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THE present volume
completes the manual edition of the Cambridge Septuagint.
The work was
commenced in 1883;
the first volume appeared in 1887, the second in 1891.
Little is needed by way of preface to this last instalment of a long task.
The
general principles upon which the edition is based were stated in the preface
to the first volume, and both the earlier volumes have been accompanied by some
account of the MSS. used in the preparation of the text and notes.
It remains
only to add particulars relating to the volume which is now in the reader's
hands.
The great Vatican MS., whose text and
order we have generally followed, ends with the Prophets.
For the Books of the
Maccabees we have been compelled to look elsewhere, and since the Codex
Alexandrinus is the only early Uncial which contains them all, the text of that
MS. has been adopted throughout;
in the notes to these Books use has been made of the Codex Sinaiticus so far as it is available, and of the
important although relatively late Codex Venetus, which has been newly collated
for this purpose.
[Apart from the
convenience of this arrangement, the selection is justified on the whole by the
character of the A text of the Maccabees.
But the copy which the scribe of A
follows was so carelessly written that it has been found necessary to admit a
considerable number of corrections from the other MSS.;
and in one or two
instances where all the MSS. are at fault, a conjecture has been allowed to
take a provisional place in the text.
In all such cases the rejected readings
are recorded in the notes.]
In
the Prophets it has been possible to employ, in addition to the great codices BאA, the Codex Marchalianus (Q),
the Codex rescriptus Crypto-ferratensis (Γ), and the Dublin fragments of Isaiah (O), as well as those
edited by Tischendorf (Z).
It is well known that in Daniel the text of the LXX.
is preserved in one MS. only, a cursive, and not earlier than the ninth
century.
Before the days of Jerome the Church had ceased to read the Septuagint
of Daniel, its room having been filled by the version attributed to Theodotion.
[Hieron. praef. in Daniel.:
"illud quoque lectorem admoneo, Danielem non iuxta LXX. interpretes sed
iuxta Theodotionem ecclesias legere." Cf.Apil. ad Rufin. ii.:
"ecclesiae iuxta Theodotionem legunt Danielem.
Ego quid peccavi, si
ecclesiarum indicium sequutus sum?"]
This is not
the place to attempt an explanation of the fact, or to discuss the relation of
the two versions to one another and to the original.
But since the present is
an edition of 'the Old Testament in Greek according to the LXX.,' the LXX.
version has been restored in Daniel to the place of honour, whilst we have
placed opposite to it at each opening the version of Theodotion, which, as the
Greek Daniel of the Church Bible, must always be indispensable in the study of
ancient Christian literature as well as for the literary history and the
criticism of the Book.
Daniel is unfortunately wanting in א;
but BAQ, together with Γ and a newly acquired Bodleian fragment (Δ) of a portion of Bel
and the Dragon, supply a fair amount of uncial authority for the text of
Theodotion.
The Septuagint text has been derived from Cozza's transcript of the
Chigi MS.;
but it has been thought desirable to follow Tischendorfs example and
to give at the foot of the page the readings of the Syro-hexaplaric version,
our only other authority.
For this purpose a collation of Ceriani's
photolithograph of the Syriac MS.
[A. Ceriani: Codex Syro-hexaplaris Ambrosianus
photo-lithographice editus (Mediol. 1874).]
has been made by Norman
McLean, Esq., Fellow of Christ's College, who has kindly superintended the passage
of its readings through the Press, and has supplied the editor with a
description of the MS., which will be found in the proper place.
At
the end of the volume the reader will find the Psalms of Solomon, a book which,
though not actually included in any known uncial MS., at one time followed the
New Testament in the Codex Alexandrinus, is to be found in several cursive MSS.
of the Sapiential Books, and has some peculiar claims to a place at the close
of the Greek Old Testament.
The text we have given is that of a Vatican MS., of
which a collation has been supplied by the kindness of Dr E. Klostermann, of
Kiel;
[Professor O. v. Gebhardt, who
first detected this important MS. of the Psalms of Solomon, has courteously
waived his right of prior publication in the interests of this edition.]
the notes in this edition contain the readings of the other MSS. of
these Psalms examined by Professor Ryle and Dr M. R. James, who have generously
placed their papers at the disposal of the editor for this purpose.
After the
Psalms of Solomon we have printed the Canticles, as they are found at
the end of the Psalter of Codex Alexandrinus, with the various readings of the
Verona and Zurich MSS., the former from Bianchini's transcript, verified by a
personal examination of the MS., the latter from Tischendorfs facsimile.
[See vol. ii. pp. ix.—xi.]
Some interest will be found in comparing the text of the Old
Testament Canticles as they appear in MS. Psalters with that which they present
in the Books from which they are severally derived.
The New Testament Canticles
and the ὕμνος ἐυθινος have
been allowed to retain the place which they hold in the Psalter of Codex A.
We
proceed to give some account of MSS. not previously described and used in the apparatus of the present volume.
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Contains
at present 416 leaves of thin vellum, measuring 11¾ x 7 inches, written in
single columns of 29 lines, each line consisting of 24 to 30 letters.
The first
12 leaves, which were not part of the original MS., are occupied by
(1) an
extract from the Synopsis printed among the works of St Athanasius, here
attributed to Eusebius;
(2) extracts from the 'Lives of the Prophets' which
appear in the editions of Epiphanius.
The Prophets follow in the first hand,
and in the order of Cod. B (i.e. the order in which they are printed in the
present edition).
In
its original form the MS. was without interlinear or marginal additions, except
a few corrections by the diorthota, and the Hexaplaric marks inserted in
its text.
Neither breathings nor accents seem to have been added by the first
hand.
This
MS. was written in Egypt, and, in the judgement of Ceriani, not later than the
sixth century.
The characters are simple, firm, and free, with the exception of ε, θ, ο,
c, which are narrow, after the manner of the next
century;
but this peculiarity does not, as Ceriani has shewn, in the case of an
Egyptian MS. require us to assume a later date.
[Ceriani, comm. p. 36;
"pro litteris ε, θ, ο, c iam initia
oblongarum formarum reperire est in antiquissimis papyris ut in Iliade Musei
Britannici......etiam codex Coptus Pistis Sophia, quem Hyvernat fere saec. VI. dicit, licet crassiori typo scripturae utatur, in ε, θ, ο, c, formis Marchalianis satis
proximo accedit."]
The
history of the MS. is of much interest.
It appears to have remained in Egypt
until after the 9th century, and all the additions and corrections in uncial
writing are by Egyptian hands.
From Egypt it passed into South Italy, probably
before the nth century, and there the patristic scholia and a few readings in
the text and margin, signalised by a preliminary γρ[άφεται], seem to have been added in cent. i.
From South Italy it was
carried, perhaps by some Norman or French hand, into France, where it found a
home in the Abbey of St Denys, near Paris.
While in Italy the codex had
received various Latin notes, chiefly renderings from the Vulgate and other elucidations
of the Greek text;
and this process of annotation in Latin was carried on after
its arrival in France.
In the 16th century the book passed out of the
possession of the monks of St Denys and became the property first of Renatus
Marchalus Boismoraeus, after whom it is still named;
[Cf- I. Curterii Procopius in Esaiam, praef. β.]
and subsequently of Cardinal
Francois Rochefoucauld, to whom it belonged about AD. 1636.
The Cardinal
presented it to the Jesuit College of Clermont, near Paris;
a century and a
half later, when the treasures of the College were dispersed, this MS. was
purchased (1785) by Pope Pius VI. for the Vatican Library, where it is still
preserved.
The
Codex Marchalianus has been used by a succession of scholars since the
beginning of the seventeenth century, among whom were Morin and Montfaucon.
It
was collated for the great work of Holmes and Parson;?, and portions of it were
edited by Tischendorf in the Monumenta Sacra. [Vol. ix. pp. 227 ff. (1870).]
Dr Field used for his Hexapla (1875)
all the materials for the presentation of its readings which were then
available, and suggested and offered to defray a part of the cost of a
photo-lithograph.
[Ceriani, p. 47:
"de hoc uiro, Field... praedicandum quod circa annum 1875 pro codicis Marchaliani
editione, eius pretii peritissimus iudex, ad me scripsit se daturum italicarum
libellarum quatuor millia, ut tandem codex integre ederetur qua meliori ratione
fieri posset, photo-lithographia nempe, si recte memini."]
Ultimately a heliotype of the MS. was published in 1890 under the
superintendence of Cozza, and a monograph upon the Codex by Dr Antonio Ceriani,
which will take its place among the classical works of Biblical palaeography,
was issued simultaneously by the Vatican Press.
[The volume is entitled, Prophetarum | codex Graecus
Vaticanus 2125 | uetustate uarietate lectionum notationibus | unicus aeque et
insignis 1 heliotypice editus ] auspice | Leone i. Pent. Max. | curante |
losepho Cozza-Luzi Abate Basiliano | S. Rom. ecclesiae uicebibliothecario |
accedit commentatio critica | Ant. Ceriani Ambrosianae biblioth. praefecti ||
Romae | e bibliotheca Vaticana | agente photographo Danasi | mdccclxxxx. The title of Ceriani's
monograph runs: De codice Marchaliano | seu | Vaticano Graeco 2125 | Prophetarum
| phototypica arte repraesentato | commentatio | Antonii Ceriani |
bibliothe-cae Ambrosianae praefecti || Romae ex bibliotheca Vaticana | anno mdcccxc.]
To
return to the MS. itself.
A few corrections which are coaeval with the first
hand may be recognised in the heliotype by the relative thickness of the
letters as well as by their form; these are denoted in this volume by Q1.
Other corrections in minute uncial characters, written by various hands and at
different periods, are placed under the common symbol Qa;
and the
same symbol has been used to represent the copious marginal annotations
transcribed from a Hexaplaric MS. by a hand not much later than the original
scribe.
This hand has also inserted before Isaiah and Ezekiel two important notes
evidently copied from the MS. which supplied the Hexaplaric additions;
[These notes, which throw much light on the history both of
the MS. and of the LXX., deserve a place here.
They are as follows:
(1) μετεληφθη ο
ησαϊας απο
αντιγραφου |
του αββα απολιναριου
του
κοινοβιαρχου |
εν ω
καθϋπετακτο
ταυτα |
μετεληφθη ο
ησαϊας εκ των
κατα τας εκδο |
σεις εξαπλων
αντεβληθη δε
και προς |
ετεπον
εξαπλουν εχον
την παρασημει |
ωσιν
ταυτηνδιορθωνται
ακριβως πα | σαι
αι εκδοσεις
αντεβληθησαν
γαρ προς τε |
τραπλουν
ησαϊαν ετι δε
και προς
εξαπλουν | προς
τουτοις και τα
απο της αρχης
εως του |
οραματος τυρου
ακριβεστερον
διορθωται |
ευπορησαντες
γαρ των μεχρι
τελους του |
οραματος τυρου
τομων
εξηγητικων |
εις τον ησαϊαν
ωριγενους και ακριβως |
επιστησαντες
τη εννοια καθ
ην εξηγη | σατο
εκαστην λεξιν
καθως οιον τ[ε
ην] | και παν
αμφιβολον κατα
την εκει[νου] |
εννοιαν διορθωσαμεθα
προς τουτοις
συ | νεκριθη η
των εβδομηκοντα
εκδοσις | και
προς τα υπο
ευσεβειου εις
τον ησαιαν |
ειρημενα εν
οις διεφωνουν
της εξη | γησεως
την εννοιαν
ζητησαντες και
| προς αυτην
διορθωσαμενοι
(2) μετεληφθη δε
απο αντιγραφου
του | αββα απολιναριου
του
κοινοβιαρχου
εν ω |
καθυποτακτο ταυτο
μετεληφθη α | πο
των κατα τας
εκδοσεις
εξαπλων και |
διορθωθη απο
των ωριγενους
αυτου τε |
τραπλων ατιωα
και αυτου
χειρι διορθω |
το και
εσχολιογραφητο·
οθεν ευσεβειος
εγω | τα σχολια
παρεθηκα·
παμφιλος και
ευσε | βειος
διορθωσαντο.]
and to it is also due the writing which covers the first 12 leaves of the present book. Qb has been used to represent the cursive Greek hand or hands of the thirteenth
century.
It
has been thought best on the whole to admit into the notes of this volume the
whole of the uncial writing in Q, with the exception of the patristic matter at
the beginning of the volume, and the memoranda on Isaiah and Ezekiel to which
reference has just been made.
In the Hexaplaric notes the symbols α΄, σ΄, (συ΄), θ΄(θε΄) represent the
readings of Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion respectively;
collectively the
three versions are described as οι γ΄or
simply γ΄, πάντες (π΄), or οι λοιποι;
the last term is also used when two of the
versions agree against the third.
Οι ο΄marks
a true Septuagintal reading, where it differs from the text of Q 1;
[Thus ὁμοίως τοῖς ο΄generally indicates the agreement of one or more of the
versions
with the Hexaplaric text of the LXX., as against the first hand of the codex.
The interpretation of the marginal notes is often a matter of some delicacy,
and the perplexity of the student is occasionally increased by errors in the
attachment of the notes to the text;
see Ceriani, pp. 13—15.];
ωρ [cannot be reproduced exactly here,
but the ρ is superimposed over the ω. Katapi. Ed.]
stands for Origen, and the Hexapla is occasionally mentioned as τὸ ἑξασέλιδον.
The Hexaplaric signs employed
in the MS. are the asterisk (※),
the obelus
[looks like a ‘-'
(hyphen), with a ‘:' (colon) underneath. Katapi. Ed.];
and the metobelus.
The metobelus has not been represented in the
notes of this edition, and the obeli in the photograph of the MS. are
often so faint and difficult to detect that their occurrence has not been, it
is feared, at all uniformly noticed.
[Ceriani, p. 10; "attentos tamen obeli et acutos desiderant oculos, quia ualde interdum euanuerunt,
uel in margine scriptura seriori fereobruuntur... primus fortasse Tischendorf
obelos retulit in partibus quas edidit. Locos alios plures contuli, et passim quisque facile
conferre potent."]
The asterisks in the margins belong to Qa;
those in the
text were added by the scribe or by a hand contemporary with him.
By an
elaborate examination of a number of test passages, Ceriani has shewn that the
original text of Q, which agrees largely with that of Cyril of Alexandria and
of the Memphitic version, is on the whole Egyptian, and of the type which, as
we learn from Jerome, was current in Egypt, the Hesychian recension of the LXX.
[Ceriani, p. 106.
For the reference
to Jerome see the preface to the first volume of this edition, p. x;
and for a
discussion of the Hesychian group of MSS., comp. Cornill, Ezekiel, p. 66
ff.]
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This
MS. is a palimpsest of the Prophets which has long been in the possession of
the Basiltan house of Grotta ferrata, near Frascati4.
[The library of Grotta ferrata, which was founded
in the eleventh century by Nilus of Rossano in Calabria, is rich in Greek MSS.,
of which the convent became a famous workshop (Montfaucon, Palaeogr. Graac, p. 113).
Most of its Greek MSS. are palimpsests. Cf. Mai, Spicil. Rom. t. ii. ii. p. 2 (cited by Rocchi, Codices Cryptenses, won. p. 2):
"illud peculiare Cryptenaium codicum est quod paene omnes in palimpsestis
scripti fuerunt;" "etenim hoc in more apud illos monachos positum
fuisse uidetur, ut nunquam fere nouus codex exararetur, quin alicuius prisci et
obsoleti membranae huic usui accommodarentur,"]
The
codex when complete seems to have formed 54 quires of 8 leaves each, measuring,
to judge from a photographed specimen, 10¾ x 8¼ inches;
the writing was in
double columns of 25 to 28 lines, each line consisting of 13 to 20 letters;
the
margins were of unusual breadth.
The handwriting, as shewn in the specimen,
exhibits the sloping uncials which are characteristic of the eighth and ninth
centuries. Initial letters often fall outside the column, and are coloured;
contractions and abbreviations, such as κ, ζ, μο, appear at the end of the lines;
the rough
breathing occurs frequently, but accents Prima manu are rare.
With
the exception of a few fragments which have been discovered in other palimpsest
MSS. belonging to the same monastery,
[A
few fragments were found by Cozza in Codd. Cryptof. Β β΄vii and A α΄vi.]
the
surviving leaves of this great codex form part of a single volume (Ε. Β΄. vii. formerly C. 4)
entitled Κοντάκια καὶ οῖκοι,
[Two forms of the hymn used in the Greek offices;
see Goar, Euchol, (Paris, 1647), in laud. off., notes 31, 32.
The fuller title of this volume is ψαλτικὸν σὺν θεῷ ἐνιαυτοῦ ὅλου· ποίημα Ῥωμανοῦ τοῦ μελωδοῦ.
There are tokens that it was written for use in
the church of the monastery.]
and containing
liturgical and poetical compositions accompanied by musical notation (neumes).
The hand which has written these pieces over the older writing is attributed to
the i3th century.
In some places the parchment is doubly palimpsest;
a hand of
the 10th century having written a work of St John of Damascus over the uncials,
[A Παρακλητικόν on the B.V.M.]
itself
to undergo the same treatment from the later scribe of the hymns.
Other portions
of the volume originally formed part of a collection of patristic homilies.
[Amongst these were extracts from Hippolytus,
Athanasius, Chrysostom, Proclus, Eulogius of Alexandria.]
The palimpsest of the Prophets, however, supplied the thirteenth
century scribe with the greater part of his parchment;
of the 190 leaves which
make up the present codex, about 130 belonged to it.
Cozza, to whom we owe our
knowledge of this MS., has found it possible to transcribe more or less fully
197 pages;
but in some contexts his transcript shews large gaps,
[Published in the Sacroruin bibliorum
vetustissima fragmenta graeca et latino, vol. i. (Romae, 1867).]
and there are pages where the consecutive words are very few.
Hence
it will be precarious for the reader of this edition to draw conclusions from
the silence of Γ, which may be due to the impossibility of deciphering its
testimony.
To call attention in the notes to all the passages where Cozza has
failed to read his MS. would have been inconvenient and scarcely practicable.
But it may be well to mention here the contexts where the transcript is
conspicuously defective:
the fragments of Hosea, Amos, and Haggai,
Zech.x.10—end, Mal.i.11—ii.3, Isa.lii.12—liii.4, Iv.3—10, Jer.xx.3ff., li.-15 ft.,
Bar.i.12—ii.3, iii.32—iv.3ff., Lam.i.8—ii.14, Ep. of Jer.7—16, Ezek.xi.10—17,
xvi.15—31, x.31—xxv.9, xxx.24—xxxi.4;
the fragments of Daniel.
These are
large deductions from the usefulness of the codex, but it may be hoped that further
examination may in time to come fill up much that is wanting now.
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These
fragments contain Isa.iii.8—14, v.2—14, xxix.ii—23, xliv.26— xlv.5, written in
a bold and somewhat coarse uncial hand of the eighth or ninth century, so far
as it is possible to form a judgement from the specimen which Tischendorf
appends to his transcript.
Tischendorf himself is disposed to place it earlier,
and considers that it was written in Egypt or the neighbourhood in the seventh
century.
Each column of the MS. appears to have consisted of 19 lines, with 19
or 20 letters to the line.
An obelus is prefixed to Isa.iii.10 (εἰποντες... δύσχρηστος ἡμῖν ἐστιν).
The
fragments were found by Tischendorf during one of his journeys to Egypt and the
East (probably in 1853), and published in the Monumenta Sacra
Inedita, nov. coll. vol. i, (Lipsiae, 1857);
the transcript will be found
on pp. 185—198, and the facsimile (Isa.iii.9—10) at the end of the volume (tab.
iii. 5).
The upper writing is Armenian, and the six leaves which contain the
fragments of Isaiah were probably part of the Armenian Codex to which the
palimpsest fragments of the New Testament and of 2, 3 Regg., also published in
the first volume of the Monnmenta, once belonged.
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These
fragments (Isa.xxx.2—xxxi.7, xxxvi.7—xxxviii.1) are bound up in the volume
which contains the well-known palimpsest of St Matthew (Z), one of the
treasures of the Library of Trinity College, Dublin.
The volume consists of no
leaves, and the later writing (? cent. xi.) presents extracts from
various Greek fathers and ecclesiastical authors.
Sixty-nine of the leaves are
palimpsest; of these twenty-nine originally contained portions of the orations
of Gregory of Nazianzus, thirty-two belonged to the Gospel of St Matthew, and
eight to Isaiah.
The eight leaves which yield fragments of Isaiah were but four
in the original codex.
Each of the original leaves measured at least 12 x 9
inches;
the writing was in two columns of 36 lines, with 14—17 letters in each
line. With two or three exceptions the characters resemble generally those of
the fragments of St Matthew, and probably belong to the same age;
the forms of
the A and M point to an Egyptian scribe,
[E. Maunde Thompson, Greek and Latin Palaeography. p.
154.]
and the general style of the writing is that of
the early sixth century.
There are no large initials, the abbreviations are few
and simple;
breathings and accents are entirely wanting, and the writing is
continuous, except where a space denotes a break In the sense; the punctuation
is limited to the use of a single point.
The
fragments of St Matthew were edited by Dr J. Barrett in 1801, when attention
was briefly called to the fragments of Isaiah.
[Evangelium sec. Matthaeum ex codice rescripto... opera
et studio Joannis Barrett, S.T.P. (Dublinii, 1801):
see prolegg., p. 1.]
The latter have been published in facsimile by Dr T. K. Abbott,
Professor of Hebrew, sometime Professor of Biblical Greek, in the University of
Dublin, to whose account of the MS. the above description is chiefly due.
[Par Palimpsestorum Dublinensium:
The Codex rescriptus
Dublinensis of S. Matthew's Gospel; also the fragments of the Book of Isaiah...
by T. K. Attott, B.D. (Dublin
and London, 1880).]
The Isaiah fragment was collated
for Holmes and Parsons, and in their edition is denominated VIII:
Lagarde
distinguishes it as O, and his symbol has been used in the present volume.
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This
MS. contains Jeremiah, Baruch, Lamentations, Ep. of Jeremiah, Daniel κατὰ τοὺς ο΄, Hippolytus on Daniel, Daniel (Th.), Ezekiel, Isaiah.
Since there are
no signatures, and both Daniel and Ezekiel begin fresh quires, it is impossible
to say whether the order of the books is that of the original codex.
The
present MS. is a large folio of 402 leaves, in gatherings of 8.
The handwriting
appears to belong to the Calabrian school of Greek calligraphy, and the date
usually assigned to it is the ninth century.
[The facsimile of Thren.v.14—Ep. Jer.2 which may be seen in
Bianchini, Vindiciae, p. cclxxv, suggests a later date (?cent. xi).]
The
MS. once belonged to Pope Alexander VII., a member of the Chigi family, who
recognised its importance and entrusted the publication of the text to Leo
Allatius, at that time librarian of the Vatican.
Leo proceeded with his work
so far as to procure a complete copy of the codex, and this transcript is still
preserved among the Chigi MSS. (=R. vii. 46).
A century later Bianchini took up the
work, and after his death the editio princeps appeared at Rome in 1772.
Among later editions are those of Michaelis, Segaar, Bugati, and Hahn; and the
text was published in succession by Holmes and Parsons, Mai, and Tischendorf.
Meanwhile the MS. itself had received little attention, until at the suggestion
of Vercellone a critical edition was undertaken by Cozza, whose labours,
published in the third part of his Vetustissima. fragmenta, have at
length provided Biblical scholars with an adequate transcript of this unique
MS.
The
Oxford editors quote two Chigi MSS. on the Prophets, which they call 87 and 88.
Field,
[Praef. ad Esa.: " 87, Codex Bibliothecae Chisianae in fol. scriptus charactere saeculi ix. Continet Prophetas omnes...
incipit ab Osea Propheta." Praef.
ad Jer. "87, Codex
Biblioth. Chisianae, num. ii. (cf. Praef. ad Esaiam). 88 Codex Biblioth.
Chisianae, num. ill. membranaceus, in folio. Videtur esse transcriptus
an. 880. Continet 4 Prophetas majores, cum Baruch et Abacum; sed incipit ab
Hieremia, Margini adscribuntur Collationes Aquilae, &c., &c." Praef.
ad Dan. " 87, saec. forte x, deficit a voce νηστειας cap. ix, 3, ad την πολιν σου, cap. ix, 19. 88, saec. xi, Continet textum Theodotionaeum et
Septuagintauiralem." Field's
remarks on 88 (Parsons) will be found in Hexapla, vol. ii. pp. 567, 766—7 ; on 87 (Parsons) he writes (ib. p. 767); "superset Parsonsii Cod. 87 (sive Chisianus ii), de
quo in praesenti hoc unum affirmare possumus eum non esse celebrem ilium Chisianum... Hoc
probatur, partim e lectionibus pro quibus Codicem suum 87 testem appellat
Parsonsius...... partim e paucis Symmachi et Theodotionis lectiunculis quas
versus finem libri idem ex eodem codice (nobis 87*) ex cerpsit, cum Chisianum (nobis 87) talibus accessionibus omnino carere
constat."]
however, has shewn that their 88 is Leo
Allatius's copy, and abandons the task of identifying their 87, while he uses
the latter number for the true Chisian text. In this we have followed him,
citing Chis. R. vii. 45 as 87.
Top
Contains
Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Canticles, Wisdom, Ecclesiastlcus, and all
the Prophets, from the literal Syriac version of the entire LXX. made from a
hexaplar text in the years 616—617 by Paul, Bishop of Tella dhe-Mauzelath or.
Constantina.
The MS. is of somewhat thick parchment, and almost everywhere well
preserved.
It contains 193 leaves of 14½ x 10¾ inches; there are two columns to
the page, each containing about 55 lines.
The character is a well-formed, somewhat
thick Estrangelo, very easily read.
The titles, most headings of chapters and
lessons, ornaments, and sometimes the larger points, are in red;
occasionally
other colours are employed.
The asterisks and obeli of Origen's LXX. are
faithfully reproduced, and many extracts from the other Greek versions are
given, in a Syriac translation, in the margin.
The book of Daniel (including
Susanna, and Bel and the Dragon) begins on the first page of f. 143, and ends
with f. 151.
The
first volume of this codex was in the possession of Andreas Masius, but seems
to have disappeared at his death in 1573.
It contained part of Deuteronomy,
Joshua, Judges, the four books of Kings, Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah, Judith,
and part of Tobit.
The extant volume was brought to the Ambrosian Library early
in the 17th century from the monastery of S. Maria Deipara in the desert of
Scetis, as we learn from a note at the end, which Ceriani believes to be in the
handwriting of Antonio Giggeo.
It lay for a long time unused, and attention was
next called to it by Branca in 1767.
After he, Bjomstahl, and De Rossi had
published descriptions and specimens, it was examined by Norberg in 1778;
and
as a result he edited Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
Bugati published Daniel in 1788;
his Psalms appeared posthumously in 1820.
Middeldorpfs edition of Isaiah, the Minor Prophets, Proverbs, Job, Canticles,
Lamentations, and Ecclesiastes followed in 1835;
and the series 'was continued
by Ceriani's edition of Baruch, Lamentations, and the Epistle of Jeremiah in Man. Sacra et Profana, t. i. (1861).
Of
even greater value than these editions is his photolithographic reproduction of
the entire codex issued at Milan in 1874.
Finally, the readings of the Syriac codex have been thoroughly examined
and placed in comparison with those of Greek hexaplar MSS. by Field in his great
work on the Hexapla.
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Two
vellum fragments making a quire of four leaves, each leaf measuring, when
complete, about 5⅛ x 3½
inches.
The first four pages contain portions of Bel and the Dragon (vv.20—41) according to Theodotion, in upright majuscules of the fifth if not
the fourth century.
Underneath these on pp. 1, 2 in slightly sloping letters of
perhaps the fourth century is a fragment of a (?) homily containing a reference
to Matt.ix.37—8 or Luke x.2.
On pp. 3, 4 the original hand had written some
Latin 'rustic' capitals, among which the words PROCVRATOR, PROCVRATORES, or
part of them, frequently occur;
p. 5 has the letters DOMIT..., possibly
referring to L. Domitius Domitianus, an Egyptian pretender in the time of
Diocletian.
[Mr Nicholson adds:
"P. 5 contains upper writing consisting of fragments of (?) accounts in
cursive Greek;
on pp. 6—8 appear the beginnings or ends of lines in slightly
sloping Greek majuscules (? 4th century)."]
The
substance of this description is due to E. W. B. Nicholson, Esq., Librarian of
the Bodleian, who has very kindly supplied a collation of the fragment of Bel,
and subsequently compared the proof of the notes with the MS.
The scantiness of
our uncial authorities for this part of the text of Theodotion's Daniel seemed
to justify the use of the Oxford fragment, which has been quoted as Δ.
These
interesting scraps were acquired by the Bodleian Library in 1888, and came from
Egypt.
Top
A
large folio vellum M S., the leaves of which measure 16½ x 11¾ inches;
written
in the sloping uncials of the eighth and ninth centuries, with the exception of
certain portions of the text which are in the round but artificial characters
of the same period.
The writing is arranged in double columns of 60 lines, with
an average of 30 letters to the Iine.
[A
facsimile of Jeremiah xix.—xxi. may be seen in Wattenbach's scripturae
graecae specimina (Berlin, 1883), tab. ix: cf. ib. pp. 4, 5.]
New sections begin with a letter (often an inch long) outside the
column.
The parchment varies in quality;
it is usually thick but not coarse;
some leaves however are too thin to take the ink readily.
[Morelli recognises three hands, distinguished
by the colour of the ink as well as by the varying merits of their
calligraphy;
Job xxx.8 to end of Ecclesiastes was written by one hand, Hosea to
Isaiah xxvii. by a second, and Isaiah xxvii. to the end of the volume by a third.]
The MS. is gathered in quires of 8 leaves, bearing signatures
which range from κς΄(Va) on f. 1 to με΄(Va = μς΄ V*) on
f. 153. Thus the original Codex seems to have consisted of about 360 leaves, of
which the first 196 have perished.
[A
leaf, once pasted inside the cover of an earlier binding, contains in a Greek
hand of the fifteenth or sixteenth century a list of the contents at that time,
from which it appears that the MS. was then imperfect: + ἡ βίβλος αὔτη περιέχει Ἰώβ, παροινίας Ζολομῶντος, κ.τ.λ.]
The
present volume begins with Job xxx.8 (καὶ κλέος) and contains the rest
of Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Canticles, both Wisdoms, the Minor Prophets (in
the order Hos., Am., Joel, Ob., Jon., Mic., Nab., Hab., Zeph., Hag., Zech.,
Mal.), Isaiah, Jeremiah, Baruch, Lamentations, Daniel (with the apocryphal
additions), Tobit, Judith, and the four Books of the Maccabees.
After Daniel,
and again after 4 Mace,, the scribe has copied from his archetype a
chronological table reaching from Adam to Justinian I, which in
the second and fuller form ends ὡς ὁμοῦ (cod. ωμ.) γίνεσθαι ἀπὸ χῦ παρουσίας ἔως ὧδε ἔτε φογ (ut vid): the margin adds εἰσὶν ἔως ὧδε ἔτη σπε.
An ornamental cross below these dates bears the inscription:
Κύριε, βοήθει (cod. -θη) Βασιλείῳ μοναχῷ (cod. ἰγ.) τῆς Κάρον (sic, ut vid) τῷ συνγραψαμένῳ τὴν βίβλον ταύτην (cod. τι βιβλίω ταυτίω):
and beneath the cross is added ¨Παρακαλω εὔχεσθαι ὑπὲρ Ὀνησίμου μοναχοῦ καλλιγράφου. ἀμήν.
On ff. 163b— 164b a minute hand has written the Eusebian canons.
This precious MS. belonged to the library of Cardinal Bessarion, by whom it was given with the rest of his Greek codices to the library of Saint Mark's at Venice.
It
was used for the great Roman edition of 1587, as the preface to that volume
announces,
[The words are:
"Ex
omnibus autem libris qui in manibus fuerunt, unus hie [Vat. Gr. 1209]
prae aliis......minim in modum institutam emendationem adiuuit; post eum
uero alii duo qui ad eius uetustatem proximi quidem sed longo proximi
interuallo accedunt, unus Uenetus ex bibliotheca Bessarionis Cardinalis, et is
quoque grandiorlbus litteris scriptus," &c.]
and probably supplies in great part the text of the first three Books of the
Maccabees, which are wanting in the Vatican codex.
Specimens of its readings
were liberally produced by Zanetti in his catalogue of the Greek MSS. of St
Mark's (Venice, 1740),
[See Graeca
D. Marci Bibliotheca codd.manuscriptorum, pp. i—13.]
and the importance of the MS. was recognised by Giac. Morelli, who
described it at length in his account of the codices under his care.
Stroth
also gave some account of it in Eichhorn's Repertorium for 1781 (p.
181).
A collation of the whole MS. was made for Holmes and Parsons in 1789 by
Geo. Zoega and Nich. Schow;
the correspondence which relates to this undertaking is still
preserved in the Venice library.
The Oxford editors, however, were not at first
made aware that it was written in uncials, and it takes rank in their notes as
a cursive under the number 23.
The prologues to the Prophets were printed by
Tischendorf in his Anecdota sacra et profana, pp. 103—9,
Lips. 1855.
In
the present edition Cod. V has been employed only for the four Books of
Maccabees, where the paucity of uncial testimony rendered it necessary to
depart from the rule which prescribed the sole use of such MSS. as are
accessible in published facsimiles and photographs.
[For 4 Mace. help may be expected from the Syriac version,
the text of which, constructed by Prof. Bensly from 9 MSS., has been in type
since 1868, and will shortly be published by the Cambridge University Press.]
The four Books as given in V were collated afresh by the Editor of
this work in the spring of the present year;
but by the courtesy of Dr E.
Klostermann he had been previously provided with a collation of the second
Book, which that scholar had made in 1892—3, and Dr Klostermann has since
kindly compared the new collation of Books i.—iii. with his own.
[Dr Klostermann hopes to work through V a second
time with the view of perfecting his collation of this important MS.]
Where the two collations have differed, an appeal has been made to
the notes of Holmes and Parsons.
The
MS. has been corrected by the scribe himself or his diorthota. (V1),
and by a late hand (Va, but the corrections with few exceptions affect
only the spellings.
Top
Four
leaves used in the binding of the MS. of the Acts, Epistles and Apocalypse
known as Codex Porfirianus Chiavensis (P), and published by Tischendorf with a
facsimile of the writing in Mon. Sacr. vi. 339, 340 f.
Tischendorf
ascribes the hand to the seventh century; but the characters, which are large,
coarsely formed, and sloping, are suggestive of the ninth.
The fragments
(viii.5, 6, 11, 12, 15, 29; ix.28—30, 31, 32), brief as they are, present some
peculiar readings, which seemed to justify their employment in the present
edition.
The
following MSS. have been used for the Psalms of Solomon.
The description of the
first three and of the fifth is drawn from the edition of Professor Ryle and Dr
James.
A folio MS. of the loth century written in double
columns.
The volume was purchased at Venice in 1699, and in 1732 passed into
the Royal Library at Copenhagen, where it is still preserved (no. 6).
It
consists at present of quires 11—39 of the original MS., containing Job (with a
catena), Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Canticles (these three books with scholia).
Wisdom of Solomon, Psalms of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus.
The collation of the
Psalms of Solomon was made by Professor Ryle in 1888 at Cambridge, where the
MS. was deposited for the purpose by the courtesy of the Copenhagen
authorities.
A thirteenth century MS., consisting of 225 leaves,
measuring 13¾ x 11 inches, written in two or sometimes in three columns.
The
book contains Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Canticles, Wisdom of Solomon, Psalms
of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus;
the first four Books are accompanied by catenae or
scholia.
This MS. was brought to Moscow in 1653 from the monastery of Iveron at
Mt. Athos.
A transcript of the Psalms was furnished to Professor Ryle
and Dr James by the Archimandrite Wladimir of Moscow;
the collation which has
been used was made from this copy by the present editor.
A quarto of 495 leaves written on paper in 1419,
consisting
of miscellaneous matter and containing inter alia (ff. 224a—248a)
the Wisdom and Psalms of Solomon and Ecclesiasticus.
The volume is preserved in
the Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris, where it is numbered 2991 a.
We have used a collation which was
made for the Cambridge edition of the Psalms by the Abbe Batiffol, of
Paris.
This MS., which is cited by Parsons as 253, and is used
by him for Job, Proverbs, Canticles, the Wisdom of Solomon and Ecclesiasticus,
is a quarto vellum MS. ascribed to the fourteenth century.
A complete collation
of the codex was made by Dr E. Klostermann in 1893, and from his collation of
the Psalms with the text printed by Hilgenfeld in the Zeitschrift f.
wiss. Th. xi. p. 133 ff. the text in this edition has been derived.
The MS.
will be fully described in Dr Klostermann's forthcoming Analecta zur
Septuaginta.
A folio MS. of the tenth century written in double
columns of 26 lines, and in a semiuncial hand.
The volume, which is numbered
Cod, Gr. Theol. 7, and was purchased at Constantinople in the sixteenth
century, consists of 166 leaves, and contains Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes,
Canticles (with a catena so far), Wisdom of Solomon, Psalms of Solomon,
Ecclesiasticus.
The collation which we have used was communicated to the
Cambridge editors of the Psalms by Dr Rudolf Beer.
The Greek Psalters which supply the text of the ecclesiastical Canticles and of the notes upon them have been described in the preface to the second volume of this work (pp. viii.—.).
The pleasant duty remains of acknowledging the help which has been
liberally rendered on every side.
Official duties have prevented the editor
from devoting to this volume so much of his time as he was able to give to the
two volumes which preceded it.
The greater part of the preparatory work has
therefore been entrusted to two colleagues, the Rev. Forbes Robinson, M.A., of
Christ's College, and H. St John Thackeray, Esq., M.A., of King's College,
whose assistance the Syndics of the Press have kindly enabled him to secure.
Mr
Robinson collated the photographs of BAQ as far as Jeremiah xxxvi, where his
work was taken up by Mr Thackeray, who has completed the task, and has also
prepared the appendix of unsubstantial variants.
Without the patient and
accurate labour of these fellow-workers the appearance of the third volume
would have been delayed perhaps for several years.
Students who use this volume
will also owe a debt of gratitude to Mr Redpath and to Dr Nestle, who have
continued their invaluable work of revision.
Mr Redpath has again read through
the proofs, with excellent results, and Dr Nestle generously volunteered to
recollate the whole of the sheets of the Prophets with the photographs of B.
It may therefore be hoped that a near approach to perfect accuracy has been
made so far as that MS. is concerned.
In dealing with the textual difficulties
of the second Book of Maccabees the Editor has been assisted by the yet
unpublished revision of the English version and by a list of readings prepared
for the use of the revisers, proofs of which have been supplied to him by the
kindness of Dr Moulton.
The
great scholar to whom this book owed its inception and its inspiration, is,
alas, no longer with us.
But the recollection of Dr Hort's keen interest in the
progress of the work—
an interest sustained to the last days of his life—
remains
to give strength to those who are about to enter on the more arduous and
responsible task of preparing the larger edition of the Cambridge Septuagint.
The
death of Dr Hort on Nov. 30, 1892, was followed within six months by that of
Professor Bensly, whilst in the present year the University has been called to
deplore the loss of Professor W. Robertson Smith.
In each of these eminent
Oriental scholars this undertaking found a warm friend.
Professor Bensly was at
the time of his death a member of the LXX. Committee, and he had hoped to take
an active part in the collection of materials for the larger edition.
Professor
Robertson Smith's deep interest in all that concerns the study of the Old
Testament secured for the Cambridge Septuagint his steady support and
occasional but valuable assistance;
within a few weeks of his death his counsel
was sought upon some doubtful points connected with the present volume, and
most kindly given.
In
conclusion, the Editor desires to express his personal thanks to the Syndics of
the University Press for the indulgence they have shewn to him during the course
of a work which has necessarily been of slow and uncertain growth;
to the
Septuagint Committee for their consideration of the questions which have from
time to time been submitted to their judgement;
and to the officers and
workmen, especially the readers, of the Press, whose unremitting attention has
brought the printing of these volumes to a successful end.
At
the end of Vol. ii. the Editor was able to insert a list of "additions and
corrections to be made in the text, notes, and appendix of Vol. i., communicated
by Dr Nestle—
the result of a comparison of the text and ' hands' of B as
represented in that volume with his Supplementum editionum."
Such a
list, however useful for the time, was necessarily provisional, since the Supplementum was based upon a collation of a facsimile of the Vatican MS. and not upon the
MS. itself or a photograph of it.
The completion of the photograph of B has now
made it possible to subject both of the earlier volumes to a thorough revision,
so far as that MS. is concerned; and this has been voluntarily undertaken and
executed by the same competent hand.
Dr Nestle has also collated afresh the
photograph of A for those parts of the text which are supplied by Codex
Alexandrinus.
In a second edition the whole of his results will find a
permanent place, with the exception of certain palaeographical and liturgical
details which do not fall within the scope of the work.
Meanwhile by Dr
Nestle's desire the corrections of the text are placed at the end of the
present volume for the benefit of purchasers of the first edition.
No one who
is accustomed to the labour of collation will fail to appreciate the
self-sacrifice which has prompted the indefatigable author of the Supplementumt to work page by page through the volumes of the Roman photograph for the
purpose of securing perfect accuracy in this representation of the oldest MS.
of the LXX.
[The collation was made
from a copy of the photograph in the possession of Professor Robinson, who
kindly lent it to Dr Nestle for the purpose.]
Top
|
|
|
|---|---|
K |
Codex Sinaiticus ( = S, Lagarde, Nestle). |
A |
Codex Alexandrinus ( = III, Parsons). |
B |
Codex Vaticanus ( = II, Parsons). |
O |
Fragmenta rescripta Dublinensia (= VIII, Parsons). |
Q |
Codex Marchalianus ( = , Parsons). |
V |
Codex Venetus ( = 23, Parsons). |
Z |
Fragmenta rescripta Tischendorfiana Isaiae prophetae ( = Zb, Lagarde). |
Γ |
Codex rescriptus Cryptoferratensis. |
Δ |
Fragmenta rescripta Bodleiana. |
Π |
Fragmenta Tischendorfiana libri iv. Maccab.ieorum. |
87 |
Codex Chisianus LXXviralis libri Danielis. |
Syr |
Codex Syro-Hexaplaris Ambrosianus. |
|
|
PSALMI SOLOMONIS. |
H |
Codex Havniensis. |
m |
Codex Mosquensis. |
p |
Codex Parisinus. |
r |
Codex Romanus. |
v |
Codex Vindobonensis. |
|
CANTICA. |
A |
Psalterium Codicis Alexandrini ( = III, Parsons). |
R |
Psalterium Graeco-Latinum Veronense. |
T |
Psalterium Turicense ( = 262, Parsons). |