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57 Of these the most complete copy is in ms. B. 5.18, Trinity College, Dublin (formerly the property of Archbishop Ussher), which has been used by Professor Lamy in his edition of three homilies (Tom. III. of His Ephraim, 1889.).
58 This remarkable distinction dates from the fourth century; it is noticed by St. Jerome (De Viris Ill., CXV.), writing within twenty years after Ephraim's death.
59 St. Hilary of Poitiers (d. 368) is reputed (see Isidore of Seville, De Off Eccl.) the earliest writer of Latin Hymns, and some extant Hymns are ascribed to him. But St. Augustine tells us (Confess. IX. 7) that at Milan hymns were first used, "after the manner of the Eastern Church," in the time when the Empress Justina was persecuting St. Ambrose (386).
60 Metrical Hymns of Ephraim, 1853.
61 Hymns of the Holy Eastern Church, pp.34, 35, 49 (1870). Note the contrast between the wide acceptance of Ephraim's Hymns, through the East, and the scanty survival of those of his contemporary, in the West.
62 A few exceptional Greek hymns may be pointed out of earlier date (e.g., that mentioned by St. Basil, De Spiritu S., XXIX; but the statement above made is in the main accurate. Anatolius, Patriarch of Constantinople (449-458) seems to have been the first to devote himself to the composition of hymns of the type above described. See Neale (as above).
63 Probably the earliest extant Syriac poem is the Hymn of the Soul (printed by Dr. Wright in Apocryphal Acts, p.174; also by Mr. Bevan in Texts and Studies, V. 3). Its metre, though less regular, is substantially the seven-syllabled of Ephraim. Whether Bardesan (or Harnionius) wrote in metres like those of Ephraim has been questioned; but if it is true that Ephraim's hymns were adapted by him to the tunes of Harmonius, it seems to follow that his metres were those of the hymns to which those tunes belonged.
64 From the Nitrian ms., 14506
65 Hymns 1-14 from mss., 14506, 14572; No.15 from the Maronite Breviary.
66 From mss. 14570, 14651, 17266; and a fragment from 14654 (printed in Tom. II., pp. xx-xiii.).
67 mss. 14572, 17141 chiefly; with a few others of secondary value. Five Hymns are lost (viii. and xxii.-xxv.), and part of two others (ix. and xxvi.).
68 Note the mention of Edessa in Hymn xlii. 1.
69 Chron. Edess., as above ; Chronol. of Elias Nisib.
70 Ap. Assemani, B. O. I. 116.
71 Ap. Forget, De Vita Aphraatis, lntroductio, p.22; see also pp.121-126 of Forget's Dissertation which follows; also p.5 of Introd.
72 So in Peshitto; "unripe grape," in LXX.; "new wine," in A.V. and R.V., with the Hebrew; but the Latin Vulgate agrees with Peshitto.
73 See the text in Wright's Aphraatis, pp. 29ff.; in Lagarde'sAnalecta Syr., pp. 108 ff or Forget (as above) pp. 8 ff.