DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49369#0073
NOTE ON OTHER FRAGMENTS OF THE ACTS OF PAUL 55
Lipsius (ii. 446) has a note on these lines, which, in part, he believes to refer to
the Acts of Paul and Thecla. But it will be well to go into the matter somewhat
more in detail. The object of the poet is to collect instances of speech being given
to animals or human beings in a miraculous manner. His first example is the
story of Balaam’s ass: the second, of the dog and Simon Magus, is drawn from the
Actus Petri Vercellenses (ix.—xii., pp. 56—60) : the third (11. 627, 8) may refer to
one or to two incidents in the Acts of Paul, according as various readings are
adopted. The text adopted by Bombart gives this sense: ‘For Paul when
preaching, in order that many might speak concerning him, God made a lion speak
to the people with a human voice.’ Here we read multi (with the unique MS.),
and make one sentence of the two lines. Another view, apparently supported by
Pitra, Hilgenfeld, Ludwig and Lipsius, substitutes muti for multi and would
translate thus : ‘ God brought it about for Paul when preaching, that dumb
persons spoke concerning him : He also made a lion speak, etc.’ A third con-
jecture suggests itself to me ; in 624 Pitra suggested muti or muli for the supposed
multi of the MS. To me it seems quite likely that in 627 muli may be the right
reading: and for a parallel to such an event we may refer to the Acta Thomae
(Bonnet, pp. 52—54), where an ovaypos speaks for a whole page. But whether
muti or muli be read, I think that the interpretation which makes two events, and
not one, to be mentioned is the right one. And I take it that we have here
allusions to two events in the Acts of Paul. Lipsius, relying mainly on Jerome’s
allusion to the ‘ fabula de baptizato leone,’ sees in 1. 628 a reference to an unex-
purgated text of the Acts of Paul and Thecla, which we no longer possess : Zahn
(1. c. p. 897) gives what seem good reasons for believing that no such episode ever
occurred in that book. And indeed it seems more likely that some story like that
of the Ephesian lion (in Nicephorus) is in Commodian’s mind.
In line 629 our poet probably returns to the Actus Petri Vercellenses, where, in
c. xv. (p. 61), an infant seven months old speaks, and refutes Simon Magus. But
a similar incident may very probably have occurred also in the Acts of Paul.
So much for Commodian’s contribution. Another possible trace of the Acta
Pauli is to be found in the Acts of Titus by Zenas. The fullest form of this book
known to me is an epitome contained in Cocl. Par. Gr. 548, f. 192—196, which I
read, but did not copy, in 1890. The Menaea give a much shorter analysis, and
this latter was the only material accessible to Lipsius (iii. 401). Among the facts
not given in the Menaea are these: that Paul when preaching at Damascus cast a
devil out of Apphia, the wife of the governor (another noble matron, be it noted) ;
that Titus accompanied Paul on the first missionary journey, and that at Ephesus
Paul fought (έθηρίομάχησεν) with a lion. In this last clause undoubted use of the
Acts of Paul is made ; and it is surely a most probable conjecture—if not some-
thing more—that the cure of Apphia (who has no connection with Titus) was
described in the lost book as well. After the incident at Ephesus, the story takes
us to Crete, and from that point is either pure fiction or local legend.
A third source, as yet not examined, which may yield fragments of these Acts,
is the Arabic (and Ethiopia) life of Paul. In the late and corrupt MS. from which
Mr Malan translated his Conflicts of the Holy Apostles, only the Martyrdom of Paul
was narrated; but in Nicoll and Pusey’s Cat. MSS. Or. Boell., No. xlix. of the
Christian Arabic MSS. has on If. 99—103 a Praedicatio Apostoli Pauli electi, et
quid per eum egerit Deus in urbe dicta Ignorantiae: and in Wright’s Catalogue of
Lipsius (ii. 446) has a note on these lines, which, in part, he believes to refer to
the Acts of Paul and Thecla. But it will be well to go into the matter somewhat
more in detail. The object of the poet is to collect instances of speech being given
to animals or human beings in a miraculous manner. His first example is the
story of Balaam’s ass: the second, of the dog and Simon Magus, is drawn from the
Actus Petri Vercellenses (ix.—xii., pp. 56—60) : the third (11. 627, 8) may refer to
one or to two incidents in the Acts of Paul, according as various readings are
adopted. The text adopted by Bombart gives this sense: ‘For Paul when
preaching, in order that many might speak concerning him, God made a lion speak
to the people with a human voice.’ Here we read multi (with the unique MS.),
and make one sentence of the two lines. Another view, apparently supported by
Pitra, Hilgenfeld, Ludwig and Lipsius, substitutes muti for multi and would
translate thus : ‘ God brought it about for Paul when preaching, that dumb
persons spoke concerning him : He also made a lion speak, etc.’ A third con-
jecture suggests itself to me ; in 624 Pitra suggested muti or muli for the supposed
multi of the MS. To me it seems quite likely that in 627 muli may be the right
reading: and for a parallel to such an event we may refer to the Acta Thomae
(Bonnet, pp. 52—54), where an ovaypos speaks for a whole page. But whether
muti or muli be read, I think that the interpretation which makes two events, and
not one, to be mentioned is the right one. And I take it that we have here
allusions to two events in the Acts of Paul. Lipsius, relying mainly on Jerome’s
allusion to the ‘ fabula de baptizato leone,’ sees in 1. 628 a reference to an unex-
purgated text of the Acts of Paul and Thecla, which we no longer possess : Zahn
(1. c. p. 897) gives what seem good reasons for believing that no such episode ever
occurred in that book. And indeed it seems more likely that some story like that
of the Ephesian lion (in Nicephorus) is in Commodian’s mind.
In line 629 our poet probably returns to the Actus Petri Vercellenses, where, in
c. xv. (p. 61), an infant seven months old speaks, and refutes Simon Magus. But
a similar incident may very probably have occurred also in the Acts of Paul.
So much for Commodian’s contribution. Another possible trace of the Acta
Pauli is to be found in the Acts of Titus by Zenas. The fullest form of this book
known to me is an epitome contained in Cocl. Par. Gr. 548, f. 192—196, which I
read, but did not copy, in 1890. The Menaea give a much shorter analysis, and
this latter was the only material accessible to Lipsius (iii. 401). Among the facts
not given in the Menaea are these: that Paul when preaching at Damascus cast a
devil out of Apphia, the wife of the governor (another noble matron, be it noted) ;
that Titus accompanied Paul on the first missionary journey, and that at Ephesus
Paul fought (έθηρίομάχησεν) with a lion. In this last clause undoubted use of the
Acts of Paul is made ; and it is surely a most probable conjecture—if not some-
thing more—that the cure of Apphia (who has no connection with Titus) was
described in the lost book as well. After the incident at Ephesus, the story takes
us to Crete, and from that point is either pure fiction or local legend.
A third source, as yet not examined, which may yield fragments of these Acts,
is the Arabic (and Ethiopia) life of Paul. In the late and corrupt MS. from which
Mr Malan translated his Conflicts of the Holy Apostles, only the Martyrdom of Paul
was narrated; but in Nicoll and Pusey’s Cat. MSS. Or. Boell., No. xlix. of the
Christian Arabic MSS. has on If. 99—103 a Praedicatio Apostoli Pauli electi, et
quid per eum egerit Deus in urbe dicta Ignorantiae: and in Wright’s Catalogue of