Tacitus' fragment 2: The anti-Roman movement of the Christiani and the Nazoreans

Vigiliae Christianae

Volumn 54, Issue 3, 2000, Pages 233-247

  Laupot, Eric ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA   (United States)

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EID: 66749126973     PISSN: 00426032     EISSN: 15700720     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1163/157007200X00143     Document Type: Article

References (80)

1. fertur Titus adhibito consilio prius deliberasse, an templum tanti operis evcrteret. etenim nonnullis videbatur, aedem sacratam ultra omnia mortalia illustrem non oportere deleri, quae servata modestiae Romanae testimonium, diruta perennem crudelitatis notam praeberet. at contra alii et Titus ipse evertendum in primis templum censebant, quo plenius Iudaeorum et Christianorum religio tolleretur: quippe has religiones, licet contrarias sibi, isdem tamen auctoribus profectas; Christianos ex Iudaeis extitisse: radice sublata stirpem facile penturam. C. Halm, ed., Sulpicii Severi libri qui supersunt, CSEL, vol. I (Vienna, 1866). Unless otherwise indicated, all translations are my own.
2. "Über die Chronik des Sulpicius Severus", in Jahresbericht des jüdisch-theologischen Seminars "Fraenckelscher Stiflung" (Breslau, 1861) 1-72, esp. 48-53, 57-61
3. reprinted in Jacob Bernays, Über die Chronik des Sulpicius Severus: Ein Beilrag zur Geschichte der classischen und biblischen Sludien (Berlin, 1861; repr., Berlin, 1862)
4. and also in H. Usener, ed., Gesammelte Abhandlungen von Jacob Bernays (1885; repr., Hildesheim: Olms, 1971) 2.81-200, esp. 159-67, 174-81.
5. The publishing history is derived in part from Jean Bollack, "Un homme d'un autre monde", in John Glucker and André Laks, eds., Jacob Bernays: Un philologue juif, Cahiers de philologie, série Apparat critique, vol. 16 (Villeneuve d'Ascq, France: Presses Universitaires du Septentrion, 1996) 168 n. 111. All references to page numbers in Bernays are from the original Breslau edition.
6. For more recent commentary on frag. 2, see Brian W. Jones, The Emperor Titus (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1984) 54-5;
7. Yochanan H. Lewy [Johanan Hans Levy], Studies in Jewish Hellenism (Jerusalem: Bialk Institute, 1960) 190-4 [Hebrew];
8. T. D. Barnes, "The Fragments of Tacitus' Histories", Classical Philology 72, no. 3 (1977) 224-31;
9. G. K. van Andel, The Christian Concept of History in the Chronicle of Sulpicius Severus (Amsterdam: Adolf M. Hakkert, 1976) 33-4, 43-8, 51-2;
10. Hugh Montefiore, "Sulpicius Severus and Titus' Council of War", Historia 11 (1962) 156-70;
11. Arnaldo Momigliano, "Jacob Bernays", Mededelingen der Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, afd. letterkunde, n. s., 32, no. 5 (1969) 151-78, esp. 167;
12. Flaminio Ghizzoni, Sulpicio Severo (Rome: Bulzoni, 1983) 207-9;
13. and André Lavertujon, La Chronique de Sulpice Sévè rer vol. 2 (Paris, 1899) 69, 394-400.
14. "Chronik", 48-53, 59-61. Most recent historians have largely agreed with Bernays on this point, at least with respect to those portions of frag. 2 they do not consider to have been redacted.
15. See esp., Jones, Titus, 55, 55 n. 69;
16. also, Zvi Yavetz, "Reflections on Titus and Josephus", Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 16, no. 4 (1975) 416-8 passim;
17. Lavertujon, Chronique, 394-400;
18. Barnes, "Fragments", 226-7;
19. and Momigliano, "Jacob Bernays", 167.
20. Historiae: Kenneth Wellesley, ed., Historiarum libri, vol. 2, pt. 1, Cornelii Taciti libri qui supersunt (Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, 1989);
21. H. Heubner, ed., Historiarum libri, vol. 2, pt. 1, P. Cornelii Taciti libri qui supersunt (Stuttgart: B. G Teubner, 1978);
22. E. Koestermann, ed., Historiarum libri, vol. 2, pt. I of P. Cornelii Taciti libri qui supersunt (Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, 1969);
23. Rudolf Till, ed., Cornelius Tacitus Historiarum libri, Heidelberger Texte, Lateinische Reihe, vol. 33 (Heidelberg: F. H. Kerle, 1963);
24. Caesar Giarratano, ed., Cornelii Taciti Historiarum libri (Rome: Reale Officina Poligrafica, 1939);
25. C. D. Fisher, ed., Cornelii Taciti Historiarum libri (1911; repr., Oxford: Clarendon, 1967);
26. G. Andresen, ed., P. Cornelii 7aciti libri qui supersunt, 5th ed., vol. 2 (Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, 1914);
27. C. Halm, ed., Historiae et libri minores, vol. 2, Cornelii Taciti libri qui supersunt, 4th ed. (Leipzig: B. G. Tcubner, 1901), etc.
28. See also Clifford H. Moore, trans., Tacitus: The Histories, vol. 2, Loeb Classical Library (1931) and additional bibliography in Wellesley, Historiarum libri, xi-xx. Chronica: Ghislaine de Senneville-Grave, ed., Sulpice Sévère, Chroniques, SC, no. 441 (Paris: Cerf, 1999) 41, 294-5, 429;
29. Lavertujon, Chronique, 69, 394, 398;
30. and Halm, Sulpicii Severi libri, 85.
31. For additional discussion, see Barnes, "Fragments", 224.
32. "Jacob Bernays", 167.
33. See particularly Montefiore, "Councilor War", 156-70, esp. 164 (citing other sources);
34. van Andel, Chronicle, 33-4, 43-8, 51-2;
35. and Lewy, Jewish Hellenism, 190-4.
36. "Rebellion within the Empire", CAH 10.862 n. 1.
37. Montefiore, "Council of War", 162-3.
38. Bernays, "Chronik", 59.
39. See also A. Gerber and A. Greef, Lexicon Taciteum (1877-1903;
40. repr., Hildeshcim: Olms, 1962) 2.1327-9
41. and Clarence W. Mendell, Sentence Connection in Tacitus (New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press, 1911) 133-5:
42. "Certe, nimirum, quippe, scilicet, serve rather the purpose of italics in English: they emphasize the word with which they are used and in so doing bring out strongly some contrast which is already present without the addition of the adverb. Further than this, they regularly mark the clause in which they stand as explanatory in some way of a statement, either uncertain or unusual, in the preceding sentence... quippe [has] a serious tone... Quippe is used more frequently by Tacitus and in more various ways than the other similar adverbs.."
43. Barnes, "Fragments", 227 n. 13.
44. Bernays, "Chronik", 58; also, 57 n. 75 (on plenius as non-Severean).
45. The similarity between frag. 2 and Isa 11.1 is even more striking in the LXX, Targum, Syriac, and the Vulgate, as against the MT. Sec John D. W. Watts, Isaiah 1-33 (WBC 24; Waco, Word, 1985) 168 n. 1. With regard to the Vulgate, however, see n. 19 below.
46. Roger Gryson, ed., Esaias, vol. 12, pt. 1, fasc. 6 of Vetus Latina: Die Reste der Altlateinischen Bibel (Freiburg: Herder, 1991) 410.
47. H. H. Schaeder, TDNT 4.879;
48. also, Fausto Parente, "An Unsolved Riddle in the Synoptic Tradition", Scripta Classica Israelica 15 (1996) 185-201, esp. 192.
49. Nor would Jerome's Isa 11.1 (Vg) from the Hebrew Bible or the Old Latin translations of Isa 11.1 that we know of today have helped Severus' readership (or Severus) identify stirps in frag. 2 as a quote from Isa 11.1. These translations into Latin consistently rendered netser from Isa 11.1 ss flos (Gryson, Esaias, vol. 12, pt. 1, fasc. 5 of Vetus Latina [1990] 339) which, unlike stirps, meant neither "branch" nor "descendants" but "flower."
50. See, e.g., S. Wagner, "nēser" TDOT 9.549-51
51. and Ray A. Pritz, Nazarene Jewish Christianity (Jerusalem: Magnes Press; Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1988) 14 n. 14;
52. also, James D. G. Dunn, Romans 9-16 (WBC 38B;
53. Dallas, Word, 1988) 659-60.
54. It is well known that in his Historiarum adversum Paganos libri septem (ca. 418) the Christian writer Paulus Orosius, for instance, had access to and made use of these now lost portions of the Hisloriae. Barnes, "Fragments", 224, 227-8 passim;
55. and Bernays, "Chronik", 55, 58 n. 77.
56. See, e.g., C. Zangemeister, ed., Pauli Orosii Historkrum adversum Paganos libri VII: Accedit eiusdem liber apologeticus, CSEL, vol. 5 (1882; repr., New York: Johnson Reprint, 1966) 460 n. While there is a remote possibility that Orosius and Severus could have independently arrived at similar-sounding language at the same point in their narratives, this is extremely unlikely.
57. Cf. Barnes, "Fragments", 228.
58. Cf. the parallel construction describing the adherents to one of Josephus' "four philosophies", the Tseduqim or (Sadducees) of Bell. 2.119, 164, 166, Ant. 13.171, 173, 293, 296-8, 18.11, 16, 20.199, and Vita 10;
59. see also b. Sanh. 33b, b. Yoma 19b, 53a, etc.
60. The Tseduqim appear to have been the followers of David and Solomon's priest Tsadoq and his descendants (2 Sam 8.17, 1 Kings 2.35, Ezek 44.15, etc.).
61. See generally, R. Meyer, TDNT 7.35-54; and EncJud, s.v. "Sadducees."
62. Justin Dial. 86;
63. Tertullian Apol. 3.5;
64. Ad nat. 1.3;
65. Adv. Prax. 28;
66. Lactantius Inst. 4.7.4;
67. and Elias J. Bickerman, "The Name of Christians", HTR 42 (1949) 109-24, esp. 119
68. (repr., Studies in Jewish and Christian History, vol. 3 [Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1986] 139-51): "... 'Christus' is, of course, a literal... rendering of the Hebrew Mashiah (Aramaic: Meshiah), meaning 'Anointed'.. "" See, e.g., Ps 2.2, 2 Sam 22.51, etc.
69. Ann. 15.44.
70. "The formation of such a name from 'Christus' is in accordance with late Latin usage (cp. 'Augustiani' [Ann.] 14.15, 8, 'Tertullianus, etc.)...", Henry Furneaux, ed., Cornelii Taciti: Annalium ab excessu Divi Augusti libri [The Annals of Tacitus], vol. 2 (Oxford: Clarendon, 1891) 528.
71. Cf. esp. the parallel "Caesariani": C. Spicq, "Ce que signifie le titre de chrétien", Studia Theologica 15, no. 1 (1961) 68-78, esp. 74-5.
72. See also Harold B. Mattingly, "The Origin of the Name Christiani", JTS, n. s., 9 (1958) 26-37;
73. J. le Coultre, "De l'étymologie du mot 'chré tien'", Revue de Théologie et de Philosophie 40(1907), 188-96, esp. 188-90;
74. Bickerman, "Name of Christians", 109-24;
75. and Henry J. Cadbury, "Names for Christians and Christianity in Acts", in F. J. Foakes Jackson and Kirsopp Lake, eds., The Beginnings of Christianity. Part I: The Acts of the Apostles, vol. 5 (1933; repr., Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1979) 375-92, esp. 383-6. Pauline Christians would arguably have been regarded as the followers of the resurrected:
76. Baruch Lifshitz, "L'origine du nom des chrétiens", VC 16 (1962) 65-70.
77. Pliny Ep. 10.96-97;
78. Ignatius Rom. 3.2;
79. Martyrdom of Polycarp 10.1, etc.
80. Gerber and Greef, Lexicon Taciteum, 2.1547-8.