Appendix B. On Facsimiles.
Since the application of photography in its more perfect forms to manuscripts for the purpose of representing their character accurately to scholars who have no opportunity of examining the manuscripts for themselves, the older facsimiles have in greater measure lost their value. It seems, therefore, hardly worth while to refer to the collections of facsimiles made by Montfaucon, or Bianchini, or Silvestre, or Westwood, other representations when they are to be had being so much more faithful and instructive.
The following are some of the most valuable of recent collections:—
1. Palaeographical Society, Facsimiles of MSS. and Inscriptions, ed. E. A. Bond, E. M. Thompson, and G. F. Warner, first series, 3 vols., London, 1873-1883; second series, 1884, &c., in progress, fol.
This collection contains the following Gr. Test. MSS.:—
Series I.
Series II.
2. A considerable selection from the large assemblage of MSS. at Paris has been issued in facsimile by M. Omont, in his three volumes, published [pg 380] in 1887, 1890, and 1892 respectively, viz. Facsimilés des Manuscrits Grecs des xv et xiv siècles, reproduits en photolithographie d'après les originaux de la Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, 4to.
Facsimilés des Manuscrits Grecs datés de la Bibliothèque Nationale du ixe au xive siècle, Paris, fol.
Facsimilés des plus anciens Manuscrits Grecs en onciale et en minuscule de la Bibliothèque Nationale du ive au xiie siècle, Paris, fol.
3. For Spain, Martin (A.), Facsimilés des Manuscrits d'Espagne, gravés d'après les photographies de Charles Graux, 2 vols., Paris, 1891, 8vo and atlas.
4. Wattenbach (W.) and Velsen (A. von), Exempla Codicum Graecorum literis minusculis scriptorum, Heidelberg, 1878, fol.
Appendix C. On Dating By Indiction.
Some account of the old way of dating Greek MSS. by indiction has been already given (p. 42, n. 2), but it may be convenient to our readers to have a fuller description to refer to. Such a description may be found in Mr. Maunde Thompson's admirable Manual on Greek and Latin Palaeography, pp. 322-3, which, by the kind permission of the author, is reproduced here.
“Mediaeval Greek MSS. are dated sometimes by the year of the indiction, sometimes by the year of the world according to the era of Constantinople, sometimes by both indiction and year of the world.
“The Indiction was a cycle of fifteen years, which are severally styled Indiction 1, Indiction 2, &c., up to Indiction 15, when the series begins afresh. The introduction of this system is attributed to Constantine the Great. From the circumstance of the commencement of the indiction being reckoned variously from different days, four kinds of indictions have been recognized, viz.:—
“i. The Indiction of Constantinople, calculated from the 1st of September, a.d. 312.
“ii. The Imperial or Caesarian Indiction (commonly used in England and France), beginning on the 24th of September, a.d. 312.
“iii. The Roman or Pontifical Indiction (commonly used in dating papal bulls from the ninth to the fourteenth century), beginning on the 1st of January (or the 25th of December, when that day was reckoned as the first day of the year), a.d. 313.
“iv. The Indiction used in the register of the parliament of Paris, beginning in October.
[pg 381]“The Greeks made use of the Indiction of Constantinople290.
“To find the indiction of a year of the Christian era, add 3 to the year (because a.d. 1= Indiction 4), and divide the sum by 15: if nothing remains, the indiction will be 15; if there is a remainder, it will be the number of the indiction. But it must not be forgotten that the Indiction of Constantinople begins on the first of September, and consequently that the last four months of a year of the Christian era belong to the next indiction year.
“The year of the Creation of the World was calculated, according to the era of Constantinople, to be b.c. 5508. The first day of the year was the 1st of September.
“To reduce the Mundane era of Constantinople to the Christian era, deduct 5508 from the former for the months of January to August; and 5509 for September to December.
“A chronological table, showing the corresponding years of the Mundane era, the Christian era, and the Indiction, from a.d. 800 to a.d. 1599, will be found in Gardthausen's ‘Griechische Palaeographie,’ pp. 450-459.”
Mr. Thompson also refers to an article by Mr. Kenyon in The Classical Review, March, 1893, p. 110, where the Egyptian puzzle is noticed, to one by Wilcken in “Hermes,” xxviii. p. 230, and one by Viereck in “Philologus,” lii. p. 219, and generally to the interesting and valuable Introduction to the British Museum upon Greek Papyri.
Appendix D. On The ῥηματα.
The following ingenious and probably sound explanation of what has been long a crux to Textual Critics, comes from a Lecture by Mr. Rendel Harris, “On the Origin of the Ferrar Group,” delivered at Mansfield College, Oxford, on Nov. 6, 1893, and since published (C. J. Clay and Sons), and courteously sent to the editor by the accomplished author. The explanation is given in Mr. Harris' own words (pp. 7-10): but the whole of his pamphlet should be consulted by those who are interested in this study.
“In Scrivener's Introduction to the New Testament (ed. 3, p. 65) we are told that ‘besides the division of the text into στίχοι or lines, we find in the Gospels alone another division into ῥήματα or ῥήσεις, “sentences,” differing but little from the στίχοι in number. Of these last the precise [pg 382] numbers vary in different copies, though not considerably, &c.’ And on p. 66 we find the following statistical statement:
“These figures are derived from MSS. of the Gospels, in which we frequently find the attestation given both of the ῥήματα and the στίχοι: e.g. Cod. Ev. 173 gives for
while the corresponding figures for Mark and Luke are
“No explanation, as far as I know, has ever been given of these curiously numbered ῥήματα. The word is, certainly, a peculiar one to use, if short sentences are intended, such as are commonly known by the terms ‘cola and commata.’
“It has occurred to me that perhaps the explanation might lie in the fact that ῥῆμα was here a literal translation of the Syriac word ܦܬܓܡܐ (or ܐܡܓܬܦ). Let us then see whether ܦܬܓܡܐ (or ܐܡܓܬܦ) is the proper word to describe a verse, either a fixed verse, like a hexameter, or a sense-line. A reference to Payne Smith's Lexicon will show that it may be used in either of these senses, for example, we are told that it is not only used generally of the verses of Scripture, but that it may stand for ‘comma, membrum versus, sententia brevior quam versus, στίχος, Schol. ad Hex. Job. ix. 33; ܦܬܓܡܐ ܡܒ (or ܒܡ ܐܡܓܬܦ), Tit. ib. Ps. ix; ܦܬܓܡܐ ܐܠܦܐܒ (or ܒܐܦܠܐ ܐܡܓܬܦ). Ex. xxx. 22 marg.: insunt in Geneseos libro ܦܬܓܡܐ (or ܐܡܓܬܦ) mmmmdix, coloph. ad Gen., it. C.S.B. 2 et sic ad fin. cuiusque libri; in libris poeticis sententia est hemistichio minor, e.g. in Ps. i. insunt versus sex sed ܦܬ ܞܕ (or ܕܞ ܬܦ); in Ps. ii. versus duodecim, sed ܦܬ ܠܚ (or ܚܠ ܬܦ).’
“It seems, therefore, to be used in Syriac much in the same way as στίχος in Greek.
“Now there is in one of the Syriac MSS. on Mount Sinai (Cod. Sin. Syr.) a table of the Canonical books of the Old and New Testaments with their measured verses. We will give some extracts from this table; but first, notice that the Gospels are numbered as follows:
and the whole of the four Evangelists 9218, which differs slightly from the total formed by addition, which, as the figures stand, is 9017.
“On comparing the table with the numbers given by Scrivener from Greek MSS., viz.
[pg 383]we see at a glance that we are dealing with the same system; Luke should evidently have 3083, the Greek number being evidently an excessive one; and if we assume that John should be 1938 the total amounts exactly to the 9218 given for the four Gospels.
“This is very curious, and since the ῥήματα are now proved to be rightly equated to ܦܬܓܡܐ (or ܐܡܓܬܦ), and this latter word is a proper word to describe a verse or στίχος, the ῥήματα appear to be a translation of a Syriac table.
“Perhaps we may get some further idea about the character of the verses in question by turning to the Sinai list, which is not confined to the Gospels, but ranges through the whole of the Old and New Testaments.
“The Stichometry in question follows the list of the names of the seventy disciples, which list is here assigned to Irenaeus, bishop of Lugdunum. After which we have
“When we come to the New Testament, it seems at first sight as if the verses which are there reckoned cannot be the Greek equivalent hexameters: for we are told that Philemon contains 53 verses, and the Epistle to Titus 116, numbers which are in excess of the Euthalian reckoning, 38 and 97 verses respectively, and similarly in other cases. The suggestion arises that the lines here reckoned are sense lines, and this is therefore the meaning to be attached to the ῥήματα of the MSS. But upon this point we must not speak too hastily.
“The interest of the Sinai stichometry is not limited to this single point: its list of New Testament books is peculiar in order and contents. There seem to be no Catholic Epistles, and amongst the Pauline Epistles, Galatians stands first; note also the curious order Hebrews, Colossians, Ephesians, Philippians.
“I do not think there can be the slightest doubt that our explanation of the origin of the ῥήματα is correct.