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Amongst the earliest examples of the catenic form of commentary on the Bible, written in ca. 500 AD

PROCOPIUS GAZAEUS.
In libros Regum, et Paralipomenon scholia. Joannes Meursius nunc primus graecè edidit, & Latinam interpretationem adiecit.

Woodcut printer's device on title. Printed in Greek and Roman type.

Leiden, Isaac Elzevier, 1620. 4to. Contemporary vellum with pasted red morocco title label on spine with title lettered in gold. Woodcut printer's device on title. Printed in Greek and Roman type. (8), 396, (10, 6 blank) pp.

First and only Elzevier edition, and only edition published in the 17th century of this commentary on the Books of Kings and Chronicles (Paralipomenon) by the Christian sophist Procopius of Gaza, or Gazaeus (ca. 465-528 AD), edited by the Leiden professor of history and Greek philology Johannes Meursius (1579-1639).
Of Procopius's life we know only that he was the preceptor of Choricius the sophist. He was the author of numerous rhetorical and theological works. Of the former, his panegyric on the emperor Anastasius alone is extant; the description of the church of St Sophia and the monody on its partial destruction by an earthquake are spurious. His letters (162 in number), addressed to persons of rank, friends, and literary opponents, throw valuable light upon the condition of the sophistical rhetoric of the period and the character of the writer. His fame rests on his Scripture commentaries. These, though diffuse, are abridgements of the collections he had made.
His profession of belief as to the nature of the Triune God, and the importance, authority, and interpretation of Scripture, is very satisfactory. His style is highly polished and concise. His collected works are published by Migne, P. G. LXXXVII, but some of his commentaries have also appeared separately, a.o. our present edition. His religious works consist of commentaries on the Octateuch (published in Zürich in 1555), the Books of Kings and Chronicles, Isaiah (published in Paris in 1580), the Proverbs, the Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes. They are amongst the earliest examples of the catenic (catena, chain) form of commentary, consisting of a series of extracts from the fathers, arranged, with independent additions, to elucidate the portions of Scripture concerned (see also K. Seitz, Die Schule von Gaza (1892).
Johannes Meursius was appointed professor of history of the Leiden University in 1608, later he was also professor of Greek, till he moved to Sora University in Denmark in 1625. His best known historical works are his history of the Leiden University (1635) and his biography of William of Orange (1621). This edition of the commentaries by Procopius is also printed in vol. VIII of his Opera omnia (1741-63). Although Meursius says in his preface that the Latin translation of the commentaries, here printed on the facing pages, is made by L. Lavater, Hartmann Hamberger is the real translator.

Fine copy with the bookplate of Zion research library.- (Sm tear in margin of p. 261 without loss of text).

Willems 176; Graesse V, p. 456; Eisenhofer, Procopius von Gaza (Freiburg i/Br. 1897); Bardenhewer, Gesch. d. altkirchl. Literatur V, (1932); Hamberger, Zuverl. Nachr. III, p. 329.

Related Subjects: Bibles Elzevier Greek & Latin Leyden Printing [Greek] Theology

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