A Since the years up to the second consulship of Arcadius and that of Rufinus are counted as 57. In whose time Valentinian the younger, son of Valentinian the Great, died, having been found suddenly in the palace strangled, as is reported, on the Ides of May, on the day before Pentecost, which was a Saturday; and on the very day of Pentecost he was carried out for burial. It was then, according to the Egyptians, the twenty-first day of the month Pachon; according to the Greeks, the twenty-third of Artemisium; and according to the Romans, the seventeenth day before the Kalends of June.
XXI. Hitherto, most devoted reader, having been content with what has been said, we have set forth the whole history of the interpreters. Now, next, let us apply our mind to the rest, as we promised at your request, O man of God; and let us treat of weights and measures and numbers, and whence the name of each was derived, and for whose sake it was so named, and whence it received the occasion for its name, and also what the quality, weight, and capacity of each of these is.
The measure, therefore, is the *corus*, B which is mentioned in the Gospel of Luke; in which passage the Lord himself praises the prudent steward, who, instead of so many *cori* that were contained in their bonds, wrote down so many for the debtors; and instead of so many *bati* of oil, he set down so many. For these are the names of the measures: *lethec*, *gomor*, *batus*, *satum*, *modius*, *corus*, *phoenix*, *yphi* of fine flour, a handful of flour, *artaba*, three measures of fine flour, three baskets of grain loaves, *nebel* of wine, *collathon*, alabaster of ointment, *campsaces* of water, *cotyla* of oil, *cyathus*, *metreta* of wine, *metreta* of oil, *tryblion*, *sextarius*, *amphora*, *aporryma*, *sabitha*, *in*, *chus*, or congius, the golden urn in which the manna was stored, *mares*, *cyprus*, *congiarium*.
The *corus*, therefore, is taken from the Hebrew language, in which it is called *chor*; and it contains 30 *modii*. The word *chor* is said to be derived from the concept of a hill (βουνός); for a hill is called *charia*. And these thirty C *modii*, when heaped up, make a camel's load. *Lethec*, moreover, as [it is mentioned] in the prophet Hosea...
[alt-version omitted]
A *I hired for myself a lethec of barley*. In some manuscripts, however, it reads *gomor of barley*, and they are the same thing; for these denote fifteen *modii*. The word *lethec*, however, is called by the Hebrew name, which means "a lifting," because a young man is able to lift fifteen *modii* and place them on a donkey. The same thing is also called *gomor* (61). There are two kinds of *gomor*, the large and the small; the large is equal in measure to the *lethec*, being itself also [a measure of] fifteen *modii*, while the small is [a measure of] twelve *bathos* (62).
And this [also] is derived from the Hebrew language (63), synonymous with what is called a *bith* in the oil press. For *bathos* is interpreted as an "oil press," B and it is [a measure of] fifty *sextarii*. This is the measure of the oil-pressing operation. *Mnasís*, or *medimnos* (64), I suppose...
is derived from the Roman tongue, from the word *medium*. *Mnasís*, therefore, among the Cypriots and among other nations, has its own measure, containing ten *modii* of grain and barley. The *modius* among the Cypriots is seventeen *sextarii*; the *medimnos* among these same people is different. For the Salaminians, or Constantians, define the *medimnos* as five *modii*; the Paphians and Sicilians measure it at four and a half *modii*. It is called *saton* (66), taken from the Hebrew language itself, and is pronounced in the feminine gender. In Greek, however, it is neuter; for it is called *saton*, not *satos*. It is an overflowing *modius*, such that the *modius* is filled, and by the overflow, the fourth part of a B *modius* is added. It is called *sata*, pronounced in the same dialect, meaning "taking" or "lifting," from the fact that he who measures is accustomed to take the measure and lift it. Now, the name of the *modius* was found by the Hebrews with great precision to consist of twenty-two *sextarii*, not simply or by chance, but with much precision. For the "just *modius*," as the Law is accustomed to say, was measured according to the "holy measure" (67). And this holy measure is nothing other than the twenty-two works which God performed in the six days of the week.
XXII. For on the first day He created those higher heavens, the earth, and the waters. From these elements, ice, hail, frost, and dew are produced; then the ministering spirits, who perform their function by appearing before Him; such as these are: the angels who assist, the angels of glory, the angels of the blowing spirits, C the angels of the clouds, and of darkness, of snow, of hail, and of ice; the angels of sounds, of thunder, of lightning, of cold, of heat, of winter, of autumn, of spring, and of summer, and of all the spirits that are in all created things which heaven and earth embrace; in addition to these, He created the abysses, and the gulfs which are beneath the earth, and chaos, and darkness; evening, night, the light of day, and dawn. These seven greatest works God performed on the first day.
On the second day, He founded the firmament which is in the midst of the waters, and the distribution of the waters that are above the firmament, and of those that are beneath the firmament.
upon the face of all the earth. This alone God created on the second day. A On the third day, the seas, the rivers, the springs and lakes, the seeds of the grain, the sprouts, the trees both fruitful and fruitless, and the woods. These four greatest works God created on the third day. On the fourth, the sun, the moon, the stars; these three great works God created on the fourth day. On the fifth, the great whales, the fishes, and the other creeping things that are in the waters, the birds, and the winged creatures. These three great works God created on the fifth day. On the sixth day, the wild beasts, the cattle, the creeping things of the earth, and man. These four great works God created on the sixth day. And all the works created by God in the six days amounted to twenty-two. B And God finished on the sixth day all that was in the heavens and in the earth, in the seas and in the abysses, in the light and in the darkness, and in all things.
And God rested on the seventh day from all his works, and blessed it, and sanctified it, and revealed through an angel to Moses that there are also twenty-two generations from Adam to Jacob: *And I will choose for myself from his seed a peculiar people out of all the nations.* The generations of which the Lord spoke C are these: Adam, Seth, Enos, Enoch, Arphaxad, Sala, Cainan, Phalec, Malaleel, Heber, Ragau, Jared, Seruch, Nachor, Mathusala, Thare, Lamech, Noe, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sem. In all, twenty-two generations. Hence also there are twenty-two letters among the Hebrews, and corresponding to them they numbered their books as twenty-two, although there are properly twenty-seven. But because five letters among them are doubled, and there are twenty-seven in total, which are contracted into twenty-two, for this reason they have made the books also to be twenty-two.
23. The first is Beresith, which is called Genesis; D then Ellesemoth, which is Exodus, that is, the departure of the children of Israel out of Egypt; Vajicra, which is Leviticus; Vajedabber, which is the book of Numbers; Elledebarim, Deuteronomy; that of Jesus, son of Nave; that of Job; Sophetim, which is Judges; Ruth; the Psalter; Dibre Haijamim, the first book of Paralipomenon; Dibre Haijamim, the second of Paralipomenon; the first of Kingdoms, Samuel; the second of Kingdoms, Samuel; the third of Kingdoms, Melachim; the fourth of Kingdoms, Melachim; Mischle, which is Proverbs; Eccl...
Ecclesiastes; Sirhassirim, which is the Song of Songs; Dathariasara, which is the Twelve Prophets; the prophet Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, the first book of Ezra, the second book of Ezra, Esther. These are the twenty-seven books, which are equalized by the number of the letters, with five letters doubled, as we mentioned above. There is also another small book A which is called Cinoth, which is interpreted as the Lamentations of Jeremiah. But this is joined to Jeremiah, and it is in excess of the number, being joined to Jeremiah. These twenty-two numbers, found everywhere and counted in different things—both in the twenty-two works that God made in the six days of the creation of the world, and in the twenty-two generations from Adam down to Israel, and in the twenty-two letters of the alphabet from aleph to thau, and in the twenty-two books from Genesis down to Esther—have become for us a measure of twenty-two sextarii, which is called *modi* among the Hebrews and B *modia* among the Greeks for ease of pronunciation. It has the same name among the Egyptians; but the Syrians and the Arabs also call it *modia*, which signifies confession. For a filled *modius* confesses that it is full. It is also called a gnomon.
XXIV. Now that number of twenty-two works that God initially labored upon, and just as many generations which were propagated down to Jacob, and the twenty-two books up to Esther, and the twenty-two letters in which the law of God was consigned to us and the doctrine of God was first shaped for us, seems to signify this: that Christ, who was one day to come, was testified to and revealed by the witness of the law and its mysteries. Coming into this world, C He fulfilled for us in the Gospel the measure of life by means of the *modius*—that is, the confession—for all who confess faith in Him and obtain life through His gift. For this reason, it is called a holy kind of measure by the Hebrews, because for the reasons brought forward it contains twenty-two sextarii. For most other nations have either added something to this measure or have taken away from it, while among the Hebrews the number remains most accurately set. Indeed, even among the Romans, an equal measure happens to be called a *modius*, just as among the Hebrews the letter aleph exhorts a child to learn; and it happens that among the Greeks D "to inquire" (alphein) is said. From which it is clear that this word "alpha" was transferred into the Greek language from the Hebrew. Thus, therefore, the *modius* flowed from the Hebrews, among whom the same is true. Since it is filled, it confesses that it is full. Isidore brings forward another etymology for the word, from the fact that it is perfect in its own measure.
A And the *kamos* is, from that same language, a different measure, meaning the fourth part of a modius. The *choenix* and the *ephi* are one and the same thing, though called by a double name; it consists of two sextarii and a small fraction. A "handful of flour"—this is a simple, self-evident matter. The *artaba*—this measure was so named among the Egyptians; it consists of seventy-two sextarii. And from a very precise calculation, this number came together in this way: seventy-two men were then building the tower, at the time when they were scattered B from one into seventy-two languages. Whence they were also called "articulate" (*meropes*) because of the division of language. The same mode of calculation applies also to the *metretēs*, if you consider the sacred measure. There are three measures of fine flour, which Abraham ordered Sarah to prepare for the meal of the angels, from which measures he instructed that hearth-cakes be made. And these measures each held a *gomor*. But the *gomor* was the tenth part of the great measure, C containing bread baked in the embers.
Of the Measures and Weights
A and to confess, and that notion of the word pertains to the use itself; for unless one has filled it most cumulatively, he does not confess himself full. But when he has filled the measure and it has been leveled by the radius, then he confesses himself full. A B C The *kamos* from the same source of the Hebrew language contains the fourth part of a modius. The *choenix* and the *ephi* are one and the same thing, comprised under a double name: it contains two sextarii and somewhat more. A "handful of flour" has nothing difficult about it, and is clearly known to everyone. The *artaba* is a proper Egyptian word, and contains seventy-two sextarii: which number contains a certain mystery in itself; for seventy-two men built that tower, at which time they were divided from one into seventy-two languages. Whence they were named *meropes* from the division of the voice. The same method is also for the *metretēs*, if you keep the reckoning of the sacred measure. These are the three measures of flour which Abraham ordered Sarah to prepare for the banquet of the angels, and D from that place to make hearth-cakes. Each of these measures holds *gomor* parts. Moreover, the *gomor* is of the greater measure, or the *artaba*...
A which becomes seven and one-fifth sextarii.
Three baskets of *chondritai*, which are vessels where they are accustomed to store those *chondritai*. It is a type of bread cut in two. *Nebel* of wine, which is a measure of 150 sextarii. The *saton* is 56 sextarii [(78)]. *Alabastron* of myrrh [(79)], a glass vial, which holds a pound of oil; and its measure is half a sextar. The name *alabastron* comes from its being easily broken. *Campsaces* of water, which is a measure of 12 sextarii of water. The *campsaces* prepared for Elijah [(80)] is of four sextarii. The measure is the *cotyle*, which is half a sextar; it is called *cotyle* from the fact that the sextar is cut into two. *Cyathus* is the sixth part of a sextar [(81)]. The Scripture calls the *cyathi* *medechoth* [(82)]. It calls the *masmaroth* the filters, which we also call strainers. Both terms are used for the same thing, since they have the same function. *Tryblion*, also called *opsobaphon*, or *paropsis*, has a measure of half a sextar. The Alexandrian sextar carries the weight of two pounds of oil. *Aporrhyma* is used only among the Thebans, and is half of a *saiton*. The true *Saitian* measure is 22 sextarii. *Sabitha* is a Syrian name, which is interpreted as a "wine-press shovel" or scoop, and is 22 sextarii among the Ascalonites. *Hin*: the great one [(83)] is 18 sextarii; the holy *hin* is 9 sextarii. *Chous* is 8 sextarii [(84)]; the one called "holy" is 6 sextarii, which is the twelfth part of a *metretes*. B
C Since this was truly defined by him, it departs greatly from what he asserts steadfastly a little before: for he had taught that the *chomer* was of thirty *modii*; but he had imputed sixteen sextarii to the *modius*. Thus the *corus* will consist of 510 sextarii. Now, the *bathus*, which corresponds to the *ephi* measure of dry goods, is the tenth part of a *corus*: the *gomor* is the tenth part of a *bathus*. Therefore, according to Epiphanius’s opinion, the *bathus* contains 50 sextarii (to which indeed he assigns only 50), and the *gomor* 1/10 of a sextar. But he thinks it contains 7 1/5 sextarii. If you multiply these by one hundred, you get the number of sextarii that the *corus* actually contains. For the *corus* contains not thirty *modii*, but 45, as Villalpandus teaches, and the *modius* twenty-two and a half sextarii: which, when multiplied by 45, will make 720 sextarii. That sum, divided by one hundred, gives 7 1/5 sextarii to each *gomor*. This variety of opinions, if it did not arise from a hallucination, seems certainly to have come from the fact that, since other measures among other nations were reckoned under the same names, and were smaller or larger, he gathered these very things tumultuously from various authors into this *Commentary* in his *Adversaria*, and did not propose them accurately and distinctly. D
The Book of Measures and Weights
A A talent is the greatest of all measures by which weights are measured; and according to the *lepton* reckoning, it consists of 125 pounds. Six *lepta* of the talent are worth seven *asses*. And seven *lepta* of the *asses* are worth 100 denarii. The silver coin was stamped from the beginning, and it was stamped from the *asses*. They say that Abraham brought the die for this into Canaan. B The pound of the talent is 125, and the pound consists of twelve ounces. The ounce has two *staters*. The *stater* is half an ounce, and it holds two *drachmae*. A *siclus*—which is also called a *quadrans*—is the fourth part of an ounce, half of a *stater*, having two *drachmae*; for the *drachma* was [the eighth part] of an ounce.
A The *holce* is the same as the *drachma*, and moreover the same as the *siclus* in weight, with which from time to time the hair of Absalom used to be weighed when he was shorn, which weighed one hundred and twenty-five *sicli*, that is, it amounted to two pounds and a half.
An *obolus* was accustomed to be struck among silver coins, and it had the measure of an ounce; and yet it was not minted in silver, but in iron. Although there was another silver *obolus*, a very small coin, and the eightieth part of an ounce. Furthermore, it is read in Leviticus: They saw the didrachm, and commonly establish the *siclus* as a didrachm. Why the LXX Interpreters felt this way, and why they constantly rendered the Hebrew name, *siclus*, as *didrachmon*, the name *siclus* has been devised by some as one thing, and another as four *drachmae*. Which I judge to have proceeded from an error. For in truth the *siclus* held four *drachmae*. But because the Greek interpreters rendered *didrachmon* for *siclus*, from this, those who read the Scripture in Greek did not attribute more than two *drachmae* to the *siclus*. B And yet when they had found among the most accurate authors that the same *siclus* was a tetradrachm, they lapsed into this, that they established a double kind of *siclus*. For that in reality, just as I said, they judged the *siclus* to be composed of two drachmae, not one Epiphanius, or Isidore, would provide proof, but also very many others. Among the rest is that scholiast; whose words Camerarius copied from the Budé codex: "They called the 'holce' of an ounce," he says, "a *stater*, because the scales of the balance were in equilibrium on both sides, with half an ounce placed on each of the sides. Whence, by the equilibrium of the rule, according to the equality of the balance, it was called a *stater*; and the *stater* has half an ounce, two *sicli*; again, the *siclus*, which is half the *stater*, [is] a fourth of an ounce, and has twenty *lepta*, etc." It is absurd, however, both in this and in six hundred other places of the ancients, to substitute *sicilicus* for *siclus*. For the *siclus* was a kind of coin customary among the Hebrews, not the *sicilicus*. And therefore C Epiphanius is a witness that *quadrans* is also called a *siclus*: because, no doubt, it was accustomed by the Greeks to be commonly constituted as a *didrachmon*, and consequently a *quadrans* of an ounce. In which matter an error was admitted not by the Seventy Elders, but by those later Greeks who followed them. For they did not notice that those interpreters were Alexandrian, or at least that they wrote in Alexandria; and that, consequently, they served the usage and custom of those among whom, and for whose sake, they were writing. But when the talent of the Alexandrians was double the Attic, they also had the same proportion of the Alexandrian *drachma* to the Attic, so that they were *didrachmoi*. For every talent, as is evident from Hero, was composed of sixty minae of its own kind: but a mina, naturally of its own kind, had twenty-five *stateres*, and one hundred *drachmae*. Whence, although one talent was double the other, there were not more minae or *drachmae* counted in the larger, but they served the same in weight and value. Whence some were called *leptai* (small), and others *pacheiai* (thick), as Hesychius says. Which Pollux D also confirms (book ix, ch. 6). Thus, therefore, the Alexandrian talent—which, by the authority of Festus, was worth twelve thousand denarii—when it was estimated at as many thousands of Attic drachmae, did not count more of its own kind, that is, of the Alexandrian *drachmae*, than six thousand. Wherefore the individual *drachmae*, compared to the Attic and the common ones, were accounted *didrachmoi*. For which reason the LXX Interpreters said the *siclus* was a *didrachmon*, that is, endowed with the weight and value of two Alexandrian *drachmae*, while in the meantime it held four Attic *drachmae*. For when the rest had not noticed this, and were looking back to the common and Attic ones, they interpreted the *siclus* as half as small as it was in reality. Therefore...
it has twenty obols; for we have already taught that the *didrachmon* is a quarter of an ounce. A
*Chalci*: these were discovered by the Egyptians, and they are two minted silver coins; and among the Alexandrians, these silver coins are called *chalkina*. The *chalcus* has a weight of an eighth part of an ounce, as does the *drachma*.
*Mna*, which is called *mane* in the Hebrew tongue; but the Italian *mna* is of forty staters, which is twenty ounces, or one pound and two-thirds. B
Of silver coins there have been many types at various times.
The *nummus* C is said to have been first minted by Numa, one of the kings of the Romans. And the ancients called the half of the silver coin a *dichryson*.
The *argenteus*, this is what the Romans call a *miliarisium*, D which can be interpreted as a military donative.
There is also the *dichryson*, and this was a silver coin: which later...