Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/580

Rh 566 IGNATIUS. sins (4to. Amsterdam), from a MS, in the Medicean Library at Florence. The MS., which is not accu- rately written, and is mutilated at the end, is valu- able as the only one containing the shorter recension of the genuine Epistles : it wants, however, that to the Romans, which was given by Vossius in the longer form, as in the former editions. The five spurious epistles, and that of Mary of Cassobelae to Ignatius, from the Medicean MS., the text of which differs materially from that previously pub- lished ; the three Latin Epistles, Us>her''s Latin version of the eleven Greek Epistles, and the common version of that to the Philippians, were all given by Vossius. In 1647 Usher published his Appendix Ignatiana^ containing the Greek text of the seven Epistles, and two Latin ver- sions of the Martyrium Iiinatii. He gave the Medicean text of six of the Epistles ; that to the Romans Avas the common text with the interpo- lations expunged, as determined by a collation of the epistle as given in the Martyrium^ both in the Greek of Symeon Metaphrastos and the Latin versions published Ity Usher. The text of Ignatius was thus settled on the basis of MS. authority, except in the case of the Epistle to the Romans, and that was afterwards published by Le Clerc from a manuscript in the Colbertine Library. After the controversy had been carried on for some time, and great progress had been made towards the settlement of the text, the most formidable attack on the genuineness of the Epistles was made by Daille (Dallaeus), one of the most eminent of the French Protestants, in his work De Scriptis qnae suh Dio- nysii Areopagitae et Ignatii Antiocheni circumfe- runfur Libri duo, 4 to. Geneva, 1656. The Avorks of Ignatius form the subject of the second book. This attack of Daill6 called forth the Vindiciae Ignatianae of Bishop Pearson, 4to. Cambridge, 1672, which may be considered as having ex- hausted the controversy. The subsequent contri- butions to the discussion do not require notice. The genuineness and substantial integrity of the seven epistles in the shorter form may be consi- dered as now generally recognised. The Epistles of Ignatius are characterised by simplicity of thought and by piety. His eagerness to obtain the crown of martyrdom has been cen- sured ; and his zeal in enforcing the claims of the bishops and clergy to reverence and obedience is very great. Perhaps this characteristic, which has quickened the suspicions of, or objections to, the genuineness of the Epistles, may be rather regarded as an argument that they were written while those claims were by no means generally admitted. His zeal in enforcing them is an indication of their being disputed, as men do not contend for what no one denies. The Greek style of Ignatius is by ro means good, which is accounted for by the cir- cumstance of Greek not being his vernacular tongue. The most complete and valuable edition of Igna- tius is that contained in the Patres Apostolici of Cotelerius, the second edition of which by Le Clerc (2 vols. fol. Amsterdam. 1724) contains the two recensions of the genuine epistles, all the spu- rious epistles (Greek and Latin), with the epistles of Mary of Cassobelae and of the Virgin ; the two ancient Latin versions (the common one and Usher's), the Martyrium Ignatii, the Dissertationes (i, e. the Introduction) of Usher, the Vindiciae of Pearson, a Dissertatio de Tgnaiianis Epistolis, by IGNATIUS. Le Clerc, and varionmi notes. A useful edition of the genuine Epistles with those of Clement of Rome and Polycarp, and the Martyria of Ignatius and Polycarp, was published by Jacobson (2 vols. 8vo. Oxford, 1838). There are versions in several of the languages of modern Europe ; including two English transUitions, an old one by Archbishop Wake, and a modem one by Clenientson (8vo. 1827). Wake's translation has been repeatedly published. Ebed-jesu, the Syrian, speaks of Ignatius as having written De Ue Fidei et Canones, but he is supposed to refer to his Epistles (Assemani, Bif)L Orient, vol, iii. p. ii. p. 16, 17). There is also a Syriac liturgy ascribed to Ignatius, of which a Latin version is given by Renaudot {Liturg. Orientules, vol. ii. p. 215, &c.), who declares it to be spurious. The Martyriitm Ignatii, which is our chief au- thority for the circumstances of Ignatius' death, professes to be written by eye-witnesses, the com- panions of his voyage to Rome, supposed to be Philo, a deacon of Tarsus or some other church in Cilicia, and Rheus Agathopus, a Syrian, who are mentioned in the Epistles of Ignatius {Ad Phila- delph. c. 1 1 ; Jd Smyrneos, c. 13). Usher adds to them a third person, Gains, but on what authority we know not, and Gallandius adds Crocus men- tioned by Ignatius ■ (^(Z Romanos, c. 10). The account, with many interpolations, is incorporated in the work of Symeon Metaphrastes (a. d. 20, Dec), and a Latin translation from him is given by Surius, De Prohatis Sanctor. Vitis, and in the Acta Sanctorum, under the date of the 1st of Feb. The Martyrium was first printed in Latin by archbishop Usher, who gave two distinct ver- sions from different MSS. The Greek text was first printed by Ruinart in his Acta Martyrvm Sincera (4to. Paris, 1689) from a MS. in the Col- bertine library, and in a revised edition in Le Clerc's Cotelerius, It is given by Jacobson and by most of the later editors of the Epistles. Its genuineness is generalh' recognised ; but it is thought to be interpolated. See the remarks of Grabe quoted by Jacobson at the end of the Mar- tyrium. A considerable fragment of an ancient Syriac version of the Martyrium of Ignatius is published by Mr. Cureton. A recent discovery promises to reopen the ques- tion, as to the integrity of the shorter epistles. Several writers, including Beausobre, Lardner, and Priestly, had expressed their suspicion or conviction, that there were in them interpola- tions, more or less considerable. An ancient Syriac version of the epistles to Polycarp, to the Romans, and to the Ephesians, recently discovered, gives reason to believe that the interpolations are very considerable. This version was discovered among the MSS. of the library of the Syriac con- vent of the desert of Nitria, in Egypt, which has been lately purchased by the trustees of the Bri- tish Museum. These epistles have been published by the Rev. W. Cureton, of the British Museum {The Ancient Syriac Version of the Epistles of St. Ignatius, ^c, by William Cureton, M. A. 8vo. London, 1845), from two MSS,, of which one, containing the epistle to Polycarp, is assigned by him to the sixth century ; the other, containing the other two epistles, belongs, in his judgment, to the seventh or eighth century. The Syriac Epistle to Polycarp contains scarcely anything of c. vii. and