Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Series 2 - The Still Small ...

II.—Exegetic.
(i) As of the De Spiritu Sancto, so of the Hexæmeron, no further account need be given
here. It may, however, be noted that the Ninth Homily ends abruptly, and the latter, and
apparently more important, portion of the subject is treated of at less length than the former.
Jerome 472 and Cassiodorus 473 speak of nine homilies only on the creation. Socrates 474 says
the Hexæmeron was completed by Gregory of Nyssa. Three orations are published among
Basil’s works, two on the creation of men and one on Paradise, which are attributed to Basil
by Combefis and Du Pin, but not considered genuine by Tillemont, Maran, Garnier, Ceillier,
and Fessler. They appear to be compositions which some editor thought congruous to the
popular work of Basil, and so appended them to it.
The nine discourses in the Hexæmeron all shew signs of having been delivered extempore,
and the sequence of argument and illustration is not such as to lead to the conclusion
that they were ever redacted by the author into exact literary form. We probably owe their
preservation to the skilled shorthand writers of the day. 475
(ii) The Homilies on the Psalms as published are seventeen in number; it has however
been commonly held that the second Homily on Ps. xxviii. is not genuine, but the composition
of some plagiarist. The Homily also on Ps. xxxvii. has been generally objected to. These
are omitted from the group of the Ben. Ed., together with the first on Ps. cxiv., and that on
cxv. Maran 476 thinks that none of these orations shew signs of having been delivered in the
episcopate, or of having reference to the heresy of the Pneumatomachi; two apparently point
directly to the presbyterate. In that on Ps. xiv. he speaks of an ἀμεριμνία which would better
befit priest than the primate; on Ps. cxiv. he describes himself as serving a particular church.
Both arguments seem a little far-fetched, and might be opposed on plausible grounds. Both
literal and allegorical interpretations are given. If Basil is found expressing himself in terms
similar to those of Eusebius, it is no doubt because both were inspired by Origen. 477 The
472 De Vir. Illust. cxvi.
473 Instit. Div. i.
474 Ecc. Hist. iv. 26.
475 cf. Letterccxxiii. § 5, p. 264. It is believed that tachygraphy was known from very early times, and Xenophon
is said to have “reported” Socrates by its aid. The first plain mention of a tachygraphist is in a letter of Flavius
Philostratus (A.D. 195). It has been thought that the systems in use in the earlier centuries of our era were
modifications of a cryptographic method employed by the Christians to circulate documents in the Church.
No examples are extant of an earlier date than the tenth century, and of these an interesting specimen is the
Paris MS. of Hermogenes described by Montfaucon, Pal. Gr. p. 351. The exact minutes of some of the Coun-
cils—e.g. Chalcedon—seem to be due to very successful tachygraphy.
476 Vit. Bas. xli. 4.
477 cf. Fessler, p. 512.
Exegetic.
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