Vatican Manuscript (1)

(CODEX VATICANUS, designated as B) is one of the oldest and most valuable MSS. of the Greek Testament numbered 1209 in the library of the Vatican at Rome, where it seems to have been brought shortly after the establishment of the library by pope Nicholas V (who died in 1455); but nothing is known of its previous history. It is a quarto volume of 146 leaves, bound in red morocco, ten and a half inches high, ten broad, and half an inch thick. It once contained the whole Bible in Greek, i.e. the Old Test. of the Sept. version, excepting Ge 1:31 (the MS. begins at πάλιν, Ge 46:8), and Psalm 105-137, together with the New Test. complete down to Heb 9:14, καθα; the rest of the Epistle to the Hebrews, the four Pastoral Epistles (the Catholic Epistles had followed the Acts), and the Apocalypse being written in a later hand. The MS. is on very thin vellum; the letters are comparatively small and regularly formed; three columns are on each page (except in some of the poetical parts of the Old Test., which are written stichometrically, and with but two columns); each column contains about forty-two lines, and each line from sixteen to eighteen letters, with no intervals between the words, a space of half a letter being left at the end of a sentence, and a little more at the conclusion of a paragraph. It has been doubted whether any of the stops are by the first hand; and the breathings and accents are now generally allowed to have been added by a second hand. This hand, apparently about the 8th century retraced, with as much care as such an operation would admit, the faint lines of the original writing (the ink whereof was, perhaps, never quite black), the remains of which can even now be seen; and, at the same time, the reviser left untouched such words or letters as he wished, for critical purposes, to reject, and these: still express the original condition of the MS., being unaccented. The initial capitals are also due to the later hand, being in blue or red, also the broad green bar surmounted with three red crosses at the head of each book. Fewer abridgments than usual occur. The form of the letters points to the 4th century as the date of the MSS.

The Gospels contain neither the Ammonian sections nor the Eusebian canons, nor yet the larger chapters; but they are divided into numbered sections; Matthew having 170, Mark 61, Luke 152, and John 80. Those in the Acts and Catholic Epistles differ from the Euthalian, and amount to 79. Paul's Epistles are treated as one book, the sections running on continuously. Thus, the last section in Galatians is numbered 58, and Ephesians begins with 70 (showing an omission of 11 sections); but after 2 Thessalonians (the last division-of which is marked 93), Hebrews begins with section 59, showing that it once occupied the above gap between Galatians and Ephesians (it now ends with section 64, the last four and a half chapters, which are lost, having made up-the rest).

The jealousy and illiberality of the papal authorities have greatly obstructed the public knowledge of this valuable MS. Imperfect collations were early made by Bartolocci, two for Bentley (by Mico and Rulotta), and again by Birch, Tischendorf, Tregelles, and other scholars were unable to secure the privilege of more than a brief inspection of the MS. At length cardinal Mai prepared the New Test. in several forms, which were published after his death (ed. Vercellone, 1857, 4 vols. 4to; 1859, 8vo); but so imperfectly and uncritically that no good representative existed until Tischendorf's revision: (Leips. 1867, 8vo). In 1868, however, the Roman government itself undertook a splendid edition of the New Test. portion, with so-called facsimile type (originally cast for Tischendorf's ed. of the Cod. Sin.),

followed by a similar edition of the Old Test. portion in 4 vols. 4to. See Tregelles, in Horne's Introd. new ed. 4:158 sq.; Scrivener, Introd. to the New Test. p. 84 sq.; Schulz, De Cod. Vat. (Lips. 1827);:Brit. Quar. Rev. Oct. 1858; Brit. and For. Evang. Rev. Jan. 1859; Christian Remembrancer, April, 1859; Stud. u. Krit. 1860, 3. SEE MANUSCRIPTS, BIBLICAL. SEE VATICAN MANUSCRIPT (2) (Codex Taicanus) is also the conventional designation of the Greek MS. 354 of the four gospels in the Vatican Library, usually denoted as S. The subscription says that it was written by Michael, a monk, in the year 949. It is a folio of two hundred and thirty-four leaves, written in large, oblong, or compressed uncials.. The Epistle to Caspianus and the canons of Eusebius are prefixed, and it contains many later corrections and marginal notes. Birch collated it with considerable care, and Tischendorf and Tregelles cursorily inspected it. See Tregelles, in Home's Introd. 4:202; Scrivener, Introd. to the N.T. p. 115. SEE MANUSCRIPTS, BIBLICAL.