1 The basic critical edition of Sidonius's works is Gai Sollii Apollinaris Sidonii Epistulae et Carmina , ed. Luetjohann, C., Mommsen, Th., Leo, F., et al. and including E. Geisler's “Loci Similes Auctorum Sidonio Anteriorum,” rev. Krusch, Bruno, MGH AA, 8 (Berlin, 1887). There are two modern critical editions with translations: Anderson, W. B. and Semple, W. H., eds. and trans., Sidonius: Poems and Letters , 2 vols., Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, Mass. and London, 1936–65), hereafter cited as Anderson, Semple, eds. Poems and Letters; and Loyen, André, ed. and trans., Sidoine Apollinaire, Poèmes (vol. 1), Lettres (vols. 2–3), Collection des Universités de France (Paris, 1960–70), hereafter cited as Loyen, ed., Poèmes, Lettres. The Luetjohann, Anderson, and Loyen editions remain essential, the latter two for their more recent critical apparatus and occasionally dissimilar translations of passages, and Loyen's especially for his judicious dating, with a few exceptions, of the poems and letters. Quotations from the poems and letters will be from Loyen's edition. Citations to books of the Bible will be to the Vulgate as usually the text Sidonius had in mind; translations will be from the Douai-Rheims version with some modifications.Google Scholar This article ultimately derives from a paper given at the Eighteenth International Conference on Medieval Studies at Western Michigan University in 1983. I wish to thank the following for their generous help: Monsignor Laurence McGrath, W., Librarian, St. John's Seminary in Boston, for many valuable reference and bibliographical suggestions; Professors Jocelyn Hillgarth and Paul Meyvaert for informing me of the recent attribution of authorship of In Librum Primum Regum to Peter of Cava rather than Gregory I; Professor F. W. von Kries (R.I.P.) for drawing my attention to Heinrich Lausberg's cited article on the “Veni Creator Spiritus”; and to the editors of Traditio for several valuable critical suggestions.Google Scholar The following abbreviations will be used: Google Scholar Blaise, , Dict. = Blaise, Albert and Chirat, Henri, eds., Dictionnaire latin-français des auteurs chrétiens (Strasbourg, 1954; repr. with addenda and corrigenda, 1967; repr. Turnhout, 1986);Google Scholar Lewis, and Short, , Dict. = Lewis, Charlton T. and Short, Charles, A Latin Dictionary , rev. ed. (Oxford, 1879, repr. 1933);Google Scholar Weber, , Biblia Sacra = Fischer, Boniface et al., eds., Biblia Sacra Iuxta Vulgatam Versionem , rev. ed. Weber, Robert (Stuttgart, 1969); hom. = homily.Google Scholar

2 Stevens's, C. E. Sidonius Apollinaris and His Age (Oxford, 1933; repr. Westport, Conn., 1979), remained the standard biographical study until the publication of Jill Harries's Sidonius Apollinaris and the Fall of Rome A.D. 407–85 (Oxford, 1994). In his two chapters on Sidonius's years as a bishop, Stevens primarily discussed his continuing political and administrative activities while interstitially describing him as a simplistically but sincerely pious Christian, who was elected bishop “in spite of his lack of theological knowledge,” … “a man of the world ignorant of the causes of theological anathemas … [and] an easygoing bishop” (108–60, quotations 114, 134). Anderson, with a few qualifications, agrees with this opinion. He describes him as unprepared for the episcopate, and though leading a dutifully self-sacrificing life as a bishop, still fascinated by “the pageantry of power” and preoccupied “with the products of heathen mythology” (Anderson, Poems and Letters, “Introduction,” 1: xlii-xlv, quotation xliii). More recent negative assessments of his religious maturity include W. H. Semple, “Apollinaris Sidonius, a Gallo-Roman Seigneur,” Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 50 (1967–68): 136, 137; Chianéa, G., “Les idées politiques de Sidoine Apollinaire,” Revue historique de droit français et étranger 47 (1969): 356–57; Brown, Peter, The World of Late Antiquity, A.D. 150–750 (London, 1971), 129–30; Hanson, R. P. C., “The Reaction of the Church to the Collapse of the Western Empire in the Fifth Century,” Vigiliae Christianae 26 (1972): 273, 278, 282.Google Scholar

3 The religious dimensions of his life have gradually become more visible in studies by, among others, Coville, Alfred, Rutherford, Hamish, Griffe, Élie, Courcelle, Pierre, and Pricoco, Salvatore. Their views are briefly indicated in my “Christianitas Eclipses Romanitas in the Life of Sidonius Apollinaris,” in Religion, Culture, and Society in the Early Middle Ages: Studies in Honor of Richard E. Sullivan , ed. Noble, Thomas F. X. and Contreni, John J., Medieval Institute Publications, SMC 23 (Kalamazoo, 1987), 8–9. Sidonius's religious values and commitments have been given serious attention within a political and social emphasis by Jill Harries, Sidonius Apollinaris and the Fall of Rome A.D. 407–85 (Oxford, 1994). Recently Ulrich Eigler, “Horaz und Sidonius Apollinaris, Zwei Reisen und Rom,” Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum 40 (1997): 168–77 at 175–77, has argued that Sidonius introduced a new and significant tendency in Latin literature to give greater preeminence to the city of Rome as the seat of the Apostles than as the center of Empire. A “gradual metamorphosis of values” in his episcopal years has been remarked by Atsuko Gotoh in “The Consecration of Sidonius Apollinaris,” Papers presented at the Twelfth International Conference on Patristic Studies held in Oxford 1995, ed. Livingstone, Elizabeth A., Studia Patristica 29 (1997): 44–45 at 44.Google Scholar

4 Sidoine Apollinaire et l'esprit précieux en Gaule aux derniers jours de l'Empire (Paris, 1943), esp. 34–35. Loyen's “précieux” has generally not carried over into English usage, which sometimes employs “baroque” analogously.Google Scholar

5 “L'idéal de vie que, tout au long des sept derniers livres de lettres, Sidoine offre aux fidèles pourrait fournir les éléments d'un chapitre sur la spiritualité” ( Poémes, Lettres , 2: xxxv).Google Scholar

6 Harries, , Sidonius , 36–47, 52, 105–15; quotation from 52.Google Scholar

7 On the date, see Loyen, ed., Poèmes, Lettres , 1: xxxii–xxxv. By 469 he had adopted several of the ascetical commitments of a conversus. See ibid., 2: xxxiv–xxxix. While Loyen discusses these commitments in terms of his clerical years, growth in that direction should not be excluded from the period that produced Carmen XVI.Google Scholar

8 See Stevens, , Sidonius , 110–11; Anderson, , Poems and Letters, 1: xliii; Loyen, , Sidoine et l'esprit précieux, 35.Google Scholar

9 Sidonius , 105–15; quotation 109.Google Scholar

10 Ep. 4.2.3: “Cum scripturarum caelestium mysteria rimaris, quo te studiosius imbuis, eo doctrinam ceteris copiosius infundis” (quoted passage Anderson's translation).Google Scholar

11 Ep. 7.14, dated 469 or 470 by Loyen, ed., Poèmes, Lettres , 3: 69; Courcelle, Pierre, “Sidoine philosophe,” Forschungen zur römischen Literatur: Festschrift zum 60. Geburtstag von Karl Büchner , ed. Wimmel, Walter (Wiesbaden, , 1970), 46–59. For Courcelle's earlier and often cited negative opinion, see his Late Latin Writers and Their Greek Sources , trans. Wedeck, Harry E. (Cambridge, Mass., 1969), 251–62, a translation of Les lettres grecques en Occident de Macrobe à Cassiodore, rev. ed. (Paris, 1948), 235–46.Google Scholar

12 Ibid., 57. For soul-bondedness in his correspondence see my “Christianitas Eclipses Romanitas,” 19–21.Google Scholar

13 Gilson, Etienne, History of Christian Philosophy in the Middle Ages (New York, 1955), 96.Google Scholar

14 Epp. 9.2; 4.17.3. His refusals elsewhere to write about some subjects that might be dangerous or embarrassing are discussed by Harries, , Sidonius , 18–19. Here, at least, it seems more likely that his motives were personal and even ascetical, deriving from humility and a realistic preference for genres in which he was an acknowledged master.Google Scholar

15 Namatius, , a close, young friend whom Sidonius called a sodalis, had recently been summoned to serve on coastal duty against the threat of Saxon sea marauders. He had asked Sidonius to send him two books for his leisure reading, one of them Eusebius's Chronographia, a chronologically structured study of the Bible. See ep. 8.6.16–18; quotation from 16. Ruricius was another young friend and disciple of Sidonius. See ep. 5.15. About five years later, Ruricius became a cleric and subsequently served as the distinguished bishop of Limoges from 485 to 507. In one of his letters he addressed Sidonius as his “special lord and patron in Christ the Lord” (Ruricius, ep. 1.8 cited by Loyen, ed., Poèmes, Lettres , 2: 253, n. 16: “domino suo peculiari in Christo domino patrono Sidonio episcopo Ruricius”).Google Scholar

16 The cognate forms, eucharistos and eucharisticos, both in Latin and Greek, seem rare. Lewis, and Short, , Dict. cites only two examples of eucharisticon as a noun, one of them from Statius, but not the noun euchariston. Blaise, Dict. cites one example of eucharisticon and two (both from Paulinus Pellaeus) for eucharisticos. Adjectival, adverbial, and cognate forms of ∊ὐχάριστοξς and ∊ὐχα;ριστιχός but not the noun ∊ὐχάριστον appear in Lampe, G. W. H., A Patristic Greek Dictionary (Oxford, 1961), and in Liddell, Henry J. and Scott, Robert, A Greek-English Lexicon (rev. ed., 1996). Arndt, William F. and Wilbur Gingrich, F., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, 4th rev. ed. (Chicago, 1979) has only ∊ὐχάριστος. Only two examples of propempticon are given by Lewis and Short, Dict., and Blaise, Dict., one from Statius's farewell poem to a friend (Silvae 3.2), the other from Sidonius.Google Scholar

17 P. Papini Stati Silvae 4.2, ed. Courtney, E. (Oxford, 1995), 90; see also Silvae , ed. Frère, Henri, trans. Izaac, H. J. (Paris, 1944), vol. 2, “Notes Complémentaires” [at end of volume] for page 139.Google Scholar

18 Courcelle, , Late Latin Writers , 235–61, esp. 253–57.Google Scholar

19 Pricoco, Salvatore, “Sidonio Apollinare traduttore della ‘Vita de Apollonio di Tiana’ di Filostrato,” “Un esercizio di ‘parallelo’ retorico (Sidonio, Epist. IV, 12, 1–2),” and “Sidonio Apollinare, Girolamo e Rufino,” Nuovo Didaskaleion 15 (1965): 73–112, 143–50. Loyen, André, “Études sur Sidoine Apollinaire,” Revue des Études Latines 46 (1968): 83–90 has, with minor criticisms, accepted and invigorated Pricoco's conclusions.Google Scholar

20 Geisler noted only fifteen likely echoes of pagan works in the Euchariston. Seven involve the invocations, which he rejected in the first five lines; the others occur within lines thanking or honoring Faustus. Geisler noted only seven such echoes in the 101 lines of the Propempticon. See “Loci Similes Auctorum Sidonio Anteriorum,” in Luetjohann, C. et al., Epistulae et Carmina , MGH AA 8: 407, 409, 416.Google Scholar

21 Silvae, Statius 1.4 lines 19–25, ed. Courtney, , 20–21: “ipse ueni uiresque nouas animumque ministra qui caneris [lines 22–23]….” See also Silvae , ed. Frère, , trans. Izaac, 1: 37 and comments on soteria and eucharisticon p. 36, n. 1.Google Scholar

22 Prudentius Liber Cathemerinon 3, ed. Maurice, P. Cunningham, CCL 126 (Turnhout, 1966): 12, lines 26–30.Google Scholar

23 “Der Hymnus ‘Veni Creator Spiritus,’” Jahrbuch der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Göttingen (Göttingen, 1969), nos. 19–28, in particular 28, pp. 37–41.Google Scholar

24 The familiarity to some modern ears of the early medieval “Veni Creator Spiritus” obscures the inhibition felt by patristic and early medieval writers about using such a formula. Although the Holy Spirit was traditionally associated with baptism, invocations of God were customarily made only to the Father, whether directly or indirectly to him through the Son, or to the Son. See Pelikan, Jaroslav, The Christian Tradition, 1: The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition (100–600) (Chicago, 1971), 165–66, 216–17. However, as Pelikan has observed, invoking Him directly in prayer was not customary: “[Readiness] to address hymns and prayers to Christ was not matched by a similar readiness with regard to the Holy Spirit; even in later medieval liturgical usage, Veni Creator Spiritus and Veni Sancte Spiritus were among the few prayers to the Spirit, as distinguished from many prayers for the Spirit” (ibid., 185). Thus Origen, in On Prayer, for the sake of unity, even discouraged praying directly to the Son instead of addressing prayer to the Father, to God, or to the Lord (16.1, ed. Koetschau, Paul, GCS Origenes 2 [Berlin, 1899]: 336; older edition with Latin translation, PG 11: 468C).Google Scholar

25 Two of Prudentius's poems invoked the Trinity and Christ, respectively, but none invoked the Holy Spirit (“Hymnus ante Somnum” 6, “Hymnus Ieiunantium” 7, Liber Cathemerinon , ed. Maurice, P. Cunningham, CCL 126 [Turnhout, 1966]: 29, 35).Google Scholar

26 To those doubters who, in questioning orthodox teaching about the Holy Spirit, cited the fact that frequently the term “Holy Spirit” was applied to the Father and to the Son, Hilary of Poitiers replied: “That should cause no doubt, for the Father and the Son is each a Holy Spirit” (“In quo nihil scrupuli est: siue enim pater siue filius et spiritus sanctus est” [De Trinitate 2.30, text reprinted from critical edition in CCL by Piet Smulders, trans. de Durand, G. M., Morel, Ch., and Pelland, G., with notes by Pelland, G., SC 443 (Paris, 1999): 324; and see n. 3]). Augustine enlarged upon the mystery: “Trinitas autem filius nullo modo dici potest. Spiritus uero sanctus secundum id quod scriptum est: Quoniam deus spiritus est, potest quidem uniuersaliter dici quia et pater spiritus et filius spiritus, et pater sanctus et filius sanctus. Itaque pater et filius et spiritus sanctus quoniam unus deus et utique deus sanctus est et deus spiritus est potest appellari trinitas et spiritus et sanctus. Sed tamen ille spiritus sanctus qui non trinitas sed in trinitate intellegitur in eo quod proprie dicitur spiritus sanctus, relatiue dicitur cum et ad patrem et ad filium refertur quia spiritus sanctus et patris et filii spiritus est… [Augustine proceeds to clarify the relationship in terms of the Holy Spirit as the gift of the Father and the Son]. Ergo spiritus sanctus ineffabilis quaedam patris filiique communio, et ideo fortasse sic appellatur quia patri et filio potest eadem appellatio conuenire. Nam hoc ipse proprie dicitur quod illi communiter quia et pater spiritus et filius spiritus et pater sanctus et filius sanctus” (De Trinitate Libri XV 5.11, ed. Mountain, W. J. and Glorie, Fr., CCL 50 [Turnhout, 1968]: 219, lines 13–23, 29–33. For the roles of Hilary, Ambrose, and Augustine, in developing the Latin theology of the Trinity see Pierre Smulders, “L'esprit sanctificateur dans la spiritualité des pères latins,” Dictionnaire de Spiritualité, 4: 1274–83).Google Scholar

27 See below, 64–65.Google Scholar

28 See Loyen, ed., Poèmes, Lettres , 1: 191–92, n. 13; 3: 205, n. 26; Heinzelmann, Martin, “Faustus 2,” Gallische Prosopographie, Prosopographica IV, Francia 10 (1982): 607; and Griffe, Élie, La Gaule chrétienne à l'époque romaine, 3 vols. (Paris, 1964–66), 2 (1966): 263–65. Griffe's preference for “Britannum” as Brittany for Faustus's birthplace is now a minority one.Google Scholar

29 Haec igitur prima est uel causa uel actio laudum, quod mihi germani, dum lubrica uoluitur aetas, seruatus tecum domini per dona probatur nec fama titubante pudor; te respicit istud quantumcumque bonum; merces debebitur illi, ille tibi. Sit laus, si labi noluit, eius; nam quod nec potuit, totum ad te iure redundat (lines 71–77).Google Scholar

30 His sense of responsibility for this brother suggests that their father had died early. Although Sidonius's letters characterized several close relatives in some detail, he mentioned his father only once in connection with his duties as Praetorian Prefect of Gaul in 448, when Sidonius would have been less than twenty years old. His remarks about his younger brother here are sufficiently retrospective to indicate that the brother's close contact with Faustus reached back a decade or so before Faustus had become bishop of Riez ca. 460.Google Scholar

31 His proportioned balancing of components would have pleased Faustus, who within a few years was to take a leading role in affirming the place of free will within the Augustinian synthesis on salvation. See Griffe, , Gaule chrétienne , 3: 359–73; also, for important theological nuances to protect the traditional doctrine on free will, which were embodied in the final settlement at the Council of Orange in 529, see de Plinval, Georges, “Césaire d'Arles (St.),” DHGE 12: 191–92 and his chapter, “L'activité doctrinale dans l'Église Gallo-Romaine,” in Augustin Fliche and Victor Martin, Histoire de l'Église 4 (1948): 397, 399–400, 403, 417–19.Google Scholar

32 Praeteria quod me pridem Reios ueniente, cum Procyon fureret, cum solis torridus ignis flexilibus rimis sitientes scriberet agros, hospite te nostros excepit protinus aestus pax, domus, umbra, latex, benedictio, mensa, cubile. Omnibus attamen his sat praestat quod uoluisti ut sanctae matris sanctum quoque limen adirem. Derigui, fateor, mihi conscius atque repente tinxit adorantem pauido reuerentia uultum; nec secus intremui quam si me forte Rebeccae Israel aut Samuel crinitus duceret Annae. Quapropter te uel uotis sine fine colentes affectum magnum per carmina parua fatemur (lines 78–90).Google Scholar

33 In 1887, Bruno Krusch disagreed with the opinion of Tillemont and others that the phrase referred to Faustus's mother. He tentatively suggested that Sidonius meant not a biological mother but the Church and correspondingly assumed that Sidonius was thanking Faustus for introducing him to the religious life (Epistulae et Carmina, MGH Auct. Ant. 8, lvii). Stevens assumed that the visit to Riez was one of many taken during the mid-460s, when he was engaging in “for the most part a pleasant and careless round of country-house life,” and that the “Holy Mother” meant Faustus's mother (Sidonius, 63–64 [quotation from p. 63], and 74, n. 7). In 1936 Anderson accepted the first part of Krusch's opinion as probable but reasoned that the phrase “holy threshold” referred to his having entered the cathedral at Riez ( Poems and Letters , 1: 248, n. 4). When Loyen published his edition of the poems in 1960, he also accepted the first part of Krusch's suggestion but interpreted the holy lintel as a reference to Sidonius's baptism. He speculated, without indicating any evidence, that the baptism had occurred earlier and not at Riez (Loyen, Oeuvres, 1: 192, n. 15). In 1966, Élie Griffe forcefully rejected the opinion that Sidonius was being admitted to the religious life. He insisted that Sidonius's allusion to the holy women, Rebecca and Anna, implied that Faustus's mother had retired to a nearby convent (Gaule chrétienne, 2: 263 and n. 75). By 1972, Loyen abandoned his earlier opinion in favor of Griffe's and enlarged it somewhat (“La mère de Faustus de Riez,” Mélanges offerts á Mgr. E. Griffe. Bulletin de littérature ecclésiastique 73 [1972]: 167–69).Google Scholar

34 Harries, , Sidonius , 105–6.Google Scholar

35 For pax as a liturgical kiss of peace see Blaise, Dict., 603, usage 11; for domus ecclesiae ibid., 292, usage 7, and Niermeyer, J. F., Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus (Leiden, 1984), 354, usage 3.Google Scholar

36 Constantius Vita Germani 1.5, ed. Borius, René, SC 112 (Paris, 1965): 130. Sulpicius Severus, describing his first meeting with Martin of Tours, recalled in awe that St. Martin had humbly invited him to share a meal with him, brought water for him to wash his hands, and personally washed his feet (Vita Martini 25.2–3, ed. and trans. Fontaine, Jacques, 3 vols., SC 133 [Paris, 1967]: 310). Fontaine has commented on the eastern background of these rites, which included some Classical Roman practices. See SC 135 (Paris, 1969): 1050–56.Google Scholar

37 They were formulated in specific detail by Caesarius of Arles and St. Benedict, among others. See my “Caesarius of Arles, a Precursor of Christendom,” Traditio 26 (1970): 23; The Rule of St. Benedict, 53.3–14, ed. and trans. Fry, Timothy et al. (Collegeville, Minn., 1981), 256–58.Google Scholar

38 He incorporated the poem into a letter written much later. In the poem he had requested a friend to arrange for a suitable lodging at Bordeaux while he attended a festive celebration. His first preference was for hospitality in a comfortable home, but if such should be unavailable, he hoped to find respectable lodging at the bishop's residence (ep. 8.11, lines 37–54 of the inserted poem). For ca. 463 as the approximate date of the poem see Loyen, ed., Poèmes, Lettres , 3: 112, n. 43.Google Scholar

39 If the “holy mother” of the Euchariston is eliminated, there is no known reference to Faustus's mother whether at Riez or elsewhere. Even at first glance, guilt feelings, a sense of awe, and enduring prayerful thankfulness do not accord with the behavior of a worldlywise man upon his first meeting with the old mother of a friend, no matter how venerable she was. His bearing toward his wife, who was the daughter of a former emperor, his mother and sisters, and eminent women who were his friends is totally without such disquiet. See epp. 5.16; 6.2; also Stevens, , Sidonius , 73–74.Google Scholar

40 In patristic allegorical interpretation of Scripture, one or another of the barren wives whom the Old Testament describes as having miraculously conceived a child commonly stood for the Church. Examples of the usage extend abundantly in an interconnected chain of word symbolism starting with St. Paul to include, among others, Irenaeus, Origen, Hilary of Poitiers, Ambrose, and Augustine. The development of this typology, already well advanced by ca. 200, is fully traced and related to the forces that encouraged it by Plumpe, Joseph C., Mater Ecclesia: An Inquiry into the Concept of the Church as Mother in Early Christianity (Washington, D.C., 1943).Google Scholar

41 1.2, ed. Bauer, , CCL 46 (Turnhout, 1969): 121: “non ea tantum quam familiariter tibi, sed etiam quam matri ecclesiae uniuersaliter debeo, caritate ac seruitute compellor….” Google Scholar

42 “Allegorical” and “typological” have frequently been used as interchangeable exegetical terms. A type, sign, figure, or similar term tends to refer to a predictive or prophetic relationship asserted of two objects, persons, or single events. Allegory, often built up from individual types, tends to assert such relationships between chains or patterns of related events, or larger “truths or generalizations,” to borrow a phrase from Webster's definition of “allegory.” Some confusion has resulted from the varying terminology employed by patristic and medieval exegetes to indicate levels of interpretation. Sometimes commentators varied their usage inconsistently within their own writings. While recognizing that no one “system” fits all, I shall assume as fairly valid common denominators the four exegetical levels that seem to appear most frequently from Clement of Alexandria to Thomas Aquinas and beyond, namely literal, moral, allegorical (often loosely interchangeable with typological), and anagogical (or an alternative term designating the exegetical dimension of eternity). In his manual of allegorical and typological equivalents, Eucherius, the bishop of Lyons during Sidonius's early years, ultimately recognized four levels of interpretation. He used “allegorical” both as a general term for all exegesis beyond the literal and as a specific term for scriptural texts predicting future events ( Formulae Spiritalis Intelligentiae, preface, ed. Wotke, Carolus, CSEL 31 [Vienna, 1894]: 3–5). He taught that the existence of parables in both the Old and New Testaments reminds us to keep the allegorical dimension in mind: “uniuersam porro scripturam … ad intellectum allegoricum esse sumendam admonet nos” (p. 3). After enumerating and explaining what he regarded as the commonly accepted three levels of interpretation, namely literal, tropological (i.e., moral), and anagogical, he added a fourth: “sunt etiam qui allegoriam in hoc scientiae genere quarto in loco adiciendam putent, quam gestorum narratione futurorum umbram praetulisse confirment” (p. 5). It is worth noting, in view of a recent tendency to substitute “typological” for “allegorical,” that Sidonius sometimes used allegorical and typological terminology interchangeably (See below, n. 52). In this respect he resembled St. Paul, Origen, Augustine, Gregory the Great, and Isidore of Seville, among other writers of the patristic era and later.Google Scholar

43 The selective overview of the development of allegorical interpretation that follows takes as a point of departure Grant's, Robert M. balanced “History of the Interpretation of the Bible, I: Ancient Period,” in the Interpreter's Bible , ed. Buttrick, George A. et al. (New York, 1952), 1: 106–14. Especially valuable for more recent contributions are several articles in Coggins, R. J. and Houlden, J. L., eds., A Dictionary of Biblical Interpretation (London, 1990). They include: Andrew Louth, “Allegorical Interpretation,” 12–14; Evans, G. R., “Medieval Interpretation,” 438–40; Williamson, R., “Philo,” 542–44; Young, Frances, “Alexandrian Interpretation,” 10–12; eadem, “Origen,” 501–3; and Norris, R. A., “Antiochene Interpretation,” 29–32. These articles present informed essays with selected bibliographical references, which include basic older works by Daniélou, , de Lubac, , Hanson, , Louth, , Wolfson, , Trigg, , and others. Chapters in Ackroyd, P. R. and Evans, C. F., eds., The Cambridge History of the Bible, 1: From the Beginnings to Jerome (Cambridge, 1970) include several incidental discussions of allegorical interpretation; these are best found by consulting the index under the heading “allegorical interpretation.” Other titles should be noted: Christoph Schäublin, Untersuchungen zu Methode und Herkunft der antiochenischen Exegese (Cologne, 1974); Bertrand de Margerie, Introduction à l'histoire de l'exégèse, 4 vols. (Paris, 1980–90); trans. as An Introduction to the History of Exegesis by Maluf, Leonard, 3 vols. (Petersham, Mass., 1994–); Dawson, David, Allegorical Readers and Cultural Revision in Ancient Alexandria (Berkeley, 1992); O'Keefe, John J., “Christianizing Malachi. Vth Century Insights from Cyril of Alexandria,” Vigiliae Christianae 50 (1996): 136–39. Simonetti, Manlio, Biblical Interpretation in the Early Church: An Historical Introduction to Patristic Exegesis , trans. Hughes, John A., ed. Bergquist, Anders, Bockmuehl, Markus, and Horbury, William (Edinburgh, 1994), 53–109, offers suggestive, if relatively cursory and negative, overviews of allegorical exegesis in the eastern and western churches. Conversely, Andrew Louth enthusiastically argues that allegorical exegesis originally had and still has constructive aspects: Discerning the Mystery (New York, 1983), ch. 5. Young, Frances M., Biblical Exegesis and the Formation of Christian Culture (Cambridge, 1997) has some new if not definitive things to say about allegory/typology terminology in ch. 8.Google Scholar

44 For recent revision of Jülicher's opinion, see “The Parables of Jesus,” The New Jerome Biblical Commentary , ed. Brown, Raymond E., Fitzmyer, Joseph A., and Murphy, Roland E. (Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1990), 1364–65, nos. 59–63. For examples of episodes with possibly allegorical features, see Meier, John P., A Marginal Jew, 2 vols. (New York, 1994), 2: 420; and Brown, Raymond E., An Introduction to the New Testament (New York, 1997), 131 with n. 10, 136–38, and 691–92. Meier has emphasized, against minimalist views, the use of allegory both by Jesus and by those who wrote the books of the New Testament, as well as in some prophetic literature of the Old Testament and some pseudoepigraphic and Jewish apocalyptic writings contemporary with or somewhat later than Jesus.Google Scholar

45 In a passage of great significance for future exegesis (Gal. 4:22–31), he presented Abraham's two sons, one by a bondwoman, the other by a free woman, as a type for the Two Covenants. He explained in summary: “These things are [said] allegorically (ἅτινα ἔστν άλληγορούμ∊να [v. 24]).” With an equally broad allegorical brush, Paul identified the experience of Moses and the Israelites when they escaped Egypt and crossed the Red Sea as a shared baptism in Christ (1 Cor. 10:1–11). He emphasized the lesson to be learned by followers of Christ by employing two typological terms: τύποι (v. 6) and τυπιχϖς (v. 11).Google Scholar

46 For examples of the influence of allegorical interpretation of the Old Testament upon the development of patristic theology see Pelikan, , Emergence of the Catholic Tradition , 17, 30–31, 60–62, 77, 96, 111, 243–44.Google Scholar

47 De catechizandis rudibus 3.6, 20.34–36, ed. Bauer, , CCL 46: 125–26, 158–61. His examples of allegorical types included Moses striking the sea with a rod, the Passover ceremonial requirements, crossing the Red Sea, the manner of Jacob's birth, and King David as the predominant figure of Christ as King. Elsewhere he commented on the presence and purpose of allegory and figurative language in the Scriptures. See De Doctrina Christiana 3.41–42, 88, ed. and trans. Green, R. P. H. (Oxford, 1995), 150, 170. For an enlightening description of Augustine's purpose, major themes, and winning method when teaching competentes , see Baus, Karl, “Preaching and Piety,” chap. 18 in Baus, Karl et al., The Imperial Church from Constantine to the Early Middle Ages , trans. Biggs, Anselm, History of the Church, 2 (New York, 1980), 309–10.Google Scholar

48 Itinerarium Egeriae 46.1–3, ed. Franceschini, A., Weber, R., CCL 175 (Turnhout, 1965): 87–88; quotation from 46.2 as translated by Wilkinson, John, Egeria's Travels to the Holy Land, rev. ed. (London, 1981), 144. In patristic usage “spiritual” often included or sometimes was an eqivalent of “allegorical.” For the details of Egeria's fascinating account of the procedures and the light it may throw on the contemporary state of spiritual bonding, see Lynch, Joseph H., Godparents and Kinship in Early Medieval Europe (Princeton, 1986), 96–104.Google Scholar

49 Professor Toynbee has explored the archaeological evidence in Britain for the osmosis and transformation of late Roman, pagan art topoi into Christian forms by the fourth century. Her discussion is particularly worth noting with respect to the view occasionally expressed or implied that Sidonius's ties with the Roman past, in the Euchariston and elsewhere, showed him to be something of a crypto-pagan. She makes it clear that art topoi employed by the late-fourth-century artists must have lost their original pagan associations while continuing to express allegorically ideas compatible with Christianity. Thus, for example, Bellepheron and Christ could be acceptably associated to express a Christian theme allegorically. One surviving example survives in what seems to have been a Christian chapel. For these and other examples see Toynbee, Jocelyn M. C., “Pagan Motifs and Practices in Christian Art and Ritual in Roman Britain,” Christianity in Britain, 300–700 , ed. Barley, M. W. and Hanson, R. P. C. (Leicester, 1968), 177–92, esp. 179, 182, 184, 186. Another interesting example of such synthesis is a fourth-century sculpture of Odysseus bound to the mast. The dove atop its mast, reflecting a frequent pattern of patristic allegorization, presents the mast and yardarm as the Cross, the bound Odysseus as the true Christian, and the dove as the Holy Spirit. See Weitzmann, Kurt, ed., Age of Spirituality, Late Antique and Early Christian Art, Third to Seventh Century: Catalogue of the Exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, November 19, 1977 through February 12 1978 (New York, 1979), no. 199, pp. 222–23. Already by the early fourth century Methodius, bishop in Lycia, had extensively interpreted Homer in Christian terms. He in effect presented Christ as the new Bellepheron and, among others, symbolically interpreted Odysseus bound to the mast as Christ. By the end of the century, particularly with the Cappadocian fathers, this process had become, in the opinion of Ihor Sevcenco, “the final triumph of conquered Hellenism …. the saturation of Christian elite writings with classical elements (“A Shadow Outline of Virtue: The Classical Heritage of Greek Christian Literature Second to Seventh Century,” in Age of Spirituality: A Symposium , ed. Weitzmann, Kurt [New York, 1980], 57).Google Scholar

50 Ep. 4.3.7: “ut Eucherius sollicitat.” Sidonius also extols him in Euchariston, line 115. For Eucherius as a major figure in Christian life at Lyon, see Harries, , Sidonius , 36–45, 52, 111–12.Google Scholar

51 Epp. 2.9.5, 9.2.2. See above, 25–26. The first of these two letters referred to Origen's works in general, although the title specifically mentioned was one mistakenly attributed at the time to Origen.Google Scholar

52 Ep. 7.6.4: “in hac allegorica uersamur Aegypto”; “in hac figuratae Babylonis fornace decoquimur.” His excoriation of Euric also typologically cites the misery Lazarus endured from the rich man's neglect (Luke 16:19–21), and (echoing Lam. 1:1–2) describes the harm Euric has inflicted on the Church as an attack on the “spiritalem Ierusalem.” Google Scholar

53 Ep. 6.9.3 (A.D. 471).Google Scholar

54 Ep. 9.9.12–13 (A.D. 471). See remarks and citations of Loyen, ed., Poèmes, Lettres , 3: 206, n. 29.Google Scholar

55 Ep 7.17.2 (A.D. 477), lines 29–30 of inserted poem; ep. 8.13.3–4 (A.D. ca. 478). He refers to the imminent reception of Promotus into the Church as acceptance by Sarah into her maternal arms. The sequence of ideas echoes Gal. 4:21–31.Google Scholar

56 Epp. 8.14.4–7; 9.8.2. In the first of them he skillfully, if elaborately, distilled and integrated disparate elements of several Old Testament sacrificial rites to produce a composite symbol of internalized sacrifice as it was manifested in his friend's life. In 8.14.7 his allegorical comparison specifically includes the term figuraliter. Loyen, possibly with justification, observed that allegory had here carried Sidonius away from simplicity in the direction of “aggravating his earlier tendencies to preciosity and excessive subtlety” ( Poèmes, Lettres , 3: 203, n. 61).Google Scholar

57 Magis ille ueni nunc spiritus, oro, pontificem dicture tuum, qui pectora priscae intrasti Mariae, rapiens cum tympana siccus Israel appensi per concaua gurgitis iret aggeribus uallatus aquae mediasque per undas puluerulenta tuum clamaret turba triumphum (lines 5–10). The Old Testament account mentions tambourines only for Miriam and the women who followed her. Sidonius, whether quoting inaccurately from memory or exercising realistic poetic license within an epitome, included the use of tambourines as part of the general rejoicing of all the Israelites.Google Scholar

58 Daniélou, Jean has presented the analogy as one of the most frequently used allegorical themes in the early centuries of the Church (“Traversée de la Mer Rouge et baptême aux premiers siècles,” Recherches de science religieuse 33 [1946]: 402–30, esp. pp. 402–9). Among the Fathers who had developed the theme of the crossing of the Red Sea were Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Origen, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Zeno of Verona. See Savon, Hervé, Saint Ambroise devant l'exégèse de Philon le juif, 2 vols. (Paris, 1977), 1: 206 and n. 18. Some aspects of typological interpretations of the crossing of the Red Sea, including Philo's identification of Pharaoh as God's particular enemy (ἀντίθ∊ος νους), are discussed by Pépin, Jean, “Exégèse de ‘In Principio’ et théorie des principes dans l'Exameron' (I 4, 12–16),” Ambrosius Episcopus, Studia Patristica Mediolanensia, 6, ed. Lazzati, Giuseppe (Milan, 1976), 1: 454, 460–71; for Philo's characterization of Pharaoh, see esp. 468 and n. 146. Michael Roberts has noted that a variety of Christian interpretive motifs, both moral and allegorical, implicitly but perceptibly accompany Avitus's explicit focus on a literal narrative of the events (“Rhetoric and Poetic Imitation in Avitus's Account of the Crossing of the Red Sea ['De Spiritalis Historiae Gestis' 5.371–702],” Traditio 39 [1983]: 77–80). The extensive incorporation of allusions to classical forms and phrases, which this article as a whole demonstrates, throws into sharp relief the nearly total disengagement from them by Sidonius in Carmen XVI.Google Scholar

59 See above, n. 45.Google Scholar

60 For an examination of the theme of transitus in the theology of Ambrose, see Savon, , Ambroise 1: 204–6. Jean Doignon provides additional detail, especially about the related Miriam-Mary typology. See below, n. 66.Google Scholar

61 See Savon, , Ambroise , 1: 205–6. Daniélou regards Ambrose's thematic development of this allegorical complex as uniquely important for what he calls the sacramental catechesis of the Latin Church. He cites Ambrose's association of the pillar of fire and the pillar of the cloud (Ex. 13:21–22) with, respectively, the introduction of Christ's light into Christian hearts and the presence of the Holy Spirit among Christians brought about by baptism (“Traversée,” 409–10). For Ambrose's development of the theme see in particular his Exameron, 1.4.14, ed. Schenkl, Karl, CSEL 32 (Vienna, 1897): 12.Google Scholar

62 [S]ignum est sancti baptismi, per quod fideles in nouam uitam transeunt, peccata uero eorum tamquam inimici delentur atque moriuntur” ( De catechizandis rudibus 20.34, CCL 46: 159).Google Scholar

63 To illustrate in one of his sermons the predictive role of the Old Testament he draws several explicit parallels between the crossing and baptism (sermon 4.9, ed. Lambot, Cyril, CCL 41 [Turnhout, 1961]: 25–26). He introduced these examples to his hearers in a memorable epitome of the typological interpretation of Scripture: “Uetus enim testamentum est promissio figurata. Nouum testamentum est promissio spiritaliter intellecta” (p. 25).Google Scholar

64 For example sermon 352.1.3, where the comparison is briefly stated as a simple equation: “Per mare transitus, Baptismus est” (PL 39: 1551; see also sermon 1.6, ibid., 1555).Google Scholar

65 “In veteri itaque testamento virgo Hebraeorum per mare duxit exercitum, in novo testamento virgo regis aula caelestis electa est ad salutem” (Epistulae extra collectionem 15 [Maur., 42], 15, 7, ed. Zelzer, Michaela, CSEL 82.3 [Vienna, 1982]: 307; [= Ep. 42(70).7 in PL 16: 1175]).Google Scholar

66 Doignon, Jean, “Miryam et son tambourin dans la prédication et l'archéologie occidentales au IV siècle,” Studia Patristica , Papers Presented to the Third International Conference on Patristic Studies held at Christ Church, Oxford, 1959 (Berlin, 1961–62), 4: 71 and n. 3; 72–74, including 72, n. 1, citing Ambrose De Virginibus 2.15–17, ed. Faller, , Florilegium Patristicum 31: 51. See in addition De Institutione Virginis 17.105, PL 16: 331 B.Google Scholar

67 “Et ut semper Maria humanae praevia sit salutis” (Sermon 146, PL 52: 593 B).Google Scholar

68 Quique manum Iudith ferientem colla Olophernis iuuisti, exciso iacuit cum guttere truncus et fragilis ualido latuit bene sexus in ictu (lines 11–13).Google Scholar It may be only coincidental to Sidonius's choice of Judith that, as narrated in the Vulgate, she had prayed to God to remember his deliverance of his people through the Red Sea and help her achieve another deliverance (Jth. 9:6–9).Google Scholar

69 Dubarle, A. M. has traced the history of its acceptance and remarked on the large number of references to Judith from the time of Clement of Rome to the mid-sixth century. He provides an extensive list with epitomes in Judith: Formes et sens des diverses traditions , 2 vols. (Rome, 1966), 1: 23, 173–78. Some examples are cited by Doignon, Jean, “La première exposition ambrosienne de l'exemplum de Judith (De virginibus, 2, 4, 24),” in Ambroise de Milan: XVIe Centenaire de son élection épiscopale , ed. Duval, Yves-Marie (Paris, 1974), 219–28.Google Scholar

70 To Clement of Alexandria, for example, Judith demonstrated that perfection of life could be achieved by women of faith as well as by men (Stromata 4.19, ed. Stählin, Otto, 3d rev. ed. by Früchtel, Ludwig, GCS Clemens Alexandrinus 2 [Berlin, 1960], 300, lines 14–20; older edition with Latin translation PG 8: 1328 B–C). Origen observed that Judith's success demonstrated to Christians who hesitated in the face of spiritual challenge that faith and a virtuous soul could allow women to succeed in difficult tasks where men have failed (In Librum Judicum, hom. 9.1, ed. and trans. Messié, Pierre, Neyrand, Louis, and Borret, Marcel, SC 389 [Paris, 1993]: 210–12).Google Scholar

71 De Viduis 7, PL 16: 258–60; see also De Officiis 3.13.82–85, ed. and trans. Testard, Maurice (as Les devoirs), Collection des Universités de France (Paris, 1992), 2: 121–22; Epistulae extra collectionem, 14.29, ed. Zelzer, Michaela, CSEL 82.3 (Berlin, 1982): 250–51 (= ep. 63[23] in PL 16: 1248). Ambrose's earliest consideration of Judith as a moral exemplum is analyzed by Jean Doignon, “Exposition,” 219–28.Google Scholar

72 Dubarle, , Judith , 1: 178.Google Scholar

73 16.3, ed. Koetschau, Paul, GCS Origenes 2: 337, lines 18–20.Google Scholar

74 Origen In Jeremiam Homiliae hom. 20.7, ed. Nautin, Pierre, trans. Husson, Pierre and Nautin, Pierre as Homélies sur Jérémie , SC 238 (Paris, 1977): 282–84, lines 53–63.Google Scholar

75 See Dubarle, , Judith , 176, 177. Dubarle (citing Jerome's commentary on the Prophet Sophonias [= Zephaniah], Prologue, PL 25: 1337) notes Jerome's identification of Judith and Esther as types of the Church because they freed their people from oppression. See also Jerome, , ep. 79.11, ed. Hilberg, Isidor, CSEL 55 (1912): 100–101, where he makes the same typological association: “in typo ecclesiae diabolum capite truncauit.” Isidore of Seville may have been expanding Jerome's typology when he wrote that “Judith et Esther typum Ecclesiae gestant, hostes fidei puniunt, ac populum Dei ab interitu eruunt,” Allegoriae quaedam sacrae scripturae, no. 122, PL 83: 116.Google Scholar

76 His familiarity with Prudentius is implied in one of his often quoted letters where he mentions that he and his friends frequently read and compared the artistry of several Latin writers, among them Prudentius (ep. 2.9.4, written ca. 465).Google Scholar

77 He similarly broadened his allegory when developing other contests between individual virtues and vices by introducing Old Testament figures including Abraham, Job, David, and Goliath. See Smith, Macklin, Prudentius's Psychomachia: a Reexamination (Princeton, 1976), 182–85.Google Scholar

78 “Dum tempora nostra figurat” ( Psychomachia , ed. Cunningham, Maurice P., CCL 126 [Turnhout, 1966]: 153–54, line 67).Google Scholar

79 Expiat ergo aciem fluuiali docta lauacro uictricem uictrix abolens baptismate labem hostilis iuguli …; ibid., 155, lines 102–4; translation of Clement Eagan, M., The Poems of Prudentius , 2, FC 52 (Washington, D.C., 1965): 84.Google Scholar

80 Smith, , Psychomachia , 187–89; quotation from 189.Google Scholar

81 Expositio in Librum Judith , 12–13, PL 109: 571–76. He developed at length the theme of Judith as a type of the Church.Google Scholar

82 See below, 64, 66.Google Scholar

83 Expresso uel qui complens de uellere peluem inficiensque dehinc non tacto uellere terram firmasti Gedeona, tubis inserte canoris spiritus, et solo uenit uictoria cantu (lines 14–17).Google Scholar

84 For the overall sequence of this evolution see van den Broek, R., “Vellus Gedeonis: De voorgeschiedenis van een middeleeuws symbool,” Nederlands theologisch tijdschrift 31 (1977): 307–15. The author focuses in particular on a then subdominant theme that by Sidonius's time was still little known in the West. This was the typological association that in the medieval period was to develop between the wet fleece and the virginity of Mary and become a major symbolic feature of artistic and theological presentations of her. Although later to emerge than the mainstream patristic typological exegesis, it was well developed in the eastern church by Sidonius's time. If he knew it he might have intended it as a third allusion to Mary, in sequence after Miriam and Judith, but that seems only a slight possibility.Google Scholar

85 “Sine aqua quae de caelo est”; “ἄν∊υ του οὐρανόθ∊ν ὕδατος” (Irenaeus Adversus Haereses 3.17.2, ed. and trans. Rousseau, Adelin and Doutreleau, Louis, SC 211 [Paris, 1974]: 332–33, lines 35 and 37–38, respectively, for Latin and Greek). His whole theme is developed in 3.17.2–3, pp. 330–37.Google Scholar

86 Rousseau has observed (ibid., 332, note g) that Ps. 67:10 (68:9) is the likely source of Irenaeus's description of the heavenly rain in the phrase “sine uoluntaria pluuia”; “ἄν∊υ της ἄνωθ∊ν ἕχουσίου βροχης” (lines 38–39 and 40–41 respectively).Google Scholar

87 “in vellus”; “ἐπὶ πόχον.” In this context, Irenaeus's subsequent selection of Gideon was a logical next step in developing his theme that the Spirit entered Christ Jesus and through him those who follow him. The Hebrew géz can mean either clipped (mown) grass or meadow, or clipped (shorn) fleece. The latter meaning found its way into the Septuagint, the Vulgate, and Jerome's translation of the Psalms from the Hebrew. See comments and parallel texts in La sainte bible , Ps. 72, ed. and trans. Pirot, Louis and Clamer, Albert, 5 (Paris, 1950), 392–93; Anchor Bible, Psalms II (51–100), 17/1, Ps. 72, ed. Dahood, Mitchell (New York, 1968), 181; Sancti Hieronymi Psalterium iuxta Hebraeos, Collectanea Biblica Latina 11, ed. de Sainte-Marie, Henri (Rome, 1954), 101.Google Scholar

88 Irenaeus Adversus Haereses 3.17.3, SC 211: 334–35 (lines 58–59 and 60–62, Latin and Greek respectively): “in omni autem terra fieri ros, quod est Spiritus Dei, qui descendit in Dominum”; “ἐπὶ δὲ πασαν τὴν γην γ∊νέσθαι τὴν δρόσον, ἐστι τὸ Πν∊υμα του θ∊ου τὸ χατ∊λθὸν ∊ἰς τὸν κύριον.” Google Scholar

89 Ibid., 334–37.Google Scholar

90 Hom. 8.4–5, 9.1–2 (Messié, Pierre et al., ed. and trans., SC 389: 192–202, 206–20).Google Scholar

91 Namely the allegorical reference to rain in Ps. 71 (72). Like Irenaeus, Origen refers to rain on the fleece when citing this psalm but appears to regard the reference as his own idea (Hom. 8.4, p. 196). The editors remark on his use of the Septuagint rather than the Hebrew text (196–97, n. 2).Google Scholar

92 Hom. 8.4, p. 196.Google Scholar

93 Hom. 8.5, p. 198.Google Scholar

94 Hom. 8.4, p. 194, lines 47–49, quoting Hos. 3:4.Google Scholar

95 Ambrose, De Spiritu Sancto 1 (Prologue) , ed. Faller, Otto, CSEL 79 (Vienna, 1964): 15–24.Google Scholar

96 Ep. 58.3, ed. Hilberg, Isidore, CSEL 54 (Vienna, 1910): 530–31.Google Scholar

97 Tractatus sive Homiliae in Psalmos , tract. de Psalmo 96.2, ed. Morin, Germanus, CCL 78 (Turnhout, 1958): 158, lines 51–56, commenting on “Nubes et caligo in circuitu eius.” As Irenaeus had done, Jerome enlarged the allegorical equation by associating Gideon and the fleece with the command in Isa. 5:6 that the rains not fall on the vineyard.Google Scholar

98 Quaestionum in Heptateuchum Libri VII , Quaest. Iud. 49.9, ed. Fraipont, I., CCL 33 (Turnhout, 1958): 362–63.Google Scholar

99 Ep. 177.14, ed. Goldbacher, Al., CSEL 44 (Vienna, 1904): 682–83.Google Scholar

100 Enarrationes in Psalmos 45.10; 71.9; 137.9, ed. Dekkers, Eligius and Fraipont, Iohannes, CCL (Turnhout, 1956) 38: 524–25; 39: 978; 40: 1994.Google Scholar

101 These include Ps. 17:44–45 (18:43–44) (David as head of the Gentiles); Matt. 15:22–28 (Jesus' miracle for the Canaanite woman); John 10:16 (“Other sheep I have that are not of this fold”); Acts 13:46 (Paul and Barnabus turn to the Gentiles); and Rom. 15:8–9 (the inclusion of the Gentiles along with Israel in God's mercy).Google Scholar

102 In Librum Judicum 9.2, ed. Messié, et al., SC 389: 220, lines 67–80.Google Scholar

103 See above, 47.Google Scholar

104 Eucherius Formulae 9.57, lines 8–9.Google Scholar

105 Quique etiam adsumptum pecorosi de grege Iesse adflasti regem, plaustro cum foederis arcam imponens hostis nullo moderante bubulco proderet obscaenum turgenti podice morbum (lines 18–21).Google Scholar

106 Both Anderson and Loyen charge him with inaccuracy in juxtaposing two unrelated incidents (Anderson, , Poems and Letters , 1: 243, n. 6; Loyen ed., Poèmes, Lettres, 1: 191, n. 6). They both assume that he must have confused this incident involving the Ark with a later one, which did involve David as related in 2 Kings (2 Sam.) 6:2–5.Google Scholar

107 See Oxford Latin Dictionary, “cum 2,” an archaizing, poetic usage meaning “the time at, about, or during which the action of the main verb takes place” (pp. 468–69); perhaps by analogy usage 15.5 also. The sense of “after” for cum is included by Lewis and Short, Dict., in usage III, 2 (p. 490). If Sidonius was following a path of allegorical exegesis, these three usages would probably permit a translation that signifies “in the days when.” Google Scholar

108 Hanfmann, George M. A., “The Continuity of Classical Art: Culture, Myth, and Faith,” Age of Spirituality: A Symposium , ed. Weitzmann, Kurt (Princeton, 1980), 87–88.Google Scholar

109 Ezek. 34:23–24; De Apologia Prophetae David ad Theodosium Augustum 12, ed. Hadot, Pierre, trans. Cordier, M., SC 239 (Paris, 1977): 88; De Fide 5.108–12, ed. Faller, Otto, CSEL 78 (Vienna, 1962): 256–58; letter to Sabinus, ep. 38.11, ed. Zelzer, Michaela, CSEL 82.2 (Vienna, 1990): 34 (to the emperors Theodosius, Gratian, and to the bishop, respectively).Google Scholar

110 “Ad huius regis praefigurationem [i.e. of the heavenly Jerusalem] in illo terreno regno populi Israel maxime eminuit Dauid” ( De catechizandis rudibus 20.36, CCL 46: 160). This was one of the relatively few allegorical types that Augustine specifically suggested be included in instructions for beginners in the faith. He added, however, to Deogratias: “Multa in illa terra promissionis gesta sunt in figuram uenturi Christi et ecclesiae, quae in sanctis libris paulatim discere poteris” (ibid., 160–61).Google Scholar

111 Sermones de Vetere Testamento, sermon 47.20–21, ed. Lambot, Cyril, CCL 41 (Turnhout, 1961): 591–95; Enarrationes in Psalmos 17.1, 33.4, 54.3, 55.1, 59.3, 96.2; 131.3, 142.2, ed. Dekkers, Eligius and Fraipont, Iohannes, 3 vols., CCL 38–40 (Turnhout, 1956), 1: 94, 276, 656–57; 2: 676–77, 756–57, 1354–56, 3: 1912–13, 2060.Google Scholar

112 Eucherius, , Formulae , chap. 9, p. 51, lines 19–22, gives them as follows: “Arca caro dominica vel corda sanctorum deo plena … item arca ecclesia intra quam saluanda claudantur.” Several other associations emerged in the Middle Ages. See “Ark,” Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (3d rev. ed., Oxford, 1987), 104.Google Scholar

113 Origen made the association in his commentary on Romans: “Potest arca testamenti sancta ejus [i.e. Christi] caro, in qua beata haec anima collocatur, intelligi.” He proceeds, in discussing the body and soul of Christ, to cite texts from Paul and John to emphasize the propitiatory role that was prophesied of Christ ( Commentariorum in Epistulam B. Pauli ad Romanos 3.8, PG 14: 949 B–952 A; quotation from 949 B).Google Scholar

114 In his commentary on Ps. 77:66, Cassiodorus discreetly alluded only to the moral connotation of the infestation by rodents and analogized the misfortune to the punishment unrepentant sinners would receive when “beset by the devil's hostile troop” ( Expositio Psalmorum LXXI–CL , ed Adriaen, M., CCL 98 [Turnhout, 1958]: 729).Google Scholar

115 The author's whole rationale and interpretation are presented in Peter of Cava In Librum Primum Regum 3.95.2–7 to 98.4, ed. de Vogüé, Adalbert (= Gregory I [Pierre de Cava], Commentaire sur le premier livre des rois), SC 432 (Paris, 1998): 144–52. The quoted lines are from 3.96.2 and 3.97.1: “Et tunc quidem ex auro fieri ani similitudo cernitur, quia ad pretium aeternae salutis peccatorum turpitudines atteruntur [adtenduntur]…. Quinque autem ani auro fieri iubentur, quia uniuersalis omnium gentium satisfactio imperatur.” The editor prefers “adtenduntur” to the alternative “atteruntur” in another manuscript. However, the context, especially the repeated use of analogies to gold in describing the transformation of ugly deeds into lustrous ones, seems to justify that alternative, which I have translated as “burnished.” For a brief explanation, with references, for assigning the Chronicle to Peter of Cava rather than Gregory I, see the editor's foreword (pp. 9–10).Google Scholar

116 Dan. 3:24–90. The Vulgate, but neither the Hebrew Bible nor the Revised Standard translations, include mention of the protective activity of what Sidonius calls the “roscida flamma.” See Anderson's comments below, n. 126.Google Scholar

117 Quique trium quondam puerorum in fauce sonasti, quos in Chaldaei positos fornace tyranni roscida combusto madefecit flamma camino (lines 22–24). I have used Anderson's “dew-like flame” for its apt capture of the Latin phrase.Google Scholar

118 Hippolytus On Daniel 2: 38, introd. Bardy, G., ed. and trans. Maurice Lefèvre as Commentaire sur Daniel, SC 14 (Paris, 1947): 192: “χαὶ τὰ λλόφυλα χαὶ βάρβαρα ἔθνη τὸν θ∊ὸν σέζ∊ιν ἐδίδαξαν.” Google Scholar

119 33, ed. Koetschau, , GCS Origenes 1: 28, lines 15–25; older edition with Latin translation, PG 11: 604 C.Google Scholar

120 Ambrose De Fide 1.13.80, ed. Faller, , CSEL 78: 35.Google Scholar

121 He poetically presented Nebuchadnezzar's vision as proof that God manifests himself to human understanding ( Liber Apotheosis , ed. Maurice, P. Cunningham, CCL 126 [Turnhout, 1966]: 81–82, lines 128–54).Google Scholar

122 “Vel angelum debemus accipere, ut Septuaginta transtulerunt, uel certe, ut plerique arbitrantur, Dominum Saluatorem…. in typum praefigurat … Dominum nostrum Iesum” ( Commentariorum in Danielem Libri III <IV> 1.3.92b and 1.3.1a, ed. Glorie, F., CCL 75A [Turnhout, 1964]: 807–8; 797–98; quotation from 1.3.92b).Google Scholar

123 Ibid., 1.3.23, p. 803.Google Scholar

124 “Et [angelus] fecit medium fornacis quasi ventum roris flantem et non tetigit eos omnino ignis neque contristavit nec quicquam molestiae intulit” (Weber, , Biblia Sacra ).Google Scholar

125 Ed. Koetschau, , GCS Origenes 2: 13.1–4, pp. 325–29. Expressions indicating the dew-like flame include πν∊υμα δρόσου διασυρίζον (13.2, p. 326, line 25), ἐν πυρὶ, δρόσου (13.4, p. 328, line 22), and ἐν πυρὶ, δρόσου (13.4, p. 328, line 22), and ἀπὸ της δρόσου του οὐρανου (16.3, p. 337, line 24); older edition with Latin translation, PG 11: 453 B-457 A; 469 B–C. It is worth noting that Origen was here converting into a spiritual reality the natural dew (or rain) necessary for good crops, which Isaac had included in the final blessing he intended for his son Esau (Gen. 27:28).Google Scholar

126 Anderson quotes verse 50 and observes that the passage of 67 verses containing it “does not appear in the Hebrew text, but … is found in Theodotion's version (from which the Vulgate took it) and in the Septuagint: it doubtless occurred also in all the old Latin versions. Curiously enough, as Professor A. Souter informs me, no Latin Father quotes the above verse. Even Jerome in his commentary on Daniel fails to do so, though he makes some comments on the interpolated passage after pointing out that it does not occur in the Hebrew” (Anderson, , Poems and Letters , 1: 244, n. 1).Google Scholar

127 Gregory of Elvira mentioned the phenomenon briefly and without allegorical overtones ( Tractatus Origenis 18.4–5, ed. Bulhart, Vincent, CCL 69 [1967]: 132); at the moral level of analogy, Paulinus of Nola hoped that the miraculous effects of the “dew-laden wind” mediated by St. Stephen, “would restrain the fires of war” then under way in the Empire (Poem 26, lines 269–75, PL 61: 645; quotations from Walsh, P. G., ed. and trans., The Poems of St Paulinus of Nola, Ancient Christian Writers, 40 [New York, 1975]: 263).Google Scholar

128 Criticism of the proliferation of typology by the fifth century is well formulated and illustrated by Père Hervé de l'Incarnation, “Élie chez les Pères Latins,” in Élie le prophète , ed. Bardy, Gustave, Boismard, Émile, et al., Les Études Carmélitaines 35, 2 vols. (Paris, 1956), 1: 200–201. Of Caesarius's sermon on Elijah, he remarks: “Il ne groupe pas. C'est une accumulation de notes successives.” On the multiplication of fanciful, strained, and sometimes inconsistent associations that came to characterize typology, see also Bruce Metzger, “Allegory,” in the New Interpreter's Bible, 89–91, including references to R. P. C. Hanson, Allegory and Event; also editor's comments in Cassiodorus, Explanation of the Psalms , ed. and trans. Walsh, P. G., 2 vols. (New York, 1990–91), 1: 10, 19.Google Scholar

129 Quique uolubilibus spatiantem tractibus alui complesti Ionam, resonant dum uiscera monstri introrsum psallente cibo uel pondera uentris ieiuni plenique tamen uate intemerato ructat cruda fames, quern singultantibus extis esuriens uomuit suspenso belua morsu (lines 25–30).Google Scholar

130 “His attempt to treat the prophet Jonah in the spirit of a hero of mythology is purely grotesque” (Stevens, Sidonius , 110–11); Loyen observes that the account as it appears in Scripture is “beaucoup plus décent” ( Poèmes, Lettres , 1: 191, n. 8).Google Scholar

131 Prudentius's narrative includes graphic references to Jonah's passage through the monster's jaws, wet molars, palate, throat, down into the humid, coiled entrails within its cavernous belly (“Hymnus Ieiunantium,” Liber Cathemerinon 7, ed. Cunningham, Maurice P., CCL 126 [Turnhout, 1966]: 38–39, lines 111–30).Google Scholar

132 Sidonius's “introrsum psallente cibo” may echo Ambrose's “psallebat in utero ceti qui maerebat in terris.” See Exameron 5.11.35, CSEL 32.1: 168, lines 20–21. It is possible to identify in Jon. 2:2–10 quotations or echoes from at least eleven different Psalms: 15:10; 17:7; 18:6; 30:23; 41:8; 42:7; 49:14; 68:1, 2; 88:6; 119:1; 120:1. There seem to be echoes also from Lamentations 3:54 and 3:55. See references in The Holy Bible Translated from the Latin Vulgate , Rheims, translation (Baltimore, 1914), 994, notes j, 1; Weber, , Biblia Sacra, 2: 1398; and The New Oxford Annotated Bible , ed. Metzger, Bruce M. and Murphy, Roland E. (New York, 1991), 1188, n. for Jon. 2:1–10.Google Scholar

133 Along with depictions of Daniel in the Lion's den, Noah and the Ark, and the raising of Lazarus, Jonah's adventure with the Sea Monster was one of the subjects represented in the earliest Christian art. See Baus, Karl, “Further Development of the Liturgy,” ch. 23 in Handbook of Church History 1, 3d rev. ed. Jedin, Hubert, trans. Dolan, John (New York, 1965), 287–88. The genres include wall and ceiling paintings and mosaics in Roman catacombs by the first half of the third century, subsequently paintings, sculptured figures often but not exclusively embodied in funerary art, illuminated manuscripts, and functional and decorative objects such as dishes and earthenware bowls. Some of the latter were probably in wide circulation in Africa. For examples and comments, see Weitzmann, Kurt, ed. Age of Spirituality, introductory color plate no. 12, and exhibit items nos. 361 (pp. 405–6), 365–69 (pp. 409–12), 371 (p. 413), 377 (pp. 420–21), 384, 385 (pp. 426–27), 390 (p. 434), 465 (p. 520–21); also figures 51, 52 (pp. 396–98), a group some features of which match the melodramatic élan and realism of Sidonius's account. See also Kitzinger, Ernst, “Christian Imagery: Growth and Impact,” in Weitzmann, Kurt, ed. Age of Spirituality: a Symposium (New York, 1980), figure 2, p. 143. Kitzinger notes that while most of the other biblical deliverance stories were given brief artistic depictions, the Jonah story tended to be depicted in a brief narrative cycle. That emphasis, as well as the multiplicity of representations in various media, derives from the reported reference by Jesus to the sign of Jonah as prophetic of his resurrection (Matt. 12:39–40) and the central importance of personal resurrection in Christian belief and practice. When the scene of Jonah resting under the gourd vine is added to the earlier scenes, it tends to complete the thematic sequence by introducing the image of eternal bliss (ibid., 142). See also Shepherd, Massey H. Jr., “Christology: A Central Problem of Early Christian Theology and Art,” ibid., 108–10. He regards the sequence of scenes as unique to Jonah in this genre (p. 109).Google Scholar

134 Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses 3.20.1, SC 211: 382–87.Google Scholar

135 Although most of Origen's extant references to Matt. 12:39–40 are in his On Prayer and relate to the efficacy of prayer (see citations listed in Biblia Patristica 3: 146), he briefly but clearly explained in allegorical terms the significance of the reference to Jonah in his Commentary on Matthew, 12.3, ed. Klostermann, Erich, GCS Origenes 10 (1935): 72–73; older edition with translation PG 13: 980–81.Google Scholar

136 Explanatio Psalmorum XII 43.85–87, ed. Petschenig, M., CSEL 64 (Vienna, 1919): 322–24. For a more concise, theologically focused explication of the allegory, see his Exameron, 5.11.35, CSEL 32.1: 168–69; also his brief reference in Expositio evangelii secundum Lucam 7.97, ed. Adriaen, M. CCL 14 (Turnhout, 1957): 247. In the latter he held that Jews need not despair of salvation if they do penance, whereas elsewhere in these texts he tended to hold a darker view.Google Scholar

137 Commentariorum in Ionam Prophetam, Prologue , and 2:3, 2:11, ed. Adriaen, M., CCL 76 (Turnhout, 1969): 377, 394, 403.Google Scholar

138 Matt. 12:39–40; Epistulae, ep. 102.6.30–34, ed. Goldbacher, A., CSEL 34 (Vienna, 1895): 570–74.Google Scholar

139 “Ionas autem propheta non tarn sermone Christum, quam sua quadam passione prophetauit, profecto apertius, quam si eius mortem et resurrectionem uoce clamaret. Ut quid enim exceptus est uentre beluino et die tertio redditus, nisi ut significaret Christum de prof undo inferni die tertio rediturum?” ( De Civitate Dei 18.30, ed. Dombart, Bernard and Kalb, Alphonse, CCL 48 [Turnhout, 1955]: 621).Google Scholar

140 For example in the intricate set of typological analogies worked out in parallel by Peter Chrysologus in his allegorical sermon 37, ed. Olivar, Alexander, CCL 24 (Turnhout, 1975): 211–15; and the extended allegorization in an Easter sermon included in the collection Eusebius “Gallicanus,” Collectio Homiliarum, hom. 13.6–8, ed. Leroy, J. and Glorie, Fr., CCL 101 (Turnhout, 1970): 157–60. Peter did not share Ambrose's limited optimism about the salvation of the Jews expressed in Expositio evangelii secundum Lucam. See above, n. 136.Google Scholar

141 Expositio Psalmorum, Ps. 85:17, ed. Adriaen, M, CCL 98: 787–88.Google Scholar

142 3 (1) Kings 19:16–20; 4 (2) Kings 2:1–15.Google Scholar

143 Anderson, Semple, eds., Poems and Letters , 1: 245, n. 3; Loyen, ed., Poèmes, Lettres, 1: 191, n. 9.Google Scholar

144 “To tear off one's travelling cloak, i.e to urge, press, solicit one to stay,” as defined in Lewis and Short, Diet.: scindo, usage Ib, which cites a letter from Cicero. In it he admits that, though he unenthusiastically extended hospitality to a late-arriving visitor, he did so without tearing off his traveling cloak: “egi ut non ‘scinderem paenulam”’ ( Letters to Atticus 13, 33a, 4, trans. Winstedt, E. O., 3 vols., Loeb Classical Library [London 1918], 3: 178).Google Scholar

145 Quique duplex quondam uenisti in pectus Helisei, Thesbiten cum forte senem iam flammeus axis tolleret et scissam linquens pro munere pellem hispidus ardentes auriga intraret habenas (lines 31–34).Google Scholar

146 See Hervé, Père de l'Incarnation, “Élie chez les Pères,” 200–207, esp. 205–6. For the wide range of typological associations for Elijah's many attributed activities before his ascension see Wessel, K., “Elias,” Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum 4 (1959): 1150–51.Google Scholar

147 “Ascension of Christ,” Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church , 112–13.Google Scholar

148 The oldest known Elijah cycle in art is from the third century at Dura-Europos. Lively scenes of his ascension became frequent in Roman burial art. Moritz Woelk regards them as often types of Christ's Ascension (“Elijah: VII. Ikonographisch,” LThK , 3d ed. [1995], 3: 598).Google Scholar

149 See Expositio Evangelii Secundum Lucam 6.96, CCL 14: 208; De Paenitentia 1.8.34, ed. Faller, Otto, CSEL 73 (1955): 136; De Fide 4.1.8, CSEL 78: 160.Google Scholar

150 Caesarius of Aries, sermon 124.6, ed. Morin, Germanus, CCL 103 (1953): 518; Père Hervé regards this sermon as the most complete patristic typological interpretation of the many episodes in Elijah's life (“Élie chez les Pères,” 201).Google Scholar

151 Gregory, Pope I formulated a concise, closely reasoned comparison of the ascensions of Enoch, Elijah, and Jesus in which he presented the first two in a sequence of increasing distinction pointing allegorically toward Christ's uniquely important Ascension ( Homiliae in Evangelia 29.6, ed. Étaix, Raymond, CCL 141: 250–51). Isidore of Seville stated the allegorical relationship simply: “Elias Christum demonstrat, quia sicut igneo curru ad superna sublatus est, ita Christus ministeriis angelorum assumptus est in coelum” (Allegoriae quaedam sacrae scripturae, no. 95, PL 83: 113).Google Scholar

152 Cazelles, H., “Élie,” Catholicisme 4 (1956): 9.Google Scholar

153 The carvings had been completed by 440. Of the eighteen panels that have survived from the original twenty-eight, the five scenes from the Old Testament, as described by Lucchesi-Palli, Elisabetta, are “the most developed and richest in narrative elements. The Ascension of Elijah … is iconographically amplified by narrative and picturesque details that do not appear in other monuments” (“Door from Sta. Sabina, Rome, with Old and New Testament Scenes,” in Weitzmann, Kurt, ed., Age of Spirituality , 486). The Ascension of Christ is the only subject among the New Testament panels that is developed in detail. The panels do not appear today in their original order and relationship, but the pairing of the miracles of Moses and Christ and of the two ascensions, in Lucchesi-Palli's opinion, suggests that the original order of Old and New Testament scenes presented parallelisms (ibid., 488). A photograph of the carving of Christ's Ascension appears with Lucchesi-Palli's article, plate no. 438 (left). The transmission of the mantle is emphasized in the Elijah panel; see photograph in “Elijah [Elia?],” New Catholic Encyclopedia (1967–89) 5: 272.Google Scholar

154 In the Vulgate, Eliseus's request appears as “obsecro ut fiat duplex spiritus tuus in me” (Weber, , Biblia Sacra , 1: 504).Google Scholar

155 For example Augustine, tract. 4.6 and 74.2, In Iohannis Euangelium Tractatus CXXIV , ed. Willems, Radbod, CCL 36 (Turnhout, 1954): 33–35, esp. lines 5–6; 513–14, esp. lines 29–34; and De Trinitate Libri XV, 5.14 (15), ed. Mountain, W. J. and Glorie, Fr., CCL 50 (Turnhout, 1968): 223, lines 19–27.Google Scholar

156 Catechesis 14.25, Cyrilli Hierosolymorum archiepiscopi opera quae supersunt omnia , ed. Reischl, W. C. and Rupp, J., 2 vols. (Munich, 1848–60; reprinted Hildesheim, 1967), 2: 142–43; older edition with Latin translation PG 33: 857 C-860 A.Google Scholar

157 “Sermon on the Ascension of our Lord, Jesus Christ” 2.5, PG 50: 450.Google Scholar

158 Augustine, , tract. 74.2, Tractatus , ed. Willems, , CCL 36: 513–14.Google Scholar

159 Eusebius “Gallicanus,” Colledio homiliarum, hom. 35. 6, CCL 101: 405, lines 98–100. As abbots of Lérins, Honoratus and Maximus were immediate predecessors of Faustus. Sidonius refers knowledgeably to both of them in the Euchariston (lines 112, 127–28) and to Maximus in ep. 8.14.2. Jill Harries has drawn attention to what she has called “the ambience of Lérins, in which Sidonius was to move from the 460s onwards (if not earlier)” (Sidonius, 36). See also on the permeating influence of Lérins in ways that indirectly and directly affected him (ibid., 41–42, 44, 52), and on the abbots Honoratus and Maximus, respectively the bestower and receiver of the symbolic gift of the pallium (41, 181).Google Scholar

160 Quique etiam Heliam terris missure secundum Zachariae iusti linguam placate ligasti, dum faceret serum rugosa puerpera patrem, edita significans iusso reticere propheta, gratia cum fulsit, nosset se ut lex tacituram (lines 35–39).Google Scholar

161 Although the association made by Sidonius had already been developed, Peter Chrysologus did not include it specifically in any of the several extant sermons that he devoted to Zechariah a few decades before Sidonius wrote Carmen 16. However, he made a similar allegorical point. When he wished to locate Zechariah at the end of Jewish prophecy he noted that his entrance into the Temple toward evening to pray pointed to the setting of the sun in the Temple and its rising in the Church in the dawn to follow. The texts that he cited were among others that, from the perspective of St. Paul (2 Cor. 3:12–18), signified that the Christian dispensation had revealed the inner meaning of Old Testament texts whose message had been hidden from the Jewish people. See de Lubac, , Exégèse médiévale , 1: 341–42.Google Scholar

162 Clement of Alexandria Protrepticus 10.1, ed. Marcovich, M., Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae , 34 (Leiden, 1995): 18; also as Le Protreptique 2d rev. ed., ed. and trans. Mondésert, Claude and Plassart, André, SC 2 (Paris, 1949): 65.Google Scholar

163 “Silentium Zachariae silentium prophetarum est in populo Israhel. Nequaquam loquitur eis Deus, et sermo, qui a principio erat apud Patrem Deus, ad nos transiit, nobisque non tacet Christus, apud illos usque hodie silet: quamobrem et Zacharias propheta tacuit” (Origen, In Lucam Homilia 5.1, ed. and trans. Crouzel, Henri, Fournier, François, and Perichon, Piérre, SC 87 [Paris, 1962]: 136).Google Scholar

164 Ambrose, Expositio evangelii secundum Lucam 1.40, CCL 14: 26.Google Scholar

165 “Intelligendum est significasse quod prophetia usque ad Iohannem tamquam sileret a sono intellegibili, quia non est intellecta, donec in domino compleretur” ( Quaestiones euangeliorum cum appendice quaestionum XVI in Matthaeum 2.1, ed. Mutzenbecher, Almut, CCL 44B [1980]: 41, lines 19–21).Google Scholar

166 “Zacharias sacerdos, qui, angelo jubente, obmutuit … silentium legis et prophetarum, adveniente Christi, ostendit” (Isidore of Seville Allegoriae quaedam sacrae scripturae , no. 140, PL 83: 117).Google Scholar

167 Quique etiam nascens ex virgine semine nullo, ante ullum tempus deus atque in tempore Christus, ad corpus quantum spectat, tu te ipse creasti (lines 40–42).Google Scholar

168 See above, 28, 64–65.Google Scholar

169 Sidonius , 109.Google Scholar

170 Smulders, , Dictionnaire de Spiritualité , 4: 1277; citing Expositio in ps. 118, 10, ed. Petschenig, M., CSEL 62 (Vienna, 1913): 212–14.Google Scholar

171 De Trinitate 2.5.9, CCL 50: 90–91.Google Scholar

172 Several components of the theology of salvation presented by Sidonius can be found in Pelikan's analysis of the subject. See Emergence of the Catholic Tradition , 141–52.Google Scholar

173 Anderson's translation.Google Scholar

174 “Chirographon illud, quo peruasus homo est, haec compensatio rupit” (lines 56–57), relating to Col. 2:14: “delens quod adversum nos erat chirographum decretis quod erat contrarium nobis.” Google Scholar

175 Anderson, and Semple, , eds., Poems and Letters , 1: 246, n. 1. He also admits that Sidonius may have known and intended to convey a patristic interpretation of “pervasus” in the phrase quoted above (ibid., n. 2). In an extensive search of indices that have appeared since Anderson's time for patristic texts, I have found nothing that suggests a specific source for Sidonius's formulation.Google Scholar

176 The following two paragraphs draw on lines 91–126; the quotations are from Anderson's translation of lines 95–98 and 124–26.Google Scholar

177 13.2–4, 16.3, ed. Koetschau, , GCS Origenes 2: 326–29, 337–38.Google Scholar

178 Sidonius , 109, and see further 112–14. See also her opinion that “Sidonius as a writer [is] a subject which deserves, and still awaits, a special study” (p. vi).Google Scholar

179 Eucherius Formulae , chap. 10, p. 60.Google Scholar

180 Expositio Psalmorum , Ps. 8:10, ed. Adriaen, M., CCL 97 (Turnout, 1958): 95–96. The other two associations were with David as Jesse's eighth son, and the day when the Jews were purified by circumcision, neither of them seemingly relevant here. For patristic and specifically St. Augustine's extensive interest in numerology, see Most, William G., “The Scriptural Basis of St. Augustine's Arithmology,” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 13 (1951): 284–95, esp. 284–86.Google Scholar

181 1 Pet. 3:21: ὃ χαὶ ὑμας ἀντίτυπον νυν σώζ∊ι βάπτισμα.Google Scholar

182 See Davies, J. G., The Architectural Setting of Baptism (London, 1962), 2–5, 18–21, who emphasizes the symbolic relevance of “eight” as a type for the Resurrection; Sebastian Ristow, “Frühchristliche Baptisterien,” Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum, supplementary vol. 27 (1998): 17–19, 49; also no. 211, p. 147 for the possibility of a fifth-century date for the baptistery at Riez. Engemann, Josef, “Baptisterium,” LThK 3d rev. ed. 1 (1993): 1397 provides a recent summary with select bibliography.Google Scholar