12. When Turbo had made this
statement, Archelaus was intensely excited; but Marcellus remained
unmoved, for he expected that God would come to the help of His
truth. Archelaus, however, had additional cares in his anxiety
about the people, like the shepherd who becomes concerned for his sheep
when secret perils threaten them from the wolves. Accordingly
Marcellus loaded Turbo with the most liberal gifts, and instructed him
to remain in the house of Archelaus the bishop.1537
| 1537
The words, the bishop, are omitted in the Codex
Bobiensis. |
But on that selfsame day Manes
arrived, bringing along with him certain chosen
youths and
virgins to
the number of twenty-two.
1538
| 1538 But
Codex Bobiensis gives duodecim, twelve. |
And first of all he sought for
Turbo at the
door of the
house of Marcellus; and on failing to find him
there, he went in to salute Marcellus. On seeing him, Marcellus
at first was struck with astonishment at the costume in which he
presented himself. For he wore a
kind of shoe which is usually
called in common
speech the quadrisole;
1539
| 1539 But
the Codex Bobiensis gives trisolium, the trisole. Strabo,
book xv., tells us that the Persians wore high shoes. |
he had also a party-coloured cloak, of a
somewhat airy
1540
| 1540
Aërina, sky-like. [This portrait seems from life.] |
appearance; in his
hand he grasped a very sturdy
staff of ebony-
wood;
1541
| 1541
Ducange in his Glossary, under the word Εβέλλινος,
shows from Callisthenes that the prophets or interpreters of sacred
things carried an ebony staff. [Ezek. xxvii. 15; Routh, p.
71.] |
he carried a Babylonian book under his left
arm; his legs were swathed in trousers of different colours, the one
being
red, and the other green as a leek; and his whole mien was like
that of some old Persian master and commandant.
1542
| 1542 The
text is, “vultus vero ut senis Persæ artificis et bellorum
ducis videbatur.” Philippus Buonarruotius, in the
Osservazioni sopra alcuni frammenti di vasi antichi di Vetro,
Florence, 1716, p. 69, thinks that this rendering has arisen from the
Latin translator’s having erroneously read ὡς
δημιουργοῦ
καὶ
στρατηγοῦ instead
of ὡς δημάρχου
καὶ
στρατηγοῦ.
Taking στρατηγοῦ, therefore, in the civil sense which it bears in various passages, he
would interpret the sentence thus: “His whole mien was like
that of an old Persian tribune and magistrate.” See
Gallandi’s note [in Routh, p. 71]. |
Thereupon Marcellus sent forthwith
for
Archelaus, who arrived so quickly as almost to outstrip the word,
and on entering was greatly tempted at once to
break out against him,
being
provoked to that instantly by the very sight of his costume and
his
appearance, though more especially also by the fact that he had
himself been turning over in his
mind in his retirement
1543
| 1543 The
text is secretius factum, etc. Routh suggests secretius
factus, etc. |
the various
matters which he had
learned from the recital of Turbo, and had thus
come carefully prepared. But Marcellus, in his great
thoughtfulness, repressed all
zeal for mere wrangling, and decided to
hear both parties. With that view he invited the leading men of
the city; and from among them he selected as judges
of the
discussion certain adherents of the Gentile
religion, four in
number. The names of these umpires were as follows:
Manippus, a person deeply versed in the art of grammar and the
practice
of rhetoric; Ægialeus,
1544
| 1544 The
Codex Bobiensis reads “Ægidius.” |
a very eminent
physician, and a man of the highest
reputation for
learning; and Claudius and Cleobolus,
1545
| 1545
Epiphanius gives Κλεόβουλος. |
two
brothers famed as
rhetoricians.
1546
| 1546 Codex
Casinensis reads rectores, governors. And Epiphanius, num.
10, makes the first a professor of Gentile philosophy, the second a
physician, the third a grammarian, and the fourth a rhetorician. |
A splendid
assemblage was thus convened; so large, indeed, that the house of
Marcellus, which was of immense size, was filled with those who had
been called to be hearers. And when the parties who proposed to
speak in opposition to each other had taken their places in view of all,
then those who had been elected as judges took their seats in a
position elevated above all others: and the task of commencing
the disputation was assigned to Manes. Accordingly, when silence
was secured, he began
1547
| 1547 For
primum the Codex Casinensis reads plurima, = he began a
lengthened statement, etc. |
the discussion in the following terms:
1548
| 1548 Thus
far Valesius edited the piece from the Codex Bobiensis. |
—
E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
