Abstract

TheClementine RecognitionsandClementine Homilies, both of which evolved between the second and the fourth centuries after Christ, are treated all too frequently as material for historians, not for critics. A book on the ancient novel is sufficiently erudite if the author shows that he has read them; theHomiliesare omitted in a volume of translations under the title ofCollected Ancient Greek Novels. It might be said that this is as it should be, since theHomiliesare largely what their title advertises, and even theRecognitionscontain much that is extrinsic to the plot. By itself (it might be said) this threadbare plot holds little to engage us, and it is disposed of in a few pages in the works of Hägg and Perry. My object is to show that this neglect is undeserved.