This scene accompanies a brief Life of St John the Divine, at the start of a copy of the Revelation (or Apocalypse) of St John, the closing book of the New Testament. The miniature was made in London in about 1255-1260, much the same time that Jacobus de Voragine was compiling The Golden Legend in Genoa, and shows St John before Emperor Domitian, and to the right, he emergence unscathed from a vat of boiling oil.
Introduction
In the Revelation of St John, the ‘beloved disciple’ tells us that he spent some time on the island of Patmos in the Aegean Sea. A tradition going back to Tertullian (155-220) says that John was banished there in 92 after frustrating the State’s attempt to execute him for his Christian beliefs. Pioneering English printer William Caxton translated the tale for his edition of The Golden Legend, published in 1483-84.
WHEN St John the apostle and evangelist preached in a city of Greece named Ephesus, he was taken of the judge, which commanded him that he should make sacrifice to the false idols, and when he would not do it he put him in prison. And after, he sent a letter to Domitian* which said that he held an enchanter in prison which had despised their gods and worshipped him that was crucified.* Then commanded Domitian that he should be brought to Rome, and when he was there they did do shave off all the hairs of his head in derision,* and after, they brought him tofore* the gate called Port Latin,* and put him in a tun full of burning oil. But he never felt harm nor pain, and without suffering any harm he issued out. In that place Christian men did do make a fair church,* and this day made a solemn feast, as it were the day of his martyrdom. And when the emperor saw that he ceased not of preaching for the commandment that he had made, he sent him in exile into an isle named Patmos.
Spelling modernised
From ‘The Golden Legend: Or, Lives of the Saints’ Vol. III (1900) originally by Jacobus de Voragine (?1228-1298), as translated by William Caxton (?1422-1491). Spelling modernised.
* Roman Emperor from 81 to 96, infamous for his persecution of Christians.
* Wild rumours flickered to and fro of a secret society with cannibal feasts (apparently stirred by garbled accounts of the Eucharist) but it was enough for many, as The Golden Legend goes on to explain, that the Christians refused to say that any religion rubber-stamped by the Senate was as good as another. See Why Rome Persecuted the Christians.
* Shaving the head was a punishment imposed on sex workers operating outside the Government’s regulatory system. According to Bruce W. Winter in Roman Wives, Roman Widows (2003), this is why St Paul told certain married women attending churches in Corinth that, if they were going to do off their matronly head-coverings in the hope of snaring a lover (much as a woman today might take off her wedding ring in a bar) they might as well just get their heads shaved and save the State the trouble. See 1 Corinthians 11:1-15.
* An archaic word meaning ‘up to’, still to be seen in the adverb ‘heretofore’, meaning ‘up to now’.
* The Porta Latina is a single-arched gate in the third-century (271-275) Aurelian Walls of ancient Rome, where the Via Latina entered the south east of the City. Most of the gate as it stands today dates back to the time of Emperor Honorius (r. 393-423). On Honorius, see also A Bird in the Hand is Worth....
* The Chuch of St John at the Latin Gate in Rome is the ‘fair church’ that Christian men built at the place where St John suffered. There has been a church here since around 493-496, though it has seen a good deal of rebuilding over the centuries. Some features go back to Pope Adrian I (r. 772-795), a generation or so after our own St Bede; some to Pope Celestine III (1191-1198) in the reign of Henry II of England; and the impressive bell tower to the eleventh century and the days of the Norman Conquest. The church’s patronal feast on May 6th was abolished by the Roman Church in 1960 in a wide-ranging cull of festivals thought to be without historical foundation. See a picture of the church at Wikimedia Commons.
Questions for Critics
1. What are the authors aiming to achieve in writing this?
2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the authors communicate their ideas more effectively?
3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?
Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.
Précis
The thirteenth-century Golden Legend retold an ancient tale about how St John the Divine, arraigned at Ephesus for seditious preaching, was taken to Rome but emerged unscathed from Emperor Domitian’s attempt to boil him in oil outside the Latin Gate. Domitian banished him to Patmos, but Christians raised a church on the site just as if the martyrdom had succeeded. (60 / 60 words)
The thirteenth-century Golden Legend retold an ancient tale about how St John the Divine, arraigned at Ephesus for seditious preaching, was taken to Rome but emerged unscathed from Emperor Domitian’s attempt to boil him in oil outside the Latin Gate. Domitian banished him to Patmos, but Christians raised a church on the site just as if the martyrdom had succeeded.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: although, because, besides, or, otherwise, ought, since, whereas.
Archive
Word Games
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Letter. Their. Worship.
2 Commandment. Harm. Pain.
3 Do. Hold. There.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
Verb and Noun Find in Think and Speak
Many words can serve as noun or verb depending on context: see if you can prove this with the examples below. Nouns go well with words such as the/a, or his/her; verbs go well after I/you/he etc..
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Judge. 2 Oil. 3 Man. 4 Name. 5 Burn. 6 Command. 7 Make. 8 Pain. 9 Call.
Variations: 1.if possible, use your noun in the plural, e.g. cat → cats. 2.use your verb in a past form, e.g. go → went. 3.use your noun in a sentence with one of these words: any, enough, fewer, less, no, some.
Subject and Object Find in Think and Speak
Use each word below in two sentences, first as the subject of a verb, and then as the object of a verb. It doesn’t have to be the same verb: some verbs can’t be paired with an object (e.g. arrive, happen), so watch out for these.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1. Oil. 2. Judge. 3. Place. 4. Letter. 5. Make. 6. Pain. 7. Issue. 8. Emperor. 9. Name.
Variations: 1.use your noun in the plural (e.g. cat → cats), if possible. 2.give one of your sentences a future aspect (e.g. will, going to). 3.write sentences using negatives such as not, neither, nobody and never.
Add Vowels Find in Think and Speak
Make words by adding vowels to each group of consonants below. You may add as many vowels as you like before, between or after the consonants, but you may not add any consonants or change the order of those you have been given. See if you can beat our target of common words.
sht (6)
shat. sheet. shoot. shot. shout. shut.
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