Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists 27 (1990) 29-30
Gregorian Chant
R. Fiihrer (ZPE 27 [1977] 76) with his customary acuity recognized
Greg.Naz. de virt. 375 (37.707 Migne), &vcu 8 xay.cKOi Mtog o oOi
pav-ceez at, in two papyrus gnomologies (P.Oxy. XXXIII 2661 and
P.Oxy. XLII 3006), and a computer-fruit of T.F. Brunner (ZPE 66 [1986]
295f.) is that as well as beginning the little collection of proverbs that
goes under the name of Aesop (Corp. Paroem. Gr. ii 228) the same verse
makes a further appearance, demetricized, in Gregory's first invective
against Julian (or. 4.121, 35.661 Migne).1 If we cast an eye at the latter
passage, we find more gnomes in hiding. Gregory is engaged in a
sardonic anti-pagan diatribe, and comes to venality:
rptrov caTco o aw xwpnprlTwv inepoia Ka t6 u Tq~vrocax60ev
KEpotivLv UC n- T18 O 8aUTUX(IV XppCb4oWV (Tio K% K Ktxa cXLt)
Xox,ýa ctvg. t oUv 06 KEp8iwoq cxi"toi c a itGoefiatc Kaoi T6
caKE'XtoV TEpopAXTlGjOcEtcx Ktai t KXETIT LK TOO DEOU o uvat4t(
Tq.LTjOTUlZat Kai. tT6 cvu XOXKOO 0ODgOV ui, vOtErEtcr0Oat ~LM E
lvcai zt ToO 603oXo0 t LtuJtEpov; taxacx y6p carriv t& aE.cva Kcat
I have underlined the two pairs of latent gnomes. It is not hard to
see that Gregory and his similarly educated readers had been fed
sententiae in their youth;2 and the stigmata of the anthology are still
more clearly visible in his rrepi o&pEtic, where he quotes the verses he
had earlier alluded to:
KOXl ZcXT ~TEUXiVEL ZtWV KaXX; E.iprpL-vWvit E K pOVTpOD rpCxy,xto Kcp5OT XPX6,
tzoO 8uauxEiv v6 uCe &ppap3v' 'xetv.
lT aTaxvToOEv KEpXILtVE, aoaruTv aluaxOvwv. (384-7)
1J. Bernardi, in his edition of the invective (Sources Chr'tiennes 309 [1983]), had in
fact already noted both the de virt. recurrence and the Prov. Aesopi instance.
2As Paul had before them, witness I Cor. 15.33 Oeitpouatv frl xprlna:& 6itXiat
KaKai (cf. P.Hib. I 7; R. Renehan, "Classical Greek Quotations in the New Testament," in
The Heritage of the Early Church, ed. D. Neiman and M. Schatkin [Orientalia Christiana
Analecta 195] 17-46).
0
