Chrysostom [has been] excluded. And what shall we say of A more than twenty years after the death of St. John Chrysostom?
JAC. BASNAGII ANIMADVERSION.
"We see," says the most learned man, "the beginning of the epistle which we have produced here, corresponding to the end of the former; but two comparisons are missing, whence it is clear that the copyist read the Epistle of Chrysostom differently than [it is found] in the editions and the Florentine manuscript." It might be responded that perhaps the second part ought to be attributed to another author, or is a fragment of another monument which was joined to the Epistle of Chrysostom by the omission of a title. I would not wish to affirm or deny [this], nor does time permit me to investigate this further. But the Codex does not favor this conjecture, for wherever some new writing or author offers itself, a new title always appears at the head. Furthermore, the two comparisons which are added correspond to the aim of the entire Epistle, and they excellently refute those who imagined that passion was attributed to the Divinity. Someone might say that that fragment does not correspond to the style of St. B Chrysostom. But the prior epistle also seems to me to be clearly different from the style of the same Saint Chrysostom. Thus far Maffei. The rest, so that it may be reduced to a summary, and because matters of less weight, can be read in Italian.
We render our greatest thanks to the most learned man who transmitted this fragment of an epistle to us, and therefore we wished it to be inserted into our Work. We do not deny that the two comparisons are most apt for refuting heretics and for proving what Chrysostom was contending. Regarding the codex of the Abbot of Saint Salvinus, which is not subjected to our eyes, it is not permitted to judge; but this is our opinion: that the compiler had stitched together various things for his own use against those who imagined that passion was attributed to the Divinity; so that he might reach his target, he excerpted a fragment from the epistle of Chrysostom that was relevant to the matter, with the rest omitted: he drew the comparisons from another source, and joined together all the things he had compiled; nor should a new title be required, since testimonies compiled from various authors often run in a single series.
SUPPLEMENT TO THE COMMENTARIES ON SCRIPTURE. AD HOMILY XVIII IN GENESIM.
(Ex Codd. Bibliothecæ Nanianæ, p. 53.)Codex XLIII (32) contains Chrysostom's homilies on Genesis from the first, whose beginning is missing, up to the thirty-first: of which the thirty-first in the editions is part of the thirty-eighth. Actually, the epilogue, or peroration, of the homily which is called here the eighteenth, does not exist in the editions: therefore it pleases us to transcribe it here in this place. Indeed, after the words: Καὶ διηνεκῆ τὸν φόβον αὐτῷ καὶ τὴν ὑπόμνησιν παρέχειν δυναμένης (see page 155 of tome IV of the Works of St. John Chrysostom, Paris edition, year 1721 [33]) these things are added:
Let us obey the divine Scripture, keeping its C precepts; let us strive to deposit its wholesome teachings in our own minds, and then to demonstrate them before us in our lives, so that the life may prove the precepts, and the precepts might show the life to be more perfect; for if our precepts are right, but our life is neglected, it will profit us nothing. Likewise, if we lead a right life but neglect the right dogmas, we shall bring no benefit to our salvation; for it is fitting, if we wish to be freed from Gehenna and to obtain the kingdom of heaven, that we be adorned both with soundness of dogmas and with diligence of life. For tell me, what is the utility of a tree extended to a great height, and flourishing with leaves, when in reality it bears no fruit? Thus to a Christian, whose life is not upright, right precepts do not profit. Therefore Christ