Aloïs GERLO : Q. S. Fl. Tertullianus
De
Pallio. Kritische Uitgave met Ver-
taling en Commentaar. 2 vols. Pp. x
+1o8 ; 226. Wetteren : De Meester,
194o. Paper.
THE De Pallio is the quaintest, alike in
conception and in execution, of all the
works of Tertullian that have come down
to us. His interest in clothes recalls that
of another rugged personality not unlike
his own, that of Thomas Carlyle. The
book has been several times published
by itself, most recently by Marra (1932
and 1937), but both from the point of
view of text and from that of interpre-
tation something more ambitious was
desirable, and this Dr. Gerlo, not with-
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out success, has endeavoured to supply
in an edition of great external beauty.
The circumstances of the time readily
explain why it has appeared in Dutch,
rather than French or German, though
these languages, as the author must
know, still make a wider appeal.
The introduction discusses the tradi-
tion, manuscript and printed. The
manuscripts, as was fairly well known,
all belong to the fifteenth century and
are thirteen in number. The Hirschau
and Gorze manuscripts, known to
Beatus Rhenanus in the early part of
the sixteenth century, have almost cer-
tainly perished, very regrettably, as there
is little doubt that they were older than
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the Italian group now surviving, and
were probably their ancestors. It is
unfortunate that the Luxembourg MS.
was not collated by Dr. Gerlo, so that
we might judge for ourselves what
its real character is: it was unknown
to Kroymann, the future Vienna
editor.
Dr. Gerlo gives an account of the pub-
lished commentaries down to those of
Marra and of translations into modern
languages. Then follows a summary of
the views that have been expressed
on the character and purpose of the
treatise, its sources, date, style, and
vocabulary. These last-mentioned parts
include a description of the clausulae,
and a list of a(pax ei)rhme&na, words first
used by Tertullian, words with an un-
usual sense, transitive verbs used as in-
transitive or reflexive, rare words, and
archaisms. After the text with critical
apparatus and the translation on the
right-hand pages, the first volume ends
with an index of proper names and a
table of contents.
The second volume contains a biblio-
graphy, the detailed commentary, and
the index of matters, words, and phrases
explained in the commentary. It is but
bare justice to state that the commen-
tary is the best that has been produced
alike for subject-matter and for lan-
guage. It would have been better still
if the author had made use of works
published on this side of the Channel;
but for all Dr. Gerlo cares, Mayor,
Housman, and Lindsay might never
have lived at all. His attitude is like
that of the Germans down to about
1880, and the reader ought perhaps to |
be reminded that the preface is dated
March 1940.
The 1550 edition is described with
insufficient accuracy on p. ii, n. 4, and
for 'Carthaginiensis' read 'Carthaginen-
sis presbyteri' ; so on p. 14, n. 4, l. 5,
'Liber' has been omitted before 'De
Pallio' ; on p. 18, the reprint of Semler,
1827-25, is unmentioned: few can attain
to the exactness of F. Madan and P. S.
Allen in these matters. I. 1 read Car-
thaginenses; 1. 2 deus for deux; 2. 3
fluitasse for fuitasse ; vol. ii, p. 6, the
employment of C. O. Müller's 1839
edition of Festus is as astonishing as it
is regrettable; p. 16 and often, the
Greek printing is defective; pp. 18,
215 epesegeticus for epexegeticus ; p. 31,
the Isidore quotation should read est
autem pallium purum forma rotunda et
fusiore et quasi inundante sinu . . . supra;
L. R. Taylor on the Roman toga is
omitted; p. 36, Poenicum is the old
Latin form, whether you call it a
grecism or not; p. 96, Romanitas is
formed on the analogy of Latinitas ; p.
114, for nubetur read nubatur ; p. 117, for
clacularius read clancularius ; p. 128, the
latest edition of Festus (Paris, 1930, p.
399) varies seriously; p. 133, l. 3, read
Sardanapalli ; p. 162, for uestutate read
uetustate and give the Dessau reference,
3805 ; p. 165, in the Festus passage
omit argenteum and read uehuntur for
uehebantur; p. 166, add a reference to
Engelbrecht's classic article on suggestus
(Wiener Studien 1906, p. 157) ; p. 170,
correct finibriarum to fimbriarum ; in
the index saecularis, selgicae, sortes, and
stationes are misplaced.
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