The Sixth Method: the Ecloge, or Excerpt

On the Ecloge, or Excerpt — The Sixth Method

The Ecloge (ΕΚΛΟΓΗ), or Excerpt (for thus Melito and Cyprian called this mode of expounding), ¹ is a Method plucking here and there, scattered from all the divine volumes, diverse authorities of the scriptures — sentences, periods, testimonies, examples, and various sayings and deeds — either for the instruction of the faith and the proof of Christian dogmas, or for the discipline of morals and the exercise of piety. Of which Method diverse formulas have been devised by ecclesiastical men, among which three are held more usual: ² namely, Specula [Mirrors], Loci Communes [Commonplaces], and Harmonies.

Specula [Mirrors] ³ are those volumes so called in which, according to the order of the books of both Testaments, there is heaped up indiscriminately, and without any order, a huge and undigested medley of the sentences of divine scripture, pertaining either to the erudition of faith or of morals — as Augustine did in the book which he himself entitled the Speculum [Mirror].

Loci Communes [Commonplaces] ⁴ are those so called in which the sentences, dispersed here and there through diverse parts of holy Scripture, are reduced into certain peculiar orders, or classes, distinguished among themselves by various titles, arguments, and chapters — such as the “places” on faith, on hope, on charity, and the like; under which are separately placed all those sentences which pertain either to faith, or to hope, or to charity, and which show and expound their nature, force, properties, and offices, each in its own words. In this part there labored Melito, bishop of Sardis, and Cyprian: ⁵ of whom the former gathered from the divine letters a work entitled Ἐκλόγων Βιβλία ἓξ — that is, Six Books of Excerpts, to Onesimus — in which, under various titles, he arranged in fitting order all the ethical sentences which are delivered in the sacred letters for living well and blessedly. Cyprian, moreover, wrote three books of like argument to his son Quirinus — the two former necessary for the support of faith, the third for the edification of good works. Many others also labored in this very kind; of whom some, among the Commonplaces of sacred sentences collected by themselves, inserted many sentences of the orthodox fathers, conformable to those “places,” which might be, as it were, expositions of the preceding places — as Bede the presbyter did, and Defensor, an old author, in those books which they entitled Scintillæ Scripturæ Sanctæ [Sparks of Holy Scripture]. But others gathered the deeds and sayings of only one theme from the divine letters, and reduced [them] into one body, and illustrated [them] with brief little expositions inserted of their own — as was done by the author of the three books which are inscribed under the name of Augustine, On the Marvels of Sacred Scripture.

A Harmony ⁶ is called a work constructed from the similar sayings and sentences of diverse un-joined and un-ordered volumes, woven together mutually for the exposition of one matter, and reduced into one continuous, ordered, whole, and perfect volume. Nor are there lacking those who assign a twofold kind of Harmony: ⁷ the One, in which the parts and periods of the literal context, having a like sense, are accommodated [together]; the Other, which, without any writing of letters, is composed from numeral marks alone. In this latter kind Eusebius of Caesarea gave us an example, in the book of the Evangelical Canons, to Carpianus. But of the former kind, illustrious monuments were left ⁸ by Tatian of Alexandria, Theophilus bishop of Antioch, Ammonius of Alexandria, and many others, who compacted the histories of the four Evangelists into the body of one history — which some entitled Monopanton (that is, “one out of all”), others Monotessaron (that is, “one out of four”), others Pandect (that is, “containing all”), others Evangelical Harmony. And among these there were also some who elucidated Harmonies of this kind — whether published by themselves or by others — by adding their own explanations: as Zacharias, bishop of Chrysopolis, who [wrote] upon the Harmony of Am[monius]… [continues p173]

[continuing from p172] …[Zacharias, bishop of Chrysopolis, who] upon the Harmony of Ammonius wove together a Catena [Chain] of explanations from the fathers; and Antonius Bruychius, who followed up the evangelical Monotessaron collected by himself with his own exposition. We too hope, if God favor our undertakings, to send forth into the light shortly a Monotessaron of Wisdom, ⁹ which we now have in hand — that is, “one out of four,” namely from the books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Wisdom, and Ecclesiasticus — in which work we have reduced the individual sentences of each kind and theme, dispersed here and there through those same volumes, under fixed and distinct orders and titles, separately, and have begun to illustrate [them] with brief commentaries applied. Let these things suffice concerning the Ecloge, of whose Method we subjoin only three examples: the first, of Commonplaces, from the aforementioned books of Cyprian to Quirinus; the second, of literal Harmony, from the evangelical Harmony of Ammonius; the third, of numeral Harmony, from Eusebius.

An Example of Commonplaces, from St. Cyprian, book 3, to Quirinus (which Augustine also used against Pelagius)

THAT IN NOTHING SHOULD WE GLORY, since nothing is ours:

In the Gospel according to John: No man can receive anything, unless it be given him from heaven. ¹⁰ Likewise in the first epistle of Paul to the Corinthians: For what hast thou that thou hast not received? And if thou hast received, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received? ¹¹ Likewise in the first book of Kings [1 Samuel]: Glory not, neither speak lofty things; let not magniloquence come out of your mouth: for the Lord is the God of knowledge. ¹² Likewise there: The bow of the mighty is made weak, and the weak are girded with strength. ¹³ Concerning this same [matter] in the Maccabees: It is just to be subject to God, and that a mortal should not think things equal to God. ¹⁴ Likewise there: Fear not the words of a sinful man, for his glory shall be dung and worms; today he is lifted up, and tomorrow he shall not be found, because he is turned into his earth, and his thought is perished. ¹⁵

THAT THE FREEDOM OF BELIEVING, OR OF NOT BELIEVING, is placed in the [free] will:

In Deuteronomy: Behold, I have set before thy face life and death, good and evil: choose life, that thou mayest live. ¹⁶ Likewise in Isaiah: And if you be willing, and will hearken to me, you shall eat the good things of the land; but if you will not, and will not hearken to me, the sword shall devour you: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken these things. ¹⁷ Likewise in the gospel according to Luke: The kingdom of God is within you. ¹⁸

An Example of Literal Harmony, from the evangelical Harmony of Ammonius

(on the history of Christ casting the sellers and buyers out of the temple, woven from the sayings of the four Evangelists — namely from Matthew ch. 21, Mark ch. 11, Luke ch. 19, and John ch. 2)

JOHN: The pasch of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. MATTHEW: And when he had entered Jerusalem, the whole city was moved, saying: Who is this? And the people said: This is Jesus the Prophet, from Nazareth of Galilee. JOHN: And Jesus entered into the temple of God; and when he had made a scourge of cords, he cast out all the sellers and buyers in the temple; the sheep also, and the oxen, and he poured out [the coin] of the money-changers, and overturned the brass and the seats of the sellers and the doves, and said to them: Take these things hence, and make not the house of my Father a house of business. ¹⁹ [a] MATT., MARK, LUKE: For it is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer — ²⁰ [b] MARK: for all nations. ²¹ [c] MATT., MARK, LUKE: But you have made it a den of thieves. ²² [d] MARK: And he suffered not that any man should carry a vessel through the temple. ²³ [e] JOHN: And his disciples remembered that it is written: The zeal of thy house hath eaten me up. ²⁴ [f] MATT.: And there came to him the blind and the lame in the temple, and he healed them. ²⁵ [g] LUKE: And he was teaching daily in the temple. ²⁶

Such, then, is the example of literal Harmony, taken from Ammonius.

Eusebius of Caesarea, stirred by the zeal of Ammonius, himself also devised a new method of Numeral Harmony, composed from the marks of numbers alone, without any writing of the evangelical text. ²⁷ First he considered that Ammonius had cut each of the four Evangelists into many chapters ²⁸ — namely Matthew into three hundred and fifty-five chapters, Mark into one hundred and thirty-five [so here; p170 gave 235], Luke into three hundred and forty-four, John into two hundred and thirty-two. Then he set these chapter-numbers one against another, according as they variously agreed or differed among themselves, and arranged them into ten classes of numeral figures — tables, or titles, which he called canons — in an elegant and clear order, in this manner:

• The First Order contained in itself four series of numbers, indicating the places, or chapters, of the gospels in which similar things were said by all four Evangelists: namely Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
• The Second contained the numbers of the chapters in which three agree: Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
• The Third had the numbers in which three were concordant: Matthew, Luke, and John.
• The Fourth comprised the numbers of the chapters in which three concur: Matthew, Mark, and John.
• The Fifth: in which two, Matthew and Luke.
• The Sixth: in which two, Matthew and Mark.
• The Seventh: in which two, Matthew and John.
• The Eighth: in which two, Mark and Luke.
• The Ninth: in which two, Luke and John.
• The Tenth: in which the individual [Evangelists] wrote of certain things proper [to themselves].

You have an example of this artifice in the figure set below. [continues p174: the table]

## An Example of Numeral Harmony, from the book of the Evangelical Canons of Eusebius, to Carpianus

Of the evangelical chapters in which all four Evangelists agree.

THE FIRST CANON

(the numbers are the Ammonian section-numbers; each row lists the parallel sections in the four Gospels)

You will most easily attain the understanding of this canon, and of others like it, if you know that all the numbers which are placed from left to right in the same line indicate places of the gospels consonant and concordant among themselves. As you can observe in the first line — in which the eighth chapter of Matthew, the second of Mark, the seventh of Luke, [and] the tenth of John show that the four evangelists’ sentences written below are very much alike:

• Matthew VIII: This is he of whom it was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: The voice of one crying in the desert, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. ²⁹
• Mark II: As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: The voice of one crying in the desert, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. ³⁰
• Luke VII: It is written in the book of the sayings of Isaiah the prophet: The voice of one crying in the desert, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. ³¹
• John X: I [am] the voice of one crying in the desert: Make straight the way of the Lord, as said Isaiah the prophet. ³²

In the other lines of this figure, and in the others which are had in the canons of Eusebius — as the same order is preserved, so the same manner of understanding is to be had.