SOURCE: Meijer, L. C. “Some Remarks on Itinerarium Egeriae 28,4.” Vigiliae Christianae 28 (1974): 50-53.

In the following essay, Meijer emends a corrupted passage of the Itinerarium Egeriae regarding the Lenten fast.

In her report of the religious observances during Lent in Jerusalem Egeria rounds off her account of the fasting-rules with a final remark on the diet of the aputactitae: it consisted of only water and some flour-soup, bread, oil and fruit being forbidden, or in her own words, according to the only manuscript left containing this passage: esca autem eorum quadragesimarum diebus haec est, ut nec panem quid liberari non potest, nec oleum gustent, nec aliquid, quod de arboribus est, sed tantum aqua et sorbitione modica de farina. Now, it is rather evident, that some mistake(s) must have crept into the tradition: in the part nec … potest, liberari makes no sense¹ and quid, if correct, is very difficult...