[1]: Hermas and Rhoda
[2]: As it stands this is hardly intelligible: presumably the meaning is that Hermas was born a slave, and that his owner sold him to Rhoda. It is implied that he then passed out of her possession, and later on made her acquaintance again. The alternative is that ἀνεγνωρισἀμην merely means came to know her properly.
[3]: Hermas goes to Cumae
[4]: The Vision of Rhoda speaking from Heaven
[5]: The vision of the ancient lady
[6]: Why God is angry
[7]: The lady reads to Hermas
[8]: The close of the vision
[9]: The second vision at Cumae
[10]: The ancient lady returns
[11]: The little book
[12]: Hermas no doubt means that it was written, like most early MSS., in a continuous script with no divisions between the words.
[13]: The contents of the little book
[14]: This is the main point of the Shepherd. The primitive teaching was that for sin after baptism no repentance is possible (cf. Heb. vi.). Hermas now states that it has been revealed to him that up to this day, i.e. the time of his revelation, sin will be forgiven to the repentant. But this offer of forgiveness will not be made a second time.
[15]: Cf. Herm. Sim. ix, 25 and Martyr. Polycarp, ii 3 with the note on the latter passage as to the doctrine of a transformation of the just into angels after their death.
[16]: This book is mentioned among the Apocrypha of the N.T. in the Athanasian Synopsis and in the Stichometry of Nicephorus, but is not extant. It is thought to be quoted in II Clem. xi. 2. Eldad and Modat are mentioned in Numbers xi. 26.
[17]: The revelation as to the ancient lady
[18]: The ancient lady returns
[19]: The ancient lady comes again
[20]: The couch of ivory
[21]: The six young men
[22]: The meaning is obscure: the elders is often explained as the Elders of the Church, but it is more probably a mere formula of politeness seniores priores.
[23]: Hermas and the couch
[24]: The place of the martyrs
[25]: The vision of the town
[26]: The stones
[27]: The explanation of the vision
[28]: The tower
[29]: The six young men
[30]: Here almost the equivalent of meaning .—What is their meaning in the vision?
[31]: The stones
[32]: The rejected stones
[33]: The stones which were broken up
[34]: The stones put on one side
[35]: The round stones
[36]: This appears to be the meaning; but the Greek is obscure and the early translations all paraphrase it so freely that they cannot be used to suggest any emendation.
[37]: The stones thrown away from the tower
[38]: The end of the rejected stones
[39]: I.e. from their punishment.
[40]: Apparently the meaning is Then, i.e. if they repent, but the text is obscure, and probably some words have been lost.
[41]: The vision of the seven women
[42]: The explanation
[43]: The powers of the Virtues
[44]: Here also (cf. Vision III. iv. 3. powers probably is almost equivalent to meaning or signification.
[45]: The end
[46]: The charge of the Church
[47]: The departure of the ancient lady
[48]: The young man
[49]: The three forms of the ancient lady
[50]: This your is plural, in contrast to the you in the preceding sentence, which is singular.
[51]: The vision of the Leviathan
[52]: The ancient lady
[53]: No other mention of this Angel is found in Jewish or Christian literature, and no suitable meaning has been suggested for Thegri. Dr. Rendel Harris suggests Segri as an emendation, connecting it with the Hebrew word meaning to shut (sagar), found in Dan. 6, 22.
[54]: The explanation of the Leviathan
[55]: The four colours on the Leviathan
[56]: The them means fire and blood ; but the construction of the sentence is awkward.
[57]: This section is clearly intended as an introduction to the Mandates, but it is always quoted as the Fifth Vision.
[58]: The coming of the shepherd
[59]: There is no mention of this in the preceding Visions.
[60]: Belief in God
[61]: Simplicity
[62]: Evil-speaking
[63]: This series of precepts is also found in the Didache (i, 5) and is there quoted as being according to the commandment (ἐντολή—the same word as Hermas uses for the commandments or Mandates of the Shepherd).
[64]: Truth
[65]: The literal meaning of the Greek is heard, but the meaning is clearly much more nearly understood.
[66]: The meaning is obscure, but it appears to be that Hermas having made untrue statements in the course of business must try so to act that his statements will be justified in fact; for instance, if he had made extravagant promises he must fulfil them.
[67]: Purity
[68]: Man and wife
[69]: This mandate is really explaining the practical problem which arose from the conflict between the Christian precept against divorce (Mt. 10,11 f.) and the equally early precept against having intercourse with immoral persons. As the inserted clause except for the cause of fornication in the Matthaean version of Mk. 10,11f. (Mt. 19, 9; cf. Mt. 5,32 and Lc. 16,18) shows, the latter precept was regarded as more important, and immoral wives were put away, but Hermas and other writers always maintained that this was not strictly divorce, as the innocent party was not free to remarry in order to give the other the opportunity of repenting and of returning.
[70]: Hermas is guarding against the imputation that he is lowering the standard of morality. This accusation was actually brought against him later by Tertullian.
[71]: Repentance for sin after baptism
[72]: Possibly a reference to Heb. 6, 4 ff.
[73]: Second marriages
[74]: The translation of μακροθυμία and ὀξυχολία is difficult. Μακροθυμία is a little more than long suffering and almost equals courage. ὀξυχολία is a rare word, literally quickness to wrath, but this phrase does not convey in English the bad sense which Hermas obviously implies.
[75]: Long-suffering
[76]: Against ill temper
[77]: Expansion of the first Mandate
[78]: Faith
[79]: Fear
[80]: Temperance
[81]: Against double-mindedness
[82]: Grief
[83]: Grief and the Holy Spirit
[84]: Apparently the meaning is beseech God to allow it to depart from the man in whom it is. This is brought out in the variants of A and Ath.
[85]: Joyfulness
[86]: συμφέλλιον cannot be here translated by the same word as in Vis. III. i. 4. Here it is the bench of the learner as opposed to the chair of the teacher.
[87]: False and true prophets
[88]: The syringe or hand pump used for cleaning and watering the vines in the Italian vineyards.
[89]: Desire
[90]: Carnal desires
[91]: Conclusion of Mandates
[92]: Christians are strangers in the world
[93]: The idea of the conflict of interests between earthly and heavenly citizenship is common in early Christian literature. Cf. Heb. 13, 14. For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.
[94]: ἀνυβρίστως is either active or passive: it may qualify ἀγαλλιώμενος, in decorous joy , joy unmixed with ὕβρις.
[95]: Rich and poor like a vine and elm
[96]: The idea in πληροφοροῦσι is that of filling up that which is lacking,—a ὑστέρημα.
[97]: The budding and withered trees
[98]: Fasting
[99]: Station is not found elsewhere in Greek writers but is used in Latin writers in the sense of a fixed time for fasting (e.g. cf. Tertullian de orat. 19. de jejun. 1, 10, etc.). It is apparently one of the many terms taken from military language statio de militari exemplo nomen accepit, nam et militia dei sumus says Tertullian.
[100]: The parable of Fasting
[101]: The application of the parable to Fasting
[102]: The application of the parable as to the servant
[103]: The further application
[104]: With the text given it must be noted that the Son in the parable (Sim. v. ii. 6.) remains unexplained.
[105]: The absence of the Master is not mentioned in the text of the parable; but see the critical note on Sim. v. 2, 2.
[106]: The son of God as servant
[107]: The meaning is apparently that the flesh (i.e. the human being?), in which the Spirit had been incarnate, was elevated to be the companion, for the future, of the Father and of the Son who is the Spirit.
[108]: The practical conclusion
[109]: This is directed against the Gnostic tendency to divide flesh and spirit, and to regard the acts of the flesh as unimportant. Against this the church insisted on purity of life now, and on the hope of a resurrection of the flesh hereafter.
[110]: Introduction
[111]: The vision of the Shepherds
[112]: The Shepherd of luxury
[113]: The Shepherd of Punishment
[114]: The reason for the continued punishment of the penitent
[115]: The parable of the willow-tree
[116]: The instruction of the angel to the Shepherd
[117]: The treatment, of the sticks by the shepherd
[118]: The explanation of the parable
[119]: But in Sim. ix. he is the Son of God. This together with the identification of the Son with the Spirit in Sim. ix. 1 (cf. Sim. v. 5) makes it very hard to reconstruct the Christology of Hermas. On the question of Michael see W. Lueken’s Michael Göttingen, 1898.
[120]: Suffer means suffer a death of martyrdom, and the law means the Christian rule of life, not (as in the N.T.) the Jewish Law.
[121]: The continuation of the parable
[122]: The exact meaning of ὠμόλινον is apparently made of undressed flax, but it came to mean merely a towel.
[123]: This must mean that some were sent back to their original place, others were moved aside. But the text is obscure and probably corrupt.
[124]: The further explanation
[125]: Conclusion
[126]: Introduction
[127]: The point is that the form of the vision was accommodated to Hermas’ powers. It was at first sent in the form of a human being (the emphasis is on the humanity, not on the Virginity) and afterwards when he was stronger spiritually in the form of an angel.
[128]: Arcadia is found in all the authorities; but it plays no further part in the story. Zahn emends to Aricia; but Aricia is a village, and Monte Cavo, which might be intended, is nut specially near to it.
[129]: The vision of the Mountains
[130]: The great stone in the plain
[131]: The Maidens
[132]: The arrangement meant is { AbbA bb bb AbbA} so that the door, must have been a sort of porch, cut out of the rock, and the tower was built directly above it.
[133]: The six men
[134]: The ten stones
[135]: The building of the stones by the maidens and the men
[136]: The meaning is that the four maidens kept to their original formation, with the four strongest at the corners, and the others in the middle of each side of the stone which they carried.
[137]: The 2 stones
[138]: The 3 stones
[139]: The 4 stones
[140]: The second stage of the building
[141]: The pause in the building
[142]: The coming of the Lord of the Tower
[143]: The injunctions of the Lord to the Shepherd
[144]: The Shepherd’s treatment of the Stones
[145]: i. e. to endure the strain of the outside.
[146]: The clearing of the neighbourhood of the tower
[147]: Apparently the meaning is that the holes left in the ground where stones had been taken out were to be filled up and levelled.
[148]: Hermas stays with the Maidens
[149]: The explanation of the parable
[150]: The Greek means the consummation, the time when this age or world-period is finished, and a new age will begin. (Cf. Mt. 13,40.)
[151]: It is noteworthy that here the Lord is for the moment identified with the tower.
[152]: The six men
[153]: The glorious man
[154]: The Tower
[155]: The Maidens
[156]: The explanation is given in Sim. ix. 15.
[157]: The rejected stones
[158]: The Maidens and the women clothed in black
[159]: The stones of the foundation
[160]: It must be noted that the numbers given here do not quite agree with those in Sim. ix. 4 and no satisfactory hypothesis has ever been suggested as to any hidden meaning which the numbers may conceal.
[161]: The stones from the deep
[162]: Cf. 1 Pet. 3, 19, Gospel of Peter ix. and the Descensus ad inferos in the Acta Pilati. The idea that hearing the gospel and baptism is necessary for the salvation of the righteous dead of pre-Christian times is common, but it is more usually the Christ himself who descends to Hades for the purpose.
[163]: The mountains
[164]: Why the backsliders are worse than the unconverted
[165]: The characteristics of the mountains
[166]: The first mountain
[167]: The second mountain
[168]: The third mountain
[169]: The fourth mountain
[170]: The fifth mountain
[171]: ἐθελοδιδάσκαλοι is not found elsewhere. If it be right it must mean a teacher who unduly magnifies his office. Cf. ἐθελοθπησκεία in Col. 2, 23.
[172]: There may be here a reference to Philipp. 2, 9 in which κένωσις and ὕψωσις are contrasted: the point being that as the κένωσις of Christ led to his ὕψωσις, so the ὕψωσις of these men results in their ultimate κένωσις.
[173]: The sixth mountain
[174]: The seventh mountain
[175]: The eighth mountain
[176]: That is, after death they will be with the angels. Cf. notes on Herm. Vis. ii. 2, 7 and on Martyr. Polycarp. ii. 3.
[177]: The ninth mountain
[178]: Apparently θηρίον, as often in later Greek, means snake.
[179]: Lit. power.
[180]: The tenth mountain
[181]: The eleventh mountain
[182]: The twelfth mountain
[183]: The stones taken out of the plain
[184]: The round stones
[185]: The final exhortation of the shepherd
[186]: Scandesco is probably a dialectic form of candesco, which is found in some MSS of L1.
[187]: The final vision of the Angel
[188]: Literally ripeness .
[189]: A translation either of σωφροσύνη or of εὐταξία = propriety of conduct, a word specially used by the Stoics.
[190]: Hermas and the maidens
[191]: recte facere can hardly be translated otherwise: but from the context it seems probably to represent εὖ ποιεῖν, or some such phrase, meaning to do good in the sense of charitable acts.