GETHSEMANI
540
GETHSEMANI
copies were multiplied, often with local additions, so
that it is not now possible to determine whether it was
originally written in England, Germany, or France.
Oesterley, its latest critical editor (Berlin, 1872), is of
opinion that it was originally composed in England,
whence it passed to the Continent, and that by the
middle of the fourteenth century there existed three
distinct families of MSS.: the English group, WTitten
in Latin; the Latin and German group; and a third
group represented liy the first printed editions. The
MSS. differ considerably as to number and arrange-
ment of articles, but no one MS. representing the
printed editions exists. Probably the editors of the
first printed edition selected stories from various MSS.
Their volume was a folio issued from the press of Kete-
laer and De Leempt at LItrecht, while a second edition
was published Ijy Ter Hoenen at Cologne. Shortly
after this collection had been published, an enlarged
edition, now known as the Vulgate, was issued, con-
taining 181 stories. This was compiled from the
third group of MSS., and was printed by Ulrich Zell at
Cologne. All these three editions appeared between
1472 and 1475, and subsequent reprints were numer-
ous. The first English translation, based on the Eng-
lish group of MSS., was issued by Wynkyn de Worde
about 1510, and was followed by others. These Eng-
lish editions have many stories in common with the
Vulgate, but include others derived from the English
MSS. None of the English editions, old or new, give
the moralizations in their entirety, full as they are of
Catholic teaching, dogmatic and moral. Though the
title of the work suggests Roman history as the chief
source of the stories, many of them are taken from
later Latin or German chronicles, while several are
Oriental in character. In estimating the wide influ-
ence of the " Gesta" it must be remembered that the
collection proved a mine of anecdotes, not only for
preachers, but for poets, from Chaucer, Lydgate, and
Boccaccio down through Shakespeare to Schiller and
Rossetti, so that many of these old stories are now
enshrined in masterpieces of European literature.
Oesterley, Gesta Roman nrum (Berlin, 1872), critical edition, Latin text, and dissertation; Swan, Gesta Romanorum, stand- ard Eng. tr., first published in Bohn's Antiquarian Library (1824); edited by Wynnahd Hooper (London, 1877), with val- uable preface, and again by E. A. Baker (London, 1905). Wynnard Hooper's edition is also reprinted in the York Li- brary (London. 1905); Warton, History of English Poetry, Dis- sertation iii. Vol. Ill (London, 1781); Madden, Old English Versions of the Gesta Romanorum (Roxburghe Club, 1838); Herrtage, Introduction to Early English Texts Society's edition of Madden's Old English Versions (London, 1879).
Edwin Burton.
Gethsemani (Hebrew gat, press, and semen, oil) is the place in which Jesus Christ suffered the Agony and was taken prisoner by the Jews. Saint Mark (xiv, 32) calls it x'^P^""! "a place" or "estate"; St. John (xviii, 1) speaks of it as k^ttos, a "garden" or "or- chard". In the East, a field shaded by numerous fruit trees and surrounded by .a wall of loose stone or a quick- set hedge forms the cl boatfin, the garden. The name "oil-press" is sufficient indication that it was planted especially with olive trees. According to the Greek version and others, St. Matthew (xxvi, 36) designates Gethsemani by a term equivalent to that used by St. Mark. The Vulgate renders x^p'o" by the word villa, but there is no reason to sujipose that there was a resi- dence there. St. Luke (xxii, 39) refers to it as "the Mount of Olives", and St. John (xviii, 1) speaks of it as being "over the brook Cedron". According to St. Mark, the Saviour was in the habit of retiring to this place; and St. John writes: "Judas also, who be- trayed him, knew the place; because Jesus had often resorted thither together with his disciples".
A place so memorable, to which all the Evangelists direct attention, was not lost sight of by the early Christians. In his " Onomasticon" (ed. Klostermann, 1904, p. 74), Eu.sebius of Caesarea says that Gethsem- ani is situated "at the foot of the Mount of Olives",
and he adds that " the faithful were accustomed to go
there to pray ' '. In 333 the Pilgrim of Bordeaux vis-
ited the place, arriving by the road which climbs to
the summit of the mountain, i. e. beyond the bridge
across the valley of Josaphat. In the time of the
Jews, the bridge which spanned the torrent of Cedron
occupied nearly the same place as the one which is
seen there to-day, as Ls testified by the ancient stair-
case cut in the rock, which on one side came down
from the town and on the other wound to the top of
the mountain. Petronius, Bishop of Bologna (c. 420),
and Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, speak of this
immense staircase and two other pilgrims counted the
steps. Traces of it are still to be seen on the side to-
wards the city, and numerous steps, very large and
well-preserved, have been discovered above the pres-
ent Garden of Gethsemani. The Pilgrim of Bordeaux
notes "to the left, among the vines, the stone where
Judas Iscariot betrayed Christ". In translating the
"Onomasticon" of Eusebius, St. Jerome adds to the
article Gethsemani the statement that " a church is now
built there" (Onomasticon, ed. Hostermann, p. 75).
St. Sylvia of Aquitania (385-388) relates that on
Holy Thursday the procession coming down from the
Mount of Olives made a station at "the beautiful
church" built on the spot where Jesus underwent the
Agony. "From there", she adds, "they descend to
Gethsemani where Christ was taken prisoner" (S. Sil-
via Aquit. Peregr., ed. Gamiu'rini, 1888, pp. 62-63).
This church, remarkable for its beautiful columns
(Theophanes, Chronogr. ad an. 682), was destroyed by
the Persians in 614; rebuilt by the Crusaders, and
finally razed, probably in 1219. Arculf (c. 670), St.
Willibald (723), Daniel the Russian (1106), and John
of Wiirzburg ( 1 165) mention the Church of the Agony.
The foundations have recently been discovered at the
place indicated by them, i. e. at a very short distance
from the south-east corner of the present Garden of
Gethsemani.
A fragmentary account of a pilgrimage in the fourth century, preserved by Peter the Deacon (1037), men- tions "a grotto at the place where the Jews took the Saviour captive". According to tradition it was in this grotto that Christ was wont to take refuge with His disciples to pass the night. It is also memorable for a supper and a washing of the feet which, according to the same tradition, took place there. Eutychius, Patriarch of Constantinople (d. 583), says in one of his sermons that the Church commemorates three sup- pers. " The first repast ' ', he says, " together with the purification, took place at Gethsemani on the Sabbath day, the first day, i. e. when Sunday was already be- gun. That is why we then celebrate the vigU " (P. G., LXXXVI, 2392). The second supper was that of Bethany, and the third was that of Holy Thursday at which was instituted the Holy Eucharist. Theodo- sius (c. 530) describes this grotto in these terms: " There [in the valley of Josaphat] is situated the ba- silica of Holy Mary, Mother of God, with her .sepulchre. There is also the place where the Lord supped with his disciples. There He washed their feet. There are to be seen four benches where Our Lord reclined in the midst of His Apostles. Each bench can seat three persons. There also Judas betrayed the Saviour. Some persons, when they visit this spot, through de- votion partake of some refreshment, but no meat. They light torches because the place is in a grotto." Antoninus of Plaisance (570), Arculf, Epiphanius the Hagiopolite, and others make mention of the well- known pasch of which the Grotto of Gethsemani was witness. In the Church of the Agony the stone was preserved on which, according to tradition, Jesus knelt during His Agony. It is related by Arculf that, after the destruction of the church by the Persians, the stone was removed to the grotto and there vener- ated. In 1165 John of Wiirzburg found it still pre- served at this spot, and there is yet to be seen on the
