Letter 99: Gelasios Concerning pride, impotence and insignificance It is usual for human beings- at least for most, although...

To Isidore the Deacon. What is the meaning of \"As far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns.\" The phrase \"As far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns,\" used by Luke in the Acts of the Apostles, signifies certain places before Rome — the first having a statue of someone named Appius, as is likely, and being called his forum, just as to this day the statues of emperors give their names to the places where they stand, which are called the forums of this or that ruler. The other places refer to certain inns or taverns, which were named for the number of establishments grouped together at that location. These geographical details, though seemingly mundane, serve an important purpose in Luke's narrative: they demonstrate the historical accuracy and eyewitness character of the account, grounding the spread of the Gospel in concrete, verifiable locations, and showing that the faith did not emerge from myths and legends but from events that occurred in real places known to the readers of that time.

Gelasios Concerning pride, impotence and insignificance It is usual for human beings- at least for most, although foreign to divine legislation, to be puffed up by (noble) descent, practical wisdom, possessions, beauty or rank.[4] However it helps in no way the pride of those who are from earth and who again return to it. That you possess none at all of these qualities you will scarcely deny. If then you are deprived of all the things that cause one to swell and be puffed up, since you are of lowly extraction, poor, of weak intellect, [very] ordinary and ill-shaped,[5] why do you strut through the city, as though you were the most reputed of all, and become the author of many disturbances there? Rather get to know yourself and acquire a manner proportioned to your insignificance, or alternatively prepare yourself for efforts and dangers, with which those in power will reward you. For you are lacking in wealth, which frequently smoothes over the asperities of circumstances and the blows of fate.

ΤΑΖ΄. – ΙΣΙΔΩΡΟ ΔΙΑΚΟΝΩ. Τί ἐστιν, « Ἄχρις Ἀππίου φόρου καὶ τριῶν Ταβερνών. Τὸ « ῎Αχρις ᾿Αππίου φόρου καὶ τριῶν Ταβερνῶν, τῷ Λουκᾶ ἐν ταῖς τῶν ἀποστόλων Πράξεσιν εἰρημένον, τόπους τινὰς σημαίνει (98) πρὸ τῆς Ῥώμης, τὸν μὲν εἰκόνα τινὰ ᾿Αππίου ἔχοντα, ὡς εἰκὸς, καὶ φόρου ἐκείνου καλούμενον, ὡς μέχρι νῦν αἱ τῶν βασιλέων εἰκόνες, τοῦδε [ἢ τοῦδε] φόροι προσαγορεύονται. Τὰ δὲ, πανδοχείων τινῶν ἢ καπηλείων χρῆσιν αἰνίσσονται, τῇ Ῥωμαίων φωνῇ οὕτως ὀνομαζόμενα. ΜΘ΄. – ΜΑΡΚΕΛΛΩ ΣΧΟΛΑΣΤΙΚΩ ΔΟΜΝΩ Πάνυ ὠφέλιμόν ἐστιν ὀρθῶς τινὰ τὰ κατὰ ΠΘ΄. – ΙΣΙΔΩΡΟ ΔΙΑΚΟΝΟ. Τὰς ἑβδομάδας τοῦ Δανιὴλ πῶς ἑρμηνεύει (47). Ἐπειδὴ φιλόπονος ὧν καὶ φιλομαθής, ἠθέλησας μαθεῖν πῶς ἐπληρώθησαν αἱ παρὰ τῷ Δανιὴλ ἀναγε- γραμμέναι ἑξήκοντα καὶ ἐννέα ἑβδομάδες τῶν ἐτῶν, αἱ ἀπὸ τῆς οἰκοδομῆς τῆς Ἱερουσαλήμ ἀριθμούμε- ναι, καὶ εἰς τὴν ἄλωσιν αὐτῆς τελευτῶσαι· ἴσθι, ὅτι οὐκ ἐπὶ Κύρου ᾠκοδομήθη, ἀλλὰ τῷ κ' ἔτει τῆς βα- σιλείας τοῦ Μακρόχειρος. Τότε γὰρ, ὡς Ἔσδρας διη- γεῖται, Νεεμίας ἐλθὼν, τὴν πόλιν ἔκτισε. «Πῶς οὖν, ἔφης, ἑβδομήκοντα ἑβδομάδες συνετμήθησαν ἐπὶ τὸν λαόν σου, καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν τὴν ἁγίαν; »Ὅτι ἐν μὲν τῇ ἔθ', τοῦτ᾽ ἔστι, τῷ τρίτῳ καὶ ὀγδοηκοστῷ καὶ τε- τρακοσιοστῷ ἔτει, ἀρχὴν ἔσχεν ὁ πόλεμος· τῇ δ᾽ ἑξῆς ἑβδομάδι τῶν ἐτῶν ἐτελεύτησε, συντελευτησάντων καὶ τῶν Ἰουδαϊκῶν πραγμάτων. Εἰ δὲ λέγεις· Πῶς; ἰστέον, ὅτι μετὰ τὸ κ' ἔτος τοῦ Μακρόχειρος ἕως τε- λευτήσει ἡ Περσικὴ βασιλεία, ἔτη διεγένοντο ἑκατὸν δέκα τρία, μεθ᾽ ἦν ἡ Μακεδονικὴ διήρκεσεν ἕως ἑτῶν διακοσίων ἐνενήκοντα τεσσάρων· εἶτα ἡ Ῥωμαϊκή, Αὐγούστου μὲν βασιλεύοντος, ἔτη τεσσαράκοντα τρία· Τιβερίου δὲ, εἰκοσιδύο - Γαΐου, τέσσαρα Κλαυδίου, ἑπτά. Τῷ γὰρ ὀγδόῳ [αὐτοῦ] ἔτει, ἤρξατο Ἰουδαίοις ἡ τῶν πραγμάτων κίνησις, ἀφ᾿ ἧς ὁ πρὸς Ῥωμαίους αὐτοῖς ἐξήφθη πόλεμος, ὁ τὴν ἄλωσιν ἀποτεκών. Ἐπὶ γὰρ Νέρωνος τοῦ διαδεξαμένου Κλαύδιον, λαμπρῶς καὶ κατὰ κράτος πολεμηθέντες ὑπὸ Οὐεσπασιανοῦ, τὸ τηνικάδε Νέρωνι στρατηγοῦντος, ὕστερον δὲ βασι- λεύσαντος, ἑάλωσαν. ΠΕ΄. – ΤΙΜΟΘΕΩ ΑΝΑΓΝΩΣΤΗ "Ὅτι χαλεπὸν, ἐὰν τὰ πάθη τὰ σωματικὰ ἡμῶν κατακυριεύσωσιν. Εξ ὧν μετέρχῃ ἄθλων, θαυμάσιε, πέπεισο Β στάδιον ἡμῖν τὰ παρόντα προκεῖσθαι ἀόρατον, ἐν ᾧ θηρίοις οὐκ αἰσθητοῖς, ἀλλὰ νοητοῖς πάθεσι προσπαλαίομεν, ἅπερ εἰ τῆς ἐν ἡμῖν ρώμης κρατήσουσιν, οὐ μέχρι τοῦ σώματος ἱστῶσι τὸν κίνδυνον, ἀλλ' αὐτῇ τῇ ψυχῇ τὸν θάνατον φέρουσιν. Εἰ δὲ κρατηθῶσιν, ἢ δραπετεύσωσι, στεφάνων καὶ ἀναῤ-ῥήσεων μεγάλων τευξόμεθα, καὶ ἐνταῦθα μὲν πολύ λάκις· μετὰ ταῦτα δὲ πάντως, ἐπειδὴ τὰ ἔπαθλα ὁ μέλλων αἰὼν ἐμπιστεύεται, ὡς οὗτος τὰ σκάμματα. ΡΞϚ΄. – ΙΣΙΔΩΡΩ ΚΟΜΙΤΙ Διὰ τῆς μελέτης τῆς ἀρετῆς τὴν ἔφεσιν εἰσαγαγεῖν.