MARA BAR SERAPION'S LETTER (c.73-200 AD) 2 Questions (SOLVED)

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rakovsky
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MARA BAR SERAPION'S LETTER (c.73-200 AD) 2 Questions (SOLVED)

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Mara Bar Serapion means Mara, son of Serapion, and his letter to his son Serapion refers to the Jews' wise king, whom they killed. Some scholars think that this is an allusion to Jesus.
You can read Mara Bar Serapion's letter here: http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/mara.html

(Question 1: SEE BELOW) Can you explain the underlined, last statement in Mara Bar Serapion's letter, below:
The letter ends with a dialogue between Mara Bar Serapion and one of his friends when they were captured and exiled from their city in the Middle East by the Romans:
One of his friends asked Mara, son of Serapion, when in bonds at his side: “Nay, by thy life, Mara, tell me what cause of laughter thou hast seen, that thou laughest.”
“I am laughing,” said Mara, “at Time: inasmuch as, although he has not borrowed any evil from me, he is paying me back.”
(Question 2: SEE BELOW) How do virtuous parents suffer torture from their children's excellence of character?
Mara Bar Serapion tells his son:
About the objects of that vainglory, too, of which the life of men is full, be not thou solicitous: seeing that from those things which give us joy there quickly comes to us harm. Most especially is this the case with the birth of beloved children. For in two respects it plainly brings us harm: in the case of the virtuous, our very affection for them torments us, and from their very excellence of character we Suffer torture; and, in the case of the vicious, we are worried with their correction, and afflicted with their misconduct.
Can you make sense of this?
Last edited by rakovsky on Mon Jan 27, 2020 11:20 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: MARA BAR SERAPION'S LETTER (c.73-200 AD) 2 Questions

Post by rakovsky »

For Question 1, I think that the statement “at Time: inasmuch as, although he has not borrowed any evil from me, he is paying me back" means that Mara finds the irony of the situation humorous. That is, he didn't harm Time or mistreat Time, but now Time is mistreating him in that he is old an in captivity. Nara phrases this humorous observation in terms of Time "paying" him "back" evil even though Mara never "lent" evil to Time.
Cureton's 1855 translation for Mara's declaration runs: "I was laughing at the Time, because, withhout having borrowed any evil from me, it repays me."

For Question 2, two ways that I can think of for how one's children's excellence of character could hurt their parents are: 1. The children could excel in some way and the parents could be embarrassed or sad that they did not do as well as their children, and 2. If they lost their children or saw their children suffer, which sometimes happens in the world as a matter of course, then they would be sad at their loss or over the children's suffering.
The second explanation makes sense in light of what he says later in the letter, describing captured parents' sadness at seeing the captivity of their children, and describing his surprise at how some parents have given away their children:
For the love of life was retained together with the pains of death, and our misfortunes drove us out of the way; for we beheld our brethren and our children as captives...
What, then, have we to say touching the error which has come into the world?... we are shaken by its commotions like a reed by the wind. For I have wondered at many that cast away their children, and I have marveled at others that brought up those which were not their own...
The implication in the paragraphs above is that losing children or seeing them suffer is naturally very harmful, and so it would be surprising or incomprehensible for parents to give their children away.

Cureton's 1855 translation runs this way for the passage in question:
For in both these things the contest of feelings hurts us: for as to the good, love for them torments us, and we are attracted by their manners; and as to the vicious, we labour for their correction, and grieve over their vices.
In Cureton's translation, their excellence of character doesn't torture the parents, but rather their manners attract the parents. Still, the overall context tends to be that the good children are causing harm to the parents, so the implication must be that the good manners of good children somehow harm the parents.

Cureton's Spicilegium syriacum is here and apparently contains the Syriac text of Mara's letter:
https://books.google.com/books?id=V9XOv ... lpg=PP7&dq

My research on the prophecies of the Messiah's resurrection: http://rakovskii.livejournal.com
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