Month: June 2011

A scholion on Lucian about Mithras, and a translation of Theodoret

Posted on by Roger Pearse

Here’s a couple of stray thoughts, relating to previous posts.

Firstly, I can confirm that there is a translation into English of Theodoret’s Fabularum Haereticorum Compendium in the 1990 these by Glenn Melvin Cope, An analysis of the heresiological method of Theodoret of Cyrus in the “Haereticarum fabularum compendium”.  I got hold of a copy today, and all five books are translated.

Secondly … Andrew Eastbourne very kindly translated a scholion on Lucian, which related to Mithras.  I extracted it from Cumont’s Textes et Monumentes and asked him to do the honours.  Here’s what he says:

Cumont cites two scholia on Lucian which discuss Mithra(s), from the edition of Jacobitz.  For a more recent edition, see Rabe, Scholia in Lucianum (1906).[1]

Scholion on Lucian, Zeus Rants / Jupiter tragoedus 8 [cf. Rabe, p. 60]:

This Bendis…[2]  Bendis is a Thracian goddess, and Anubis is an Egyptian [god], whom the theologoi[3] call “dog-faced.”  Mithras is Persian, and Men is Phrygian.  This Mithras is the same as Hephaestus, but others say [he is the same as] Helios.  So then, because the barbarians would take pride[4] in wealth, they naturally also outfitted their own gods most expensively.  And Attis is revered by the Phrygians…

 Scholion on Lucian, The Parliament of the Gods / Deorum concilium 9 [cf. Rabe, p. 212] 

Mithrês [Mithras]…  Mithras is the sun [Helios], among the Persians.[5]

——-
[1] I have noted points where Rabe’s edition differs in substance from the text printed by Cumont.  Rabe’s edition is available online at http://www.archive.org/details/scholiainlucianu00rabe
[2] Lucian’s text here mentions Bendis, Anubis, Attis, Mithrês [Mithras], and Mên.
[3] The Greek term normally refers to poets who wrote about the gods, like Hesiod or Orpheus.  Note that this is an emendation; the mss. read logoi (“words / discourses / accounts”), which Rabe adopts in his edition.
[4] Gk. ekômôn; lit., “wore their hair long / let their hair grow long.”
[5] Rabe’s text:  “Mithras is the same as Helios, among the Persians.”

 I will add this material to my collection of Mithras literary references.

Share

More on the Eusebius and Hegesippus of Rodosto / Raidestos

Posted on by Roger Pearse

Today I managed to get a look at R. Forster’s De antiquitatibus et libris manuscriptis Constantinopolitanis, 1877. [2019 update: now here]  This, if you remember, contains a catalogue of Greek manuscripts said to exist in the 16th century at Rodosto / Raidestos, a town just outside Constantinople.

Well, it does contain such a list.  The list covers two and a bit pages, no less, starting on p.29.  The publication is rather rubbishy, and I wasn’t easily able to work out just where the data came from — the article text was in Latin, and badly structured.   But I laboured through the list of Greek works.  (It was in a rare books room, so I could get no photocopies)

And … I think it’s a hoax.

A lot of books look reasonable to me.  But I don’t believe, or not very much, that the library contained a copy of the lost comedies of Menander.  That is quite unlikely, and appears close to the top of the first page, shortly after some works of Aristotle.

On the second page, close to the bottom, are two entries, one above the other.  These were in Greek, but they read:

History of Hegesippus
Eusebius Pamphilus against Porphyry

This is highly suspicious.  The first of these probably wasn’t extant much after the fall of the Western empire.  But it does appear as bait in various lists of books supposedly extant during the 16th and 17th century, published by Theodor Zahn (my translation here) and Ph. Meyer (ditto).  If it existed, such a book would be beyond price; and that, probably, is precisely why it is listed in book lists designed to tempt western collectors.  Its very presence suggests fraud.

But for this improbability to be followed by yet another lost work primarily of interest to westerners is beyond probability, in my opinion.

I would imagine that the list is a hoax.  It doesn’t look real to me.  Normal medieval catalogues start with biblical works, patristic works, and add other material towards the end.  This one is a mixture of stuff, much of it clearly far more interesting in the west than to any Greek monastic collection.  Close to the top, where the eye will fall on it almost immediately, is something a westerner would want — Menander.  And the two other items?  Well, doubtless there were all sorts of people hunting around Greece in the 16th century, asking after this, asking after that.  What easier than to make up such a list, include a few of the items, inveigle someone to come out with a belt of gold, make the long journey, and then say (with straight face) “Sorry, we’ve lost those; but look what we can sell you!”

Was there ever a collection of books at Rodosto?  Perhaps there was.  It should be investigated, certainly.

But, alas, I can no longer feel any confidence that the Eusebius against Porphyry was ever there.

Share

Mithras in Tarsus

Posted on by Roger Pearse

Today I had the chance to look for ten minutes at volume one of Vermaseren’s Corpus Inscriptionum et Monumentorum Religionis Mithriacae (CIMRM).  The second volume was inaccessible, unfortunately.  The two volumes apparently parallel the two volumes in Cumont’s Textes et Monumentes, so I infer that the second volume may contain literary references.

Vermaseren arranged his collection of inscriptions geographically, and started with eastern parts — some coins from Bactria, in fact, although these were clearly of Persian Mitra to my eye.  There was but a single entry for Cilicia, which was a bronze aes of the reign of Gordian III, ca. 240 AD (CIMRM 27). 

What struck me, profoundly, was that the vast majority of the book was devoted to finds from Rome itself.  Vermaseren stated that he wanted to begin the book with Asia, as that was where the cult originated (or so he thought).  But the impression made, looking at those entries, was of a cult originating elsewhere, and that the material in Asia was distinctly peripheral to it.  Just holding the pages for each area revealed a cult whose archaeology was overwhelmingly western.

All this reminded me of many a confident statement online.  E.g.

“It was in Tarsus that the Mysteries of Mithras had originated” — Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy, 1999, from here.

“Now Tarsus was one of the chief seats of Mithraism” — Roy Wood Sellers, from here.

“David Ulansey holds (or rather speculates) that, in the late 2nd-century BCE, a group of Stoics in the city of Tarsus originated Mithraism.” — from here.

The list could be extended.

And yet … all we have to support such a claim, from the archaeology, is a single coin? 

Searching for an image of the medallion online, I encountered the image of a coin of Gordian III from Tarsus, here at Numismatics.org.  The coin also has a deity wrestling a bull on the reverse — probably Mithras.  It is a great blessing to have so many images of coins online, indeed.  The images are:

Here is the image of what is perhaps the same item, given by Cumont in The Mysteries of Mithra, p.201 (from here – click on the image below for a larger version):

All this is not much, tho.

We do have the statement of Plutarch in his Life of Pompey that the Cilician pirates in 68 BC worshipped Mithras.  But probably the eastern deity is meant, linking the pirates with older enemies of the Romans like Mithradates.  But equally we may not be able to rely on the statement at all.

And that, it seems, is all the evidence we have about Mithras and Tarsus.

Enough to say that Tarsus was a major cult centre?  It seems unlikely.

Share

Is there room for a remake of “Up Pompeii”?

Posted on by Roger Pearse

Do you remember the old TV series, Up Pompeii?  Possibly not.  It hasn’t been shown in many, many years.  It was a hit before most people reading this were born.  There was also a film version, from which the image (left) is taken.

The comedy — or farce, for such it was — was set in Roman times, with a bunch of actors pretending to be Romans, and the whole thing really just a setup for a series of smutty jokes of the kind told 50 years ago, and which have not worn well today.

Similarly there was a US stage show, A funny thing happened on the way to the forum, of much the same vintage and, I fear, much the same quality.

But could such a show be made today?  And if so, what would it look like?

The broad, lazy farce style would have to go.  I doubt a single gag could be reused.  The episodes would have to tell a story.  But surely, surely, this is essentially a sit-com?  If The Big Bang Theory, set in a roomful of young physicists, can work, something similarly organised would work, set in ancient Rome.

One element that was integral to the original was the titillation.  This relied on the fact that porn was not available readily.  In these less innocent days, that side of things would have to go.

But there is clearly a market for light fiction set in Roman times.  The ‘Falco’ detective novels of Lindsay Davis prove this, where the characters all speak as if they were moderns, but live in ancient Rome.

The main character, the humorous slave Lurcio, on whom “the heat and burden of the action fell”, would need to be a sharp modern comic — something like Frank Skinner used to be.  But surely that is possible?

It seems to me that modern TV producers are missing a trick.  There is a sit-com here, ready to be made.

 

Share

I hate Lightning Source

Posted on by Roger Pearse

Yup.  They’ve done it to me again.

I uploaded the stuff for the Eusebius paperback three weeks ago.  Yesterday I got impatient and asked where the proof was — no reply.  Today I got onto their chat system, and they tell me my order wasn’t processed because the book files were not uploaded!  Oh yes they were!

SO unprofessional…

Better still, the chat “representative” is now giving me the run-around — “contact my client representative” (who didn’t reply yesterday).

Share

Ambrose of Milan on Mithras

Posted on by Roger Pearse

I’ve been going through Cumont’s Textes et Monumentes and adding material from it to my page of literary sources for Mithras.  One rather interesting snippet appeared only in a footnote, and was a quotation from Ambrose of Milan’s letters (which, fortunately, I have online), addressed to the emperor Valentinian.

It seems that Ambrose knew so little about the cult of Mithras, in the late 4th century, that he supposed the deity to be female, and a synonym for Venus!  Cumont comments (correctly, I suspect) that Ambrose is simply borrowing a line from Herodotus.  But it does tell us that the cult had vanished from public view at this date.

Share

The fate of the manuscripts in Rodosto

Posted on by Roger Pearse

I have now located E. Bratke’s article in Theologisches Literaturblatt 15 (1894), cols.65-67.  Here is a translation, with the German at the end.  “Rodosto” is also known as Raidestos, modern Tekirdag, and its inhabitants now live in Nea Raidestos, in Greece.

I must admit my confidence that any such manuscript as the Eusebius Against Porphyry exists takes quite a dive, once I learn that it is associated with such a mythical being as the 16th century Hegesippus.  The latter seems to be a fingerprint for several forged booklists, compiled by some unscrupulous Greek as part of a bait-and-switch scam on Western manuscript hunters.  But here’s the article.

The fate of the manuscripts in Rodosto near Constantinople.

In this journal for 1893, no. 43, Th. Zahn published an interesting article “The Greek Irenaeus and the complete Hegesippus in the 16th and 17th Century” in which he opposed a skeptical remark by A. Harnack [Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur bis Eusebius, ed. under the direction of E. Preuschen by A. Harnack. Vol. 1. 1893, p. 485] to his earlier assertion that Hegesippus had still existed in manuscript in the 16th century, supported in part by new material.  One of his pieces of evidence was something edited by K. Forster [De libris et antiquitatibus manuscriptis Constantinopolitanis Commentatio. Rostochii, 1877] from a Vienna codex, written between 1565-1575, a catalogue of manuscripts which were to be found in that time in and around Constantinople. In this we read, from among many profane and Christian works of literature, housed in the library at Rodosto, a town a few miles west of Byzantium on the sea of Marmara, which in antiquity had the name of Rhaedeste:  Ἡγησίππω ἱστορία and Εὐσεβίου τοῦ Παμφίλου κατὰ Πορφυρίου.

The possibility that these two, until now, lost jewels of early Christian literature, the 5 books of Ὑπομνήματα of the 2nd century from the early Christian tradition by Hegesippus, and the polemic of the Church historian Eusebius against Porphyry, the most brilliant opponent of Christianity in the ancient world, still existed at the end of the 16th Century in Rodosto, cannot be absolutely denied, given the documents produced by Th. Zahn.  His communication must be very appealing to those interested in ancient church history.  But the question is whether there has ever existed a collection of Greek manuscripts in Rodosto, and whether it still exists; and so far hardly anyone has come to grips with it.  Even R. Förster (p. 10, note 1) says only, that a short time after the composition of that catalogue, the traveler Sponius has seen the city, and for the rest, admits (p. 13):  Rhaedesti utrum adhuc bibliotheca extet comperire non potui. Also in the above mentioned Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur by Harnack and Preuschen vol. 1, p. 985 the name of Rhaedeste is provided with a question mark.

I was inclined to take part in answering that question myself, as I had become aware of it just before the publication of Zahn’s article, as part of my studies on the Byzantine chroniclers, by a note of Krumbacher [Geschichte der byzantinischen Literatur, 1891, p. 191] on the publication of R. Förster, and had recognized its value for research into early Christian literature.  I tried to learn, from manuscript catalogues and directories of libraries, whether in Rodosto there was once a collection of books, or still is, but in vain.  As well as the scientific travelogues available in the local Royal University, through European Turkey, especially Constantinople, together with the neighborhood, I found, apart from Sponius, which also says nothing of a library, Rodosto mentioned in Dallaway (1797, p. 368), Lechevalier (deutsch. 1801, p. 5) von Moltke (1841, p.51) and Boue (1854, I, p. 145).  But the brevity of their data shows that these travelers did not have the intention or the time, to carry out an investigation in that humble place about past or present antiquities.  I was not surprised, therefore, to find in them no comment on local manuscript treasures, even if such existed in Rodosto.  Von Hammer (1818, p. 198-200, see also p. 158) reports some modern inscriptions of the 18th century from the Catholic Church at Rodosto, but nothing more.

To obtain the most reliable information about the facts, on 2 December last year I wrote to the Imperial German embassy in Constantinople with a request for a preliminary reconnaissance on whether currently in Rodosto a manuscript collection is preserved, and with the intent, in the case of an affirmative answer, to look on the spot myself for the manuscript of Hegesippus, Eusebius and other important authors given in that catalogue.  The Imperial German Legation, in a most helpful manner, which deserves the greatest thanks, undertook to answer my enquiry.  In a letter of 3 January this year I received a communication, because of the happenstance that a German consular agency is located in Rodosto, and that the current manager of it, Mr P. Asla, in addition to his specific knowledge of the place and its people, has the necessary education and skill to perform the required job, so the gentleman replied to me himself in French.

According to this man, there were, in the local bishop’s residence until 1838, valuable manuscript documents, which had been assembled into a library long before from monastery and private owners by members of a family named Lerei, originating from the island of Leros. But a fire broke out in that year, and the entire collection was destroyed, and such Rodosto manuscripts as remained in the hands of private individuals have already found other buyers.  Currently, in Rodosto only a single old manuscript is still available.  It belongs to the local Greek club [Σόλλογος], bears neither a date nor the name of the author and is, according to an unnamed Russian archaeologist who studied it several years ago, has geographic / historical content.

This certificate of the destruction of the Library of Rodosto can only be read with sadness by theologians and classical philologists. But my investigation is not without positive elements. The credibility of the Vienna catalogue is considerably increased from this.  If the list is not an empty collection of book titles, but a real directory of manuscripts, then it is worth while to look more thoroughly into the whereabouts of the other libraries inventorised in it than has yet been done.

Das Schicksal der Handschriften in Rodosto bei Konstantinopel.

In diesem Blatt, Jahrg. 1893, Nr. 43, hat Th. Zahn einen interessanten Artikel „Der griechische Irenaeus und der ganze Hegesippus im 16. und im 17. Jahrhundert” erscheinen lassen, in welchem er gegenüber einer zweifelnden Bemerkung A. Harnack’s [Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur bis Eusebius, hrsg. unter Mitwirkung von E. Preuschen von A. Harnack. I. 1893, S. 485] seine frühere Behauptung, dass Hegesipp im 16. Jahrhundert handschriftlich noch existirt habe, wiederholt und durch zum Theil neues Material stützt. Zu seinen Beweisstücken gehört der von K. Förster [De antiquitatibus et libris manuscriptis Constantinopolitanis commentatio. Rostochii, 1877] aus einem Wiener Kodex herausgegebene, zwischen 1565 und 1575 verfasste Katalog von Handschriften, welche sich seiner Zeit in und bei Konstantinopel befunden haben sollen. In diesem liest man nämlich, dass zu den vielen profanen und christlichen Literaturwerken, welche die Bibliothek zu Rodosto beherbergte, jenes wenige Meilen westlich von Byzanz am Marmarameer gelegene Städtchen, das im Alterthum den Namen Rhaedeste führte, auch gehörten:  Ἡγησίππω ἱστορία und Εὐσεβίου τοῦ Παμφίλου κατὰ Πορφυρίου..

Die Möglichkeit, dass diese zwei für uns bisher verlorenen Kleinodien der altchristlichen Literatur, die dem 2. Jahrhundert angehörenden 5 Bücher Ὑπομνήματα des noch aus urchristlicher Ueberlieferung schöpfenden Hegesipp und die Streitschrift des Kirchenhistorikers Eusebius gegen Porphyrius, den geistreichsten Gegner des Christenthums in der alten Welt, noch am Ende des 16. Jahrhunderts in Rodosto existirten, lässt sich angesichts des von Th. Zahn beigebrachten Materials schlechterdings nicht bestreiten. Und seine Mittheilung muss auf die Freunde der alten Kirchengeschichte um so reizvoller wirken, als der Frage, ob in Rodosto jemals eine Sammlung griechischer Handschriften existirt hat und noch existirt, bisher schwerlich jemand näher getreten ist. Selbst R. Förster (S. 10, Anmerk. 1) sagt nur, dass kurze Zeit nach der Abfassung jenes Katalogs der Reisende Sponius die Stadt gesehen hat, und gesteht im Uebrigen (S. 13): Rhaedesti utrum adhuc bibliotheca extet comperire non potui. Auch in der oben genannten Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur von Harnack und Preuschen I, S. 985 gehört Rhaedeste zu den mit einem Fragezeichen versehenen Namen.

An der Beantwortung jener Frage mich zu betheiligen, war ich um so geneigter, als ich kurz vor dem Erscheinen des Zahn’schen Artikels bei meinen Studien in den byzantinischen Chronisten durch eine Notiz Krumbacher’s [Geschichte der byzantinischen Literatur. 1891, S. 191] auf die Publikation von R. Förster aufmerksam geworden war und ihren Werth für die Forschung in der altchristlichen Literatur erkannt hatte. Ich habe mich bemüht, aus Handschriftenkatalogen und Bibliothekenverzeichnissen mich darüber zu unterrichten, ob in Rodosto einst eine Büchersammlung war oder noch ist, aber vergeblich. Unter den auf der hiesigen Königl. Universitäts bibliothek vorhandenen wissenschaftlichen Reisebeschreibungen, der europäischen Türkei, speziell Konstantinopels nebst Umgegend fand ich, abgesehen von Sponius, der ebenfalls von einer Bibliothek nichts sagt, bei Dallaway (1797, S. 368), Lechevalier (deutsch. 1801, S. 5), v. Moltke (1841, S. 51) und Boue (1854, I, S. 145) Rodosto erwähnt. Aber die Kürze ihrer Angaben zeigt, dass diese Reisenden nicht die Absicht oder nicht die Zeit gehabt haben, über die an jenem bescheidenen Ort etwa vorhandenen oder vorhanden gewesenen Alterthümer Nachforschungen anzustellen. Ich brauchte mich daher nicht zu wundern, dass ich bei ihnen keine Bemerkung über dortige Handschriftenschätze fand, selbst wenn solche in Rodosto existirten. v. Hammer (1818, S. 198—200, vgl. auch S. 158) theilt zwar einige moderne Inschriften des 18. Jahrhunderts aus der katholischen Kirche zu Rodosto mit, aber eben auch weiter nichts.

Um eine möglichst zuverlässige Auskunft über den Thatbestand zu erhalten, wandte ich mich am 2. Dezember vorigen Jahres brieflich an die Kaiserl. deutsche Gesandtschaft in Konstantinopel mit der Bitte um vorläufige Rekognoszirung, ob zur Zeit in Rodosto eine Manuskriptensammlung aufbewahrt liegt, und mit dem Vorsatz, im Falle einer bejahenden Antwort, an Ort und Stelle selbst nach der Handschrift des Hegesipp, Eusebius und anderer in dem genannten Katalog angeführter hervorragender Autoren zu suchen. Die Kaiserl. deutsche Gesandtschaft hat in entgegenkommender Weise, welche den grössten Dank verdient, es sich angelegen sein lassen, mich zu befriedigen. In einem Schreiben von 3. Januar d. J. erhielt ich die Mittheilung von dem glücklichen Umstand, dass in Rodosto sich eine deutsche Konsular-Agentur befindet, sowie dass der jetzige Verwalter derselben, Herr P. Asla, neben genauer Kenntniss des Ortes und seiner Bewohner die nöthige Bildung und Umsicht besitzt, um den gewünschten Auftrag auszuführen, und dazu den französisch geschriebenen Bericht des genannten Herrn selbst.

Gemäss demselben haben sich thatsächlich in der dortigen bischöflichen Residenz bis zum Jahre 1838 werthvolle handschriftliche Dokumente befunden, welche vor langer Zeit durch Mitglieder einer von der Insel Leros stammenden Familie Namens Lerei aus den Klöstern und aus den Händen von Privaten zu einer Bibliothek zusammengestellt worden sind. Aber durch eine in dem genannten Jahre ausgebrochene Feuersbrunst ist der ganze Bestand derselben zerstört worden, und der noch etwa in Händen von Privaten verbliebene Rest Rodosto’er Handschriften hat bereits anderweitige Käufer gefunden. Gegenwärtig ist in Rodosto nur noch eine einzige alte Handschrift vorhanden. Sie gehört dem dortigen griechischen Verein [Σόλλογος], trägt weder ein Datum noch den Namen des Verfassers und ist nach Angabe eines ungenannten russischen Archäologen, der sie vor einigen Jahren studirt hat, geographischhistorischen Inhaltes.

Mit Bedanern werden die Theologen und klassischen Philologen diese Bescheinigung des Unterganges der Bibliothek von Rodosto lesen. Doch ist meine Nachforschung nicht ganz ohne positiven Gewinn. Denn durch sie wird die Glaubwürdigkeit des Wiener Katalogs erheblich gesteigert. Wenn aber derselbe keine leere Büchertitelsammlung, sondern ein wirkliches Handschriftenverzeichniss ist, dann verlohnt es sich, nach dem Verbleib der übrigen durch ihn inventarisirte’n Bibliotheken noch gründlicher, als es bisher geschehen konnte, zu suchen.

Bonn. – Bratke.

Share

A mysterious reference to Theodoret in the NPNF John Damascene

Posted on by Roger Pearse

An email reached me asking:

I was reading John of Damascus in NPNF Series 2, and a comparison was made to Theodoret’s “Epitome of Divine Dogmas.”  I tried searching with Google but gave up.  Do you know of an available English translation?

The reference is to the prologue here, “From the Latin of the Edition of Michael Lequien, as Given in Migne’s Patrology”.  The NPNF says:

After the rules of Christian dealectic and the review of the errors of ancient heresies comes at last the book “Concerning the Orthodox Faith.” In this book, John of Damascus retains the same order as was adopted by Theodoret in his “Epitome of Divine Dogmas,” but takes a different method.

Looking in Quasten’s Patrology reveals no such work by Theodoret; in Migne, vols. 80-84, nothing either.  Le Quien’s preface to John Damascene is PG94, columns 66-97.  But I could find no such sentence in it.

But my correspondent was luckier, and found a reference in a Word document at the Documenta Catholica Omnia site accessible from here.  In the Life and Writings, which takes a while to download.  It contains the following:

(ii.) The Haereticarum Fabularum Compendium, was composed at the request of Sporacius, one of the representatives of Martian at Chalcedon, and is, as its title indicates, an account of past or present heresies. It is divided into five. Books, which treat of the following heretics.

I. Simon Magus, Menander, Saturnilus, (1) Basilides, Isidorus, Carpocrates, Epiphanes, Prodicus, Valentinus, Secundus, Marcus the Wizard, the Ascodruti, (2) the Colorbasii, the Barbelioti, (3) the Ophites, the Cainites, the Antitacti, the Perati, Monoimus, Hermogenes, Tatianus, Severus, Bardesanes, Harmoniu Florinus, Cerdo, Marcion, Apelles, Potitus, Prepo, and Manes.

II. The Ebionites, the Nazarenes, Cerinthus, Artemon, Theodotus, the Melchisedeciani, the Elkesites, Paul of Samosata, Sabellius, MarcelIus, Photinus.

III. The Nicolaitans, the Montanists, Noetus of Smyrna, the Tessarescdecatites (i.e. Quartodecimani) Novatus, Nepos.

IV. Arius, Eudoxius, Etmomius, Aetius, the Psathyriani, the Macedoniani, the Donatists, the Meletians, Appollinarius, the Audiani, the Messaliani, Nestorius, Eutyches. V. The last book is an “Epitome of the Divine Decrees.” 

So it is, in fact, part of the Compendium of the Fables of the Heretics.  My correspondent added:

…there was enough to cross-reference at Source Chrétiennes where I found this:

Résumé des fables hérétiques (Haereticarum fabularum compendium);  CPG 6223.  420 – env. 460.  PG 83, 336-556.

Still nothing in English though.

The work ought to exist in English but I don’t believe it does.  Nor does it appear in the French Sources Chretiennes series.  The work is apparently derivative of earlier works, which probably explains the neglect by scholars.

Share

The British Library — whoring the national library?

Posted on by Roger Pearse

They say a leopard cannot change its spots, and too often, this is so.  Over the last few years I have documented various outrageous examples of greed and cynicism by the British Library. 

The BL is, remember, a body entirely funded by the money of others.  That money is not given freely.  It is exacted by the state under threat of imprisonment from people who (in the main) cannot use the library or its facilities.  

Now there is an argument for a national library, as a centre of learning, funded by taxes in order to benefit everyone.  In the age of the internet, it could and should act like Google Books, placing books online in PDF’s to disseminate knowledge.

But that is not what the BL does.  Instead, those who control it keep trying to use the internet to get money, rather than to serve the nation.   Unlike the internet model, where everyone gives away content, they keep trying to exploit it commercially. 

Today I read this heading:  Put a thousand books from the British Library on your iPad for free.  Well, it’s not much, really — think of Archive.org — but it’s something.  Although… why an iPad?

I just love finding apps like this, and I think you’ll be excited too. The British Library has released 1000 books from its 19th Century collection into a free iPad app that includes novels, historical works, poetry, philosophy and scientific books.

The books have been scanned in high resolution and color so you can see the engraved illustrations, the beauty of the embossed covers, along with maps and even the texture of the paper the books were printed on.

You can search the collection, browse titles by subject, and even read commentary on some of the titles. The books can be downloaded for reading offline. …

The app only works in portrait mode, but some of the illustrations are oriented in landscape view. …

Yup.  It’s not a set of books.  It’s an “app”.  In other words, the books are locked inside some proprietary software.  As soon as I saw that bit, I knew.  I could smell it.  And sure enough…

Although the app is free, the British Library plans to charge for an enhanced version of 60,000 titles later this year.

You bet they do. 

Let us thank heavens for Google Books.  Thank heavens for Archive.org. 

And a raspberry to these loathsome little civil servants, selling what is not theirs to sell, in an age when even ordinary chaps like me give content away.

I award them the Bloodsucker award for June 2011.

Share