich, 1559. In these editions the Greek text of the seven epistles was given in the larger form, the shorter form, both iu Greek and Latin, behig as yet undiscovered. IGNATIUS. 565 The genuineness of these remains was now called into question, theacuteness of criticism being apparently increased by a distaste for the contents of the Epistles. The authors of the Centuriae Mag- dehurycnses were the first to express their doubts, though with caution and moderation. Calvin, in his Institutiones^ i. 3, declared that " nothing could be more silly than the stuff (naeniae) which had been brought out under the name of Ignatius ; which rendered the impudence of those persons more insufferable who had set themselves to de- ceive people by such phantoms (larvae)." It has been observed, however, that the parts which in- curred Calvin's reprehension were the supposititious epistles, or the parts since found to be interpolated in the larger form of the genuine ones. The con- troversy grew warm : the Romish writers and the Episcopalians commonly contending for the genuine- ness of at least a part of the Epistles, and some of the Presbyterians denying it. The three epistles not extant in Greek were the first given up ; but the rest were stoutly contended for. Several however distinguished between the seven enume- rated by Eusebius and the rest ; and some con- tended that even those which were genuine were interpolated. While the controversy was in this state, Vedelius, a professor at Geneva, published an edition [S. Ignatii quae eodant Omnia, 4to. Geneva, 1623), in which the seven genuine were arranged apart from the other five epistles. He marked also in the genuine epistles the parts which he regarded as interpolations. His conjectures, however, were not happy. In 1644 appeared the edition by Archbishop Usher (4to. Oxford) of the Epistles ofc Polycarp and Ignatius. This edition contained, 1. Polycar- piana Episiolarum Ignatianarum Sylloye (Poly- carp's Collection of the Epistles of Ignatius), con- taining Polycarp's Epistle to the Philippians, and six of the genuine epistles of Ignatius (that to Polycarp being referred by Usher to the next class) in the longer form, with the common Latin version printed in parallel columns. The inter- polated portions, so far as they were ascertainable by the aid of an old Latin version of the shorter form, of which Usher had obtained two MSS. in England, and which he was the first to publish, were distinguished by being printed in red. This recension, however, by no means restored the text to its original purity, as may be seen by the most cursory comparison of Usher's text with that of Cotelerius and Le Clerc. The edition of Usher fur- ther contained, 2. Epistolae B. Ignatio adscriptae a Mediae Aeiatis Graecis Sex (Six Epistles ascribed to St. Ignatius by the Greeks of the Middle Age). The Epistle of Polycarp was included in this class, with the five spurious epistles extant in Greek. The common Latin version was also printed with these in parallel columns ; and the three epistles which are extant only in Latin were subjoined. 3. A Latin version of eleven epistles (that to the Philippians being omitted) from the two MSS. obtained by Usher, and now first printed. This version is quite different from the common one, and very ancient. It corresponds, in the main, to the shorter text of the genuine Epistles. The work of Usher contains also a valuable introduction and notes to the Epistles of Ignatius and Polycarp, the Apostolical Constitutions, and the Canons ascribed to Clement of Rome. In 1646 the Epistles of Ignatius were published by Isaac Vos- 00 3