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Page 15
SOCINIAN BOAST.
(Vol. ii., p. 375.).
One of your correspondents, referring to the lines lately quoted by Dr.
Pusey--
"Tota jacet Babylon; destruxit tecta Lutherus,
Calvinus muros, sed fundamenta Socinus."
inquires "by what Socinian writer" are these two hexameter verses used ?
In reply, I beg to remark that by "Socinian" is, I suppose, meant
"Unitarian," for even the immediate converts of Socinus refused to be
called Socinians, alleging that their belief was founded on the teaching of
Jesus Christ; and modern Unitarians, disowning all human authority in
religious matters, cannot take to themselves the name of Socinus.
The distich, however, appears to have been in use among the Polish
Unitarians shortly after the death of Faustus Socinus, as respectfully
expressive of the exact effect which they conceived that he had produced in
the religious world. Mr. Wallace, in his _Antitrinitarian Biography_, vol.
iii. p. 323., states that it is "the epitaph said to have been inscribed on
the tomb of Faustus Socinus." Mr. Wallace's authority for this assertion I
have not been able to discover. Bock (_Hist. Antitrinitariorum_, vol. iii.
p. 725.), whom Mr. Wallace generally follows, observes that the adherents
of Faustus Socinus were accustomed to use these lines "respecting his
decease," (qui de ejus obitu canere soliti sunt). This would seem to imply
that the lines were composed not long after the death of Faustus Socinus.
Probably they formed originally a part of poem written as a eulogy on him
by some minister of the Unitarian church. The case would not be without a
parallel.
Three versions of the distich are before me; that cited by Dr. Pusey, and
the two which follow:--
"Alta ruit Babylon; destruxit tecta Lutherus,
Muros Calvinus, sed fundamenta Socinus."
Fock, _Socinianismus_, vol. i. p. 180.
"Tota ruet Babylon; destruxit tecta Lutherus,
Muros Calvinus, sed fundamenta Socinus."
Bock, _ut supra_.
Which is the original? Bock's reading has the preference in my mind,
because he is known to have founded his history on the results of his own
personal investigations among the manuscripts as {484} well as the printed
documents of the Polish Unitarian Churches. Besides, if, as there is reason
to believe, the lines were composed shortly after the death of F. Socinus,
_ruet_ (_will_ fall) would now correctly describe what, at so small a
distance from the days of Luther and Calvin, may be supposed to have been
the feeling among the Polish Unitarians; whereas Dr. Pusey's _jacet_ (lies
low, in the _present_ tense) does as certainly partake somewhat of the
grandiloquent. That no "boast," however, was intended, becomes probable,
when we consider that the distich was designed to convey a feeling of
reverence towards Socinus rather than an insult to Rome.
JOHN R. BEARD.
* * * * *
REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES.
_The K�nigs-stuhl at Rheuze_ (Vol. ii., p. 442.).--DR. BELL, who inquires
for an engraving of the old _K�nigs_ or _Kaisers-stuhl_, at Rheuze, is
referrred to the _History of Germany, on the Plan of Mrs. Markham's
Histories_, published by Murray, where, on the 188th page, he will find a
very neat woodcut of this building, which we are told was destroyed in
1807, and rebuilt after the original model in 1843. It is of an octagon
form, supported by pillars, with seven stone seats round the sides for the
electors, and one in the centre for the emperor.
M.H.G.
[The woodcuts of this work deserve especial commendation, being
accurate representations of objects of historical interest, instead of
the imaginative illustrations too often introduced into works which
claim to represent the truth of history. Many of the engravings, such
as that of the _room in which the Council of Constance was held_, and
the _Cages of the Anabaptists_ attached to the tower of _St. Lambert's
Church, Munster_, are, we have understood, copied from original
sketches placed at Mr. Murray's disposal for the purpose of being used
in the work in question.]
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