PL 54 · cols. 930–933

Leo the Great, Letters

Letters LXXXIX–XC

PL 54:930

EPISTOLA LXXXIX.

LETTER LXXXIX.

AD MARCIANUM AUGUSTUM.

To Marcian Augustus.

LEO episcopus MARCIANO semper Augusto.

Leo, bishop, to Marcian, ever Augustus.

Credebamus clementiam vestram id desiderio nostro posse praestare, ut praesenti necessitate respecta, differri ad opportunius tempus sacerdotalem synodum juberetis: ut evocatis de cunctis provinciis sacerdotibus, vere possit esse universale concilium.

We believed that your Clemency could grant this to our desire: that, in view of the present necessity, you would order the synod of bishops to be deferred to a more opportune time, so that, with the bishops summoned from all the provinces, it might truly be a universal council.

Sed quia vos amore catholicae fidei congregationem nunc fieri voluistis, ne devoto obviare viderer arbitrio, fratrem et coepiscopum meum Paschasinum de ea provincia quae videtur esse securior evocatum, qui vicem praesentiae meae possit implere, direxi; Bonifacio fratre et compresbytero meo sociato, et his quos antea miseramus adjunctis, consortem illis fratrem quoque meum Julianum addentes episcopum. Quos ea moderatione universa, Domino auxiliante, credimus esse gesturos, ut quaecumque in quaerelam perturbationemque venerunt ad unitatem pacis et fidei, compressa omni dissensione revocentur; nec ullum in aliquorum cordibus sacerdotum vel Nestorianae vel Eutychianae impietatis vestigium relinquatur: quoniam catholica fides, quam instruente nos Spiritu Dei per sanctos Patres a beatis apostolis didicimus et docemus, neutrum subrepere permittit errorem gloriosissime imperator.

But since you, out of love for the catholic faith, have willed the assembly to take place now, lest I should seem to oppose your devout decision, I have sent my brother and fellow bishop Paschasinus, summoned from that province which seems to be the safer, who can fill the place of my presence; with Boniface, my brother and fellow presbyter, associated [with him], and with those whom we had sent before joined [to them], while we add to them as a partner my brother Julian the bishop as well. We believe that, with the Lord's help, they will conduct everything with such moderation that whatever has fallen into complaint and disturbance may, all dissension being suppressed, be brought back to the unity of peace and faith; and that no trace of either the Nestorian or the Eutychian impiety may be left in the hearts of any bishops: since the catholic faith, which, the Spirit of God instructing us, we have learned through the holy Fathers from the blessed apostles and teach, permits neither error to creep in, most glorious emperor.

Editors' notes and page, col. 930

Footnotes

(k) continued from col 929, set in n929 (the first lines of the footnotes under this column)

(l) printed under this column; its call is in col 929, set in n929

(m) ‹EPISTOLA› · printed under col 930

Al. 76. Quae autem erat 89, nunc 115. Scripta 24 Junii an. 451.

Formerly 76. The one that was 89 is now 115. Written 24 June in the year 451.

(n) ‹AD MARCIANUM› · printed under col 930

Exstat in codd. collect. 12 et in vetustissimo Vat. 1322.

It exists in the codd. of collection 12 and in the very old Vat. 1322.

(o) ‹sacerdotibus, vere› · printed under col 930

Sic duo nostri codd. collect. 12 et Vat. 1322. Editi, posset.

So our two codd. of collection 12 and Vat. 1322. The editions: posset.

(p) ‹fidei congregationem› · printed under col 930

Concilii scilicet indictionem editam die 17 Maii ignoraverat S. pontifex die 9 Junii, cum Lucentium et Basilium Constantinopolim ob lapsos recipiendos misit: unde hos aliis litteris, quae desunt, legatis nunc transmissis adjunxit, uti traditur epist. 94. Post diem itaque 9 Junii hujus indictionis notitia ad Leonem pervenit: cumque de legatis instruendis et ad concilium transmittendis, prout angustiae temporis ferebant, aliquot diebus cogitasset, hac tandem die 24 Junii indicti concilii mentionem fecit.

That is, the holy pontiff had not known, on 9 June, of the convocation of the council issued on 17 May, when he sent Lucentius and Basil to Constantinople to receive the lapsed: hence, by another letter, which is missing, he joined them to the legates now sent, as is related in letter 94. So news of this convocation reached Leo after 9 June; and when he had considered for some days, as far as the shortness of the time allowed, how to instruct the legates and send them to the council, at last on this day, 24 June, he made mention of the council that had been convoked.

(q) ‹meum Paschasinum› · printed under col 930

Epistola qua Paschasinum uti legatum suum Leo ad concilium direxit desideratur: nihil enim expresse ejusmodi delegationis legitur in epistola praecedenti eodem die signata, quam per Bonifacium legationis socium ad eumdem misit; ac idcirco delegationis litterae ad Paschasinum scriptae videntur paucis diebus ante epistolam praecedentem, quae quidem cap. 1 eum praefert satis instructum, novaeque instructionis additamentum exhibet.

The letter by which Leo directed Paschasinus to the council as his legate is missing: for nothing of such a delegation is expressly read in the preceding letter, dated the same day, which he sent to him by Boniface, his partner in the legation; and therefore the letter of delegation to Paschasinus seems to have been written a few days before the preceding letter, which indeed in ch. 1 presents him as already sufficiently instructed, and offers an addition of new instruction.

(r) ‹Bonifacio› · printed under col 930

Vulgati antiquiores Quesnello, fratre nostro, et compresbytero sociato. Quesnelli lectionem nostri codices confirmant.

The printed editions older than Quesnel: fratre nostro, et compresbytero sociato. Our codices confirm Quesnel's reading.

(s) ‹neutrum subrepere› · printed under cols 930–931 (runs over to the head of the footnotes under col 931)

Sic melius ex nostris mss. Vulgati, permittet. Vat. 1322, pro subrepere habet, sibi misceri. Porro voces gloriosissime imperator a Quesnello additae desunt quidem in eodem Vat. at in aliis codd. leguntur. Etsi vero auctoritate antiquissimi Vat. expungendae crederentur, non tamen idcirco haec epistola ad Pulcheriam potius quam ad Marcianum data dicenda esset, ut Tillemontius suspicatur not. 41 in S. Leonis Vitam tom. XV, pag. 914; omnes enim codices Marciani inscriptionem praeferunt, et Marciano conveniunt verba juberetis, et voluistis: nam ab eo Leo poposcerat, epist. 83, cap. 2, ut concilium differri juberet; idemque Marcianus illud nunc fieri voluit per indictionis litteras, quas annot. 3 (Col. 930, n. (p) memoravimus. Epistola vero ad Pulcheriam, quam hac eadem in re a Leone scriptam non ambigimus, hactenus desideratur, sicut aliae multae. Difficultas quae Tillemontium permovit pendebat ex chronica nota ejusdem diei huic et sequenti ad eumdem Marcianum epistolae in vulgatis praefixa: sed ea ex emendatione chronicae notae sublata est.

So, better, from our mss. The printed editions: permittet. Vat. 1322 has sibi misceri in place of subrepere. Further, the words gloriosissime imperator, added by Quesnel, are indeed missing in the same Vat., but are read in other codd. And even if they were thought to be struck out on the authority of the very ancient Vat., this letter would not on that account have to be said to have been addressed to Pulcheria rather than to Marcian, as Tillemont suspects in note 41 on the Life of St Leo, vol. XV, p. 914; for all the codices bear Marcian's heading, and the words juberetis and voluistis suit Marcian: for Leo had asked of him, in letter 83, ch. 2, that he order the council to be deferred; and the same Marcian willed it to take place now by the letter of convocation which we mentioned in note 3 (col. 930, n. (p)). The letter to Pulcheria, however, which we do not doubt was written by Leo on this same matter, is missing to this day, like many others. The difficulty that moved Tillemont depended on the chronological note of the same day prefixed in the printed editions to this letter and to the following one to the same Marcian: but it has been removed by the emendation of the chronological note.

Editors' prose

SYNOPIS. — De legatis ad concilium generale missis vice ejus acturis; ubi omnia ad fidei et pacis unitatem revocanda.

Synopsis. — On the legates sent to the general council to act in his place; there everything is to be brought back to the unity of faith and peace.

Page

running head: EPISTOLA LXXXIX. · 930 (across the page, page number over this column)
marginal letters: A ‹EPISTOLA (m) LXXXIX› (in the gutter); B ‹tionem nunc fieri›; C ‹pere permittit errorem›; D ‹lium transmittendis› (in the footnotes, note p)
old-edition numerals: 1061 after ‹fieri voluistis,›; 1062 after ‹gloriosissime›
signature: none
other: the last word of the column, impe-|rator, is hyphenated across the break to col 931 and set whole here.

PL 54:931

Si quid ergo morborum, si quid est vulnerum, quod sincera possit correctione curari, ut ad veram sanitatem revocetur optamus. Quae tunc utique non erit dubia, nec cujusquam simplicitati deinceps nocitura, si nullis se excusationibus voluerit obumbrare; cum abolitionem peccati non obtineat nisi vera confessio.

If, then, there is anything of disease, if anything of wounds, that can be cured by sincere correction, we desire that it be recalled to true health. And that [health] will then surely not be doubtful, nor harmful to anyone's simplicity from now on, if it will not cloak itself in any excuses; since nothing but true confession obtains the abolition of sin.

Quia vero quidam de fratribus, quod sine dolore non dicimus, contra turbines falsitatis non valuere catholicam tenere constantiam, praedictum fratrem et coepiscopum meum vice mea synodo convenit praesidere. Certus sum enim quod absque odio et gratia ibidem ab his quibus hoc commisimus laboretur, ut cum solius haereticae impietatis excidio, in omnibus Ecclesiis Dei veritas regnet et charitas. Data octavo kalendas Julii, Adelfio viro clarissimo consule.

But since some of the brethren, which we say not without grief, were not able to hold to catholic constancy against the whirlwinds of falsehood, it is fitting that the aforesaid brother and fellow bishop of mine should preside over the synod in my stead. For I am certain that there those to whom we have committed this will labour without hatred or favour, so that, with the destruction of heretical impiety alone, truth and charity may reign in all the Churches of God. Given on the eighth day before the Kalends of July, in the consulship of Adelfius, a man most illustrious.

Editors' notes and page, col. 931

Footnotes

(s) continued from col 930, set in n930 (the first lines of the footnotes under this column, down to the line above note (a))

(a) ‹revocetur optamus.› · printed under col 931

Editi, Quae nunc utique non erunt dubia. Nostrorum codicum lectio magis placuit. Quae, ad correctionem refertur. Mox editi ante Quesn. cum ms. Veneto collect. 12, nullus pro nullis.

The editions: Quae nunc utique non erunt dubia ("which will now surely not be doubtful"). The reading of our manuscripts pleased [us] more. Quae refers to correctionem. Next, the editions before Quesnel, with the Venice manuscript of collection 12, [read] nullus for nullis.

(b) ‹obumbrare; cum› · printed under col 931

Vulgati ante Quesn., absolutionem, ex erronea lectione mss. collect. 12, a pollutione. Quesnelli emendationem, cui favet cod. Vat. 1322, retinuimus.

The printed editions before Quesnel [read] absolutionem, from the erroneous reading of the manuscripts of collection 12, a pollutione. We have kept Quesnel's emendation, which the Vatican codex 1322 supports.

Nostri codd. collect. 12 addunt, nostris. Quesnellus in postilla huic loco affixa ait: Nota qua de causa Leo legatum suum synodo universali praesidere cupiat. Haec valde aequivocum, et pontificiis praerogativis minus congruum sensum exhibent. Sicut pontifex totius Ecclesiae primas et caput est, ita jure illi competit conciliis praesidere: unde Patres Chalcedonenses in Synodica ad Leonem inferius afferenda epist. 98, cap. 1, professi sunt: Quibus (ejusdem concilii episcopis) tu quidem ut membris caput praeeras. Hoc ejus jus ipse Marcianus satis protessus fuerat epist. 73, cum generalem synodum Leone auctore celebrandam significavit; quod item reperit Pulcheria epist. 77. Hoc autem jus sibi competens etiam suis legatis competere Leo hac in epistola insinuavit verbis vice mea, quae sicuti suam his auctoritatem delegatam, ita idem praesidentiae jus ostendunt. (Leonem quidem in legatis praesedisse ab ipso Chalcedonensi concilio traditur infra epist. 98. c. 3.) Verbum autem convenit modestiae gratia Leo adhibuit. Aliam porro rationem, quae in oculos magis incurreret, addere ac expressius poponere voluit ex latrocinio Ephesino, in quo cum apostolicae sedis legati non praesederint, plures contra impios Dioscori praesidis nisus non valuere catholicam tenere constantiam: quae ratio pontificium jus non restringit, nec excludit. Hoc quidem jus in Chalcedonensi actione prima, indicaturus Lucentius Leonis legatus memorato Dioscoro succensuit, quod Ephesi praesidis personam, quam non habebat, sibi arrogans, omniaque suo arbitrio gerens apostolicis legatis contemptis, synodum ausus sit facere sine auctoritate sedis apostolicae, quod numquam licuit, numquam factum est. Quam vero praesidentiam Leo hac in epistola modeste insinuat, a legatis suis omnino exigi voluit. Hinc enim Paschasinus in eadem synodo initio actionis tertiae tom. IV Concil. Venetae editionis pag. 1350, dixit: Nostram parvitatem huic sancto concilio pro se praesidere praecepit.

Our manuscripts of collection 12 add nostris. Quesnel, in a marginal note attached to this place, says: "Note for what reason Leo wishes his legate to preside over the universal synod." These words present a highly equivocal sense, and one ill suited to the pontifical prerogatives. As the pontiff is primate and head of the whole Church, so by right it belongs to him to preside over councils: whence the Fathers of Chalcedon, in the synodal letter to Leo to be given below, epist. 98, chap. 1, professed: "Over whom (the bishops of that same council) you presided as the head over the members." Marcian himself had sufficiently professed this right of his in epist. 73, when he signified that the general synod was to be celebrated on Leo's authority; and Pulcheria likewise repeats it in epist. 77. And Leo intimated in this letter that this right, which belongs to him, belongs also to his legates, by the words vice mea ("in my stead"), which, just as they show his authority delegated to them, so they show the same right of presiding. (That Leo presided in his legates is indeed related by the Council of Chalcedon itself, below, epist. 98, chap. 3.) The word convenit, however, Leo used for modesty's sake. He wished, moreover, to add and set out more expressly another reason, one that would strike the eye more, drawn from the Robber Synod of Ephesus, in which, since the legates of the apostolic see did not preside, many "were not able to hold to catholic constancy" against the impious efforts of Dioscorus as president: a reason which neither restricts nor excludes the pontifical right. This right indeed Lucentius, Leo's legate, meaning to point it out, invoked in the first session at Chalcedon when he inveighed against the said Dioscorus because, arrogating to himself at Ephesus the part of president, which he did not have, and conducting everything at his own will in contempt of the apostolic legates, "he dared to hold a synod without the authority of the apostolic see, which has never been lawful, has never been done." That presidency, however, which Leo modestly intimates in this letter, he wished to be claimed in full by his legates. For hence Paschasinus, in the same synod, at the beginning of the third session (vol. IV of the Councils, Venice edition, p. 1350), said: "He has commanded our littleness to preside over this holy council in his stead."

(d) ‹Certus› · printed under col 932

In omnibus nostris codd. omittuntur voces sum enim. Cum vero prima editio hujus epistolae apud Merlinum sumpta fuerit ex codice collect. 12, si hae voces ita desunt in omnibus ejusdem collectionis mss. exemplaribus, uti desiderantur in duobus quae vidimus, nec non in cod. Vat 1322, qui aliam originem habet, suppletae fuerunt ad perficiendum sensum. Suppleri tamen aptius poterat sum autem: siquidem particula enim, quae praecedentis sententiae rationem indicat, minus congruit: nam in antecedenti periodo de solo Paschasino, hic autem de omnibus legatis sermo est. Forte vero quispiam existimabit hoc loco certe luxato ante vocem certus aliquid deesse quo legati Paschasino sociati indicarentur, et subsequens sensus omnibus communis melius cohaereret. Ita addition sum enim, vel sum autem opus non esset.

In all our manuscripts the words sum enim are omitted. But since the first edition of this letter, in Merlin, was taken from a codex of collection 12, if these words are missing in all the manuscript copies of that collection just as they are lacking in the two which we have seen, and also in the Vatican codex 1322, which has another origin, they were supplied to complete the sense. Sum autem, however, could have been supplied more aptly, since the particle enim, which indicates the reason for the preceding statement, fits less well: for in the preceding period the discourse is about Paschasinus alone, but here about all the legates. Perhaps, indeed, someone will judge that in this place, which is certainly dislocated, something is missing before the word certus by which the legates associated with Paschasinus were indicated, and so the following sense, common to them all, would hang together better. Then the addition sum enim or sum autem would not be needed.

(e) ‹Data› · printed under col 932

Editi et mss. collect. 12. VI kal. Julii. Antiquissimus Vat., VIII kal. Junii. Apertus est librarii error in mense, cum indictionem concilii Leo ignoraverit die 9 Junii, uti vidimus annot. 3 (Col. 930, n. (p). Diem autem VIII kal. retinuimus, eo quod concordat cum die praecedentis epistolae ad Paschasinum, quae simul per Bonifacium missa fuit, et multo magis quia VI kal. Julii alias habemus Leonis litteras ad eumdum imperatorem, in quibus de eadem omnino re agitur: eadem autem die de re eadem duplicem epistolam ad eumdem imperatorem scriptam fuisse, nisi quid cogat, haud facile credimus.

The editions and the manuscripts of collection 12 [read] VI kal. Julii; the most ancient Vatican, VIII kal. Junii. The copyist's error in the month is obvious, since on 9 June Leo did not yet know of the summoning of the council, as we saw in note 3 (col. 930, n. (p)). We have kept the day VIII kal., however, because it agrees with the date of the preceding letter to Paschasinus, which was sent together with it by Boniface, and much more because under VI kal. Julii we have another letter of Leo to the same emperor, in which exactly the same matter is treated: and unless something compels us, we do not readily believe that two letters on the same matter were written to the same emperor on the same day.

Page

running head: 931 · S. LEONIS MAGNI EPISTOLAE. · 932 (across the page, page number over this column)
marginal letters: B ‹in the gutter below the last text line, consule.›; C ‹in the gutter beside the last line of note (s), just above note (a)›; D ‹jus ipse Marcianus satis protessus› (note c)
old-edition numerals: none
signature: none
other: the column begins with the tail "rator." of impe-|rator, set whole at the end of col 930; the text of Letter LXXXIX ends in this column with its date (upper part of the column), and the rest of the column is footnotes

PL 54:932

EPISTOLA XC.

LETTER XC.

AD EUMDEM MARCIANUM AUGUSTUM.

To the same Marcian Augustus.

Pro concilio Nicaenam primum convocato, postea Chalcedonem translato

On the council summoned first to Nicaea, afterwards moved to Chalcedon

Per Bonifacium presbyterum.

By Boniface the presbyter.

Leo episcopus Marciano Augusto.

Leo, bishop, to Marcian Augustus.

Cap. I. — Poposceram quidem a gloriosissima clementia vestra ut synodum, quam ad reparandam Orientalis Ecclesiae pacem etiam a nobis petitam, necessariam judicatis, aliquantisper differri ad tempus opportunius juberetis: ut liberioribus ab omni perturbatione animis hi quoque episcopi, quos

Chap. I. — I had indeed asked of your most glorious clemency that you would order the synod, which, sought by us too for restoring the peace of the Eastern Church, you judge necessary, to be put off for a while to a more opportune time: so that, with minds freer from all disturbance, these bishops too, whom […]

Editors' notes and page, col. 932

Footnotes

(c) continued from col 931, set in n931 (the first lines of the footnotes under this column, down to the line above note (d))

(d) printed under this column; its call is in col 931, set in n931 (e) printed under this column; its call is in col 931, set in n931

(f) ‹EPISTOLA› · printed under col 932

Al. 73. Quae autem antea 90 erat, nunc 116. Scripta 26 Junii an. 451.

Formerly 73. The one that was formerly 90 is now 116. Written 26 June in the year 451.

(g) ‹EPISTOLA XC.› · printed under col 932

Legitur in mss. collect. Hisp., Isid. 11, 12, 18, 19 et 21 usque ad 24, ac in exemplo Sichardi.

It is found in the manuscripts of the collections Hispana, Isidoriana, 11, 12, 18, 19 and 21 to 24, and in Sichard's exemplar.

(h) ‹AUGUSTUM.› · printed under col 932

Hunc titulum optime praefixit Quesnellus, cujus notam 1 consule. In Hispanica hic titulus legitur: De directa vicis suae legatione Constantinopolim pro Chalcedonensi concilio faciendo.

Quesnel very rightly prefixed this title; consult his note 1. In the Hispana this title is read: "On the sending of his representatives' legation to Constantinople for the holding of the Council of Chalcedon."

(i) ‹Poposceram› · printed under col 932

Vid. epist. 83, c. 2.

See epist. 83, chap. 2.

(j) ‹synodum, quam› · printed under col 932

Vat. Hisp. et Isid. cum mss. collect. 11 et 21. pro reparanda Orientalis Ecclesiae pace.

The Vatican, the Hispana and the Isidoriana, with the manuscripts of collections 11 and 21: pro reparanda Orientalis Ecclesiae pace ("for restoring the peace of the Eastern Church").

(k) ‹necessariam› · printed under col 932

Iidem codd. nec non illi collect. 24 et exemplar Sichardi cum editis ante Quesn., judicatis. Lectionem a Quesnello inductam nostri Vindebon. Hisp et Ratisp. confirmant.

The same manuscripts, and also those of collection 24 and Sichard's exemplar, with the editions before Quesnel, [read] judicatis. The reading introduced by Quesnel is confirmed by our Vienna, Hispana and Regensburg [manuscripts].

Editors' prose

SYNOPSIS. — I. Concilio generali congregando annuit, etsi propter temporis perturbationem in aliud maluisset differri. — II. Fidem in illo tractandam non esse ut dubiam, nec a Nicaena discedendum.

Synopsis. — I. He assents to the gathering of a general council, although because of the disturbance of the times he would have preferred it to be put off to another [time]. — II. The faith is not to be treated in it as doubtful, nor is there to be any departure from the Nicene [faith].

Page

running head: 931 · S. LEONIS MAGNI EPISTOLAE. · 932 (across the page, page number over this column)
marginal letters: B ‹omni perturbatione animis› (in the gutter); C ‹sum. Suppleri tamen› (note d); D ‹dem autem die de re eadem› (note e)
old-edition numerals: 1063 before ‹EPISTOLA (f) XC.›
signature: none
other: the caption lines of Letter XC (heading, address, italic sub-caption, "Per Bonifacium presbyterum.") are set as layer 1; the synopsis is editors' prose; the text breaks at "quos" with no hyphen

PL 54:933

hostliitatis metus detinet, conveniret. Sed quia pio studio humanis negotiis divina praeponitis, et rationabiliter ac religiose regni vestri viribus creditis profuturum, si nulla sit in sacerdotum sensibus dissonantia, nulla sit in Evangeli praedicatione discordia: ego etiam vestris dispositionibus non renitor, optans ut in omnium sordibus catholica fides, quae non potest nisi una esse, firmetur.

[…] fear of hostility holds back, might assemble. But since with pious zeal you set divine things before human affairs, and reasonably and religiously believe that it will benefit the strength of your reign if there is no dissonance in the minds of the priests and no discord in the preaching of the Gospel, I too do not resist your arrangements, desiring that the catholic faith, which cannot be other than one, be made firm in the hearts of all.

A cujus integritate et Nestorius antea, et nunc Eutyches, diversis quidem callibus, sed impietate non impari deviarunt: abominandi prorsus in persuasionibus suis, quas contra sincerum veri luminis fontem, de coenosis lacubus diabolicae falsitatis hauserunt. Prior itaque synodus Ephesina Nestorium cum dogmate suo merito justeque damnavit: et quisquis in illo errore persistit, ad nullius potest spem remedii pertinere. Sequens vero in praedicata civitate, non potest vocari concilium, quod in eversionem fidei fuisse constat agitatum; quodque vestra clementia amore veritatis catholicis adfutura, aliud statuendo cassavit, gloriosissime imperator.

From its integrity both Nestorius formerly and Eutyches now have strayed, by different paths indeed, but with no lesser impiety: utterly abominable in their persuasions, which, against the pure fountain of the true light, they have drawn from the muddy pools of diabolical falsehood. The earlier synod of Ephesus, therefore, deservedly and justly condemned Nestorius with his doctrine: and whoever persists in that error can lay claim to no hope of remedy. But the following one in the aforesaid city cannot be called a council, since it is established that it was conducted for the overthrow of the faith; and your clemency, resolved to stand by the catholics out of love of the truth, has annulled it by decreeing otherwise, most glorious emperor.

Cap. II. — Unde per ipsum Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum, qui regni vestri est auctor et rector, obtestor et obsecro clementiam vestram ut in praesenti synodo fidem quam beati Patres nostri ab

Chap. II. — Wherefore, through our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, Who is the author and ruler of your reign, I adjure and beseech your clemency that in the present synod the faith which our blessed Fathers […]

Editors' notes and page, col. 933

Footnotes

(a) ‹spem remedii› · printed under col 933

Editi ante Quesn. cum uno ms. Vat., pervenire.

The editions before Quesnel, with one Vatican manuscript: pervenire ("arrive at").

(b) ‹in praedicata civitate,› · printed under col 933

Ratisp., non possumus vocare. Vindebon. Hisp. cum Vat. collect. 24, non possum vocare. His concinit dictum Cecropii episcopi Sebastopolitani in synodo Chalcedonensi act. 10: Illud (Ephesinum) concilium dicere non debemus.

The Regensburg [manuscript]: non possumus vocare ("we cannot call"). The Vienna Hispana with the Vatican [manuscript] of collection 24: non possum vocare ("I cannot call"). With these agrees the saying of Cecropius, bishop of Sebastopolis, at the Synod of Chalcedon, session 10: "We must not call that (the Ephesine) a council."

Vulgati ante Quesn., cassabit, cum Vat. Hisp. et Isid. et mss. collect. 11, 12, 21, 22 et 23, quae tamen omnes collectiones hanc epistolam ex Isidoriana derivarunt. Quesnellus ex Grimanico et Victor. induxit cassavit, idemque praeferunt Vindebon., Hisp., Ratisponem. et mss. collect. 24. Proxime accedunt exemplaria Sichardi et Merlini, in quibus quassavit. Ita quatuor saltem praestantiores et diversi originis collectiones huic lectioni favent, nimirum Hisp., 18, 19 et 24. Cumque caeterae praeferentes cassabit ex Isidoro ut monuimus, originem ducant, Isidorus autem sumpserit ex minus puro codice Hispanico simili Vat. 1341, cujus primus scriptor in multis a puriori Hispanico fonte discessit, uti ex multorum locorum collatione didicimus hinc retinendum putavimus cassavit, quod in puriori Vindebon. Hisp. et in aliis collectionibus ac praesertim in Ratisponensi legitur. Caeterum si respicienda esset Marciani lex data pridie nonas Julii an. 452, qua constitutio Theodosii pro latrocinio Ephesino cassata fuit, quemadmodum legati Leonis cum aliis Patribus petierunt act. 10 concilii Chalcedonensis, praeferendum esset cassabit. At cum Marcianus in ipso imperii exordio catholicis ob Ephesinum conciliabulum in exsilium pulsis affuturus eos robore pragmatici sui ex epist. 77 revocaverit, et sancti Flaviani corpus Constantinopolim cum honore jusserit transferendum, aliaque praestiterit quibus ejusdem pseudosynodi acta reprobavit, haec Leonem spectasse verosimilius arbitramur.

The printed editions before Quesnel [read] cassabit ("will annul"), with the Vatican [manuscripts] of the Hispana and the Isidoriana and the manuscripts of collections 11, 12, 21, 22 and 23, all of which collections, however, derived this letter from the Isidoriana. Quesnel introduced cassavit ("has annulled") from the Grimani and St Victor [manuscripts], and the Vienna Hispana, the Regensburg [manuscript] and the manuscripts of collection 24 prefer the same. Nearest to it come the exemplars of Sichard and Merlin, which have quassavit. Thus at least four of the better collections, and of different origin, favour this reading, namely the Hispana, 18, 19 and 24. And since the others, which prefer cassabit, take their origin from Isidore, as we have pointed out, and Isidore took it from a less pure Spanish codex like Vat. 1341, whose first scribe departed in many things from the purer Spanish source, as we have learned by comparing many passages, we therefore thought that cassavit should be kept, which is read in the purer Vienna Hispana and in other collections, and especially in the Regensburg one. For the rest, if Marcian's law given on the day before the Nones of July in the year 452 had to be considered, by which the constitution of Theodosius in favour of the Robber Synod of Ephesus was annulled, as Leo's legates with other Fathers requested in session 10 of the Council of Chalcedon, cassabit would have to be preferred. But since Marcian, at the very beginning of his reign, "resolved to stand by" the catholics driven into exile on account of the Ephesine conventicle, recalled them "by the force of his pragmatic [sanction]" (from epist. 77), ordered the body of Saint Flavian to be transferred with honour to Constantinople, and did other things by which he condemned the acts of that same pseudo-synod, we judge it more probable that Leo had these things in view.

(d) ‹quam beati› · printed under col 933

Vat. Hisp. cum alio collect. 11, Patres nostri apostoli sibi traditam praedicaverunt. Vat. Isid., Patres nostri apostoli praedicavere, omissis vocibus sibi traditam.

The Vatican Hispana, with another [manuscript] of collection 11: Patres nostri apostoli sibi traditam praedicaverunt ("our Fathers the apostles preached [the faith] handed down to them"). The Vatican Isidoriana: Patres nostri apostoli praedicavere, omitting the words sibi traditam.

(e) printed under this column; its call is in col 934, set in n934 (f) printed under this column (and running over to the head of the footnotes under col 934); its call is in col 934, set in n934