Chapter I.
The Life of Cassian.
“ natione
Scytha” is the description given by Gennadius
of the writer whose works are now for the first time translated into
English. In spite, however, of the precision of this statement, considerable doubt hangs over Cassian’s nationality, and it is hard to believe that he was in reality a Scythian. Not only is his language and style free from all trace of barbarism, but as a boy he certainly received a liberal education; for in his Conferences he laments that the exertions of his tutor and his own attention to continual study had so weakened him that his mind was so filled with songs of the poets that even at the hour of prayer it was thinking of those trifling fables and stories of battles with which it had from earliest infancy been stored; “and,” he adds, “when singing Psalms or asking forgiveness of sins, some wanton recollection of the poems intrudes itself or the image of heroes fighting presents itself before the eyes; and an imagination of such phantoms is always haunting me.” Further evidence of the character of his education is also supplied by the fact that in his work on the Incarnation against Nestorius he manifests an acquaintance not only with the works of earlier Christian Fathers, but also with those of such writers as Cicero and Persius.
These considerations are sufficient to make us
hesitate before accepting the statement of Gennadius in what would at
first sight be its natural meaning; although from the fact of his
connection with Marseilles, where so much of Cassian’s life was
spent, as well as the early date at which he wrote ( 495), it is dangerous to reject his authority altogether. It is, however, possible that the term “Scytha” is not really intended to denote a Scythian, but to refer to the desert of Scete, or Scitis, in Egypt, where Cassian passed many years of his life, and with which his fame was closely associated; and, therefore, without going to the length of rejecting the authority of Gennadius altogether, we are free to look for some other country as the birthplace of our author. But little light is thrown on this subject by the statements of other writers. Photius ( 800) calls him ῾Ρωμαῖος, which need mean no more than born within the Roman Empire; while Honorius of Autun ( 1130) speaks of him as Afer. The last-mentioned writer is, however, of too late a date to be of any authority; and it is just possible that the term “Afer,” like the “Scytha” of Gennadius, may be owing to his lengthy residence in Egypt. In the writings of Cassian himself there is nothing to enable us to identify the country of his birth with certainty; but, in describing the situation of his ancestral home, he speaks of the delightful pleasantness of the neighbourhood, and the recesses of the woods, which would not only delight the heart of a monk but would also furnish him with a plentiful supply of food; while in a later passage he says that in his own country it was impossible to find any one who had adopted the monastic life. From these notices, compared with a passage in the Preface to the Institutes, where
the
diocese of Apta Julia in Gallia Narbonensis is spoken of as still
without monasteries, some ground is given for the conjecture that
Cassian was really a native of Gaul, whither he returned in mature age
after his wanderings were ended, and where most of his friends of whom
we have any knowledge were settled. On the whole, then, it appears to
the present writer to be the most probable view that Cassian was of
Western origin, and, perhaps, a native of Provence, although it must be
freely acknowledged that it is impossible to speak with certainty on
this subject.