Feb. 22. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



139 



holy Martyr. But nearly seventy years more elapsed 

 before any edition of these Epistles in Greek was 

 printed. In 1557, Val, Paceus published twelve," &c. 



Two connected Queries may be founded upon 

 this statement: — (1.) Is not Mr. Cureton un- 

 doubtedly in error with respect to the year 1495 ? 

 for, if we may believe Orlandi, Maittaire, Fabri- 

 cius (-6. 6^.), and Ceillier, the three Latin Epistles 

 above named had been set forth previously at 

 Cologne, in 1478. (2.) By what mysterious 

 species of arithmetic can it be demonstrated that 

 "nearly seventy years" elapsed between 1498 and 

 1557 ? The process must be a somewhat similar 

 one to that by which "a.d. 360" is made equi- 

 valent to " ?ivQ-a.\xA.-twenti) years after the Council 

 of Nice." (Pref., p. xxxiv ) In the former in- 

 stance " seventy " is hardly a literal translation of 

 Bishop Pearson's '■'■ sexaginta:" but whether these 

 miscalculations have been already adverted to, and 

 subsequently amended, or not, I cannot tell. 



(41.) In the same Prefiice (p. xxiv.) a very 

 strange argument was put forward, which, as we 

 may learn from the last Quarterly Revieiv, p. 79., 

 where it is satisfactorily refuted, has been since 

 repeated by Mr. Cureton. He maintains that the 

 Syriac text of the Ignatian Epistles cannot be an 

 epitome, because that "we know of no instances 

 of such abridgment in any Christian writer." To 

 commence with the West, — is not Mr. Cureton 

 acquainted with the manner in which Rulinus 

 dealt with the History of Eusebius ? Have we 

 here no specimens of abbreviation ; no allusion in 

 the prologue to " omissis quae videbantur super- 

 flua ? " Has Mr. C. never looked into that memo- 

 rable combination of the independent works of 

 three contemporaries, entitled i/i«toria Tripartita f 

 and, not to wander from the strictest bounds of 

 bibliography, will any one presume to boast of 

 having a copy of this book printed prior to 

 that noiv near me, (a spectacle which De Bure 

 could never get a sight of), " per loliannem 

 Schiiszler regie vrbis Augustensis ciuem," anno j 

 1472? But let us go to the East in search of 

 compendiums. Did not Theodorus Lector, early 

 in the sixth century, reduce into a harmony tlie 

 compositions of Socrates, Sozoinen, and Theo- i 

 doret ? How does Assemani speak of the first two 

 p.atts of the Ecclesiastical History of Zacharias 

 Rhetor, supposed to have been written in Syriac, 

 about the year 540 ? " Prima est epitome Socratis, 

 altera Theodoreti." (Bibliuth. Orient., torn. ii. 

 cap. vii.) On this occasion, manifestly, ancient 

 records are encountered in an abridged Syriac 

 form ; a circumstance which will not strengtlien 

 the Curetonian theory relative to the text of the 

 Ignatian Epistles. Again, bearing in mind the 

 resemblance that exists between passages in the 

 interpolated Ej)istles and in the Apostolic Consti- 

 tutions, with the latter of which the Didasculia of 

 Ignatius seems to have been commingled, let us 



inquire. Did not Dr. Grabe, in his Essny upon the 

 Doctrine of the Apostles, published in 1711, unan- 

 swerably prove that the Syriac copy of this Dida- 

 scalia was much more contracted than the Arabic 

 one, or than the Greek Constitutions of the 

 Apostles ? Is it not true that extracted portions 

 of these Constitutions are found in si>me old MS. 

 collections of Canons ? Has not Cotelier furnished 

 us witli an " Epitome," compiled by jNIetaphrastes 

 from Clementine counterfeits, concerning the life 

 of S.Peter? And, to descend from the tenth to 

 the sixteenth century, are we not indebted to 

 Carolus Capellius for an " Epitome Apostolicarum 

 Coiistitidionum, in Creta instda repertarum" 4to., 

 Ingolstad. 1546 ? 



(42.) When Mr Merrtweathke (Vol. iii., p. 60.) 

 was seeking for monastic notices of extreme longe- 

 vity, did he always find it feasible to meet with 

 Ingulphus's History of Croyland Abbey "■ apud 

 IVIiarton, Anglia Sacra, 613?" and if it be not 

 enough to have read an account of an ecclesiastic 

 wlio is said to have attained to the delectable age of 

 ] 68 years, is it not questionable that anything will 

 suffice except it be the narrative of the Seven 

 Sleepers ? The third " Lectio" relating to these 

 Champions of Christendom, as it is given in a 

 Vatican MS , makes the period of their slumber to 

 have been about 370 years. Who was the author 

 of that finely-printed and illustrated quarto volume, 

 the Sanctorum Septem Dornnentium Historia, ex 

 Ectypis Miisei Victorii expressu, published, with 

 the lull approbation of the Censors, Roniie, 1741 ? 

 " Obscurus esse gestio " is his declaration about 

 himself (p. 63.). Has he remained incognito ? 



R. G. 



SHAKSPEAKe's " ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA." 



The first scene of the third act of Sliakspeare's 

 play of " Antony and Cleopatra," at first sight, ap- 

 pears to be totally unconnected with what goes 

 before and what follows. It may be observed that 

 the dramas founded on the Reman history are much 

 more regular in their construction than tliose 

 founded on the English history. Indeed, with re- 

 spect to the ilrama in question, I am not aware of 

 any scene, with the exception of that I have men- 

 tioned, which does not bear more or less on the 

 fortunes of the personages from whom the jilay 

 dei-ives its name. Hence I am led to conjecture 

 that the dramatist here alludes to some event of the 

 day, which was well known to his audience. The 

 speech of Ventidius seems to point to something of 

 the kind : 



" O Silius, Silius ! 

 1 have done enough : a lower place, note well. 

 May make too jrreat an act : for learn this, Silius ; 

 Better leave undone, than by our deed acquire 

 Too higli a fame, when him we serve's away," &c. 

 Some of your numerous readers will doubtless 



