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Did Gregory the Great know Greek?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2016

Joan M. Petersen
Joan M. Petersen*
Affiliation:
University of London, Westfield and King’s Colleges
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Extract

Two assumptions have been made by generations of scholars, including F. Homes Dudden, Pierre Batiffol, and in more recent times, Pierre Riché; the first is that Gregory the Great, in spite of six years’ residence in Constantinople as apoaisiarius, knew no Greek; the second, that he was totally ignorant of eastern theological thought.

As we shall see later, there are good grounds for challenging both these assumptions, though it will not be possible in this paper to do more than to indicate the lines upon which the second of them may be answered. However, before we examine them, it would be as well to consider how far Greek was known and studied in Rome during the century and a half which preceded Gregory’s birth in about 540, and in his own lifetime.

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Church History , Volume 13: The Orthodox Churches and the West , 1976 , pp. 121 - 134
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 1976

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References

1 Dudden, [F.] Homes, [Gregory the Great: his Place in History and Thought,] 2 vols (London 1905) 1, pp 153, 288Google Scholar.

2 Batiffol, Pierre, Saint Grégoire le Grand (Paris 1928) p 34 Google Scholar.

3 Riché, [Pierre], [Education et culture dans l’occident barbare, VIe-VIIIe siècles] (2 ed Paris 1973) p 189.Google Scholar

4 Homes Dudden pp 76, 288.

5 Jerome translated: Didymus, de spiritu sancto; Epiphanes of Cyprus, contra Origenem; Eusebius, Chronicle; The Canons of the Evangelists; Origen, Homilies on Isaiah, Jeremiah, Song of Songs, Luke; Theophilus of Alexandria, Anathemata; probably Pachomius, Regula. All this was in addition to his translation of the bible. For the numerous translations by Rufinus, see von Schanz, M., Geschichte der römischen Litteratur, 4 vols (2 ed Munich 1914) 4 i, pp 415-23Google Scholar.

6 For the correspondence see PL 50 (1863). See also HL 2 i (1903) bk 9.

7 Leo I, Ep 113, PL 54 (1881) col 1028.

8 Cassiodorus applied the epithet vir disertissimus to two translators at Vivarium, Epiphanius Scholasticus and Mutianus. The most important of their numerous translations were the Codex Encyclicus (containing the letters of the bishops consulted by the emperor Leo, in favour of the council of Chalcedon); the three-fold Historia ecclesiastica of Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret (both the work of Epiphanius); Thirty-four Homilies of John Chrysostom on Hebrews (the work of Mutianus). The most famous of the translations produced anonymously was that of the Jewish Antiquities of Josephus. A third translator was Bellator, a priest, who besides writing biblical commentaries of his own, translated Origen’s Commentaries on Esdras. For his possible status, see RB 39 (1927) p 228. He may well not have resided at Vivarium.

9 Courcelle, P., Les lettres grecques en occident (Paris 1948) pp 17, 136Google Scholar.

10 For example, Homes Dudden p 56. But there is evidence to the contrary. The popes Pelagius I (555-61) and John III (561-75) were certainly Greek scholars. Pelagius, like Gregory the Great, was a man of senatorial family and, again like him, served as apocrisiarius in Constantinople. He has two claims to fame: first, through his knowledge of Greek, he was able to help to bring about the condemnation of Origenism in 543; secondly, he translated into Latin the so-called systematic version of the Apophthegmata Patrum, which forms book V of the Vitae Patrum (PL 73 cols 855-988). The translation of the material which forms book VI (PL 73 cols 993-1022), was completed by John III, whose origins are unknown.

11 Paul the Deacon, Historia Langobardorum, MCH SRL (1878) p 79.

12 Venantius Fortunatus, Vita Sancti Martini, PL 88 (1850) ep praef, col 363. Nam ##Ετπχειρήματα, Щі% [sic], διαίρεσΐΐ, TrapalvOTis .... Among the classical authors whom he mentions are Homer and Menander, the standard textbooks for beginners.

13 Ibid, PL 88, bk 1, cap 22-3, col 366.

14 In prefaces to numerous MSS. See Subdiaconus, Arator, Actus, ed McKinlay, A. P., CSEL 72 (1951) pp xxviii seq. Google Scholar

15 Ibid.

16 Ibid, index Auctores classici, for details.

17 The fame of Dionysius Exiguus is largely due to his invention of our present system of dating. Among the works translated by him are the Vita Pachomii; the ##ттері κατασκευή; άνθρώττου of Gregory of Nyssa. For a touching tribute to him by Cassiodorus, , see Inst[itutiones div[inae], ed Mynors, R. A. B. (Oxford 1937) bk 1, cap 23, 2-3, p 62Google Scholar.

18 Gregorii [Papae] Registrum [Epistolarum], ed Ewald, P. and Hartmann, L. M., MGH Epp 2 vols (1891-9) 1, Epp, bk 1, 70, p 89; bk 3, 12, p 171Google Scholar. The Vita by Leontius is in PG 98 (1865) cols 549-716.

19 Gregorii Registrum, 1, Epp, bk 7, 29, p 746.

20 Ibid, 2, Epp, bk 11, 55, p 330.

21 Ibid, 1, Epp, bk 3, 62, p 225.

22 L[iber] P[ontificalis, ed Duchesne, L], 2 ed with additions and corrections by Vogel, C., 3 vols (Paris 1955-7) 1, p 359 Google Scholar. But see n 10 above.

23 The other popes mentioned as knowing Greek are John VI (701-5), natione Grecus (LP, 1, p 383), Gregory III (731-41, LP, 1, p 415), and Zacharias (741-52, LP, 1, pp 434-5), the translator of the Dialogues. See Riché p 468.

24 Moralia, PL 75 (1849) bk 5, cap 31, col 709; bk 7, cap 28, col 786; bk 9, cap 11, cols 867-8; bk 9, cap 15, col 874; PL 76 (1849) bk 29, cap 20, col 498; bk 29, cap 31, col 515; Hom[iliae] in Evang[elia], PL 76, bk 1, XIX, 2, col 1155.

25 Moralia, PL 75, bk 7, cap 28, col 786; Hom in Evang, PL 76, bk 1, VI, 5, col 1097; Gregorii Registrum, 1, Epp, bk 7, 23, p 468.

26 Moralia, all the following examples are from PL 75: allegoria: ep miss, I, cols 512, 515; bk 3, cap 13, col 612; bk 3, cap 14, col 615; bk 3, cap 28, col 627. hypocrisis: bk 7, cap 28, col 786; metacismus: ep miss, 5, col 516. mysterium: ep miss, I, cols 512, 515; bk 2, cap 20, col 573; bk 3, cap 13, col 612; bk 3, cap 28, cols 626-7. mysticus: praef,1 col 517. prophetia: bk 3, cap 28, col 627. typicus: praef, col 513. typus: bk 3, cap 28, col 626. This list is not, of course, exhaustive.

27 Moralia, PL 75, bk 9, cap 11, col 865.

28 For example, Paul the Deacon, S. Gregorii Magni Vita, PL 75, cap 17, 18, cols 50-1Google Scholar.

29 Gregorii Registrum, 1, Epp, bk 6, 14, p 393.

30 Ibid, 1, Epp, bk 1, 28, p 41.

31 Ibid, 1, Epp, bk 7, 27, p 474.

32 Ibid, 2, Epp, bk 10, 21, p 258.

33 Homiliae in Ezechielem, PL 76, bk 1, VII, col 852.

34 See Riché pp 393-6, 468 seq.

35 Among the numerous examples of this topos may be cited: Ausonius, Parentalia, PL 19 (1846) praef, cols 841-2; Sedulius, Carmen Paschale, PL 19, dedic, cols 534-5; Venantius Fortunatus, Miscellanea, PL 88, bk 2, 13, col 102; Ennodius, Epp, PL 63 (1882) bk 7, cap 12, cap 17, cols 119, 122; bk 8, cap 36, col 145.

36 For example, de utililate credenti, PL 42 (1886) bk 3, cap 5, col 68.

37 de Trinitate, PL 42, bk 12, cap 7, 11, col 1004.

38 Hom in Evang, PL 76, bk 1, XIX, col 1155.

39 Homiliae in Ecclesiastem, PG 44 (1863) 1, col 629.

39a A further indication that Gregory the Great may have been acquainted with the works of Gregory of Nyssa is a reference to an incident described in the latter’s Vita of Gregory Thaumaturgus in the Dialogues. Dialogues, PL 77 (1849) bk I, cap 7, col 184. See also PG 46 (1863) col 917.

40 de civ[itate] Dei, PL 41 (1845) bk 5, cap 21, col 167.

41 Enarratio in Psalmos, PL 37 (1845) 118, 10, 6, col 1527.

42 A notable example of this practice is to be found in de civ Dei, bk 15, cap 23, col 563, where Augustine admits that he has taken over the etymology of Serapis from Varro (who incidentally gives it incorrectly).

43 In places Gregory’s Latin text of the book of Job is different from the original Hebrew and consequently from that of the AV and of modern English versions of the bible, which are based upon it. The NEB version of this passage is: ‘It shall be rough land fit for wolves, a haunt of desert-owls. Marmots shall consort with jackals, and he-goat shall encounter he-goat.’

44 Jerome, In Isaiam, PL 24 (1845) bk 6, cap 13, col 215. See also Liber contra vigilantium, PL 23 (1883) bk 1, col 339.

45 de civ Dei, bk 15, cap 23, col 468.

46 Hom in Evang, PL 76, bk 1, VI, 5, col 1097. See In Matthaeum, Opera exegetica, CSEL 77 (1949) p 79, and Hieronymi Chronicon, GCS, 7 (1913) bk 1, cap 18, p 105, together with German trans ibid, vol 5 (1911) p 57.

47 Gregorii Registrum, 1, Epp, bk 7, 36, p 467.

48 Justinian, , Novellae, bk 1, 27 and 44, in Digest, ed Schoell, and Kroll, (Berlin 1899, repr 1954)Google Scholar. Gregory’s use of a word found in Justinian lends support to the view of Kassius Hallinger that he had studied Justinian and had been influenced by him as regards his conception of monastic rules and organisation. See ‘Der Papst Gregor der Grosse und der heilige Benedikt’, SA, 42 (1957) pp 73-164.

49 See Moralia, PL 75, bk 9, cap 15, col 867, for Gregory’s derivation of the Hyades. A common Latin name for this constellation (mentioned by Servius) was Suculae = the piglets, a translation derived from úς, gen. úóς, a pig. The u in this word is short, as in úάδες, whereas the u in úω and in the impersonal form úε1 = it rains, is long, which favours the former explanation.

50 See Moraiia, PL 75, bk 9, cap 15, col 868, for Gregory’s derivation of the Pleiades. The Latin name for this constellation is Vergiliae (Cicero, [de] n[atura] d[eorum], bk 2, cap 44, 112; Isidore of Seville, Origines, bk 3, LXX). Isidore and Gregory may both have seen the scholia of Servius on Aeneid, bk 1 (Hyades ##dorò топ ŰÉIV) and Georgics, bk 1 (Hyades ##darò топ ύετοθ) as well as the passage in Cicero, nd.

51 PL 75, col 874. The NEB version of this verse is: ‘God does not turn back his wrath; the partisans of Rahab lie prostrate at his feet.’

52 PL 76, col 498.

53 Moralia, PL 75, ep miss, 5, col 516.

54 Inst div, ed Mynors, bk I, cap 15, 7, p 45.

55 Marrou, H.I., Saint Augustin et la fin de la culture antique (Paris 1948) p 33 Google Scholar.

56 Moralia, PL 75, bk 9, cap 12, col 865.

57 By Cicero, Germanicus Caesar, and Avienus.

58 Quintilian, Institutiones, bk 10, cap 1.

59 Gregory of Tours, Historia Francorum, PL 71 (1849) bk 10, cap 1, col 479; Paul the Deacon, Vita, PL 75, cap 1, col 42.

60 CIL, 3 33929; Ferrandus, Vita Fulgentii, PL 65 (1892) bk 1, cap 4, col 119.

61 For the rhetorical studies, Ep XLIX, ed J. Labourt, II (Paris 1953) pp 133-5; for the elementary instruction under a magister, adversus libros Rufini, PL 23, bk 1, cap 30, col 441. The inference is that Jerome had a grammaticus for the intermediate stage of his Greek studies.

62 In Conf, PL 32, bk 1, cap 13, 20, col 670, Augustine writes of the unsatisfactory teaching of Latin by the magister, but describes the pleasure that he found in his later studies. The inference is that in Greek, which on his own admission he disliked as a boy, he did not go beyond the stage of a magister as teacher.

63 For the subject of Latin in Constantinople in general, see Dagron, G., ‘Aux origines de la civilisation byzantine: langue de culture et langue d’état’, RH, 141 (1969) pp 23 seq Google Scholar: Hahn, L., ‘Zum Gebrauch der lateinischen Sprache in Konstantinopel’, Festgabe für Martinus von Schanz (Würzburg 1912) pp 173 seq. Google Scholar For the social background, see Llewellyn, P., Rome in the Dark Ages (London 1972) pp 29 seq. Google Scholar

64 For the army, see citation from the Strategikon (attributed to the emperor Maurice) by Marrou, H.I., Histoire de l’éducation dans l’antiquité (6 ed Paris 1965) pp 591-2Google Scholar; for the fire-brigade, John of Lydia, De magistratibus, CSHB (1837) bk 1, cap 50, p 162; for an interesting survival in the church, Le livre des cérémonies, bk 2, cap 83 (74), ed A. Vogt, 2 vols (Paris 1935-9), 2 (1939) pp 169-70.

65 See Hahn p 180.

66 John of Lydia, de mag, CSHB, bk 3, cap 29, p 222.

67 See art. ‘Grégoire le Grand’, DS 6 (1967) p 877 Google Scholar.

68 R[egula] P[astoralis], PL 77 (1849) bk 3, prologue, col 49, and for the famous sentence, RP, PL 77, bk 1, cap 1, col 14. The original Greek is in PG 35 (Turnhout nd) col 425.

69 For example, the famous account of a storm at sea in Dialogues, PL 77, bk 3, cap 36, col 304, is generally believed to be based on the equally famous account in Aeneid, bk 1, 100 seq, but it is in some ways reminiscent of Carmen de vita sua, PG 37 (1862), 130 seq, col 1038.