urious.

Of the fabulous character of the martyr-journey I have already disposed
in my previous article on the Ignatian letters [111:1]. For the present
I reserve what I have to say concerning the assumed reference to the
'inauthentic' Epistles, as this objection will reappear again.

2. Our author on a later page urges that--

In the Epistle itself, there are many anachronisms. In ch. ix the
'blessed Ignatius' is referred to as already a considerable time
dead, and he is held up with Zosimus and Rufus, and also with Paul
and the rest of the Apostles, as examples of patience: men who have
not run in vain, but are with the Lord; but in ch. xiii he is
spoken of as living, and information is requested regarding him,
'and those who are with him.'

To this objection I had already supplied the answer [111:2] which has
been given many times before, and which, as it seemed to me, the author
ought in fairness to have noticed. I had pointed out that we have only
the Latin version here, and that the present tense is obviously due to
the translator. The original would naturally be [Greek: ton sun auto],
which the translator, being obliged to supply a substantive verb, has
carelessly rendered 'his qui cum eo _sunt_.' If any one will consider
what has been just said about the general character of the Epistle, he
will see that this is the only reasonable explanation of the fact,
whether we regard the work as genuine or not. If it is not genuine, the
forger has executed his task with consummate skill and appreciation; and
yet here he is charged with a piece of bungling which a schoolboy would
have avoided. It is not merely an anachronism, but a self-contradiction
of the most patent kind. The writer, on this hypothesis, has not made up
his mind whether Ignatius is or is not supposed to be dead at the time,
and he represents the fact differently in two different parts [112:1].

But our author apparently is quite unaware that [Greek: hoi sun auto]
might mean equally well, 'those who _were_ with him,' and those who
_are_ with him.' At least I cannot attach any other meaning to his
reply, in which he retorts upon me my own words used elsewhere, and
speaks of my argument as being wrecked upon this rock of grammar.'
[112:2] If so, I can only refer him to Thucydides or any Greek
historian, where he will find scores of similar instances. I need hardly
say that the expression itself is quite neutral as rega