[156:2] H.E. iv. 23, v. 8.
[156:3] See below, p. 160.
[157:1] The references will be found above, p. 154.
[157:2] The proper word, if the work had been what our author supposes, was not [Greek: exêgêsis] but [Greek: diêgêsis], which Eusebius uses several times of the anecdotes related by Papias; H.E. iii. 39.
[158:1] This attempt has recently been made by Weiffenbach Das Papias-Fragment p. 16 sq; and it is chiefly valuable as a testimony to the real significance of the words, which can only be set aside by such violent treatment. Weiffenbach is obliged to perform two acts of violence on the sentence: (1) He supposes that there is an anacoluthon, and that the [Greek: kai hosa pote] here is answered by the words [Greek: ei de pou kai parêkolouthêkôs], which occur several lines below. (2) He interprets [Greek: tais hermêneiais] 'the interpretations belonging to them.' Each of these by itself is harsh and unnatural in the extreme; and the combination of the two may be safely pronounced impossible. Even if his grammatical treatment could be allowed, the fact will still remain that the interpretations are presupposed. Weiffenbach's constructions of this passage are justly rejected by the two writers who have written on the subject since his essay appeared, Hilgenfeld and Leimbach.
[158:2] Hær. v. 33. 1 sq.
[158:3] It may be observed in passing, as an illustration of the looseness of early quotations, that this passage, as given by Irenæus, does not accord with any one of the Synoptic Evangelists, but combines features from all the three.
[159:1] The view that Papias took written Gospels as the basis of his interpretations is maintained by no one more strongly than by Hilgenfeld in his recent works; Papias von Hierapolis (Zeitschrift, 1875) p. 238 sq; Einleitung in das Neue Testament (1875), pp. 53 sq, 454 sq. But it seems to me that he is not carrying out this view to its logical conclusion, when he still interprets [Greek: biblia] of Evangelical narratives, and talks of Papias as holding these written records in little esteem.
[160:1] Hær. Præf. 1; see also i. 3. 6: 'Not only do they attempt to make their demonstrations from the Evangelical and Apostolic [writings] by perverting the interpretations and falsifying the expositions [Greek: exêgêseis], but also from the law and the prophets; as … being able to wrest what is ambiguous into many [senses] by their exposition' [Greek: dia tês exêgêseôs].
[161:1] Clem. Alex. Strom. vii. 17, p. 898.