Hermas, The Shepherd of Hermas, 2.1

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[1] While I was going to Cumae, at about the¹ same time as the year before, as I walked along I remembered the vision of the previous year, and the spirit again seized me and took me away to the same place, where I had been the previous year.

[2] So when I came to the place, I knelt down and began to pray to the Lord and to glorify his name, because he had thought me worthy, and had made known to me my former sins.

[3] But after I rose from prayer I saw before me the ancient lady,² whom I had seen the year before, walking and reading out from a little book. And she said to me: Can you take this message to God’s elect ones? I said to her: Lady, I cannot remember³ so much; but give me the little book to copy. Take it, she said, and give it me back.

[4] I took it and went away to a certain place in the country, and copied it all, letter by letter, for I could not distinguish the syllables.⁴ So when I had finished the letters of the little book it was suddenly taken out of my hand; but I did not see by whom.

The Shepherd of Hermas. Hermas. . 1913.

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Current edition Perseus

Hermas (English) (Hermas. The Apostolic Fathers with an English translation by Kirsopp Lake. In Two Volumes. Vol. II. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd. 1913)

Editions (1)

Ποιμὴν First1KGreek (Hermas. The Apostolic Fathers, Vol 2. Lake, Kirsopp, editor. London: William Heinemann; New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1917.) — 2.1 focus

[1] Πορευομένου μου εἰς Κώμας ¹ κατὰ τὸν καιρόν, ὃν καὶ πέρυσι, περιπατῶν ἀνεμνήσθην τῆς περυσινῆς ὁράσεως, καὶ πάλιν με αἵρει πνεῦμα καὶ ἀποφέρει εἰς τὸν αὐτὸν τόπον, ὅπου καὶ πέρυσι.

[2] ἐλθὼν οὖν εἰς τὸν τόπον τιθῶ τὰ γόνατα ² καὶ ἠρξάμην προσεύχεσθαι τῷ κυρίῳ καὶ δοξάζειν αὐτοῦ τὸ ὄνομα, ὅτι με ἄξιον ἡγήσατο καὶ ἐγνώρισέν μοι τὰς ἁμαρτίας μου τὰς πρότερον.

[3] μετὰ δὲ τὸ ἐγερθῆναί με ἀπὸ τῆς προσευχῆς βλέπω ἀπέναντί μου τὴν πρεσβυτέραν, ἣν καὶ πέρυσιν ³ ἑωράκειν, περιπατοῦσαν καὶ ἀναγινώσκουσαν βιβλαρίδιον, καὶ λέγει μοι: Δύνῃ ταῦτα τοῖς ἐκλεκτοῖς τοῦ θεοῦ ἀναγγεῖλαι; λέγω αὐτῇ: Κυρία, τοσαῦτα μνημονεῦσαι οὐ δύναμαι: δὸς δέ μοι τὸ βιβλίδιον, ἵνα μεταγράψωμαι αὐτό. Λάβε, φησίν, καὶ ἀποδώσεις μοι.

[4] ἔλαβον ἐγώ, καὶ εἴς τινα τόπον τοῦ ἀγροῦ ἀναχωρήσας μετεγραψάμην πάντα πρὸς γράμμα: οὐχ ηὕρισκον γὰρ τὰς συλλαβάς. τελέσαντος οὖν ⁴ τὰ γράμματα τοῦ βιβλιδίου ἐξαίφνης ἡρπάγη μου ἐκ τῆς χειρὸς τὸ βιβλίδιον: ὑπὸ τίνος δὲ οὐκ εἶδον.

Notes on the current edition

The Shepherd of Hermas

1. The second vision at Cumae

2. The ancient lady returns

3. The little book

4. Hermas no doubt means that it was written, like most early MSS., in a continuous script with no divisions between the words.

Hermas The Shepherd of Hermas 2.1

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