sion which still existed in the Hebrew. Much, says Origen, is found in the Hebrew Job, which is wanting in the Alexandrian version. Sometimes three or four, sometimes fourteen or nineteen lines are wanting. Much, also, had been transposed; in Jeremiah, the whole book of prophecies against foreign states, and then again some parts of this had changed places. In Exodus, a whole series of chapters (xxxiv. 8, to xxxix.) were huddled together, like the Sibyl's leaves. In fine, according to the testimony of some of the Fathers, the Jews had falsified the Pentateuch in their polemic zeal, where it favored the Christians. But this is doubtful, ...... for, while other proof is wanting, Origen and Jerome knew nothing of it, and it is well known how ready the Fathers were to charge their opponents with falsifying the Bible."]" By comparing the text with the Hebrew original and with the other Greek versions, Origen undertook to amend the text, not so much with a view to criticism as to render the work more suitable for exegetical use. He had in part a controversial design; for he says, "This I say, that I do not weary with searching the Hebrew Scriptures, and comparing all our copies with theirs, and noticing the differences between them. And if it is not improper to say so, we have done it according to our ability. We have sought for their meaning in all the editions, and in all their various readings, that, as far as possible, we might be able to interpret the Seventy, not, however, that we might seem to produce something new, which differed from the version of the church, and thus furnish an excuse for those who seek an occasion, and wish to condemn the general opinion, and to find Eichhorn, § 167. [See, also, his Repert. vol. i. p. 152. Owen's Inquiry on the present State of the LXX.; Oxford, 1769.] fault with common affairs. We have taken this pains that we may not be ignorant of the Scriptures, so that, when contending with the Jews, we may not urge upon them passages not found in their copies, and may use, in common with them, what they contain, even if it is not in our books. Our preparation in this undertaking has been such as even they will not despise; nor, as their wont is, will they now laugh at the believers among the Gentiles, as if they were ignorant of the truth as it exists in their writings.”4 In accomplishing this plan, Origen made a great work, which is commonly called the Hexapla. Epiphanius says, "And at this time he composed the Hexapla, and he placed the two columns of the Hebrew of one interpretation in parallel lines, opposite to one another, and called it the sixfold books.......For the Greek alone are fourfold, where the version of Aquila, Symmachus, the Seventy, and Theodotion, are put together. These four columns added to the two Hebrew columns are called the Hexapla. If the fifth and sixth versions are added, they are called, accordingly, the Octapla." Epist. ad Afric. p. 16. See Jahn, vol. i. p. 164: Ταῦτα δέ φημι, οὐχὶ ὄκνῳ τοῦ ἐρευνᾶν καὶ τὰς κατὰ ̓Ιουδαίους γραφὰς, καὶ πάσας τὰς ἡμετέ ρας ταῖς ἐκείνων συγκρίνειν, καὶ ὁρᾷν τὰς ἐν αὐταῖς διαφοράς· εἰ μὴ φορτικὸν γοῦν εἰπεῖν, ἐπὶ πολὺ τοῦτο, ὅση δύναμις, πεποιήκαμεν γυμνάζοντες αὐτῶν τὸν νοῦν ἐν πάσαις ταῖς ἐκδόσεσι καὶ ταῖς διαφοραῖς αὐτῶν, μετὰ τοῦ ποσῶς μᾶλλον ἀσκεῖν τὴν ἑρμηνείαν τῶν ὁ, ἵνα μή τι παραχαράττειν δοκοίημεν ταῖς ὑπὸ τὸν οὐρανὸν ἐκκλησίαις, καὶ προφάσεις διδῶμεν τοῖς ζητοῦ σιν ἀφορμὰς, ἐθέλουσι τοὺς ἐν μέσῳ συκοφαντεῖν καὶ τῶν διαφαινομένων ἐν τῷ κοινῷ κατηγορεῖν· ἀσκοῦμεν δὲ μὴ ἀγνοεῖν καὶ τὰς παρ' ἐκείνοις, ἵνα πρὸς Ιουδαίους διαλεγόμενοι, μὴ προφέρωμεν αὐτοῖς τὰ μὴ κείμενα ἐν τοῖς ἀντιγράφοις αὐτῶν, καὶ ἵνα συγχρησώμεθα τοῖς φερομένοις παρ' ἐκεί νοις, εἰ καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἡμετέροις οὐ κεῖται βιβλίοις· τοιαύτης γὰρ οὔσης ἡμῶν τε πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἐν ταῖς ζητήσεσι παρασκευῆς, οὐ καταφρονήσουσιν, οὐδ ̓ ὡς ἔθος αὐτοῖς, γελάσονται τοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν πιστεύοντας, ὡς τ ̓ ἀληθῆ παρ' αὐτοῖς ἀναγεγραμμένα ἀγνοοῦντας. • Epiphanius, De Pond. et Mens. c. 18, 19: Οτε καὶ τὰ ἑξαπλᾶ, καὶ So Eusebius says, "Having collected all these versions together, and divided them into sentences, and arranged them opposite one another in parallel columns, with the Hebrew text, he left us the present copies of the Hexapla, as it is called. In a separate work called the Tetrapla, he collected the edition of Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion, with that of the Seventy.” α τὰς δύο τῶν ̔Εβραϊκῶν σελίδας ἀντικρὺ ἐκ παραλλήλου μιᾶς ἑρμηνείας πρὸς τὴν ἑτέραν συνέθηκε, ἐξαπλᾶς τὰς βίβλους ὀνομάσας....... Τετραπλά γαρ εἰσι τὰ ̔Ελληνικά, ὅταν αἱ τοῦ ̓Ακύλα καὶ Συμμάχου καὶ τῶν ὁ καὶ Θεοδοτίωνος ἑρμηνεῖαι συντεταγμέναι ὦσι. Τῶν τεσσάρων δὲ τούτων σελίδων ταῖς δυσὶ ταῖς ̔Εβραϊκαῖς συναφθεισῶν, ἐξαπλᾶ καλεῖται. Ἐὰν δὲ καὶ πέμπτη καὶ ἡ ἕκτη ἑρμηνεία συναφθῶσιν, ἀκολούθως τούτοις οκ ταπλᾶ καλεῖται. Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. vi. 16: Ταύτας δὲ ἁπάσας ἐπὶ ταὐτὸν συναγαγών, διελών τε πρὸς κῶλον, καὶ ἀντιπαραθεὶς ἀλλήλαις μετὰ καὶ αὐτῆς τῆς ̔Εβραίων σημειώσεως, τὰ τῶν λεγομένων ἐξαπλῶν ἡμῖν ἀντίγραφα καταλέλοιπεν, ἰδίως τὴν ̓Ακύλα καὶ Συμμάχου καὶ Θεοδοτίωνος ἔκδοσιν ἅμα τῇ τῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς τετραπλοῖς ἐπικατασκευάσας. From this and other traces in the inscriptions and scholia of Greek MSS., (e. g., the scholium in Cod. Coislin. to Ps. lxxxvi. μήτηρ Σιὼν τὸ (ῥῶ) κατὰ προσθήκην ἔκειτο εἰς τὴν τῶν ὁ ἐν τῷ Τετρασελίδῳ, ἐν δὲ τῷ ̓Οκτασελίδῳ μὴ τῇ Σιὼν ἡγοῦν δίχα τοῦ ῥῶ, [see this and others in Hody, p. 595,]) it has been justly concluded that the Tetrapla was a separate work. See Valesius's note on Eusebius, 1. c. Montfaucon, Prælim. ad Hexapla, p. 9. Hody, l. c. Huet, Origeniana, lib. iii. 2, sect. iv. § 4, p. 258. Stroth, in his German version of Eusebius, 1. c. Bauer, Einleit. 152. Critica sac. p. 262. Bertholdt, p. 547, and Holmes, Præf. ad vol. i. of his edition of the LXX. While, on the other hand, Eichhorn, § 169, Eichstadt, ad Mor. p. 137, and Augusti, Einleit. § 66, maintain it was merely a difference in the title, which is true as it respects the Hexapla and Octapla. It is uncertain when Origen published the Tetrapla. See Hody, p. 603, and Montfaucon, p. 9. Instead of ἐπικατασκευάσας, it is sometimes read ἐπισκευάσας in the passage of Eusebius. The former reading implies that he added the Tetrapla as a separate work to the Hexapla; the latter, that he first composed the Tetrapla, and then, after the discovery of the 5th, 6th, and 7th versions, compiled the Hexapla and Octapla. Hody, 1. c., Usserius, and Petavius, (note to Epiphanius, p. 404, sq.,) think the Hexapla and Octapla were different. See Hody, l. c., and Montfaucon, p. 13, who opposes him. The term Enneapla never occurs. Montfaucon, p. 8. Huet, ubi sup. p. 259. [He spent twenty-eight years in preparations for this great work. During this time, he travelled into the East to collect materials, and was fortunate enough to discover six Greek versions, those of Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, and the three anonymous translators. The latter he discovered in the year 228 A. C. Three years after, he came to Cæsarea, and commenced the work. Ambrosius supplied him with money, and he employed seven scribes, seven readers, (librarii,) and some young women, who were skilful caligraphists.]" In this work he wrote down the Hebrew text in Hebrew letters; the same in Greek letters; the version of Aquila; that of Symmachus; of the Seventy; and in some books, also, the fifth, sixth, and seventh versions. All these were placed in parallel columns. He corrected the text of the Seventy from the other versions, especially from that of Theodotion, so that from this he restored what was wanting, marking it with an asterisk, and naming its source. He suffered what was redundant to remain, but marked it with an obelisk. "We Origen explains himself on this point, and says, undertook to heal the disagreement between the copies of the Old Testament, by using the other versions, as a standard; for, by means of the other versions, making a decision respecting the passages which were rendered doubtful by the disagreement among the copies of the Seventy, we preserved a continued harmony between them; and we marked with an obelisk passages which were not in the Hebrew, not venturing to remove them entirely from the text." с See Eichhorn, § 167. See Ernesti, Opusc. Phil. p. 302. Morus, ed. Eichstadt, p. 136. Opp. iii. p. 672: Tùy μèv ovv ¿v τοῖς ἀντιγράφοις τῆς παλαιᾶς διαθήκης διαφωνίαν...... εὖραμεν ιάσασθαι, But Jerome speaks still more clearly: "And therefore we took care to correct all the books of the old covenant, which that adamantine scholar had arranged in his Hexapla, contained in the library at Cæsarea, by means of those authentic copies of it in which the Hebrew words are written in their proper characters, and also in Greek letters in an adjoining column. Aquila and Symmachus, and the Seventy, and Theodotion, hold their proper place in it. But some books, and those especially which are in verse in the Hebrew, have three other versions added to them, which they call the fifth, sixth, and seventh, following their authority, without the names of their authors." And again: "And Origen not only prepared copies of four versions, writing the words of each opposite one another, so that one which disagreed from the rest might be corrected by the others which agreed together, but he did this also, which is a work of greater boldness, he mingled Theodotion's version with that of the Seventy, designating with asterisks places where something was previously wanting, and with obelisks what seemed superfluous."" κριτηρίω χρησάμενοι ταῖς λοιπαῖς ἐκδόσεσιν τῶν γὰρ ἀμφιβαλλομένων παρὰ τοῖς ό, διὰ τῶν ἀντιγράφων διαφωνίαν τὴν κρίσιν ποιησάμενοι ἀπὸ τῶν λοιπῶν ἐκδόσεων, τὸ συνᾶδον ἐκείναις ἐφυλάξαμεν, καὶ τινα μὲν ἐβελίσαμεν ἐν τῷ ̔Εβραϊκῷ μὴ κείμενα οὐ τολμήσαντες αὐτὰ πάντα περιε λεῖν. a Jerome, Com. in Tit. iii.: Unde nobis curæ fuit, omnes veteris Legis libros, quos vir Adamantius in Hexapla digesserat, de Cæsariensi Bibliotheca descriptos, ex ipsis authenticis emendare, in quibus ipsa Hebræa propriis sunt characteribus verba descripta, et Græcis litteris tramite expressa vicino. Aquila etiam et Symmachus, Septuaginta et Theodotio suum ordinem tenent. Nonnulli vero libri, et maxime hi, qui apud Hebræos versu compositi sunt, tres alias editiones additas habent, quam Quintam et Sextam et Septimam translationem vocant, auctoritatem sine nominibus interpretum consequutas. Præf. in Paralip.: Et certe Origenes non solum exemplaria composuit |