The Seven Letters of Ignatius of Antioch
Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, called Theophorus
Seven letters, and the last one asks his friends to let him die.
Every stat is a checkable fact about the actual book, not a designer's mood. Bars are drawn against the highest value any book reaches.
The game's own explanation, as a reader sees it in the backpack.
Very high. All seven letters, including Romans, the letter that changes how the whole collection reads.
Very quick. His lines about the leopards and about being God’s wheat are still quoted from memory.
The letter to the Romans is the heart of the collection. Ignatius wrote ahead to the Christians in Rome and begged them not to get him spared. He wanted to face the beasts, and he says so at length. Readers have been troubled by it ever since. It is a letter written about his own coming death.
A book develops as it is read — the fragment becomes the work, the work becomes the corpus.
By levelling up. A book that develops keeps what it knew and learns the rest on its new schedule.
| Lv | Move | Type | Cat. | Pwr | Acc | PP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 38 | God’s Wheat | Faith | Argument | 94 | 95% | 5 |
| 42 | One Only Physician | Christology | Argument | 90 | 100% | 10 |
| 46 | Martyr’s Resolve | Ethics | Argument | 50 | 100% | 15 |
| 50 | Speak Greek | History | Status | — | 100% | 5 |
| 50 | Manifest from Its Fruit | Faith | Argument | 82 | 100% | 12 |
| 56 | Brothers by Our Forbearance | Ethics | Argument | 80 | 100% | 12 |
| 62 | Better to Be Than to Talk | Ethics | Argument | 90 | 100% | 8 |
| 68 | Why Am I in Bonds? | History | Argument | 92 | 100% | 8 |
How to read these. In Scholar’s Dream, books argue with each other. Each thing a book can do in a debate is a move, and most moves carry a real quotation — the words the book puts on the table when it uses that move.
Strong against lists the opposing books and arguments a move was written to answer. Used against one of them, it hits much harder than usual: ×2 means twice the normal force, ×4 four times. It is the game’s way of saying: this is the sentence that answers that argument. Open an entry to read why.
“I am God’s wheat, and I am ground by the teeth of wild beasts that I may be found pure bread.”
Ignatius, To the Romans 4 (trans. Lightfoot, public domain).public domain
In the gameThe most famous sentence any of the apostolic fathers wrote, and it is a request. Ignatius is writing AHEAD of himself to Rome, to beg the Christians there not to use their influence to save his life.
“There is one only physician, of flesh and of spirit, generate and ingenerate, God in man, true Life in death, Son of Mary and Son of God, first passible and then impassible, Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Ignatius, To the Ephesians 7 (trans. Lightfoot, public domain).public domain
In the gameSeven pairs of opposites in one breath, written by a man in chains on the road to the arena. Everything the councils spent four centuries fencing is already here, uttered as praise rather than defended as doctrine.
“Eighty and six years have I served him, and he has done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King who saved me?”
Martyrdom of Polycarp 9 (public domain trans.).public domain
In the game"Eighty and six years…" Strikes half again as hard when the book is nearly spent.
“The tree is manifest from its fruit; so they that profess to be Christ’s shall be seen through their actions.”
Ignatius, To the Ephesians 14 (trans. Lightfoot, public domain).public domain
In the gameA claim about a man is checkable by watching him. Ignatius turns that on his own side first: whoever says he belongs to Christ has agreed to be looked at.
“Against their outbursts of wrath be ye meek; against their proud words be ye humble; against their railings set ye your prayers; against their errors be ye steadfast in the faith; against their fierceness be ye gentle… Let us show ourselves their brothers by our forbearance.”
Ignatius, To the Ephesians 10 (trans. Lightfoot, public domain). (trimmed quote)public domain
In the gameThe instruction for an argument you are losing on volume. Answer the wrath with meekness, the boasting with humility, the railing with prayer — and do not be eager to answer in kind, because being answered in kind is what they expect.
“It is better to keep silence and to be, than to talk and not to be. It is a fine thing to teach, if the speaker practice.”
Ignatius, To the Ephesians 15 (trans. Lightfoot, public domain).public domain
In the gameThe sentence that should worry anybody who has spent a whole game winning arguments. Teaching is a fine thing — on one condition, and Ignatius states the condition in five words.
“But if it were as certain persons who are godless, that is unbelievers, say, that He suffered only in semblance, being themselves mere semblance, why am I in bonds? And why also do I desire to fight with wild beasts? So I die in vain.”
Ignatius, To the Trallians 10 (trans. Lightfoot, public domain).public domain
In the gameThe cheapest answer to a man in chains is that he has misunderstood his own religion. Ignatius puts the cost on the table instead: if the suffering was only an appearance, then so is this, and I am about to die for nothing.
