The Twentieth Method: the Collected Exposition, and the Catenae

On the Collected Exposition — The Twentieth Method

The Collection, or the Collected or Collective Method, ¹ is an exposition which takes, from any writings whatsoever, either the very words of the authors together with their senses, or the senses alone without the words — turning others’ words and senses to its own use. Of this there are three species: ² namely Rhapsody, Syllegma, and Abbreviation.

On Rhapsody

Rhapsody ³ — which some have called Stroma, or Stromatic exegesis — is an exposition cemented together out of various compositions of authors, there being heaped into one connection not only the senses, but the very clauses, sentences, and whole periods and paragraphs of the authors, with no word at all changed. And this Rhapsody itself is likewise threefold: ⁴

…is distinguished by a threefold variety: namely into Hagiographic, Ecclesiastical, and Ethnic.

On Hagiographic Rhapsody

Hagiographic Rhapsody ⁵ — which some call ἑαυτοῦ ἐξήγησιν [heautou exegesin], that is, a “self-exposition” [of Scripture by itself] — is an elucidation of divine scripture, collected out of the very words and bare sentences of divine scripture, dispersed here and there, and reduced into one body, illustrating the more obscure places from the clearer ones. This method Augustine greatly commends in the third book On Christian Doctrine, chapter 26, and prefers it to the other expositions, ⁶ asserting that certain obscure places in the sacred letters cannot be better and more rightly understood and expounded than from other clearer places of the holy scriptures, in which those same things are recited more clearly and openly. But the Hagiographic expositor must, in fitting these places together, use such dexterity and art that those sentences may appear not to have been dragged by force into that place, but to have sprung up there of their own accord. And that this may be done more aptly and gracefully, it will be allowed to the expositor — rarely, yet sometimes — to insert a few little words of his own, by which, as by little handles, the sayings of Scripture, far separated from one another, may cohere in a more elegant structure. In this part there labored, in times past, St. Bernard, and Martin of Laon the Carthusian (whose Paraenetic book, to a novice monk, still survives — heaped together with wondrous art out of sacred sentences interwoven with one another); and, in our own times, Henry Elmesius of Germipolis, ⁷ who lately fitted together, with beautiful art, homilies on all the Epistles and Gospels which are read through the circuit of the year, out of the bare Stromata and Rhapsodies of holy Scripture. Let a Specimen of this exposition be the following:

A Specimen of Hagiographic Rhapsody, on Psalm 116

(In it those few words written in a different and somewhat larger type are not of the text of divine scripture, but taken in from elsewhere. But the little minuscule letters, interlined together with the numbers set in the margin, show the chapters of the scriptures from which the pieces of this cento are taken.)

PRAISE THE LORD — ᵃGod and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, ᵇwho blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ; who predestined us unto the adoption of sons, through JESUS CHRIST, unto himself, according to the purpose of his will, unto the praise of the glory of his grace — ᶜpraise and exalt him above all forever — ALL NATIONS: ᵈyou who once were Gentiles in the flesh, who were called “uncircumcision” by that which is called “circumcision” made by hand in the flesh; ᵉyou who once were led, going astray, to dumb idols; ᶠyou who at that time were without Christ, alienated from the citizenship of Israel, and strangers to the testaments, having no hope of the promise, and without God in this world — but now, in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off are made near in the blood of Christ; ᵍyou who once were not the people of God, but now are the people of God, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy; ʰyou who now are no longer strangers and foreigners, but are fellow-citizens of the saints and of the household of God. ⁱTo you I say, O Gentiles — ᵏout of every nation that is under heaven, ˡfrom the East and the West and the North and the South — ᵐto you, I say, O Gentiles, ⁿwhom God created unto his praise, his name, and his glory: ᵒbring to the Lord glory and honor; ᵖshout to God with the voice of exultation, ۹sing to him a canticle, sing well to him with jubilation, ʳadmonishing yourselves in Psalms, hymns, and spiritual canticles, singing and making melody in your hearts with joy, ˢand giving thanks always, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to God and the Father. PRAISE HIM — ᵗgive glory to his praise, ᵘsing him a psalm ˣin the voice of exultation and of confession — ALL PEOPLES: ʸO Israelites, whose is the adoption of sons, the glory, the testament, the legislation, the service, and the promises; whose are the fathers, of whom is Christ, who is over all things, God blessed forever; ᶻwhom the Lord God chose that you should be to him a peculiar people out of all the peoples that are upon the earth — not because you surpassed all nations in number (since you are fewer than all), but because the Lord loved you, and kept the oath which he swore to your fathers. ᵃᵃAnd do you also, O Gentiles, honor God for his mercy: FOR HIS MERCY IS CONFIRMED OVER US — the Gentiles — ᵇᵇwhen the goodness and kindness of God our Savior appeared, not by the works of justice which we had done, but according to his own mercy he saved us, by the laver of regeneration and the renovation of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out abundantly through Jesus Christ. Do you too, ᶜᶜall the seed of Israel, glorify him. For THE TRUTH OF THE LORD — ᵈᵈwho keeps truth forever, ᵉᵉwhose name is Faithful and True, ᶠᶠwho is not as man, that he should lie — REMAINS FOR EVER; ᵍᵍfor it is impossible for God to lie: he who ʰʰswore an oath to Abraham our father that he would give himself to us in his beloved Son, ⁱⁱin whom we have redemption through his blood, ᵏᵏand the hope of eternal life, which God, who lies not, promised before the ages of the world. ˡˡTo him be glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Marginal source-keys (first series): a Rom 15:6 · b Eph 1:3, 5 · c Dan 3:57 · d Eph 2:11 · e 1 Cor 12:2 · f Eph 2:12–13 · g 1 Pet 2:10 · h Eph 2:19 · i Rom 11:17 · k Acts 2:5 · l Luke 13:29 · m Rom 11:13 · n Deut 26:19 · o Ps 29:2 (Vulg. 28:2) · p Ps 47:2 (Vulg. 46:2) · q Ps 33:3 (Vulg. 32:3) · r Col 3:16 · s Eph 5:20 · t Ps 66:2 (Vulg. 65:2) · u Judith 16:2 · x Ps 42:5 (Vulg. 41:5) · y Rom 9:4–5 · z Deut 7:6–8.

Marginal source-keys (second series, from “And do you also…”): aa Rom 15:9 · bb Titus 3:4–6 · cc Ps 22:24 (Vulg. 21:24) · dd Ps 146:6 (Vulg. 145:6) · ee Rev 19:11 · ff Num 23:19 · gg Heb 6:18 (so to be read; printed “6, 8”) · hh Luke 1:73 · ii Eph 1:7 · kk Titus 1:2 · ll Rom 11:36.

On Ecclesiastical Rhapsody, or the Catena

Ecclesiastical Rhapsody — which by the common appellation is called a Catena ⁸ — is an exposition collected word-for-word out of the various writings of the ecclesiastical Fathers. This is twofold: ⁹ Anonymous and Named (Proonyma). Now the Anonymous catena ¹⁰ is that which, the names of the authors being untold and suppressed, reduces their sentences and sayings alone into the consonance of one continuous narration — no otherwise than if one man alone were speaking — in which the expositor sometimes adds some things of his own, that he may more becomingly and more clearly connect the diverse varieties of the unconnected sentences. This, among the Greeks, Procopius of Gaza excellently performed, who [expounded] the Octoteuch — that is, the first eight books of the Old Testament

…expounded from the Rhapsodies of unnamed Fathers; and among the Latins, Eucherius, bishop of Lyons, and Isidore, bishop of Seville.

The Named Catena

The Named Catena (Catena Proonyma) ¹¹ is that which weaves the periods and sentences of the expositors together by the same art of texture — differing from the former catena in this one thing only, that the former omits the names of the authors, whereas this ascribes the names of its authors within the text of the scripture, or outside the text in the margins of the pages; most of all observing this, that it may not superfluously repeat the sentences of all the authors who have brought the same explanation upon the same place, but may take up only those expositions in which different expositors have said different things about the same matter. So, among the Greeks, did Oecumenius and Theodolus, presbyter of Coele-Syria; and among the Latins, ¹² the Venerable Bede, Thomas Aquinas, and Aloysius, bishop of Verona.

An Example of a Catena, on Psalm 116

JEROME: This Psalm is small in the number of its verses, but great in the sacrament of spiritual mystery. CASSIODORUS: For the choir of the saints cries out, saying that all nations ought to praise the Lord — Praise the Lord, all nations. THE GLOSS: that is, all the Gentiles. LYRA: [the Gentiles] to be called to the faith of Christ. JEROME: You who, the idols being forsaken, have come to him through faith — which the Magi, coming from the East, began, offering gifts to the new-born King, as Matthew says. ¹³ Praise him, all peoples. LYRA, HUGH the Cardinal, THE GLOSS: that is, all the Jews divided into twelve tribes, who — as though using reason, because they lived under the law — are called “peoples,” in respect of the Gentiles, who lived as it were like cattle, without law. LYRA: He sets the Gentiles before the Jews, because few of the Jews believed at first, and many of the Gentiles, as the Apostle says. ¹⁴ CASSIODORUS: The reason why the Lord ought to be praised throughout the whole world is subjoined, when it is said: For his Mercy is confirmed over us. HUGH the Cardinal: When, in the coming of Christ, he showed forth the mercy which he had promised through the Prophets. CASSIODORUS, THE GLOSS: For what he had promised through the Prophets, he fulfilled in the coming of Christ, and confirmed his mercy; because whatever he gave, he guarded, that it might never be moved. JEROME, THE GLOSS: Or, the mercy was then confirmed, when he poured out the Holy Spirit upon believers, according to the promise which Luke the Evangelist records. LYRA: And when he says “is confirmed,” he speaks of the future in the manner of the past, on account of the certainty of the Prophecy; for in the coming of Christ, and not before, was the mercy of God confirmed in effect, which before was awaited with great longing — and the truth of the Lord remains for ever.

On Ethnic Rhapsody

Ethnic Rhapsody is an exposition culled word-for-word from the sayings and sentences of Gentile authors. And this too is twofold, ¹⁵ namely the Catena and the Cento (also called Centro). The Cento differs from the Catena in that the latter, without great labor, gathers lengthy periods and long shreds of discourse into one texture — especially from writings that consist of prose, or loose speech; but the Cento is put together with greater labor and more skillful industry, chiefly out of the writings of the poets, from whose various and unconnected verses a certain new structure of verse is solidified — in this manner, namely, that into one verse there come together either two half-lines, or one half-line and the following one together with a middle. For to place two whole verses joined together is unfitting, and to fit three in one series is mere trifling. Not a few wits, by no means to be despised, labored in collecting these Rhapsodies in various ways; but in my own judgment they did not always obtain from the Gentiles the exposition of the divine scriptures which they sought, but rather a certain symphony and consonance between the divine sentences and the profane sentences of the Gentiles — not altogether useless to students of the sacred letters. In the former form of this Ethnic Rhapsody labored Dominic Nanus of Alba, ¹⁶ expounding various places of the four Evangelists from the sayings of the Gentile philosophers, orators, and poets. But in the latter form, two most illustrious women exercised their wit with the highest praise: ¹⁷ Eudocia, daughter of Leo the Athenian philosopher and wife of the Emperor Theodosius, and Proba Falconia, wife of the proconsul Adelphus — of whom the former wove Ὁμηρόκεντρα [Homerokentra], or Homerocentos, but the latter Virgiliocentos: that is, they either transcribed or expounded various places of both Testaments out of the Greek verses of Homer and the Latin verses of Virgil. Examples of these labors are these:

An Example of an Ethnic Catena

On that passage from the second epistle of Peter, chapter three.

This heaven which now is, and the earth, are laid up for fire against the day of judgment: in which the heavens shall pass away like a river, and the elements, set on fire, shall be dissolved; and the earth, and the things that are in it, shall melt away; and the heavens being inflamed, the elements too shall liquefy.

The Vulgate edition has it thus: The heavens which now are, and the earth, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment… the day of the Lord shall come as a thief, in which the heavens shall pass away with great violence, and the elements shall be dissolved with heat; but the earth, and the works which are in it, shall be burnt up. ¹⁸

The Sibyl, in the second book of the Oracles:

Then a burning, fiery river shall flow down from heaven on high, And shall utterly consume all places; The earth…

> …and the Earth, and the vast Ocean, and the blue pools of the sea,

lakes, rivers, springs, and stern Dis [the underworld], and the celestial pole: the lights of heaven too shall flow together into one molten mass, their form utterly destroyed; the stars shall fall — for all things shall be torn away from heaven.

Plato, in the Timaeus.

Time was made together with heaven, so that, having been made together, they shall also be dissolved together — if ever any dissolution of them shall come to pass.

Lucretius, book five.

One day shall give [it] to destruction; and the mass sustained through many years, and the fabric of the world, shall fall in ruin. Nor does my mind deceive me: how new and wondrous a thing comes to my mind — the coming destruction of heaven and earth.

Ovid, book one of the Metamorphoses.

He remembers, too, that it stands in the fates that a time shall come when the sea, when the earth, and the seized palace of heaven shall burn, and the laborious mass of the world shall be in travail.

Seneca, at the end of the book of consolation to Marcia.

If the common fate can be a solace to you: nothing shall stand in the place where it stands. [Time] shall lay all things low and carry them off with itself; it shall press down mountains, swallow up seas, turn aside rivers; and, the intercourse of nations being broken, it shall dissolve the fellowship and gathering of the race; elsewhere it shall draw mountains down into vast chasms; it shall shake cities with tremors, and send up breaths of pestilence from the depths, and kill every living thing, the world being submerged; and with vast fires it shall scorch and burn up mortal things. And when the time shall come at which the world, about to renew itself, extinguishes itself, these things shall give way by their own strength, and star shall rush upon star, and — all matter blazing — with one fire whatever now shines in its ordered place shall burn.

Lucan, book one of the Pharsalia.

— So, when the frame being loosed, the last hour shall have gathered so many ages of the world, seeking again the ancient chaos, all the stars shall clash with stars mixed together; the fiery stars shall make for the sea; the earth shall refuse to stretch out its shores, and shall shake off the sea; and Phoebe [the moon], going contrary to her brother [the sun], refusing to drive her chariot obliquely across the sphere, shall demand the day for herself; and the whole discordant fabric of the sundered world shall confound its covenants.

An Example of a Cento, on Psalm 116

From the verses of Virgil, formerly composed by us: in which the whole race of mortals is invited to celebrate God, on account of the Mercy shown to the human race in the nativity of Christ.

ᵃYou lands, and stretches of the sea, ᵇyou nations in long array ᶜwho dwell [therein], ᵈvarious in tongues and in dress ᵉthroughout the world — ᶠwhere Aurora returns to us and brings back the day, ᵍand where the late reddening evening kindles its lamps — ʰcelebrate the common God, ⁱsinging a paean. ᵏGreat-hearted heroes, ˡboys and unwed maidens, ᵐmothers and men, ⁿin the office of praises so great, ᵒyourselves lift up joyful voices to the stars: ᵖbecause a new offspring has come down from heaven on high, ۹and has brought to us at last, after long time, ʳhelp, and the coming of God; ˢwhen a woman first, ᵗbearing the face and dress of a Virgin, ᵘwonderful to tell, ˣbrought forth a boy neither of our race nor of our blood — ʸa boy being born, ᶻwhom the stars of heaven obey.

Virgilian source-keys: a Aen. 6 · b Aen. 8 · c Aen. 6 · d Aen. 8 · e Aen. [—] · f Georg. 1 · g Georg. 1 · h Aen. 8 · i Aen. 6 · k Aen. 6 · l Aen. 6 · m Aen. 6 · n Aen. 8 · o Ecl. 4.5 · p Ecl. 4 · q Aen. 8 · [r] Ecl. 1 · r Aen. 8 · t Aen. 1 · u Aen. 2 · y Ecl. 4 · z Aen. 10.

On the Syllegma

The Syllegma — that is, a “collection of senses” ¹⁹ — is an exposition collected, according to the sense only, out of the various commentaries of the expositors. In it, only the truth of the sense being preserved (which is drawn out of the expositions of others), the kind of diction is varied, and a different style is adopted: as among the Latins Haymo, bishop of Halberstadt, and Rupert, abbot of Deutz, did; and, as it also seems to some, St. Jerome, ²⁰ who culled all the commentaries of the Greek expositors.

On Abbreviation

Abbreviation differs from the Epitome (of which we spoke above) only in this: ²¹ that the Epitome gathers the divine scriptures into brevity, whereas this compresses into a compendium and a sum the lengthy explanations and most ample volumes of the expositors of divine scripture, with a succinct and clear brevity — so that they may be more easily read and understood, both by the busy and by the simpler, with little expense of time and labor. In this part there labored more successfully, among the Greeks, Theophylact, the abbreviator of Chrysostom, and among the Latins Odo the Abbot, who compressed the thirty-five books of the Commentaries of Gregory on Job ²² into the narrow bounds of one small volume.