De pallio

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De pallio ( German  about the philosopher's mantle ) is a script in which the Christian writer Tertullian defends himself in Latin against accusations from the inhabitants of Carthage because he preferred the philosopher 's mantle to the toga as clothing . In contrast to his other mainly catechesic work, the author here unfolds an abundance of reading fruits around the motif of the coat.

content

The work is divided into six chapters, each of which is divided into small sections on different topics. The first three chapters deal with changes in geography (I), nature and history (II) and biology (III). Palestine (II, 4 - together with Sodom and Gomorrah, the only place where the Bible is touched) follows Atlantis (II, 3 - references to Plato , Pliny the Elder , Virgil , Ovid and others), the chameleon ( III, 3) on the hyena.

Chapter IV reduces the topic of changes to "change in people through a change of clothing" in accordance with the occasion of the Scriptures. He introduces the Greek hero Achilles in the less heroic disguise as a woman (IV, 2)) and polemicises against the mainstream of Greco-Roman culture in literature and myth. Then (IV, 7) he settles accounts with the philosophers. He only brings amusing anecdotes about the three important Greek philosophers Diogenes , Plato and Empedocles . He even showered Empedocles with abuse, while Tertullian in other writings - for example De anima - also dealt with Plato and Empedocles in terms of content.

In Chapter V, Tertullian gives the pallium itself the floor. It rejects the claim of the toga that a life clothed in the toga is to be led for fatherland, empire and gain ( scilicet patriae et imperio reique (V, 4)), by listing numerous greedy, excessively luxurious and criminal acts, which were committed by well-known and in some cases respected toga carriers (including Cicero , Hortensius , Marcus Antonius ). Finally, in the last chapter, Tertullian takes the floor again and extols the pallium as the clothing of Christians. This is surprising since Christianity was not mentioned in the entire work.

Dating

The text passage (II, 7) ( Latin deo tot Augustis in unum favente , German: made happy by God through so many simultaneous Augusti ) is essential for dating the scriptures . However, it is interpreted differently by the commentators. Therefore the dating varies from 194/195 AD to 223 AD. The early dating speaks for the early work of a man who was hardly converted to Christianity, a playful presentation of ancient erudition. The later gives greater weight to the work as an expression of an older man's confrontation with the ancient world into which he was born and his departure from it.

Language and style

The text is linguistically unique within Christian literature; there are striking similarities in vocabulary and syntactics with the poetry of his contemporary Apuleius - especially his Florida -. In De pallio and the stylistic development of Tertullian, Gösta Säflund also typographically emphasized the rhythmic structure of the text through the sentence in Kola (V, 4).

nulla praetoria observo;
canales non odoro,
cancellos non adoro ...

The alliterations and other language gimmicks are emphasized. Tertullian developed the Latin language among other things through word formation and changed grammatical structures.

Effect and tradition

This little work by Tertullian was never mentioned by the church fathers in the following centuries or in the Middle Ages. Nevertheless, several manuscripts have survived. The first printed edition was published by Beatus Rhenanus in 1521. KA Heinr. Kellner published an annotated German translation in 1912.

Text editions and translations

  • Carl Adolph Heinrich Kellner: Tertullian's private and catechetical writings. Kösel, Kempten / Munich 1912 ( online in the library of the church fathers , 1st row, volume 7).
  • Gösta Säflund: De pallio and the stylistic development of Tertullian. Gleerup, Lund 1955.

literature

  • Denis van Berchem: Tertullian's De pallio and the conflict of Christianity with the Roman Empire (1944). In: Richard Klein (ed.): Early Christianity in the Roman state. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1982
  • Reinhart Herzog : Handbook of the Latin literature of antiquity. Volume 4: The literature of upheaval. From Roman to Christian literature AD 117 to 284. CH Beck, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-406-39020-X .
  • Vincent Hunink: Tertullian: De pallio. A commentary. JC Gieben, Amsterdam 2005, ISBN 978-9-050-63439-7 .
  • Richard Klein : Tertullian and the Roman Empire (= Library of Classical Classical Studies . New Series, 2nd Series, Volume 22). C. Winter, Heidelberg 1968.
  • Gösta Säflund: De pallio and the stylistic development of Tertullian. Gleerup, Lund 1955.
  • Marie Turcan: Tertullien, Le manteau (= Sources chrétiennes. Volume 513). Éditions du Cerf, Paris 2007, ISBN 978-2-204-08493-2 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Reinhart Herzog : Handbook of the Latin literature of antiquity. Volume 4: The literature of upheaval. From Roman to Christian literature AD 117 to 284. CH Beck, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-406-39020-X , p. 455.
  2. ^ Marie Turcan: Tertullien, Le manteau (= Sources Chrétiennes. Volume 513). Éditions du Cerf, Paris 2007, ISBN 978-2-204-08493-2 , notes pp. 97-101.
  3. ↑ This representation probably follows the Achilles of Publius Papinius Statius . Marie Turcan: Tertullien, Le manteau (= Sources chrétiennes. Volume 513). Éditions du Cerf, Paris 2007, ISBN 978-2-204-08493-2 , notes p. 148.
  4. ↑ Vincent Hunink: Tertullian: De pallio. A commentary. JC Gieben, Amsterdam 2005, ISBN 978-9-050-63439-7 , pp. 185 f.
  5. ↑ On the one hand, the narrative that his sandal was thrown out on his death in Etna offers a good connection to Tertullian's clothing theme; on the other hand, Empedocles' self-stylization as an incarnated god in his writing Katharmoi Jaap Mansfeld , Oliver Primavesi : Die Vorsokratiker , Chapter 7 Empedocles is contrary the Christian Tertullian.
  6. ↑ Vincent Hunink: Tertullian: De pallio. A commentary. JC Gieben, Amsterdam 2005, ISBN 978-9-050-63439-7 , p. 282.
  7. ^ Gösta Säflund: De pallio and the stylistic development of Tertullians. Gleerup, Lund 1955, pp. 32-49.
  8. ^ Gösta Säflund: De pallio and the stylistic development of Tertullians. Gleerup, Lund 1955, p. 48.
  9. ↑ Reinhart Herzog : Handbook of the Latin literature of antiquity. Volume 4: The literature of upheaval. From Roman to Christian literature AD 117 to 284. CH Beck, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-406-39020-X , p. 456.
  10. ^ Gösta Säflund: De pallio and the stylistic development of Tertullians. Gleerup, Lund 1955, p. 56 ff.
  11. ↑ Reinhart Herzog : Handbook of the Latin literature of antiquity. Volume 4: The literature of upheaval. From Roman to Christian literature 117 to 284 AD. CH Beck, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-406-39020-X , p. 507 f.
  12. ^ Marie Turcan: Tertullien, Le manteau (= Sources Chrétiennes. Volume 513). Éditions du Cerf, Paris 2007, ISBN 978-2-204-08493-2 , p. 12.