apostolicfathers0201clem - Carmel Apologetics

592 EPISTLE OF S. POLYCARP.
(5) Again adverse critics have found an anachronism in a passage
towards the close of the epistle extant only in the Latin translation, § 1 2
'
Orate etiam pro regibus et potestatibus et principibus The '. plural
the king'
'
reges', it is said, stands in contrast with i Pet. ii.
17, ' Honour
(toV paa-iXia Tt/xarc),
and indicates a time when more than one person
was associated in the imperial dignity. Therefore it cannot have been
written before a.d. 161, when M. Aurelius and L. Verus became joint
emperors (Hilgenfeld Aposf. Vdter p. 273),
or at all events before a.d.
147, when Antoninus Pius conferred on M. Aurelius the tribunician
power and the dignity of Caesar. This last mentioned event,
it is
thought, would justify the use of the plural,
for Antoninus Pius and M.
AureHus are called ySao-tXcT by Justin Apol. i. 14, 17. Here however
we have only to ask why '
'
Orate pro regibus should be translated '
Pray
for the kings ' rather than ' Pray for kings and this ghost of an associated
sovereignty vanishes at the spell.
', There is no reason whatever
for supposing that the expression has anything more than a general
reference. Even if the words had stood in the original virlp twv ^ao-i-
Xewv and not vrrcp ^ao-iXewv,
the presence of the article would not, according
to ordinary Greek usage, necessarily limit the reference to any
particular sovereigns'. But we have very good ground for believing
that the definite article had no place in the original.
The writer of this
letter elsewhere shows an acquaintance with the First Epistle to
Timothy. In the beginning of § 4 he combines two passages which
occur close together in that epistle (see in. p. 329).
Hence it becomes
highly probable that he has derived this injunction also from the same
source, ' I exhort first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions,
and for all that are in
thanksgivings, be made for all men ; for kings
authority' (i Tim. ii. 2),
where it is vVep /3aa-iXeW, and where any
allusion to a joint sovereignty is altogether out of the question.
The
expression in Polycarp is part of a general injunction
as to the direction
which their prayers are to take and, as such,
is combined with
other passages of Scripture, Ephes. vi. 18, Matt. v. 44. We may therefore
bid farewell to M. Aurelius and L. Verus ^
1
See Apost. Const, viii. 15 rom ^aai-
Xeh 5iaTrip7](rov
ev elprivrj, tovs apxovras ev
SiKMoavvxi, where it is shown to be general
from the fact that shortly before (viii.
11. § 18) the singular has been used, hi
irapaKaXovfxiv ae, Kvpie, vvip tov ^acriX^ws
Kal tQv fv inrepoxv k.t.X.
2
The expression in Polycarp
is best
illustrated by such passages
as Tertull.
Apol. 30 ' Precantes sumus semper pro
omnibus imperatoribus^^i^. 31 'Sed etiam
nominatim atque manifeste orate, inquit,
pro regibus et pro principibus et potestatibus',
il>. 32 'Est et alia major necessitas
orandi pro imperatoribus', ib. 39 ' Oramus
pro imperatoribus, pro ministris eorum
et potestatibus', Orig. c. Cels. viii. 73
irpoTpiTTiTai i7Mas 6 KA(ros apriyfif ry