Hegesippus

“ The testimony of Hegesippus is of great value, not only as that of a man born near the primitive Christian tradition, but also as that of an intelligent traveller amongst many Christian communities. Eusebius evidently held him in high estimation as recording the unerring tradition of the Apostolic preaching in the most simple style of composition, (1) and as a writer of authority who was "contemporary with the first successors of the Apostles" (2) [——] —] . ”

“ Hegesippus [1] who lived at a period not far from the Apostolic age, writing a History of all ecclesiastical events from the passion of our Lord, down to his own period, and gathering many things useful to the reader, composed five volumes in simple style, trying to represent the style of speaking of those whose lives he treated. He says that he went to Rome in the time of Anicetus, the tenth bishop after Peter, and continued there till the time of Eleutherius, bishop of the same city, who had been formerly deacon under Anicetus. ”

“ Hegesippus indicates plainly the seat of its authority. For the period before the adoption of a written standard the resort was not so much to “apostles” as to “disciples” and “witnesses.” The appeal was to “those who from the beginning had been eyewitnesses and ministers of the word” (Luke i. 2) ; and these were to be found primarily (until the complete destruction of that church during the revolt of Barcochebas and its suppression by Hadrian) in the mother community in Jerusalem (cf. Acts xv. 2) . Its life is the measure of the period of oral tradition, whose requiem is sung by Papias. ”

“ And in Rome Pius died in the fifteenth year of his episcopate, and Anicetus [18] assumed the leadership of the Christians there. Hegesippus records that he himself was in Rome at this time, and that he remained there until the episcopate of Eleutherus. [19]
8. But Justin [20] was especially prominent in those days. In the guise of a philosopher [21] he preached the divine word, and contended for the faith in his writings. He wrote also a work against Marcion, [22] in which he states that the latter was alive at the time he wrote. ”

“ But in that case we must either reject the testimony of the same Hegesippus that up to their death, and that of Symeon son of Clopas, successor in the Jerusalem see of James the Lord’s brother, “who suffered martyrdom at the age of one hundred and twenty years while Trajan was emperor and Atticus governor,” “the church (universal) had remained a pure and uncorrupted virgin” free from “the folly of heretical teachers”; or else we must reject the superscription, which presents the grandfather in vehement conflict with the very heresies in question. ”

“ Its own estimate of itself as conservator of orthodoxy, and custodian of the sacred [Pg 130] deposit, vividly reflected from the pages of Hegesippus, was increasingly accepted by the other churches. 'James' and 'Jude' were probably not the real names of the writers of these 'general' or 'catholic' epistles; but they show in what direction men looked when there was need to counteract a widespread tendency to moral relaxation and vain disputations, or to demoralizing heresy. ”

“ The tradition, therefore, that Hegesippus came to Rome in the time of Anicetus has no foundation; he was already there, as he himself informs us, in chap. 22, below. Cf. the note on this passage, in chap. 22.↑ Eusebius here puts Justin in his proper place, in the time of Antoninus Pius. The date of his birth is unknown, though it cannot have been far from the beginning of the second century. He was born in Flavia Neapolis, a Roman town built close by the ruins of the ancient Sychem, in Samaria. He was of heathen parentage, and received a thoroughly Greek education. ”

“ But Hegesippus (quoted by Eusebius in chap. 23) expressly states that there were many of this name, and that he was therefore called James the Just to distinguish him from others. Eusebius quotes this passage of Clement with apparently no suspicion that it contradicts his own opinion in regard to the relationship of James to Christ. The contradiction, indeed, appears only upon careful examination.↑ Josephus (Ant. XX. 9. 1) says he was stoned to death. The account of Clement agrees with that of Hegesippus quoted by Eusebius in chap. ”

“ In the absence of positive testimony, however, that he failed to draw the proper distinction between its use with and its use without the article, and in view of the fact that Eusebius himself (as well as other early Fathers so far as I am able to recall) is very consistent in making the distinction, I have not felt at liberty in my translation to depart from a strict grammatical interpretation of the phrases in question. Moreover, upon second thought, it seems quite as possible that Hegesippus meant to say “every” not “all” ”

“ After the battle of Aegospotami at the end of the Peloponnesian War, the representative of Thebes proposed to the Spartans and their allies that Athens should be destroyed and its inhabitants sold into slavery.↑ "read this law over". i.e. that the herald might proclaim it after him.1 2 3 For the Spartans see Sec. 76. The Phocians had treated the Athenians badly when Proxenus was sent to Thermopylae (see Introd. to Speech on Peace) . Hegesippus may have opposed the acceptance of Philip's invitation to the Athenians to join him. ”

“ This contradiction Harnack explains by Hegesippus’ use of two different sources, an unknown oral or written one, and Justin’s Syntagma. The list of heresies given here he maintains stood in Justin’s Syntagma, but the derivation of them from the seven Jewish sects cannot have been Justin’s work, nor can the list of the seven sects have been made by Justin, for he gives quite a different list in his Dialogue, chap. 80. Lipsius, p. 25, thinks the repetition of the “Masbotheans” is more easily explained as a mere oversight or accident. ”

“ See Euseb. iv. 22. But it is not clear that Hegesippus here uses the word deacon in its strictly technical sense. He may mean by it minister or manager, and may design to indicate that Eleutherius was the most prominent official personage under Anicetus, occupying the position afterwards held by the archdeacon.
[548:1] "Presbyteri et Diaconi, non ut majorem, sed ut ministrum Christi te observent."
[549:1] That, in the time of Marcion, there were Roman presbyters who had been disciples of the apostles, see Tillemont, "Mémoires," tom. ii. sec. par. p. 215. Edit. Brussels, 1695. ”

“ All through the play Hecuba is a woman of remarkable intellectual power and of fearless thought. She does not definitely deny the existence of the Olympian gods, like some characters in Euripides, but she treats them as beings that have betrayed her, and whose name she scarcely deigns to speak. It is the very godlessness of Hecuba's fortitude that makes it so terrible and, properly regarded, so noble. ”

“ The ghost of a hiss breathed under the tense hush of the silent beholders. A shudder ran over the hollow of the amphitheater, as the dragged corpse, mauled by the sand and turning over, became a mere lump of pounded meat. The chill of the onlookers appeared to reach Palus. He halted his team near the pyre, arena-slaves dragged away Hector's corpse, one brought a lighted torch and Palus himself kindled the pyre at each of its four corners, walking twice round it. When it was enveloped in crackling flames, he mounted the chariot and Narcissus drove him out ”

“ But, if by any means he can be brought back here, I could even endure for him to become an executioner.
HEG. (overhearing him) . Who is it that's speaking?
ERG. 'Tis I, who am pining at your affliction, growing thin, waxing old, and shockingly wasting away. Wretched man that I am, I'm but skin and bone through leanness; nor does anything ever do me good that I eat at home; even that ever so little which I taste out of doors, the same refreshes me.
HEG. Ergasilus, save you! ERG. (crying) . May the Gods kindly bless you, Hegio! ”

“ For while the Greeks were stationed at Delos, there came to them as ambassadors from Samos, Lampon, Athenagoras, and Hegesistratus, being sent by the Samians, unknown to the Persians. When they came to the generals, Hegesistratus urged that "if only the Ionians should see them, they would revolt from the Persians, and that the barbarians would not withstand them; or, if they should withstand them, the Greeks would not find any other such booty." Invoking, too, their common gods, he besought them to deliver Grecian men from servitude, and to repel the barbarian ”

“ THE FLIGHT OF TSANUNEWA AND DEFEAT OF HEHKU
It is not so easy to decide who Hehku is. Her most usual, if not her regular and normal, form is that of a horned serpent; but she changes herself into various forms. When angry, or rather when raging, she becomes a Putokya,—that is, a skull person, like Hitchinna. These Putokyas seem to be the cyclone or tremendous wind which moves in a narrow path and makes a clean sweep of everything.
The gambling scene in Jupka’s sweat-house is good. Hehku has easy work till she meets the master, who to his incomparable power adds deceit. ”

“ This man had once been taken captive by the Spartans, who, considering that he had done them many grievous injuries, laid him in bonds, with the intent to put him to death. Thereupon Hegesistratus, finding himself in so sore a case, since not only was his life in danger, but he knew that he would have to suffer torments of many kinds before his death, - Hegesistratus, I say, did a deed for which no words suffice. ”

“ She weeps over his destiny, but, since he has chosen the better part, she nobly supports him in every struggle. Hecuba is truly the companion of her husband, King Priam, associated with him in his projects, and sharing his counsels. She has borne him nineteen children, and these she has seen slain, one after another, by the hand of the foe. Hector is her favorite son, in whose courage she recognizes the bulwark of Ilium. When she sees him exposed to certain death, her anxiety overcomes her pride and she beseeches him to come within the walls ”

“ I went on, “that an American is equal to two Frenchmen. Let me get at the brute.”
[294] Anastasia clung to me, begging me to be calm, but Madame Guinoval was haughtily intrepid.
“Hegesippe! Hegesippe!” she cried, “come out and show this coquin you are a brave man.”
There was no alacrity on the part of Hegesippe, so the lady entered and fairly boosted him to the front. I stared; I gasped; my hands dropped; for the suitor, looking very much alarmed indeed, was little Monsieur Bébérose.
“Well,” I said, “you’re a fine man to try and steal a friend’s wife.” ”

“ Somewhere in the Etrurian hills north of Arretium I overheard part of a conversation between Maternus and Caburus. They were talking of me and Agathemer.
"You cannot be sure," said Maternus. "By every rule of reason Hedulio ought to hate Commodus consumedly. But loyalty is so inbred in senators and men of equestrian rank, in all the Roman nobility, that he may have a soft place in his heart for him, after all. Instead of doing his best to help us kill him he might try to shield him, at a pinch." ”

“ Thus, what a terrible Conclusion has the Phœnissæ of Euripides, where Oedipus, with his Eyes put out, is by Creon banish'd from Thebes, of which he had once been King? So, again, in his Hecuba, we see Polymestor in the same Distress; Hecuba bewailing the Murder of her Son, and the blind Polymestor relating the Calamities which the Oracle had denounc'd against Hecuba, Agamemnon, and Cassandra. [441] But if Orestes and Ægisthus, [Pg 312] who were determin'd Enemies, had been reconcil'd, and parted without Blood-shed, the Tragedy had been less perfect. ”

“ Suffering even lends her new force to act; the deeper her woe the more clearly she perceives that all help is vain if it come not from her own dauntless spirit. It is the tragedy of Hecuba, not of Polyxena or Polydorus.
English readers may find an excuse, if one be needed, of which ancient objectors could not avail themselves. For is not the Hecuba of Euripides near of kin, as a dramatic character, to the Queen Margaret of Shakespeare? Her also accumulated woes strengthen even when they seem to crush. She also is made childless; she, like her Greek prototype, is a widow and discrowned. ”

“ HECUBA.
The phantom of Polydorus appears hovering over the tent
of Agamemnon.
Polydorus.
I come from vaults of death, from gates of darkness,
Where from the Gods aloof doth Hades dwell,
Polydorus, born of Hecuba, Kisseus' child,
And Priam, who, when peril girt the town
Of Phrygians, by the spear of Greece to fall,⁠5
In fear from Troyland privily sent me forth
To Polymestor's halls, his Thracian friend,
Lord of the fair tilth-lands of Chersonese,
Who with the spear rules that horse-loving folk. ”

“ Then, in the finale, come scenes of almost mystical tone, in which Hecuba appeals first to the gods, who care nothing; then to the human dead who did at least care and love; but the dead, too, are deaf like the gods and cannot help or heed. Out of the noise and shame of battle there has come Death the most Holy and taken them to his peace. No friend among the dead, no help in God, no illusion anywhere, Hecuba faces That Which Is and finds somewhere, in the very intensity of Troy's affliction, a splendour which cannot die. ”

“ And the great Hector answered, “Deïphobus, thou wert ever the dearest of my brothers; now I honor thee still more, because thou hast dared to come out from behind the walls to aid me, while others skulk within.”
The fierce-eyed goddess, as Deïphobus, spake again: “It is true that my father, and my queenly mother, and all my comrades, besought me to stay with them, so greatly do they fear the mighty son of Peleus; but my heart was sore for thee, dear brother! But let us fight amain, and see whether he will carry our spoils to his ships, or fall beneath thy spear!” ”