The ''Sentences of Sextus'', also called the ''Sayings of Sextus'', is a

Hellenistic In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...

Pythagorean collection of maxims which was popular among

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ� ...

and translated into several languages. The identity of the Sextus who originated the collection is unknown.

Transmission

The ''Sentences'' was probably compiled in the second century AD. The original collection was

pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. I ...

.William David Ross and Mark Julian Edwards, "Sextus (2)", in Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth (eds.), ''The Oxford Classical Dictionary'', 3rd ed. (Oxford University Press, 2005). It was later modified to reflect a Christian viewpoint, although there are no explicit references to

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and relig ...

. The earliest mention of the ''Sentences'' is by

Origen Origen of Alexandria, ''Ōrigénēs''; Origen's Greek name ''Ōrigénēs'' () probably means "child of Horus" (from , "Horus", and , "born"). ( 185 – 253), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an early Christian scholar, ascetic, and the ...

in the mid third century. Origen quotes Sextus on self-castration, a widespread habit among ascetic early Christians, which Origen deplores, and mentions in passing that the work is one "that many considered to be tested by time." A

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

translation was made from the original Greek by Rufinus of Aquileia under the title ''Anulus'' around 400.Martha Lee Turner (1996), "The Sentences of Sextus and Related Collections", in ''The Gospel according to Philip'' (Brill), p. 104. A partial Coptic translation was discovered in one of the books of the New Testament apocrypha recovered from the

Nag Hammadi library The Nag Hammadi library (also known as the " Chenoboskion Manuscripts" and the "Gnostic Gospels") is a collection of early Christian and Gnostic texts discovered near the Upper Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi in 1945. Thirteen leather-bound papyr ...

in 1945. A Syriac translation is also known, its title translates ''Dicta Selecta Sancti Xysti Episcopi Romani'' ('select sayings of Saint Xystus, Roman bishop').

Authorship

The identity of Sextus has been disputed for a long time. The identification with Pope

Xystus II Pope Sixtus II ( el, Πάπας Σίξτος Β΄), also written as Pope Xystus II, was bishop of Rome from 31 August 257 until his death on 6 August 258. He was martyred along with seven deacons, including Lawrence of Rome, during the persecutio ...

(), current by the time of the Latin and Syriac translations, is denied by

Jerome Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian priest, confessor, theologian, and historian; he is co ...

, who calls the author Sextus Pythagoreus. Such attributions to important figures, which happened frequently, were usually attempts to give the works more authority. One possible author of the ''Sentences'' is

Quintus Sextius Quintus Sextius the Elder (; la, Quinti Sextii Patris; fl. c. 50 BC) was a Roman philosopher, whose philosophy combined Pythagoreanism with Stoicism. His praises were frequently celebrated by Seneca. Life Sextius was born no later than 70 BC. ...

, a Roman philosopher who combined

Stoicism Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded by Zeno of Citium in Athens in the early 3rd century BCE. It is a philosophy of personal virtue ethics informed by its system of logic and its views on the natural world, asserting tha ...

with

Pythagoreanism Pythagoreanism originated in the 6th century BC, based on and around the teachings and beliefs held by Pythagoras and his followers, the Pythagoreans. Pythagoras established the first Pythagorean community in the ancient Greek colony of Kroton, ...

, and who lived in the 1st century BC.Richard M. Gummere, (1917), ''Seneca, Epistles 1-65'', p. 412. Loeb Classical Library.

The work is similar to the sayings gospels called the ''

Gospel of Phillip The Gospel of Philip is a non-canonical Gnostic Gospel dated to around the 3rd century but lost in medieval times until rediscovered by accident, buried with other texts near Nag Hammadi in Egypt, in 1945. The text is not closely related to the c ...

'' and the '' Gospel of Thomas'' in that it is purely a collection of sayings, with no bridging framework. Unlike the Christian sayings gospels, the wisdom comes from a man named Sextus rather than Jesus. Sextus appears to have been a Pythagorean. There are 451 sentences. Some are: *''The soul is illuminated by the recollection of deity'' *''Bear that which is necessary, as it is necessary'' *''Be not anxious to please the multitude'' *''Esteem nothing so precious, which a bad man may take from you'' *''Use lying like poison'' *''Guard yourself from lying. (Because when you lie) there is a deceiver and the deceived.'' *''Nothing is so peculiar to wisdom as truth'' *''Wish that you may be able to benefit your enemies'' *''A wise intellect is the mirror of God'' *''Cast away any part of the body that would cause you not to live abstinently. For it is better to live abstinently without this part than ruinously with it.'' (quoted by

)

Notes

Bibliography

* Wilson, Walter T. 2012. ''The Sentences of Sextus.'' (Wisdom Literature from the Ancient World 1.) Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature. ext and commentary* *

External links

* * {{Authority control

Sextus Sextus is an ancient Roman ''praenomen'' or "first name". Its standard abbreviation is Sex., and the feminine form would be Sexta. It is one of the numeral ''praenomina'', like Quintus ("fifth") and Decimus ("tenth"), and means "sixth". Although i ...

Pythagorean philosophy Coptic literature Nag Hammadi library

Transmission

Authorship

Contents

Notes

Bibliography

External links