Chapter V. Uncial Manuscripts Of The Gospels.
Of the manuscripts hitherto described, Codd. אABC for their presumed critical value, Cod. D for its numberless and strange deviations from other authorities, and all five for their high antiquity, demanded a full description. Of those which follow many contain but a few fragments of the Gospels, and others are so recent in date that they hardly exceed in importance some of the best cursive copies (e.g. FGHS)[174]. None of these need detain us long.
E. Codex Basiliensis (B vi. 21, now A. N. iii. 12) (κεφ. τ., κεφ., Am., Eus. at foot of the pages) contains the four Gospels, excepting Luke iii. 4-15; xxiv. 47-53, and was written about the middle of the eighth century, unless (with Dean Burgon) we refer it to the seventh. It measures 9 x 6-½ inches, and contains 318 folios. There are 247 folios verso, and 71 recto[175]. Three leaves (160, 207, 214) on which are Luke i. 69-ii. 4; xii. 58-xiii. 12; xv. 8-20 are in a cursive and later hand, above the obliterated fragments of a homily as old as the main body of the manuscript. There is a “liber praedicatorum” on the first folio. This copy is one of the most notable of the later uncials, and might well have been published at length. It was given to a religious house in Basle by Cardinal John de Ragusio, who was sent on a mission to the Greeks by the Council of Basle (1431), and probably brought it from Constantinople. Erasmus much overlooked it for later books when preparing his Greek Testament at Basle; indeed it was not brought into the Public Library there before 1559. A collation was sent to Mill by John Battier, Greek Professor at Basle: Mill named it B. I, and truly declared it to [pg 132] be “probatae fidei et bonae notae.” Bengal (who obtained a few extracts from it) calls it Basil. a: but its first real collator was Wetstein, whose native town it adorns. Since his time, Tischendorf in 1843, Professor Müller of Basle and Tregelles in 1846, have independently collated it throughout. Judging from the specimen sent to him, Mill (N. T. Proleg. § 1118) thought the hand much like that of Cod. A; the uncial letters (though not so regular or neat) are firm, round, and simple: indeed “the penmanship is exceedingly tasteful and delicate throughout. The employment of green, blue, and vermilion in the capitals I do not remember to have met with elsewhere” (Burgon, Guardian, Jan. 29, 1873). There is but one column of about twenty-four lines on the page; it has breathings and accents pretty uniformly, and not ill placed; otherwise, from the shape of most of the letters (e.g. pi, facsimile No. [27], lines 1, 3), it might be judged of earlier date: observe, however, the oblong form of omicron where the space is crowded in the last line of the facsimile, when the older scribes would have retained the circular shape and made the letter very small (see facsimile No. [11] b. l. 6): delta also and xi betray a less ancient scribe. The single stop in Cod. E, as was stated above (p. [48]), changes its place according to the variation of its power, as in other copies of about the same age. The capitals at the beginning of sections stand out in the margin as in Codd. AC. The lists of the larger κεφάλαια together with the numbers of the sections in the margin and the Eusebian canons beneath them, as well as harmonizing references to the other Gospels at the foot of the page, names of Feast days with their Proper lessons, and other liturgical notices, have been inserted (as some think, but erroneously in Burgon's judgement) by a later hand. Under the text (Mark i. 5, 6) are placed the harmonizing references, in the order (varying in each Gospel) Mark, Luke, John, Matthew. Ιω (John) furnishes no parallel on this page. The first section (α) of Μρ (Mark i. 1, 2) corresponds to the seventieth (ο) of Λο (Luke vii. 27), and to the 103rd (ργ) of M (Matt. xi. 10). Again the second (β) of Mark (i. 3) is parallel to the seventh (ζ) of Luke (iii. 3), and to the eighth (η) of Matt. (iii. 3). The passage given in our facsimile (No. [27]) is part of the third (γ) of Mark (i. 4-6), and answers to nothing in Luke, but to the ninth (θ) of Matt. (iii. 4-6). See p. [60], note 4. The value of this [pg 133] codex, as supplying materials for criticism, is considerable. It approaches more nearly than some others of its date to the text now commonly received, and is an excellent witness for it. The asterisk is much used to indicate disputed passages: e.g. Matt. xvi. 2, 3: Luke xxii. 43, 44; xxiii. 34: John viii. 2-11. (For the fragments attached to this Codex, see Apoc. 15.)
F. Codex Boreeli, now in the Public Library at Utrecht, once belonged to John Boreel [d. 1629], Dutch ambassador at the court of King James I. Wetstein obtained some readings from it in 1730, as far as Luke xi, but stated that he knew not where it then was. In 1830 Professor Heringa of Utrecht discovered it in private hands at Arnheim, and procured it for his University Library, where in 1850 Tregelles found it, though with some difficulty, the leaves being torn and all loose in a box, and he then made a facsimile; Tischendorf had looked through it in 1841. In 1843, after Heringa's death, H. E. Vinke published that scholar's “Disputatio de Codice Boreeliano,” which includes a full and exact collation of the text. Cod. F contains the Four Gospels with many defects, some of which have been caused since the collation was made which Wetstein published: hence the codex must still sometimes be cited on his authority as Fw. In fact there are but 204 leaves and a few fragments remaining, written with two columns of about nineteen lines each on the page, in a tall, oblong, upright form; it was referred by Mr. H. Deane in 1876 to the eighth, by Tischendorf to the ninth, by Tregelles to the tenth century. In St. Luke there are no less than twenty-four gaps: in Wetstein's collation it began at Matt. vii. 6, but now at Matt. ix. 1. Other hiatus are Matt. xii. 1-44; xiii. 55-xiv. 9; xv. 20-31; xx. 18-xxi. 5: Mark i. 43-ii. 8; ii. 23-iii. 5; xi. 6-26; xiv. 54-xv. 5; xv. 39-xvi. 19: John iii. 5-14; iv. 23-38; v. 18-38; vi. 39-63; vii. 28-viii. 10; x. 32-xi. 3; xi. 40-xii. 3; xii. 14-25: it ends at John xiii. 34. Few manuscripts have fallen into such unworthy hands. The Eusebian canons are wanting, the sections standing without them in the margin. Thus in Mark x. 13 (see facsimile No. [28]) the section ρϛ (106) has not under it the proper canon β (2). The letters delta, epsilon, theta, omicron, and especially the cross-like psi (see p. [40]), are of the most recent uncial form, phi is large and bevelled at both [pg 134] ends; the breathings and accents are fully and not incorrectly given.
Fa. Codex Coislin. I is that great copy of the Septuagint Octateuch, the glory of the Coislin Library, first made known by Montfaucon (Biblioth. Coislin., 1715), and illustrated by a facsimile in Silvestre's Paléogr. Univ. No. 65. It contains 227 leaves in two columns, 13 inches by 9: the fine massive uncials of the sixth or seventh century are much like Cod. A's in general appearance. In the margin primâ manu Wetstein found Acts ix. 24, 25, and so inserted this as Cod. F in his list of MSS. of the Acts. In 1842 Tischendorf observed nineteen other passages of the New Testament, which he published in his Monumenta sacra inedita (1846, p. 400, &c.) with a facsimile. The texts are Matt. v. 48; xii. 48; xxvii. 25: Luke i. 42; ii. 24; xxiii. 21: John v. 35; vi. 53, 55: Acts iv. 33, 34; ix. 24, 25; x. 13, 15; xxii. 22: 1 Cor. vii. 39; xi. 29: 1 Cor. iii. 13; ix. 7; xi. 33: Gal. iv. 21, 22: Col. ii. 16, 17; Heb. x. 26.
G. Cod. Harleian. 5684 or Wolfii A; H. Cod. Wolfii B. These two copies were brought from the East by Andrew Erasmus Seidel, purchased by La Croze, and by him presented to J. C. Wolff, who published loose extracts from them both in his “Anecdota Graeca” (vol. iii. 1723), and barbarously mutilated them in 1721 in order to send pieces to Bentley, among whose papers in Trinity College Library (B. xvii. 20) Tregelles found the fragments in 1845 (Account of the Printed Text, p. 160). Subsequently Cod. G came with the rest of the Harleian collection into the British Museum; Cod. H, which had long been missing, was brought to light in the Public Library of Hamburg, through Petersen the Librarian, in 1838. Codd. GH have now been thoroughly collated both by Tischendorf and Tregelles. Cod. G appears to be of the tenth, Cod. H of the ninth century, and is stated to be of higher critical value. Besides the mutilated fragments at Trinity College (Matt. v. 29-31; 39-43 of Cod. G; Luke i. 3-6; 13-15 of Cod. H), many parts of both have perished: viz. in Cod. G 372 verses; Matt. i. 1-vi. 6; vii. 25-viii. 9; viii. 23-ix. 2; xxviii. 18-Mark i. 13; xiv. 19-25: Luke i. 1-13; v. 4-vii. 3; viii. 46-ix. 5; xii. 27-41; xxiv. 41-53: John xviii. [pg 135] 5-19; xix. 4-27 (of which one later hand supplies Matt, xxviii. 18-Mark i. 8: John xviii. 5-19; another Luke xii. 27-41): in Cod. H 679 verses; Matt. i. 1-xv. 30; xxv. 33-xxvi. 3; Mark i. 32-ii. 4; xv. 44-xvi. 14; Luke v. 18-32; vi. 8-22; x. 2-19: John ix. 30-x. 25; xviii. 2-18; xx. 12-25. Cod. G has some Church notes in the margin; Cod. H the sections without the Eusebian canons; G however has both sections and canons; its τίτλοι and larger κεφάλαια are in red (those of St. John being lost), and the Church notes seem primâ manu. Each member of the genealogy in Luke iii forms a separate line. Both G and H are written in a somewhat rude style, with breathings and accents rather irregularly placed, as was the fashion of their times; G in two columns of twenty-two lines each on a page, H in one column of twenty-three lines. In each the latest form of the uncial letters is very manifest (e.g. delta, theta), but G is the neater of the two. In G the single point, in H a kind of Maltese cross, are the prevailing marks of punctuation. Our facsimiles (Nos. [29] of G, [31] of H) are due to Tregelles; that of G he took from the fragment at Trinity College. Inasmuch as beside Matt. v. 30, 31 in Cod. G ΑΡ [with a χ between and above them] (ἀρχή) is conspicuous in the margin, and ΤΕ ΤΗΣ Λε (τέλος τῆς λέξεως) stands in the text itself, good scholars may be excused for having mistaken it for a scrap of some Evangelistarium.
I. Cod. Tischendorfian. II at St. Petersburg, consists of palimpsest fragments found by Tischendorf in 1853 “in the dust of an Eastern library,” i.e. in the Convent of St. Saba near the Red Sea, and published in his new series of “Monumenta sacra inedita,” vol. i, 1855. On the twenty-eight vellum leaves (eight of them on four double leaves) Georgian writing covers the partially obliterated Greek, which is for the most part very hard to read. They compose portions of no less than seven different manuscripts; the first two, of the fifth century, are as old as Codd. AC (the first having scarcely any capital letters and those very slightly larger than the rest); the third fragment seems of the sixth century, nearly of the date of Cod. N (p. [139]), about as old as Cod. P (see p. [143]); the fourth scarcely less ancient: all four, like other palimpsests, have the pseudo-Ammonian sections without the Eusebian canons (see p. [61]). Of the [pg 136] Gospels we have 190 verses: viz. (Frag. 1 or Ia) John xi. 50-xii. 9; xv. 12-xvi. 2; xix. 11-24: (Frag. 2 or Ib) Matt. xiv. 13-16; 19-23; xxiv. 37-xxv. 1; xxv. 32-45; xxvi. 31-45: Mark ix. 14-22; xiv. 58-70: (Frag. 3 or Ic) Matt. xvii. 22-xviii. 3; xviii. 11-19; xix. 5-14: Luke xviii. 14-25; John iv. 52-v. 8; xx. 17-26: (Frag. 4 or Id) Luke vii. 39-49; xxiv. 10-19. The fifth fragment (Ie), containing portions of the Acts and of St. Paul's Epistles (1 Cor. xv. 53-xvi. 9; Tit. i. 1-13; Acts xxviii. 8-17) is as old as the third, if not as the first. The sixth and seventh fragments are of the seventh century: viz. (Frag. 6 or If, of two leaves) Acts ii. 6-17; xxvi. 7-18: (Frag. 7 or Ig, of one leaf) Acts xiii. 39-46. In all seven are 255 verses. All except Frag. 6 are in two columns of from twenty-nine to eighteen lines each, and unaccentuated; Frag. 6 has but one column on a page, with some accents. The first five fragments, so far as they extend, must be placed in the highest rank as critical authorities. The first, as cited in Tischendorf's eighth edition of his Greek Testament, agrees with Cod. A thirty-four times, four times with Cod. B, and twenty-three times with the two united; it stands alone eleven times. The text of the second and third is more mixed though they incline more to favour Codd. אB; not, however, so decidedly as the first does Cod. A. Tischendorf gives us six facsimiles of them in the “Monumenta sacra inedita,”. Nova Collect. vol. i (1885), a seventh in “Anecdota sacra et profana,” 1855. From the same Armenian book, as Tischendorf thinks (and he was very likely to know), are taken the three palimpsest leaves of 2 and 3 Kings, and the six of Isaiah published by him in the same volume of the “Monumenta.”