Sophia Scriptura

The Book of the Laws of Countries (Dialogue on Fate)

Liber legum regionum · Περὶ εἱμαρμένης

About the English. The work was written in Syriac (the Greek version quoted by Eusebius, Praep. ev. 6.10, is a partial rendering, and a Latin version is known from the Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions 9). No Syriac or Greek text suitable for this site is in hand, so the English here is William Cureton's translation of the Syriac (London, 1855), published as it stands; only OCR slips and non-text (running heads, margin line numbers, and the Greek and Latin parallel passages that Cureton printed as notes) were removed. No original-language text is shown.

Read the whole work on one page

Contents

Reading pages: 1–21 · 22–41 · 42–44

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44

About this work

Author
Anonymous
Attribution
disputed · The dialogue is recorded by Philip, a disciple, and sets out the teaching of Bardaisan (Bardesanes) of Edessa; whether Bardaisan himself or Philip wrote it down is not settled. The traditional title "Book of the Laws of Countries" is Cureton's translation of the Syriac title.
Standing
Not honoured as a saint or in a church calendar by the Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant traditions. Written by Bardaisan's pupil; Bardaisan was a Christian at Edessa in his lifetime but was denounced as a heretic by Ephrem in the next century.
Date
ca. 196–235 (approximate) · Written in Syriac in Edessa, probably shortly after the death of Bardaisan's patron Abgar VIII (212) or earlier; the date is not securely fixed.
Written at
Edessa, Osrhoene (probable)
Language
Greek
Genre
treatise
Reference system
Numbered paragraphs (each speech in the dialogue is one paragraph); Cureton's English has no section numbers, so the numbering is this site's and is stable only within this edition.
SBL abbreviation
Leg. Reg.Not yet checked
Clavis
CPG 1025 (not yet checked)
Text from
William Cureton, ed. and trans., Spicilegium Syriacum (London: Francis and John Rivington, 1855), English translation of the Syriac, pp. 1–34 of the English (Printed translation in the public domain)
Critical editions
F. Nau, Patrologia Syriaca 1.2 (Paris, 1907) (cited, not reproduced)