eaten. One skin is folded so as to make two leaves or four pages. The inner side of the skin, which was next the flesh of the animal, is softer and finer; the outer side, which came next the hair, is coarser. The skins are so arranged that a pair of the coarser pages is succeeded by a pair of the finer, and conversely. To this arrangement there are very few exceptions. The skin is probably that of the antelopes which abound in the deserts of Egypt and Libya, although the Professor intimates that the skin of the donkey is not unsuited to the purpose. A single skin then (whether of antelope or donkey) being once folded so as to make two leaves or four pages, these skins are then made up into sets of four each, called quaternions, and numbered accordingly by quaternions. It is obvious that one quaternion, as it consists of four skins, must contain eight leaves, or sixteen pages. This arrangement we know to be as old at least as the time of Constantine. For when the Emperor wrote to Eusebius, telling him, on account of the increasing number of churchmen and churches at Constantinople, to have fifty copies of the Scriptures (πεντήκοντα σωμάτια) made for church use, legible and portable (εὐανάγνωστά τε καὶ πρὸς τὴν χρῆσιν εὐμετακόμιστα) by artists practised in kalligraphy (ὑπὸ τεχνιτῶν καλλιγράφων καὶ ἀκριβῶς τὴν τεχνὴν ἐπισταμένων) on prepared skins (ἐν διφθέραις ἐγκατασκεύοις); Eusebius states that he carried out the emperor's commands, and sent the ternions and quaternions in very expensively ornamented volumes (ἐν πολυτελῶς ἐσκημένοις τεύχεσι τρισσὰ καὶ τετρασσὰ διαπεμψάντων ἡμῶν). The τρισσά or ternions were skins arranged by threes (See Eus. de Vita Const. IV. 36, 37). Has the Emperor of all the Russians had the good fortune, in the Codex Sinaiticus, to light upon one of these fifty copies prepared by order of his illustrious predecessor in imperialism, the founder of Constantinople?

The first leaf in the Codex Sinaiticus is the last half-skin in quaternion A and ends with the word vπep. The quaternion A follows, not in the Codex Sinaiticus, but in the Codex Friderico-Augustanus, commencing on its first leaf with the word Baoanλ, of which the first syllable κa was omitted by the scribe. The passage is 1 Chron. xi. 22. Here then the one Codex exactly fits on to the other. Then follows, in the Codex Friderico-Augustanus, the quaternion A, complete; then the first three leaves of quaternion AZ, ending with Twv adeλowv nμwv (Tob ii. 2); the last five leaves beginning with εκ νινευητων αιχμαλωτων, being in the Codex Sinaiticus ; here, again, the one Codex exactly fits on to the other. Then follows, in the Codex Sinaiticus, quaternion AH, of which the

last leaf has perished. Then quaternion A complete. Half only of quaternion M appears to be in existence.' From MA to M are six complete quaternions. Then follow quaternion NZ and the first six leaves of quaternion NH. The quaternions already mentioned contain portions of the historical and prophetical books, and are published in Vol. II. of the fac-simile edition. Vol. III. contains fourteen complete quaternions, from NO to OB. Here are the Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Song, Wisdom, Siracides, Job. These books are written two columns to a page, and in lines of varying length. The last volume (IV.), in which are contained all the books of the New Testament, has twenty quaternions, beginning with Or and ending with чB. Of these the quaternion OH (in S. Luke) consists of seven leaves only, and the divisions marked II (in which occurs the end of S. John's Gospel) and 4 (in the Epistle of S. Barnabas) are ternions, as they consist of six leaves only. Of quaternion 4 A3 two leaves only are remaining, those in which the Epistle of S. Barnabas ends. Of the quaternion which follows, six leaves only with half of the seventh and a small fragment remain. It is evident, from the continuous numbering of the quaternions, that the Old and New Testaments were regarded as one volume.

The original size of the leaves was rather larger than at present. This is proved by the loss of letters from notes added in the right-hand margin, and of the old quaternions, which were written in red at the top of the page. The present numbering of the quaternions was added previously to the binding of the Codex. The actual measurement of the leaves, as we now have them, is given in Plate XIX. of the photo-lithographs, from which it appears that a leaf measures 133 inches longitudinally, by 14ğ inches vertically.

Ruled lines were employed both for the columns and the lines in each column; but for the latter the points at each end sometimes suffice. Owing to the fineness of the parchment, the line drawn on one side shows through so as to answer for the other.

The colour of the ink is of various hues, being for the most part fuscum,' often cineraceum,' sometimes fulvum,' sometimes 'e fusco rutilans.' The Professor adds, Plerumque

1 So stated in Prol. But in the fac-simile quaternion M has eight leaves, MA four. 2 Quaternion Ms ends with Jer. x. 25, un eidota σe' kal. At this very point the Codex Friderico-Augustanus goes on with quaternion MZ at the words eT yeveaσ al to ovoμa, and so on to the end of Jeremiah. At three points then the two MSS. exactly fit each other-in Chronicles, in Tobit, in Jeremiah.

3 HA by misprint in the prolegomena.

aliquem nitorem habet.' The earliest corrections do not differ much in the colour of the ink from that of the original writing. One corrector used 'atramento pullo.' As it is impossible to realize these different shades without autopsy of the MS. we simply describe them by the Professor's own terms.

Written in red ink are the titles and numbers of the Psalms, titles added in the Song, the Ammonian sections and canons of Eusebius, the inscription of Ecclesiastes (here the letters, except the , are only half in rubric), ornamental marks, as at the end of the Psalms and S. Mark.

The MS. in its original state had very little punctuation, and that was of the simplest kind. The books written in two divisions to the page (those contained in Vol. III. of the fac-simile edition) had none whatever. In these books (except the Psalms) all, and elsewhere most of the punctuation, was supplied by the correctors. The portion of the MS. written four columns to a page (contained in Vol. II. and IV. of the fac-simile edition) had originally some, but very little, punctuation: many columns and whole pages are without any points at all. Blank spaces are, however, occasionally left in a line, and words of similar import, when placed in juxtaposition, are distinguished, sometimes by points, sometimes by being placed in different lines. See Rom. i. 29, sqq., Gal. v. 19, sqq. Sometimes a double point, like our colon, is employed: this or the single point are often added by the correctors where the scribe had left a blank space. scribe has, however, occasionally added points where there was no space, as in fol. 62, col. 4, he pointed ovηpia Kakia TλEOVEŽIA. Care must be taken not to confuse the end-points of the ruled lines for punctuation-points. But, indeed, there is the greatest uncertainty about the whole system of punctuation in the MS., and recourse must be had to the original.

1

The

Examples of the apostrophe are found in ιουδειθ', δανειδ', ιωσηφ', εφρεμ', ιερουσαλημ ̓, ἔματια αυτων, κατεπατησα αυτουσ. We find ÏwB'. ¡B' ÏwB. The apostrophes are chiefly supplied by Correctors B and C. The printed fac-simile gives only the apostrophes of the scribe.

The mark occurs, sometimes to join two parts of a word, as οικοδομία, ψευδεσθαι, αναρμοστον, εθρυπτεν, sometimes as

an ornament.

This mark belongs to the most ancient documents, such as papyri, the fragments of the Octateuch from Origen, and the Vatican MS.

Other small lines, as, are chiefly supplied by Correctors A and B.

The diæretic points over and v were oftener omitted than placed by the scribe, but they have been very frequently supplied by the correctors.

Ï and Ÿ are often written I and Ỹ, seldom Ý.

Abbreviated forms are OC, KC, IC, XC, YC, ПНР, мHP, IINA, ПINIKOC, ANOC, OYNOC, with their different cases; also CPC, CTPΘΗ, ΕΓΡΩΘΗ, with ΔΑΔ, ΙΛΗΜ, ΙΕΛΜ, ІНАМ, ІНА, ІСА, ЇСНА.

We find also K, Mn, for μου and μοι, τη for προσ and προ. v at the end of a line is very often denoted by a line over the preceding letter, as eπe, тw, Tа.

There are also conjoined letters, as NH, &c.

Numbers are written sometimes in full, sometimes with letters.

The monogram of Christ, f, occurs three times in the Codex Sinaiticus, once at the end of Jeremiah, twice at the end of Isaiah. It is found twice in the Alexandrine, four times in the Vatican MSS.

Professor Tischendorf distinguishes four different, though coæval hands, in the production of the original text. Yet, though different, they wrote much alike. Scribe A wrote the fragment of Chronicles, the first book of Maccabees, and the New Testament, except seven leaves: he wrote also the epistle of Barnabas, which commences in the next column (2a) to the Apocalypse. Scribe B wrote the prophetical books and the Shepherd of Hermas. Scribe C wrote the books in double column (Vol. III.). Scribe D wrote the books of Tobit and Judith, the first three and a half leaves of IV Maccabees, two leaves of S. Matthew (10 and 15), the last leaf of S. Mark (29,) and the first leaf of S. Luke (30), the second leaf of 1 Thess. (88), the third leaf of Heb. (91), and perhaps the beginning of the Apocalypse, down to the words ο μαρτυσ, ο πιστοσ, ο προτοτοκοσ των νεκρων, in the first column of page 126*. Of these scribes, A and B, C and D, most resemble each other. Specimens of each kind of handwriting are given in the photolithographed plates.

The rubricated additions in the Old Testament are by another hand from that which wrote the Ammonian sections and Eusebian canons in the Gospels, although there is no great difference in the characters.

Scribe D wrote the page-titles and subscriptions in Tobit and Judith, the inscriptions to both books of Maccabees, with the page-title of page 35. He seems to have made it one part of his business to look up these page-titles, but has made a mistake in writing ayyeoσ i, in Vol. II. fol. 82. He has also written аσμата in Vol. III. p. 63.

What are written at the beginning and end of each book, commencing from the subscriptions to the two books of Maccabees, down to Malachi, and from the Psalms down to Job, are in the same hand as the text. The Psalms have no inscription or page-titles.

In the New Testament portion of the MS., the page-titles of the Evangelists, with the subscriptions to S. Mark and S. John, were written by Scribe D: the subscription to S. Luke by Scribe A. Scribe A wrote the subscriptions to the Pauline Epistles, except 2 Thess., where Scribe D wrote the last page and the subscription. In the New Testament, as in the Old Testament portion, Scribe D bestowed much attention upon the page-titles: but from Galatians onwards, the inscriptions and page-titles were added by the same hand which noted the orixo: from which it would seem, that he who added the σTixo, is of the same date as the original scribes. Scribe D seems not to have cared about these orixo: at all events, 1 Thess. has them not, and the last part of this Epistle was written by scribe D. In the inscription and page-titles to the Colossians, the reading fluctuates between κολοσσαεις and κολασσαεις. The scribe himself has written κoλooσais at the commencement of the Epistle, and koλaσσaeis in the subscription. There is a similar variety in the Codex Vaticanus, with respect to the spelling of this word. The subscriptions to the Acts, Catholic Epistles, Apocalypse, Barnabas, were by the scribe; but the inscriptions to all these, except Barnabas, and their page-titles, were added by Scribe D. In the first part of the Revelation, Scribe D wrote at the top of the page αποκαλυψις ϊωαννου, but the after pagetitles and the subscription are αποκαλυψεις ϊωαννου. In the Shepherd, the handwriting of the page-titles differs hardly at all from that of the text. Although, in the Professor's opinion, these four different hands are to be made out in the original writing of the MS., yet he remarks that diversity of hands does not necessarily imply diversity of dates. The hands were, in his opinion, contemporaneous, put on simultaneously, that the work might be completed with greater expedition.