{"slug":"tmp941.tmp941.opp-lat1","id":"latin:ogl-pl:tmp941.tmp941.opp-lat1","title":"De Scriptoribus Ecclesiasticis. Testimonia","title_source":"De Scriptoribus Ecclesiasticis. Testimonia","author":"Gennadius Massiliensis","genre":"treatise","date":"","tradition":"latin","coverage":"not-located","coverage_claim":{"status":"not-located","text":"No English translation could be identified: a language model asked twice could not name one, though it could not rule one out either. That is not proof that none exists — translations in dissertations, recent books and other modern languages are easily missed."},"publication":{"status":"machine-draft","reviewed_by":null,"model":"deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash:floor","provider":"Relace","generated":"2026-11-15T05:58:45Z","cost_usd":0.001644},"source":{"registry_id":"latin:ogl-pl:tmp941.tmp941.opp-lat1","work_id":"tmp941.tmp941.opp-lat1","edition":"ogl-pl","language":"","license":"Available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License","url":"https://github.com/OpenGreekAndLatin/patrologia_latina-dev/blob/master/data/tmp941/tmp941/tmp941.tmp941.opp-lat1.xml"},"stats":{"passages":2,"english_words":310,"coptic_letters":0,"source_letters":1390,"commentary_units":12,"commentary_kinds":7,"derived_notes":0,"ambiguities":3,"work_notes":6,"external_links":0,"timeline":6},"summary":{"work":"tmp941.tmp941.opp-lat1","abstract":"Gennadius of Marseille's De Scriptoribus Ecclesiasticis (Testimonia) is a continuation of Jerome's De Viris Illustribus, cataloging ecclesiastical writers from the late fourth to late fifth century. Composed circa 480–495 CE in Latin, it survives in Carolingian manuscripts and was often appended to Jerome's work. The text is a key source for late antique Latin Christian literary history, though it includes some writers of questionable orthodoxy and relies on hearsay. This edition reproduces the 19th-century Migne text without critical apparatus.","historical_context":"Gennadius, a priest of Marseille, wrote this work in the late fifth century, likely between 480 and 495 CE, based on references to Popes Simplicius (468–483) and Felix III (483–492). The text was composed in Latin in the context of the Western Roman Empire's decline and the rise of post-Roman kingdoms. It survives in multiple medieval manuscripts, often paired with Jerome's De Viris Illustribus, a practice attested by Cassiodorus and Isidore of Seville. The earliest complete witnesses are 9th-century Carolingian copies, showing minor scribal variations. The work was widely used in medieval libraries and cited by authors like Isidore and Sigebert of Gembloux. This edition (OGL-PL) reproduces the Migne text without collating manuscripts or resolving disputed attributions, such as the authorship of the final chapters.","significance":"Gennadius' work is crucial for understanding late antique Christian literary culture, providing biographical and bibliographical data on writers from the late fourth to fifth centuries. It shaped later catalogues of ecclesiastical writers and was a standard reference in medieval libraries. Its inclusion of some heterodox figures and reliance on hearsay requires cross-checking with other sources.","timeline":[{"date":"c. 480–495 CE","event":"Composition of De Scriptoribus Ecclesiasticis by Gennadius of Marseille."},{"date":"c. 496 CE","event":"Death of Gennadius."},{"date":"9th c.","event":"Earliest complete manuscript witnesses (Carolingian copies)."},{"date":"c. 560–636","event":"Isidore of Seville attests to joint circulation of Jerome and Gennadius."},{"date":"1718","event":"Johann Albert Fabricius publishes a key early modern edition of Gennadius."},{"date":"19th c.","event":"Migne edition reproduced in OGL-PL."}],"relations":[{"work":"De Viris Illustribus (Jerome)","relation":"Gennadius' work is a direct continuation and update of Jerome's catalogue.","key":"","label":null,"url":null},{"work":"Etymologies (Isidore of Seville)","relation":"Isidore confirms the joint circulation of Jerome and Gennadius as a single index.","key":"","label":null,"url":null},{"work":"Institutiones (Cassiodorus)","relation":"Cassiodorus attests to the pairing of Jerome and Gennadius in transmission.","key":"","label":null,"url":null},{"work":"De Scriptoribus Ecclesiasticis (Sigebert of Gembloux)","relation":"Sigebert's work is a later continuation influenced by Gennadius.","key":"","label":null,"url":null},{"work":"Patrologia Latina (Migne)","relation":"This edition reproduces the Migne text, a 19th-century compilation.","key":"","label":null,"url":null}],"external_links":[],"cautions":["The date of composition is inferred from internal references and is not precisely known; a range of 480–495 CE is plausible.","The authorship of the final chapters is disputed and not resolved in this edition.","Gennadius includes some writers of questionable orthodoxy and relies on hearsay; biographical data should be cross-checked.","The earliest complete manuscripts are 9th-century, leaving a gap of several centuries from the original composition.","This edition reproduces the 19th-century Migne text without critical apparatus or manuscript collation."],"model":"deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash:floor","provider":"Relace","cost_usd":0.000536,"generated":"2026-11-15T05:58:45Z"},"links":[{"kind":"source","label":"Open Greek and Latin Patrologia Latina","url":"https://github.com/OpenGreekAndLatin/patrologia_latina-dev/blob/master/data/tmp941/tmp941/tmp941.tmp941.opp-lat1.xml"}],"checks":{"work":"tmp941.tmp941.opp-lat1","status":"pass","blocking":[],"warnings":[],"stats":{"passages":2,"translated":2,"commentary_passages":2,"commentary_units":12,"english_words":310,"source_letters":1383,"commentary_kinds":7},"model":"deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash:floor"},"work_notes":[{"unit":"sense","kind":"sense","basis":"text","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"Gennadius continues and updates Jerome's De Viris Illustribus, covering ecclesiastical writers from the late fourth to late fifth century. The work is a key source for late antique Latin Christian literary history.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"dating","kind":"chronology","basis":"background","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"Composed circa 480–495 CE, based on internal references to writers active under Popes Simplicius (468–483) and Felix III (483–492). Gennadius died around 496.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"transmission","kind":"transmission","basis":"text","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"Survives in multiple medieval manuscripts, often appended to Jerome's work. The earliest complete witnesses are 9th-century Carolingian copies. The text shows minor scribal variations in chapter order and titles.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"reception","kind":"reception","basis":"background","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"Widely used as a patristic reference in medieval libraries and cited by authors like Isidore of Seville and Sigebert of Gembloux. It shaped later catalogues of ecclesiastical writers.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"sense","kind":"sense","basis":"text","lemma":"","severity":"caution","text":"This edition (OGL-PL) reproduces the 19th-century Migne text without critical apparatus. It does not collate manuscripts or resolve disputed attributions, such as the authorship of the final chapters.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"caution","kind":"caution","basis":"text","lemma":"","severity":"caution","text":"Gennadius includes some writers of questionable orthodoxy (e.g., Pelagians) and occasionally relies on hearsay. His biographical data should be cross-checked against other contemporary sources.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"derived_work_notes":[{"kind":"coverage","severity":"info","text":"No English translation could be identified: a language model asked twice could not name one, though it could not rule one out either. That is not proof that none exists — translations in dissertations, recent books and other modern languages are easily missed."},{"kind":"limit","severity":"caution","text":"The English is a machine draft produced passage by passage from the transcribed Coptic; no human has verified it. The commentary is model-written and cites only keys the pipeline could resolve."},{"kind":"register","severity":"info","text":"Register: treatise in Latin; the English keeps the liturgical formulae and the vocatives rather than normalising them."},{"kind":"structure","severity":"info","text":"Passages: 2 narrative."},{"kind":"source","severity":"info","text":"Source edition: ogl-pl — Available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License"}],"derived_structure":{"narrative":2},"term_index":[],"citations":{},"segments":[{"i":1,"ref":"p1","source":"GENNADII MASSILIENSIS LIBER DE SCRIPTORIBUS ECCLESIASTICIS. (Ex edit. J. Alb. Fabricii.)\n\nPROLEGOMENA.\n\nDE GENNADIO LIBROQUE EJUS DE SCRIPTORlBUS ECCLESIASTICIS\n\nTESTIMONIA.\n\nCASSIODORUS.\n\n(Lib. de Divinis Lectionibus cap. 17.)\n\nEcce librum de Viris illustribus S. Hieronymi, ubi diversos Patres atque opuscula eorum breviter et honoravit et tetigit; deinde et alterum Gennadii Massitiensis, qui de scriptoribus legis divinæ, quos studio perquisiverat, certissimus judicavit. Hos in uno corpore sociatos reliqui, ne per diversos codicescognoscendæ rei tarditas afferatur.\n\nISIDORUS HISPALENSIS.\n\n(Lib. vi Originum, cap, 6.)\n\nHieronymus quoque et Gennadius eccletiasticos scri ptores toto orbe quærentes ordine prosecuti sunt, corumque studia in uno voluminis indiculo comprehenderunt.\n\nROBERTUS BELLARMINUS.\n\n(Lib. de Scriptoribus ecclesiastic is.)","english":"GENNADIUS OF MARSEILLES’S BOOK ON ECCLESIASTICAL WRITERS. (From the edition of J. Alb. Fabricius.)\n\nPROLEGOMENA.\n\nON GENNADIUS AND HIS BOOK ON ECCLESIASTICAL WRITERS\n\nTESTIMONIA.\n\nCASSIODORUS.\n\n(Book on Divine Readings, chapter 17.)\n\nBehold the book on Illustrious Men by St. Jerome, wherein he briefly both honored and touched upon various Fathers and their little works; and then another by Gennadius of Marseilles, who rendered the most certain judgment concerning the writers of the divine law whom he had diligently sought out. I have left these joined in one body, lest through separate codices slowness in learning the matter be introduced.\n\nISIDORE OF SEVILLE.\n\n(Book VI of the Etymologies, chapter 6.)\n\nJerome and Gennadius also, seeking out ecclesiastical writers throughout the whole world, have pursued them in order and have comprehended their studies in a single small index of a volume.\n\nROBERT BELLARMINE.\n\n(Book on Ecclesiastical Writers.)","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"PROLEGOMENA","severity":"info","text":"The heading 'PROLEGOMENA' marks the editor's introductory matter, not part of Gennadius' original work. It signals the start of testimonia from later authors.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"reception","kind":"reception","basis":"text","lemma":"CASSIODORUS","severity":"info","text":"Cassiodorus (c. 485–c. 585) attests to the pairing of Jerome's De Viris Illustribus with Gennadius' continuation, a practice that shaped the transmission of both works as a single corpus.","cites":[],"named_sources":["Cassiodorus"],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"reception","kind":"reception","basis":"text","lemma":"ISIDORUS HISPALENSIS","severity":"info","text":"Isidore of Seville (c. 560–636) in his Etymologies confirms the joint circulation of Jerome and Gennadius as a 'single small index', reinforcing their canonical status in medieval libraries.","cites":[],"named_sources":["Isidore of Seville"],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"reception","kind":"reception","basis":"text","lemma":"ROBERTUS BELLARMINUS","severity":"info","text":"The inclusion of Bellarmine (1542–1621) shows the testimonia extend into the early modern period, reflecting continued scholarly interest in Gennadius' work.","cites":[],"named_sources":["Robert Bellarmine"],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"transmission","kind":"transmission","basis":"text","lemma":"Ex edit. J. Alb. Fabricii","severity":"info","text":"The source edition is that of Johann Albert Fabricius (1668–1736), whose 1718 edition of Gennadius is a key early modern printed text, providing the Latin base for this passage.","cites":[],"named_sources":["Fabricius 1718"],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"caution","kind":"caution","basis":"text","lemma":"TESTIMONIA","severity":"caution","text":"The testimonia are editorial additions, not part of Gennadius' original text. They reflect later reception and should not be mistaken for the author's own words.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The Latin title 'De Scriptoribus Ecclesiasticis' is a later editorial label; Gennadius' original title is uncertain. The testimonia are excerpted from later authors and their original contexts are not given here."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]},{"i":2,"ref":"p2","source":"GennadiusMassiliensis vixit tempore Gelasii papa, circa annum Domini quadringentesimumnonogesimum. Nam ad ipsum Gelasium se misisse librum suum de Fide testatur ipse Gennadius in extremo capite libri sui de Viris illustribus, quamvis non in omnibus codicibus liber Gennadiiinveniatur completus. Scripsit librum de Ecclesiasticis Dogmatibus, qui exstat inter libros S. Augustini;et hic esse creditur liber quem ipse misit ad Gelasium.Scripsit etiam librUm de Viris illustribus, in quo susp cionem non parvam reliquitsuæ non rectæ g. lei. Laudavit enim Cassianum et Faustum, qui Sevipelagiani fuerunt, et S. Prosperum depressit, qui pro gratia Dei contra Pelagium fortissime dimicavit. Scripsit præterea multa alia quæ ipse commemoral in i extremo capite libri de Viris illustribus; sed eu non exstant, aut certe ad manus meas non venerunt.","english":"GENNADIUS OF MARSEILLES lived at the time of Pope Gelasius, around the year of the Lord four hundred and ninety. For GENNADIUS himself testifies in the final chapter of his book On Illustrious Men that he sent his book On the Faith to that same Gelasius, although the book of GENNADIUS is not found complete in all copies. He wrote a book On Ecclesiastical Dogmas, which exists among the books of Saint Augustine; and this is believed to be the book which he himself sent to Gelasius. He also wrote a book On Illustrious Men, in which he left no small suspicion of his not correct faith. For he praised Cassian and Faustus, who were semi-Pelagians, and disparaged Saint Prosper, who fought most vigorously for the grace of God against Pelagius. He wrote besides many other things which he himself mentions in the final chapter of the book On Illustrious Men; but these do not survive, or at least have not come into my hands.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"dating","kind":"chronology","basis":"text","lemma":"circa annum Domini quadringentesimum nonogesimum","severity":"info","text":"The date 'around AD 490' is given for Gennadius's floruit, based on his reference to Pope Gelasius (492–496).","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"transmission","kind":"transmission","basis":"text","lemma":"non in omnibus codicibus liber Gennadii inveniatur completus","severity":"caution","text":"The note that Gennadius's book is not found complete in all copies signals textual instability in the manuscript tradition.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"reception","kind":"reception","basis":"text","lemma":"Laudavit enim Cassianum et Faustum, qui semi-Pelagiani fuerunt","severity":"caution","text":"The author accuses Gennadius of semi-Pelagian sympathies for praising Cassian and Faustus, reflecting later theological polemics.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"text","lemma":"S. Prosperum depressit","severity":"info","text":"Prosper of Aquitaine (c. 390–c. 455) was a staunch defender of Augustine's doctrine of grace against Pelagius; Gennadius's alleged disparagement of him is a key charge.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"term","kind":"term","basis":"text","lemma":"semi-Pelagiani","severity":"info","text":"Semi-Pelagianism, a later label for views that moderated Augustine's predestinarianism, was associated with Cassian and Faustus of Riez.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"in extremo capite libri sui de Viris illustribus","severity":"info","text":"The reference to the final chapter of Gennadius's 'De Viris Illustribus' as a source for his other works indicates the self-referential structure of that work.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The identity of the author of this testimonium is not stated; it may be a later compiler or editor.","The phrase 'non rectae fidei' is ambiguous: it could mean 'not correct faith' or 'not orthodox faith' in a technical sense."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]}]}