Note 240 — II. THE COLOSSIAN HERESY.

The really important contemporary sources of information respecting the Essenes are Josephus, Bell. Jud. ii. 8. 2–13, Ant. xiii. 5. 9, xviii. 1. 5, Vit. 2 (with notices of individual Essenes Bell. Jud. i. 3. 5, ii. 7. 3, ii. 20. 4, iii. 2. 1, Ant. xiii. 11. 2, xv. 10. 4, 5); and Philo, Quod omnis probus liber § 12 sq. (II. p. 457 sq.), Apol. pro Jud. (II. p. 632 sq., a fragment quoted by Eusebius Præp. Evang. viii. 11 ). The account of the Therapeutes by the latter writer, de Vita Contemplativa (II. p. 471 sq.), must also be consulted, as describing a closely allied sect. To these should be added the short notice of Pliny, N.H. v. 15. 17, as expressing the views of a Roman writer. His account, we may conjecture, was taken from Alexander Polyhistor, a contemporary of Sulla, whom he mentions in his prefatory elenchus as one of his authorities for this 5th book, and who wrote a work On the Jews (Clem. Alex. Strom. i. 21, p. 396, Euseb. Præp. Ev. ix. 17). Significant mention of the Essenes is found also in the Christian Hegesippus (Euseb. H.E. iv. 22) and in the heathen Dion Chrysostom (Synesius Dion 3, p. 39). Epiphanius (Hær. pp. 28 sq., 40 sq.) discusses two separate sects, which he calls Essenes and Ossæans respectively. These are doubtless different names of the same persons. His account is, as usual, confused and inaccurate, but has a certain value. All other authorities are secondary. Hippolytus, Hær. ix. 18–28, follows Josephus (Bell. Jud. ii. 8. 2 sq.) almost exclusively. Porphyry also (de Abstinentia, iv. II sq.) copies this same passage of Josephus, with a few unimportant exceptions probably taken from a lost work by the same author, πρὸς τοὺς Ἑλληνας, which he mentions by name. Eusebius (Præp. Evang. viii. II sq., ix. 3) contents himself with quoting Philo and Porphyry. Solinus (Polyh. xxxv. 9 sq.) merely abstracts Pliny. Talmudical and Rabbinical passages, supposed to contain references to the Essenes, are collected by Frankel in the articles mentioned in a later paragraph; but the allusions are most uncertain (see the appendix to this chapter). The authorities for the history of the Essenes are the subject of an article by W. Clemens in the Zeitschr. f. Wiss. Theol. 1869, p. 328 sq.

The attack on the genuineness of Philo’s treatise De Vita Contemplativa made by Grätz (III. p. 463 sq.) has been met by Zeller (Philosophie, III. ii. p. 255 sq.), whose refutation is complete. The attack of the same writer (III. p. 464) on the genuineness of the treatise Quod omnis probus liber> Zeller considers too frivolous to need refuting (ib. p. 235). A refutation will be found in the above-mentioned article of W. Clemens (p. 340 sq.).

Of modern writings relating to the Essenes the following may be especially mentioned; Bellermann Ueber Essäer u. Therapeuten, Berlin 1821; Gfrörer Philo II. p. 299 sq.; Dähne Ersch u. Gruber’s Encyklopädie s.v.; Frankel Zeitschrift für die religiösen Interessen des Judenthums 1846 p. 441 sq., Monatschrift für Geschichte u. Wissenschaft des Judenthums 1853 p. 30 sq., 61 sq.; BöttgerUeber den Orden der Essäer, Dresden 1849; Ewald Geschichte des Volkes Israel IV. p. 420 sq., VII. p. 153 sq.; Ritschl Entstehung der Altkatholischen Kirche p. 179 sq. (ed. 2, 1857), and Theologische Jahrbücher 1855, p. 315 sq.; Jost Geschichte des Judenthums I. p. 207 sq.; Graetz Geschichte der Juden III. p. 79 sq., 463 sq. (ed. 2, 1863); Hilgenfeld Jüdische Apocalyptik p. 245 sq., and Zeitschr. f. Wiss. Theol. X. p. 97 sq., XI. p. 343 sq., XIV. p. 30 sq.; Westcott Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible s.v.; Ginsburg The Essenes, London 1864, and in Kitto’s Cyclopædia s.v.; Derenbourg L’Histoire et la Géographie de la Palestine p. 166 sq., 460 sq.; Keim Geschichte Jesu von Nazara I. p. 282 sq.; Hausrath Neutestamentliche Zeitgeschichte I. p. 133 sq.; Lipsius Schenkel’s Bibel Lexikon s.v.; Herzfeld Geschichte des Volkes Israel II. 368 sq., 388 sq., 509 sq. (ed. 2, 1863); Zeller Philosophie der Griechen III. 2. p. 234 sq. (ed. 2, 1868); Langen Judenthum in Palästina p. 190 sq.; Löwy Kritisch-talmudisches Lexicon s.v. (Wien 1863); Weiss Zur Geschichte der jüdischen Tradition p. 120 sq. (Wien).