DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49369#0068
•50 THE ACTS OF XANTHIPPE AND POLYXENA
three chapters are occupied with the departure of Paul from Rome
for Spain, and with incidents connected with it1. The following
quotations (from c. i.) are to the purpose: and the odd Latin of
the document must not excite surprise : ‘Pauli tempus demorantis
Romae et multos confirmantis in fide, contigit etiam quendam
nomine Candidam, uxorem Quarti a praeclusionibus, audire Paulum
et intueri sermonibus illius et credere.’ Quartus was also con-
verted, and gave Paul permission to leave the city. ‘Et ieiunans
triduo Paulus et petens a domino quod aptum sibi esset, uidit
itaque uisionem, dicentem sibi dominum : Paule, surge, et qui in
Spania sunt corpori tuo (sic: Lipsius conjectures ‘ conpariturus’)
medicus esto.’2
From c. iv. onwards, Paul disappears, and Peter is the hero of
the book. To my mind we have in the words quoted above a
clear instance of the dovetailing of the Peter legend into that of
Paul. The destiny of the latter is left hanging in the air: he sets
out on his voyage, and after having been for a brief four pages the
hero, he entirely vanishes. Surely this implies that in some other
book, whether a work contemplated by the same author, or one
already in his readers’ hands, information was to be found as to
what Paul did when he got to Spain, and what happened to him
after that. What book save the Acts of Paul could have contained
that information ?
Further, whatever be the true meaning of the corrupt clause
in the Muratorian Fragment which relates to the Acts, it seems
clear enough that the author knew of books in which the ‘ passio
Petri ’ and the ‘ profectio Pauli ab urbe ad Spaniam proficiscentis ’
were set forth in detail: and these books must surely have been
Acts of Peter and Acts of Paul.
Now the novel before us contains one large episode of Paul’s
Spanish journey: cc. i.—xxii. tell the story of the conversion of
Xanthippe and Probus by his means. And, as I hope to be able
to shew more dearly in the course of this discussion, the relation
of our author to his earlier authorities is such that this episode
may be reasonably regarded as an amplification of one in the
1 Acta Petri et Pauli, ed. Lipsius, p. 45.
2 The occurrence of another noble convert, Candida, is to be noticed : on p. 48
two matrons, Berenice and Filostrate, occur.
three chapters are occupied with the departure of Paul from Rome
for Spain, and with incidents connected with it1. The following
quotations (from c. i.) are to the purpose: and the odd Latin of
the document must not excite surprise : ‘Pauli tempus demorantis
Romae et multos confirmantis in fide, contigit etiam quendam
nomine Candidam, uxorem Quarti a praeclusionibus, audire Paulum
et intueri sermonibus illius et credere.’ Quartus was also con-
verted, and gave Paul permission to leave the city. ‘Et ieiunans
triduo Paulus et petens a domino quod aptum sibi esset, uidit
itaque uisionem, dicentem sibi dominum : Paule, surge, et qui in
Spania sunt corpori tuo (sic: Lipsius conjectures ‘ conpariturus’)
medicus esto.’2
From c. iv. onwards, Paul disappears, and Peter is the hero of
the book. To my mind we have in the words quoted above a
clear instance of the dovetailing of the Peter legend into that of
Paul. The destiny of the latter is left hanging in the air: he sets
out on his voyage, and after having been for a brief four pages the
hero, he entirely vanishes. Surely this implies that in some other
book, whether a work contemplated by the same author, or one
already in his readers’ hands, information was to be found as to
what Paul did when he got to Spain, and what happened to him
after that. What book save the Acts of Paul could have contained
that information ?
Further, whatever be the true meaning of the corrupt clause
in the Muratorian Fragment which relates to the Acts, it seems
clear enough that the author knew of books in which the ‘ passio
Petri ’ and the ‘ profectio Pauli ab urbe ad Spaniam proficiscentis ’
were set forth in detail: and these books must surely have been
Acts of Peter and Acts of Paul.
Now the novel before us contains one large episode of Paul’s
Spanish journey: cc. i.—xxii. tell the story of the conversion of
Xanthippe and Probus by his means. And, as I hope to be able
to shew more dearly in the course of this discussion, the relation
of our author to his earlier authorities is such that this episode
may be reasonably regarded as an amplification of one in the
1 Acta Petri et Pauli, ed. Lipsius, p. 45.
2 The occurrence of another noble convert, Candida, is to be noticed : on p. 48
two matrons, Berenice and Filostrate, occur.