From Anointing to Arrest. Some Observations on the Composition of Mark... 29 own; moreover, (c) that its formal aspects deserve full attention: they are a significant part of the evidence. The evidence suggests, to my mind, that Mark, whatever sources he may have known and used, rewrote his ‘material’ thoroughly and was quite able to do so. According to Jülicher’s well-known dictum - his personal reaction, it seems, to the fragment from Papias quoted in the introduction to this essay - of all the gospels Mark has the best τάξις.56 This evidently refers to the orderly plan of the entire gospel narrative. In our view, though, the τάξις of Mark’s gospel is also realized in several specific literary techniques. Order was created - as shown - by planning and organizing the number of words and of syllables, and also, on a larger scale, by defining the number of verbal forms. These techniques, incidentally, are in no way restricted to Mark, to the gospels in general or to the NewTestament as such.57 14.2 The arrangement of the verbal form in the story of the arrest is well worth our attention. We print two Charts, 10a and 10b. They make it possible to define the place of this pericope in its wider context and also to gain some insight into the strategy of the composition of this part of the passion narrative. Chart 10a. Mark 14:26-52: The Number of Verbal Forms. Narrative Discourse Sum-total Mark 14:26-31 7 13 20 32-36 13 7 20 37-42 16 15 31 43-52 24 10 34 Mark 14:26-52 60 45 105 verbal forms 56 A. Jülicher, E. Fascher, Einleitung in das Neue Testament, Tübingen: Mohr, ⁷1931, p. 297. 57 As to the New Testament gospels: for Matthew see: J. Smit Sibinga, ‘Exploring the Composition of Matth. 5-7. The Sermon on the Mount and some of its «Structures»’, Fi- lologia Neotestamentaria 7 (1994) p. 175-196; for Luke: ‘The Function of Verbal Forms in Luke-Acts’, FilNeot 6 (1993) p. 31-50; for John: ‘Towards Understanding the Composition of John 20’, F. van Segbroeck e.a., ed., The Four Gospels 1992, Festschrift Frans Neirynck (BETL 100), Leuven: Peeters, 1992, p. 2139-2152.