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Memoirs of Edessa and Other Ancient Syriac Documents
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[3418] Dr. Payne Smith thinks the reference to be to the Gnostic νοῦς, ψυχή, and σῶμα, which seem to be spoken of just before. This difficult passage is rendered by Cureton: “And this alternation itself is called the Fortune, and the Nativity of this assemblage, which is being sifted and purified for the assistance of that which,” etc. Merx has, “…zur Unterstützung des Dinges, welches…unterstützt worden ist und unterstützt bleibt bis zur Vernichtung des Weltalls.”
[3419] Lit. “are Nature’s own.”
[3420] Lit. “a sufficiency in measure for all bodies.”
[3421] Lit. “be heads to.”
[3422] Lit. “know ye distinctly.”
[3423] Or “heads.”
[3424] Lit. “agent of change,” as above. Merx: “das Veränderungs-princip.”
[3425] Lit. “excellence.”
[3426] i.e., zones of the earth. See p. 732, note 2, infra.
[3427] Or, “power as to themselves.”
[3428] Lit. “the matter compels thee to be convinced.”
[3429] Lit. “Chaldæans.”
[3430] Lit. “Chaldaism.”
[3431] The Greek κλίμα, denoting one of the seven belts (see p. 732, below) into which the earth’s latitude was said to be divided. The Arabs also borrowed the word.
[3432] Or “family.”
[3433] That is, their own “houses,” as below. Each house had one of the heavenly bodies as its “lord,” who was stronger, or better “located” in his own house than in any other. Also, of two planets equally strong in other respects, that which was in the strongest house was the stronger. The strength of the houses was determined by the order in which they rose, the strongest being that about to rise, which was called the ascendant.
[3434] Lit. “the signs of humanity.”
[3435] The text adds ***.
[3436] Lit. “while Mars was witness to them.”
[3437] The difficult word *** is not found in the lexicons. Dr. Payne Smith remarks that it could only come from ***, which verb, however, throws away its ***, so that the form would be ***. He suggests, doubtfully, that the right reading is ***, from ***, which is used occasionally for appetite, and forms such an adjective in the sense of animosus, animâ præditus; and that if so, it may, like *** in Jude 19; 1 Cor. 15.44,46, be = ψυχικοί, having an animal nature, sensual. Eusebius and Cæsarius have σπατάλους, a word of similar force.
[3438] Cureton’s rendering, “and some adorn themselves,” etc., is not so good, as being a repetition of what has already been said. It is also doubtful whether the words can be so construed. The Greek of Eusebius gives the sense as in the text: κοσμοῦσαι πολλῷ χρυσῷ καὶ λίθοις βαρυτίμοις τοὺς ἵππους. If ***, horses, be masc., or masc. only, as Bernstein gives it, the participle should be altered to the same gender. But Dr. Payne Smith remarks that Amira in his Grammar makes it fem. Possibly the word takes both genders; possibly, too, the women of Bactria rode on mares.
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