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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 July 2016
The De vetere et novo testamento quaestiones which Faustino Arévalo, S.J. (d. 1824), the illustrious editor of St. Isidore of Seville, regarded as authentic has long been recognized as spurious. In fact it can be considered one of the oldest extant pseudo-Isidorian works. In identifying this curious little catechetical work and publishing the editio princeps, Arévalo was convinced that he had rightly contributed to the list of the accepted works of St. Isidore. Indeed, he believed that the historical testimony of both St. Braulio and St. Ildefonsus, if rightly interpreted, favored the authenticity of this work and its inclusion under the title, Secretorum expositiones sacramentorum. The evidence which he presented in favor of the acceptance of this ancient catechism is reducible to three general headings: the antiquity of the manuscript in which this work has come down to us, the absence of positive reasons negating authenticity, and the presence of evidence affirming it. Under the latter heading he adduced various extrinsic authority, e.g., that of Gratian and Grialius, which is of no decisive importance in settling this question; and he stressed the inner dependence of the text of the quaestiones on the works of St. Isidore — a literary dependence which in the Early Middle Ages is normal enough in works of this character and which certainly is not a definitive norm for deciding the genuineness of Isidorian works.
1 PL 83.201A-208A. Google Scholar
2 Beeson, C., Isidorstudien (Munich 1913) 33. 36; Dekkers, E., Clavis patrum latinorum (Sacris erudiri 3 [2nd ed. 1961]) 1194, p. 270.Google Scholar
3 Older, for example, is the Liber de ordine creaturarum (PL 83.913D-954B), which may have been composed in Ireland about the middle of the seventh century. Cf. M.C. Díaz y Díaz, ‘Isidoriana I: Sobre el Liber de ordine creaturarum,’ Sacris erudiri 5 (1953) 147–66. Closer in time to the pseudo-Isidorian Quaestiones is the Irish Liber de numeris (PL 83. 1293C-1302C), which was composed about the year 750 in southeastern Germany, probably near Salzburg in the circle of St. Virgilius. Cf. McNally, R. E., Der irische Liber de numeris (Munich 1957).Google Scholar
4 Isidoriana 2.64.2 (PL 81.411C).Google Scholar
5 Ibid.: ‘Has igitur quaestiones pro genuino S. doctoris Isidori opere exhibeo auctoritate tam eximii codicis fretus, et quod nihil quod obstet inveniam, multa quae in eamdem me sententiam pertrahant.’Google Scholar
6 Ibid. 2.64.1 (PL 81.411B): ‘Nullum adhuc vidi Isidori operum praestantiorem codicem, quique clariora antiquitatis indicia referat quam Vaticano-Palatinum num. 277 … Neque certe ratio ulla obest cur ad saeculum ipsum Isidori, scilicet VII, revocari non possit.’Google Scholar
7 A facsimile and a paleographical description of the codex are presented by Lowe, E.A., Codices latini antiquiores 1 (Oxford 1934) 91, pp. 27 and (bibliography) 42.Google Scholar
8 Traube, L., Textgeschichte der Benedicti Regula S. (2nd ed. Munich 1910) 101, and Vorlesungen und Abhandlungen 1 (Munich 1909) 234 n. 8, where Lorsch is suggested as the Bibliotheksheimat. Schriftheimat is unknown.Google Scholar
9 Mommsen, T., Chronica minora 3 (MGH, Auctores antiquissimi 13; Berlin 1898) 426–37.Google Scholar
10 Ibid. 425.Google Scholar
11 Lowe, E.A., op. cit. p. 27.Google Scholar
12 The difficult textual problem of this Computus has not yet been fully solved. Cf. for bibliography McNally, R.E., ‘Isidorian Pseudepigrapha in the Early Middle Ages,’ in Isidoriana (León 1961) 309 n. 23. Cf. Dekkers, E., op. cit. 2307 p. 515.Google Scholar
13 Kenney, J., The Sources for the Early History of Ireland 1 (New York 1928) 54, p. 217.Google Scholar
14 For example, ‘… iam ne nos fallant multoloquio suo Scottorum scolaces …’ and ‘… quamvis Scotti concordare nolunt, qui sapientiam se existimant habere et scientiam perdederunt’ (Laterculus 1.4 [T. Mommsen, ed. cit. 426, 427]). Google Scholar
15 Thus he writes: ‘Scottorum denique scolaces vel potius scholares … et Scoti … contra quos scriptor invehitur, certo veniunt ab homine Latino’ (ed. cit. [Preface] 425). Google Scholar
16 H. Löwe, Ein literarischer Widersacher des Bonifatius: Virgil von Salzburg und die Kosmographie des Aethicus Ister (Mainz 1952) 23. Google Scholar
17 In fact, Crehan, J., ‘The Seven Orders of Christ,’ Theological Studies 19 (1958) 86 n. 10, believes that both these arguments point to Anglo-Saxon England as the place of origin of the Latin Laterculus. Google Scholar
18 Hillgarth, J.N., ‘The East, Visigothic Spain and the Irish,’ Studia Patristica 4 (TU 79; Berlin 1961) 442–56.Google Scholar
19 Ep. 15.15.ff. (PL 54.688Aff.). The manuscript title reads: ‘Incipit sententia papae Leonis de apocrifae scripturae.’Google Scholar
20 Compare this with the title in Arévalo's edition: De vetere et novo testamento quaestiones. Google Scholar
21 Col. 3.17. This formula also appears in various titles, invocations and imprecations, e.g., Navigatio sancti Brendani abbatis 7, 25 (ed. Selmer, C. [Publications in Mediaeval Studies 16; Notre Dame 1959] 16, 69).Google Scholar
22 Note, for example, the title of the Irish biblical work, preserved in Lyons 447 (376), fol. 106r (s. ix): Interrogationes vel responsiones tam de veteri quam novi testamenti. On the Irish character of this work cf. Bischoff, B., ‘Wendepunkte in der Geschichte der lateinischen Exegese im Frühmittelalter,’ Sacris erudiri 6 (1954) 224.Google Scholar
23 In an Irish academic dialogue, preserved in lat, B.N. 10616, fols. 94r-131r (s. viii-ix), we read on fol. 94r: ‘Incipit interrogatio de singulas questiones quem discipulus postolavit magistrum. Discipulus ait. Dic mihi, magister, quare dicta est littera? Et magister respondit …’ Cf. Bischoff, B., ibid. 231.Google Scholar
24 Altaner, B., ‘Der Stand der Isidorforschung,’ Miscellanea Isidoriana (Rome 1936) 10ff.Google Scholar
25 Cf. ‘The Old Irish Treatise on the Psalter’ (ed. Meyer, K., Hibernica minora. Anecdota Oxoniensia, Mediaeval and Modern Series 8; Oxford 1894] 20ff.). Cf. Kenney, J., op. cit. 516 pp. 665–66.Google Scholar
26 C.H. Lynch and Gallindo, P., San Braulio (Madrid 1950) 358–59.Google Scholar
27 PL 83.207B-424D. The full title of this work reads Mysticorum expositiones sacramentorum seu quaestiones in Vetus Testamentum. Google Scholar
28 Ibid. 208B: ‘Et quia iam pridem iuxta litteram a nobis sermo totus contextus est, necesse est ut, praecedente historiae fundamento, allegoricus sensus sequatur.’Google Scholar
29 McNally, R.E., Isidoriana (cf. n. 12 supra) 307ff.Google Scholar
30 Cf. n.48 infra on the text. Google Scholar
31 For example, in both Orleans 184, p. 90, s. ix in., from southeast Germany, and Clm. 14392, fol. 41v, ca. 825, from St. Emmeram in Regensburg, the title reads: Dicta sancti Isidori. Google Scholar
32 The following relationships can be noted: Quaest. 7 and Liber de numeris III. 37; q. 8 and III. 36; q. 18 and III.4; q. 20 and IV.23; q. 21 and IV.24; q. 32 and VII.10; q. 36 and III.5; q. 40 and IV.22; q. 41–47 and VII. 25–26; q. 51 and II.1, 13; q. 52 and VII.28. Google Scholar
33 M.C. Díaz y Díaz, Index scriptorum latinorum medii aevi Hispanorum (Madrid 1959) 32 n. 37: ‘Ex libro hibernico de numeris fluxerunt proculdubio quaestiones de veteri et novo testamento …’ Google Scholar
34 The parallels between the De vetere et novo test. quaest. and other Hiberno-Latin and Irish works are more completely presented in my critical study of the Irish Liber de numeris (cf. n. 3 supra). Google Scholar
1 Rom. 5.14. Google Scholar
2 Ps. 149.1 Cf. Augustine, Enarr. in Ps. 149.1 (PL 37.1949; CCL 40.2178): ‘Vetus homo, vetus canticum: novus homo, novum canticum. Vetus testamentum, vetus canticum. Novum testamentum, novum canticum.’ Google Scholar
3 Isidore, De eccl. officiis 1.11.7 (PL 83.746C-747A). The affirmation of the existence of seventy-two languages is constructed on Gen. 10, where in the Septuagint seventy-two descendants of Noe are listed. At the time of the construction of the tower of Babel they are supposed to have separated into seventy-two different linguistic groups, which are mystically related to the seventy-two books of Scripture. Cf. Borst, A., Der Turmbau von Babel 2.1 (Stuttgart 1958) 366ff., 399ff. The same idea turns up in various Irish works, e.g., Irish Pseudo-Augustine's De mirabilibus s. Scripturae 1.9 (PL 35.2161), which was composed in Ireland about 650. Cf. Grosjean, P. ‘Sur quelques exégètes irlandais du VIIe siècle,’ Sacris erudiri 7 (1955) 67–98.Google Scholar
4 Exod. 21.24 (Deut. 19.21); Mt. 5.44 (Lk. 6.27). Cf. Irish Pseudo-Jerome's Expositio in Matthaeum (PL 30.564BC), which probably originated in Ireland about 650 and which seems to have been a fountainhead for biblical studies in the Irish circles on the continent in the eighth century. Cf. Bischoff, B., ‘Wendepunkte …’ (n. 22 supra) 236–37.Google Scholar
5 2 Pet. 3.13; Is. 65.17. Google Scholar
6 This early reference to purgatorium finds parallels both in the Irish Liber de ordine creaturarum (14.8, 12; PL 83.948D, 950A), which probably originated in Ireland about the middle of the seventh century (cf. M. C. Díaz y Díaz, ‘Isidoriana Sobre, I. el Liber de ordine creaturarum,’ Sacris erudiri 5 [1953] 144–66) and in the Irish Liber de numeris (III. 18) which very probably was composed about the year 750 in the circle of St. Virgilius of Salzburg (cf McNally, R.E., Der irische Liber de numeris [Munich 1957] 57).Google Scholar
7 The etymology, ‘liber ad legendum vel liverandum,’ a verbal play on the double meaning of liber, is frequently found in the early Irish biblical commentaries, where it is generally associated with Mt. 1.1 and Jn. 8.36. Cf. Liber de numeris III. 37 (McNally, ibid. 63–64, where various parallels in Irish works are cited). The etymologies, ‘codex ad condiendum’ and ‘volumen ad volvendum,’ also of common occurrence in Irish works, are derived from Isidore's Etymologiae 6.13.2. Google Scholar
8 Cf. the Irish Liber de numeris III.36 (McNally, ibid. 62–63) where we read: ‘Cur ergo A littera in tribus principalibus linguis principatum tenet omnibus litteris? Ideo, quia in apellatione creatoris et principalium creaturarum A littera prima ponitur ut Adonai, angeli, archangeli, anima. Et ipse primus homo, Adam, …’ For further literary parallels in Hiberno-Latin works cf. McNally, ibid. Google Scholar
9 Etymologies in the three sacred languages, Hebrew, Greek and Latin, are frequently presented by the Irish scholars of this period. Their occurrence in eighth-century works is almost symptomatic of their influence. Cf. the Liber de numeris III.33, where the three sacred alphabets, Hebrew, Greek and Latin, are reproduced. Cf. McNally, R.E., ‘The Tres Linguae Sacrae in Early Irish Bible Exegesis,’ Theological Studies 19 (1958) 395–403.Google Scholar
10 Isidore, Etym. 6.2.43. The derivation of evangelium in Greek and Latin is common in Irish biblical commentaries. I cite here one typical example from the Irish Questiones evangelii, which is preserved in Angers 55, fol. 12v (s. ix 1): ‘Evangelium in cuius lingua nuncupatur? In greca, quod in latina sonat adnuntiatio.’ Cf. on the character of this manuscript Bischoff, B., op. cit. 238–40. More characteristically Irish is the ‘Hebrew’ etymology, … vocatur evangelium … ethloeum vel ethleum in ebraica.’ Cf. McNally, R.E., ‘Two Hiberno-Latin Texts on the Gospels,’ Traditio 15 (1959) 390ff.Google Scholar
11 Gen. 12.1. Isidore, Quaest. in Vet. Test., In Gen. 10.1 (PL 83.258B). Google Scholar
12 Ibid. 10.2 (PL 83.258C). Google Scholar
13 Isidore, Etym. 7.9.1. Google Scholar
14 Ibid. 6.10.12; De eccl. officiis 2.5.8 (PL 83.782C). Google Scholar
15 Isidore, Etym. 7.12.1. Clero is a faulty transcription of the Greek ϰλῆϱος. Google Scholar
16 Ibid. 7.13.5. Cf. n. 9 supra. Google Scholar
18 Cf. parallels in the Irish Liber de numeris III.4; VI.1; VII.7 (McNally, Der irische aLiber de numeris 52–3, 94, 112–13). Cf. also (Irish?) Pseudo-Bede, In Pentateuchum Comment. (PL 91.191B): ‘Condidit Deus de nihilo mundum (caelum et terram) et angelos et animam.’ Google Scholar
19 Here the author presents two interpretations of the biblical expression ‘caelum et terram’ (Gen. 1.1). Terra signifies sancta ecclesia (Gregory, Moralia 17.25.35 [PL 76.26B]) and peccatores (Eucherius, Formulae 3 [CSEL 31.13]). Caelum signifies animas iustas (Augustine, Enarratio 2.2 on Ps. 18 [PL 36.157; CCL 38.106]) and angelos (Gregory, Moralia 27.39.65 [PL 76.438A). Google Scholar
20 This paragraph presents the four attributes of God as the obiectum materiale of theological faith. A parallel passage is found in the Irish Commentary on the Catholic Epistles, preserved in Karlsruhe, Aug. CCXXXIII, fol. 2r (s. ix in.), a work which dates from mid-seventh-century Ireland. Cf. for a description of this work Kenney, J., The Sources for the Early History of Ireland 1 (New York 1929) 105, p. 277; Bischoff, B. op. cit. 269–70, and Grosjean, P., op. cit. (n. 3 supra). Cf. Liber de numeris IV.23 (McNally, ibid. 82, where other parallels in Hiberno-Latin are cited).Google Scholar
21 Parallel passages occur in the two Irish works mentioned in the preceding note, the Commentary on the Catholic Epistles (Karlsruhe, Aug. CCXXXIII, fol. 17r) and the Liber de numeris IV.24 (McNally, ibid. 82). Google Scholar
23 Augustine, De Genesi ad litteram 8.6 (CSEL 28.239–40). Google Scholar
24 Ps.-Augustine, Quaest. Vet. et Novi Test. q. 8.1 (CSEL 50.32). Google Scholar
25 Apoc. 10.9–10. Ps.-Augustine, Quaest. q. 76.1–2 (CSEL 50.129–30). Google Scholar
26 Isidore, De fide catholica 2.28.2 (PL 83.537A). Google Scholar
27 Jerome, Comment. in Matth. 4.3 (PL 26.32A). Cf. Expositio in Matthaeum (PL 30. 558C) of Irish Pseudo-Jerome (cf. n. 4 supra): ‘Postea esuriit, indicat verum hominem, ut diabolus falleret eius nativitate.’ Google Scholar
28 Jerome, ibid. 4.2 (PL 26.31B). Google Scholar
29 Gen. 4.9, 3.4. Google Scholar
30 Mt. 5.38. Cf. Opus imperfectum in Matth. hom. 12 (PG 56.699A), where a similar idea is expressed. Google Scholar
32 Isidore, Etym. 19.6.6. The Irish Liber de numeris VII.10 (McNally, ibid. 114) presents a somewhat enlarged version of these four qualities or properties of fire. Google Scholar
33 Eccl. 11.12. Jerome, Comment. in Eccl. (PL 23.1157BC). Google Scholar
34 Isidore, Etym. 11.1.25. Google Scholar
35 Ibid. 10.164. The expression ‘Dominus misericors’ is biblical. Google Scholar
36 Gregory, Dialogi 1.3 (PL 71.321). Parallel passages are found in the Irish Liber de numeris III.5 (McNally, ibid. 55) and in the curious Prebiarum de multorium exemplaribus (fol. 65v), an Irish compilation of questions and answers on various biblical themes, which is preserved in Clm. 6302, fols. 64r-69v (s. viii 1). Cf. Bischoff, B., op. cit. 221–22, 230–31, 254–55.Google Scholar
37 Pelagius, Expositio in Galatas (ed. Souter, A., Pelagius's Expositions of Thirteen Epistles of St. Paul [Texts and Studies 9.2; Cambridge 1926] 334–35; cf. 9.1 [1922] 342).Google Scholar
38 Ibid. Google Scholar
39 Jerome, Comment. in Matth. (PL 26.80B, 158C). Google Scholar
40 This theme based on Jerome, ibid. (PL 26.31AB) is found in almost all Irish biblical commentaries which take up the question of the Lord's baptism. Cf. Irish Liber de numeris IV.22 (McNally, ibid. 81–2). Google Scholar
41–7. This epitome of the Seven Orders of Christ probably originated in fifth-century Egypt, passed to Rome where it was translated from Greek into Latin, and thence spread throughout Europe in a variety of versions. Cf. Crehan, J., ‘The Seven Orders of Christ,’ Theological Studies 19 (1958) 81–93. There is no doubt that it was known to the Irish. Cf. Wasserschleben, F.W. Die irische Kanonensammlung (Leipzig 1885) 26. Wilmart, A. ‘Les ordres du Christ,’ Revue des sciences religieuses 3 (1923) 305–27, has shown how the version of the Seven Orders of Christ which is found in the Hibernensis is subordinate to the version represented by our text, a version on which in all probability it depends. The absence of mention of the acolyte might indicate Irish influence. Cf. Irish Liber de numeris VII.25–26 (McNally, ibid. 118–19) and Dekkers, E., Clavis patrum latinorum 1155h, p. 260.Google Scholar
42 Lk. 8.2. Google Scholar
43 Jn. 2.1–12. Google Scholar
44 Jn. 13.5–10. Google Scholar
45 Mt. 26.26; Mk. 14.22; Lk. 22.19. Google Scholar
46 Ps. 23.9. Google Scholar
47 Lk. 24. 50–51. Google Scholar
48 Mt. 19.24 (Mk. 10.25), Lk. 18.25. Ambrose, Expos. evang. Lucae 8.70–2 (CSEL 32.427–28). Cf. the Expositio in Matthaeum (PL 30.574A) of Irish Pseudo-Jerome (n.4 supra). Gembrosi is a hapax legomenon whose meaning is uncertain. The Thesaurus linguae latinae 6 ii.1734 does not trace its origin beyond its occurrence in our text. It is highly probable, if not certain, that gembrosi is related to gibberosus (incurvus, sinuatus) and to be translated by some expression such as ‘humpbacked.’ In commenting on the camel who cannot pass through the eye of a needle, St. Maximus of Turin (?), Hom. 117: De camelo, describes the camel as ‘animal quod est tortuosum’ (PL 57.525D) and distinguishes the gibberosus deformed by sin from the rectus, the upright man of good conscience (ibid. 527A). The bad man cannot pass through the eye of a needle because, like the camel, he is tortuosus (twisted) and gibberosus (humped), whereas the good man is rectus (erect). Apparently our author intends to say that the Gentiles before the coming of Christ had become both ‘twisted’ and ‘humped’ from adoring their idols. The whole allegorical idea is reminiscent of the Irish conception of the various classes of men who cannot enter the kingdom of God because of their spiritual deformities. For example, in the Irish Liber de numeris IV.36 (McNally, ibid. 161–62) the nimis curvus is grouped together with the four deformed men who cannot enter God's Kingdom. Cf. also the eighth-century Irish homily edited by David, P. ‘Un receuil de conférences monastiques irlandaises du VII e siècle,’ Revue bénédictine 49 (1937) 82–3.Google Scholar
49 Cf. the Expositio in Matthaeum (ibid.) of Irish Pseudo-Jerome, where foramen refers to the passion of Christ. Google Scholar
50 Ibid. (PL 30.561B). Google Scholar
51 For tribus read duabus, an error which may have crept into the original text from the transcription of Roman numerals. The source of this part of the paragraph is probably Gennadius’ De eccl. dogmatibus 19 (PL 58.985A); a parallel passage occurs in the Irish Liber de numeris II.1 (McNally, ibid. 29–30). The source of ‘Una est anima …’ is St. Isidore's Etym. 11.1.13 and Diff. 2.29.97 (PL 83.848). A parallel passage is found in the Irish Liber de numeris II.13 (McNally, ibid. 36–7). Our text should probably read ‘Dum sapit, animus est’ to avoid reduplication with Isidore's ‘Dum membra vegetat, anima est.’ Google Scholar
52 Irish Liber de numeris VII.28 (McNally, ibid. 120–21). Google Scholar
53 Gen. 2.23. Cf. Ioca monachorum (ed. Suchier, W., Adrian und Epictitus [Tübingen 1955] 118). The notion of Adam as prophet is common in the patristic writers, e.g., Hilary, Tractatus mysteriorum 1: De Adamo 3 (ed. Brisson, J.P., Sources chrétiennes 19 [Paris 1947] 77), and Tertullian, De anima 11 and 21 (PL 2.706A, 726A).Google Scholar
54 This piece, known in Irish writing, is probably derived from a Latin translation of John Chrysostom's In Matth. hom. 62.4 (PG 58.600–601). Google Scholar
55 Gen. 6.4–8. Google Scholar