Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/643

Rh TSIDORUS. the Momimenta S. Patrum Orthodoocograplia of (irvnaeus. Colon, fol. 1568, in the Sylloge Script. i/i- Catholicis Ecdesiae Ojficiis of Melchior Hittor- pius, Rom. fol. 1591, and in the Sylloge Scriptorum de Ojficiis Ecclesiasticis, Paris, fol. 16 10. XIII. Regula Monacliorum^ a code of rules in twenty-one sections for the government of the Coe- nobium Honorianum, founded by Isidorus himself. It is remarkable only from displaying a more gentle spirit than such statute-books usually exhibit. It is included in the Codew Regularum of Holstenius, Rom. 4to. 1661, p. ii. p. 198. The four following works belong to exegetical theology : — XIV. Liber Prooemioruvi^ or Prooemia in Li- bras Veteris ac Novi Testamenti, a succinct outline of the contents of each of the bookg which form the canon of Scripture. XV. Commentaria in Veins Tesiamentum, or, Quaestiones et Mysticorum Eocpositiones Sacrumen- torum in Vettis Testamentum. An exposition of the mystical, typical, and allegorical signification of the principal events recorded in the Pentateuch, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Kings, Chronicles, Esdra, and the Maccabees, selected from the writings of various fathers, of whom Origen, Victorinus, Am- brosius, Hieronymus, Cassianus, Augustinus, Ful- gentius, and Gregory are specially named in the preface, the object of Isidorus being to render the researches of these wise and learned men accessible to a greater number of readers by presenting them in a compressed and familiar form. Published se- parately, Haganoae (Ilagtienau), 4to. 1529. XVI. Allegoriae quaedam Sacrae Scripturae. Short allegorical interpretations of many passages in the Old and New Testaments. The spirit of this piece is the same as that of the preceding, but the results are enunciated much more briefly. XVII. Eocpositio in Oanticum Caniicorum Salo- monis. The same principles are here applied to prove that Solomon's Song is a shadowing forth of the union of Christ with his church. In the ten following works we have a mixture of dogmatical, speculative, sentimental, and practical theologj', combined so intimately that not one of them can be said to belong to any single depart- ment exclusively. XVIII. Sententiarum, s. De summo Bono Libri TIL A voluminous collection of short essays and dogmatic rules on a great multiplicity of themes connected with speculative, practical, and ritual theology, forming a sort of Manual of Divinity^ suited to the wants and taste of that epoch, and possessing the same encyclopaedic character in this particular branch of knowledge which the Origines exhibit in relation to a wider field. The whole is little more than a compilation from Augustin and Gregory. Published separately, Lovan. 4to. 1486, Lips. 4'to. 1493, Paris, 4to. 1519, 12mo. 1538, Taurin. 4to. 1593, with the notes of Garcia de Loaisa. XIX. De Nativitate Domini, Passione et Resnr- redione. Regno atque Judicio, addressed to his sister, St. Florentia, in sixty-one chapters, with an Epilogue embodying a mass of prophetic passages from the Old Testament which indicate the career and divinity of our Lord. XX. De Vocatione Gentium, addressed also to St. Florentia, in twenty-six chapters, with a reca- pitulation pointing out how the prophets had clearly foretold the abrogation of the ceremonial law and ISIDORUS. 62^ the free admission of the Gentiles to all the bene- fits of the New Covenant. The two last-named tracts are sometimes con- joined under the title Contra Nequitiain Judaeorum, or. Contra Judaeos Libri II. ; or, De Fide Catholica ex Vetere et Novo Testamento, or, finally, Testimonio- rum de Christo et Ecclesia Liber. They were printed separately, Venet. 4to. 1483, Hagan, 4to. 1529. There is a very curious old German or Frankish translation of a portion of these pieces, apparently as old as the eighth century. This has been care- fully published by Holzmann Isidori de Nativitate Domini, ^c., Carolsruh. 8vo., 1836. XXI. Synonimorum, s. Soliloquiorum Libri I I. Not, as the former title might lead us to expect, a grammatical disquisition, but a series of sacred me- ditations and moral precepts. At the commence- ment we find the lamentations of an imaginary individual, the representative as it were of awa- kened sinners, who deplores his lost state amid the vice and misery of this wicked world, and is upon the point of abandoning himself to despair, when Ratio, or Reason, comes forward to comfort him, .and in the dialogue which follows proves that he may still hope for pardon, teaches him how he may best avoid the snares of evil, and how he can most fittingly repent of sin so as at length to become pure and holy, and to be able to look forward with con- fidence to eternal happiness in heaven. The collo- quial form is gradually abandoned, and the moral precepts are arranged regularly under different heads, as De Castitate, De Oratione, De Parsimo- nia, De Ilumilitaie, and the like. The term syno- nima seems to be derived from the circumstance that the same ideas are repeated again and again under different shapes and in different words. Published separately, Antv. 4to., 1488. XXII. De Co7itemptu Mundi Libellus. A sort of continuation of the foregoing, since here also we have a dialogue between an imaginary personage and Ratio, in which the latter descants upon a suc- cession of religious and moral themes. Published separately, Venet, 8vo., 1523. XXIII. De Conjlictu Vitiorumet Vitiutnm, erro- neously ascribed by some to Leo I., by others to Augustin, by others to Ambrose. It bears a strong resemblance in its contents to the foregoing. XXIV. ExJiorlatio ad Poenitentiam cam Conso- latione ad Animam de Salute desperantem, in which the mercy of God is placed in opposition to the overwhelming dread of future punishment. It is a mere repetition of certain portions of the Syno- nima. XXV. Norma Vivendi^ a collection of apo- phthegms culled from the four works last mentioned. XXVI. Oratio de Flendis semper Peccatis ad Correctionem Vifae. XXVII. Oratio contra Insidias Diaholi. It only remains to notice, in the last place, — XX VIII. Epistolae. A considerable number of letters, referring chiefly to questions of doctrine or discipline. Thus there is one addressed to Ludi- fred, bishop of Cordova, Quodnam, Episcopt et cete- rorum sit Officium in Ecclesia ; another to Massa- nus, bishop of Merida, Qui sunt reparandi post Lapsum vel qui non ; a fragment, belonging perhaps to the last, Quare sit institutum post septem Annos in pinstinum Siatum Poenitentes redire, and several others, the authenticity of which is very question- able. It will be seen from the above list, and much s s 3