Clavis Patrum Latinorum by Eligius Dekkers O. S. B. & Aemilius Gaar (review)

BOOK REVIEWS Clavis Patrum Latinorum by EUgius Dekkers O. S. B. & Aemilius Gaar (Sacris Erudiri, Jaarboek voor Godsdienstwetenschappen, vol. Ill, 1951, Steenbrugge, Belgium : St. Peter's Abbey, 1951 ; XXIII— 461 pp.) Under the able direction of the Benedictine Fathers of Steenbrugge, a new "Migne" is in the making. The first fascicle was published this year (see later). The Clavis Patrum Latinorum is a propylaeum to the Latin series of the new coUection. It is born from the joint efforts of E. Dekkers, the General Manager of the new "Migne", and of E. Gaar of the Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum Latinorum of Vienna. The latter put at the disposal of Dekkers the bibliography on the Latin christian Uterature of the VIIIth century, which he had compiled for the benefit of the Corpus of Vienna (Preface, p. IX). The official name of the new coUection is Corpus Christianorum (C. C.) . The appelative "New Migne" is quite misleading. The main differences between the C. C. and Migne, — we mean the Latin Series of Migne, since we cannot judge as yet what the Greek Series of the C. C. will be, — are these, i. The Latin Series of the C. C. wiU have 175 volumes in-8°, not in-40 Uke Migne. 2. The C. C. restricts itself to the patristic age proper; roughly, we shaU find there the literature from TertulUan tiU Bede; the writings of the early Middle Ages we read in Migne will not be in the C. C: "Honni soit qui mal y pense." 3. The C. C. wiU be more complete for the period covered; Migne, for some reason unknown, skipped certain important writings ; for instance, one does not find in the P. L. the extensive collection wrongly preserved under the name of Eusebius of Emesa (Eusebius Gallicanus in the terminology of the Clavis Patrum Latinorum); Migne neglected more or less aU secondary writings : Liturgy, Law, monastic rules, and the Uke; the C. C. wiU publish them all, viz. not only the writings neglected by Migne or those discovered and edited for the first time between 1850 and 1953, but the C. C. intends to supply them even when editions are completely lacking. 4. Migne simply reprinted editions in existence; when there was more than one edition on hand, he had to choose; eventuaUy this was not always a very happy choice. The C. C. on the other hand wants to give us a critical edition of all the texts; we understand the Editors intend to better the existing scholarly editions, and ask specialists to prepare a critical text where there is none. 5. As a consequence, the C. C. wiU be more expensive than Migne in his time. This is one more reason why a number of scholars would have preferred completion of the Corpus of Vienna; recent discoveries necessitate a new edition of certain works pubUshed in the Corpus, but that could have been done by the Corpus itself. 130 Book Reviews131 As far as the Clavis Patrum Latinorum is concerned, we caU it an excellent aid for scholars, not only for those interested in patristic Uterature, but for Mediavalists as weU, especiaUy for those who have to publish Medieval texts and want to identify quotations. The Clavis would have had stiU greater value, if the authors had clearly told us which principles were foUowed in ordering the writings of the Fathers in the body of the book as well as in the Indices. Eligius M. Buytaert, 0. F. M. Franciscan Institute Marc de Tolède, Traducteur d'Ibn Tumart. By M. T. D'Alverny and G. Vajda. (Madrid: Al-Andalus, 1952. Pp. 148.) This work by two prominent scholars of Arabic thought first appeared as a series of articles in the Spanish review on Arabic studies, Al-Andalus XVI (1951), 99—140; 260—307; XVII (1952), ?—56 and is reprinted in book form. Mark, a Canon of Toledo who flourished around the first part of the 13th century, has been known to scholars principally as a translator of the Koran together with several more or less insignificant tracts attributed to Galen plus whole sections of the work of Hunayn b. Ishäq. In the first of the...