quibus continentur Analecta viri cujusdam eruditi e diversis Codicibus MSS. Codices vi. 20—22. Dd. vi. 24. Dd. vi. 26. Dd. vi. 64. Codices Orientales. Dd. vi. 66. Dd. vi. 91.J Dd. vi. 84. Codex est Græcus in duodec, manu neoterica in Chartis Scriptus. f Euripidis Epistolæ 191. 6. Scholia in Euripidem 694. 3. 7. Hecuba et Orestes cum Scholiis 2255. Hecuba et Orestes 2530. 1. 3. Hecuba et Orestes 2531. Epictetus 1905. 1. Etymologicum Græcum 2051. Elementa Geometriæ 1354. Euclides Euthumetricæ 173. 9. 4. Optica et Catoptrica 1447. 8. 15. 17, 18. 2525. Phavorinus 2183. 50. Gabrias; Fabalæ 1905. 3. Galen De Victu, & curationibus 1227. 6. Gennadius; Epist. contra Simoniam 1039. 59. Geoponica 173. 10. Georgius Gemestius de Virtutibus 191. 1. Gregorius Nazian; Epist. Canon. 1039, 40. Testamentum 2037. 14. Homliæ 2471. 1-19. Other pieces of his. Gregorius Nyssenus Epist. Canon. ad Litorium 1099. 52. De Hominis opificio 2175. 13. Harpocration. Lexicon; 258. Hephæstion; Enchiridion 694. 34. Herodotus; Historiæ cum notis MSS. Thomæ Gale. Johannis Taylor. Jos. Scaliger et Dan. Heinsii. Herodotus: Historiæ cum notis MSS. Emendationes in Herodotum. Hesiodus, Opera et Dieg. Variantes Lectiones. Hesychius, Hierosolymitanus, Sententiæ ad Theodulum. Hierocles, collatus a Johanne Taylor cum MS. Analecta Johannis Taylor in Homerum. Josephus; Opera cum notis MSS. Julius Pollux, Onomasticon, cum notis MSS. Isaaci Casavboui Longinus de Sublimi, cum notulis MSS. Johannis Taylor. Lycurgus; Oratio contra Leocratem, cum notis MSS. Johannis Taylor. Lycophron; Alexandra cum notis MSS. Lysias; Orationes cum notis MSS. Johannis Taylor. Plato-Scholia Olympiodori in Alcibiadem. Excerpta ex Protagora et Epistola. Anno 1441. 604 ON THE CODEX BEZÆ, IN THE PUBLIC LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE. Communicated by me to the Athenæum, May 1808. It is the intention of the writer of this paper, occasionally to communicate to the Athenæum brief accounts of some manuscripts in the public libraries of this kingdom. Those will be selected which, by some, are deemed the most curious and valuable: such are, the most ancient Greek manuscripts of some parts of the scriptures; the most ancient Hebrew manuscripts of the Old Testament; and the Latin manuscripts of that curious remnant of antiquity, the Athanasian Creed. The libraries will of course be indicated in which these MSS. are to be found. I begin with Theodori Baza Coder, or that most famous manuscript presented by Beza to the University of Cambridge. It will be better to preserve the title, Bezæ Codex, than use that of Cantabrigiensis, in order to keep the distinction clear between this codex and the other Codices Cantabrigienses. This is, perhaps, the most ancient Greek manuscript extant. It was formerly the property, or rather in the possession of, Theodore Beza, the reformer of Geneva, contemporary with Calvin, and editor of a Greek Testament, first published in 1551. It is a Greek copy, with a Latin version, containing the Four Gospels in the order, Matthew, John, Luke, Mark, with the Acts of the Apostles. Beza frequently refers to this MS. in his edition of the New Testament, though he thought it had been a little nibbled at, and corrupted by, the ancient heretics, particularly in the Gospel according to Luke. How or from whom Beza first procured it, he does not say, only that he obtained it from a monastery in Lyons in 1562. He presented it to the University in 1581, accompanied with a handsome complimentary letter, in Latin, prefixed to the MS*. It is written in uncial letters, that is, large, quadrated letters, which have improperly been called, by some persons, Initials, for in the times when that MS was written, all Greek letters, both in books and on monuments, were of this cast. The manuscript is mutilated in many leaves, ten of which are supplied by a more modern pen; but, in other respects, it is, in general, in good preservation. The original manuscript whence this was copied was probably written in Egypt; but that is lost: there are many reasons for be lieving that the present copy was written in the west‡. By whatever means Beza obtained this invaluable book, he judged most properly in considering it as public property, and he consulted his own fame in assigning it over to the public library of one of the most learned universities in the world. Some are unwilling to charge so religious a man as Beza with plundering a religious house; yet the best critics allow that this business wears a mysterious aspect. Let us hear Greisbach. Steph. p. seu Codex Beza, seu Cantabrigiensis, mihi in Evangeliis et Actis D. Tot tamque notabiles Lectiones, soli Cantabrigiensi peculiares, e suo s protulit Stephanus, ut, me quidem judice, hic liber ab illo diversus esse prorsus nequit. Nec objici potest, Stephanum innumeras Lectiones Cantabrigienses notatu dignissimas silentio præterivisse, aliasq: a Cantabrigiensibus vel penitus vel aliquantulum discrepantes laudasse: his enim vitiis ex aliis quoque libris ex * Vide the page preceding the Bezæ Præf. ad novum Test.-et Epist. + Casley's Pref. to the Cat. of the MSS. in the King's Library, ‡ Millii Prolegomena in Test, Græc, p. 182. 605 cerpta laborare, modo vidimus. Fateor, quæ Beza de suo Evangeliorum codice, et de ratione, qua adeptus eum sit, narravit, vix vera esse, si Bezæ Codex unus idemque est cum Stephani g. Sed hoc me, ut sententiam meam abjiciam, minime movet. Quid enim, si Beza, jam grandævus et permultis negotiis et curis distractus, non satis recte meminerit, quonam modo liber ille in suas manus pervenerit, aut quænam is, qui dederat, de eo narraverit? Quid si neminis putavit interesse, totam rem, prout gesta esset, accuratissime rescire? Quid, si certis de causis ambiguitate verborum rem involvere, quam clare eloqui, maluit? Quid si is, e cujus manibus Beza codicem acceperat, retulit relata, quanquam a vero abhorrentia? Aut si Bezæ falsa et repugnantia narrare satius duxit, quam novissima libri fata ingenue profari? Mirum profecto videtur, coenobii Gallicani in Bezæ possessionem pervenisse; nec quisquam facile dixerit, quonam jure is qui e monastica bibliotheca librum abstulit, sive coenobii incola fuerit sive alienus, Beza eum potuerit vendere donove dare*. But, however Beza came by it, one thing is certain, that the book must have been stolen by somebody; for, in addition to what has been observed by others, it may be noticed, that no papal or regal decree had passed in France to authorize the visitation of monasteries; and that neither Beza nor any other person could act as commissioners to bring away manuscripts, as was done under a special commission from the privy council in England+: consequently no person could have had a right to it; and whoever first took it from the library must have committed a theft. The above extract was made rather than one from any other writer, as being connected with the passage which affirms the Beza MS. and the Codex of Robert Stephens to be the same. Wetstein makes the same assertion, and * Greisbach in Nov. Test. Græce, Prolegomena, Sect. I. p. 26, 27. + MS. Letter, Bene't College Library. |