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E06556: Aldhelm, in his prose On Virginity, names *Basil (bishop of Caesarea, ob. 379, S00837) as an exemplary virgin. Written in Latin in southern Britain, for the nuns at the monastery at Barking (south-east Britain), c. 675/686.
online resource
posted on 2018-09-20, 00:00 authored by bsavillAldhelm, prose On Virginity, 27
Basilius, pontifex et celeberrimus Cappadox, Athenis aeque ut praefatus collega rethoricis sofismatum edoctus disciplinis, qui regularem monasticae conversationis normam, reciprocis scedarum sciscitationibus vicaria litterarum relatione respondens, luce clarius ad liquidum digessit [...] is, inquam, quod integritatis gratia incorruptus corporaliter floruerit, ex ipsius elogio coniecturam capesso ita prosequentis: Et feminam non cognosco et virgo non sum. Vetus quippe consuetudo peritorum esse fertur contionatorum, qui pro rostris in edito stantes popularibus catervis contionantur, ut sic in diversae contionis cuneo et dispari sexu ceu propria ita interdum aliena fruniscantur persona [...] Hoc ergo contionandi genere praefatus antistes sermocinari creditur [...]
'BASIL (was) the most renowned Cappadocian bishop, trained at Athens in the rhetorical disciplines of sophistic like his previously mentioned colleague [Gregory of Nazianzus], who expounded with certainty (and) more clearly than light the regular practices of the monastic life [...] That this Basil, I say, flourished corporeally incorrupt, by virtue of his integrity, I shall understand as an interpretation of his own maxim, as follows, "I do not know a woman, and yet I am not a virgin." For in fact it is said to be an ancient practice of skilled orators who, standing high up in their pulpits harangue throngs of people, that, in the audience of the diverse assembly with its differences of sexes, they sometimes use a different persona just as their own [...] The previously mentioned bishop is therefore thought to be speaking in the manner of oratory [...]'
Ehwald 1919, 263-4. Translation: Lapidge and Herren 1979, 86-7.
Basilius, pontifex et celeberrimus Cappadox, Athenis aeque ut praefatus collega rethoricis sofismatum edoctus disciplinis, qui regularem monasticae conversationis normam, reciprocis scedarum sciscitationibus vicaria litterarum relatione respondens, luce clarius ad liquidum digessit [...] is, inquam, quod integritatis gratia incorruptus corporaliter floruerit, ex ipsius elogio coniecturam capesso ita prosequentis: Et feminam non cognosco et virgo non sum. Vetus quippe consuetudo peritorum esse fertur contionatorum, qui pro rostris in edito stantes popularibus catervis contionantur, ut sic in diversae contionis cuneo et dispari sexu ceu propria ita interdum aliena fruniscantur persona [...] Hoc ergo contionandi genere praefatus antistes sermocinari creditur [...]
'BASIL (was) the most renowned Cappadocian bishop, trained at Athens in the rhetorical disciplines of sophistic like his previously mentioned colleague [Gregory of Nazianzus], who expounded with certainty (and) more clearly than light the regular practices of the monastic life [...] That this Basil, I say, flourished corporeally incorrupt, by virtue of his integrity, I shall understand as an interpretation of his own maxim, as follows, "I do not know a woman, and yet I am not a virgin." For in fact it is said to be an ancient practice of skilled orators who, standing high up in their pulpits harangue throngs of people, that, in the audience of the diverse assembly with its differences of sexes, they sometimes use a different persona just as their own [...] The previously mentioned bishop is therefore thought to be speaking in the manner of oratory [...]'
Ehwald 1919, 263-4. Translation: Lapidge and Herren 1979, 86-7.
History
Evidence ID
E06556Saint Name
Basil, bishop of Caesarea, ob. 379 : S00780Saint Name in Source
BasiliusRelated Saint Records
Type of Evidence
Literary - OtherLanguage
- Latin