Bible studies, contributions chiefly from papyri and ... - Predestination

32 BIBLE STUDIES. [223, 224
ypd(f)€i fiei', ou firjv eirtaroXriv jpacfiei} Among the Romans,
M. Porcius Cato (f 149 B.C.) should probably be named as one
"^
of the first writers of epistles ; the best known, doubtless,
are Seneca and Pliny. L. Annaeus Seneca^ (t ^5 A.D.) began
about the year 57—at a time when Paul was writing his
" great " letters—to write the Epishdae Morales to his friend
Lucilius, intending from the first that they should be pub-
Hshed ; most probably the first three books were issued by
himself. Then in the time of Trajan, C. Plinius Caecilius
Secundus^ {f ca. 113 A.D.) wrote and published nine books
of " letters " ; the issue of the collection was already com-
plete by the time Pliny went to Bithynia. Then came his
correspondence with Trajan, belonging chiefly to the period of
his governorship in Bithynia (ca. September 111 to January
113). The letters of Pliny were likewise intended from the
first for publication, " and hence are far from giving the
same impression of freshness and directness as those of
Cicero " ; ^ " with studied variety they enlarge upon a multi-
tude of topics, but are mainly designed to exhibit their author
in the most favourable light " ;
^ " they exhibit him as an
affectionate husband, a faithful friend, a generous slaveholder,
a noble-minded citizen, a liberal promoter of all good causes,
an honoured orator and author " ;
'' "on the other hand,
the correspondence with Trajan incidentally raises a sharp
contrast between the patience and quiet prudence of the
emperor and the struggling perplexity and self-importance
of his vicegerent ".^ " All possible care has likewise been
bestowed upon the form of these letters."-'
There are several other facts illustrative of the extremely
' A saying of the Rhetor Aristides (2nd cent. B.C.) shows how well an
ancient epistolographer was able to estimate the literary character of his
compositions. In his works we find an eiri 'AAe^dvSpij} iinTdcpios dedicated tj7
&ov\rj KOI TCf Sy'i/jLCji Tw KoTvaewv, of which he himself says (i., p. 148, Dindorf),
ihrfp ye Ka\ ev apxfi rfis iiriffToXTjs flirov v)o tj fiovXe