As for the MSS. used in compiling the texts of the Hebrew Scriptures—the so-called Chaldee Para phrase of Onkelos on the Pentateuch, the Sept., the Greek of the N. T., and the Vulg.—these have as yet eluded the research of critics. The He brew text of the O. T. and the Chaldee of the Pen.
tateuch had already been published several times, both in parts and as a whole, before the appearance of the Polyglott. Thus, the Hebrew Pentateuch with the Chaldee of Onkelos appeared in Bologna i432 ; moo ; Lisbon 1491 ; Naples 491 ; Brescia 1492 ; ibid. 1493 ; and Constantinople 1505. The text of the Earlier Prophets was published at Soncino 1485 ; and Leiria 1494 ; of the Latter Pro phets, circa 1485 ; and Pessaro 1515 ; of the Hagio grapha, Naples 1486-7, ibid. 1490 ; and Salonica 1513 ; and of the entire Bible, Soncino 1488, and Brescia 1494. It was therefore not likely that the editors would resort much to MSS., though it is stated that they used seven MSS., which the car dinal secured at the cost of 4000 ducats without saying what they were. Besides the Ilebrew and Chalciee texts of the Complutensian Polyglott, with the exception of a few variations, agree with those of former and later editions, which shows that the editors depended upon the printed texts. The same is the case with the text of the Vulg. which had repeatedly been published before—viz. at Mayence 14.50-5 ; %Mb. t462 ; Strasburg 1469 ; ibid. L470; ibid. 1468; Cologne 147o ; Rome 147i ; Mayence 1472 ; Cologne 1474 ; Basle 1475 ; Piacenza 1475 ; Nurenburg 1475; Venice 1475; Paris 1475 ; Venice 1476 , Naples 1476 ; Nurenburg 1476 ; Basle 1477 ; Venice 14.78 ; Lyons 1479 ; Col. 1480 ; Venice 1480 ; ibid. 1481 ; 1483; ibid. 1484 ; ibid. 1487 ; Basle 1491 ; Venice 1498 ; Paris 1504 ; Lyons 1514 ; and a number of other places. It is the texts of the Sept. and of the Greek N. T. which appeared for the first time in this Polyglott, and for which of course MSS. had to be used. And indeed, though the editors, in accordance with the custom of that time, do not describe the MSS., they distinctly declare that ordinary copies were not the archetypes for this impression, but very ancient and correct ones ; and of such antiquity that it would be utterly wrong not to own their authority ; whith the supreme pontiff Leo X., our most holy father in Christ, and lord, desiring to favour this undertaking, sent from the apostolical library to the most reverend lord the Cardinal of Spain, by whose authority and commandment we have had this worlc printed' (Preface to the N. T.) The same declaration is made by Cardinal Ximenes himself, who says in his dedication to Pope Leo X. : For Greek copies indeed, we are indebted to your Holiness, who sent us most kindly from the aposto lical library very ancient codices both of the O. and the N. T., which have aided us very much in this undertaking.' That Greek MSS. both of the O. and the N. T. were furnished from the Vatican library is moreover corroborated by the Eict that though all the AISS. which formerly belonged to Cardinal Ximenes, and which comprised almost all the MS. materials uscd in the Polyglott, are still
safely preserved in the library at Madrid, to which place they have been transferred from Alcala,* yet no MSS. exist in this collection of the Sept. on the Pentateuch, or of the Greek N. T., thus showing that they did not belong to the cardinal, and that they were restored again to the Vatican when the work was completed. Indeed the two Greek MSS. of the Sept. which Ximenes got from Leo are now ascertained, as has been shown by Fr. Vercellone in his Preface to Card. Alai's edition of Codex B. Vercellone also mentions the fact that Codex B is missing in catalogues of the Vatican library made in 1518, which seems to favour the supposition that the editors of the Polyglott had it.
A most remarkable testimony to the interest which Pope Leo X. took in securing a correct text of the N. T., and to the nature of the MSS. he procured foi this purpose, is to be found in the celebrated Alasioreth Ha-Alassoreth of Elias Levita. As we have not seen the passage noticed anywhere, we subjoin it entire in an English version : When I was at Rome I saw three Chalderms who arrived from the countiy of Prester John (jt.r1"trIt), having been sent for by Pope Leo X. They were masters of the Syriac language and literature, though their vernacular language was Hebrew. The special language however they employed in writing books, as well as that of the N. T. of the Christ ians which they had brought with them, was Syriac, which is also called Aramman, Baby lonian, Assyrian, Chaldaic, Tursai or Targum, being denominated by these seven names. Pope Leo X. had sent for them in order to correct by their codices his exemplar of the N. T., which was written in Latin. I then saw in their hands a Psalter written in Syriac characters as well as translated into Syriac ; that is to say the He brew text was written with Syriac letters' (Afar soreth Ha-Afassoreth, Introduction, iii. I a, ed. Sulzbach 177t).
It only remains to be added that the Greek text of this Polyglott has been reprinted in the Antwerp or Royal Polyglott 0569-72), the Heidelberg Poly glott edited by Bertram (1586), the Hamburg Poly. glott edited by \Voider 0396), and the Paris Poly glott edited by Le Jay 0645).
Literature.—For the life of Ximenes, see Pres cott's History of the Reign of Th-clinand and Isabella, part ii. cap. v. etc., and for the description and the critical value of his great Biblical work, see Wolf, Bibliotheca 338-341 ; Le Long, Ilibliothcca Sacra, i. 332-339, ed. Masch. ; Rosen miiller, Handbuch /Fir die Literatur der biblischen Krilik und ExeTese, 279-296, Gottingen 1799 ; Pettigrew, 13ibliotheca Sussexiana, vol. 1. part ii. pp. 3-28, London 1827 ; Tregelles, An account of the Printed Text of the Creek N. T. pp. 1-18, London 1854, where will also be found reprinted Dr. Thomson's catalogue of the MSS. used in preparing, the Polyglott ; Horne, Introduction to the Holy Scriptures, vol. iv. pp. 119-122, ed. Tregelles, London 1856.—C. D. G.