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https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4680#0186
App. CHRISTIAN INSCRIPTIONS. 517
to (fjv (pepei 291). The incorrectness here is a sign that they were
quoted from the popular mouth, and that the Christians in Phrygia
did not separate themselves absolutely from Hellenic civilization. The
educated section of the population was, on the whole, that which turned
first to Christianity: the unthinking mob of the great Greek cities, and
the uneducated rustic population, were the last to be affected by it. But
the Greek of the Christian inscriptions is undoubtedly worse than that of
the ordinary pagan epitaphs, containing more late forms and more false
spelling. In this respect they justify the complaint of Aristides about
the shocking Greek used by the Christians \ At the same time the
Christian epitaphs are more ambitious, and introduce novelties and a wider
range of topics. It was not the completely hellenized and most highly
educated persons that were open to the new religion, but those who were
in process of shaking off the old oriental characteristics, and who, being in
a state of change, were open to all kinds of new influences.
M. Le Blant II p. 95 is much shocked by a small number of Christian
inscriptions in Gaul, which contain sentiments of a quite Epicurean type,
e. g. hie requiescit in pace Mercasto qui floreutem aevum LX egit per annos,
jticundam vitam haec per tempora duxit, or per omnia lautus inter aniicos, or
Yalentinianus legenti dixit ' divitias (Ji^abes, fruere; si non potis, dona.'
He is inclined to explain them as the epitaphs of such Christians as gave
way to the luxury and debauchery of pagan life, those who are rebuked
by St. Paul 1 Cor. xv 32, Clemens Alex. Paedag. Ill 11, Jerome Pp. XXII
ad Pustoch. § 29. But it is not usually the case that persons who sink
below the standard of their society and religion blazon their manners on
their tomb. Those who put such inscriptions on their graves surely
intended them as profession of their principles of life; and we should
rather look for some Christian sect, some eclectic school of thought, whose
adherents boasted designedly of their philosophical religion on their
gravestones. In Phrygia there was no chasm separating the Chr. from
Greek culture; and it is natural that some should go further than others
in the adoption and assimilation of Greek philosophic sentiment. The
concluding words of this inscr. represent the most outlying caste of Chr.
sentiment, approximating to no. 232, no. 206, and no. 343, which repre-
sent a similar outlying type of non-Chr. sentiment.
The term fjpwov, which strictly is a pagan term implying a pagan
religious idea, passed into Christian usage 2. Constantine Porphyrogenitus
uses it to denote the tomb of Justinian (Cerim. Aul. Pyz. I p. 644 Ed.
1 Arist. v-iTip Tav TiTTtipav (II pp. 400 f Kirclie pp. 35 f. Above, p. 486.
DincL). See Church in R. E. pp. 352 ff, - See CIG 9182, 9275.
Neumann der rum. Staat und die allgem.
to (fjv (pepei 291). The incorrectness here is a sign that they were
quoted from the popular mouth, and that the Christians in Phrygia
did not separate themselves absolutely from Hellenic civilization. The
educated section of the population was, on the whole, that which turned
first to Christianity: the unthinking mob of the great Greek cities, and
the uneducated rustic population, were the last to be affected by it. But
the Greek of the Christian inscriptions is undoubtedly worse than that of
the ordinary pagan epitaphs, containing more late forms and more false
spelling. In this respect they justify the complaint of Aristides about
the shocking Greek used by the Christians \ At the same time the
Christian epitaphs are more ambitious, and introduce novelties and a wider
range of topics. It was not the completely hellenized and most highly
educated persons that were open to the new religion, but those who were
in process of shaking off the old oriental characteristics, and who, being in
a state of change, were open to all kinds of new influences.
M. Le Blant II p. 95 is much shocked by a small number of Christian
inscriptions in Gaul, which contain sentiments of a quite Epicurean type,
e. g. hie requiescit in pace Mercasto qui floreutem aevum LX egit per annos,
jticundam vitam haec per tempora duxit, or per omnia lautus inter aniicos, or
Yalentinianus legenti dixit ' divitias (Ji^abes, fruere; si non potis, dona.'
He is inclined to explain them as the epitaphs of such Christians as gave
way to the luxury and debauchery of pagan life, those who are rebuked
by St. Paul 1 Cor. xv 32, Clemens Alex. Paedag. Ill 11, Jerome Pp. XXII
ad Pustoch. § 29. But it is not usually the case that persons who sink
below the standard of their society and religion blazon their manners on
their tomb. Those who put such inscriptions on their graves surely
intended them as profession of their principles of life; and we should
rather look for some Christian sect, some eclectic school of thought, whose
adherents boasted designedly of their philosophical religion on their
gravestones. In Phrygia there was no chasm separating the Chr. from
Greek culture; and it is natural that some should go further than others
in the adoption and assimilation of Greek philosophic sentiment. The
concluding words of this inscr. represent the most outlying caste of Chr.
sentiment, approximating to no. 232, no. 206, and no. 343, which repre-
sent a similar outlying type of non-Chr. sentiment.
The term fjpwov, which strictly is a pagan term implying a pagan
religious idea, passed into Christian usage 2. Constantine Porphyrogenitus
uses it to denote the tomb of Justinian (Cerim. Aul. Pyz. I p. 644 Ed.
1 Arist. v-iTip Tav TiTTtipav (II pp. 400 f Kirclie pp. 35 f. Above, p. 486.
DincL). See Church in R. E. pp. 352 ff, - See CIG 9182, 9275.
Neumann der rum. Staat und die allgem.