[1] Joannes de Garlandia (John Garland; fl. 1202-1252) gives the
following explanation in his _Dictionarius_, which is a classed
vocabulary:--"Dictionarius dicitur libellus iste a dictionibus magis
necessariis, quas tenetur quilibet scolaris, non tantum in scrinio de
lignis facto, sed in cordis armariolo firmiter retinere." This has
been supposed to be the first use of the word.
[2] An excellent dictionary of quotations, perhaps the first of the
kind; a large folio volume printed in Strassburg about 1475 is
entitled "Pharetra auctoritates et dicta doctorum, philosophorum, et
poetarum continens."
[3] This volume was issued with a new title-page as _Glossaire du
moyen age_, Paris, 1872.
DICTYOGENS (Gr. [Greek: diktyon], a net, and the termination [Greek:
-genes], produced), a botanical name proposed by John Lindley for a
class including certain families of Monocotyledons which have net-veined
leaves. The class was not generally recognized.
DICTYS CRETENSIS, of Cnossus in Crete, the supposed companion of
Idomeneus during the Trojan War, and author of a diary of its events.
The MS. of this work, written in Phoenician characters, was said to have
been found in his tomb (enclosed in a leaden box) at the time of an
earthquake during the reign of Nero, by whose order it was translated
into Greek. In the 4th century A.D. a certain Lucius Septimius brought
out _Dictys Cretensis Ephemeris belli Trojani_, which professed to be a
Latin translation of the Greek version. Scholars were not agreed whether
any Greek original really existed; but all doubt on the point was
removed by the discovery of a fragment in Greek amongst the papyri found
by B. P. Grenfell and A. S. Hunt in 1905-1906. Possibly the Latin
Ephemeris was the work of Septimius himself. Its chief interest lies in
the fact that (together with Dares Phrygius's _De excidio Trojae_) it
was the source from which the Homeric legends were introduced into the
romantic literature of the middle ages.
Best edition by F. Meister (1873), with short but useful introduction
and index of Latinity; see also G. Korting, _Diktys und Dares_
(1874), with concise bibliography; H. Dunger, _Die Sage vom
trojanischen Kriege in den Bearbeitungen des Mittelalters und ihren
antiken Quellen_ (1869, with a literary genealogical table); E.
Collilieux, _Etude sur Dictys de Crete et Dares de Phrygie_ (1887),
with bibliography; W. Greif, "Die mittelalterlichen Bearbeitungen der
Trojanersage," in E. M. Stengel's _Ausgaben und Abhandlungen aus dem
Gebiete der romanischen Philologie_, No. 61 (1886, esp. sections 82,
83, 168-172); F. Colagrosso, "Ditte Cretese" in _Atti della r.
Accademia di Archeologia_ (Naples, 1897, vol. 18, pt. ii. 2); F.
Noack, "Der griechische Dictys," in _Philologus_, supp. vi. 403 ff.;
N. E. Griffin, _Dares and Dictys, Introduction to the Study of the
Medieval Versions of the Story of Troy_ (1907).
DICUIL (fl. 825), Irish monastic scholar, grammarian and geographer. He
was the author of the _De mensura orbis terrae_, finished in 825, which
contains the earliest clear notice of a European discovery of and
settlement in Iceland and the most definite Western reference to the old
freshwater canal between the Nile and the Red Sea, finally blocked up in
767. In 795 (February 1-August 1) Irish hermits had visited Iceland; on
their return they reported the marvel of the perpetual day at midsummer
in "Thule," where there was then "no darkness to hinder one from doing
what one would." These eremites also navigated the sea north of Iceland
on their first arrival, and found it ice-free for one day's sail, after
which they came to the ice-wall. Relics of this, and perhaps of other
Irish religious settlements, were found by the permanent Scandinavian
colonists of Iceland in the 9th century. Of the old Egyptian freshwater
canal Dicuil learnt from one "brother Fidelis," probably another Irish
monk, who, on his way to Jerusalem, sailed along the "Nile" into the Red
Sea--passing on his way the "Barns of Joseph" or Pyramids of Giza, which
are well described. Dicuil's knowledge of the islands north and west of
Britain is evidently intimate; his references to Irish exploration and
colonization, and to (more recent) Scandinavian devastation of the same,
as far as the Faeroes, are noteworthy, like his notice of the elephant
sent by Harun al-Rashid (in 801) to Charles the Great, the most curious
item in a political and diplomatic intercourse of high importance.
Dicuil's reading was wide; he quotes from, or refers to, thirty Greek
and Latin writers, including the classical Homer, Hecataeus, Herodotus,
Thucydides, Virgil, Pliny and King Juba, the sub-classical Solinus, the
patristic St Isidore and Orosius, and his contemporary the Irish poet
Sedulius;--in particular, he professes to utilize the alleged surveys of
the Roman world executed by order of Julius Caesar, Augustus and
Theodosius (whether Theodosius the Great or Theodosius II. is
uncertain). He probably did not know Greek; his references to Greek
authors do not imply this. Though certainly Irish by birth, it has been
conjectured (from his references to Sedulius and the caliph's elephant)
that he was in later life in an Irish monastery in the Frankish empire.
Letronne inclines to identify him with Dicuil or Dichull, abbot of
Pahlacht, born about 760.
There are seven chief MSS. of the _De mensura_ (Dicuil's tract on
grammar is lost); of these the earliest and best are (1) Paris,
National Library, Lat. 4806; (2) Dresden, Regius D. 182; both are of
the 10th century. Three editions exist: (1) C. A. Walckenaer's, Paris,
1807; (2) A. Letronne's, Paris, 1814, best as to commentary; (3) G.
Parthey's, Berlin, 1870, best as to text. See also C. R. Beazley,
_Dawn of Modern Geography_ (London, 1897), i. 317-327, 522-523, 529;
T. Wright, _Biographia Britannica literaria, Anglo-Saxon Period_
(London, 1842), pp. 372-376. (C. R. B.)
DIDACHE, THE, or _Teaching of the (twelve) Apostles_,--the most
important of the recent recoveries in the region of early Christian
literature (see APOCRYPHAL LITERATURE). It was previously known by name
from lists of canonical and extra-canonical books compiled by Eusebius
and other writers. Moreover, it had come to be suspected by several
scholars that a lost book, variously entitled _The Two Ways_ or _The
Judgment of Peter_, had been freely used in a number of works, of which
mention must presently be made. In 1882 a critical reconstruction of
this book was made by Adam Krawutzcky with marvellous accuracy, as was
shown when in the very next year the Greek bishop and metropolitan,
Philotheus Bryennius, published _The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles_
from the same manuscript from which he had previously published the
complete form of the Epistle of Clement.[1]
_The Didach[=e]_, as we now have it in the Greek, falls into two marked
divisions: (a) a book of moral precepts, opening with the words, "There
are two ways"; (b) a manual of church ordinances, linked on to the
foregoing by the words, "Having first said all these things, baptize,
&c." Each of these must be considered separately before we approach the
question of the locality and date of the whole book in its present form.
1. _The Two Ways._--The author of the complete work, as we now have it,
has modified the original _Two Ways_ by inserting near the beginning a
considerable section containing, among other matter, passages from the
Sermon on the Mount, in which the language of St Matthew's Gospel is
blended with that of St Luke's. He has also added at the close a few
sentences, beginning, "If thou canst not bear (the whole yoke of the
Lord), bear what thou canst" (vi. 2); and among minor changes he has
introduced, in dealing with confession, reference to "the church" (iv.
14). No part of this matter is to be found in the following documents,
which present us in varying degrees of accuracy with _The Two Ways_:
(i.) the Epistle of Barnabas, chaps. xix., xx. (in which the order of
the book has been much broken up, and a good deal has been omitted);
(ii.) the _Ecclesiastical Canons of the Holy Apostles_, usually called
the _Apostolic Church Order_, a book which presents a parallel to the
_Teaching_, in so far as it consists first of a form of _The Two Ways_,
and secondly of a number of church ordinances (here, however, as in the
Syriac _Didascalia_, which gives about the same amount of _The Two
Ways_, various sections are ascribed to individual apostles, e.g. "John
said, There are two ways," &c.); (iii.) a discourse of the Egyptian monk
Schnudi (d. 451), preserved in Arabic (see Iselin, _Texte u. Unters._,
1895); (iv.) a Latin version, of which a fragment was published by O.
von Gebhardt in 1884, and the whole by J. Schlecht in 1900. When by the
aid of this evidence _The Two Ways_ is restored to us free of glosses,
it has the appearance of being a Jewish manual which has been carried
over into the use of the Christian church. This is of course only a
probable inference; there is no prototype extant in Jewish literature,
and, comparing the moral (non-doctrinal) instruction for Christian
catechumens in Hermas, _Shepherd_ (_Mand._ i.-ix.), no real need to
assume one. There was a danger of admitting Gentile converts to the
church on too easy moral terms; hence the need of such insistence on the
ideal as in The Two Ways and the _Mandates_. The recent recovery of the
Latin version is of singular interest, as showing that, even without the
distinctively Christian additions and interpolations which our full form
of the _Teaching_ presents, it was circulating under the title _Doctrina
apostolorum_.[2]
2. The second part of our _Teaching_ might be called a church directory.
It consists of precepts relating to church life, which are couched in
the second person plural; whereas _The Two Ways_ uses throughout the
second person singular. It appears to be a composite work. First (vii.
1-xi. 2) is a short sacramental manual intended for the use of local
elders or presbyters, though such are not named, for they were not yet a
distinctive order or clergy. This section was probably added to _The Two
Ways_ before the addition of the remainder. It orders baptism in the
threefold name, making a distinction as to waters which has Jewish
parallels, and permitting a threefold pouring on the head, if sufficient
water for immersion cannot be had. It prescribes a fast before baptism
for the baptizer as well as the candidate. Fasts are to be kept on
Wednesday and Friday, not Monday and Thursday, which are the fast days
of "the hypocrites," i.e. by a perversion of the Lord's words, the Jews.
"Neither pray ye as the hypocrites; but as the Lord commanded in His
Gospel." Then follows the Lord's Prayer, almost exactly as in St
Matthew, with a brief doxology--"for Thine is the power and the glory
forever." This is to be said three times a day. Next come three
eucharistic prayers, the language of which is clearly marked off from
that of the rest of the book, and shows parallels with the diction of St
John's Gospel. They are probably founded on Jewish thanksgivings, and it
is of interest to note that a portion of them is prescribed as a grace
before meat in (pseudo-) Athanasius' _De virginitate_. A trace of them
is found in one of the liturgical prayers of Serapion, bishop of Thmui,
in Egypt, but they have left little mark on the liturgies of the church.
As in Ignatius and other early writers, the eucharist, a real meal (x.
1) of a family character, is regarded as producing immortality (cf.
"spiritual food and drink and eternal life"). None are to partake of it
save those who have been "baptized in the name of the Lord" (an
expression which is of interest in a document which prescribes the
threefold formula). The prophets are not to be confined to these forms,
but may "give thanks as much as they will." This appears to show that a
prophet, if present, would naturally preside over the eucharist. The
next section (xi. 3-xiii.) deals with the ministry of spiritual gifts as
exercised by apostles, prophets and teachers. An apostle is to be
"received as the Lord"; but he must follow the Gospel precepts, stay but
one or two days, and take no money, but only bread enough for a day's
journey. Here we have that wider use of the term "apostle" to which
Lightfoot had already drawn attention. A prophet, on the contrary, may
settle if he chooses, and in that case he is to receive tithes and
first-fruits; "for they are your high priests." If he be once approved
as a true prophet, his words and acts are not to be criticized; for this
is the sin that shall not be forgiven. Next comes a section (xiv., xv.)
reflecting a somewhat later development concerning fixed services and
ministry; the desire for a stated service, and the need of regular
provision for it, is leading to a new order of things. The eucharist is
to be celebrated every Lord's Day, and preceded by confession of sins,
"that your sacrifice may be pure ... for this is that sacrifice which
was spoken of by the Lord, In every place and time to offer unto Me a
pure sacrifice. Appoint therefore unto yourselves bishops and deacons,
worthy of the Lord, men meek and uncovetous, and true and approved; for
they also minister unto you the ministration of the prophets and
teachers. Therefore despise them not; for they are your honoured ones,
together with the prophets and teachers." This is an arrangement
recommended by one who has tried it, and he reassures the old-fashioned
believer who clings to the less formal regime (and whose protest was
voiced in the Montanist movement), that there will be no spiritual loss
under the new system. The book closes (chap. xvi.) with exhortations to
steadfastness in the last days, and to the coming of the
"world-deceiver" or Antichrist, which will precede the coming of the
Lord. This section is perhaps the actual utterance of a Christian
prophet, and may be of earlier origin than the two preceding sections.
3. It will now be clear that indications of the locality and date of our
present _Teaching_ must be sought for only in the second part, and in
the Christian interpolations in the first part. We have no ground for
thinking that the second part ever existed independently as a separate
book. The whole work was in the hands of the writer of the seventh book
of the _Apostolic Constitutions_, who embodies almost every sentence of
it, interspersing it with passages of Scripture, and modifying the
precepts of the second part to suit a later (4th-century) stage of
church development; this writer was also the interpolator of the
Epistles of Ignatius, and belonged to the Syrian Church. Whether the
second part was known to the writer of the _Apostolic Church Order_ is
not clear, as his only quotation of it comes from one of the eucharistic
prayers. The allusions of early writers seem to point to Egypt, but
their references are mostly to the first part, so that we must be
careful how we argue from them as to the provenance of the book as a
whole. Against Egypt has been urged the allusion in one of the
eucharistic prayers to "corn upon the mountains." This is found in the
Prayer-book of Serapion (c. 350) but omitted in a later Egyptian
prayer; the form as we have it in _The Didach[=e]_ may have passed into
Egypt with the authority of tradition which was afterwards weakened. The
anti-Jewish tone of the second part suggests the neighbourhood of Jews,
from whom the Christians were to be sharply distinguished. Either Egypt
or Syria would satisfy this condition, and in favour of Syria is the
fact that the presbyterate there was to a late date regarded as a rank
rather than an office. If we can connect the injunctions (vi. 3)
concerning (abstinence from certain) food and that which is offered to
idols with the old trouble that arose at Antioch (Acts xv. 1) and was
legislated for by the Jerusalem council, we have additional support for
the Syrian claim. But all that we can safely say as to locality is that
the community here represented seems to have been isolated, and out of
touch with the larger centres of Christian life.
This last consideration helps us in discussing the question of date. For
such an isolated community may have preserved primitive customs for some
time after they had generally disappeared. Certainly the stage of
development is an early one, as is shown, e.g., by the prominence of
prophets, and the need that was felt for the vindication of the position
of the bishops and deacons (there is no mention at all of presbyters);
moreover, there is no reference to a canon of Scripture (though the
written Gospel is expressly mentioned) or to a creed. On the other hand
the "apostles" of the second part are obviously not "the twelve
apostles" of the title; and the prophets seem in some instances to have
proved unworthy of their high position. The ministry of enthusiasm which
they represent is about to give way to the ministry of office, a
transition which is reflected in the New Testament in the 3rd Epistle of
John. Three of the Gospels have clearly been for some time in
circulation; St Matthew's is used several times, and there are phrases
which occur only in St Luke's, while St John's Gospel lies behind the
eucharistic prayers which the writer has embodied in his work. There are
no indications of any form of doctrinal heresy as needing rebuke; the
warnings against false teaching are quite general. While the first part
must be dated before the Epistle of Barnabas, i.e. before A.D. 90, it
seems wisest not to place the complete work much earlier than A.D. 120,
and there are passages which may well be later.
A large literature has sprung up round The _Didach[=e]_ since 1884.
Harnack's edition in _Texte u. Unters._ vol. ii. (1884) is
indispensable to the student; and his discussions in _Altchristl.
Litteratur_ and _Chronologie_ give clear summaries of his work. Other
editions of the text are those of F. X. Funk, _Patres Apostolici_,
vol. i. (Tubingen, 1901); H. Lietzmann (Bonn, 1903; with Latin
version). Dr J. E. Odgers has published an English translation with
introduction and notes (London, 1906). Dr C. Taylor in 1886 drew
attention to some important parallels in Jewish literature; his
edition contains an English translation. Dr Rendel Harris published in
1887 a complete facsimile, and gathered a great store of patristic
illustration. Text and translation will also be found in Lightfoot's
_Apostolic Fathers_ (ed. min.) The fullest critical treatment in
English is by Dr Vernon Bartlet in the extra volume of Hastings's
_Dictionary of the Bible_; the most complete commentary on the text is
by P. Drews in Hennecke's _Handbuch zu den N.T. Apocryphen_ (1904).
Other references to the literature may be found by consulting
Harnack's _Altchristl. Litteratur_.