IV. History of Socrates’
Work.
A.
Uses made before the First Printed Edition of the
Greek Text.
Socrates’
Ecclesiastical History
was used, according to the best
authorities, by Sozomen in the composition of his parallel
history.
103
It was certainly used by Liberatus, the Carthaginian deacon, in his
Breviarium caussæ Nestorianorum et Eutychianorum
, and by
Theodorus Anagnostes (Lector) in his
Ecclesiastical History
.
104
It was also quoted in the second Council of Nicæa, under the name
of Rufinus, and also under its author’s name.
105
Epiphanius, surnamed Scholasticus, translated the
history of Socrates, together with those of Sozomen and Theodoret,
under the auspices of Cassiodorus, about the beginning of the sixth
century. This translation, under the name of
Historiæ
Ecclesiasticæ Tripartitæ
, consists of twelve books, and
was printed at Paris, without date, by Regnault in 8vo; afterwards also
at Bâle in 1523, 1528, 1533, 1539, and 1568. It was revised by
Beatus Rhenanus
, and published in Frankfort on
the Main in 1588, together with the history of Eusebius, which was
translated and continued by Rufinus. It is also found in the new
edition of Cassiodorus printed at Rouen by
Jo
.
Garetius
in 1679 and in Venice, 1729. It
served as a basis for a French translation by
Ægidius Gourlinus
(Gille Gourlin), published in Paris
in 1538 (cited by
Cyaneus
), and of a German
translation by
Caspar Hedio
at Strasburg,
1545.
B.
Editions.
There are two independent editions of Socrates’
Ecclesiastical History
, each of which has served as a basis for
reprints, secondary editions, and translations. These are:
I. Eusebii Pamphili
:
Hist.
EccI.
LL. X.; ejd.
de Vita Constantini
LL. V.;
Socratis
Hist. Eccl.
LL. VII.;
Theodoreti
Episc. Cyrensis
Hist. EccI.
LL. V.;
Collectaneum ex hist. eccl.
Theodori
Lectoris
LL. II.;
Hermiæ Sozomeni
Hist. EccI.
LL. IX.;
Evagrii
Hist.
Eccl.
LL. VI. Lut. Paris, ex off. Rob. Stephani 1544 pridie Cal.
Jul.
a. Upon this edition is based a Latin translation by
Wolfgang Musculus
, Bâle 1544, 1549, 1557,
1594, and one by
J. J. Christophorson
, bishop
of Chichester, Paris 1571, Cologne 1581, Bâle 1570; with notes by
Grynæus
and by
Henricus
Petri 1611
; incorporated into the
Bibliotheca Patrum,
ed.
Cologne 1618 as Vol. V. and ed. Lyons 1677 as Vol. VII.
b. The Greek text of Stephens and the Latin translation
of Christophorson were published together in Geneva, 1612.
c. An English translation of Socrates’
Ecclesiastical History was made by
Meredith
Hanmer
,
106
and is contained in his
Ancient Ecclesiastical Histories of the
first six hundred years after Christ, written in the Greek tongue by
three learned Historiographers, Eusebius, Socrates and Evagrius.
London 1577. [This work also contains Dorotheus’
Lives of the
Prophets, Apostles, and Seventy Disciples
reprinted in 1585 and
1650.]
2. The second independent edition of Socrates is that
which has been received as standard and served as a basis for all
subsequent uses, viz.:
Historia Ecclesiastica Socratis, Scholastici,
Hermiæ, Sozomeni,
&c., ed.
Henricus
Valesius
. Paris 1668. Valesius ostensibly revised the text of
Stephens, but as a matter of fact he made a new collation of the
ms.
used by Stephens, and compared this with
mss.
in the Vatican, so that
his edition amounts to an entirely new work. He
also made a new Latin translation and appended numerous notes. This
edition was reprinted in Mayence in 1677. Its Latin portion was
reprinted in Paris also in 1677. The reprint of Mayence was reproduced
under a new title, as if in Amsterdam in 1675.
a.
Gul. Reading
appended
additional notes, and together with the Latin translation of Valesius,
published the work in Cambridge in three vols. 1720. Reading’s
edition was reprinted at Turin in 1746. Valesius’ original
edition was again reprinted in Oxford by
Parker
in 1844 and
Cura
Buckley
in London, also in 1844. It was revised and
published in Oxford in 3 vols. by
R. Hussey
in
1853, and again in 1860 and in 1879. Again it was incorporated into
Migne’s
Patrologia Græca
as
Vol. LXVII. (Petit Montrouge) in 1859, and finally the Greek text alone
was revised and published in a single volume by
William Bright
in Oxford 1878.
b. The translations based on Valesius’ edition
exclusive of those in Latin mentioned above are as follows:
In
French
by
L. Cousin
:
Histoire de l’Eglise écrite par
Eusèbe, Socrate, Sozomène, Theodoret,
&c. 4
vols. Paris 1675, and 6 vols. Amsterdam 1686. [Containing also
Photius’ abstract of Philostorgius.]
In
English
by
Shorting
:
107
The History of the Church as written in Greek by Eusebius, Socrates,
and Evagrius
[contains also the four books of the Life of
Constantine, Constantine’s Oration to the Convention of the
Saints, and Eusebius’ speech in praise of Constantine],
translated from the edition of Valesius, with a translation also of
Valesius’ notes and his account of the lives and writings of
those historians. Cambridge 1683, 1692, 1709.
By
S. Parker
:
The
Ecclesiastical Histories of Eusebius, Socrates, Sozomen, and
Theodoret
.…
abridged from the originals.
London 1707,
3rd ed. 1729.
And
Anonymously
[E.
Walford]
108
The Greek Ecclesiastical Historians of the first six centuries of
the Christian Era
in 6 vols. [Socrates Scholasticus’
History
forms Vol. III. of this series]. London, Samuel Bagster
and Sons, 1843–46. This translation was reprinted in Bohn’s
Ecclesiastical Library, 4 vols., 1851 and 1888, and by Bagster in
1868.
103
So Harnack and Jeep. Cf. also Hartranft in the
present vol., p. 00.
104
Theodorus’ works were two: (1) An epitome of
the histories written previous to his time, and (2) an original history
continuing the narrative to the days of Justinian I.
105
Cf. Mansi,
Concil
. XII. Coll. 1035 and
1042.
106
Cf. Woods,
Athenæ Oxonienses
, Vol. I. p.
326.
107
So Crusè.
108
The volume containing Sozomen in this series bears
the name of Walford. The translation of Socrates is anonymous, but
generally ascribed to Walford also. This cannot be a matter of
inference from the appearance of the two historians in the same series,
as Eusebius, also in the same series, is translated by Crusè.
Those who attribute the translation to Walford give no reason for doing
so.