15
and Zacchaeus (AZ) and Timothy and Aquila (TA), the editor included a commentary on AZ but actually
relegated TA to an appendix. His comments in that regard are very interesting:
Because of its extreme prolixity, which deterred Angelo Mai from printing it, I have relegated TA
to the obscurity of an Appendix. Yet it is more interesting than AZ in respect of its citations of the
New Testament, of the new information it contains about Aquila, and of the light it throws on the
sources of Epiphanius' treatise De Mensuris et Ponderibus.
31
A few decades later, Williams compared AZ in to its "sister" dialogue in this way. "This is much
less interesting than the Dialogue of Timothy and Aquila, with which it is associated in both ancient and
modern times, but it is more thoughtful."
32
It may be difficult to see how the rather straightforward AZ
could be described as "more thoughtful" than TA, but one must agree entirely that TA is certainly the
more "interesting" of the two. While it does not deserve the fate of an "appendix," Conybeare's
description of the "prolixity" of TA is quite appropriate. It is longer than the combined texts of AZ and
ST, being approximately the length of the Gospel of Luke, the longest book in the New Testament. TA
contains a more elaborate narrative framework than the other two, with a longer description of the events
that led up to the "disputation" along with the regulations for its conduct (1.1- 3.23). There is also a more
detailed description of its aftermath, including the ordination of Timothy as both deacon and presbyter
plus a description of the ensuing baptismal service for the new convert, Aquila (57.1-20).
Additional matters that are exclusive to TA vis-à-vis AZ and ST, include such passages as a
discussion of the "canon" (3.8-23 - OT includes Judith and Baruch); a fascinating analogy of the virgin
birth to the emerging of a pearl from an oyster in "India" (26.5); and an informative passage containing a
charge of scriptural corruption by the proselyte Aquila in his second century Greek version of the OT
(40.1-24).
The "prolixity" of which Conybeare remarked is also exemplified by the repetition of passages
and themes beyond what would be expected even for pedagogical purposes. This can be illustrated, to
cite only two examples, by the repeated quotations of the passage in Baruch 3:36-38 for its "prophecy" of
31
Conybeare, xii.
32
Williams, 117.