apostolicfathers0201clem - Carmel Apologetics

HADRIAN, PIUS, AND MARCUS. 497
pure virgin grasped), and gave this to friends to eat always, having good wine and
giving the mixed cup with bread. These words I Abercius, standing by, ordered to
be inscribed. In sooth I was in the course of my seventy-second year. Let every
friend who observeth this, pray for me. But no man shall place another tomb above
mine. If otherwise, then he shall pay two thousand pieces of gold to the treasury of
the Romans, and a thousand pieces of gold to my good fatherland Hieropolis.'
In V. 3 sq the description of the Good Shepherd wdth the great eyes and the flocks
on the mountains and plains suggests that Abercius may have seen some pictorial
representation, in the catacombs of Rome or elsewhere.
In v. 7 Ramsay suggests that ^aai^-qav (for so it is certainly written on the stone)
may be for (SaaiX-ija 'the king'. It was not however so interpreted by the writer of the
Life, for he distinctly says that the emperor was absent and that the saint only saw
Faustina and Lucilla. I suppose it to be a form for ^aaiKeiav ' the queen ' and to be
in apposition with'Pcj//;/. The epithet ^atyiXk is applied to Rome by Justin Martyr,
Apo/. i. 26, 56. Is not i/J.h for e/x^, as apparently in C. I. G. 3440 It can hardly be
H€v {
—
elvaL).
In v. 10 the scansion of Nisibis may perhaps be a surprise, but it is the only one
which would be possible to any one who had heard the name spoken in the place
itself. In Syriac the word is iV/«'Z'//m. Hence it was written differently in Greek,
Nao-t^is, NecTijSis, Nttn^is, Steph. Byz. s. v. (see Miiller Fragin. His/or. Grace. III.
p. 571, IV. p. 526; comp. Assemani Bibl. Orient. De II. Monophysitis s. v.); the sheva
of the first syllable being almost inaudible. I do not know whether the word occurs
in Greek or Latin verse. After XtcrijSij' some Mss have 5', others nothing. Though
t'
might stand.
In v. 11, where the Life has awo/irjyvpovs, Ramsay reads ffvvoiradovs, and Pitra
is preferable, 5'
(who wrongly arranges the verses) 6/j.7iy^peas. I have preferred (TwofiiXovs as nearer
to the word in the MSS of the Life ;
or possibly it should be ffvvo/j.7]peLS or avvo/jirideis.
In v. 12 the inscription on the stone has been defaced. To this portion more
especially the writer of the Life must refer, when he speaks of the letters being obliterated
by time. Prof. Ramsay however considers that the erasure was deliberate. I
'
am not satisfied with HauXof ^X'^" f 'riyu;;', which must mean I followed where faith
led me, taking Paul's epistles with me ' but I have
; nothing better to suggest. The
reading JlavKov however seems to be unquestionable.
In v. 13 we have probably the earliest extant reference to the emblem of the
IX9TS, with perhaps the exception of Orac. Sibyll. viii. 217 sq, which contains the
acrostich ;
see Pitra De Pisce Allegorico ct Sytubolico p. 499 sq,
and De Rossi De
Christianis Motmmeutis IX0TN exhibentihiis p. 545 sq, in Spicil. Solesm. Tom. III.
It appears in Clement of Alexandria and Tertullian. The K-i]yT] here is baptism.
Only through baptism is there admission to the eucharistic feast ;
Doctr. Dziod. Apost.
9 (• 36)) Justin Apol. i. 66. See also Achelis Das Symbol des Fisches etc. (Marburg,
1888), De Rossi Resoconto p. 350 (1888).
In v. 14 the more obvious reference of irap9^uos wyvfi is to the Virgin Mary. Yet
such passages as 2 Cor. xi. 2, Ephes. v. 27, will suggest a doubt whether it is not
rather a designation of the Church.
In V. 15 the nominative to ^7r^5w/ce is not irapd^pos dyvij but ttiVtis (ver. 12).
For Kipaafm, 'the mixed cup', in ver. 16 see Justin Apol.
i.
67.
In v. 19 the substitution of i^Tr^p fiov for virkp 'A^epKiov seems probable. By
ffvv(f86s he appears to mean a fellow-Christian.
IGN. L 32