Hence also, in Cureton's Syriac[183], the patch-work supplement to St. Matt. xxi. 9: viz.:—πολλοι δε (St. Mark xi. 8) εξηλθον εις 'υπαντησιν αυτου. και (St. John xii. 13) ηρξαντο ... χαιροντες αινειν τον Θεον ... περι πασων 'ων ειδον (St. Luke xix. 37). This self-evident fabrication, 'if it be not a part of the original Aramaic of St. Matthew,' remarks Dr. Cureton, 'would appear to have been supplied from the parallel passages of Luke and John conjointly.' How is it that even a sense of humour did not preserve that eminent scholar from hazarding the conjecture, that such a self-evident deflection of his corrupt Syriac Codex from the course all but universally pursued is a recovery of one more genuine utterance of the Holy Ghost?
FOOTNOTES:
[173] Μαρια δε 'ειστηκει προς το μνημειον κλαιουσα εξω (St. John xx. 11). Comp. the expression προς το φως in St. Luke xxii. 56. Note, that the above is not offered as a revised translation; but only to shew unlearned readers what the words of the original exactly mean.
[174] Note, that in the sectional system of Eusebius according to the Greek, the following places are brought together:—
St. Matt. xxviii: 1-4.
St. Mark xvi: 2-5
St. Luke xxiv: 1-4
St. John xx: 1, 11, 12
According to the Syriac:
St. Matt. xxviii: 3, 4
St. Mark xvi: 5
St. Luke xxiv: 3, 4, 5(1/2)
St. John xx: 11, 12
[175] Consider 'ο δε Πετρος 'ειστηκει προς τη θυρα εξω (St. John xviii. 16). Has not this place, by the way, exerted an assimilating influence over St. John xx. 11?
[176] Hesychius, qu. 51 (apud Cotelerii Eccl. Gr. Mon. iii. 43), explains St. Mark's phrase εν τοις δεξιοις as follows:—δηλονοτι του εξωτερου σπηλαιου.