§ 5.
Another interesting and instructive instance of error originating in sheer accident, is supplied by the reading in certain MSS. of St. Mark viii. 1. That the Evangelist wrote παμπολλου οχλου 'the multitude being very great,' is certain. This is the reading of all the uncials but eight, of all the cursives but fifteen. But instead of this, it has been proposed that we should read, 'when there was again a great multitude,' the plain fact being that some ancient scribe mistook, as he easily might, the less usual compound word for what was to himself a far more familiar expression: i.e. he mistook ΠΑΜΠΟΛΛΟΥ for ΠΑΛΙΝ ΠΟΛΛΟΥ.
This blunder must date from the second century, for 'iterum' is met with in the Old Latin as well as in the Vulgate, the Gothic, the Bohairic, and some other versions. On the other hand, it is against 'every true principle of Textual Criticism' (as Dr. Tregelles would say), that the more difficult expression should be abandoned for the easier, when forty-nine out of every fifty MSS. are observed to uphold it; when the oldest version of all, the Syriac, is on the same side; when the source of the mistake is patent; and when the rarer word is observed to be in St. Mark's peculiar manner. There could be in fact no hesitation on this subject, if the opposition had not been headed by those notorious false witnesses [Symbol: Aleph]BDL, which it is just now the fashion to uphold at all hazards. They happen to be supported on this occasion by GMNΔ and fifteen cursives: while two other cursives look both ways and exhibit παλιν παμπολλου.
In St Mark vii. 14, παλιν was similarly misread by some copyists for παντα, and has been preserved by [Symbol: Aleph]BDLΔ (ΠΑΛΙΝ for ΠΑΝΤΑ) against thirteen uncials, all the cursives, the Peshitto and Armenian.
So again in St. John xiii. 37. A reads δυνασαι μοι by an evident slip of the pen for δυναμαι σοι. And in xix. 31 μεγαλΗ Η Ημερα has become μεγαλη 'ημερα in [Symbol: Aleph]AEΓ and some cursive copies.
FOOTNOTES:
[18] See the passages quoted in Scrivener's Introduction, II. 270-2, 4th ed.
[19] Tertull. (Prax. c. 22): Ambr. (ii. 576, 607, 689 bis): Hilary (930 bis, 1089): Jerome (v. 208): Augustin (iii^2. 615): Maximinus, an Arian bishop (ap. Aug. viii. 651).
[20] Pater (or Pater meus) quod dedit mihi (or mihi dedit), majus omnibus est (or majus est omnibus: or omnibus majus est).
[21] iii^2. 615. He begins, 'Quid dedit Filio Pater majus omnibus? Ut ipsi ille esset unigenitus Filius.'
[22] i. 236.
[23] viii. 363 bis.
[24] i. 188: ii. 567: iii. 792: iv. 666 (ed. Pusey): v^1. 326, 577, 578: ap. Mai ii. 13: iii. 336.
[25] v. 1065 (=DialMaced ap. Athanas. ii. 555).
[26] Viz. + μου ABD:—μου [Symbol: Aleph] | ος A: ο B[Symbol: Aleph]D | δεδωκεν B[Symbol: Aleph]A: δεδωκωσ | μειζων [Symbol: Aleph]D: μειζον AB | μειζ. παντων εστιν A: παντων μειζ. εστιν B[Symbol: Aleph]D.
[27] The Revision Revised, p. 51-3.
[28] The Revision Revised, p. 53-4.
[29] Ibid. p. 51-6.
[30] Ibid. p. 177-8.
[31] Also in Ammonius the presbyter, A.D. 458—see Cramer's Cat. p. 334-5, last line. Λογου is read besides in the cursives Act. 36, 96, 105.
[32] I look for an approving word from learned Dr. Field, who wrote in 1875—'The real obstacle to our acquiescing in the reading of the T.R. is, that if the words ουδε εχω had once formed a part of the original text, there is no possibility of accounting for the subsequent omission of them.' The same remark, but considerably toned down, is found in his delightful Otium Norvicense, P. iii, p. 84.
[33] B and C read—αλλ' ουδενος λογου ποιουμαι την ψυχην εμαυτω: which is exactly what Lucifer Calarit. represents,—'sed pro nihilo aestimo animam meam caram esse mihi' (Galland. vi. 241).
[34] [Symbol: Aleph] reads—αλλ' ουδενος λογον ποιουμαι την ψυχην τιμιαν εμαυτω 'ως τελειωσω τον δρομον μου.
[35] 'Sed nihil horum (τουτων is found in many Greek Codd.) vereor, nee facio animam meam pretiosiorem quam me.' So, the Cod. Amiat. It is evident then that when Ambrose (ii. 1040) writes 'nec facio animam meam cariorem mihi,' he is quoting the latter of these two clauses. Augustine (iii1. 516), when he cites the place thus, 'Non enim facto animam meam preliosiorem quam me'; and elsewhere (iv. 268) 'pretiosam mihi'; also Origen (interp. iv. 628 c), 'sed ego non facto cariorem animam meam mihi'; and even the Coptic, 'sed anima mea, dico, non est pretiosa mihi in aliquo verbo':—these evidently summarize the place, by making a sentence out of what survives of the second clause. The Latin of D exhibits 'Sed nihil horum cura est mihi: neque habeo ipsam animam caram mihi.'
[36] Dr. Field says that it may be thus Graecized—αλλ' ουδενα λογον ποιουμαι, ουδε λελογισται μοι ψυχη τι τιμιον.
[37] ii. 296 e,—exactly as the T.R.
[38] Exactly as the T.R., except that he writes την ψυχην without μου (ix. 332). So again, further on (334 b), ουκ εχω τιμιαν την εμαυτου ψυχην. This latter place is quoted in Cramer's Cat. 334.
[39] Ap. Mai ii. 336 εδει και της ζωης καταφρονειν 'υπερ του τελειωσαι τον δρομον, ουδε την ψυχην εφη ποιειωσαι τιμιαν 'εαυτω.
[40] λογον εχω, ουδε ποιουμαι την ψυχην τιμιαν εμαυτω, ωστε κ.τ.λ. (ap. Galland. x. 222).
[41] αλλ' ουδενος λογον ποιουμαι των δεινων, ουδε εχω την ψυχην τιμιαν εμαυτω. Epist. ad Tars. c. 1 (Dressel, p. 255).
[42] The whole of Dr. Field's learned annotation deserves to be carefully read and pondered. I speak of it especially in the shape in which it originally appeared, viz. in 1875.
[43] Ibid. p. 2 and 3.
[44] Surprising it is how largely the text of this place has suffered at the hands of Copyists and Translators. In A and D, the words ποιουμαι and εχω have been made to change places. The latter Codex introduces μοι after εχω,—for εμαυτω writes εμαυτου,—and exhibits του τελειωσαι without 'ως. C writes 'ως το τελειωσαι. [Symbol: Aleph]B alone of Codexes present us with τελειωσω for τελειωσαι, and are followed by Westcott and Hort alone of Editors. The Peshitto ('sed mihi nihili aestimatur anima mea'), the Sahidic ('sed non facto animam meam in ullâ re'), and the Aethiopic ('sed non reputo animam meam nihil quidquam'), get rid of τιμιαν as well as of ουδε εχω. So much diversity of text, and in such primitive witnesses, while it points to a remote period as the date of the blunder to which attention is called in the text, testifies eloquently to the utter perplexity which that blunder occasioned from the first.
[45] Another example of the same phenomenon, (viz. the absorption of ΕΝ by the first syllable of ΑΝθρωποις) is to be seen in Acts iv. 12,—where however the error has led to no mischievous results.
[46] For those which insert in (14), and those which reject it (25), see Wordsworth's edition of the Vulgate on this passage.
[47] Of Fathers:—Ambrose i. 1298—Hieronymus i. 4482, 693, 876: ii. 213: iv. 34, 92: v. 147: vi. 638: vii. 241, 251, 283,—Augustine 34 times,—Optatus (Galland. v. 472, 457),—Gaudentius Brix. (ap. Sabat.),—Chromatius Ag. (Gall. viii. 337),—Orosius (ib. ix. 134), Marius M. (ib. viii. 672), Maximus Taur. (ib. ix. 355),—Sedulius (ib. 575),—Leo M. (ap. Sabat.),—Mamertus Claudianus (Gall. x. 431),—Vigilius Taps. (ap. Sabat.),—Zacchaeus (Gall. ix. 241),—Caesarius Arel. (ib. xi. 11),—ps.-Ambros. ii. 394, 396,—Hormisdas P. (Conc. iv. 1494, 1496),—52 Bps. at 8th Council of Toledo (Conc. vi. 395), &c., &c.
[48] See Wetstein on this place.
[49] Antiqq. i. 99, xviii. 5. 4.
CHAPTER III.
ACCIDENTAL CAUSES OF CORRUPTION.
II. Homoeoteleuton.
No one who finds the syllable ΟΙ recurring six times over in about as many words,—e.g. και εγενετο, 'ως απηλθον ... ΟΙ αγγελΟΙ, και ΟΙ ανθρωπΟΙ ΟΙ πΟΙμενες ειπον,—is surprised to learn that MSS. of a certain type exhibit serious perturbation in that place. Accordingly, BLΞ leave out the words και 'οι ανθρωποι; and in that mutilated form the modern critical editors are contented to exhibit St. Luke ii. 15. One would have supposed that Tischendorf's eyes would have been opened when he noticed that in his own Codex ([Symbol: Aleph]) one word more ('οι) is dropped,—whereby nonsense is made of the passage (viz. 'οι αγγελοι ποιμενες). Self-evident it is that a line with a 'like ending' has been omitted by the copyist of some very early codex of St. Luke's Gospel; which either read,—
ΟΙ ΑΓΓΕΛΟΙ
[ΚΑΙ ΟΙ ΑΝΟΙ ΟΙ]
ΠΟΙΜΕΝΕΣ
or else
ΟΙ ΑΓΓΕΛΟΙ
[ΚΑΙ ΟΙ ΑΝΟΙ]
ΟΙ ΠΟΙΜΕΝΕΣ
Another such place is found in St. John vi. 11. The Evangelist certainly described the act of our Saviour on a famous occasion in the well-known words,—και ευχαριστησας
διεδωκε
τοις [μαθηταις,
οι δε μαθηται
τοις] ανακειμενοις.
The one sufficient proof that St. John did so write, being the testimony of the MSS. Moreover, we are expressly assured by St. Matthew (xiv. 19), St. Mark (vi. 41), and St. Luke (ix. 16), that our Saviour's act was performed in this way. It is clear however that some scribe has suffered his eye to wander from τοις in l. 2 to τοις in l. 4,—whereby St. John is made to say that our Saviour himself distributed to the 5000. The blunder is a very ancient one; for it has crept into the Syriac, Bohairic, and Gothic versions, besides many copies of the Old Latin; and has established itself in the Vulgate. Moreover some good Fathers (beginning with Origen) so quote the place. But such evidence is unavailing to support [Symbol: Aleph]ABLΠ, the early reading of [Symbol: Aleph] being also contradicted by the fourth hand in the seventh century against the great cloud of witnesses,—beginning with D and including twelve other uncials, beside the body of the cursives, the Ethiopic and two copies of the Old Latin, as well as Cyril Alex.
Indeed, there does not exist a source of error which has proved more fatal to the transcribers of MSS. than the proximity of identical, or nearly identical, combinations of letters. And because these are generally met with in the final syllables of words, the error referred to is familiarly known by a Greek name which denotes 'likeness of ending' (Homoeoteleuton). The eye of a scribe on reverting from his copy to the original before him is of necessity apt sometimes to alight on the same word, or what looks like the same word, a little lower down. The consequence is obvious. All that should have come in between gets omitted, or sometimes duplicated.
It is obvious, that however inconvenient it may prove to find oneself in this way defrauded of five, ten, twenty, perhaps thirty words, no very serious consequence for the most part ensues. Nevertheless, the result is often sheer nonsense. When this is the case, it is loyally admitted by all. A single example may stand for a hundred. [In St. John vi. 55, that most careless of careless transcripts, the Sinaitic [Symbol: Aleph], omits on a most sacred subject seven words, and the result hardly admits of being characterized. Let the reader judge for himself. The passage stands thus:—'η γαρ σαρξ μου αληθως εστι βρωσις, και το 'αιμα μου αληθως εστι ποσις. The transcriber of [Symbol: Aleph] by a very easy mistake let his eye pass from one αληθως to another, and characteristically enough the various correctors allowed the error to remain till it was removed in the seventh century, though the error issued in nothing less than 'My Flesh is drink indeed.' Could that MS. have undergone the test of frequent use?]
But it requires very little familiarity with the subject to be aware that occasions must inevitably be even of frequent occurrence when the result is calamitous, and even perplexing, in the extreme. The writings of Apostles and Evangelists, the Discourses of our Divine Lord Himself, abound in short formulae; and the intervening matter on such occasions is constantly an integral sentence, which occasionally may be discovered from its context without evident injury to the general meaning of the place. Thus [ver. 14 in St. Matt, xxiii. was omitted in an early age, owing to the recurrence of ουαι 'υμιν at the beginning, by some copyists, and the error was repeated in the Old Latin versions. It passed to Egypt, as some of the Bohairic copies, the Sahidic, and Origen testify. The Vulgate is not quite consistent: and of course [Symbol: Aleph]BDLZ, a concord of bad witnesses especially in St. Matthew, follow suit, in company with the Armenian, the Lewis, and five or more cursives, enough to make the more emphatic the condemnation by the main body of them. Besides the verdict of the cursives, thirteen uncials (as against five) including Φ and Σ, the Peshitto, Harkleian, Ethiopic, Arabian, some MSS. of the Vulgate, with Origen (iii. 838 (only in Lat.)); Chrysostom (vii. 707 (bis); ix. 755); Opus Imperf. 185 (bis); 186 (bis); John Damascene (ii. 517); Theophylact (i. 124); Hilary (89; 725); Jerome (iv. 276; v. 52; vi. 138: vii. 185)].
Worst of all, it will sometimes of necessity happen that such an omission took place at an exceedingly remote period; (for there have been careless scribes in every age:) and in consequence the error is pretty sure to have propagated itself widely. It is observed to exist (suppose) in several of the known copies; and if,—as very often is the case,—it is discoverable in two or more of the 'old uncials,' all hope of its easy extirpation is at an end. Instead of being loyally recognized as a blunder,—which it clearly is,—it is forthwith charged upon the Apostle or Evangelist as the case may be. In other words, it is taken for granted that the clause in dispute can have had no place in the sacred autograph. It is henceforth treated as an unauthorized accretion to the text. Quite idle henceforth becomes the appeal to the ninety-nine copies out of a hundred which contain the missing words. I proceed to give an instance of my meaning.
Our Saviour, having declared (St. Matt. xix. 9) that whosoever putteth away his wife ει μη επι πορνεια, και γαμηση αλλην, μοιχαται,—adds και 'ο απολελυμενην γαμησας μοιχαται. Those five words are not found in Codd. [Symbol: Aleph]DLS, nor in several copies of the Old Latin nor in some copies of the Bohairic, and the Sahidic. Tischendorf and Tregelles accordingly reject them.
And yet it is perfectly certain that the words are genuine. Those thirty-one letters probably formed three lines in the oldest copies of all. Hence they are observed to exist in the Syriac (Peshitto, Harkleian and Jerusalem), the Vulgate, some copies of the Old Latin, the Armenian, and the Ethiopic, besides at least seventeen uncials (including BΦΣ), and the vast majority of the cursives. So that there can be no question of the genuineness of the clause.
A somewhat graver instance of omission resulting from precisely the same cause meets us a little further on in the same Gospel. The threefold recurrence of των in the expression ΤΩΝ ψιχιων ΤΩΝ πιπτονΤΩΝ (St. Luke xvi. 21), has (naturally enough) resulted in the dropping of the words ψιχιων των out of some copies. Unhappily the sense is not destroyed by the omission. We are not surprised therefore to discover that the words are wanting in—[Symbol: Aleph]BL: or to find that [Symbol: Aleph]BL are supported here by copies of the Old Latin, and (as usual) by the Egyptian versions, nor by Clemens Alex.[50] and the author of the Dialogus[51]. Jerome, on the other hand, condemns the Latin reading, and the Syriac Versions are observed to approve of Jerome's verdict, as well as the Gothic. But what settles the question is the fact that every known Greek MS., except those three, witnesses against the omission: besides Ambrose[52], Jerome[53], Eusebius[54] Alex., Gregory[55] Naz., Asterius[56], Basil[57], Ephraim[58] Syr., Chrysostom[59], and Cyril[60] of Alexandria. Perplexing it is notwithstanding to discover, and distressing to have to record, that all the recent Editors of the Gospels are more or less agreed in abolishing 'the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table.'
[The foregoing instances afford specimens of the influence of accidental causes upon the transmission from age to age of the Text of the Gospels. Before the sense of the exact expressions of the Written Word was impressed upon the mind of the Church,—when the Canon was not definitely acknowledged, and the halo of antiquity had not yet gathered round writings which had been recently composed,—severe accuracy was not to be expected. Errors would be sure to arise, especially from accident, and early ancestors would be certain to have a numerous progeny; besides that evil would increase, and slight deviations would give rise in the course of natural development to serious and perplexing corruptions.
In the next chapter, other kinds of accidental causes will come under consideration.]
FOOTNOTES:
[50] P. 232.
[51] Ap. Orig. i. 827.
[52] Ambrose i. 659, 1473, 1491:—places which shew how insecure would be an inference drawn from i. 543 and 665.
[53] Hieron. v. 966; vi. 969.
[54] Ap. Mai ii. 516, 520.
[55] i. 370.
[56] P. 12.
[57] ii. 169.
[58] ii. 142.
[59] i. 715, 720; ii. 662 (bis) 764; vii. 779.
[60] v2. 149 (luc. text, 524).