The Author of De Pallio

Abstract

In a previous paper (in Meidai Seiyoshi Ronshu I), I have shown, on the basis of a statistical analysis of its vocabulary and syntax, that De Pallio(P.)is not a work of Tertullian (T.), but rather a work of an anonymous Jew, because he does not use any Christian terminology and he cites only the Old Testament. This paper intends to show who the author of P. is. Notwithstanding my previous conjecture, it is more probable to think that he is a Christian than not, for the passage of The Sibyline Oracles which is cited in ch. 2 is not from Book III, the socalled Jewish part of the Oracles, as usually thought, but from Book VIII, the Christian part. What, then, is his religious background? He uses the words sapientia (4 : 10) and sermo (5 : 7) when referring to a Christian, not Christianity, as is usually thought, for in these places in the text these words are used in the same sense as if someone were putting on a pallium. On the contrary, T. uses these words in reference to the Son of God, not in reference to a Christian. In using these words to personify a Christian, we see the meditative character of the author. For him, to put on a pallium is to retire entirely from public activities (5 : 4) and to live as a philosopher (5 : 1). This attitude is in sharp contrast to that of T., who sees Christians living with Romans as normal citizens of the state (for example, Apologeticum 42) and shows bitter hostility against philosophy and philosophers (for example, De Praescriptionibus Haereticorum 7). The author of P. is on intimate terms with the circle of Clemens of Alexandria because of the philosophical character of his religion. Nevertheless, he belongs to a sect which is unknown to us, because no Christian writer, including Clemens of Alexandria, uses, as far as we know, sapientia and sermo in personifying a Christian. In addition, as those who argue that T. is a Roman knight use P. for their argument, the author of P., not T., is a knight. Now we may conclude that the author of P. is a newly converted Christian, who comes from the equestrian order. His Christianity is, in contrast to that of T., philosophical and meditative. In P. he apologizes for his conversion to Christianity and his retreat from equestrian activities in the form of a defense for putting on pallium, the mantle of a philosopher.