Antiquitates 15: 260
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Fri Nov 8 07:56:14 EST 2002
At 10:04 AM +0000 11/8/02, jwest at highland.net wrote:
>> Antiquitates 15: 260 "ou mên hê Salômê ton engenê nomon, alla ton ap'
>> exousias helomenê tên te sumbiôsin proapêgoreusen kai [...]"
>>
>> Earlier on we discussed the potential meanings of EXOUSIA. During a random
>> Reading through a passage in Josefus i stumbled over this phrase in
>> Antiquitates 15:260. Now, I'm just keen to know how we should/could
>> understand the word EXOUSIA here, especially since it relates to the law
>> as an opposite.
>
>taken with the preposition apo - i would render exousia here with "inability".
>apo = in + exousia = ability (power, might, etc).
I don't understand how APO suddenly becomes negative here as if it were
CWRIS or KATA with genitive; I would think rather that it must mean
"deriving from."
I think we need the larger context here. This is what I found:
15.259 CRONOU DE DIELQONTOS EPISUNEBH THN SALWMHN STASIASAI PROS TON
KOSTOBARON, KAI PEMPEI MEN EUQUS AUTWi GRAMMATION APOLUMENH TON GAMON OU
KATA TOUS IOUDAIWN NOMOUS: ANDRI MEN GAR EXESTIN PAR hHMIN TOUTO POIEIN,
GUNAIKI
DE OUDE DIACWORISQEISHi KAQ' hAUTHN GAMHQHNAI MH TOU PROTERON ANDROS EFIENTOS.
OU MHN hH SALWMH TON EGGENH NOMON, ALLA TON AP' EXOUSIAS hELOMENH THN TE
SUMBIWSIN PROAPHGOREUSEN KAI PROS TON ADELFON hHRWDHN ELEGEN hUPO THS EIS
EKEINON EUNOIAS APOSTHNAI ANDROS; EGNWKENAI GAR AUTON MET' ANTIPATROU KAI
LUSIMACOU KAI DOSIQEOU NEWTERWN EFIEMENON, ...
I make this something like, "And after time had passed it happened that
Salome had a falling out with Costobaros and at once she sends him a bill
of divorce dissolving her marriage not on the basis of laws of the Jews:
for among us (Jews) it is permissible for a husband to do this, but not for
a wife, even if she has separated to remarry of her own accord if her
husband hasn't previously given permission. But Salome, giving preference
not to her native (Jewish) custom/law but rather to the one (custom/law)
derived from own liberty, renounced the marriage and claimed (ELEGEN) that
she had divorced her husband through good will toward him (i.e. Herod); for
she knew that he (Costobaros), along with Antipater and Lysimachus and
Dositheos was plotting a rebellion.
Accordingly I would understand EXOUSIA here has "one's own liberty"; Salome
claimed that she was not subject to Jewish law here but was free of her own
right to divorce Costobaros.
So we do have an opposition between hO EGGENHS NOMOS and hO AP' EXOUSIAS
(NOMOS). I suppose one could speak of "license" here for EXOUSIA, but
Salome's claim appears to me to be that she acted out of "a right of her
own" rather than in obedience to Jewish law. Perhaps we should even
translate this, "preferring not the law of her nation but the law derived
from her freedom." Interesting argument: according to Josephus she's
claiming a "right" to act as she does, even if it runs counter to Jewish
law.
--
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu OR cwconrad at ioa.com
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/
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