The Hymn of the Soul

be attributed with equal probability to either. With regard to the important question of the date, Nöldeke Theodor Nöldeke, a pioneering German scholar of Middle Eastern languages has remarked that the mention of the “Parthians” (couplet 38 a), as the ruling race in the East, decidedly favours the hypothesis that the piece was composed before the overthrow of the Parthian dynasty in A.D. 224; he also observes that the allusion to Maishān An ancient kingdom, also known as Mesene, located at the head of the Persian Gulf and known for its trade as a great centre of trade (couplets 18, 70) points in the same direction.

Whatever may be the ultimate verdict of scholars as to the exact date and authorship of this composition, it will always deserve careful study on account of the light which it throws upon one of the most remarkable phases in the religious history of mankind. Gnosticism A diverse religious movement that emphasized salvation through secret, divine knowledge (gnosis) is here displayed to us not as it appeared to its enemies, not as a tissue of fantastic speculations, but as it was in reality, at least to some of its adherents, a new religion. Though the religious conceptions of the author are, in some respects, very closely akin to those of the early Christians, he nowhere refers directly to the New Testament, nor does he even allude to the historical facts on which Christianity is founded¹. Yet he does not speak doubtfully, as one feeling after truth; his convictions, such as they are, respecting the realities of the unseen world, rest upon what he believes to be a direct revelation, symbolised by the living letter “which the King sealed with his right hand.” Until this state of mind is understood, the nature of Oriental Gnosticism and of the struggle which it long maintained, against Paganism A broad term used by early Christians to describe the various polytheistic religions of the Roman and Persian empires on the one side and traditional Christianity on the other, must remain a mystery.

The Metre.

At the first appearance of the Poem Nöldeke remarked that it was written in verses containing, as a rule, six syllables each. This is undoubtedly the case; but no one, so far as I am aware, has hitherto pointed out that the verses are arranged in couplets. A glance at the English translation will show that, while the first line of a couplet is often closely connected in sense with what follows, there is always a pause, though sometimes a slight pause

¹ See the very interesting remarks on this subject by Harnack, The Chronology of Early Christian Literature up to Eusebius original German: "Die Chronologie der altchristlichen Litteratur bis Eusebius" vol. i. p. 546.