THE SYRIAC DIALOGUE "SOCRATES." 



A Study in Syrian Philosophy.^ 



By WM. ROMAINE NEWBOLD. 

 (Read April 2^3, 1914.) 



In 1858 Paul de Lagarde published in his " Analecta Syriaca " 

 a short dialogue entitled " Socrates." The only known copy is 

 found in that precious Nitrian codex of the British Museum (Add. 

 14658) which also contains, besides other philosophical works, the 

 only existing texts of the Bardaisanian " Book of the Laws of the 

 Countries " and " The Oration of Melito before Antoninus Caesar." 

 Notwithstanding the unusual intrinsic interest of the " Socrates," 

 it has been, so far as I have been able to ascertain, quite ignored 

 since its publication. I have seen no translation of the text nor any 

 discussion of the problems which it presents except a brief and mis- 

 leading statement by Renan (in Duval, "La Litterature Syriaque," 

 p. 270) .- It has not been republished and the original edition is now 

 difficult to obtain. 



1 This paper was read before the American Philosophical Society in 

 April, 1914, but publication was deferred in anticipation of the appearance of 

 Mr. Mitchell's second volume (see note 5) which was promised for Septem- 

 ber of 1914, but was prevented by the outbreak of the war. As this now 

 seems to have been indefinitely delayed, I have decided to publish my tentative 

 conclusions. 



- Soon after this paper was written my friend, Mr. Robert Pierpont 

 Blake, brought to my attention V. Ryssel's paper " Der pseudosocratische 

 Dialog iiber die Seele," in Rhein. Mus., N. F., Vol. 48, pp. 175-95. Ryssel 

 gives a translation, suggests some emendations and adds a few footnotes 

 but does not attempt a systematic interpretation. He thinks it a translation 

 from the Greek and attributes the translation to Sergius of Ras'ain (d. A.D. 

 536), who was the translator of other texts in the same volume. Whether the 

 dialogue was originally written in Greek or Syriac is a question upon which 

 I have not formed a definite opinion, but I am inclined to think it was 

 Syriac. The style as a whole is singularily idiomatic and the occurrence of 

 Greek words and constructions is not conclusive evidence to the contrary in 

 a work obviously imitated from Greek models. The atmosphere is purely 



99 



