The Romans obtained the interpretatio from the Etruscans (Cicero, De Divinatione, 1. 2, and Ott fried Miiller, Die Etrusker, ii. 8, sy.); but the above distinction was the cause that the interpre tatio degenerated into a common art, which was exercised without inspiration, like a contemptible soothsaying, the rules of which were contained in writings. Cicero (De Divinatione, i. 2) says :— Furoris divinationem Sibyllinis maxlme versibus contineri arbitrati, eorum decem interpretes delec tos e civitate esse voluerunt.
The ideas of interpres and of interpretatio were not confined among the Romans to sacred sub jects ; which, as we have seen, was the case among the Greeks with the corresponding Greek terms. The words bite/pi-es and interpretatio were not ohly, as ainong the Greeks, applied to the explanation of the laws, but also, in general, to the explanation of whatever was obscure, and even to a mere inter vention in the settlement of affairs ; for instance, we find in Livy (xxi. 12) pacis interpres, denoting Alorcus, by whose instrumentality peace was offered. At an earlier period interpretes meant only those persons by means of whom affairs be tween God and man were settled (comp. Virgilii x. 175, and Servius on this passage). The words into:pre/es and cotzjectores became convertible terms :—unde etiarn somniorum atque omintim in terpretes conjectores vocantur (Quintil. Instil. iii. 6).
From what we have stated it follows that eIN_ 7,2,,,s and interprelatio were originally terms con fined to the unfolding of supernatural subjects, although in Latin, at an early period, these terms vc,re also applied to profane matters. The Chris tians also early felt the want of an interpretation of their sacred writings, which they deemed to be of divine origin ; consequently they wanted inter preters and instruction, by the aid of which the true sense of the sacred Scriptures might be dis covered. The right understanding of the nature and will of God seemed, among the Christians, as well as at an early period among the heathen, to depend upon a right understanding of certain external signs ; however, there was a progress from the unintelligible signs of nature to more intelligible written signs, which was certainly an important progress.
The Christians retained, in respect of the inter pretation of their sacred writings, the same expres sions which had been current in reference to the interpretation of sacred subjects among the heathen. Hence arose the fact that the Greek Christians employed with predilection the words eNynots and ktrynri)s in reference to the interpretation of the Holy Scriptures. But the circumstance that St. Paul employs the term 4initivela.7Xwo-ai2,v for the in terpretation of the 7XWacrass XaXeiv (1 Cor. xii. ro, xiv. 26), greatly contributed to establish the usage of words belonging to the root ipwriveiELv. Ac cording to Eusebius (Historia Ecclesiastica, iii. 9), Papias, bishop of Hierapolis, wrote, as early as about A.D. 100, a work under the title of Nolzicov xvpiatc&it 4iryncres, which means an interpretation of the discourses of Jesus. Papias explained the religious contents of these discourses, which he had collected from oral and written traditions. He distinguished between the meaning of e.N -yeZ0-0a4 and 41.0)7)6E3,, as appears froin his obser vation (preserved by Eusebius in the place quoted above), in which he says, concerning the Xdyta of St. Matthew, written in Hebrew, 41.ojvcvo-c alira sin 136varo elCaCTOS, but every one interpreted them according to his ability.' In the Greek Church O 7977-i)s and /01-rTra/ rob' X6-you were the usual terms for teachers of Christianity. (See Eusebii Historia Ecclesiastica, vii. 30, and Heinichen on this pas sage, note 21 ; Photii Biblioth. Rod. 105 ; Cave, Hirt. Liter. i. 146.) Origen called his commen tary on the Holy Scriptures 477-ynrcKd ; and Pro copius of Gaza wrote a work on several books of the Bible, entitled oxoXa2 477-prucat. However, we find the word gpianveta employed as a synonym of 10)-p)o-cs, especially among the inhabitants of Antioch. For instance, Gregorius Nyssenus says, concerning Ephraim Syrus, pacbiot Wriv duciniKis n-pDs Xecz, iwn.7)veucrer (See Gregorii Nysseni Vita Ephrainzi Syri ; Opera, Paris, ii. p. ro33). Theo dorus of Mopsuestia, Theodoret, and others, wrote commentaries on the sacred Scriptures under the title of ip,u771.Tia (compare A. H. Niemeyer, de Isi a'ori Pelusiotte Vita, Script's, et Doctrina, Halae 1825, p. 2o7).