Volume 1

A dictionary of Christian antiquities : being a continuation of the 'Dictionary of the Bible' / edited by William Smith and Samuel Cheetham ; illustrated by engravings on wood.

Date:: [between 1890 and 1899?]

Credit: A dictionary of Christian antiquities : being a continuation of the 'Dictionary of the Bible' / edited by William Smith and Samuel Cheetham ; illustrated by engravings on wood. Source: Wellcome Collection.

1010/1096 (page 990)

$wish that posterity might profit by its perusal, and other particulars ; numerous instances might be cited. The celebrated ‘ codex Amiatinus,’ used by Tischendorfin his latest edition of the Vulgate of the Old Testament, has an inscription at the end of the book of Exodus, from which he infers it was transcribed by one of the disciples of St. Benedict named ‘ Servandus,’ about A.D. 541 ” {Proleg. p. viii. ix.). Mabillon, in his Diariuin Italicurn, mentions a MS. of the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles of St. Paul, inscribed with the name of Theophylact, presbyter and doctor of law, and dated 6492 from the Creation, or A.D. 984 (c. 25). This was in Greek. Another, the Life of St. Gregory the Great, by John the deacon, in Latin, has the following : “ Ego, Qgo, indignus sacerdos, inchoavi hunc librum 8 Cal. Sept, et explevi eum 14 Cal. Oct. felicithr concurrente sexto, indict. 15.” Another, a work of Matthew Palmer the poet: “ Anto- nins, Marii filius, Florentinus civis atque nota- rius, transcripsit Florentine ab original! 11 Cal. Jan. MCCCCXLVIII. Valeas qui legas.” . . . (76. and comp. c. 27.) “Qui legitis, orate pro me,” was another pious and favourite parting sentence.® Most of the oldest MSS., however unfortunately, supply no such clue to their authorship or date, and there are very few that have not had later additions appended to them, often in the same handwriting, which throw doubts upon their earlier parts. Often, again, the same work has not been copied all through by the same scribe ; and sometimes the writing of contemporary scribes varies as much as the writing of one age from another. Dedicatory pieces again, especially when in verse, are apt to mislead. Sometimes it is their complimentary vagueness, sometimes it is the affectation of a higher antiquity than really belongs to them, that has enhanced the value of a MS. unduly. When Waterland, for instance, speaks of the Vienna MS. as “ a Qallican psalter, written in letters of gold, and presented by Charlemagne, while only king of France, to pope Adrian I., at his first entrance upon the pontificate, in the year 772 ” {Grit. Hist. p. 101), he draws his con- clusion from the dedicatory verses in gold letters at its commencement. But these might have been written by ang king Charles, on giving this psalter to any pope Adrian. And there was a combination of just such another king, and just such another pope in Charles the Bald and Adrian II. For authorities, see Montfaucon, Palaeog. Graeca ; Mabillon, Iter Ital. and de Re Diplom. with the Suppl., Nouvea i Traite' Dipl, in 6 vols.; Schwarz, de Ot'nam. Ja'k, with additions by Leuschner; Casley, Pref to MSS. in the King's Library; Mone, de Lihr. palimp.; Gueranger, Inst. Liturg. p. ii. c. vi.; Labarte, Handbooc. ii., and Arts Indust. vol. iii.; Taylor, Transmis- sion of Antient Books; and the magnificently illusti'jited works of Count Bastard, Professor Westwood, and M. Silvestre. [E. S. Ff.] LIBRI POENITENTIALES [Penitential Books]. LICERIUS (Glycerius), bishop and con- ® The names of the principal caligraphers whose names have been preserved have been collected by Gueranger, InstUations Liturg. tom. iii. p. 288 £F.—[EId.J fessor at Conserans, 6th century ; commemorated Aug. 27 (Usuard. Auct. ; Acta SS. Aug. vi. 47). [C. H.] LICINIUS (Lizinius), bishop of Angers, confessor; commemorated Feb. 13 {Matt. Usuard. ; Acta SS. Feb. ii, 678); June 8 {Mart. Ado). [C. H.] LICTA ; commemorated at Caesarea, April 5 {Mart. Hieron.') [C. H.]* LICTISSIMUS (Lectissimus), martyr; com- memorated in Africa Apr. 26 {Mart. Hieron.; Acta SS. Apr. iii. 415). [C. H.] LIDORIUS (Lvdorius, Littorius, Lito- Rius), bishop of Tours, 4th century; com- memorated Sept. 13 {Mart. Hieron., Usuard, Auct.; Acta SS. Sept. iv. 61). [C. H.] LIGATURAE {Ligainenta, Ligamina, Alli- gaturae, Suballigaturae, d4(T€is, KaraS^creis, Ka- rabeapoi, Trepidp.p.aTa, irtpiairTa) were amu- lets or phylacteries bound (ligatae) to any part of the body of man or beast, in the hope o.f averting or driving away evil. The name was, however, often given to amulets attached to the person in any other way ; as when suspended, in which case they, were sometimes called by the Greeks i^apTi\p.ara. This is one among many gainful superstitions which St. Chrysostom charged “ certain of the vagabond Jews ” (Acts xix. 13) with practising, as their fathers had done before them. Thus he says to Christians to whom they promised health by such means : “ If thou persevere for a short time, and spurn and with great contumely cast out of the house those who seek to sing some incantation over, or to bind some periapts to the body, thou hast at once received refreshment from thy conscience ” {Adv. Jud. Horn. viii. § 7). The heathen were equally addicted to their use. Two or three examples out of many given by Pliny in his Natural History will suffice to shew this. Wool stolen from a shepherd, bound to the left arm, was supposed to cure fever (xxix. 4) ; the large- tined horns of the stag-beetle bound to infants “ acquired the nature of amulets ” (xxx. 15). A stone taken from the head of an ox bound to an infant relieved it in teething {ibid.). As the ox was believed to spit this stone out, if it saw death coming, its head must be cut off suddenly. These facts may serve to indicate the source of the superstition among Christians. Until the conversion of the emperors this practice was regarded by all as magic and unlawful. Thus Tertullian (A.D, 192) says of the wound caused by the bite of a scorpion, “ Magic binds some- thing round it; medicine meets it with steel and cup ” {Scorpiac.). In the Apostolical Constitu- tions, probably compiled about the end of the 2nd century, bishops are forbidden to receive as catechumens those who “ make ligaturae ” {irepi- dupara, viii. 32). The earliest intimation of their use by professed Christians occurs in the 36th canon of the Council of Laodicea, held pro- bably about 365 : “It is unlawful for those of the sacerdotal and clerical orders ... to make phylacteries, which are the bonds of their souls. We have ordered those who wear them to be cast out of the church.” It is implied here that these “ phylacteries ” were bound on, i.e. were ligaturae. When Martin of Braga (a.d. 560)$