The Word modernus

Sometimes one has the sensa1ion of an au1hor feeling for a word which is not
available. In his De Ci11irare Dei, Augus1ine uses expressions such as • in our
times», «in Christian times». and • in times close at hand», to designate a period
close 10 1hat in which he lived ('). Within a few decades the word modernu.c had
come into use in wrinen Latin. The purpose of the following enquiry is 10
a1tempt to establish precisely what early users of this word meant by it, bearing
in mind a suggestion tha1 when pope Gregory the great wrote of • modem times»
in his Dialogues he often meant post-apostolic rather than recen1 times('). Our
enquiry will necessitate placing occurrences of the word in the contexts in which
ii is employed, so as to throw light on the senses in which it is being used ; in the
case of Gregory's Dialogues. we shall consider the way in which Gregory orga-
niied his material. in whal can g ive 1he impression of heing an unorgani1.ed
work.
Let us begin by examining the ways in which its earliest users employed the
word. An inscription placed over the entrance 10 a chapel which was ins1alled by
Peter Chrysologus, a bishop of Ravenna who died shonly after the mid-poinl of
the fifth century. contains the line lex est a11te, 11e11it cel/i dec11s ,mde moder·
1111m ('). suggesting that it was from light which existed beforehand tha1 the cur-
rent splendour of the building was derived. Some decades later. pope Gelasius
used the word twice. Al some time before August 495 he wroce to two bishops,
Manyrius and Justus. concerning men who had been ordained contrary 10 the
will of their lord. In somewhat awkward Lacin in which he uses the word in

(I) Nostris 1;mpori/x1s: De Clu/ra1e Dei (ed C[o'71us/ C/hris,ianomm} S/eri,sJ

Uatina/ 471) 3. 17 line 127 ; 3,19 line 34; 3,22 line 18. e re. Temporib,u chri.wianis: I. I
line I9f ; 1.1 S lines 34f. 58 ; 1.30 line Sf. etc. Note a, wcll 11icini.<1emporib11S : 9.10 line I.
(2) P. BROWH, Gloriosus obiws: Th, End of 1hr. 01her Ancitnl \¼Jr/d in W. E.
KuNCS'HIRN and M. VESSEY, ed., The Umits of Allciem Christianity : Essays 0 11 U1te
Antiqut T/,ought and Culture in Honor of R. A. Marklu. Ann Arbor. Mi.. 1999. p. 289-
314 a, p. 296, ciling W. McCREAOY. Signs of Sanc1ily Mime/es in tht Though, of Gregory
1he Great. Toronto. 1989. p. 16-32. To the best ofrny knowledge. however. Gregory only
used the word on one occasion in this work.
(3) O. M. Del.lYANNJS. Th~ Libtr PrmtiftcaUs Ecc/esiae Ra veruu,tis : Critic.al Edition
a,,d Commentary (unpublished PhD thesis, University of Pennsylvania, 1994). 51
( p. 502),
426 I. MOORHEAD

which we are interested as a substantive, Gelasius suites that !his issue had been
dealt with posr mcdernum, quod tanrorum pontijicum collectione sub omniwn
saluberrimae prouisionis assensu constat esse perfectum e). He has in mind item
14 in a series of 28 decreta which had been despatched to all the bishops of
Lucania. Bruuium and Sicily on 11 March 494. wh.ich dealt with the problem of
slaves or originarii who fled from their lords 10 join monasteries or the ranks of
the clergy('). Gelasius' usage is clearer in another letter written prior to August
495. addressed to bishops Rufinus and Aprilis. in which be responds to a com•
plaint made by the illustrious Maxima that two of her origi11arii had been made
deacons: Gelasius stated that this occurrence entailed despising the laws of
princes. the rules of the fathers, and modem instructions (admonitiones mod,r-
nas). the last category presumably being the series of 28 decrees ('). Hence.
Gclasius employed the word modernus to refer to something of recent date,
which was cenainly no funher than one and a half years in the past.
Shonly after the time of Gelasius the deacon Ennodius, later to become bish-
op of Pavia, began writing. He uses the word modem us in four of his literary pro-
ductions, and while his style is generally opaque we can nevenheless pick up a
sense of how he undemood the term. A letter he wrote to Honoratus, the holder
of an office at Ravenna, late in 503 begins with an observation that Honoratus
had indicated in a ''modem" piece of writing (mndema .tcriptinnP) that he wa.c:
spending time nearby ('). While Honoratus is not otherwise referred to by
Ennodius, so that we cannot place this letter in any context which would throw
light on the precise significance he attached to the word modema. it would be
reasonable to a.~sume that the piece of writing to which he referred was of recent
date. Ennodius uses the word twice in another work, probably written in 503,
which takes the form of a precept that all bishops were to have male compan-
ions('). While we know nothing about the issuing of this precept. and Ennodius'
editor Vogel observes that the order could have come from the pope or a synod.

(4) A. THIEL ed.. Epim,lar Rom,11,orum Pontlficum G,nuinar. I, Braunsberg, 1868, ep.
20 (= P. )Afff; and G. WATTENllACH. R,gesra Pont;ficum Romanorum. Leipzig. t885-88, no.
65 t). I am grateful to my colleague Tom Stevenson for discussing this passage with me.
(5) T111111.. ep. 14 (e J•fft-WA'.ITENBACH n• 6J6). On the issues involved, and the con-
nection with ep. 20. W. Ult.MANN, GrltUius I ( 492.496) D,u Pap1Suum an drr W,ndr dn
Spiilanti~ v,m Mitter/alter. Stuttgan. 1981. p. 228-9.
(6) THIEL, ep. 22 (= J•FFt-W ATl'&'<BACH n" 658).
(7) ENNoorus ,p. 2.27. l cite Ennodius fmm the edi1ion of Voce.. M[oruuMnta/
G/ermaniae/ H/;11oricaj A[uctoru) A[n,;quissimi/ 1. On relations between En.nodius
and the recipient of this letter. Honorutus. sec J, SuNO'WAU... Abhandlung~n z.ur GtJchidue
des auJgrhrnden Rlimertum.,, Helsinki, 1919. p. 18.
(8) P'ra«~ptwn qua11do iust i su,11 (Jmncs cpisc:opi c:cllula,w,· hubell! (c,pusc . 7). On lhc
date, R. BAR1U'IT, Magnus Felix EnJUJdius : A Chun,hman and His Tim,s (unpublished
PhD thc,i,. Univcr>ity of Queensland, 1999). p. 55-58.
 TIIE wo~o MODER/IVS 427

it can be placed against the accusations of improper conduct with women which
were levelled against pope Symmachus during the tumultuous Laurentian
schism ; in a book of controversy prompted by the schism which he wro te some
time later. Ennodius referred to such charges in a roundabout way. But this does
not take us very far in establishing the sense in which he used the word in his
Praeceptum. He assens. referring to the words of a prophet. that God ·•will have
ordered ancient things and disposes modem things" (et amiqut1 iusserit et mo-
dema disp,,nat). and later refers to ..ancient and modem laws .. (antiquis et mo•
demis legibus) ('). The sense of the word "ancient". here played off against
"modem". seems very broad. as is also the case in a pas.~age in another work. a
Be11edictio cerri composed for Easter, in which Ennodius again brings together
the concepts of ancient and modem things. In this case. the former refers to the
passage of the Hebrews through the Red Sea. and the latter contemporary litur-
gy (ffl) . In his Life of bishop Epiphanius of Pavia, which has recently been dated.
contr.iry to preceding scholarship, to about 5 13, Ennodius represents the bishop,
discharging a mission on behalf of king Theoderic the Ostrogoth, saying to
Gundobad, king of the Burgundians : "The old lord loves the province which the
new embraces as well" (antiquus dominus prouinciam dilig it. quam et mode rnus
amplecitur) ("). The former lord is presumably Gundobad. who had intervened
in Liguria during the w~r between Th~oderi~ nnc1 O<lov.:1C'..er. hence withi n the
period 489-93. and departed with what was said to have been 6 000 captives. and
the m<>demus Theoderic. The word. placed in the mouth of Epiphanius under-
taking a mission which must have taken place not long afterwards, thus refers to
a state which had very recently come to obtain. We may therefore conclude that.
for Ennodius. the word could either be used in a precise way to indicate a time
which was vinually contemporary. conforming 10 the usage of Gelasius, or in
a very gcneml way which coold denote something taking place within a long
period.
The word is used with greater frequency by Ca.ssiodorus. Again. some of the
contexts in which he employed it imply that it is being used to refer lo very
recent times. In a letter written on behalf of king Theodcric. apparently early in
510. lnponunus, having been made a patricius, is reminded of his father and
uncle. «who adorned modem limes with ancienl ways» (modenris saecuU.f mori-

(9) Mulierum r,,rbas, odserir;s "rbaniJ; c"lorib11s c·um 1>raefaw ad iudicia conur,,i.u e.
Ub,1/us pro sy11odo 65.
( 10) Ennodius commenL~. nil hie est, in quo discrtponl on1iq1w ,umi.t uut m0</trnt1
Uff.tu;f,u.f ( ,,pusc. 9.8).
(l I) Vita Ep;p/uml 16t ; S1R,1,,o,m·s emendation diligit yields somewhat beuer sense
than 1hc dUige ofVooa. and the manuscriptS. which would lead one 10 cx.pcc:t a vocath'e
ca.~. See M. CESA. Ennodio VilO dtl /Hatissimo £pifonio ,•e.tct>w> d~lla chl~sa pave.ft ,
Como. 1988, p. 203. The date of compo~ition is discussed by R. 8Am..ETT. Magnus Felb:
Ennodi11, [n. SJ. p. 353--57.
428 J. MOORHEAD

bus ornab11ntur aniiquis) ("). That the father and uncle of lnportunus, whose
career.. we arc able 10 follow in some detail ("), brought distinction on modem
times could be held to suggest that Cassiodorus is thinking of this period in terms
of one lifetime or a human generation. This would be in keeping with the use of
the word in a letter he addressed to the Roman senate, in which a time thirty
years in the past is contrasted wit!, the modem times during which something
had been taken (moderna praeswnptione) ("). Elsewhere. the word is used by
Cassiodorus with unmistakably contemporary reference. A Jett.er written in the
\'ery year refers to news being brought to the senate of Athalaric's accession fol-
lowing the death of Theoderic. known to have taken place on 30 August 526, as
being modema (''); a leuer wriuen shortly afterwards refers 10 Athalaric as hav-
ing m/Xlernam principis mentem. probably making an implicit contrast with the
recently dc-oeased Theoderic ("). and a leuer wriuen in 534 asserts that the rule
of rhetoric insists upon a .. modem comparison., being made with the pomp of the
empresses of old; the modem person is Theoderic's daughter Amalasuintha. who
adopted the title of regina in that same year, and the person with whom
Cassiodorus proceeds to compare her is Galla Placidia (a11gusta 421-450) (").
The word seems to have a sense of contemporaneity in a leuer in which
Theoderic asks for materials 10 be sent 10 Ravenna 10 be used in new buildings,
st:uing thal "we des ire to erecl modem buildings without injuring earlier one.~··
(moderna si11e priomm imminutione desideramus trigtre) ("). To be sure. the
leners of Cassiodorus do on occasion use the word in a vague way, as when
Symmacbus is lauded as ... most diligent imitator of the ancients and a most
noble teacher of the modems" ("). but even here the sense of "modems" is con-
temporary; die people so described must have been alive when Symmachus was
teaching.
Another work in which Cassiodorus uses the word is his lnstitutiones. At the
end of h.is discussion of works which had been wrincn explaining the letters of
the apostles. Cassiodorus stales that he docs not forbid the use of"modem expos-

( 12) \!Jriae 3.5.3 (ed. MGH AA 12): on I.be dale, S. KRAllTSCHICK, Cassiodnr und die
Politik stiMr Zeit. Bonn. 1983.
( 13) J. R. MARTINDALE ed. , Prosop<>graphy of th, IAtu Roman Empir, 2. Cambridge.
I980. s.v. Basilius 12 and Decius 2.
( 14) \tlriae 3,31.3f, where • lricennii praucriptiont"• is neady played oft' ag::i.ins1
.:modema praeJumptione».
(15) Varia, 8,14,2.
(16) \uria, 8.25.1.
(17) \!Jriae I I.I, 19: on Amalosuintha's 1itle, J. MARTINDAl.li. Prosopogrophy 2, [n. 131.
p. 65 s.v. Amala.suintha.
( 18) \briatt 3,9, I ~ lhe contrast be,twcco nuxlema and priorum reproduces one drawn
in the preceding sentence between noua and u~tusta.
(19) \fl.riot 4,5 I.2 : antiquorum dUig~nti.ssimus ;mi1ator. modttmorum nobili.ssimus
in.Jtitutor.
 THE WORD MODERNVS 429

itors... subject to !heir being calholics. since God's grace enables lhings which
may have been hidden from "old teachers" (priscis docto rib«s) to be seen. The
teachers he has in mind are presumably those mentioned earlier in lhis chapter.
the most recent of whom are Augustine and lhc obscure Peter, an abbot in
Tripolitania. who compiled a series of excerpts from Augustine's works(").
A Hisroria Tripartiw commissioned by Cassiodorus and undenaken by
Epiphanius. comprising Latin versions of the Church Histo ries of Socrates,
Sozomen and Theodoret, has come down to us. In a translation of a passage of
Socrates which discusses lhe thorny question of lhe calculation of the date of
Easter, a distinction is drawn between the "modem " Jews, who are known to err
in eve.rything, and the old ones and Josephus ("), Later. mention is made of a
Theodosius. qualified as modern11s (translating Theodoret's 6 vOv), and the titu-
lus of the following chapter is «De laudibus T/r,,,dosii iunioris» ; we may take it
that modern11s. as well as illnior, is being used to con1r.1st the Theodosius of the
fifth century wilh his predecessor of lhe founh century. Similarly, Jordanes. writ-
ing in lhe mid-sixth century, describes Galla Placidia as having been "the moth•
er of lhe modem Valentinian the younger emperor"("). The Historia Tripartita
also uses the word modemu.< in a pas.~age ttanslated from Theodoret, in which
John Chrysostom is represented as telling lhe magister militum Gainas lhat. hav-
ing been made magister and adorned w ith the- consular toga. he-. should compare
his old (p risca) poveny wilh lhe weallh he now enjoyed (modenra substan,
tia) (" ). Here, at least, the reference is to something of recent occurrence.
On lhe olher hand, Cassiodorus uses lhe word in a very broad sense in a pas-
sage in his exposition of lhe Psalms. Commenting on the verse " I have hoped for
your salvation. Lord, and loved your commandments" (Ps 118 [Vulg I : 166). he
observes !hat it could be made 10 apply 10 bolh ancient and modem believers (et
antiq11is fidelibus...er modemis) by taking it 10 refer 10 the two comings of the
Lord. The former group could be seen as having hoped for the coming of the
incarnation, and the latter the coming of 1he future judgment (M). Hence. the
modemi in this case are people living subsequent 10 lhc incarnation ! In a late
work. the De Orthographio, Cassiodorus notes that old (utterts) writers used the
form quom for the word which modem ones have written cum (" ). The older
spelling was •.apparently usual before the Ciceronian period and thereafter in

(20) /ns,irurio11es, ed. R. MvNOl<S, Oxford, 1937.1.8.

(21) Hlstoria Trlpartita (ed. Corpus Scripwnun EcclesiaJticorum latlnorum 71)
9,38,12.
(22) Quac- mater fuit moderni Valentiniani iunioris lmperatori.s: R<Jmana 311 (ed
MGII M5).
(23) Hisroria Tripanira 10,6,6.
(24) b/,t1sirio p.mlmorum (ed. CCSL 97-98) I 18 : 166,
(25) De Onlwgraphia (ed. H. KsL. Grammalici Latini 1, Leipzig, 1880), p. 144.27 •
145,1.
430 J. MOORHEAD

archawng writers» ('' ), and if Cassiodorus had any idea of the period during
which it was used we would need to see the time in which l:te thought tnQdemi
were writing having stretched a long way into the past. Doubtless we would be
on safer ground merely 10 note that, yet again. the word modem i is being used in
contrast with another word. in this case ueteres. which suggests its opposite, and
that it is being used in a much broader SCn.5e than it is in the Variae. But the word
is used in an unmistakablely narrow sense in the same work when Cassiodorus
describes Priscian as a modem author (moderno ouctore). for we know from
elsewhere 1ha1 Cassiodorus thought of Priscian as having belonged to his own
time("). We may note in passing that Pri.scian himsel[ uses the word in iL• broad
sense when he contrasts the moderni with the people or long ago (ontiquissimi)
who, instead of 1he forms huic, 11ostros and uestras, spelt these words /ruicce,
11os1ra1is and uestratis (").
Cassiodorus is the author who uses the word modemus most frequently in this
period, and it may be that this feature of his style enables us to speak of him as
being someone who was aware of '"the relative posterity of his own age"' ("). But
we may observe occurrences of it in some other authors of hi.~ time. The Latin
Josephus, another work undenaken in circles around Cassiodorus, compares the
lifespan of Noah. who is said 10 have lived for 950 years, with the modem dura-
tion of ~ lif~ ( uiUJm mod, rnnm. lr:'lnSl:'lting the (',re,elc_0 vfrv f\loi;) ('°) . Among rhe
Greek texts translated into Latin when the controversy over the Three Chapters
made them relevant in the middle of tbe sixth century was a letter written in 430
by Theodosius and Valentinian to Cyril of Alexandria, asking him 10 send bish-
ops to Antioch because of an issue which had recently arisen (tnQdema quaestio.
translating t<.ilv vOv) ("). The modem j udges (modenri iudices) of whom pope
Pclagius wrote in his Defence of the Three Chapters are clearly his cotcmpo-
raries, whose opinion is contrasted with that of Proclus of Constantinople (").
The word is also employed by Venantius Fonunatus, with reference to a miracle
in which recent light came upon an old face (antiqui 1111/tus lucem ... modunam)
when a blind man regained his sight ; while Venantius plays modemus off

(26) O.ford Latin Dicrio,iary, Oxford, 1982, s.v. cum' . quom.

(27) De Orthographia 1 , p. 147. 15: cf. ex Prisciano grammatico qui 1wstro temport
Consranrint>pli docror fu ir (p. 207 . 13f).
(28) H. KEIL ed. Orar,unarici [n. 25). 3. p. 528 lincs 15-19.
(29) M. VESSEY in Cassiodorus ln.sritures of Div;ne and Secular Uaming and On 1h,
Soul. transl. J. W. HAu>ok~. with introduction by M. V.ssev. Liverpool, 2004. p. 6.
(30) F. Burr, ed. The Larin Josephus I, Copenhagen. 1958, ont, iud. 1.8 <105> ;com-
pare propter t•a/11mniam moderna,n 1.4 <74>.
(3 1) Acta C011ciliorum O,cum,nicorum (ed. E. ScHw•RTZ ). 1/3, p. 50 line 7f.
(32) PaAGtus. In Defension, Tri11m Capirulorwn. ed. R. DEVRWS. Vatican City, 1932,
p. 25 (• Parrologia Latino Supplementum 4: 1333).
 TIIE WOI\D MODERWS 431

against antiquus, be is clearly using the former word with reference to a very
recent happening (" ).
Finally, we come to Gregory the great. He uses the word twice in leuers writ-
ten al the beginning of his pontificate. In he first, wriuen to Theoctista, the sister
of the emperor Maurice. he wrote of the pastoral otlice he had recently come to
hold (ex hac modema pastorali., c,jficii cot11inentia). As this lcucr was wriuen in
October 594, and GregOI')' became pope in September that year, the word 1nod-
cm must apply 10 the very recent past ("'). Bui writing in the same month 10
Bacauda, bishop of Formiae, he transferred 10 a new see whatever belonged to
an old one ''by ancient and modem right or privilege" (onriquo modemoque iure
r,e/ priuilegio) ("). The two occurrences of the word reflect both the usages we
have already established. the first having the sense of something having taken
place very recently and the second indicating an indefinite period in the past
whlch is contr.L'tted with an earlier time.
It is tempting 10 continue our enquiry into later periods. An intriguing use of
the word is found in the prologue to the Life of Charlemagne by Einhard.
Introducing !tis work, Einltard draws auention to Charles' oumanding deeds,
which he felt could scarcely be matched by people of the modem time (modtmi
temporis hominibus) (" ). Perhaps we should see Einhard as using the word mo-
demi in the sense of .. very recent'', so as to impJy :1 distinction between th<- ck.--eds
of Charles and those of people in the time when he was writing. in a way that
may have been politically motivated, and accepting a date of 825-26 for
Einhard's work (" ) would allow us U) locate such m0tivation against the circum-
stances obtaining in the Frankish state just then. T:iking the word in its restrict-
ed sense would also enable us 10 draw a parallel between Einhard's view and the
distinction Walafrid Strabo drew in a prologue he supplied not long afterwards
to Einhard's work in which, having commented on the brightness of learning in
the time of Charles. he asserted that the light of learning was become rare in his
own time("). But the word modernus has no stable s ignificance among the
Carolingian authors who use ii ("), and one should be cautious in drawing con-
clusion.~.

(33) VENANTIUS f'OtmlNATVs, Poemes, ed. M. R£vDELL£T. Paris. 1994, cann. 2.. 16.75.
(34) Registrum ,pistularum (cd CCSI., )40) 1,5.
(35) Regis1rum epistularrmr 1,8.
(36) Iota Karo/i Mag11i ed. G. H. l'Elrrl and G. W•nz. Hannover, 1911. p. I.
(37) H. Lowe. Die En1.rtel1ung.t i.iet der Wtc KaroU Einlwrds in Deutscbes An:hiv 39.
1983. p. 85-103.
(38) Ed. G. H. PERTZ and G. w .,TZ [n. 36]. p. xxvm.
(39) W. HIJtTMAJ'(N. ··Modunus·• und "Amiquus•·: Zum V~rbrtdlung u,rd 8 t!d~ut1mg
tliestr Btzti( hnungtn in der W,'sstnsc·haftlichen Litt ru1ur w,m 9. bi:i J2. Jahrhundu t in
A. ZIMMERMANN ed. Antiqui und moduni Traditionsbewufltsein um/ For1.s,hritt~'h'U,/Jtsein
im spliurn Miue/after, Berlin, 1974 (= Misulla,,ea Mediae,•a/ic, 9), p. 21 -57 at 23 ; the
evidence or Einhard is not used.
432 J. MOORHEAD

Nevenheless. the evidence we have for its usage in the period up to Gregory
suggests some definite conclusions. ltaljan authors. among whom it may be
legitimate to include Venantius Fortunatus, were obviously to the fore. In gener-
al, we have been able to distinguish two senses in which the word was used. It
could refer to something which had happened very recently, as evidenced by the
Greek it was used to translate, or 10 something which had occurred over some
undefined but possibly very lengthy period which included the present. But the
evidence allows us to be more precise than this. When authors use the word mod-
emus in the former sense. as we have seen in the cases of Ennodius and
Vcnantius Fonunatus. they can do so by contrasting it with another word ; when
they do in the latter sense. they do this in an overwhelming number of cases. The
most common word used in apposition is an1iq1111., . but priscus and uetus are also
used, and it may be that such a sense of comparison is already present in Peter
Chrysologus' juxtaposition of modemum with ant,. Indeed, we may take the
contrasting of modemus against another word to be almost a constant when the
word is used in a general sense. When the word modemus stands alone, it gen-
ernlly has the sense of «recent».
With this in mind. we may consider the sense which the word bem on the one
occasion in which Gregory the great uses it in his Dialogues, a work written in
the period .~93-94. After telling nf • mir:,cle. f"'rfnrmed n()( long ago (non nnte
longa tempora) by the guardian of the church of Palestrina, Acontius, Gregory
commented 1ha1 if he were to tell of everything that look place in thal church he
would have to be silent abou1 everything else. II was lherefore necessary for his
narrative 10 tum back lo the modem falhers whose lives shone across !he
provinces of Jtllly ("). II is unlikely that Gregory is suggesting a contrast be1ween
Aconti us and such fathers. given that he had lived so recently and that Gregory.
having just quoled the words of a girl who addressed him as «fatheo,, admiued-
ly in error but certainly appropriately. seems to view him as belonging to such a
group("). Seen against the background of preceding usage of the word we have
been considering. this would suggest that Gregory used it to mean "recent".
Gregory's organization of material in the Dialogues throws funher light on his
use of the word ,nod,mus in this instance(").
The first book of this work proceeds in accordance with geography rather than
chronology ; Gregory brought together tales of holy men who operated in vari-
ous regions. When he came to give an account of the life of Benedict in the sec-
ond book. Gregory organized his material both chronologically and thematical-

(40) Unde n«~s.u est uJ ad ,nodemos paJn:s qu.orwn uita pu ltaliae provinc:ia& daruit
n(,rraao se nostra retorquea, : Dlaloguu 3,25, 1 : 3. l quore from the edition of A . 06:
Voo'Ot. SOW'C'ts Chritiennes 260.
(41 ) Rogo te patu indic" mihi ,1uis ~st Acontius cusros: ibid 3+25.2.
(42) 1be following discussion docs no more than summarize the excellenl discussion
or A. Os VocOG. Sources Chrltitnn,s 251, p. 55-<,S.
 THE WORD MODE.RNVS 433

ly. In the third book. he presents groups of miracle-workers. alternating between

bishops and monks. and then goes on to present data illustrating various issues.
almost always arranged in pairs of chapters. But a firm chronological principle,
superimposed in this structure. also operates in this book. Beginning with bish•
op Paulinus of Nola. who died in 431, although the story Gregory tells is
anachronistically set in a slightly later period, Gregory goes on to work his way
through the sixth century, describing in their correct order events which he places
in the reigns of the Gothic kings Thcoderic. Theodahad, Vitigis and Toti la. at the
time of the Lombard invasion, and the more recent period.
The "modem fathers" to whom Gregory's narrative returns after his treatment
of Acontius can be easily placed within this structure. Gregory describes the first
of them, the holy man Menas, as having been active in recent times ( nu1>er) and
having died scarcely ten years before he wrote (Dialogues 3,26, I ; Gregory goes
on to describe an encounter he had with a Lombard.) The incidents which fol-
low, while they do not involve fathers, are dated by Gregory to some fifteen years
before he wrote (Dialogues 3,27, I) and to the same period (3,28, I). He then tells
of events which transpired in Spoleto when Lombards caused trouble (3.29). and
in Rome just two years before he was writing (3,30,1). The next group or stories
deals with miracles which were performed against the Arian heresy. These took
place in Spain following the! murder of HerinA?nigild, which occurred in 585 ('l),
and in Africa in the times of the emperor Justinian (3.32.1). The seeond story is
obviously out of chronological sequence. but as it turns out Gregory is able to
support his narrative with evidence provided by a man he met while in Constan-
tinople. that is c. 579/580 - c. 586 (u). after which he immediately states his
intention. having said sufficient things in condemnation of the Arian heresy. to
return to miracles which had been recently worked in Italy (''). Such a context
makes clear the near eontemporaneity of the modem fathers to whom Gregory
alluded. I therefore concur with the view that the word "modemus·• is here to be
translated "present-day. modem"(..). The sense in which Gregory uses the word
lits perfectly the first of the two senses we have distinguished above.

University of Queenl'ltmd. John M OORHEAD.

Brisbane, QlD, Ausrralia.

(43) Dialogu,., 3,3 1.5 ; on the date of Hcrmcnigild"s murder. J. R. MARTtND...U ed.•
Prosopogrophy of th, Lot,r Roman Empir, 3, Cambridge. 1992. p. 450.
(44) J. MART1HDAL£. Prrm,,x,grapl,y 3 [n. 43J. p. 550.
(45) N11nc ad ea. quat' 1,uper in Italia gttsl(i sw1t, j·ignn "deamu.t: 3.32,4.
(46) A. J. KJNXEREY. Tl,e Lme Latin ¼Kabulory of St Gregory thi! Great. Washington.
DC, 1935.p. 12.