Synopsis
The Altercatio begins with a first-person introduction establishing a courtroom setting where two ladies will dispute the rightful inheritance of God's promises in the Old Testament. The rest of the work consists of the back and forth comments of the litigants, the Church (Ecclesia) and the Synagogue (Synagoga).
First, Synagoga argues that the prophets were sent to her, but Ecclesia responds that she killed them. Synagoga then argues that she is the more ancient, but Ecclesia responds that there has been a reversal of roles and the elder now serves the younger, as Esau served Jacob. This leads to a debate about the status of Jews in the Empire, with Synagoga defending her freedom and Ecclesia point to her loss of full civil rights.
Synagog argues that even Jesus was sent to the Jews, but Ecclesia retorts that the Jews are all the more culpable for having rejected him. She does not levy the standard accusation of Jewish deicide. The text then turns to the question of circumcision versus the sign of the cross with reference to the Prophets. At the end, Synagoga admits that she did not heed the Prophets and misinterpreted them.
Manuscripts and editions
The Altercatio appears to have travelled from North Africa to Spain, then across the Pyrenees to Gaul and finally across the Alps into Italy. There are at least twelve surviving manuscripts and three lost ones. The ninth, eleventh and twelfth centuries have three manuscripts each. The latest manuscripts are from the fifteenth century. The earliest known manuscript, now lost, was catalogued at the Abbey of Reichenau in 835–842. The earliest surviving copy is found in Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, CLM 15819, copied in Salzburg during the archiepiscopate of Liupram [ de ] (836–859). This is slightly older than the copy found in Saint Gall, Stiftsbibliothek 132, copied during the abbacy of Grimald (850–872). All the surviving manuscripts belong to a single family (descended from a single hyparchetype of about the eighth century), with the exception of manuscript 247 from Monte Cassino, copied in Beneventan script in the twelfth century. The former manuscript family attributes it to Augustine of Hippo.
Prior to 1955, the Altercatio was printed many times, always printed with Augustine's works. The editio princeps was printed by Bonifacius Amerbach in Basel in 1506 as part of Augustine's works. It was reprinted with minor changes by Erasmus in 1528. He already recognized that it was not by Augustine. Today, it is universally regarded as pseudo-Augustinian. A critical edition based on all known manuscripts was published by Jocelyn Hillgarth in 1999. The Altercatio is usually cited by Hillgarth's line numbers. [19] A full English translation of Hillgarth's edition was made by Michael Brinks in 2009.
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