spent some time in Syria. There seem also traces that Tertullian, who was acquainted with the Eusebian Apology of Melito, also used this one. Such perhaps may be the identification of Serapis with Joseph and the remark that the old heathen gods were practically less honoured than the emperors, since their temples had to pay taxes.
Of other works of Melito the περὶ τοῦ πάσχα is first in the list of Eusebius. The date is limited by the opening sentence which Eusebius quotes: "In the proconsulate over Asia of Servilius Paulus, at the time that Sagaris suffered martyrdom, there took place much dispute at Laodicea about the Paschal celebration ἐμπεσόντος κατὰ καιρόν in those days, and these things were written." Rufinus here reads "Sergius Paulus," and this appears from other authorities to have been the real name of the proconsul in question, probably within the limits 164–166.
The appeal of Polycrates to the authority of Melito makes it clear that the latter, in his work on Easter celebration, took the Quartodeciman side. Eusebius says that the work of Melito drew forth another, no doubt on the opposite side, from Clement of Alexandria. It has been conjectured that Melito was the Ionian whom Clement (Eus. H. E. v. 11) enumerates as among his teachers. It should be noticed that the extant fragments of Melito refute the notion that Quartodecimanism was inconsistent with the reception of the Fourth Gospel. Melito speaks of our Lord's three years' ministry after His baptism, which he could not have learned from the Synoptists. He accounts for the fact that a ram, not a lamb, was substituted as a sacrifice for Isaac, by the remark that our Lord, when He suffered, was not young like Isaac, but of mature years. Possibly here may be an indication that Melito held the same theory concerning our Lord's age as Irenaeus and other Asiatics, derived no doubt from John viii. 57. The whole passage shews that Melito believed strongly in the atoning efficacy of Christ's death, and looked on Him as the sacrificial lamb. The word he uses is ἀμνός, as in the Gospel, not ἀρνίον as in the Apocalypse.
The next work of Melito from which Eusebius has given an extract is called Selections, addressed to a friend named Onesimus, who had asked Melito to make selections from the law and the prophets of passages concerning our Saviour, and concerning all our faith, and also to give him accurate information as to the number and order of the O.T. books. Melito relates that he had gone up to the East to the place where the things were preached and done, and had accurately learned the books of the O.T. He enumerates the five books of Moses, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, four of Kings, two of Chronicles, Psalms of David, Proverbs of Solomon, also called Wisdom, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Job; of the Prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, the twelve Minor Prophets in one book, Daniel, Ezekiel, Esdras. The last, no doubt, includes Nehemiah and possibly Esther, which is otherwise omitted. This list gives the Hebrew canon adopted by the Church of England; but gives a different order of the books from that of Josephus, and does not attempt to make the number of books 22. The expressions "the Old Books," "the Books of the O.T.," shew clearly that the church of Melito's time had a New Testament canon.
Eusebius enumerates other works of Melito as being known to him. The titles enable us imperfectly to guess at their contents, and sometimes the titles themselves are uncertain. (4) τὰ περὶ πολιτείας καὶ προφητῶν, very likely two separate works "on Christian Conversation" and "on the Prophets" coupled together by Eusebius, because contained in the same volume in the Caesarean Library. (5) περὶ ἐκκλησίας. It has been conjectured that the breaking out of Montanism may have made it necessary to insist on the authority of the church. (6) περὶ κυριακῆς. Possibly the Quartodeciman controversy led to discussion about the Lord's Day. This word κυριακή, used in Rev. i. 10, is found also in Ignatius's Ep. to the Magnesians, c. 9, and in the letter of Dionysius of Corinth to Soter (Eus. iv. 33). (7) περὶ φύσεως ἀνθρώπου. (8) περὶ πλάσεως. This book on the formation of man, and (7) on the nature of man, if that be the reading, are conjectured to have been directed against Gnostic theories. (9) περὶ ὑπακοῆς πίστεως αἰσθητηρίων. What was the subject of a treatise on the obedience of faith of the senses has perplexed ancient as well as modern readers of this list. Jerome thinks that a περὶ may have dropped out of the text, and that there were two treatises, one on the Obedience of Faith, one on the Senses. (10) περὶ ψυχῆς καὶ σώματος καὶ νοός, probably on Human Nature. (11) περὶ λουτροῦ. (12) περὶ ἀληθείας, perhaps an apologetic work in commendation of Christianity. (13) περὶ κτίσεως καὶ γενέσεως Χριστοῦ. Ancient writers with one consent apply to our Lord the Κύριος ἔκτισέν με ἀρχὴν ὁδῶν αὐτοῦ of Prov. viii. 22. For a full discussion of this verse see Athan. Or. Cont. Ar. ii. 44. (14) περὶ προφητείας. A work with the same title written, or intended to be written, by Clement of Alexandria, was directed against the Montanists (Strom. iv. 13, p. 605), and this may also have been the design of this work of Melito, if the Montanist controversy had broken out before his death. (15) περὶ φιλοξενίας. (16) ἡ κλείς. What was the nature of this work we have no information. A Latin work entitled Melitonis Clavis Sanctae Scripturae mentioned by Labbe in 1653 as preserved in the library of the Clermont College is a medieval Latin composition. (17) (18) τὰ περὶ τοῦ διαβόλου καὶ τῆς ἀποκαλύψεως Ἰωάννου. The form of expression would indicate that both subjects were discussed in a single treatise. (19) περὶ ἐνσωμάτου θεοῦ. It would be natural to translate this, On God Incarnate, and we have other evidence that Melito wrote on the Incarnation. When he speaks of the two natures which our Lord combined, there is no trace of anthropomorphism in the attributes which he ascribes to the Divine nature. On the other hand Origen, commenting on Gen. i. 26 (vol. viii. 49, Lomm.) and arguing against the Anthropomorphites, says "of whom is Melito, who has left a certain treatise, περὶ τοῦ ἐνσώματον εἶναι τὸν θεόν." Probably Origen made a mistake, and that the
