Introduction to This Volume
How this book is arranged
This is the forty-ninth volume of a series that gathers the writings of the early Church in order of date, from the generation after the apostles down to the eighth century. This volume holds Palladius, The Lausiac History, and Sulpicius Severus on Martin of Tours, from the period about AD 396 – 420.
Within each work the text is divided into chapters and numbered sections, so that any passage can be found again and cited. The small bold figures in the text are the section numbers.
The translations
The text is in English only. Wherever a modern English version has been prepared for SermonIndex it is used here; otherwise the book prints an older public-domain translation. In both cases the wording is the translator’s own: older translations have not been altered beyond dividing them into sections. The sources for every work are listed at the back of the book, together with the licence under which each text is released. The modern English version prepared for SermonIndex is used for The Lausiac History of Palladius, in the Bohairic Coptic version (Palladius of Galatia); the other works are printed in older public-domain translations.
In this volume
Palladius was born in Galatia about AD 363 and lived as a monk in Egypt and Palestine. He became bishop of Helenopolis and was a friend and defender of John Chrysostom. He wrote the Lausiac History, about AD 419, for a court official named Lausus, and the Dialogue on the Life of Chrysostom about AD 408.
Sulpicius Severus was born in Aquitaine about AD 363 and practised as a lawyer before he gave up his career for the ascetic life. He was a disciple of Martin of Tours and wrote the Life of Martin about AD 396, the Sacred History, a short history of the world, about AD 403, and the Dialogues about AD 404. He died about AD 425.
The Lausiac History is printed here in four forms: the Greek, two books of the Syriac, and the Bohairic Coptic. They differ in their order and in some of their stories.
Dates and authorship
Dates are approximate and are debated by scholars. Each work begins with a short introduction that states what is known about its author and its date, and what is uncertain.