3

Malchus’ story: When I was young and an only child my parents wanted me to get married. I preferred the celibate religious life and left to join a monastery at Chalcis on the edge of the Syrian desert. Years later I decided leave the monastery and go back home to Nisibis, athough the abbot of my monastery begged me not to, and warned that I was falling under the tempting spell of Satan.

Nisibēnī < Nisibēnus -a -um, “of Nisibis” (LL); Nisibis is now Nusaybin, Turkey. In the fourth century control of this strategic and heavily fortified border city passed back and forth between the Roman and Sassanid Persian empires. The Persians ceded it to the Romans in 299. From 360 to 363, Nisibis was the camp of Legio I Parthica. In 363 Nisibis went back to the Persians after the defeat of Emperor Julian. See Ammianus Marcellinus, Roman History Book 25 and Encyclopedia Iranica, “Nisibis.”

colōnus: colōnus -ī m., “farmer”; in the later empire colōnus could also be a technical term for a “tied” tenant, legally prevented from leaving the land.

Quī = Et parentēs. The relative pronoun is regularly used to continue a thought from one sentence to the next (AG 308.f).

cum me ... cōgerent: imperf. subj. in a circumstantial cum clause (AG 546).

quasi: “on that grounds (that I was)”; see OLD 6.

et hērēdem: et is best understood as epexigetic: ‘the representative of the line, and therefore the heir of the house’ (Gray).

Monachum potius velle esse respondī = respondī (me) potius velle esse monachum. potius (adverb) can mean “instead” (OLD 3).

Quantīs ... quantīs ... persecūtī sunt: indirect question after haec rēs sōla indiciō est (with the verb unusually in the indicative): “With what threats ...." For the indicative (in CL, early Latin, and poetry) see AG 575.c.

ut ... prōderem: imperf. subj. in purpose clause.

quod ... fūgī: substantive clause of result (consecutive clause) using quod, i.e. “the fact that I fled” (AG 572).

haec rēs sōla indiciō est: “this thing alone is (as an) indication”; indiciō is dative of purpose (predicative dative, AG 382).

3.2

propter vīcīnam Persidem < Persis -idos or -idis f., “Persia,” meaning at this period the Sassanian Empire, ruled by the long-reigning and illustrious king Shapur II. Nisibis lay in a border area hotly contested in the fourth century by the Roman and Sassanian empires.

et Rōmānōrum mīlitum cūstōdiam < cūstōdia -ae f., “garrison”; the Roman soldiers defending the border would have prevented their escape.

pauxillum nesciō quid … viāticī: “a very little something for the journey”; nesciō quid = nesciōquid, “something or other”; < viāticum -ī n., “provision for a journey” (either money or food); partitive genitive (AG 346).

quod mē ad inopiā tantum dēfenderet: quod is the relative pronoun, with pauxillum nescio quid viatici as antecedent; dēfenderet is imperf. subj. in a relative clause of purpose (or characteristic). tantum the adverb (not tantus -a -um), “only, just, merely” (LS tantus II.B; a very common usage in CL).

3.3

Quid multa? “Why (should I say) many things?” An effort to cut short what could be a long story.

erēmum < erēmus -ī m. or f., “desert, waste land” (LL).

Chalcidos: Chalcis -idis or -idos f., Chalcis ad Belum, in N. Syria (mod. Qinnasrin). An important caravan stop on the frontier zone with the Syrian desert, Chalcis had a fine Roman road leading to Antioch, and was in late antiquity an important center of Syriac Christianity.

Immās: Imma, about 20 miles due east of Antioch.

Beroeam < Beroea -ae f., Beroia, the modern Aleppo.

ad austrum: “to the south”; < auster austrī m., “the south wind, the south.”

3.4

repertīs monachīs: ablative absolute.

eōrum mē magisteriō trādidī = trādidī mē magisteriō eōrum. < magisterium -(i)ī n., “teaching, instruction.”

manū et labōre = labōre manūs (hendiadys).

victum < victus -ūs m., “sustenance, food.”

lascīviamque carnis: “(sexual) wantonness of the flesh.” Repression of sexual desire is part of monasticism.

iēiūniīs < iēiūnium -(i)ī n., “fast, fasting.”

3.5

cōgitātiō: in monastic rules the word cogitatio is used in the technical sense of ‘spiritual/internal temptation’ (Gray).

ut ... pergerem ... sōlārer ... ērogārem ... cōnstruerem .... reservārem: imperf. subj. in substantive clauses of purpose (AG 563)

dum ... advīveret: dum = “as long as” would normally take the indicative (AG 555); advīveret is imperf. subj. in a subordinate clause depending on a subjunctive clause and thus attracted into the subjunctive (AG 593).

vēnumdatā possesiunculā: ablative absolute; < vēnumdō -āre (also written as two words), “to put up for sale”; < possessiuncula -ae f., “small estate, little farm.”

ērogārem < ērogō (1), “to pay out, disburse.”

ex parte: “with (another) part”; ex + abl. can mean “with, by means of” (OLD 19).

quid ērubēscō cōnfitērī īnfidēlitātem meam?: Malchus confesses that the third thing he spent money on was selfish, as explained in what follows. Note the asyndeton.

in sūmptuum meōrum sōlācia: “for my recreational expenses.” < sōlācium (sōlātium) -(i)ī n., “recreation, pastime” (DMLBS solacium 2).

3.6

Clāmāre hoc coepit abbās meus diabolī esse temptātiōnem = abbās meus coepit clāmāre hoc esse temptātiōnem diabolī. Indirect statement. The hostis antiquus is the Devil. et sub ... occāsiōne < occāsiō -ōnis f., “pretext”; in CL it means “opportunity, chance.”

Hoc esse ... deceptōs (esse) ... sē prōdere: the indirect statement continues.

revertī canem ad vomitum suum: a quotation from the Book of Proverbs (26:11), meant to criticize the incorrigible nature of fools. The Latin version reads in full, Sicut canis quī revertitur ad vomitum suum, sīc imprūdēns quī iterat stultitiam suam. (“As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.”). revertitur in the original quotation has been changed to the infinitive in indirect statement. The dog and his vomit are invoked at 2 Peter 2:22 to describe converted Christians who return to their original non-Christian faith. The image thus becomes common for anyone returning to an earlier mistake.

sīc: “(he said that) in this way.”

multōs monachōrum = multōs monachōs (sc. esse); another indirect statement depending on coepit clāmāre; monachōrum is a partitive genitive.

apertā fronte: frons frontis f., “forehead”; “a person’s brow considered as masking his true feelings or character” (OLD 4); we would say “face.”

inter quae illud: “among which (was) that (famous) one”; illud looks forward to quod (“the fact that”).

ab initiō quod ... supplantāverit = quod (diabolus) ab initiō supplantāverit Adam quoque et Ēvam spē dīvīnitātis. < supplantō (1), “to trip up, cause to stumble”; supplantāverit is perf. subj. in informal indirect discourse, where an explanatory fact is introduced by a relative pronoun (AG 592.3). Adam: indeclinable (the first A can be long or short); accusative. spē is ablative of means.

cum ... non posset: imperf. subj. in a circumstantial cum clause (AG 546).

prōvolūtus genibus obsecrābat < prōvolvō prōvolvere prōvoluī prōvolūtum ,“to prostrate oneself” (at someone’s feet or knees); with the dative. The abbot fell down at Malchus’ knees, in the traditional gesture of supplication (see OLD prōvolvō 3a).

nē ... dēsererem ... perderem ... respicerem: imperf. subj. in substantive clauses of purpose (AG 563), depending of obsecrabat.

nē, arātrum tenēns, post tergum respicerem: An allusion to a remark of Jesus emphasizing the cost of discipleship. When a man says he wants to follow Jesus but must go back and say goodbye to his family, Jesus tells him, “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”) (Luke 9:62). The full quote in the Latin version is Ait ad illum Iēsus: Nēmō mittēns manum suum ad arātrum, et respicieēns retrō, aptus est rēgnō Deī.

3.7

Vīcī pessimam victōriam: victōriam is an internal cognate accusative (AG 390), and a wordplay indicating etymology (Gray).

3.8

quasi fūnus efferet: “as if he were carrying out a (my) dead body for burial.” funus efferre means “carry out for burial” (OLD fūnus 1c); imperf. subj. in a clause of comparison (AG 524). “Malchus’ greed and disobedience are viewed by the abbot as a sign or cause of his spiritual death” (Gray).

ad extrēmum: “finally” (DMLBS extrēmus 2.b).

te ... notātum: sc. esse, acc. + inf. in indirect statement.

cautēriō < cautērium, iī, n. “branding iron,” indicating possession.

Nōn quaerō causās, excūsātiōnēs nōn recipiō: chiasmus.

Ovis ... ovīlī ... lupī: < ovīle, is, n. “sheepfold, pen.” For the Christian image of the sheep and wolf see esp. John 10:11–12.

morsibus < morsus, ūs, m. “bite.”