Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 22.djvu/883

 OTH CENT.] SYRIAC LITERATURE 847 Genesis survives, though imperfect, in Brit. Mus. 17274, 1 and there are extracts from them in Paris, Ancien fonds 35 (Zotenberg, (P. Smith, Catal., p. 410) and Bodl. Marsh. 86 (ibid., p. 418). His treatise on the Hcxaemeron in five books - is preserved to us in the Paris MS. Ane. fonds 120 (Zoteuberg, Catal., p. 197), and there are extracts from it in two other MSS. (ibid., pp. 157, 159). The work DC Paradise, in three parts, dedicated to his friend Ignatius of jJOf (?)> 3 is known to us only through the Latin translation of Andreas Masitis, 1569. 4 The treatise on the soul 5 survives in Cod. Vat. cxlvii. (Catal., iii. 273-274) ; it consists of 40 chapters, with a supplementary chapter to show that the dead are profited by offer- ings made on their behalf. That on predestination and freewill, in four discourses, is extant in Brit. Mus. Add. 14731 (Wright, Catal., p. 853). The Disputations against Heresies, spoken of by Moses's biographer in B.O., ii. 218, col. 2, is probably identical with the work On Sects mentioned by Assemani at p. 131, No. 7. The Festal Homilies for the whole year 6 is extant in several MSS., e.g., Brit. Mus. Add. 21210 (Wright, Catal., p. 877) and 17188 (ibid., p. 621), Paris, Anc. fonds 35 and 123 (Zotenberg, Catal., pp. 156, 159). 7 Besides these we have four funeral sermons, 8 an ad- monitory discourse to the children of the holy orthodox church, 9 and a discourse showing why the Messiah is called by various epithets and names. 10 Moses also wrote expositions of the sacra- ments of the church, such as on the holy chrism, in 50 chapters, Cod. Vat. cxlvii. (Catal., iii. 274) and, Paris, Anc. fonds 123 (Zoten- berg, Catal., p. 159), 11 with which is connected the discourse on the consecration of the chrism in Brit. Mus. Add. 21210 (Wright, Catal., p. 879); on baptism, addressed to his friend Ignatius, in 24 chapters, Cod. Vat. cxlvii. (Catal., iii. 276), in connexion with which we may take the discourse on the mysteries of baptism in Brit. Mus. Add. 21210 (Wright, loc. cit.) and on baptism in Cod. Vat. xcvi. (Catal., ii. 522) 1 -; exposition of the liturgy, Brit. Mus. Add. 21210 (Wright, Catal., p. 879) and Berlin, Sachau 62 (?) ; further, exposi- tions of the mysteries in the various ordinations, Cod. Vat. Ii. (Catal., ii. 320) 13 ; on the ordination of bishops, priests, and deacons, Brit. Mus. Add. 21210 (Wright, Catal., p. 879); on the tonsure of monks, 14 Cod. Vat. Ii. (Catal., ii. 322). 15 He also compiled two anaphoras, 18 one of which has been translated by Renaudot, ii. 391. Lastly, Moses bar Kepha was the author of a commentary on the dialectics of Aristotle, mentioned by Bar-Hebrseus in Chron. Eccles., ii. 215, and of a commentary on the works of Gregory Nazianzen, and an ecclesiastical history, mentioned by his bio- grapher in B.O., ii. 218, col. 2. The loss of this last book is to be regretted. The contemporary Nestorian writers of mark are hardly more numerous. In this century the foundations of Syriac lexicography were laid by the famous physician Abu Zaid Honain ibn Isluak al-'Ibadi of Herta (al-Hirah). 17 He applied himself to medicine at Baghdadh, under Yahyii, or Yuhanna, ibn Masawaihi (Miisiiyah or Mesue) ; but an ill-feeling soon sprang up between teacher and pupil, and Honain took his departure for the Grecian territory, where he spent a couple of years in acquainting himself with the Greek language and its scientific literature. He afterwards became physician to the caliph al-Mutavakkil. His downfall and excommunication were meanly brought about by a fellow-Christian of the same pro- fession, Isra'il ibn at-Taifiiri, and Honain died soon after, 260 A.H. =873 A. D. 18 Honain composed most of his original works in Arabic, and likewise ninny of his translations from the Greek. 'Abhd-Isho' mentions but three books of his, 19 viz., a book on the fear of God (which he wrote as a deacon of the church), a Syriac grammar, and a compendious Syriac lexicon. The lexicon has no doubt been in great part absorbed into the later works of Bar 'All and Bar Bahlul. 20 The grammar seems to have been entitled Ke- thdbha dhe-Nukze, or the ' ' Book of (Diacritical) Points. " It is cited by Bar-Hebr;eus in the A usar Raze - 1 and by Elias of TIrhan in his I Wright, Catal., p. 620. 2 B.O., ii. 128, No. 1. 3 ibid., ii. 218, col. 2. 4 Ibid., ii. 128, No. 2. 5 iud., ii. 131, No. 6. 6 Ibid., ii. 131, No. 9. 7 See also Cod. Vat. clix. (Catal., iii. 316-317); on the Ascension, Cod. Vat. cxlvii. (Catal., iii. 27i',). 8 Brit. Mus. Add. 17188 (Wright, Catal., p. 622). 9 Brit. Mus. Add. 21210 (Wright, Catal., p. 879). 10 Brit. Mus. Add. 17188 (Wright, Catcil., p. Wl). II The Paris MS. Ancien fonds 35 contains another redaction in 36 chapters (Zotenberg, Catal., p. 157). 12 See also Cod. Vat. ccccxi., in Mai, Scriptt. Vett. Nora Coll., v. 13 See also Cod. Vat. ccciv., in Mai, op. cit. 14 B.O., ii. 131, No. 8. is Compare Cod. Vat. cccv., in Mai, op. cit. 16 B.O., ii. 130, No. 4. 17 Al-'Ibadi was the nisbah of an Arab Christian of al-Hirah. See Ibn Khal- likan, ed. Wiistenfeld, No. 87. Latin writers generally call him Joannitius. 18 See the Fihrist, pp. r 9r and 140 ; Ibn Abi Usaibi'ah, ed. Miiller, i. 184 ; Ibn Eccles., ii. 197-199 (R.O., ii. 438); Hist. Dynast., p. 263 sq. (transl., p. 171 sq.); Wenrich, Da Attctt. Gr. I'ersionibus, Index, p. xxxi. ; Wiistenfeld, Gesch. d. arab. Aerate, No. 89. 19 B.O., iii. 1, 165. 20 See GesHiiius, De Bar Alio et Bar Bahlulo Commentatio, 1834, p. 7. 21 See Hoffmann, Z.D.M.G., xxxii., 1878, p. 741. grammar. 22 Ilonain also wrote a treatise On Synonyms, whether they lie "voces teijuilitteraj" (as re<j1tl:: and I'agrfiz} or not (as 'akUha and karyUha). Extracts from this work have been preserved to us by a later compiler, who made use also of the canons of 'Anfui- Isho' of HSdhai yabh M (see above, p. 843). In Cod. Vat. ccxvii. (Catal., iii. 504) there are excerpts from a medical treatise of Honain, but no title is given.- 4 Honain, his son Ishak, and his nephew Hobaish ibn al-Hasan al-A'sam ("Stiff-wrist ") were among the earliest and ablest of those Christians, chiefly Nestorians, who, during the 9th and 10th centuries, making Baghdadh their head- quarters, supplied Muhammadan scholars with nearly everything that they knew of Greek science, whether medicine, mathematics, or philosophy. As a rule, they translated the Greek fir.st into Syriac and afterwards into Arabic ; but their Syriac versions have unfortunately, as it would appear, perished, without exception. 25 An elder contemporary of Honain was Gabriel bar Bokht-isho', Gabriel in Arabic Jabra'il ibn BakhtislnY (or rather Bokhtishu'), a member bar of a family of renowned physicians, beginning with George bar Bokht- Bokht-isho" of Gunde-Shabhor, whom we have mentioned above Isho'. (p. 844). He was in practice at Baghdadh in 791, and attended on Ja'far ibn Yaliyfi al-Bannaki, became court physician to ar- Raslud, and maintained this position, with various vicissitudes, till his death in 82S. 26 'Abhd-isho' says that he was the author of a Syriac lexicon, 27 which is our reason for giving him a place here, but no such work is mentioned by the other authorities to whom we have referred.- 8 Of Isho' Maruzaya, in Arabic 'Isa al-Marwazi, from the city of Ishr.' Mara or Merv, little is known to us beyond the fact that he com- Maru- piled a Syriac lexicon, which was one of the two principal authori- zayil. ties made use of by Bar 'All. 29 That he should be identical with the physician al-Manvazi, who lived about 567, 30 seems wholly un- likely. We might rather venture to identify him with Abu Yahyii al-Marwazi, who was an eminent Syrian physician at Baghdadh, wrote in Syriac upon logic and other subjects, and was one of the teachers o_f Matta ibn Yaunan or Yunus (who died in 940). 31 In any case, 'Isa al-Marwazi seems to have flourished during the latter part of the 9th century, and therefore to have been a contemporary of J3ar 'All. Isho', or 'Isa, bar 'All is stated in Cod. Vat. ccxvii. (Catal., iii. Bar "All. 504, No. xy. ) to have been a pupil of Honain. His father 'All and his uncle 'Isa, the sons of Da'ud or David, were appointed by the catholicus Sabhr-isho' II. (832-S36) to the charge of the college founded by him in the convent of Mar Pethion at Baghdadh. 32 Bar 'All's lexicon is dedicated to a deacon named Abraham, 33 who made certain additions to it after the death of the author. 34 Isho' bar Xon was a native of the village of Beth-Gabbare near Tsho' bar Mosul. He was a pupil of Abraham bar Dashandadh (see above, p. Nou. 844) at the same time with Abu Null al-Anbarl (see above, p. 845, note 3) and Timothy, his predecessor in the dignity of catholicus (see above, p. 845). He retired first to the convent of Mar Abraham on Mount Izla, where he devoted himself to study and to refuting the views and writings of his schoolfellow and subsequent diocesan Timothy, whom he spitefully called Talem-otheos ("the wronger of God") instead of Timotheos. In consequence of a dispute with the monks he left Mount Izla and went for some months to Bagh- . dadh, where he stayed at the house of George Masawaihi (Masuyah or Mesue) and taught his son Yahya. 35 He then returned to Mosul, where he took up his residence in the convent of Mar Elias, anil lived there for thirty years, till the death of Timothy. 36 Through the influence of Gabriel bar Bokht-isho' (see above) and his son- in-law Michael bar Masawaihi (Masuyah or Mesue), the physician of the caliph al-Ma'mfm, he was appointed catholicus A.Gr. 1135 22 Edit. Baetligen, p. 32 ; see Hoffmann, Opusc. Nestor., p. xvii. 23 Hoffmann, Opusc. Nest., pp. 2-49 ; see B.O., ii. 308, col. 2, and Cod. Berlin, Sachau 72, No. 14. There is also a MS. in the collection of the S.P.C.K. 24 Cod. Vat. cxcii. (Catal., iii. 409), Syntagma Medicuin Syr. et Arab., is not likely to be his, but requires closer examination. 25 This is a large subject, iuto which we cannot here enter, the more so as it pertains rather to a history of Arabic than of Syriac literature. We would refer the reader to Wiistenfeld, Geschichte d. arab. Aerzte u. Naturfor seller, 1840 ; Fliigel, Dissert, de Arabicis Scriptorum Gr/ecorum Interpretibits, 1841 ; Wenrich, De Avctorwn Greecorum, Versionibus et Commentariis, 1842 ; Renan, De Philoso- phia Peripatetica apvd Syros, 1852, sect. viii. p. 51 ; Al-Farabi (Alpharabius) des Arab. Philosophen Leben u. Schriflen, by M. Steinschneider, 1869 ; A. Miiller, Die Griechischen Philosoplten in der arabischen Ueberlieferung, 1873. Of Muham- madan authorities two of the most important are the Fihrist of Abu '1-Faraj Muhammad ibn Ishak al-Warrak al-Baghdadhi, commonly called Ibn Abi Ya'kiib an-Nadim (died early in the llth century), and the 'Uyun al-Anbdfi Tabakdt al-Atibbd of Muwaffak ad-Din Abu '!-' Abbas Ahmad ibn al-Kasim as- Sa'di'al-Khaz'raji, generally known by the name of Ibn Abi Usaibi'ah (died in 1269). The former work has been edited by Fltigel, J. Rodiger, and A. Miiller, 1871-72, the latter by A. Miiller, 1884. 26 See Ibn Abi Usaibi'ah, ed. Miiller, i. 127 ; Wiistenfeld, Gesch. d. arab. Aerzte, No. 2S ; Bar-Hebrseus, Cliron. Syr., pp. 139-140, 170 (B.O., ii. 271, note, col. 1), and Hist. Dynast., 235, 264. 27 B.O., iii. 1, 258. 28 Compare Gesenius, De BA et BB, p. 7. 29 See Gesenius, op. cit., p. 8; B.O., iii. 1, 25S. 30 B.O., iii. 1, 437, 438, note 2. Smith, Tties. Syr., passim. 35 See B.O., iii. 1, 501 sq. 36 So Assemani, B.O., ii. 435. Bar-Hebrams (Chron. />/.<;., ii. 181) says that he resided for thirty-eight years in the convent of Sa'id near M"sul.