Gripla - 01.01.1995, Side 173

STEFANUS SAGA IN REYKJAHÓLABÓK
171
confessors, Nicodemus and Gamaliel. The enumeration of the con-
tents of the four caskets is followed by their explication. The vision is
granted, after all, in order to enable Lucianus to identify the saints, but
the meaning of the symbolism is not immediately apparent. Thus,
there follows an explication of each symbol. Here it should be noted
that redaction B of the Epistola Aviti also contains an explication of
the casket filled with red roses: „quia ipse solus ex nobis martyrio me-
ruit coronari" (col. 814).
There are essential differences in the nature of the dream in Sth. 15/
Sth. 2/AM 655/AM 661 on the one hand, and Sth. 3 on the other. The
former places four bodies in three coffins, the latter in four. Further-
more, the former mentions the white roses/flowers before the red ro-
ses/flowers, whereas in the latter this sequence is reversed, so that the
order in which the symbolism is interpreted is the same as the order in
which the symbols were initially presented. Whereas the two redac-
tions of the Epistola Aviti agree in placing four bodies in three coffins,
they deviate in the order of the roses: in redaction A the white roses
are mentioned before the red - „duos habebant albas rosas, et tertius
rubicundas coloris sanguinei" (col. 811) - whereas in B the order is re-
versed: „Unus vero de tribus calathis rubentes valde rosas habebat
tamquam sanguinem, ... Alii vero duo pleni erant rosis albis, in mo-
dum lilii, sed rosæ erant“ (col. 812). Thus, one of the distinguishing
features of the two Icelandic versions is also a distinguishing feature of
the two redactions of the Epistola Aviti. Finally, Sth. 3 deviates from
the version found in the other manuscripts by not intercalating in-
formation about the position of the caskets within the tomb. The rela-
tionship of the symbolical caskets to physical features of the tomb was
part of the original version, as redaction A of the Epistola Aviti at-
tests, whereas the popular medieval version, epitomized in the Le-
genda aurea, dispensed with the reality of the tomb to focus on the
symbolism alone.
The most striking discrepancy between the two Icelandic versions of
the dream relates to the coffins. Presumably a Latin redactor became
aware that one coffin too many appeared in the vision, or else realized
that Gamaliel should not lie in the silver coffin that represents virgin-
ity, and thus decided to place the four bodies in four different coffins.
Jacobus de Voragine dealt with the ensuing discrepancy between the
dream and the facts of burial by leaving the latter vague. In Gama-