Read two volumes of the works of Clement, bishop of Rome.[588] One
is entitled _The Apostolic Constitutions by Clement_, containing
the synodical canons ascribed to the assembled Apostles. The other,
in the form of a letter, is dedicated to James the Lord’s brother
and contains what are called _The Acts of the Apostle Peter, His
Conversations with Simon Magus, The Recognition of Clement and his
Father and his two Brothers_. Hence in some copies it is entitled
_The Recognition of Clement of Rome_. As we have said, a letter is
prefixed as sent to James the Lord’s brother, but not always the
same nor from the same person, according to some copies being sent
by Peter the apostle, according to others by Clement to James. In
the first case, Peter would seem to have compiled an account of his
own acts and sent it to James at his request; in the second, Clement
compiled it by command of Peter and sent it to James, after Peter had
passed to immortal life. It may be conjectured then that there were
two editions of the _Acts of Peter_, and that when one in course of
time perished that of Clement alone survived. For in all the copies
which I have seen--by no means a few--after those different epistles
and titles I have unvaryingly found the same treatise beginning,
“I, Clement,” etc. The work is full of countless absurdities and
of blasphemy against the Son in accordance with the Arian heresy.
The _Constitutions_ appear to be liable to censure on three counts:
clumsy fiction, which it is easy to remove; the abusive charges
against Deuteronomy, which can easily be met, and its Arianism, which
can be refuted by a vigorous attack. But the book of the _Acts of
Peter_, in its distinctness and earnestness, its purity, vehemence,
its general linguistic excellences, and its great learning, is
so superior to the _Constitutions_ that, as far as language is
concerned, no comparison between the two works is possible.
It is this Clement of whom St. Paul speaks in the Epistle to the
Philippians, “With Clement also, and other my fellow-labourers,
whose names are written in the book of life.”[589] He also wrote an
important letter to the Corinthians, which was so highly thought of
that it was read in public. A second letter to the same is rejected
as spurious, as also the lengthy discussion, a dialogue between Peter
and Ap(p)ion.[590] Some say that Clement succeeded Peter as bishop
of Rome, others that he was the fourth bishop, Linus and Anacletus
intervening, and that he died in the third year of Trajan’s reign.