xxvi INTRODUCTION TO THE AMERICAN EDITION.
" The Vatican," says Dr. Scrivener, " is probably the old- est vellum manuscript in existence, and is the glory of the Vatican Library." It is the chief authority among MSS. for the Greek Testament of Westcott and llort ; while Tisch- cndorf, in his last editions, very naturally shows a preference for the Sinaitic Codex of his own discovery. It presents, upon the whole, the shortest text ; but the charge of omis- sions of many words and whole clauses is founded on the false assumption that the Elzevir text is the standard. West- cott and llort say (p. 557) : "The fondness for omissions, which has sometimes been attributed to the scribe of the Vat- ican, is imaginary, except, perhaps, single petty words." The agreement of B and K is (with few exceptions) a strong pre- sumptive evidence for the genuineness of a reading, and, when supported by other ante-Xicene testimony, it is conclusive.
The specimen on the following page is borrowed from Scrivener, and contains the last verses in Mark (xvi. 3-8).
C. Codex REGIUS, or EPHRAEMI SrRi,of the fifth century;*
canus auspice Pio IX. Pontifice Maximo cottatis studiis Caroli Vcr- cellone Sodalis Barnabitte et Josephi Cozza MonacM Basiliant edi- t. Romse, typls et impensis S. Congregationis de Propaganda Fide. 1868. Beautifully printed on vellum paper. Four vol- umes contain the Septuagint (i. Pentateuch and Jos. ; ii. Judges, etc. ; iii. The Psalms, etc. ; iv. Esther, etc.), one volume the New Testament; a sixth volume is promised for the Prolegomena and Notes. The New Testament appeared in 1868 as torn. v. It gives the original MS. down to Heb. ix. 14, in 284 large pages. The rest of the Epistle to the Hebrews and the Apocalypse (from pp. 285 to 302) are supplied from a later text (recent i<n-i manu) in ordinary Greek type, and have therefore no critical value. The Pastoral Epistles and the Epistle to Philemon are wanting altogether. I used the copy in the Astor Library.
- Tischendorf regards C as older than A ; and in the Gospels
it has a much better text.
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