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77 The Greek Kli/ma, denoting one of the seven belts (see p. 732, below) into which the earth's latitude was said to be divided. The Arabs also borrowed the word.
79 That is, their own "houses," as below. Each house had one of the heavenly bodies as its "lord," who was stronger, or better "located" in his own house than in any other. Also, of two planets equally strong in other respects, that which was in the strongest house was the stronger. The strength of the houses was determined by the order in which they rose, the strongest being that about to rise, which was called the ascendant.
80 Lit. "the signs of humanity."
82 Lit. "while Mars was witness to them."
83 The difficult word is not found in the lexicons. Dr. Payne Smith remarks that it could only come from , which verb, hwoever, throws away its , so that the form would be . He suggests, doubtfully, that the right reading is , from , which is used occasionally for appetite, and forms such an adjective in the sense of animosus, anima proeditus; and that if so, it may, like in Jude 19 and 1 Cor. xv. 44, 46, be = yuxikoi/, having an animal nature, sensual. Eusebius and Caesarius have spata/louj, a word of similar force.
84 Cureton's rendering, "and some adorn themselves," etc., is not so good, as being a repetition of what has already been said. It is also doubtful whether the words can be so construed. The Greek of Eusebius gives the sense as in the text: kosmou=sai pollw|= xrusw|= kai\ li/qoij brauti/moij tou\j i#ppouj. If , horses, be masc., or masc. only, as Bernstein gives it, the participle should be altered to the same gender. But Dr. Payne Smith remarks that Amira in his Grammer makes it fem. Possibly the word takes both genders; possibly, too, the women of Bactria rode on mares.
90 Eusebius has, Par' #Ellhsi de\ dai\ oi9 sofoi\ e0rwmen/nouj e!xontej ou0 yegontai\.
92 The text of Eusebius and the Recognitions is followed, which agrees better with the context. The syriac reads "Germans."
93 So Eusebius: a0gxonimai/w| mo/rw|. Otherwise "suffocation."
94 So called from containing each ten of the parts or degrees into which the zodiacal circle is divided. Cf. Hahn, Bardesanes Gnosticus, p. 72.
95 Lit. "who surround the whole world."
96 Lit. "have been in all the winds."
100 According to Neander, General Church History, i. 109, this was the Abgar Bar Manu with whom Bardesan is said to have stood very high. His conversion is placed between 160 and 170 a.d.
101 For , Merx, by omitting one , gives , "Readings." But what is meant is not clear. Ephraem Syrus ascribes certain compositions of this name to Bardesanes. Cf. Hahn, Bard. Gnost., p. 28.
103 Lit. "this man who is seen."
108 The five planets are called by their Greek names, Kro/noj, k.t.l.
1 [Elucidation I. p. 742, infra. See p. 722, supra.]
3 Or, "my daily converse is with learning." So Dr. Payne Smith is inclined to take these difficult words, supplying, as Cureton evidently does, the pronoun . The construction would be easier if we could take the participle as a passive, and render: "It (the kind of life men lead) has been explored by me by means of study."
5 The meaning probably is, that the maxims referred to lost their importance for him when he entered upon the new life of a Christian (so Cureton), or their importance to mankind when Christianity itself was born into the world. But why he did not substitute more distinctive Christian teaching is note clear. Perhaps the fear of persecution influenced him.
6 That is, the matters constituting "a liberal education."
7 Cureton's less literal rendering probably gives the true sense: "with whose liberty nothing else can be compaed."
8 Cureton: "I have heard." The unpointed text is here ambiguous.
9 Read , instead of , "peoples."
11 Cureton: "and the dark cloud collected our sighs." But the words immediately following, as well as the fact that in each of the clauses the nominative is placed last favours the rendering given.
13 Lit., "because thy loneliness has."
14 Or "error." He may refer either to the delusion of those who persue supposed earthly good, or to the false appearances by which men are deceived in such pursuit.
16 Cureton: "A sage among men once began to say to us." This would require , not .