Boicu, Dragoș

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Journals of Faculty of Orthodox Theology, Babes-Bolyai University (Romania)

SUBBTO 65, no. 1 (2020): 143-144       VI. REVIEWS   Collatio Carthaginensis Anni 411: Gesta Collationis Carthaginensis Augustinus, Breviculus Collationis Augustinus, Ad Donatistas Post Collationem (CSEL 104), edited by  Clemens Weidmann, De Gruyter, Berlin/Boston, 2018,  VI+418 pages (ISBN: 978-3-11-046967-7)    To the prestigious collection Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum has been added a new volume, which brings a valuable contribution to the Donatist issue.  The three texts published in this tome were careful edited by Clemens Weidmann, who dedicated the last two decades to the research and editing of the oldest surviving manuscripts of Augustine’s works. After editing Augustine’s Enarrationes in psalmos (CSEL 93/1A – Wien 2003 and CSEL 93/1B – Wien 2011) and Sermones selecti (CSEL 101 – Berlin 2015), this time Clemens Weidmann is completing some of his decades-long projects.  In this volume are published the three critical edited texts related to the so-called Conference of Carthage (411 A.D.). The first one is Gesta collationis Carthaginensis (CPL 724) with a number of improvement proposals to the edition published by Serge Lancel in the collection Sources Chrétiennes (195, 224) and in Corpus Christianorum Series Latina (149A). Although the text published isn’t the lost version of Flavius Marcellinus who made it public in June 411, but one of his collaborators, Marcellus, written sometime between July 411 and September 413, it’s importance is crucial and the only manuscript fit for the critical editing (codex unicus) was the 9th century manuscript of Paris (BNF lat. 154). After establishing the direct transmission of the text and its three revisions and also the indirect delivery of some fragments, the editor underlines the features of Gesta collationis Carthaginensis. In his general observations Clemens Weidmann points out the uneven character of the text, determined by the dynamics of the Conference. This isn’t some “fictive dialogue designed by a single author, but the recording of an actual conflict-filled confrontation between two opposing parties, between which the Cognitor Marcellinus has to mediate” (p. 18). This is why the text is filled by interruptions, reflecting the dominant oral style of these “minutes” of the Conference, and sometimes they are proofs of non-verbal elements that accompanied the tumultuous discussions. Further observations about the vocabulary, syntax, ellipses, biblical quotations and the subchapter dedicated to the older editions complete the Introduction (p. 5-32) to text of Gesta collationis Carthaginensis (p. 33-258).  REVIEWS    144 The second text is Augustine’s Breviculus collationis (CPL 337), which represents a short version of Gesta collationis Carthaginensis compiled by the bishop of Hippo Regius, who considered the access to the Conference’s reports compelling and self-sufficient to prove the lack of foundation for the Donatist cause. Although Breviculus collationis tries to make an objective presentation ”it always slides into a very subjective presentation that not only summarizes the events, but also presents the actual or suspected motives and evaluates and comments on an ever greater scale” the facts (p. 262). Until recently this augustinian work was known only through the first edition (editio princeps) published by Johann Amerbach in 1506, without any witness text. But in 1997 it was found the only (until now) manuscript containing the Augustine’s Breviculus collationis (Praha, Národní Knihovna Ms. XXIII D 177, 15th/16th century) and the editor tries to establish the complicated relation of the manuscript version with editio princeps (p. 264-266), in the opening of Augustine’s Breviculus collationis (p. 269-307).  The third and final text is another augustinian work related to Collatio Carthaginensis, namely Ad Donatistas post collationem (CPL 338). It was written by Augustine in order to face some of the allegations made by the Donatist side after the conference and to turn to the Donatist laymen. “In this pamphlet, however, Augustinus was able to give free rein to his polemic and to appeal effectively to the Donatist laypeople and react to criticisms expressed by the Donatist side after the Conference” (p. 311). In contrast to the previous two works which were transmitted only through one manuscript, Ad Donatistas post collationem has a rich manuscript tradition. In this case the editor needed to classify them in three groups or families of manuscripts, pointing out the differences and similarities between them. However, in order to fully document the manuscript tradition of this augustinian work “all textual witnesses are included in the critical apparatus”. The well documented Introduction (p. 311-323) is followed by the actual text (p. 325-374). The volume closes with the Bibliography (p. 375-377) and the so much needed Index of biblical passages and authors, beside the accustomed Index nominum et locorum (p. 378-418).  The meticulous labor and attention to this texts makes the Weidmann’s edited volume a valuable contribution and an indispensable instrument for any serious research on Donatism and Augustine’s position regarding the Donatist issue from now on.  DRAGOŞ BOICU  

Collatio Carthaginensis Anni 411: Gesta Collationis Carthaginensis Augustinus, Breviculus Collationis Augustinus, Ad Donatistas Post Collationem (CSEL 104), edited by Clemens Weidmann, De Gruyter, Berlin/Boston, 2018, VI+418 pp. (ISBN: 978-3-11-046967-7)

https://journals.orth.ro/index.php/subbto/article/download/320/264

Collatio Carthaginensis Anni 411: Gesta Collationis Carthaginensis Augustinus, Breviculus Collationis Augustinus, Ad Donatistas Post Collationem (CSEL 104), edited by Clemens Weidmann, De Gruyter, Berlin/Boston, 2018, VI+418 pp. (ISBN: 978-3-11-046967-7)

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Journals of Faculty of Orthodox Theology, Babes-Bolyai University (Romania)