LACHMANN, KARL KONR. FR. W1LH., was born at Brunswick 4th March /798. His early education he received in his native city. His aca demical career began at Leipsic, but was princi pally pursued at Gottingen. During the disturb ances of 1814, he for a season forsook study for warfare, but soon returned to his former pursuits without having had an opportunity of signalising his prowess on the field. In 1316 he was appointed to a professorship at Konigsberg, where he re mained till 1825, when he removed to Berlin. In this city the rest of his life was spent. He died t3th March 185/. The studies to. which Lach mann chiefly dovoted himself belong to the de partment of philology ; but in tbis bis range was wide. Besides editions of classical authors, he edited some of the remains of early Teutonic litera ture, In 183/ he issued an edition of the Greek N. T. in a small form, intended to present the text authorised by the most ancient codices. This was followed, in 1842, by the first volume of his larger critical edition of the original text, the result of the united labours of himself and the younger Butt mann. In this he aimed at presenting, as far as possible, the text as it was in the authorised copies of the 4th century, his design being, not to compare various readings with the received text, but to sup ply a text derived from ancient authorities directly and exclusively. Relinquishing the possibility of ascertaining what was the exact text of the original as it appeared in the autographs of the authors, he set himself to determine the oldest attainable text by means of extant codices. For this purpose he made use of only a very few MSS., viz., A, B, C, P, Q, T, Z for the Gospels ; D, G, H for the Epistles. the Ante-Hieronyrnian Latin versions, and the readings of Origen, Irenreus, Cyprian, Hilary of Poitiers, Lucifer, and, for the Apocalypse, Prima rius. Under the Greek text the editor cites his
authorities, and at the bottom of the page Ile gives the Vulgate version edited from two codices of the 6th century, the Fuldensis and the Amiantinus, pre served in the Laurentian library at Florence. The second volume appeared in 1850. Lachmann ex pounded the principles cm which his edition was based in the Studien und Kritiken for 183o, p. 817 45- On its first appearance, his work, and the principles on which it was based, were subjected to inuch hostility ; but his great services to the cause of N. T. criticism are now universally ad mitted. That he narrowed unreasonably the sphere of legitimate authority for the sacred text, that lie was sometimes capricious in his selection of autho rities, and that while he did not always follow his authorities, he at other times followed them even in their manifest errors and blunders, may be ad mitted. But, after every deduction from the merits of his work is made which justice demands, there will still remain to Lachmann the high praise of having been the first to apply to the editing of the Greek N. T. those sound principles of textual criticism which can alone secure a correct and trust worthy text. In this he followed, to a considemble extent, the counsel of the illustrious Bentley, utter ed more than a century before (whence some, who sought to discredit his efforts, unworthily mocked him as Simia Bentleii') ; but he owed nothing to Bentley beyond the suggestion of the principles Ile has followed ; and he possessed, and has ably used, materials which in Bentley's time were not to be had (Hertz, ./C: Lachniann, Eine Biografihie, Berl. 185/ ; Tregelles, Pthited Text of the Greek N. T., p. 97, ff.)—W. L. A.