Page:The Classical Heritage of the Middle Ages.djvu/225

 CHRISTIAN PROSE 207 II. The First Four Centuries of Christian Prose A brief reference may be made to the different classes of prose Christian literature — Greek and Latin — which had come into existence by the fifth century, in order to observe what continuance of classic form and style there is with the authors, what aban- donment of classic form, and what development of Christian style and diction, and capacity of voicing Christian thought and feeling. Christianity quickly took root in many cities, and the widely separated churches felt themselves mem- bers one of another. Epistles began to circulate at once. The earliest Christian documents are the epis- tles of Paul, the formlessness of which from a Hel- lenic point of view has been noticed. Their author has little thought of rhetoric in his eager rush of argu- ment and loving exhortation.^ Their style, reflecting the author's intense personality, is individual in the highest degree, but with Hebraic rather than Hellenic affinities. The Epistle to the Hebrews and the Epistle of Barnabas are more Hellenic. Also quite simply Hellenic is the epistle written by Clement of Rome as the spokesman of the Roman Church (cir. 92 a.d.), and addressed to the church at Corinth. On the other hand, the epistles of Ignatius of Antioch are as indi- 1 Paul's own judgment is expressed in 2 Cor. zi. 6, iStmnft r^ x^, «AA' ov T^ T*"^**- Cf. 1 Cor. ii. 1 et. seq. Yet he may have had some training in Greek rhetoric; antithesis seems natural to him, e.g., Rom. ii. 6, etc. ; 1 Cor. i. 18; 1 Cor. iv. 10, etc. ; 2 Cor. vi. 9. See Norden, Die antike Kunstprosa, pp. ¥.^-rAO, and compare the different view of E. L. Hicks, St. Paul and Helleniem.