and being accustomed to be weighed down by those very serious matters; if we are to stand, I say, by his judgment, this work was undoubtedly issued at Antioch: for, as we have said, it is counted among the more exquisite ones.
Nor is it proved by this one argument alone that our John adorned this work at Antioch. For we borrow another, more weighty one from the Commentary on the one hundred and tenth Psalm, where these things are read, at number 4: How many (miracles) occurred while Julian, who surpassed all in impiety, was reigning, while the Church was being attacked? How many while Maximinus was reigning? How many before these Emperors? But if you wish for those things also which have happened in our own generation; namely, the crosses suddenly impressed upon garments, the temple of Apollo cast down by lightning, the translation of the blessed martyr Babylas, who was at Daphne, and the open victory over the demon, the sudden and admirable death of the quaestor of the imperial treasury; the slaughter of the Emperor himself, I say, of Julian, who had surpassed all in impiety, and the destruction of his uncle, the swarms of worms. Here he recounts to the Antiochenes those things of which most were still living witnesses; and shortly after he speaks about the restoration of the Jerusalem temple undertaken by Julian; a thing which is also not rarely observed in those Homilies which he delivered at Antioch. Moreover, all those things are narrated in minute detail in that longer Oration on Saint Babylas, which was printed above in the second Volume.
Another argument seems to prove that these Expositions of the entire Psalter were adorned at Antioch, and not at Constantinople. For Chrysostom never issued a work requiring such leisure; a work, I say, put together with great labor, which could scarcely be contained in two ample volumes, if indeed it had come down to our age complete. But how could he have obtained such leisure at Constantinople, where, besides the usual duty of preaching, never neglected by that incomparable doctor, besides those episcopal cares in that chief and most populous diocese of the whole Orient, for the governing of which the holy prelate kept vigil with assiduous and indefatigable zeal, he was almost overwhelmed by other and those most serious matters happening crosswise? And how could he, in the space of six years, amidst so many tumults and cares, have adorned these such ample commentaries, having also explored the interpretations of the ancients?
Another indication we extract from the fact that he mentions monks, either as an example or for some other use. For that was customary at Antioch, in the vicinity of which monks had their dwellings on the mountains, and were celebrated for their holiness of life; it was not so at Constantinople. Here, however, he mentions monks more than once; as in the Exposition of Psalm 6, col. 71 and elsewhere.
§ II.— I. Concerning the method of interpretation of Chrysostom in these Expositions. II. Whether he spoke them in the presence of the people and by preaching.
I. Chrysostom, having been engaged throughout his whole life in the interpretation of the sacred Scriptures, here continues in his accustomed duty; he follows the letter in such a way that he does not place his chief study in that matter; but yet he often brings into the midst the readings of different Interpreters, always silently omitting the name of each. Furthermore, he does not linger much on these, but quickly passes over to the precepts of ethics and to the discipline of morals, in which matter you may admire his acrimony, invention, and eloquence: for these commentaries shine among the most excellent works of the incomparable preacher.
II. But a question is moved, whether Chrysostom spoke these Expositions in an assembly of the people, in the manner of one preaching, or whether he privately adorned them for his own use, or for his friends, or finally for readers who might wish to unroll books of this kind. In which matter I confess that there is no little difficulty, which, if it may be possible, we shall presently strive to solve and remove from the midst. But first, Tillemont is to be heard on that matter, to whose accuracy and diligence hardly anything can be added; what he said in the vulgar French idiom, we have translated thus into Latin:
« The Expositions of the Psalms which we have in the third Volume of Chrysostom are from the third to the twelfth; hence follows the Exposition of the forty-first; then from the forty-third to the forty-ninth; after that, from the one hundred and eighth to the one hundred and seventeenth; finally from the one hundred and nineteenth to the end. Moreover, all these are counted among those which are truly of Chrysostom. One must except, however, the Homily on the third Psalm, which by its style seems to differ much from the true works of Chrysostom, even if it has been mentioned by John of Damascus as if it were of John Chrysostom. But it is not found in an ancient collection which contains fifty-nine others, as can be seen in the table of the same Volume.
« Others seem to be commentaries rather than homilies, which latter, however (namely, the homilies), enjoy the inscription; sometimes, however, they approach the form of homilies. Chrysostom often brings forward the readings of the Hebrew exemplar and of other interpreters, which sometimes he explains, (but) more often he is content merely to have reported them. In many places he seems to be speaking in the church itself, and yet he attaches the explanations of the Psalms one to another, as if he were preparing those explanations in a single series. He seems to be speaking to men, not to hearers, but to those who were to read his writings. The Explanation of the one hundred and sixteenth Psalm is certainly too brief to be able to constitute a single sermon: a thing which may also be said of the one hundred and twenty-eighth, and of certain others; just as, on the contrary, some are longer than could be said at one time. When he explains the one hundred and twenty-first, he seems to mention something which he had said when, concerning the one hundred and