"Jim Weir" wrote in message
...
The quotation is generally ascribed to Pontius Pilate when he was asked to
change the inscription on the paper nailed to Christ's cross. And it *is*
Latin, not Greek.


That is true. I was thinking of a Latin commentary on Sophocles, but now I
have to look it up.

Actually, the phrase is not very good Latin or, rather, it takes
considerable poetic license. Translated somewhat loosely, it is "But what I
wrote, I wrote." IIRC the phrase attributed to Sophocles in the Latin
history was meant to say "But see what I have written" meaning that what he
had written was beautiful and could not be the product of an incompetent. It
is a play on words, using the made-up "scripsi" to mean both "see" and
"write." The "si" suffix is required to make "Quod" mean "but" or
(sometimes) "therefore."

Now I have to wonder if Pilate was quoting an earlier commentary. It would
have been a typically Roman thing to do, but the reference might have either
been lost on the Gospel writers or else (more likely) they would have
assumed that anyone reading the narrative would have recognized it. After
all, "It is written" is a strongly Semitic sentiment. Related would be the
declaration of the name of God: "I Am that I Am," first proclaimed from the
burning bush to Moses and then referred to by Jesus: "Before Abraham was I
Am" and "Who do men say that I Am?" We could then go into Christian
symbolism in modern pop literature, as in Popeye: "I am what I am," but then
I digress considerably, so we will leave it at that.