A. B. CAILLAU PREFACE
Midst the tumults of public discord that have been arising on all sides for many years now, I would believe—and I have said as much—that this gravest inconvenience has emerged: namely, that baneful necessity which has compelled the labors of scholars and lovers of peace to hang interrupted. For what has the zeal for writing in common with the ardor of fighting? What have the quiet of meditations to do with the commotions of sedition? Wherever the ill-omened spirits of civil storms rush in, hissing fiercely, it is inevitable that the flowers of genius should there languish and fall away withered. Who among the students of sacred antiquity is there who did not admire the first volume of so elegant and so corrected an edition of St. Gregory of Nazianzus A? Who did not extol it with deserved praises, and proclaim as a most perfect work this production of the Benedictines of Saint Maur, who were, in other respects, perfect in their own works? Who did not follow with just longing that component of such an excellent study which some think was lost, or, at least, as is the truth, suspended? This work, which some lament as lost and others as interrupted, we at last bring forth to you, excellent reader, rescued from the shadows; we are confident that not only you, but the whole family of the learned will receive it with a grateful spirit.
But many and certainly very grave matters occur that must be treated in preparation: first, by what happy chance the authentic Maurist manuscript codex fell into our hands; second, what works, and of what importance, remained to be sent forth, having not yet been restored to complete integrity and more rigorous correction; third, by what method the most learned editors proceeded in their work; fourth, what labor, at last, was left for us, after so many reapers who had gleaned barely a few spikes here and there: matters which, when they have been clearly examined and weighed, we believe leave nothing else that could be demanded or desired.
ARTICLE I. Concerning the discovery of the Maurist codex.
No one is ignorant that the more recent edition of St. Gregory of Nazianzus, first undertaken by Dom Jacques de Friche, then begun by Dom François Louvard, afterwards prepared by Dom Prudentius Maran, and even publicly announced in the year 1708—and finally, regarding the first volume, issued at Paris in the year 1778 by Dom Clemencet—was a project in which Dom Patert, Andreas Brion, and Dionysius d’Olive also shared the burdens; the latter did not shrink from the ungrateful and difficult labor of correcting errors. Dom Clemencet, who was more celebrated for his learning than for his orthodoxy, B wrote many things to confirm the errors of the more recent innovators, of whom he proved himself a sharper defender; as an assistant in the labor of the second volume, he was given Dom de Cosniac, who, being gentler in spirit, though perhaps lesser in genius, seems to have leaned toward those same errors. Hence, although one ought to read with caution when their false doctrines are in question, one may read with security when the expertise of the Greek language, the antiquity, authority, and variants of the codices, the power and meaning of words, the propriety of the translation, and other such matters are concerned—from which the entire labor of this our edition is composed. C
The manifold concern of such an arduous labor, especially with Dom Clemencet now deceased, required more hands, and those not unlearned; whence it came about that Dom de Verneuil came to take part in the work, who displayed not only the habit of the same order, but its learning as well. With the work already completed by these three men, and perhaps others whose memory does not survive, it seemed to await nothing else than the hand of the printers, when suddenly a sad and violent storm broke out, which, having shaken the very foundations of religion in France, despoiled and disturbed the sacred orders of monks. To the Maurists, however, when they were cast out naked and needy from their ancestral cloisters, nothing was of greater importance than that which was more precious than all others, inasmuch as it had been gained by such great vigils and sweat.
(a) A truly splendid volume, indeed, but one not to be extolled so highly regarding the correction of the text. Let page 1 serve as a specimen, where one reads twice ἀνασθάσεως for ἀναστάσεως, οὗτος for οὗτος, etc. But what you might marvel at is that in the title of the first volume, where the first printers had already erred, not only did the newest editors retain this in the title mandated again to the presses, writing εὑρισχομένα for εὑρισκόμενα (which, however, Harles had already noted in *Biblioth. Græc. Fabricii*, tom. VIII, p. 403), but they even added another error on top of it, presenting Γετορίου for Γρηγορίου.
A. B. CAILLAU PREFACE.
treasure, moving to carry it away and hide it while the storm passed. Whether there were many transcriptions made before this time, is not sufficiently certain; but it is certain that a double manuscript existed in the hands of the most eminent Cardinal Fesch, of which the former, purchased for much money—as if written by the actual hand of the Benedictines and evidently indicating a foreign hand—was bought back by the same most eminent Prince of the Church for an even greater sum of money; whether it was truer and more sincere, he who saw it may assert; for it was not permitted to me to see it. For arriving in Rome, and throwing myself at the feet of the Eminence, I dared to reach such a pitch of audacity as to ask for permission to transcribe such a precious monument, to be immediately committed to the press; which, indeed, for very grave reasons, which it is not my place to discuss, but to revere, I did not happen to obtain. It was, however, hard and bitter to a soul that loves sacred antiquity to cast away all hope of the beautiful labor I had intended. For me, I confess, that second Benedictine volume of Saint Gregory was always before my eyes. Shall it therefore always remain buried in the darkness of a single library? Shall it never, therefore, be made public property? Shall the Church never rejoice, irradiated by such light? While I pondered this, fame suddenly brought to my ears that a true and genuine copy of the Maurist lucubration was held in Paris; that the late M. de Verneuil, among all others who had participated in this work, had faithfully preserved it; and indeed, had frequently urged the Cardinal Fesch himself that it be submitted to the press, while the authority of his most powerful nephew still thrived; and that he, being finally overtaken by death while he directed the parish of Saint-Denis near Paris, had left it to those near to him, who even now enjoyed its possession. There was no delay: the heirs of M. de Verneuil were sought, and not long after were found; with them the precious codex was found; it was subjected to a severe examination; by this gigantic labor, the genius of the Maurists is revealed; the correction of the text, the propriety of the annotations, the perfection of the translation, the choice and multitude of the variant readings, the very age of the script—nothing is there that does not concur to manifest the truth. Indeed, the names of the editors, their deliberations, the advice given to the typographers, and the method to be followed in all things, elucidate the matter so clearly that it cannot be called into doubt. One thing remained, perhaps more difficult to find: namely, a man brave and bold, who would not fear both to purchase the codex for its weight in silver and, once purchased, to commit it to the press at immense expense. While others hesitated and refused to undergo the danger, M. Parent-Desbarres, already deserving well for his knowledge and religion through many editions, and especially the Collection of the Holy Fathers, came forward of his own accord, wishing to add this new merit to his previous ones.
ARTICLE II.
Concerning the works of Gregory not yet edited by the Maurist congregation.
All the works of the blessed Doctor are necessarily recalled to three classes, of which the first embraces Sermons; the second, Epistles; the third, Poems. For Gregory was as sublime and eloquent in delivering speeches as he was polished and easy in writing, and grand and pleasant in singing.
Indeed, all the Sermons have already been edited by the Benedictines in better order, and as to the text, corrected, and are contained in the first volume, with the old Billian version preserved, but corrected in many and very great matters, with four orations—namely XLV, XLVI, LI, and LIII—having been removed, which were not to be placed among the sermons, but clearly among the epistles, and they were recalled to their proper place, as was right. There remain, therefore, the epistles and poems, which we have now determined to issue to the public.
The Epistles, which are read as only 232 in the latest Billian edition, and 242 with the added Morellian supplement, but which in truth—after those that pertain to Basil are sent away, or are represented twice, and with those added which are either taken from the orations or were extracted from elsewhere—rise to the number 243, are so tempered by the diversity of their subjects and the variety of their writing, at times discoursing on theological matters deeply and at the same time lucidly, at times treating of philosophical matters clearly and with sublimity, now powerfully imploring pardon from princes for the guilty, now wisely distributing advice to the small and great, sometimes even joking about the smallest matters with close friends, but not without the smallest grain of salt, that it is very difficult to determine to whom they could prove more pleasing and useful: whether, namely, to the curious of religious doctrine, or to the curious of secular eloquence.
The poems, however, which not only in number but perhaps in genius surpass the epistles, were composed by the blessed Doctor not for the sake of capturing popular favor, but rather with the zeal of promoting piety, either so that he might, by his poems, oppose the heresy of Apollinaris—who insinuated his heresy to the public by emitting songs—
or so that he might alleviate the languors of illness and the weariness of temptations with pleasant work. There is, I would say, no subject that he has not touched upon, no genre of poetic meter that he has not employed in his songs. Here he delights in playing with hexameters, here with iambics, here with pentameters, here with Anacreontics; here he unfolds and illustrates historical facts, here the dogmas of the faith, here the precepts of moral discipline. His poems—wondrous to say!—survive in a number greater than four hundred, with almost eighteen thousand verses in them, of which only a small portion is read in Billius’s edition; nor has such a multitude, as often happens, harmed their perfection: he is always the same, that is, always refined in style, splendid in words, elegant in form, rich in figures, and fluent in meter; he captures our admiration no less when he adapts the very genealogy of Christ, using all the Hebrew names, to the laws of meter, than when he exalts the greatness of God, or, returning to himself, recounts his own calamities. These things, though briefly set forth, are surely enough to demonstrate what great benefit might arise for the Christian commonwealth if a full and, in all respects, perfect edition of the epistles and poems of our Gregory were at last to appear.
ARTICLE III.
On the method of the Benedictines in preparing the edition.
Five things must be examined in the labor of the Benedictines, namely: 1º the correction of the text; 2º the sincerity of the version; 3º the choice of annotations; 4º the order of materials; 5º certain instructions borrowed from their own manuscript codex; and how these matters stood will be more clearly evident from what follows.
I. As regards the emendation of the text, it will be sufficient here to report what codices the Benedictines examined and with what care they compared the various readings with those already published.
List of codices which the learned editors used in emending the epistles of St. Gregory.
From the Royal Library.
457. Paper, formerly Tellerianus. 506. Parchment, formerly Mazarinæus, XI century. Contains 235 epistles. 510. Parchment, formerly Medicæus, IX century. Two epistles to Cledonius and an epistle to Nectarius. A metrical exhortation of the same to a Virgin. Subjoined is a doxology, which is absent from the published books. 514. Parchment, formerly Colbertinus, X century. Two epistles to Cledonius. 517. Parchment, formerly Medicæus, X century. Two epistles to Cledonius, an epistle to Evagrius, and a doxology. 518. Parchment, Fonteblaudensis, X century. Epistle to Evagrius the monk; epistle to Cledonius. 524. Parchment, XI century, from the East, brought into the Royal Library by the work of Vansleb. Epistle to Cledonius, and epistle to Nectarius. 532. Parchment, formerly Colbertinus, XI century. Epistles to Cledonius, and to Nectarius, and to Evagrius the monk. 538. Parchment, XII century. Two epistles to Cledonius. 540. Parchment, formerly Mazarinæus, XII century. Two epistles to Cledonius; epistle to Nectarius. 545. Parchment, formerly Colbertinus, XII century. Epistle to Cledonius. 551. Parchment, brought from Constantinople to the Royal Library. Epistles to Cledonius, epistle to Nectarius, epistle to Evagrius the monk. 552. Parchment, formerly Boistallenarius, XIII century. Epistles to Cledonius, to Nectarius, to Evagrius the monk On the Divinity. 557. Cotton-paper, formerly Tellerianus, XIII century. Epistles to Nectarius, to Evagrius, to Cledonius. 560. Cotton-paper, formerly Colbertinus, XIII century. Two epistles to Cledonius and epistle to Evagrius. 562. Parchment, formerly Colbertinus, XIII century. Epistles to Cledonius and to Nectarius and to Evagrius. 902. Cotton-paper, XIV century. Various epistles of Gregory. 968. Paper, XIV century. Various epistles of Basil and Gregory. 975. Parchment, XII century. Epistles to Nectarius, and to Evagrius, a Life of the same in abridged form. 981. XIV century. Epistles to Cledonius and to Nectarius. 997. An. 1251. Epistles to Nectarius and to Amicus. 1405. Paper, Fonteblaudensis, XVI century. Contains 184 epistles. 2010. Paper, XIV century. Some epistles of Gregory. 2022. Cotton-paper, Fonteblaudensis, XIV century. It comprises 235 epistles of Gregory, whose varying readings, most elegantly transcribed by him, were provided by D. Suter, who presided over the library of St. Germain. 2998. Cotton-paper, XIV century. Various epistles of St. Gregory. 3002. Paper, formerly Boistallenarius, XV century. Some epistles. 3014. Cotton-paper, XIII century. Various epistles of Gregory and Basil. — Codex Regius, formerly of the Church of Paris, B. no. 3.
Other manuscript codices
Val. Manuscript codex from the Vatican library. Pass. Manuscript codex of the most eminent Cardinal Passionei. Harl. Manuscript codex from the library of D. Harley. Coisl. Manuscript codex from the library of D. de Coislin, now Royal. Medic. Manuscript codex from the Medicean library.
Coisl. Manuscript codex from the library of D. de Coislin, then in the library of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, now Royal. It has scholia written above the lines. Chig. Collated at Rome in the library of the late most eminent Cardinal Chigi. Medic. Manuscript codex from the Medicean library of Florence. It contains many poems edited by Muratori. Vind. Viennese library codex, from which Tollius made his edition.
Printed Codices. To the catalog of ancient editions which are read at the beginning of the first volume, page XIV (col. 30), regarding the poems, the following must be added: Toll. Tollius, *Saint Gregory’s Swan Songs*, in *Insignia of an Italian Journey*, Utrecht, year 1696, in-4°. Murat. Muratori’s *Analecta Græca*, Padua, year 1709, in-4°. Gaull. Dionysius Gaullyer’s *Collected Poems of Divine Gregory*, Paris, year 1718, in-12. All the various readings of these codices—whether manuscript or printed—the learned editors have selected with great care, and have noted with diligent distinction, first in the margin of the old Billian edition, which we have at hand, and then in the notes which they have arranged at the bottom of the page, having preserved in the text the words which seemed to approach most closely the sense of the holy Doctor.
II. With these cares applied to the correction of the text, the question of the version was discussed—whether, specifically, a new one should be adorned, or the previous one preserved. The Billian interpretation of the letters, both on account of the reverence due to that learned man and on account of the correctness of the sentiment and the elegance of the diction, seemed not to be changed, but only to be perfected in some few places, just as had been done in the first volume regarding the orations. However, the same method did not please when it came to the poems. For since Billius had attempted a poetic version, he was often so constrained by the necessity of the meter that he was forced to amplify, sometimes to truncate, and often even to represent the sense either obscurely or with little accuracy. Therefore, a new interpretation was required that would render the whole of Gregory, even if in prose: and this was the great labor of the Benedictine brothers, which we today make public property. But Billius’s poems are held in such high esteem, and display such genius and such great efforts, that it would have been less than humane to exclude them from this new edition. Hence, faithfully insisting upon the Benedictines’ proposal, which we found described in their papers, we have placed the Billian metrical version at the lower margin of the page, having placed opposite the Gregorian text a version that is indeed prosaic, but a more accurate interpretation.
III. From this, indeed, after the correction of the text and the fidelity of the version, there is added to the edition—whatever it may be—a value, in that it is instructed with learned arguments and selective notes: both for elucidating things that are obscure, and for recalling to the readers’ memory things that refer to sacred and profane history, and for pointing out things that can confirm the faith and overturn heretical fables, and for explaining whatever needs to be known regarding the family, life, and various natural gifts of men, as well as regarding the varieties of places and facts. And that this value is by no means lacking in this Benedictine edition, anyone who wants to read the notes and arguments, even cursorily, will more easily perceive.
IV. To this is added a wisely organized order of materials, such that the letters, placed according to a chronological method, unfold the series of history according to time; the poems, however, are so recalled to the connection of their arguments that, when dealing with historical matters, the chronological order is again faithfully maintained, as far as it is possible in these things, with all those whose date remains doubtful relegated to the end.
V. Here we append two notes of the greatest moment, which we have obtained from the handwritten papers of the Benedictines. The former is as follows: «At the end of the works of St. Gregory, in the second volume of both Greek-Latin editions published at Paris in the years 1609 and 1630, various commentaries on the aforementioned works, translated from the Greek language into Latin, were published in Latin only, namely those of Elias of Crete, Nicetas, and Psellus, with certain scholia of J. Billius added. But since, for the writing of the annotations with which this new edition abounds, that abundance of commentaries and scholia was used throughout, and since from them everything that could lead to the understanding of the Doctor’s works has been excerpted, we have deemed it necessary to refrain from publishing the commentaries and scholia themselves again, lest we seem to be doing what has already been done, and also because we would burden the buyers with excessive costs
and that we would not burden our readers with vain labor. We shall say but a few words here regarding the writers mentioned. Elias, metropolitan of Crete, in the eighth century wrote a commentary on nineteen of Gregory’s orations. Nicetas, surnamed the Philosopher, first bishop of Serres and subsequently archbishop of Heraclea, wrote in the eleventh century a commentary on sixteen of Gregory’s orations, and a brief exposition on some of his poems. Psellus, also surnamed the Philosopher, wrote in the eleventh century a brief work on the understanding of difficult passages in Gregory. As concerns that Basil who is often cited in the notes to the first volume of this edition, he, the prelate of the Church of Caesarea, wrote in the tenth century scholia on forty-two of Gregory’s orations; which scholia indeed exist in manuscript at Paris in the Royal Library.”
The latter [declaration] is conceived in these words: “This would be the place to fulfill the promise made in the Prolegomena of the first volume of this edition (col. 38), and to repel more diligently and forcefully all those accusations with which the Gregorian doctrine has been repeatedly assailed by various writers. However, having considered the matter more maturely, we have judged that such superfluous contentions are to be avoided by us; since the constant approbation of the Catholic Church so defends the Gregorian doctrine that it is in no way in need of us as defenders.” From this the reader may easily understand that the dissertation omitted by the learned editors is one that we shall not touch upon in the slightest.
ARTICLE IV. Of our efforts in editing this volume.
When our hand was first applied to this work, five things appeared to us to be chiefly accomplished, namely: 1° to arrange all the papers of the learned Benedictines according to the method assigned by them and the rite admitted in the first volume; 2° to keep careful watch over the diligent correction of typographical errors; 3° to recall the old poetic versions—deformed in many places by the negligence of previous editors—to the standard of meter and reason, or at least to point out their defects; 4° to compose a new poetic version, by which the poems published after Billius by Tollius and Muratorius might be expressed in Latin verses, according to the perfect model of the first volume; 5° to prepare most copious indices, following the perfect example of the first volume.
I. All the Benedictine papers, which may be seen by all at the house of D. Parent-Desbarres, may be reduced to three heads; in the first of which are found those that indicate the rules to be followed in the edition; in the second is the old Billian edition, in the margin of which are marked many variant readings with various annotations; in the third, finally, is the Benedictine Latin version itself, with most exact notes, in which, among other things, all the errors that occur in previous editions are listed, and at the same time the words which, being extracted from the most approved codices, seem fit to be introduced in their place, so that the text may emerge pure and entire. The epistles alone have the Greek text written by hand in one codex; but a new labor arose here, since this exemplar was written by a less learned hand and abounds with many errors concerning accents. Hence, with a certain rectitude, but not without careful diligence, the power was given to us of representing the genuine Gregory. For the necessity of conferring the old editions with the annotations of a more recent date, of perfecting the marks of the accents, and of reducing the epistles and poems to a new order, fell upon us. Although we always and everywhere follow the learned editors with the deserved veneration, as is fitting, we could not, however, refrain from noting or even daring to correct certain errors in translation that were not sufficiently observed, holding it for certain that they themselves would have admitted those emendations had they applied a more diligent mind. Moreover, in choosing variant readings, they did not sufficiently attend to the meter of the poetry, whence it seemed not undeservedly necessary to restore verse that was often injured; although in some instances we were at times unable to apply any emendation, whether because the poet himself indulged himself somewhat, or because the manuscript codices, deformed by errors, exhibit nothing by which the error might be mended. I shall pass over in silence the efforts applied by us, whether in choosing, so far as it was possible, characters equal to the old ones, or in seeking paper not of inferior quality, or finally in maintaining the custom of our predecessors of rewriting brief sentences in the margin, which today can only be extorted from printers with the greatest difficulty.
II. Nor is the labor of correcting their errors small or easy; hence it will not be at all a matter for wonder among more learned men if some things have hitherto escaped our vigilance, which, however, we have tried to treat at the end, seeking utility rather than shrinking from the shame of error. But that these defects might be more rare, we have not presumed upon our own strength alone, but have called upon learned helpers, among whom I should mention with just praise the names of Mr. Cirier, formerly attached to the Royal Printing Office, as well as Mr. Doquin de Saint-Preux, keeper of books at the Royal Library, and Mr. Valatours, a most renowned professor at the Bourbon College, all of whom have shared their efforts with us, either in the whole work or in some part of it.
III. We have relegated the poetic, or rather metrical, versions of Billius, Leunclavius, and Federicus Morellus to the bottom margin of the pages; the first of these frequently translated the noble poetry of Gregory felicitously into the Latin muse, while the latter two often did so more unhappily. The copies of these versions that survive are so corrupt that the meter often fails, and sometimes no sense at all can be detected. Whenever the sense was missing, we have endeavored to repair it, though we have not always endeavored to restore the meter whenever it seemed to be lacking; but we have deemed it worthwhile sometimes to mark the defects, and sometimes to correct them. We have done neither, however, without a varied typeface and an indication of the change in the notes. There are also verses which were missing in Billius, either through omission or the carelessness of the printers; we have made it our business to supply these, again with varied typefaces.
IV. Moreover, the number of verses after Billius and other editors rises to four thousand and more, which—having been transformed into impromptu poets by the necessity of the circumstances—we have been compelled to sing, and which we commend to the indulgence of the readers; although in all things we have adhered to the mind of the author, and indeed even to his words, we have nonetheless attempted to preserve something poetic in the elocution and just rules in the meter.
V. There remained the task of indexing, ungrateful to the one writing but very grateful to the one reading, a task which no one can rightly doubt consumes a great deal of care and time. Faithful followers of our Benedictines, we have woven an index of the letters according to both the new and the old order, as well as an alphabetical order; this is immediately followed by an index of the poems where the old order is likewise compared with the new, and the new with the old. Two other shorter indices represent 'Similarities' and 'Proverbs' excerpted from Gregory. Then the larger indices are unfolded, where matters and words of any importance, which are read either in the course of the work or in the appendix, are collected in alphabetical order and offered for curious inquiry; nor is that sacred index missing, by which the sentences of Sacred Scripture are found which the pious Doctor made use of in writing. As for what we have selected—either useful or curious—from having read Saint Gregory's works very often, Mr. Ballin de Saint-Paul, a man not unversed in the liberal disciplines, undertook the tedious but not vain labor of transcribing them so that they might be arranged in alphabetical order; may his praise remain with him.
Let the reader heed these things which we have done—neither more nor less—and let him judge with a more indulgent spirit whether we have merited something well for the Christian republic.