INTRODUCTION" TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. xliii
the existence of several Latin versions or revisions before Jerome) ; O. F. Fritzsche, Lateln. Bibtlubersetzumjcn, in the new cd. of Herzog, vol. viii., 1881, pp. 433-472 ; and Wcst- cott's art. " Vulgate," in Smith's Diet, of the Bible. There is a good condensed account, revised by Dr. Abbot, in Mitchell's Critical Handbook (1880), p. 133 sq.
(b.) The Latin VULGATE. In the course of time the text of the Old Latin became so corrupt that a thorough revision was imperative, and was intrusted by Pope Damasus, in 382, to Jerome (d. 410), the most learned scholar of his day, and of all the Latin fathers best qualified, by genius, taste, and knowledge of Hebrew and Greek, for this diffi- cult task. He began upon the New Testament, and pro- ceeded cautiously, making as few changes as possible, so as not to arouse the opposition of those who, as he says, " thought that ignorance was holiness." But his scholarly instincts, no less than his convictions of duty towards the Divine Word, impelled him to go beyond his instructions, and make a new version of the Old Testament directly from the Hebrew, of which, however, it does not concern us at present to speak. Jerome's revision and new translation (finished 405) encountered much opposition, which greatly irritated his temper and betrayed him into contemptuous abuse of his opponents, whom he styled " blades aisellos" But, by inherent virtues, rather than by external authority, it passed into such current use that in the eighth century it was the Vulgate, the common version, in the Western churches. It became much corrupted by frequent copy- ing. Alcuin, at the instance of Charlemagne, revised it circa 802, by the collation of various good MSS., and sub- stantially in this form it passed down to the invention of printing.
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