Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 22.djvu/864

 828 SYRIAC LITERATURE [4TH CENT.- monks who dwelt in the mountains (pp. 113-131). Of metrical writings the same book contains (pp. 339-354) the hymns against Julian the Apostate (pp. 1-20), and the conclusion of the hymns on Paradise (wanting in the Roman ed., vol. iii. 598). l Other metrical homilies were published by Zingerle 2 ; but far more im- portant, as having a real historical interest, are the Carmina Nisibena, or "Hymns relating to the City of Nislbis," edited by Bickell in 1866. These poems, which deal in great part with the history of Nisibis and its bishops and of adjacent cities (such as Anzit or Hanzit, Edessa, and Harran), were composed, according to Bickell (Introd.', p. 6 sq.), between the years 350 and 370 or there- abouts. 3 A large quantity of hitherto unpublished matter is also contained in Lamy, S. Ephracmi Syri Hymni et Sermoncs, vol. i., 1882, and vol. ii., 1886, e.g., fifteen hymns on the Epiphany, a discourse on our Lord, several metrical homilies (in particular for Passion week, the Resurrection, and New or Low Sunday), hymns on the Passover or unleavened bread (De Asymis) and on the Cruci- fixion, acts of Ephraim from the Paris MS. Ancien fonds 144, commentaries on portions of the Old Testament, other metrical homilies, and hymns on the nativity, the Blessed Virgin Mary, Lent, &c. The so-called Testament of Ephraim 4 has been printed in the Opera Grazca, ii. pp. 395-410 (with various readings at p. 433), and again by Overbeck (op. cit., pp. 137-156). 5 Ephraim's Notwithstanding his vast fecundity and great popularity as a pupils. theological writer, Ephraim seems not to have had any pupils worthy to take his place. In the Testament we find mentioned with high commendation the names of Abha, Abraham, Simeon, Mara of Aggel, and Zenobius of Gezirta, 6 to whom we may add Isaac 7 and Jacob. 8 Two, on the other hand, are named with de- cided reprobation as heretics, namely, Paulonas (IlaiAwi'as) or Paulinus (HttuXtfos) and Arwadh or Arwat. 9 Of these, Abha is cited by later writers and compilers as the author of a commentary on the Gospels, a discourse on Job, and an exposition of Ps. xlii. 9. 10 Paulonas or Paulinus is probably the same who is mentioned by 'Abhd-isho' n as having written "madhrdshe or metrical homi- lies, discourses against inquirers, disputations against Marcion, an 1 a treatise concerning believers and the creed." Zenobius, who was deacon of the church of Edessa, according to the same authority, 12 composed treatises against Marcion and Pamphylius (?), besides sundry epistles. He was also the teacher of Isaac of Antioch, of whom we shall speak shortly. Better known than any of these disciples of Ephraim are two writers who belong to the close of this century and the beginning of the next, Balai and Cyrillona. The date of Balai or Balseus, chorepiscopus (as it seems) of the diocese of Aleppo, is fixed by his being mentioned by Bar-Hebrauis 13 after Ephraim, but before the time of the council of Ephesus (431). Acacius, bishop of Aleppo, whom he celebrates in one of his poems, must therefore, as Bickell says, 14 be the same Acacius who had a share in converting Rabbula to Christianity, 13 and died at an extreme old age (it is said 110 years) in 432. His favourite metre was the pentasyllable, which is known by his name, as the heptasyllabic by that of Ephraim, and the twelve-syllable line by that of Jacob of Serugh. Some of his poems have been edited by Overbeck in the often cited collection S. Ephraemi Syri, &c., Opera Selecta, pp. 251-336, namely, a poem on the dedication of the newly built church in the town of Ken- neshiin (Kinnesrin), five poems in praise of Acacius, the late bishop of Aleppo, the first and eighth homilies on the history of Joseph, specimens of prayers, and a fragment on the death of Aaron. 16 Cyrillona composed a poem "on the locusts, and on 1 The last hymn (p. 351) is genuine, as the very fact of its being an acrostic shows (see Bickell, Conspectus, p. 19) ; whereas the metrical homily on the bap- tism of Constantine (pp. 355-361) is certainly spurious (Bickell, loc. cit.). 2 S. P. Ephraemi Syri Sermones duo, Brixen, 1869 (see B.O., i. 149, col. 1, No. 31); Monumenta Syriaca ex Romanis Codd. collecta, i. 4 (B.O., loc. cit., No. 30). Zingerle has rendered many of Ephraim's works into German, e.g., Die heilige Muse der Syrer : Gesange des h. Kirchenvaters Ephraem, 1833 ; Gesange gegen die Griibler iiber die Geheimnisse Gottes, 1834 ; Festkrame aus Libanons Garten, 184(5 ; Des h. Kirchenvaters Ephraem ausgewahlte Schriften, aus d. Griechischen vnd Syrischen uebersetzt, 6 vols., 2d ed., 1845-47 .Die Reden des h. Ephraem gegen die Ketzer, 18 JO ; Reden des h. Ephraem des Syrers' iiber Selbstverlaugnung und einsame Lebensweise, mil einem Briefe desselben an Einsiedler, 1871. Translations into English have been attempted, though with less success, by Morris (Select Works ofS. Ephraem the Syfian, 1847) and Burgess (Select Metrical Hymns and Homilies of Ephraem Syrus, 1853 ; The Repentance of Nineveh, &c., 1853). 3 Comp. Bickell, Conspectus, p. 28, note 21. < See B.O., i. 141, No. 8. 5 That it has been interpolated by a later hand is shown by the long and purposeless digression on Moses and Pharaoh (Op. Gr., ii. 405) and the story of Lamprotate at the end (ibid., p. 409), as also by the stanzas regarding the vine which Ephraim saw growing out of his mouth when he was an infant (ibid., p. 408). 6 B.O., i. 38, 144. ^ Ibid., i. 165. 8 See Wright, Catal, p. 992, col. 2, No. 36. Also written u^QJ )| = Arnut and ^'_JO| = Urit. See Overbeck's text, p. 147, and the variants, p. xxx. The name seems to have been hopelessly corrupted by the scribes. W See Wright, Catal., pp. 831, col. 1, and 1002, col. 1. 11 B.O., iii. 1, 170. 12 Ibid., i. 168 ; iii. 1, 43. is In a passage cited by Assemani, B.O., i. 166. Cardahi (Liber Thes., pp. 25-27) places Balai's death in 400, but gives, as usual, no authority. This seems too late. 14 Conspectus, p. 21 ; Thalhofer, Bibliothek der Kirchenvater, 41, p. 68. 15 Overbeck, S. Ephraemi Syri, &c., Opera Selecta, p. 162, 1. 20. '8 See also Wenig, Schola Syriaca, Chrestomathia, pp. 1(50-162 ; Bickell, Con- sper.tus, p. 46, note 5 ; Thalhofer, Bibliothek, 41, p. 67, and 44. (divine) chastisement, and on the invasion of the Huns," 17 in which he says: "The North is distressed and full of wars; and if Thou be neglectful, Lord, they will again lay me waste. If the Huns, Lord, conquer me, why do I seek refuge with the martyrs ? If their swords lay me waste, why do I lay hold on Thy great Cross ? If Thou givest up my cities unto them, where is the glory of Thy holy Church ? A year is not yet at an end since they came forth and laid us waste and took my children captive ; and lo, a second time they threaten our land that they will humble it." Now the invasion of the Huns took place in 395, 18 and this poem must have been written in the following year (396). The few re- maining writings of Cyrill5na, composed in various metres, have been edited by Bickell in the Z.D.M.G., xxvii. p. 566 sq., and translated by him in Thalhofer's Bibliothek, 41, pp. 9-63. 19 Bickell 20 is inclined to identify this Cyrillona with another writer of the same period, 'Abhsamya, a priest of Edessa, Ephraim's sister's 'Abh- son and a pupil of Zenobius ; but his reasons do not seem to us samya. sufficient. The Chron. Edess. (B.O., i. 401) states that 'Abhsamya composed his hymns and discourses on the invasion of the Huns in 404 ; and Dionysius of Tell-Mahre (B.O., i. 169) speaks of him in the year 397. Bar-Hebraus is less precise as to the date: after mentioning the death of Chrysostom (in 407), he adds that about this time Theodore of Mopsuestia died (429) and 'Abhsamya, nourished, who ' ' composed many discourses in the (heptasyllabic) metre of Mar Ephraim" on the invasion of the Huns. 21 That 'Abhsamya, may have taken the name of Cyrillona at his ordination is of course possible, but it seems strange that none of these three writers should have mentioned it, if such were the case. On Bar- Hebrseus's statement regarding the metre which he used in his discourses we do not insist ; he might easily make a mistake in such a matter. During the latter part of the 4th century, too, there lived in Abbot the island of Cyprus the abbot Gregory, who appears to have been Gregory, sent thither from some monastery in Palestine as the spiritual head of the Syriac-speaking monks in the island. 22 He cherished friendly relations with Epiphanius, afterwards bishop of Salamis or Constantia (367-403), and a monk named Theodore. To these are addressed several of his discourses and letters ; others are general exhortations to the monks under his charge. 23 The dis- courses seem to be only portions of a Avork on the monastic life, which has not come down to us in a complete form, the "book" mentioned by 'Abhd-isho' in B.O., iii. 1, 191. In the letters he addresses Epiphanius as an older man speaking with authority to a younger ; it is to be presumed, therefore, that they were written before Epiphanius became bishop. With the 5th century commences the native historical literature Lives of of Syria. Previous to this time there existed martyrologies and saints lives of saints, martyrs, and other holy men, drawn up, in part at and least, to meet the requirements of the services of the church. Such martyrs, are, for example, the ancient martyrology in a manuscript of 41 1 24 ; the Doctrine of Addai, in its present shape a product of the latter half of the 4th century 25 ; the Hypomncmata of Sharbel ; and the Martyrdoms ofBar-samyd, Bishoj) ofEd.essa, and the Deacon Habblbh, which all belong to about the same period. 26 This sort of legendary writing was carried on to a much later date. 27 The History of Beth Selokh and its Martyrs, for instance, can hardly have been composed before the 6th century, if so early 28 ; and the Acts of Marl must be still later. 29 No larger collection of such documents had, however, been attempted before the time of Marutha, bishop Marutha of Maiperkat, 30 a man of much weight and authority, who was of Mai- twice sent by the emperor Theodosiiis II. on embassies to the perkat. Persian monarch Yazdegerd I., and .presided at the councils of Seleucia or Ctesiphon, under the catholics Isaac and Yabh-alaha 17 See Wright, Catal., p. 671, col. 1, No. 5, a. 18 See Chron. Edess. in B.O., i. 400, No. xl.; Dionysius of Tell-Mahre, ibid., note 1 ; and an anonymous continuer of Eusebius in Land's Anecd. Syr., i. 8, 1. 2. Joshua Stylites (ed. Wright, p. 10, 1. 1) specifies A. Gr. 707, which began with October 395. is See also Wright, Catal, pp. 670-671 ; Overbeck, S. Ephraemi, &c., Opera Selecta, pp. 379-381 ; Bickell, Conspectus, p. 34 ; Cardahi, Liber Thes., pp. 27-29, who places his death in 400. 20 See his Conspectus, p. 21 ; Thalhofer, Bibl, 41, pp. 13, 16 (in the note). 51 Bar-Hebraeus, Chron. Eccles., i. 133. 22 See B.O., i. 170-171. 23 ibid., i. 172. -4 Brit. Mus. Add. 12150, f. 252, edited by Wright in the Journal of Sacred Literature, 1865-66, viii. 45, 423 ; see the Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. xii. 183-185. It can hardly be later than the middle of the 4th century. -"' Edited in part by Cureton, in his Ancient Syriac Documents, from MSS. of the 5th and 6th centuries in the British Museum ; and in full by Phillips from a MS. of the 6th century at St Petersburg, 1S76. See also Lettre d'Abgar ou Histoire de la Conversion des Edesseens, translated from the Armenian version, Venice, 1868 ; Lipsius, Die F.dessenische Abgar-Sage, 1880 ; Matthes, Die ICilesse- nische Abgar-Sage, 1882; Mosinger, ActaSS. MartyrumEdessenonrmSarbdii, <fcc., No. 1,1874. 26 See Cureton, Anc. Syr. Doc., and Lipsius, Die Edess. Abgar-Sage, p. 41 sq. 27 See Hoffmann, Ausziige aus syr. Akten pers. Martyrer. 28 See Mosinger, Monumenta Syr., ii. 63, and Hoffmann, op. cit., p. 45. 29 See Abbeloos, Acta S. Maris, 1885, p. 47, where, as Noldeke has pointed out, the writer confounds Ardasher, the first king of the Sasanian dynasty, with the last king of that line, Yazdegerd III., who was overthrown by the Arabs in the battle of Niliawand, A.H. 21 (642 A.D.). 30 Called by the Greeks Martyropolis, in Syriac MSdhinath Sahde, and by the Arabs Maiyafarikin.