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BOOK REVIEWS 491 Roman tradition, the development of martyrdom in the second and third centuries would have been unthinkable" (p. 72). Research published since the appearance of Bowersock's book—for example, Carlin Barton's "Savage Miracles: The Redemption of Lost Honor in Roman Society and the Sacrament of the Gladiator and the Martyr" {Representations, 45 [1994], 41-71) and Paul Plass's The Game of Death in Ancient Rome: Arena Sport and Political Suicide (1995)—has not only explored this distinctive cult of death embedded in the mores of Roman society, but has also affirmed its relevance to the Christian culture of martyrdom. As the author himself foresees, and indeed wishes (p. 7), his main theses are bound to raise controversy. But it is long past the time when these revisions of commonly asserted claims about the early Christian cult of death needed to be stated in plain and forceful terms. That they are argued with the clarity and magisterial command of the original sources that is characteristic of the author will make this book a pivotal work in the impending debates over the meaning of Christian martyrdom. Brent D. Shaw Princeton University A History ofEarly Roman Liturgy to the Death ofPope Gregory the Great. By G. G. Willis. [Henry Bradshaw Society, Subsidia L] (Rochester, New York: The Boydell Press for the Henry Bradshaw Society. 1994. Pp. xv, 168. $45.00.) The Henry Bradshaw Society, named in honor of a Cambridge University librarian ,was founded in 1890"for the editing ofrare liturgical texts."The present volume, however, is the first of a new series of"Subsidia," monographs on various aspects of medieval liturgy. The publishers invite suggestions for future monographs. The introduction is a tribute to GeoffreyWillis, who died in 1982. He is probably best known for his St. Augustine and the Donatist Schism, published in 1950. An Anglican clergyman, he served for many years as secretary of the Church of England Liturgical Commission. His resignation in 1965 was at least partly due to his resentment ofthe impact of church politics on the work ofthe commission. He also resented the influence oftheJoint Liturgical Group,which slanted the reforms in a more Protestant and less Catholic direction. His own interests led to the publication of two collections of Essays in Early Roman Liturgy (1964 and 1968). In 1968 his diabetes resulted in blindness. He retired to Oxford but managed to continue his liturgical research with the help of Oxford scholars. He served as a vice-president of the Henry Bradshaw Society, and left in its possession the text of the present volume, chosen by the Council as the first of their Subsidia. 492 BOOK REVIEWS The five chapters cover the pre-Nicene Eucharist, the Roman Mass up to the death of Gregory the Great, the calendar and lectionary, the initiation rites, and the ordination rites. There is, of course, very little material available on the early Roman liturgy,but every scrap of information we have is exploited in this book. It should be noted that references to Latin and Greek texts are given without an English translation. In the FirstApology of St. Justin Martyr there are two descriptions of the Eucharist . The first of these is for the baptism of converts and therefore, we are told, it is the Easter Mass. That may be, but we cannot be sure that the Roman Church was celebrating Easter at that early date. The feast of the Apostles Peter and Paul on June 29, we are told, is the day of their translation in the year 258. Again, that may be so, but it is only a conjecture.We are also told that there were no feasts of martyrs before the Peace of the Church in 313· But the Church of Smyrna, at least, was celebrating the feast of St. Polycarp in the year 156. However , these are very minor reservations in a splendid book. The proofreading was pretty good, considering the many texts in Greek and Latin. There should be a rough breathing for haitna (p. 8), and antou should be autou (p. 48). The suscipas (p. 27) should be suscipias. There is no Book II in Tertullian's De baptismo (p...

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