§ 3.
Indeed, a great many 'various readings,' so called, are nothing else but very ancient interpretations,—fabricated readings therefore,—of which the value may be estimated by the fact that almost every trace of them has long since disappeared. Such is the substitution of φευγει for ανεχωρησεν in St. John vi. 15;—which, by the way, Tischendorf thrusts into his text on the sole authority of [Symbol: Aleph], some Latin copies including the Vulgate, and Cureton's Syriac[380]: though Tregelles ignores its very existence. That our Lord's 'withdrawal' to the mountain on that occasion was of the nature of 'flight,' or 'retreat' is obvious. Hence Chrysostom and Cyril remark that He 'fled to the mountain.' And yet both Fathers (like Origen and Epiphanius before them) are found to have read ανεχωρησεν.
Almost as reasonably in the beginning of the same verse might Tischendorf (with [Symbol: Aleph]) have substituted αναδεικνυναι for 'ινα ποιησωσιν αυτον, on the plea that Cyril[381] says, ζητειν αυτον αναδειξαι και βασιλεα. We may on no account suffer ourselves to be imposed upon by such shallow pretences for tampering with the text of Scripture: or the deposit will never be safe. A patent gloss,—rather an interpretation,—acquires no claim to be regarded as the genuine utterance of the Holy Spirit by being merely found in two or three ancient documents. It is the little handful of documents which loses in reputation,—not the reading which gains in authority on such occasions.
In this way we are sometimes presented with what in effect are new incidents. These are not unfrequently discovered to be introduced in defiance of the reason of the case; as where (St. John xiii. 34) Simon Peter is represented (in the Vulgate) as actually saying to St. John, 'Who is it concerning whom He speaks?' Other copies of the Latin exhibit, 'Ask Him who it is,' &c.: while [Symbol: Aleph]BC (for on such occasions we are treated to any amount of apocryphal matter) would persuade us that St. Peter only required that the information should be furnished him by St. John:—'Say who it is of whom He speaks.' Sometimes a very little licence is sufficient to convert the oratio obliqua into the recta. Thus, by the change of a single letter (in [Symbol: Aleph]BX) Mary Magdalene is made to say to the disciples 'I have seen the Lord' (St. John xx. 18). But then, as might have been anticipated, the new does not altogether agree with the old. Accordingly D and others paraphrase the remainder of the sentence thus,—'and she signified to them what He had said unto her.' How obvious is it to foresee that on such occasions the spirit of officiousness will never know when to stop! In the Vulgate and Sahidic versions the sentence proceeds, 'and He told these things unto me.'
Take another example. The Hebraism μετα σαλπιγγος φωνης μεγαλης (St. Matt. xxiv. 31) presents an uncongenial ambiguity to Western readers, as our own incorrect A. V. sufficiently shews. Two methods of escape from the difficulty suggested themselves to the ancients:—(a) Since 'a trumpet of great sound' means nothing else but 'a loud trumpet,' and since this can be as well expressed by σαλπιγγος μεγαλης, the scribes at a very remote period are found to have omitted the word φωνης. The Peshitto and Lewis (interpreting rather than translating) so deal with the text. Accordingly, φωνης is not found in [Symbol: Aleph]LΔ and five cursives. Eusebius[382], Cyril Jerus.[383], Chrysostom[384], Theodoret[385], and even Cyprian[386] are also without the word. (b) A less violent expedient was to interpolate και before φωνης. This is accordingly the reading of the best Italic copies, of the Vulgate, and of D. So Hilary[387] and Jerome[388], Severianus[389], Asterius[390], ps.-Caesarius[391], Damascene[392] and at least eleven cursive copies, so read the place.—There can be no doubt at all that the commonly received text is right. It is found in thirteen uncials with B at their head: in Cosmas[393], Hesychius[394], Theophylact[395]. But the decisive consideration is that the great body of the cursives have faithfully retained the uncongenial Hebraism, and accordingly imply the transmission of it all down the ages: a phenomenon which will not escape the unprejudiced reader. Neither will he overlook the fact that the three 'old uncials' (for A and C are not available here) advocate as many different readings: the two wrong readings being respectively countenanced by our two most ancient authorities, viz. the Peshitto version and the Italic. It only remains to point out that Tischendorf blinded by his partiality for [Symbol: Aleph] contends here for the mutilated text, and Westcott and Hort are disposed to do the same.