Latin text and English translation of Joseph Assemani’s Latin translation and commentary of the last chapter of the book of the Bee

 

Latin text and English translation of Joseph Assemani’s Latin translation and commentary of the last chapter of the book of the Bee[1]

In what follows, I report the Latin text and an English translation via Google of Joseph’s Assemani partial Latin translation and commentary of the last chapter of Solomon of Basra’s ‘Book of the Bee’. I believe that it is interesting mainly from a historical perspective because it gives (warning: the Latin text wasn't always easily readable, so my transliteration might contain errors. Also, I used Google to translate the Latin, so the translations might be defective). Interestingly, in his commentary attributes an universalist belief to Diodore of Tarsus, Theodore of Mopsuestia, Solomon of Basra. He denies that other figures held that belief (and he even cites, with approval, the view that Gregory of Nyssa's writings were interpolated by 'Origenists').

Here is Joseph’s translation of the title of the last chapter of the ‘book of the Bee’ (source: https://archive.org/details/DeScriptoribusSyrisNestorianis/page/n364/mode/1up (Joseph Assemani, Bibliotheca Orientalis, 3, 323-324):

“60. An Daemones et peccatores, qui in Gehenna sunt, postquam purgati, passique suerint flatutamque poenam persolverint, misericordiam tandem consequentur, nec ne; et quandonam id continget.”

Translation: “60. Whether the devils and sinners who are in Gehenna, after they have been cleansed and suffered and paid the penalty, will at last receive mercy, or not; and when that will happen”

Here is Joseph Assemani’s introduction to his translation and commentary on parts of the chapter:

“Inferni poenas tandem aliquando finem habituras esse, ex Origenis errore complures haeretici in Oriente docuere. Stephanum Edessenum hujusserroris reum confutarunt S. Jaconus Sarugensis et Xenajas Mabugensis, ut observavi tom. 1. pag. 303 et tom.2 pag. 33. Theodorus Mopsuestenus ac Diodorus Tarsensis, Nestorianorum parentes, est ab Origene abhorrentes, eandem tanem haeresim tradidere, quorum sententiae hìc subscribens Salomon, verba haec profert.”

“"That the punishments of hell would eventually come to an end at some point, from the error of Origen, several heretics in the East taught. Stephen of Edessa[2], guilty of this error, was refuted by St. James of Sarug and Xenajas of Mabug[3], as I observed in volume 1. page 303 and volume 2. to whose opinions Solomon, who subscribes here, utters these words. Theodore of Mopsuestia and Diodorus of Tarsus, the parents of the Nestorians, who abhorred Origen, still handed down the same heresy, to whose opinion Solomon here subscribes, utters these words.”

Assmani’s translation of Theodore of Mopsuestia’s fragment quoted by Solomon:

“In futuro saeculo qui bona bìc elegerunt, cum laude fruitionem bonorum recipient; mali verò, qui toto vitae suae tempore mala perpetrantur, postquam poenarum vi atque metu resipuerint, bonaque eligentes, in malis, dum peccaverunt, non in bonis se perstitisse didicerint, perque baec scientiam optium doctrinae timoris Dei consequuti fuerint, bona illum voluntate apprehendere instructi; tum demum fruitionem dinvinae liberalitatis merebuntur. Numquam enim dixisset, donec readdas novismum quadrantem, nisi fieri posset, ut pro peccatis poenas solventes, ab iis liberemur; neque dixisset, vapulabit multis, vapulabit paucis, nisi poena peccatis commensam solventes finem tandem habituri essent.”

“In the world to come, those who have chosen good things will receive with praise the enjoyment of good things; but the wicked, who have committed evils throughout their lives, after they have repented of the force and fear of punishments, and choosing good things, have learned that they persisted in evils while they sinned, not in good things, and through this knowledge of the desires of the doctrine of the fear of God, they will be instructed to apprehend Him with good will; then they will finally merit the enjoyment of divine liberality. For he would never have said, until you return the new quarter, unless it were possible that by paying the penalties for sins, we would be freed from them; nor would he have said, he will beat many, he will beat few, unless by paying the penalty commensurate with the sins they would finally have an end.”

Here is the translation of a fragment of Diodore of Tarsus’ book on Providence:

[in libro de aeconomia]“Perpetua merces bonis pro ipsorum laboribus paratur, digna Remuneratoris justitia aequirate; poena verò iniqui, non tamen perpetua, ne immortalitas ispsis praeparata eisedm inutilis fiat, sed ut aliquo exiguo tempore juxta meritum mensuram delicti impietatis eorum fecundum quantititatem malitiae operum ipsorum torqueantur. Tormentum itaque poenam ad exiguum tempus patientur; beatitudo autem immortalitatis, nullum habitura fines, illos manet. Enimverò si bonorum operum praemia tantum excedunt , quantum aeternitatis ipsis paratae spatium , certaminum prasentis aevi curriculo circumsicriptorum spatia superat ; poena profecto pro gravibus multisque criminibus indigendae multo magis à magnitudine misericordiae superantur . Non itaque pro bonis dumtaxat Resurrectionis gratia computatur sed etiam pro malis. Gratia enim Dei Bonos quidem magnifici copioseque honorat ; misericorditer verò et clementer malis supplicia decernit.”

[in the book about Economy:]“A perpetual reward is prepared for the good for their labors, worthy of the just justice of the Rewarder; but the punishment of the wicked is not perpetual, lest the immortality prepared for them should become useless to them, but that in some short time they may be tormented according to the merit of the measure of their impiety, the fruitful quantity of the malice of their works. Therefore they will suffer torment and punishment for a short time; but the blessedness of immortality, which will have no end, awaits them. Indeed, if the rewards of good works exceed only the space of eternity prepared for them, the spaces of the struggles of the present age, the punishments required for grave and numerous crimes are far more exceeded by the greatness of mercy. Therefore, the grace of the Resurrection is not only counted for the good, but also for the bad. For the grace of God indeed magnificently and abundantly honors the good; but mercifully and clemently it decrees punishments for the bad.”

After quoting the fragment, Joseph writes:

“Haec Salomon ex Diodoro ac Theodoro . In eandem sententiam detorquere nititur dicta quaedam Isaaci Ninivitae , et anonymi auctoris libri commentariorum . Sed qua si attenti considerentur , contrarium potius evincunt. Haec funt Salomonis verba.”

“This is Solomon from Diodorus and Theodore. He tries to twist into the same opinion certain sayings of Isaac the Ninevites and the anonymous author of the book of commentaries. But which if they are considered attentively, they rather prove the opposite. These are the words of Solomon.”

Here is Assemani’s translation of the incipit of the chapter and an English translation:

“Quidam Patres suprà virtutem nostram nos perterrefaciunt , et in desperationem dejiciunt; et istorum quidem sentitia pueris sensu, et praevericantibus legem utilis est. Sunt aii, qui nos recreant, et divinaw misericordiae confidere jubent. Istorum verò opinio perfectis, et ben constituere mentis, ac oneri graviter incumbentibus proficua et conseentanea est. In libro commentariorum sic legitur. Saeculum hoc, saeculum est poenitaentiae; futurm saeculum, saeculum est vindictae. Quaemadmodum enim in praesenti seculo poenitaentia  ad extremum usque spiritum salvat; ita in seculo futuro jufiitia ultimum exigit quadrantem. Et sicut hìc non est videre judicium aequum, quod misericordia temperatur non fit; ita non est illìc invenire judicium misericordia permistum. Et S. Isaac sic habet. Qui apud Gehennam torquentur , charitatis cruciantur tormentis. Aspera autem et magis amara sunt tormenta quae à charitate inferuntur iis , qui sentiunt se in charitatem deliquisse , tormentis à timore. Rursus ait . Peccatorum retributio haec futura est, ut pro justitiae retributione resurrectio ipsa illis retribuatur , et corpora qua leges ejus conculcaverunt , ipse in novissimo gloria perfectionis induet . Major sané est gratia ista , quae postquam deliquimus , nobis tribuitur , per quam è nihilo conditi sumus . Haec quoque habet . In futuro seculo Gratia erit judex , non Justitia.

“Some Fathers, beyond our power, terrify us, and cast us into despair; and indeed their opinion is useful to children of sense, and to those who transgress the law. There are those who refresh us, and bid us trust in divine mercy. But their opinion is profitable and agreeable to those who are perfect, and well-established in mind, and who are heavily burdened. In the book of commentaries it is read thus: “This age is the age of repentance; the future age is the age of vengeance. For just as in the present age repentance saves the soul to the last breath; so in the age to come justice exacts the last quarter. And just as here it is not possible to see a just judgment, which is not tempered by mercy. Thus, there is no judgment there that is permitted by mercy.” And St. Isaac has it this way. “Those who are tormented in Gehenna are tormented by the torments of charity. But harsher and more bitter are the torments which are inflicted by charity on those who feel that they have sinned against charity, torments from fear.” Again he says. “The reward of sinners will be this, that instead of the reward of justice the resurrection itself will be given to them, and the bodies which his laws have trampled upon, he will himself in the last put on the glory of perfection. Greater indeed is that grace which, after we have sinned, is given to us, by which we were created from nothing.” It also has these things. “In the world to come, Grace will be the judge, not Justice.”

Here is how Joseph comments these words. Interestingly, he also mentions that he accepts the view that Gregory of Nyssa’s work was interpolated by ‘Origenist’ heretics:

Quae sanè omnia nil aliud probant, quam Beatis quidem suprà meritum gloriam , Damnatis verò citra meritum poenas a Deo retribui; non tamen gloriae, aut poenis finem aliquando imponendum esse , ut perperam contendit Salomon . Nec mirum, quod ille in suum errorem auctores hosce detorqueat . Nam Dialogum etiam S. Gregorii Nysseni ad Macrinam sororem de Anima ab haereticis interpolatum fuisse et Origenianis dogmatibus inspersum, eo praesertim consilio, ut futuram aliquando Diaboli salutem, et daemonum hominumque impiorum suppliciis finem imponendum esse propugnarent, teflatur S. Germanus Patriarcha Conftantinopolitanus in libro , qui inferibitur Retribuens & Legitimus , apud Photium in Bibliotheca Cod. 233. et Nicephorus lib. 2. hist. Eccles. cap. 19. Quod verò Theodorus Mopsuestenus inter caeteros, quibus post obitum convictus suit, errores, hunc etiam de fine Gehen ”

“Of course, all these things prove nothing else, than that the blessed indeed receive glory above their merits, while the damned receive punishments from God on this side of their merits; not, however, that an end of glory or of punishment should ever be imposed, as Solomon wrongly contends. Nor is it surprising that he should twist the authors of these into his own error. For the Dialogue of St. Gregory of Nyssa to his sister Macrina on the Soul was interpolated by heretics and sprinkled with the dogmas of Origen, especially with the intention of asserting that there would be a future salvation of the Devil and an end to the executions of demons and impious men, St. Germanus, the Patriarch of Constantinople, testifies in the book which will be inferred Retribuens & Legitimus, by Photius in the Bibliotheca Cod. 233. and Nicephorus lib. 2. Hist. Ecclesiastes chap. 19. The truth is that Theodore of Mopsuestia among the others, whom after his death he was convicted of errors, this also about the end of Gehen”

 Final note:

For information about more recent scholarship about Diodore of Tarsus and Theodore of Mopsuestia, see: https://ancientafterlifebelifs.blogspot.com/2026/01/ancient-and-medieval-witnesses-of_28.html 

For information about more recent scholarship about the East-Syrian tradition, see: https://ancientafterlifebelifs.blogspot.com/2026/01/on-presence-of-universalism-in-east.html 


[1] https://sacred-texts.com/chr/bb/bb60.htm . This link provides an English translation of the same chapter.

[2] This seems to be a reference to Stephen bar Sudayli.

[3] This seems to be a reference to Philoxenus of Mabbug. Both him and Jacob of Sarugh criticized Stephen bar Sudahyli.

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