Irenaeus Translation/Grammar Question

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Josephus10
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Irenaeus Translation/Grammar Question

Post by Josephus10 »

Hi, I'm hoping to get some feedback on the grammar of this passage in Irenaeus:

a quadragesimo autem et quinquagesimo anno declinat jam in aetatem seniorem, quam habens Dominus noster docebat, sicut Evangelium et omnes seniores testantur, qui in Asia apud Johannem discipulum Domini convenerunt, id ipsum tradidisse eis Johannem.

Is this grammatical? There is no verb to introduce the indirect discourse 'that John delivered it to them' (testantur goes with sicut-- 'just as ... all the elders testify).

I know it is common for a verb of saying to be omitted, but wouldn't we need something here (qui testantur/testantes) to signal the beginning of the indirect statement? Is the grammatical structure possible? Can 'id' here be taken in the sense of 'to the effect that', so that it reads: "just as ... all the elders testify, to the effect that John delivered it to them'? Or is this simply ungrammatical?

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