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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 June 2011
1 For example, Gnilka, Joachim, Der Philipperbrief (HThKNT 10.3; Freiburg: Herder, 1968) 10Google Scholar; Collange, Jean-François, L'Étpître de saint Paul aux Philippiens (CNT 10a; Neuchatel:Delachaux & Niestlé, 1973) 127Google Scholar; Schenk, Wolfgang, Die Philipperbriefe des Paulas (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1984) 242, 252Google Scholar.
2 The literary sources for ancient consolation are conveniently collected in Buresch, Carl, “Consolationum a Graecis Romanisque scriptarum historia critica,” Leipziger Studien zur klassischen Philologie 9 (1886) 1–170Google Scholar; an excellent modern analysis is Kassel, Rudolf, Untersuchungen zur griechischen und römischen Konsolationsliteratur (Zetemata 18; Munich: Beck, 1958).Google Scholar For early Christian consolation see Gregg, Robert C., Consolation Philosophy: Greek and Christian Paideia in Basil and the Two Gregories (Patristic Monograph Series 3; Cambridge, MA: Philadelphia Patristic Foundation, 1975)Google Scholar, for the Greek tradition; and Favez, Charles, La consolation latine chretienne (Paris: J. Vrin, 1937)Google Scholar and Scourfield, J. H. D., Consoling Heliodorus: A Commentary on Jerome “Letter 60” (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993), for the LatinGoogle Scholar.
3 In addition to my description of this technique below, see Kassel, , Untersuchungen zur Konsolationsliteratur, 31–32Google Scholar; Grollios, Constantine C., Seneca's Ad Marciam: Tradition and Originality (Athens: Christou, 1956) 52–54Google Scholar; Abel, Karlhans, Bauformen in Senecas Dialogen (Bibliothek der klassischen Altertumswissenschaften N.F. 2/18; Heidelberg; Winter, 1967) 26–27, 66, 86-88, 91Google Scholar; Johann, Horst-Theodor, Trauer und Trost. Eine quellen- und strukturanalytische Untersuchung der philosophischen Trostschriften uberden Tod (Munich: Fink, 1968) 88, 91 n. 413, 115-16, 140 n. 683, 151–53Google Scholar.
4 “Anxiety” is a common synonom for “grief in the consolatory literature. The term of choice is Προντίζω, Προνίς; see for example, pseudo-Plutarch Ad Apol. 109E (πάσης άπαλλαγήλύπης καί Προντίδος) “relief of all grief and anxiety”) and Cassius Dio 38.20.1. However, does occur, as in Plutarch Tran. an. 477E: (“in lamentations and fits of depression and toilsome anxieties”). For sollicitudo, compare Ad Helv. 17.5; 18.5, 9; Ad Marc. 24.4; Tran. an. 7.3; 16.1.
5 Chrysostom Ep. ad Philipp. 4.14.305 (= PG 62.283.51-54); compare Bultmann, Rudolf, “(lepinvda)” ThWNT 4 (1942) 595Google Scholar: “das… der Beter in eine eigentiimliche Distanz zu seinen WUnschen tritt, wenn er sienen Gott kundtut und sich damit von der Sorge befreit.” Compare Aesop Fab. 288 Hausrath: “Pray to god and do not grieve (εύχου τω θεω καί μή θρένεί).” For the motif of thankfulness in ancient consolation, see note 38 below.
6 It might be objected that 4:9b is Paul's characteristic “peace wish” (Rom 15:33; 16:20a; 2 Cor 13:11; 1 Thess 5:23; 2 Thess 3:16; Gal 6:16; compare Eph 6:23) and is thus not consolatory. These are not mutually exclusive propositions, however, especially when we observe that the “wish” of 4:9b is actually a promise (έσται) like 4:7 (Προυρήσει); see also, 2 Cor 13:11. I take it that Paul utilizes a benedictional form for his final consolation. For a general discussion of Paul's concluding “peace wish,” see Gamble, Harry, The Textual History of the Letter to the Romans (Studies and Documents 42; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1977) 67–73Google Scholar; and, more recently, Weima, Jeffrey A. D., Neglected Endings: The Significance of the Pauline Letter Closings (JSNTS 101; Sheffield: JSOT, 1994) 87–104Google Scholar.
7 λογίζομαι typically has the sense of “calculate” or “reckon,” but by the turn of the eras it can also mean simply “think”; compare Moulton, James Hope and Milligan, George, The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament Illustrated from the Papyri and Other Non-Literary Sources (1930; reprinted, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1976) 378.Google ScholarBAGD (475-76) suggests “think about, consider, ponder, let one's mind dwell on.” Chrysostom paraphrases: έν τούτοιζ είναι, ταύταμεριμνάν ταύτα έννοείν (PG 62.286.25-26).
8 He summarizes these theories in Tusc. 3.31.76.
9 Ibid. 3.13.28—3.14.29. As a practical technique, of course, the praemeditatio extended well beyond Cyreniac consolation theory. Diogenes of Sinope taught it (Diogenes Laertius 6.63), as did Chrysippus (Cicero Tusc. 3.52), Panaetius (Plutarch De coh. ir. 463D), Posidonius (Galen De plac. Hip. et Plat. 372.14), Carneades (Plutarch Tran. an. 474E), Epictetus (Diss. 3. 24.103-4; Ench. 21), Seneca (AdHelv. 5.3; Ep. 24.15; 91.4), and Plutarch (Tran. an. 465B); compare Johann, Trauer und Trost, 63-84. For the praemeditatio in Paul, see Malherbe, Abraham J. (Paul and the Thessalonians [Philadelphia: Fortress, 1987] 57–58)Google Scholar, who cites 1 Thess 3:3-4 (compare Phil 1:28-30).
10 Cicero Tusc. 3.15.32.
11 Ibid. 3.15.33 (= 444 Us); compare 3.31.76: “There are others, like Epicurus, who lead our minds away from bad things to good things (abducant a mails ad bona)"; 5.26.74: “He [Epicurus] says that he finds relief in one thing alone, namely, the recollection of past pleasures (recordationepraeteritarumvoluptatum)"; Fin. 1.57 (Torquatus speaking): “It lies within us both to bury our misfortunes in a nearly perpetual forgetfulness and to recall with delight and pleasure our agreeable experiences (ut et adversa quasi perpetua oblivione obruamus et secunda iucunde ac suaviter meminerimus)"; Epicurus Sent. Vat. 55: “We must remedy our misfortunes by being thankful for the things that have already passed away, and by under-standing that not without benefit we may make use of what has already happened (θεραπευτέον τάς συμΠοράς τή των άπολλυμένων χάριρτι καί γινωσκειόύκ έστιν άπρακτονποιήσαι τό γεγονός)”; Philodemus Περί θεων 3 col. d (2) 23: “the continuous application of our mind to things that have already happened, things happening now, and things soon to happen in the future” (τήν συνεχεστάτην έπιβολήν έπί τά γεγονότα καί παρόντα καί μήλλοντα) De mort. 38.21. A slightly different view is espoused by Metrodorus in his consolatory letter to his sister (according to Seneca Ep. 99.25).
12 According to Diogenes Laertius 10.22 (= 138 Us; 52A).
13 According to Cicero Fin. 2.30.96 (= 172 Us).
14 Cicero Tusc. 3.16.34-3.21.51; compare Fin. 2.30.96-98.
15 Cicero Tusc. 3.16.35-17.37.
16 Ibid. 3.17.37.
17 Compare Cicero Tusc. 3.31.76: “in my Consolation I combined all types of consolation into one consolation” (m Consolatione omnia [genera consolandi] in conolationem unam coniecimus); compare Att. 12.14.3.
18 Compare Johann, Trauer und Trost, 150-55. Seneca criticizes the method in its grosser forms in Ad Helv. 17.2. In Ad Marc. 1.5, 8 he refers to it as the “soft” (mollis) approach to consolation. In open defiance of Epicurus he begins both Ad Helv. (2.4—4.1) and Ad Marc. (1.2—5) by evoking past pain (!) in an effort “to conquer grief, not cheat it” (vincere dolorem… non circumscribere; Ad Helv. 4.1).
19 Seneca Ad Poly. 5.4-5.
20 Ibid. 6.1-5.
21 Ibid. 7.1-4 and 12.3-13.4
22 Ibid. 8.1-4 and 11.5-6.
23 Ibid. 10.6.
24 Ibid. 12.1-2.
25 Seneca Ad Helv. 18.1-6.
26 Ibid. 18.9.
27 Ibid. 19.1-7.
28 Grollios, (Seneca's Ad Marciam, 52–54)Google Scholar finds this technique also in Ad Marc. 12.1-2; but see Johann, , Trauer and Trost, 92Google Scholar(§190). Elsewhere in Seneca: Ep. 63.4 (Attalus); 99.3-5.
29 Seneca Ad Poly. 18.8: “Think of his modesty, think of his ingenuity… diligence… constancy (Cogita modestiam eius, cogita… sollertiam… industriam… constantiam)”; Ad Marc. 24.1–4: “By the contemplation of these virtues hold your son as if in your bosom” (Harum contemplatione virtutum filium gere quasi sinu). Compare Cicero Fam. 4.13.4: “It remains to console you and offer you considerations (= gravitas, altitudo animi, studia, artes) by which I may try to lead your mind away from your troubles"; Jerome, Ep. 60.7.3:” Bind up your wound for a while and listen to the praises of the man whose virtue always caused you such delight” (trans. Scourfield, Consoling Heliodorus, 51).
30 Compare Plutarch Ad ux. 608A-B.
31 Pseudo-Ovid Ad Liv. 377-400 and 411-16.
32 Pseudo-Plutarch Ad Apol. 116A-B.
33 Pliny Ep. 8.5.2
34 Ambrose De exc. Sat. 1.3.
35 Jerome Ep. 60.7.3; 108.1.2; 118.4.2
36 Basil Ep. 5.2; 269.2.
37 Paulinus of Nola Ep. 13.6. Generally, see Scourfield, Consoling Heliodorus, 133-34.
38 Phil 4:6-7. To remain thankful (gratias agere) in the midst of hardship is a prominent theme in ancient consolation in general and the avocatio-revocatio in particular: Cicero Fin. 1.57, 62; Lucretius 3.931-67, esp. 957-67; Seneca Ep. 99.3-5; Ad Marc. 12.1-2; Ad Poly. 10.2; Plutarch, Ad ux. 610E-61 ID; compare Johann, Trauer und Trost, 85-92. In these contexts ingratitude is often construed as grumbling against fate or God (Seneca Ad Marc. 10.2; Ad Poly. 3.1; Plutarch Ad ux. 610E-1 IB; compare Phil 2:13–14).
39 Indeed, the nearest analogy to the Tugendkatalog of Phil 4:8 is Cicero Tusc. 5.23.67: “all things that are beautiful, honorable, admirable (omnia quae pulcra, honesta, praeclara)”; compare Plutarch Tran. an. 469A: “whatever things are pleasing and well-liked (όσα προσΠιλή καί άστεία).” Paul's use of this established technique may account for the vocabulary of Phil 4:8 which, as has often been observed, is decidedly un-Pauline.
40 Compare Seneca Ad Poly. 10.2: “Thus our mind must be sent back to a previous time, and whatever formerly delighted us must be recalled and by frequent contemplation held before us (Itaque in praeteritum tempus animus mittendus est et quicquid nos umquam delectavit reducendum ac frequenti cogitatione pertractandum est).”
41 For the language of “joy” in the context of the avocatio-revocatio, see Seneca Ad. Marc. 3.4 (laetam); Ad Poly. 10.6 (gaude… gaudere); Ep. 99.3 (gauderes); Plutarch Tran. an. 469D (xaipeiv); Ambrose De exc. Sat. 1.3 (laetandum…est); Jerome Ep. 60.7 (gaudeas).
42 Compare Phil 1:12-21.
43 Paul thus moves from precept in 4:8 to example in 4:9a. Consolatory arguments typically took this form (praecepta followed by exempla). Seneca reverses the order in Ad Marc. 2-4, but only after acknowledging his departure from the traditional method (2.1): “I know that those who wish to admonish another typically start with precepts (a praeceptis incipere) and end with examples (in exemplis desinere). Compare Cicero Tusc. 3.23.56; Ovid Ex Pont. 1.3.27, 61.
44 Compare Phil 1:6
45 Phil 1:8, 29.
46 Phil 2:13-14.
47 Phil 3:10.
48 Compare Rom 8:28; 1 Cor 13:5.
