authorship and pseudepigraphy in early christian literature 23
let the following books be esteemed venerable and holy by you, both of the
clergy and laity. of the old Covenant: the five books of Moses—genesis,
exodus, leviticus, numbers, and deuteronomy; one of Joshua the son of
nun, one of the Judges, one of ruth, four of the Kings, two of the Chronicles,
two of ezra, one of esther, one of Judith, three of the Maccabees, one of Job,
one hundred and fifty psalms; three books of solomon—Proverbs, ecclesi-
astes, and the song of songs; sixteen prophets. and besides these, take care
that your young persons learn the Wisdom of the very learned sirach.
But our sacred books, that is, those of the new Covenant, are these: the
four gospels of Matthew, Mark, luke, and John; the fourteen epistles of
Paul; two epistles of Peter, three of John, one of James, one of Jude; two
epistles of Clement; and the Constitutions dedicated to you the bishops by
me Clement, in eight books; which it is not fit to publish before all, because
of the mysteries contained in them; and the acts of us the apostles.
David, In Porphyrii isagogen commentarium 1
In the sixth century ce, the neoplatonic author david armenius identified
one of the motives that led ancient authors to provide their texts with
pseudepigraphical attributions.21
Whenever someone was unknown and mean but nevertheless wanted that
his own writing was read he superscribed it with the name of an ancient
and famous man in order that through the repute of that man his own book
was accepted.
Diogenes Laertius 8.54
In his compendium on the lives and doctrines of ancient philosophers (first
half of the second century ce), diogenes laertius reported that the philoso-
pher empedocles (about 490–430 bce) was excluded from the lectures of
Pythagoras for stealing their content, in other words for plagiarism.22
timaeus in the ninth book of his “histories” says he (i.e., empedocles) was
a pupil of Pythagoras, adding that, having been convicted at that time of
stealing his discourses, he was, like Plato, excluded from taking part in the
discussions of the school.
21 My translation of a. Busse (ed.), Davidis Prolegomena et in Prophyrii Isagogen Com-
mentarium (Commentaria in aristotelem graeca 18/2; Berlin: de gruyter, 1904), 82,1–4.
22 trans. by r. d. hicks, lCl 185:369, 371.