EN XXXVIIIa: ὁρμή and πόλεμος

The notions of ὁρμή and πόλεμος are Cassian’s seal upon the Scholia. Although initially a Homeric correlation, these terms are juxtaposed in the authors whom we have come across at many points so far. Historians such as Polybius, Diodorus of Sicily, Josephus, and the biographer Plutarch, are intellectuals whose vocabulary resulted in the opening of this Scholion as it stands. In Christian literature, the juxtaposition is almost non-existent. Apart from an instance in Basil of Caesarea, we come upon Theodoret, though his usage is rather attenuated compared to this Scholion. The fact is, however, that both Diodorus of Tarsus and Theodore of Mopsuestia had employed the ancient phraseology. Diodorus mentioned the ‘war’ waged by the adversary power against humans, which is the same context as that of the Scholion and that of Psalm 3:3, on which Diodorus comments.

In view of the fact that Diodorus and Theodore made the same point as the Scholion, a relevant usage ascribed to Pseudo-Macarius should be considered, which contributes to that set of texts being the product of the Akoimetoi. At all events, it is plain that Cassian draws on his Antiochene background.