apostolicfathers0201clem - Carmel Apologetics

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•'
The
524 EPISTLE OF S. POLYCARP.
(7;)
The Scillitati Martyrs [a.d. 180].
Their genuine Acts in Greek were first published by Usener in a programme, Index
Scholaruni Boiimns. 1881, from the Paris MS Graec. 1470. Tliis gave occasion to
Aube's Jitiide stir uii notiveau texte Grec dcs Actes des Martyrs Scillitains (Paris 1881).
See also Gorres Das Christcnthum etc. p. 252 sq. The papers of Aube and Gorres
contain everything that is
important on the subject. Aube has printed all the
different recensions of the Acts. See also De Rossi Resoconto p. 207.
By Usener's discovery the older discussions have been more or less antiquated.
The more important of these are Tillemont Mhnoires iii. pp. 131 sq, 638 sq,
/C.
'^
Ruinart Act. Mart. Sine. p. 129 sq, Aube Les Chretiens etc. pp. 191 sq, 499 sq.
Of the genuineness of the newly discovered Greek Acts there can be no reasonable
doubt. They betray their antiquity by their modes of expression, as for instance when
the writings which we call the New Testament are described as at Kad' rjfidt /3t'/3Xoi
/cat TrpoffeiriTovTois eTrtcrroXat Hav\ov rod ocriov avSpbs. But it
may be questioned
V> J whether we have before us the original or a translation. The former view is taken by
f^i Aube {Etude
etc. p. 12 sq), and I am disposed to agree with him, though I am
not able to accept all his arguments^. So also Renan Marc-Aiirek pp. 456, 457,
Doulcet Les Rapports etc. p. 126, and apparently Gorres p. 254. Usener on the
*^ other hand regards the document as a translation from the Latin, and this is the view
*Vr of Hilgenfeld {Zeitschr. f. Wiss. Theol. xxiv. p. 382, 1881).
Latin Acts appear in four different recensions, which will be found
i ..
yn in Aube [£ttide p. 30 sq). They are all evidently derived ultimately from the
form preserved
in the Greek. Where the Greek has rov irap ijiiCiv avTOKpdropos,
and one Latin ' domini nostri '
imperatoris ',
the others have the plural dominis
nostris imperatoribus ' ;
and to this expression one (called Acta Proconsidaria
and first
published by Baronius Eccl. Hist, ad ann. 202) adds 'Severo et Antono', i.e.
'Antonino' (
= Caracalla). Hence the incorrect date assigned to these martyrdoms.
At the commencement the dating is given 'Praesidente (with vv. 11. 'Praesente,'
'
Praestante') bis Claudiano consule', for which another form has ' Existente Claudio
(Claudiano) consule '. So long as these martyrdoms were assigned to the joint reign
of Severus and Caracalla, this was supposed to refer to Ti. Claudius Severus who was
one of the consuls A.D. 200. Leon Renier however (Borghesi OEuvres viii. p. 615)
acutely conjectured that we ought to read, 'Praesente 11 Condiano Coss.', these being
the consuls of the year a.d. iSo. This conjecture is confirmed by the Greek Acts
which have, 'EttZ Il^pcrairos [1. Ilpa'ixrevTos] to Sevrepov koX YiXav^iavod [1. KocStafoO]
Tuv vtraTUv. This same notice is repeated likewise at the close of these Acts. This
alteration of the dates removes another great difficulty. Tertullian (adScap. 3) speaks
of Vigellius Saturninus (presumably the same Saturninus here mentioned) as the first
persecutor of the Christians in Africa -. But in the Apologcticiim of this same father,
which can hardly be dated later than a.d. 200 (Aube Les Chretiens etc. p. 195 sq),
1
Thus for instance he states (p. 17) ments which tell in his favour,
that dexOevres is never used as a passive,
-
If he was proconsul in a.d. 180, he
but this statement is refuted by such pas- would probably be consul about a.d. 167,
sages as Joseph. Ant. xviii. 6. 4; see but he must have been j{^y//«, as the name
Veitch Greek Ftrds s. v. dexopiM. On the does not occur in the fasti. An Aemilius
other hand he has omitted some argu- Saturninus was consul a.d. 174.