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The Georgian Version of Fourth Esdras from the Jerusalem Manuscript

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2011

Robert P. Blake
Affiliation:
Harvard University

Extract

The last editor of Fourth Esdras, Bruno Violet, in summing up the literature which had appeared on the subject between the first and second parts of his edition, observes with regret that he is unable to add anything more to his original discussion of the Georgian version. In substance his conclusions were as follows. The Georgian printed text of Fourth Esdras is an eighteenth-century translation from the Latin. Only two manuscripts of the original version exist, one of the year 978 in the monastery of Iviron on Mt. Athos, the other dating from about the year 1050 at Jerusalem. In the latter the mutilated text ends, according to Tsagareli, with chapter 9, 1–2. This latter manuscript Violet was unable to find during his visit to Jerusalem in 1901. Furthermore, upon hearing that Professor N. Marr of Petrograd possessed a manuscript of Fourth Esdras, he applied to him for information, but without success. Violet was thus unable either to make use of the text in extenso or to obtain any clear conception, whether of its character, of its importance, or of its position in the textual tradition of the work. Among the pia vota which are set up in the course of the introduction is included the wish that further light might be forthcoming on the Georgian version. The present essay is an attempt to meet this need, at least in part.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College 1926

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References

1 Violet, Bruno, Esra-Apokalypse, Die: I. Die Uberlieferung. Leipzig, 1910.Google Scholar (Die griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten drei Jahrhunderte, Bd. 18; hereafter cited as Violet I). Die Apokalypsen des Esra und des Baruch in deutscher Gestalt (same ser. Bd. 32). Leipzig, 1924. Hereafter cited as Violet II. Ibid., pp. i, xxiii.

2 Violet, I, pp. xli–xliii.

3 Bensly, R. L., The Missing Fragment of the Fourth Book of Ezra. Cambridge, 1875, p. 78.Google Scholar

4 A. A. Цагарели, Свѣдѣнія о памятникахъ грузинской письменности, Вьшускъ 2, Спб. 1888 г., p. 11.

5 Violet I. p. xlii.

6 Violet I, pp. xli–xlii.

7 Violet II, pp. xxviii.

8 Blake, R. P., Catalogue des MSS. géorgiens de la bibliothèque patriarcale grecque à Jérusalem. Rev. de l'or. chrét. 3 sér. t. iii (xxiii) (1923/1924), pp. 2627, 30–32 of the reprint.Google Scholar

9 This he was enabled to do through a grant from the Milton Fund for Scientific Research.

10 See above, notes 4 and 8.

11 The damaged verses are Joel 1, 7–8, 12; 2,2, 7–8.

12 VII, 59 of the Latin enumeration.

13 In Violet I, pp. 194 f. = Lat. VII, 105–125.

14 Lat. VII, 125.

15 The size of the MS. (ca. 360 folia) reaches just about to the practical limits of a parchment codex. It is not unlikely that a colophon may have followed; see R. P. Blake, Catalogue ad Nos. 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 48, etc. and p. 7, note 1 of reprint.

16 These seem to be contemporaries (Catalogue, p. 32).

17 First described in detail by A. A. Цагарели, Свѣдѣнія, etc., ВьШускъ I, Спб 1886 г., pp. 1–7. Further data ap. H. Марръ, Изъ поѣздки на Аөонъ, ЖМНП March 1899 (322), pp. 1 ff. and statements as to the lacunae ap. Ө. Жорданія, Описаніе рукописей Церковнаго Музея Карталино-Кахетинскаго Духовенствва, II (Тифлисъ 1902), pp. 35–41. This is the only reasonably accurate account of the lacunae in the MS.; cf., however, the present author's corrections in his Russian article По поводу рукописей древнегрузинской версіи Ветхаго Завѣта (Тифлисъ 1921). pp. 29 ff. = Harvard Theological Review, xix (1926), pp. 285 ff.

18 Цагарели, l. c.

19 These are MS. 471 of the Church Museum in Tiflis and MS. 397 of the Society for the Extension of Literacy among the Georgians.

20 This can best be seen from the Text of the Song of Songs as published by Tsagareli from the Tiflis copy (l. c. I, pp. 17–56 of Приложеніе), and Marr's criticism of the same (l. c, pp. 10 ff.).

21 The description of the MS. as given in the Life of St. Euthymius (p. of text 17 = p. 25/26 of P. Peeters’ translation in Histoires Monastiques Géorgiennes, Bruxelles 1923) implies that the books of the Maccabees were also present. I am personally inclined to doubt this.

22 The gap covers from Leviticus 4, 8 to Judges 19, 26.

23 Žordaniya, l. c., pp. 36–41.

24 Blake, Catalogue, l. c., pp. 10–11.

25 Žordaniya gives the reading as sylieli = σαλός; Tsagareli so reports the reading of I, but the MS. has (resp. ) Sut'ieli; cf. Aeth Sut'ael. l and t' are very much alike in the minuscule ecclesiastical alphabet; if this is not a misreading of O, it is simply a natural error.

26 I cherish the hope that I shall shortly be able to obtain a copy of the text.

27 A list of O. T. MSS. in Blake, По поводу etc., l. c., p. 31.

28 Vide supra, note 3.

29 The best account of this area is given by Marr, N. in his Житіе св. Григорія Хандзтʻійскаго (Спб. 1911)Google Scholar: Дневникъ Путешествія по Шавшетʻіи и Тао-Кларджетʻіи. Cf. also Дм. Бакрадзе, Путешествіе по Гуріи и Аджаріи, Спб. 1878.

30 Cf. H. Марръ, Іоаннъ Петрици, грузинскій неоплатоникъ ХІІ-го вѣка, ЗВО 19 (1909), pp. 55–113.

31 Cf. Tiflis 1923, pp. 81 ff. and the review of this book by the present writer in JThS. Oct. 1924 (vol. xxxvi), pp. 50–64.

32 Synaxarial life of Prokhoré in II, (Tiflis, 1897), pp. 523–524.

33 The first careful study on this subject (N. T.) was made by the late F. C. Conybeare in the American Journal of Theology I (1897), pp. 883–912. Further studies have been made by N. Marr, especially in his articles Эчміадзинскіе отрывки древнегрузинскаго Ветхаго Завѣта, Христіанскій Востокъ II, pp. 378–388; Замѣтки къ св. писанію др. армянъ и др. грузинъ, ibid., II, 163–174; 263–274; III, 249–262; IV, 229–245.

34 In this connection the colophon of Dača, the translator of the commentary ascribed to Epiphanius on the Psalms, is most illuminating (E. C. Такайшвили, Описаніе рукописей общества распространенія грамотности среди грузинъ, II, 640–1: cf. l. c., p. 140–141.

35 The most careful studies have been made by N. Marr of II (IV) Kings, 14–15, Exodus, chap. 1 and by R. P. Blake of Zephaniah, (l. c., p. 32 ff.)

36 This is not a puristic, but a nationalistic movement; see the statements of George the Athonite in the life of St. Euthymios, and also in his own vita (P. Peeters, l. c. p. 109–110).

37 Only old-standbys, like true = Arm (Iran.) and others, occur.

38 On this see H. Марръ, Ипполитъ: Толкованіе пѣсни пѣсней, Спб., 1902, Introduction passim.

39 In course of publication by the present writer.

40 by contraction of (H. Марр, Грамматика древнелитературнаго грузинского языка, Ленинград, 1925. p. 03.

41 This came about through the natural error in supposing that the = khma was the same word as ḳhmay voice.

42 See Hübschmann, H., Grammatik, Armenische, 1, 1, Leipzig, 1895, p. 110.Google Scholar

43 Nageb may be a Georgian word from gebay ‘agere', but the meanings adduced in the lexicon — constructed, etc. — do not help out very much, and the explanation given in the text seems more probable. The y tradition had some other word besides part there, as the Ethiopic shows, but the meaning of the term used there is dubious. See Violet I, ad loc.

43a References to the literature on the subject are given by J. H. Ropes in the introduction to his edition of Acts; The Beginnings of Christianity, vol. iii, pp. cxlvi–vii.

43b The Metropolitan Museum of Art Egyptian Expedition: The Monastery of Epiphanius at Thebes. Pt. I. The Archaeological Material by H. E. Winlock: The Literary Material by W. E. Crum. 3 vols. folio. New York, 1923. Vol. i, p. 197. The ostrakon (B.P. 1669) contains a list of the extra-canonical books of the Sceiptures. Crum notices the connection with the Ethiopic.

44 Cf. note ad loc. in Violet II.

45 See Violet, I, pp. xxxvii–xxxviii.

46 See Violet II, pp. xxiv–xxxviii of Introduction.

47 We do not mean to imply that in some (probably in most) cases this confusion may not have dated from the antecedent versions.

48 Cf. Ar. Gild ad loc.

49 καλός is used as a denominal verb in Syriac and in Rabbinical Hebrew (כלם) in the sense of praising, glorifying.

50 My colleague, Professor E. K. Rand, has kindly censored my latinity, for which I desire to express my heartfelt thanks. Professors G. F. Moore and J. H. Ropes have also been of material assistance, which I gratefully acknowledge in this place.

51 The idea was suggested by Sir Herbert Thompson's remarks on the Coptic versions in Professor J. H. Ropes' recent edition of Acts; the Beginnings of Christianity, Vol. iii, pp. 317–321, 357–360.

52 See Meillet, A., Elementarbuch, Altarmenisches, Heidelberg, 1913, p. 57 f., 61–62.Google Scholar

53 In Grecophile texts this is represented by same, ‘indeed’, ‘forsooth’, but this is not Tao-Klardjetʻian.

54 We have not distinguished between with the subjunctive and with the indicative in final clauses. The function of — mca is not altogether clear; it demands an indicative form, but in some cases = ἄν. for γάρ = enim; = ὄτι = quia; = quoniam.

page 322 note 1 (1) Titulum rubro scriptum; inc. textus f. 194 v, col. a, 1. 15.

page 322 note 2 (3) cod.

page 323 note 1 vel exstructionem.

page 323 note 2 lit. Adami corpus rem mortuam.

page 324 note 3 (2) -add. in marg. manu correctoris.

page 324 note 5 (3) add. in marg. manu correctoris.

page 325 note 1 -tus?

page 325 note 2 fort. induit Adam.

page 325 note 3 turned aside, ἀπέστρεψε.

page 326 note 6 (6) Fort. in cod.

page 326 note 7 (3) post rasura 1 litt. in cod.

page 329 note 1 vel observare.

page 329 note 2 gen.

page 332 note 11 (2) cod.

page 333 note 1 fort. similium.

page 333 note 2 vel exitus.

page 334 note 13 (10) cod.: correxi.

page 335 note 1 arm.!

page 335 note 2 cod. populi.

page 335 note 3 vel. continuo.

page 335 note 4 s'éloigneront.

page 336 note 1 (3) cod.

page 337 note 1 lit. Thou wert entrusted with Israel.

page 338 note 3 (3) add. sup. lin. mauu correctoris: cod. correxi.

page 339 note 1 = βόθρον.

page 339 note 2 vel infirmasti.

page 340 note 5 (4) add. sup. lin. manu correctoris.

page 340 note 5 (5) add. sup. lin. manu correctoris.

page 341 note 1 = formam.

page 341 note 2 lit. id.

page 342 note 1 = ἴσοι.

page 342 note 2 vel solidificationem.

page 345 note 1 lit. cadas.

page 345 note 2 lit. sermonem.

page 345 note 3 Georgian implies μέλλω.

page 348 note 2 (2) cod.

page 348 note 2 (7) Prob. legendum

page 350 note 2 (17) cod.

page 350 note 3 (1) add. sup, lin. manu correctoris.

page 351 note 1 = ἄλογα.

page 352 note 3 (5) cod.

page 352 note 3 (6) sic.

page 352 note 3 (7) cod.

page 352 note 3 (11) cod. correxi.

page 353 note 1 = vestigium.

page 354 note 4 (7) cod.

page 354 note 5 (7) inserui.

page 355 note 1 lit. eum.

page 355 note 2 pl.

page 356 note 5 (9) add. manu correctoris.

page 356 note 5 (15) corr. e

page 357 note 1 lit. ante.

page 357 note 2 lit. ante.

page 357 note 3 dari: aut (1) arm. dar = saeculum, aut (2) ἴσος.

page 358 note 7 (9) cod. correxi.

page 358 note 12 (8) cod.: scripsi.

page 358 note 7 (12) add. manu correctoris.

page 359 note 1 lit. inter.

page 359 note 2 textus corruptus.

page 359 note 3 vel honoris.

page 359 note 4 cod. quartus.

page 360 note 12 (12) add. manu correctoris.

page 360 note 14 (2) cod.: correxi.

page 361 note 1 ἀπαθείᾳ.

page 361 note 2 πλήσιοι.

page 362 note 17 (4) addidi.

page 362 note 17 (5) cod.: correxi.

page 363 note 1 Infinitive ending.

page 364 note 19 (4) cod. correxi.; add. manu correctoris sup. lin.

page 364 note 21 (4b) cod.; correxi.

page 365 note 1 textus corruptus.

page 365 note 2 fort. polluere.

page 365 note 3 cod. possint.

page 366 note 23 (7) cod. = correxi.

page 368 note 24 (2a) inter columnas inter asteriscos manu scribae addita.

page 369 note 1 vel responsum.

page 369 note 2 lit. supra.

page 370 note 25 2 in margine inferiori manu unius e correctoribus

page 371 note 1 in margine inferioris manu unius e correctoribus: Deus miserere Gabriel.

page 371 note 1 accommodatus est.

page 373 note 1 fort. leg. pars.