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having been seated, he began to repeat the following psalm:[1]
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"When I was a minor
And in the palace[2] of my Father,
Enjoying the riches and abundance
Of those who brought me up,
From the East, our home,
The parents having equipped me, sent me away.
From the richness of their[3] treasuries
They supplied a burden,
Great and yet light,
That I alone could carry it.
Gold is the burden from above,[4]
And silver from the great treasuries[5]
And Chalcedon stones from India,
And pearls from the land of Kosan.[6]
And they supplied me with a diamond
< Which can break the iron. >
- ↑ The hymn or psalm, which is here inserted and which is only found in the Syriac and in one Greek manuscript, has erroneously been called "the hymn of the soul." It rather describes the descent of the Saviour to the earth (= Egypt), his deliverance of those souls which were there in the prison of the evil (= matter) and his return to the heavenly kingdom of light. The whole may be designated as a Gnostic development and expansion of Phil. II, 5-1 1. The hymn can be divided into the following sections: 1, the preparations for the journey; 2, the journey; 3, the abode in Egypt; 4, the return. Some have ascribed the authorship of this hymn to the Syrian Bardesanes; see Lipsius, loc. cit., p. 292 f .; Preuschen, loc. cit. , p. 45 f., where an exposition is attempted.
- ↑ Syriac: in the kingdom.
- ↑ Syriac: our.
- ↑ Syriac: from the country of Gilan.
- ↑ Syriac: from Gazak.
- ↑ Syriac; Kushan.
