The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-03-11


Joannes Damsscenus, Syrian monk, who
fourished in the eighth century, during the
reign of the Emperor Leo Isauricus, wrote the
romance of Josaphat and Barlaam, for the
purpose of encouraging the taste for monastic
seclusion. He was Syrian, and wrote his
romance in the language Of his country, whence
it was speedily translated into Greek. In his
youth, he was in the service of one of the Ca
iiphs, but retired into the monastery of st. Sabas,
where he died, at the age of eighty. four, "a. d.
754) He claimed that the incidents of the
romance had been told him by "certain pious
Ethiopians," who had found them engraved on
tablets. Now, who was this John of Damascus
Syrian monk, writer of spiritual romance,
but also theological and controversial writer
OF some renown, and the author of System of
Theology which was not only the first ever gotten
up In the East, but also the principal defence
of the Philosophy of Aristotle as q theological
bias in the East, as far down into modern times
as the conquest of Constantinople. His Theolo-
gy, though claimngt to start from the Aristotelian
standpoint, was yet tinctured throughout with
Neo Platonism, advocating moderately the doc.
trine OF Ecstasy held by Platinus, defining the
subtle essence of ministering angels, believing
IN evil spirits as extravagantly as Psellus did,
holding to the doctrine of emanation, and, in
general, grating the newer Platonic ideas upon
a rather pure theosophy for the times Hence,
be must have been a student of Plato. And
from Plato he has derived the hints that led to
this episode of the Golfers. In that dialogue
known as the Banquet, Alcibiades is represent
ed as setting forth the praises of Socrates,
his master. Among ether things, he compares
him to the Silent. Now, the Silent were little
boxes, (perbaps like snuff-boxes or caskets of
the present day. carved over in unco.th style,
N lIr
tesque, ludicrous, or obscene object, and hence
to excite laughter, as Sileaus, The grapy guar
dian OF Bacchus, was wont to do; while within
were stored the rarest drugs and perfumes, pre-
cious stones, or other articles of greatest value
Such, says Plato, was Socrates. Externally, a
rough enough fellow, with moist eye and a
testers tone. But become once acquainted with
him, and you found beneath that rude surface
mind stored with the most precious Jewels
of wisdom, understanding, learning, and virtue.
Wherefore we should be careful always to open
our Silenus before we decide upon its value.
Shakespeare states the incerse of the propo
sition:
THUS ornament is but the gilded shore
To mos dangerous sea; the beauteous scarf
Yelling an Indian beauty in word,
The seeming truth which cunning times put on
TO entrap the wIsest."
Merchant Of Venice, Actiii, Scene O.
But if the dramatist appropriated the fable
In this instance, unconscious to whom he owed
1t originally, he also was able to read it in a
less corrupted form, as adopted by several NOR
alists. The Silent ALcibiddis was q favorite
topic with the writers Immediately after the re.
vival of literature, but shall only instance two
cases of reference to this theme, one of which it
is certain Shakespeare had read, and most prob
ably the other also. The first author here meant
is Francis Rabelais, perhaps the greatest of
wits and keenest of satirists that the world has
seen, certainly far greater than any other French
satirist. The proof of his having been read by
Shakespeare is, that he is several times quoted
by the drama!ist; for instance, in I" AS You
Like It," Tact iii, scene ~ Celia says:
" You must borrow me Garagantua's mouth
first It's word too great for any mouth of
this ages SIZE"
(Garsgantua, for Gargantua, was the common
spelling with the Englishmen of that time. We
find it thus spelt in Lord Bacon, in Ben on.
son, and other contemporaries, as for instance in
Antony Brewers LingYa, ammo 1907; where
Mendacio, sort of literary Munchausen, puts
in his claim after this style:
"As l remember, Sir John Mandeville's
Travels, and a greater part of the Decades, were
OF my doing but for the Mirrour of knight.
hood, BeUis Of Southampton, falmerian of
England, Amadis of G0ul, Huon de Bour.
deauir, SIR Guy of Wdraoiek, Martin Marprs
late, Robin Hood, Gdrdgantta, Gerilion, and
thousand such exquisite monuments as these,
no doubt but they breathe in my breath up and
down.")
Now, if Shakespeare read any of Rabelais, il
is likely he would read the first book, Gargon.
tud, and in the very first sentence of the au.
thors prologue to this first book, occurs the allu.
zion to the Silent Alcibiaais. In the course OF
this allusion we find the following sentence,
which the reader may compare with the quota.
ton above from Bassanios Apostrophe:
but truly it is very unlieseeming to make 80
light account Of the works of men, seeing your.
selves avouch that it is not the habit that makes
the monk, many being monastically accoutred,
| who are inwardy not, hing less than monarchal ;
and that there are of those that wear Spanish
caps, who have but little of the valour of Span.
iards in them"
Erasmus, also, (who, from his peculiar posi-.
ton, as having been teacher of Greek at
Cambridge, the editor and improver of Lilly q
Grammar, the friend of Sir Thomas More, and
an acknowledged wit, was the very modern
Latin author most likely to have been read by
an imperfect scholar and an Englishman, such
as our dramatist,) has explained and enlarged
upon the Silent Alcibiadis in his adages, re.
ferring to things which, appearing mean and
trifing, are really precious, he has many good
remarks on persons and things, of which the
secret worth is not understood at first sight"
Thence he passes over to what he calls inuersi
Silent, those which seem great to the vulgar,
and are really despicable, in which his strain
is exactly that of Bassanso.
Generally, indeed, amopg the aucients, Sile.
nus was the god of the Mysterious and arcanic,
which he hid away under masque of revelry
and folly, and was unwilling to impart. Hence,
when the shepherds, in the sixth eclosue of
Virgil, surprise the vincus God, they first tie
him, and it is only waen he finds be can.
not escape, that he treats them to that fine ex.
position of cosmogony from the stand. point of
the Epicurean philosophy This fact also was
known, if not to Shakespeare, at least to one of
his contemporaries as We find from Ben Jon.
sons Masque of Oberon, among the notes to
which is the following: But in the SiIenes
was nothing OF this petulance and ightness,
but, on the contrary, all gravity and profound
knowledge OF most secret mysteries" &c.
Possibly, John of Damascus NAV have de-
rived his plot indirectly from Plato, through
some of the Eastern story. tellers, who were wont
to borrow not little from classic Greece in
their fables but there can be but little doubt
as to the fact that the illustration in the Ban.
quet," and the episode in $ Josaphat and Bar.
laam i" are very closely related and if the con.
nection between them be not iineal, it is Ger.
tainly gernsane.
Upon this subject consult Danaaseens de Eide Ortho
dora, Paris, 17l2, cited by Tenneman, Manual Hist
Phil 220-236 ct al
Hallsm. Introduction to the Literature of Europe
Pau !, Chap. Nv, a.