15 Introdution

CDambrtoge:

PRINTED BY J. & C. F. CLAY, AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.

\

\

THE was

first

volume of

this

manual edition of the Cambridge .Septuagint 1 its history and plan In publishing

prefaced by a brief sketch of

a second volume

it

.

Some

will suffice to call attention to fresh details.

of

these have been treated in the introduction to a separate issue of the Psalter 2 ; but as the Psalms in Greek may escape the notice of readers

who

use the complete edition, such anticipations of the present volume here together with other particulars which belong to its

are reprinted contents.

i It is well known that the ninth and tenth Psalms of the Hebrew Bible form a single Psalm in the Greek of the Septuagint, and that this is also the case with the Hebrew Psalms cxiv., cxv. On the other hand each of .

the

Hebrew Psalms

Consequently, there

cxvi., cxlvii., is

into

falls

two Psalms

in

the

a double numeration of the Psalms from

ix.

Greek. 22 to

and in the particular Psalms which are differently divided, there is also to some extent a double numeration of the verses. In this edition the Hebrew numbers are added to the Greek and distinguished

cxlvi.

1 1

(Gk)

from the

;

by being enclosed in brackets. been broken up into its five books a division which though not directly recognised in the Greek MSS. is sufficiently marked by the doxologies with which the first four conclude. The twenty-two stanzas of Psalm cxviii. (= cxix.) are parted by slight breaks in the type.

The

A

latter

Psalter has

smaller type has been employed throughout the Psalms to distinguish titles and the dia.\f/a\/j.a,

the

In

all

the

MSS. which have been used

for this edition, excepting the

London papyrus

fragments, the Psalms are written stichometrically, the xot usually corresponding or being intended to correspond to the members of the Hebrew parallelisms. This arrangement has been <m

followed in the text; l

the second

The Old Testament in Greek,

(Camb., 1887; ed.

2, 1895),

pp.

xi.

vol. xvii.

line

of each

The

i.

ed.

2,

couplet (and where the

Psalttrs in

1896), pp. vi.

Greek (Camb., 1889;

ff.

parallelism forms a triplet,

back to mark

the third

subordination

having been thrown slightly

line)

The

MSS.

differ

however both as to the number of the lines and occasionally also as grouping of the words, and these variations have been recorded in the

to the

The

its

division of lines in the text

the

to

first.

several

notes.

generally conformed to that in the

is

MS.

represents; but in Ps. cxviii. ( = cxix.), where K throws the majority of the verses into single lines, it has been thought better to adhere to the usual division. Similar arrangements have been in

which

it

adopted

the other Canticles, It

2.

Books which are written cmx r)86i Job, and the two Wisdoms.

,

viz.

:

Proverbs, Ecclesiastes,

has been found inexpedient to exhibit in the text the numbered

sections into

which the Books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Canticles are

1 divided, apparently by the first hand , in B, and the last two less thoroughly in K ; and the effect of admitting these numbers into the foot-notes would

latter. A table shewing the verse which each of the sections begins will be found purpose and method is an interesting problem, but one upon

have been to overcrowd and confuse the or

word

in a verse at

below 2 their which this is not the place ;

to enter.

In the non-canonical books of

3.

cal portions of Esther,

now known Bible. The

where there

this

is

volume and

either

in the extra-canoni

no Hebrew

to exist, the secondary verse-numeration

is

original, or

none

that of the Latin

Latin verses often differ so seriously from the Greek, as well numbering and position as in the character of their text, that comparison becomes tedious and difficult ; and it is hoped that the method which has been adopted may be found serviceable by students both of the LXX. and the Vulgate. In some cases the correspondence is doubtful ; in in their

many in the

it

When

extends to a part of a verse only.

the Latin stops short

middle of a Greek verse, a short hyphen in the margin indicates

the inferior limit of the former. 4.

A remarkable divergence

Old Latin versions of

in the

* See Cozza, Prolegg. c. xx. The sections in B begin severally as follows: Prov. i. i, 7, 8, 20; ii. i, 13, 16 GAT/ ere KaraAa^rj), 21 \ iii. i, 13, 27, 29, 31, 34) 35 5 i, 4 ((jWAaacre), 10, 20; v. i, 15, 22; vi. 12, 21 ; vii. i (vie, rt>a) ; viii. i; ix. 7, 13; x. i, 19; xi. 31; xiii. 20; xiv. 6; xvi. 10, 16; xvii. 17; xix. 20; xx. 22; xxii. 10, 17; xxiii. 12, 22; xxiv. i, 13, 21, 24, 38, 47, 67; xxv. i, 7 (a elSoi ), 16, 21; xxvi. 4, 12; xxvii. i, n, 25; xxviii. 17 Eccles. i. i, 12; (rratSeve); xxix. 17, 28. 11. 14 (/cat eyj/wi/), 20, 24 (/cat ye TOVTO) hi. 14; iv. i, 4, 15; v. 9, 17; vi. 7; vii. 13, 23; viii. i, 9 (/cat eStoKa), 15, 17 (/cat /capSta), 33>

arrangement of the Septuagint and xxxvi. calls for notice here. In

Ecclesiasticus xxx.

W

;

ix. 7, 13; x. i, 14, [a section not numbered]; xi. 9; xii. 8. Cant. i. i, 4 (eiA/a/erai/), ib.

(eioVey/cev), ib. (a-yaAA.ia<r<o/ue0a), 5, 8, n, 12 (i/apSos), 15, 16 ii. i, 3, [three sections ;

not numbered];

iii. 6; iv. i, 16; v. i (eto-2, ib. (aVotfoi/), 3, 9, 10, 17; vi. i, (ISelv), 12; vii. i, ib. (i) epxcju-eVrj), 8,

TJAflov),

3, 10 ib. (/cat eerovrat), 9 (7ropevo/u.epos) ib. (UTTO /urjAoi/), 10, 13.

In first

X

;

viii.

5,

u,

section-numbers occur only in the four chapters of Ecclesiastes and in

Canticles, and the few sections that have been noted are much larger than those in B. They begin as follows: Eccles. i. i; ii. 2;

iii.

i; iv. 9.

Cant.

i.

i,

15;

iii.

6;

vi. 3.

these chapters the Greek order fails to yield a natural sequence, whereas the Latin arrangement, which is also that of the Syriac and Armenian versions,

makes

Ka\a/j,u}fji,vos

&r%aros is

.

.

Ta/o6/3)

-r]-yp^Trvfjffa),

by the

justified

Two

excellent sense.

.0uX<zs

and

a

sections, c. xxx. 25

c. xxxiii.

i3

b

xxxiii. i3 (ws xxxvi. i6 a (Xa/jLirpa Kapdia...

have exchanged places in the Latin, and the change On examination it appears that these sections

result.

are nearly equal, containing in B 154 and 159 cm xot respectively, whilst tf exhibits 160 in each. There can be little doubt that in the exemplar far as is certainly known, all our Greek MSS. of this book are ultimately derived the pairs of leaves on which these sections were severally written had been transposed, whereas the Latin translator, working from a MS. in which the transposition had not taken place,

from which, so

has preserved the true order 1 Under the circumstances it has been judged best to follow the guidance of the Latin, regarding it as the representative of a Greek text earlier in this particular than that which .

known to us through our existing MSS. 2 The Greek additions to the Book of Esther are 5. the chapters of the Hebrew text by successive letters of is

distinguished from the alphabet 3 and divided into verses which agree in length, although not in numeration, with those of the corresponding Latin.

In the Book of Tobit the text of

6.

B

text of either

or

A

that

it

,

differs so materially

tf

was found inconvenient

from the

to display its variants

The Sinaitic Tobit has therefore been printed in extenso beneath the Vatican text, but in a smaller type, to denote its To assist comparison it has been divided into verses secondary character. in the apparattis criticiis.

corresponding as nearly as possible with those of the standard

text.

MSS. have been collated for the present Three of these (BKA) are described in the first volume a few particulars must be added here. The

published texts of seven

volume.

1

The

;

solution

(kurzgefasstes

Apokryphen.

is

due to O. F. Fritzsche Handbuch zu den

exeg.

v. pp. 169, 170).

2 The transposition has rendered it nein Sir. cessary to print KaToxAi)poi xxxvi. i6 b instead of KareKArjpoi Oju.Tja-a, the reading of all our Uncial authorities. As Fritzsche observes (Handbuch, v. p. 475), it is clear that KaTe/cArjpoi Ojoi.Tjcra is the result of a desperate effort on the part of the scribes to bring the verb into harmony Oju/>j<rei?

,

which immediately prein the Greek order. The imperasuggested in the Latin order by the foregoing <rvvaye, but it is quite possible that the future stood here originally ; the O. L. has hereditabis, and it is supported by the important cursive 106 (Parsons), which reads /caTaKA.T7poi/o/oujcreis. 3 This method, in a slightly different form, is adopted by Dr Field ( Vetus Test. with cedes live

fiypvuinricra., it

is

graec., Oxon. 1859).

CODEX VATICANUS. MS.

This

continues to supply the text of the edition wherever In the Psalter ten leaves of the original Codex have been

available.

is

it

lost,

and the missing portion is supplied in the manuscript by the same recent cursive hand by which the prima manus has been replaced in the gaps of Genesis and i Kings. In Genesis the text of A was in this edition installed into the place vacated by the first hand of B in the Psalms the ;

K

text of

the natural substitute 1

is

CODEX SINAITICUS

.

(including Cod. Friderico-Augustanus).

According to Tischendorf the poetical books in tt are the work of the third of its four scribes, whom he distinguishes as C. Of the numerous correctors

who have

dealt with the text of K, the second,

Kc a -

,

a hand of

the seventh century, has been everywhere active in these Books. His cor rections have not unfrequently been erased or otherwise set aside either by himself, or

by a subsequent Psalms the symbol K c

to the

but

-

reviser, who is b has been

not identified.

employed

In the notes

for the corrector of

&c a -

;

necessary to apprise the reader that Tischendorf has elsewhere employed this expression for another hand of the seventh century to which is

it

he denies any part in the correction of the poetical books 2 In the remain ing books of this class the ambiguity has been avoided by another method .

of notation.

CODEX ALEXANDRINUS. The

from a

text

of the

They (ff.

scribe of the third

volume of the Codex Alexandrinus derived his and from it introduced into this great Bible

liturgical Psalter,

century a quantity of foreign matter relating to the Psalms. by the Epistle of S. Athanasius to Marcellinus 3 the Argument of Eusebius Pamphili 4 a table of the 530 r)

fifth

are preceded in

525 r

A

,

,

contents of the Psalms, apparently due to the same author 5 i See Dr Sanday s remark in the Acaof Dec. 24, 1887 : the latter part of the Psalms, would not the text of be nearer to what the text of B would have it were if than the text of A?" been, extant, * Prolegff. ad Cod. Sin. Petr. p. 9*. "Libros vero versibus scriptos C a maxi"

demy

m

S

mam

partem omnium solus

dem cum

et

diligentia tractavit,

magna quiC* plane non

TO y C vj^AMOyC.

is

headed .

e^NAClOy ARXI67 .

I

TTICKOTTOY

AAe|5ANApl<\C

GIG

The colophon

AGANAClOy &PXieTTICKOTTOY AeI<MSlAplAC

eTTICTOAH

is

ATTPOC

I

|

AAAnu-cXX IKI^, MAPKGAAlNON. 4

ITTOGeceiC

(sic)

THV T Y TTAAArKiAnv AM(P AOy. 5

attigit."

3 It

and canons

,

a TOW

Ka l

EyceBGlOy

nepioxAi eic joyc VP&AMOYC.

,P

r PO

")

eva.vri.ov. ^<rews

f0tr JL

,*

p. IIpomwTta i&S>v.

K.T.A.

a irept

TP Xpicrrov

These

Trepto-

of the Psalms for day and night use to which the i/ aX^os I5i6ypa(j>os

531

(ff.

^532 v)

1

After the Psalms,

.

appended as the 1515!, fourteen Canticles occur in the following order: Exod. xv. i 19 (y S?) Mwwr^ws ev Deut. xxxii. i TT; Eo 43 (ydy Mwuo^ws cv T$ Aeure/oovo/uy), i Reg. is

5<{j),

10 (Trpocreuxn

i

ii.

Efe/ciov [sic]), A/u.fiaKoij(JL),

Ion.

Esa.

"Avvas

Esa. xxvi. 9

fj-yrpos ZajUovifX),

10 (irpoaevxy luva), Hab. iii. xxxviii. 10 20 (irpocrevxT] Efe/a ou), ii.

3

i

20 (irpoaevx?) 19 (jrpooevx n the Prayer of

Manasseh, Dan. iii. 23 [2 21, Tisch.] (irpocrevxr) Afa/afov), Dan. iii. 23 65] (V/AVOS TUV irarepdiv -TJ/J.UV), Magnificat (irpoffevxrj Maptas TTJS Qeo-

[28

TOKOV),

the

Nunc

dimittis (irpocrtvx n Sinewy), Benedictus (Trpocrevxr) Zaxo-piov),

Morning Hymn (V/JLVOS eudivos); the subscription being ooAAl lA. Nine leaves of the Psalter are missing in A, with a corresponding

in its text of Pss. xlix. 19

loss

Ixxix. 10.

For the apparatus criticus of the Psalms it has been thought desirable employ the testimony of three other uncial MSS. The first .vo, like the third consists of frag the archetype of A, were liturgical Psalters ments of the first book which, if not of very early date, appear to pre Each of these MSS. possesses features of singular serve an early text. to

;

interest.

PSALTERIUM GRAECO-LATINUM VERONENSE.

A

5 in bilingual Psalter of Western origin and attributed to the 6th century , letters on the leftquarto, exhibiting at each opening the Greek text in Latin 6 hand page and on the right a Latin version which is in the main Old Latin . The MS. is without punctuation, but written ernx^pw?. It consists of 405 leaves of

inches by 7^, and arranged in quires of eight 26 lines fill a few portions of the Psalms (i. i ii. 7, Ixv. 20 Ixviii. 3, Ixviii. 2633, cvi. 2 have been replaced or supplied by a hand of the tenth century, to

vellum, measuring io page. cv 43 .

;

A

)

which the corrections throughout the MS. are generally due. The \//aA//.bs 1816seems to have had no place in this Psalter prima manu it is added in Greek and Latin by the later hand. The Canticles on the other hand appear to be 7 in the first hand and are without correction Eight Canticles are given in the 10, Esa. v. 19, following order: Exod. xv. 121, Deut. xxxii. 144, i Reg. ii. i Ion. ii. 3 67]. 19, Magnificat, Dan. iii. 23 [27 10, Hab. iii. i ;

ypa<|>os

.

This Psalter, which is the property of the Chapter of Verona, was of published by Giuseppe Bianchini, a native and at one time a Canon vat, under the title of viro0eVei.s, are prefixed to Eusebius s Commentary on the Psalms (Montfaucon, Coll. nov. pair. i. 2 6: Paris, 1706), but "would seem to be-

long to some other work (Lightfoot, EusebiusofCaes., Diet. C. B. ii. p. 337). 1 They maybe seen in Mr Hotham sart. Psalmody, Diet. C. A. ii. p. 1748. "

2

Bianchini, Vindic.

i.

(title to Psalter)

:

Psalterium duplex cum canticis...prodit ex insigni Codice Graeco-latino amplissimi Capituli Veronensis uncialibus characteribus ante septimum saeculum exarato." Cf. Nouveau traite cte diplomatique, iii. "

142. 3

Ronsch, Itala

4

Bianchini, Vindic.

u.

Vulgata, i.

p. 19..

pp. 258 n., 278.

in

Verona,

Vindiciae canonicarum scripturaruni (torn, i., Romae, facsimile of Ps. cxlii. i 6 precedes his text, which

his

A copper-plate

1740).

followed 1 by a too brief description of the MS. and of the editor s manner of dealing with its contents. A specimen of the handwriting may also be seen in the Nouveau traitg de diplomatique-. is

In the use of

MS.

this

the transliteration of the Greek text into Latin

and these are increased by Bianchini s somewhat uncertain practice with regard to the orthography. A photograph of the Verona Psalter is much to be desired. Meanwhile the present Editor letters creates frequent ambiguities,

has been permitted to use a collation of

this MS. made by the Rev. H. A. Redpath, whilst the Canticles were also collated by himself during a short visit to Verona in 1894. He has however thought it inexpedient to intro duce at present any but the more important corrections thus obtained, nor a has it seemed desirable to load the notes with new b readings of R and R the second and third correctors, or the Appendix with the ,

strange spellings due partly to the exigencies of transliteration, partly to the ignorance of scribes 3 .

Western

The Verona MS. was taken

not used by Parsons 4 nor does ,

seem

it

to

have

place hitherto in any apparatus criticus of the Greek Psalms

its

except that which is contained in Lagarde s Specimen, where it is used for Ps. i. v. Its claims are however asserted by Tischendorf, who accords it a high place among the "egregia novae editionis subsidia 5 ."

PSALTERIUM PURPUREUM TURICENSE.

A

quarto volume bound in hog s skin, written in uncials on vellum of the thinnest sort dyed purple. The characters are of silver, gold and vermilion, silver being used for the text, gold for the numbers titles and initial letters of the and vermilion for the Latin renderings of the first few words of each verse Psalms,

which are inscribed

in the ample margin. There are no accents or breathings, but compendia scribendi are frequent, and some of them such as do not occur in

the earliest

MSS.

There

resembling a semicolon in the course of a line.

is

is no punctuation properly so called, but a double point used to mark the commencement of a verse when it falls

When

MS.

perfect this

contained the Psalms, followed by

the Canticles. Of the 223 leaves which remain 209 are occupied by the Psalms the quire marks shew that they originally filled 288. The following Psalms and portions of Psalms are missing Pss. i. xxv. xxx. 2 xxxvi. 20 xli. 6 xliii.

;

:

Iviii.

12

lix. 5

14

xcvii.

;

910

lix.

The

8.

;

lix.

13

;

Ix. i

2

P. 278. iii.

pi.

xlii.

(i)

represents Ps. xcvi. is

sacra ^ictoria,

and i,

c.

1.

A

2.

The plate portion of it

Westwood Palaeograpkia

reproduced in

,

pi. 10.

4 the

:

The remaining 3

* 5 lix.

3

;

Ixxi.

Canticles have also suffered loss

disappeared, with parts of the sixth. 1

Ixiv. 12

;

;

xcii. 3 first five

xciii. 7

;

xcvi.

have entirely

portion includes

V

;

i

Reg.

ii.

Blanchini indie. I.e. Praef. ad libr. Psalmorztm (ad init.) Prolegg. ad Vet. Test. Gr Iviii

XI

6

io,

(

Magnificat,

)

(TJ )

Esa. xxxviii. 10

20,

(0) the Prayer of Manasseh,

(O Dan. iii. 23 [221], (ia) z [2833], (i|8 ) #. [3467], (iy) Benedict, The Morning Hymn follows on the last two pages, but it (16 ) Nunc dimittis. .

imperfect through the loss of the lower part of the leaf.

is

Psalter is the pride of the municipal library of Zurich 1 , purple has lain for at least two centuries. In a letter dated 1711 J. H. Hirzel deplores the neglect into which the MS. had fallen and of which

This

where

it

there

still

is

evidence in the loss of jf quires at the beginning of the

book, and in the numerous lacunae throughout the greater portion of the remainder. Attention was called to the importance of its text in a 2 published in 1748, and a collation was by J. J. Breitinger obtained by Parsons, the continuator of Holmes, who cites it as MS. 262 3 Finally, the entire MS. was copied in 1856 by Tischendorf, who after comparing his copy with the original in the autumn of 1 869 gave it to the

dissertation

,

.

world in the fourth volume of his Monumenta sacra inedita (Nov. Coll.) 4 adding prolegomena, and a coloured representation of Ps. cxxxvii. 6 cxxxviii. i 5 .

The

collation of the Zurich Psalter for the present edition

based upon Tischendorf

The

s

,

is

reproduction.

earlier history of this princely

MS.

6

is

unknown.

But the

em

ployment of the Latin Vulgate by a contemporary hand in the margin of the Psalms and of certain of the Canticles 7 clearly indicates its Western

A peculiar

origin.

Roman

of the

division of Ps. cxviii.

Church.

The Psalm

is

(

cxix.) connects

made

with the use

it

to fall into twelve sections

These i, 16, 33, 49, 65, 73, 81, 97, 113, 132, 145, 161. sections generally correspond to the portions which were said severally With regard to the age under one gloria in the Gregorian Psalter 8

beginning at vv.

.

Cf. H. Omont, Catalogue des manuscrits grecs des Bibliotheques de Suisse 1

(Leipzig, 1886), pp. 2

De

5759.

antiquissimo Turicensis bibliotheGraeco Psalmorum libra in mem-

cae

brana purpurea...epistola...perscripta

a.

y. y. Breitinger, Ling. Grace, apud Turicenses Prof. &*c. Turici, 1748. 3

Praef,

ad libr. Psalmontm

(sub num.

5

Pp.

A

xi.

xix.,

i

223.

facsimile of Ps. Ix. 6

given by Breitinger,

Ixi.

2

who adds a

is

also

conve-

nient plate of the compendia scribendi and the initial letters. 6 hie Cf. Mabillon de re diplom. p. 43 : scribendi modus principibus et magnatibus "

peculiaris erat, nee tamen promiscue ab istis usurpatus." 7

way

Western

The

Canticles distinguished are the Song of Hannah,

in

this

Magni~

offices.

8 In the Roman Breviary Ps. cxviii. is distributed into eleven sections, each under one gloria, two being said at prime, and three at terce sext and none respectively. The same arrangement existed in the Ambrosian Psalter, and in the Sarum (Procter

and Wordsworth, these sections

pp.

44

68).

Nine of

(i, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, io,

n)

are

Zurich MS. exactly reproduced One, the fifth, is divided into two; another, the ninth, begins at v. 132 (aspice) instead of v. 120, (tnirabilid). But the exceptions In each case the are easily explained. scribe has been led away from the Gregorian division by attending to the liturgical marks in his Greek archetype. The second stasis of the Psalm as sung in the Greek nocturns begins in the middle of the fifth Gregorian In the section; the third stasis, at v. 132. margin of v. 132 the scribe of T has copied in

262). 4

find place in the

the

of the

MS.,

appears to be determined within certain limits by t The somewhat compressed forms of e, 0, o, c and the shape of such crucial letters as r, A, H and n, justify Tischendorf J conclusion: "septimo...saeculo adscribentes vix errabimus 1 The Zurich Psalter is free from many of the blunders which it

character of the uncials.

."

MSS.

earlier

The most

disfigure!

noticeable fault

an inveterate habit of writing]

is

the forms

of the aorist conjunctive for those of the future indicative. Corrections are few, as might be expected in so sumptuous a book ; those which occur seem to be due to the scribe or to his diorthota. The readings of this MS. are in frequent agreement with Codex Alexandrinus, and to a still more remarkable extent with the second corrector of Codex Sinaiticus.

FRAGMENTA PAPYRACEA LONDINENSIA,

Brit.

Mus.

pap

xxxvii

(A, B, C). Fragments of the Psalms written on 30 leaves of papyrus (8| x 7 inches), 12 to lines filling a page. The handwriting, which is singularly fresh and black, slopes considerably, and wavers between uncials and minuscules; the letters 19

M, y frequently assume a cursive form. Breathings and accents employed, the latter however with great irregularity both of form and of position. The words are not separated, and there is no break at the end of a Psalm. The titles of the Psalms are not from the A, A, 6, H,

are

freely

text and the A/), and possibly by another hand. single point is occasionally used. Only two portions of this Psalter (x. 2 xviii. 6, xx. 14 xxxiv. 6) are preserved at the British Museum, but Tischendorf hints that other scraps may exist elsewhere in The

distinguished

numbers are added

A

in the

margin only in two instances (*5

,

England.

London fragments (32 leaves, including two which are blank on both sides) are mounted and enclosed in glass frames, which fill three book-like cases one of the ;

leaves

is

exhibited to the public.

This papyrus was purchased in 1836 from Dr Hogg, who bought it at in Egypt where it had been "discovered among the rubbish of 2 an ancient convent An account of the MS. was first given by Tischen dorf in TheoL Studien u. Kritiken (1844). Cureton announced his intention

Thebes

."

of editing

it, but other engagements having compelled him to relinquish the was taken in hand by Tischendorf, and the text in uncial type with prolegomena and a facsimile appeared in the first volume of his Monu-

task,

it

3 menta sacra inedita (Nov. Coll.), Lips., 18=15 The age of this fragment has been very differently estimated. Notwith standing the mixed character of the writing and the use of accents, .

Greek Jjturgical notes occur at the end of Pss. cxvm. cxxvm., cxxxiii., cxln cl.^each of which seems to have closed a KO. in the Psalter from which the Zurich book was copied. Proltgg. p. xin. Thiersch (de Penta-

!^%

B^a

teuchi vers. Alex., Erlangae, 1841, p. 87 .) strangely places it before the Codex Alexandrinus.

Hogg, M.D. Visit to A lexandria Lond f 8 H Pp xxxxiii.-xxxxviii., 219-278 E.

&c 3

:

.

.

it a place among the very earliest of existing Biblical the strength of Tischendorfs judgement it was described in 2 as the plate and letterpress of the Palaeographical Society s publication This view is however retracted or in the of the a MS. 5th century. 4th

Tischendorf assigned

On

MSS. 1

London papyrus is there adjudged Dr V. Gardthausen on palaeographical grounds On the other hand Lagarde, who than the 7th 4

Introduction to the facsimiles, and the to the 6th or yth century

refuses to place

it

earlier

3.

.

examined the MS. in 1852 or 1853, has expressed himself in terms which transcend Tischendorfs estimate 5 This MS. is the work of a careless and illiterate scribe, but it presents .

much value. Its readings are often unique, or agree with the Hebrew or the versions or patristic citations against all other known MSS. The corrections, which are few and appear to be prima manu, or the work a text of

of a contemporary, deal merely with clerical errors.

In the rest of the poetical books the witness of BKA has been supple mented by the surviving fragments of the great Paris palimpsest, the last of the Greek Bibles of the fourth and fifth centuries.

CODEX EPHRAEMI SYRI RESCRIPTUS

PARISIENSIS, Bibliotheque

Nationale g 6

A

folio

when

line

.

of fine vellum, written in single columns of 40 46 lines, usually 41, each The characters are somewhat larger full consisting of some 40 letters.

BXA capitals occur freely, as in A punctua a single point nearly level with the top of the letters, and followed by a space of a letter s breadth there are no breathings or accents prima manu. These and other indications seem to point to a date not later than and more elaborate than those of tion is rare, confined

;

;

to

;

the middle of the

fifth century. 209 leaves which have survived the wreck of this great MS. Bible, the first 64 contain fragments of the LXX. ; of these 19 belong to Job, 6 to Proverbs, 8 to Ecclesiastes, 7 to the Wisdom of Solomon, 23 to Sirach, whilst of Canticles only

Of the

one leaf remains. The Old and New Testament portions of the MS. appear to have been written by different but contemporary hands, In the twelfth century the This MS., as its title denotes, is a palimpsest. original writing throughout the Codex was washed out by a scribe who afterwards wrote over

it

in

a cursive hand a Greek translation of certain homilies and other

works of Ephraim, the Syrian deacon. 1

Prolegg.

ad

vet. test. p. Ix.

:

4 "insigne

hoc monumentum papyraceum, quo nullus codicum sacrorum antiquior videtur." 2 Facsimiles, i. (Lond. 1873 ?3) pi- 3^ (representing Ps. xxxii. 19 3

The same view

xxxiii. 2).

taken in the Catalogue of Ancient MSS. in the British i Museum, pt. (Greek), Lond. 1881, which offers a photograph of Ps. xxiii. 10 xxiv.7. is

Griechische Palaeographie (Leipzig, I ^3 4Psalterii spec. (Gottingen, 1887) p. 4:

1879), PP5

"biblicorum

omnium quos noverim

anti-

quissimus." 6

H. Omont, Inventaire sommaire dts

manuscrits grecs de la (Paris, 1886) p.

2.

biblioth. nation.

I.

The O.

T. fragments of this Codex were edited by Tischendorf in 1845!,

as a sequel to his edition of the N. T. of C, which The editor was confronted unusual difficulties.

by

had appeared

in 1843!

The MS.,

already de faced by the scribe of Ephraim, has been discoloured in a recent attempt (1834) to restore the original writing. of the leaves are

Many

many more

badly

From a table in Tischendorf s scarcely legible. prolegomena it appears that only three or four pages can be read with comparative ease; one of these, which contains Ecclesiastes v. torn,

are

2

517,

A

is

represented by a plate at the end of his volume. large proportion are stated to be in a condition all but desperate ; and the broken lines of the facsimile are a frank confession of the editor s These imperfect success. facts suggest the need of caution in the use of C, until some has

been made

attempt

to verify

Tischendorf, scribe,

Tischendorf

who

believes that

s results 3 .

Codex as the work of an Egyptian from Egypt to Palestine, Syria or Asia Constantinople, where it became a

regards this it

travelled

Minor, and from thence to In the early years of the sixteenth

palimpsest.

century it was brought to the West by Andrew John Lascaris, and became the property of Lorenzo de Medici. Subsequently the volume passed into the hands of Catharine de Medici

and was conveyed to Paris, where it found place in the Royal Library. The O. T. fragments of C have been corrected by a second hand (C a )

of the sixth or seventh century. frequent in Ecclesiasticus.

The Editor

desires to

renew

The

corrections are usually few, but

more

his

acknowledgements to Dr Nestle, who edition the notes to the Psalms, so far as they relate to Codd. ATU, and has contributed to the present edition a fresh colla tion of Cod. B for all the books contained in this volume, obtained from the photograph published at Rome in i8 4 The Editor is also indebted 9o . to Mr Redpath and to Dr Beard for much valuable aid in the correction of both text and notes throughout the volume. debt of revised for the

first

A

and one which no words can

interpret

is

due

to

another kind

Dr

Hort,

late

Lady

1

CodexEphr.Syrirescriptussivcfrag-

sss.

sr,

ei c

edition of the

Cambridge Seotuaeint

-

ground suggested that

it

might be prudent

to reserve the variants of

C

for the larger

Rut

3*3

8

pendence upon their teTtimoVy * See vol. i. p. xviil

Margaret Professor of Divinity, whose patient care watched over this its commencement in 1883. Lastly, if this work has any claim to the accuracy in minute details which in undertakings of the kind is at once so essential to usefulness and so hard to attain, the credit belongs edition from

in

no small measure

workmen and

to the vigilance of the readers

officers of the

University Press.

and the attention of the

K = Codex

Sinaiticus

A = Codex

Alexandrinus

B = Cod ex

Vaticanus

C = Codex Ephraemi

(

(

= S, (

Lagarde, Nestle).

= 111,

= 11,

Parsons).

Parsons).

Syri rescriptus Parisiensis.

K=PsaIterium Graeco-Latinum Veronense.

T=Psalterium Turicense

U = Fragmenta

(

= 262,

Parsons).

papyracea Londinensia.