ORDER OF SUBJECTS CONTAINED IN THIS VOLUME
SAINT METHODIUS, BISHOP AND MARTYR. Historical-literary notice. 9 Testimonies of the ancients regarding St. Methodius. 17
THE BANQUET OF THE TEN VIRGINS. 27 INTRODUCTION. The design of the work. The journey to paradise. A description of virtue and prosopopoeia. The agnus castus (chaste tree), the willow, and the symbol of chastity. Marcella, the senior and first among the virgins of Christ. 27
ORATION I. — Marcella. 35 CHAPTER I. — The arduousness and excellence of virginity. The necessity of studying doctrine for virgins. 35 CHAPTER II. — Virginity, a plant from the heavens, recognized only late. How the advancement of man toward perfection is to be instituted. 39 CHAPTER III. — By the circumcision of Abraham, marriages between sisters were abolished. Polygamy rejected from the time of the prophets. Conjugal chastity, itself restrained by certain modes. 41 CHAPTER IV. — Christ alone taught virginity, openly preaching the kingdom of heaven. The likeness of God to be perfected by the light of divine virtues. 44 CHAPTER V. — Christ, preserving incorrupt flesh in virginity, invites others to cultivate virginity. The small number of virgins compared to the multitude of other saints. 45
ORATION II. — Theophila. 47 CHAPTER I. — Marriages not abolished; the praise of virginity. 47 CHAPTER II. — Generation; the affinity of the first Eve to the formation of Adam from rib and bone. God as the creator of men in the customary generation. 49 CHAPTER III. — A vexed passage of Scripture. Illegitimate persons, who are not only believers but sometimes even prelates. 49 CHAPTER IV. — Human generation, and God's work declared therein. 51 CHAPTER V. — The same Father pursues the same argument. 53 CHAPTER VI. — Also the care of God for adulterous births; angels are given as guardians to them. 55 CHAPTER VII. — The rational soul is from God himself. Chastity is not the only good thing, even if it is the better and more honorable one. 57
ORATION III. — Thalia. 59 CHAPTER I. — The passage from Genesis II, 23, 24, compared with the text of the Apostle Paul in Ephesians V, 28-32. 59 CHAPTER II. — The digressions of the Apostle Paul. The character of his doctrine; nothing in it is inconsistent. Origen is censured, who wickedly draws everything toward allegory. 61 CHAPTER III. — A comparison instituted between the first Adam and the second. 63 CHAPTER IV. — Some things stated here that are harsh and rather simple, nor do they seem to be set forth according to the norm of theology. 65 CHAPTER V. — The passage from Jeremiah is examined. 67 CHAPTER VI. — The complete number of the spiritual sheep. Man, a second choir after the angels for the praise of God. The parable of the lost sheep explained. 67 CHAPTER VII. — The works of Christ, proper to God and man, belong to Him who is one. 69 CHAPTER VIII. — The bones and flesh of Wisdom. The rib from which the spiritual Eve was formed. The Holy Spirit. The woman as helper to Adam, and the virgins betrothed to Christ. 71 CHAPTER IX. — The economy of grace in the Apostle Paul. 75 CHAPTER X. — The same Apostle's doctrine concerning chastity. 75 CHAPTER XI. — On the same subject. 77 CHAPTER XII. — Paul as an example to widows and to those who do not use wives. 77 CHAPTER XIII. — Paul's doctrine concerning virginity is examined. 81 CHAPTER XIV. — Virginity is a gift of God, and its purpose is not to be embraced rashly by anyone. 83
ORATION IV. — Theopatra. 87 CHAPTER I. — The necessity of a praiseworthy virtue for those who have the capacity for it. 87 CHAPTER II. — The safeguard of chastity and virginity divinely given to men, that they might emerge from the mire of vices. 87 CHAPTER III. — That saying of David is examined: "Upon the rivers of Babylon," etc. What the instruments hung upon the willows signify. The willow, a symbol of chastity. Willows watered by the streams. 89 CHAPTER IV. — After this, the author pursues the interpretation of the same passage. 91 CHAPTER V. — The endowments of virgins, by which, being adorned, they are presented to one man, Christ. 93 CHAPTER VI. — Virginity is to be cultivated and praised in every place and time. 95
ORATION V. — Thallusa. 97 CHAPTER I. — The offering of chastity is a great vow. 97 CHAPTER II. — What the sacrifice by Abraham of the three-year-old heifer, the three-year-old goat, and the three-year-old ram signifies. Every age is to be consecrated to God. The triple watch and our age. 97 CHAPTER III. — To cultivate virtue from childhood is by far the best. 99 CHAPTER IV. — Perfect consecration and devotion to God, which... 102 CHAPTER V. — The vow of chastity and its rites in the Law. The virgins, Christ, and the devil. 105 CHAPTER VI. — Sicera, a fictitious and spurious wine, intoxicating in the same way. The virgin must be on her guard, for she herself is near to sin. The altar of incense, the virgins. 107 CHAPTER VII. — The Church, between the shadows of the law and the truths of heaven. 110 CHAPTER VIII. — The double altar, widows and virgins. Gold as the symbol of virginity. 112
ORATION VI. — Agatha. 112 CHAPTER I. — The excellence of the virgin's enduring grace. The soul toward the image of God, that is, the image of the Son. The devil as the suitor of the soul. 112 CHAPTER II. — The parable of the ten virgins. 114 CHAPTER III. — The same striving and aggression of virginity, with unlike outcome. 115 CHAPTER IV. — What the oil in the lamps is. 117 CHAPTER V. — The reward of virginity. 119
ORATION VII. — Procilla. 122 CHAPTER I. — What is the true and serious manner of praising. The Father is greater than the Son in authority of principle, not of substance. Virginity, the lily. Faithful souls and virgins are the one bride of the one Christ. 122 CHAPTER II. — Interpretation of Canticles IV, 9-12. 127 CHAPTER III. — Virgins are themselves martyrs, the first among the companions of Christ. 127 CHAPTER IV. — The passage from Canticles VI, 7, 8, is examined. The queens are the holy souls before the flood. The concubines are the souls of the prophets. Divine seed for spiritual offspring, in the books of the prophets. As if clandestine with the prophets, of the Word... 130 CHAPTER V. — The sixty queens; why sixty, and why queens. The excellence of the saints of the first age. 131 CHAPTER VI. — Who the eighty concubines are. They were made notions of the Incarnation for the prophets. 131 CHAPTER VII. — The young women are the righteous elders. The Church is that one bride, superior to the rest. 134 CHAPTER VIII. — Christ's human nature, that one dove of His. 135 CHAPTER IX. — The virgins immediately after the Queen and the Bride. 135
ORATION VIII. — Thecla. 138 CHAPTER I. — The etymology of the Methodian voice, or *methe*, nearly divine. Virtue, why so called from the Greek. 138 CHAPTER II. — The lofty mind and constancy of the sacred virgins. The introduction of virgins into the blissful seats before the rest. 139 CHAPTER III. — The lot and inheritance of virginity. 141 CHAPTER IV. — An exhortation to cultivate virginity. It is proposed to examine the passage from Apocalypse XII, 1-6. 145 CHAPTER V. — The woman bringing forth, with an hostile dragon, signifies the Church: her worship and grace. 146 CHAPTER VI. — The works of the Church, the birth of sons in baptism. The moon in baptism: the full moon of Christ's passion. 147 CHAPTER VII. — The woman's birth in the Apocalypse is not that of Christ Himself, but of the faithful in the laver. 147 CHAPTER VIII. — The faithful are males in baptism, to Christ fully...
A in her the Manichaean [fables]. On man and Christ, dreams. The senseless method of abstinence. 415
CHAPTER V. — The worship of sun and moon under God. Safeguards sought by Manichaeans in the tables of the Greeks. The authority and faith of the Scriptures rejected by the Manichaeans. 418
CHAPTER VI. — The two principles of the Manichaeans. The matter itself vexed. The opinion of the Pythagoreans concerning principles. Good and evil as peers. Victory from the Good. 419
CHAPTER VII. — Motion vindicated from disorder. Circular. Rectilinear. Of generation and corruption, of alteration, and of quality affecting the sense. 419
CHAPTER VIII. — Whether matter is evil. Of God and matter. 422
CHAPTER IX. — The ridiculous ravings of the Manichaeans concerning the motion of matter toward God. God as the author of the rebellion of matter, in the Manichaean sense. The appetite of matter for light and splendor is good. Divine goods are not diminished by contact. 423
CHAPTER X. — The mythology of the gods, and the tenets of the Manichaeans similar to them. The Homeric allegory of the battle of the gods. Emulation and envy in God, according to the Manichaean view. These vices are to be found in no studious person, and are shameful to admit. 426
CHAPTER XI. — The Manichaean infusion of virtue. The virtues of matter, of equal or lesser malice. 426
CHAPTER XII. — The infusion of virtue disapproved; the destruction of evil; that no diminution of evil arises from it. The opinion of Zeno—that the world would be burned by the fire of the sun—is refuted. 427
CHAPTER XIII. — Evil [is] not at all in the stars and constellations. All the evils of life, in the Manichaean view, are empty, bringing about the destruction of life; [this relates to] the rave-ings exposed above concerning the translation of souls from the moon to the sun. 430
CHAPTER XIV. — The animals worshipped by the Egyptians are harmful. Man is a creature performing evil arts. Lusts and injustices are restrained by laws and discipline. Contingent and necessary things, to which nothing is lacking. 430
CHAPTER XV. — Lust and the desire of sentient things. Demons, sentient animals. The sun also, and the moon, and the stars. Platonically, not Christianly. 431
CHAPTER XVI. — That some are wise, and nothing prevents others from being so. Virtue must be acquired by diligence and study. Men are to be led to the good by a sounder philosophy. The common pursuit of virtue is opened to all by Christ. 431
CHAPTER XVII. — The Manichaean virtue agitated in matter. If one virtue is created without matter, then so are the others. Virtue in matter is exploded. 434
CHAPTER XVIII. — The Manichaean solution and insistence. Wisely [addressed] to the man [regarding] Manes, who is himself in matter. 434
CHAPTER XIX. — A second virtue of Mani sought through previous and new absurdities. A virtue [that is] acting and passible, a creator, and concrete with matter. Bodies, according to the Manichaean, are divided into three parts. 435
CHAPTER XX. — The divine virtue of this same Manichaean [is] corporeal and divisible. The divine virtue is itself matter, which becomes all things: inconvenient. 438
CHAPTER XXI. — Virtue [is] partly good, partly better. Unspotted in the sun and moon, depraved in other things: an improbable opinion. 438
CHAPTER XXII. — The light of the moon [is] from the sun. The inconvenience of the souls received into it. There are two floods for the Greeks. 439
CHAPTER XXIII. — The image of matter in the sun, to which man [is related]: trifles and delirium. Delirium, likewise, that man was fashioned from matter. Man, either a composite, or soul, or mind and spirit. 442
CHAPTER XXIV. — Christ [is] mind, in the Manichaean sense. What [is the teaching] ecclesiastically? Inconveniences concerning Christ. That he suffered shadily is a Manichaean delirium. Nothing is adapted to the Word through fiction. 443
CHAPTER XXV. — The Manichaean abstinence from living things is ridiculous. That they abhor marriage is madness. The mythology of the Giants. An allegory too far-fetched in its exposition. 446
CHAPTER XXVI. — The Manichaean fire vexed. That fire is matter itself. 447
ST. PETER, BISHOP OF ALEXANDRIA AND MARTYR
Historical and literary notice. 449 Authentic Acts of St. Peter. 452 Oration on Palm Sunday. 452 Monitum of Mai. 453 From the homily on the Cross and Passion of Christ. 498 Other various fragments. 403
ST. PETER'S WORKS
Canonical Epistle. 467 Epistle to the Church of Alexandria. 510 From the book on the Deity. 510 From the homily on the coming of our Savior. 512 Concerning the fact that the Hebrews correctly determined [the time] from the fourteenth [day] of the first lunar month until the destruction of Jerusalem. 512 On the soul and the body. 520 From the doctrine of Peter of Alexandria. 528 Fragment on Matthew. 522 From a sermon on theology. 522
ORDER OF THE CONTENTS CONTAINED IN THIS VOLUME
S. ALEXANDER, BISHOP OF ALEXANDRIA. Notice. 523 EPISTLES concerning the Arian heresy and the deposition of Arius. 548 I. — Epistle of Alexander, Bishop of Alexandria, to Alexander of Constantinople. 548 II. — Exemplar. 548 III. — Deposition of Arius and his associates. 571 IV. — Two fragments from the epistle to Æglon, Bishop of Cynopolis, against the Arians. 584 Admonition concerning the following sermon. 584 SERMON on the soul and body and on the passion of the Lord. 586
S. EUSTATHIUS, BISHOP OF ANTIOCH AND CONFESSOR. Notice. 610 WRITINGS OF S. EUSTATHIUS. Dissertation regarding the Ventriloquist (Engastrimyth) against Origen. 614 Address to Emperor Constantine at the Council of Nicaea. 671 Fragments from lost books. 676 Liturgy of Saint Eustathius. 698 Spurious works of S. Eustathius. 704 Admonition to the reader. 704 COMMENTARY ON THE HEXAEMERON. 708 Notes of Allatius on the Hexaemeron. 795
TITUS, BISHOP OF BOSTRA. Notice. 1065 LIBRI TRES ADVERSUS MANICHÆOS (THREE BOOKS AGAINST THE MANICHAEANS). 1069 BOOK ONE. 1069 BOOK TWO. 1131 BOOK THREE. 1214
MARCELLUS, BISHOP OF ANCYRA. Diatribe concerning the case of Marcellus of Ancyra. 1277 Proemium and division of the work. 1277 CHAPTER I. — A summary narrative of the life of Marcellus. 1279 CHAPTER II. — What error was ascribed to Marcellus. 1281 CHAPTER III. — Whether the error ascribed to Marcellus could be detected in his book against Asterius. 1285 CHAPTER IV. — Whether Marcellus taught an error concerning the Word and the Son of God in the course of his life, either orally or in writing. 1290 CHAPTER V. — Whether Athanasius ever removed Marcellus from his communion. 1293 CHAPTER VI. — Concerning the deputation of Marcellus and the Church of Ancyra to Athanasius. 1294 Preface by Christ. Henr. Georg. Rettberg. 1299 Fragments of the book of Marcellus. 1301 A short book of the same Marcellus presented to the Roman Pontiff Julianus. 1301 The legation of Eugenius the Deacon to S. Athanasius for the cause of Marcellus of Ancyra, and the confession of faith of the Church of Ancyra. 1301
THEODORUS, BISHOP OF HERACLEA. Notice. 1307 INTERPRETATION ON ISAIAH. 1308
THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH VOLUME. From the presses of MIGNE, at Petit-Montrouge.