Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On the Word of God · Book II: On the Editions and Versions of Scripture
Chapter 5: On the various Greek editions
Our translation, from the Latin of the Opera Omnia (Paris: Vivès, 1870–74), vol. I, De Verbo Dei, Book II: On the Editions and Versions of Scripture. The Latin source text is public domain; this English rendering is released with the site. Scripture quotations follow Bellarmine's Vulgate citations, rendered in Douay-Rheims wording where he quotes exactly. Click “Show the Latin” for the original (raw OCR of the scan; scanning errors remain — the scan itself is the authority).
The Greek editions of the Old Testament are reckoned nine in all, besides that of which Clement of Alexandria makes mention in book 1 of the Stromata — which, before Alexander the Great gained his power, came forth (it is uncertain by what author), and from which Plato and the other Philosophers drew not a few things; but since that one, when the most celebrated translation of the seventy Elders afterward succeeded, began first to be neglected and then even to be lost, so that for a long time now scarcely the memory of it has been preserved, it is dismissed from the catalogue.
First of all is wont to be reckoned by writers that which, by the command of Ptolemy Philadelphus, the seventy Elders published, of which we shall say more in the following chapter. See Eusebius book 6 of the History chapter 13, Athanasius in the Synopsis, and Epiphanius in the book On measures and weights, who review the translations in order.
The second translation of the Old Testament from the Hebrew tongue into the Greek was made by Aquila of Pontus, in the twelfth year of the Emperor Hadrian, as Epiphanius in the noted place is the author. Now Aquila was first a Gentile, then a Christian, then, being expelled from the Church because he was devoted to judiciary astrology, he betook himself to the Jews; and because he interpreted the Scriptures at this last time, he is believed to have engaged in that work with no very good faith.
The third translation was made, Commodus reigning, by Theodotion; who author, although from a Marcionite heretic he became a proselyte of the Jews, yet used greater fidelity in his interpretation (Epiphanius witnessing) than others like him. Wherefore the Church has always read Daniel from the interpretation of Theodotion, as Jerome testifies in his preface on Daniel.
The fourth is the edition of Symmachus, who in the times of Severus Augustus translated the sacred books from Hebrew into the Greek speech. But I know not by what error it has come about that, although Athanasius and Epiphanius write in express words that Symmachus interpreted the Scriptures under Severus, and Theodotion under Commodus the son of Marcus, and though there can be no doubt that Commodus preceded Severus, yet the same authors make Symmachus the earlier and Theodotion the later.
As for Symmachus, he was first an Ebionite, if we believe Eusebius, or a Samaritan, if we follow Athanasius and Epiphanius; and since he could not obtain the chief place among his own, he joined himself to the Jews and was circumcised a second time. Where Epiphanius by the way admonishes that it is not to be wondered that Symmachus could be twice circumcised; since by the medical art, and with certain instruments, the Jews were wont to draw over again, or draw forward, the restored foreskin; and that this is what the Apostle says 1 Corinthians 7: Is any man called being circumcised? let him not procure uncircumcision; or, as the Greek words more clearly sound, [mē epispasthō], that is, let him not draw it forward. [Rendered with a plain macron in the source.]
The fifth Greek edition, without any name of author, was found in certain jars near the city of Jericho in the seventh year of Antoninus Caracalla, who had succeeded his father Severus in the empire, as Epiphanius in the noted place is the author.
The sixth also, without the name of an author (the same Epiphanius witnessing), was found enclosed in jars near Nicopolis, Alexander the son of Mammaea reigning.
Out of all these editions Origen composed (as Eusebius book 6 of the History chapter 13, and Epiphanius heresy 63 and in the book On measures and weights relate) that which was called the Hexapla, or Tetrapla, or even Octapla. For Origen first divided the several pages into six columns; and in the first he wrote the Hebrew text in Hebrew letters; in the second the same Hebrew text in Greek letters; in the third the interpretation of Aquila; in the fourth the interpretation of Symmachus; in the fifth the interpretation of the Seventy Elders; in the sixth the interpretation of Theodotion. And these volumes, on account of the four interpretations, were called Tetrapla; on account of the six columns, Hexapla. He then added a fifth and sixth version in two other columns, and named those volumes Octapla.
The seventh is Origen's edition, who did not indeed translate the Scriptures from the Hebrew, but so emended the interpretation of the seventy Elders — many things being mixed in from Theodotion and marked with the sign of a radiant star, many also transfixed with the obelus, that is, the spit — that he seems to have made a new edition. And so approved was this edition at that time that in a short while it filled all the libraries, as St. Jerome writes in epistle 89 to Augustine, which is the eleventh among Augustine's epistles. The same edition too was wont to be called [koinē], that is, common, as the same Jerome writes in the preface of book 16 on Isaiah.
The eighth edition is St. Lucian's, presbyter and martyr, who, when he recognized that many faults had crept into the editions already numbered, again with great labor undertook a new edition. Which edition Athanasius writes was found, under the Emperor Constantine, at Nicomedia, written by the hands of the Martyr himself, and preserved in a certain wall. Now St. Lucian suffered in the persecution of Diocletian and Maximian, Maximinus exercising tyranny in the East, as the same Athanasius briefly indicates in the Synopsis, and Eusebius more fully relates book 9 of the History chapter 6.
The ninth and last edition is Hesychius's, who again emended the interpretation of the Seventy Elders, and delivered it to the Churches of Egypt. Of which editions St. Jerome speaks in this manner, in his preface on the books of Paralipomenon: “Alexandria and Egypt in their Septuagint praise Hesychius as author. From Constantinople to Antioch they approve the copies of Lucian the Martyr. The provinces between these two read the Palestinian codices, which, elaborated by Origen, Eusebius and Pamphilus published.”
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
CAPUT V. De variis Grcecis editionibus. Editiones Graecae Testamenti veteris no¬ vem omnino numerantur, praeter eam cujus meminit Clemens Alexandrinus lib. I Stro- 7tt<2t,quae antequam rerum potiretur Alexan¬ der Magnus, incertum quo auctore pro¬ diit, et ex qua Plato caeterique Philosophi non pauca hauserunt : sed quoniam ea, suc¬ cedente postea translatione illa celeberrima septuaginta Seniorum, primum negligi, deinde etiam amitti coepit, ita ut longo jam tempore vix memoria ejus conservata sit, e catalogo dimittitur. Prima omnium a Scriptoribus numerari solet illa, quam Ptolomsei Philadelphi jussu septuaginta Seniores ediderunt, de qua in sequenti capite plura dicemus. Vide Euse¬ bium lib. VI. hist. cap. 13. Athanasium in Synopsi, et Epiphanium in lib. De inens. et ponder ., qui translationes ordine recen¬ sent. Secunda translatio Testamenti veteris ex Hebraica lingua in Graecam facta est ab Aqupn Pontico, anno duodecimo Adriani Impejt - toris, ut Epiphanius loco notato auctor «tj. Fuit autem Aquila, primum Gentilis, deirnii Christianus, tum ab Ecclesia pulsus, qiV Astrologiae judiciariae studiosus esset, ad w daeos se contulit, et quoniam hoc extre®> tempore Scripturas interpretatus est, npi satis bona fide ineo opere versatus creditur. Tertia translatio Commodo imperante a Theodotione facta est ; qui auctor, etsi ex haeretico Marcionista proselytus Judaeorum factus sit, majori tamen fide, Epiphanio teste, in interpretatione usus est, quum cae- teri ejus similes. Quocirca semper Ecclesia Danielem ex interpretatione Theodc tionis le¬ git, ut Hieronymus testatur praefatione in Danielem. Quarta est Symmachi editio, qui Severi Augusti temporibus sacros libros ex Hebraeo in Graecum sermonem transtulit. Nescio au¬ tem quo errore factum sit, ut cum Athana- sius, et Epiphanius disertis verbis scribant, Symmachum sub Severo, Theodotionem sub Commodo Marci filio Scripturas interpreta¬ tos esse, neque dubium ullum esse possit, quin Commodus Severum praecesserit ; ta¬ men iidem auctores Symmachum priorem, posteriorem Theodotionem faciant. Quod vero ad Symmachum attinet, fuit is primum Ebionita, si Eusebio credimus ; vel Samaritanus, si Athanasium et Epipha¬ nium sequimur ; et cum apud suos principa¬ tum obtinere non posset, seJudaeisadjunxit, ac secundo circumcisus est. Ubi obiter ad¬ monet Epiphanius, non esse mirandum, 128 LIBER II. quod Symmachus bis potuerit circumcidi ; siquidem arte medica, et certis instrumentis Judaei solebant refectum praeputium iterum superinducere, sive attrahere ; et hoc esse quod Apostolus ait I. Corinth. VII. Qui circum¬ cisus aliquis vocatus est ? non adducat preepu¬ tium (1): vel, ut clarius sonant verba Grseca pj) £7rt(T7ra0w, hoc est, non attrahatur. Quinta editio Graeca sine ullo nomine auctoris reperta est in doliis quibusdam apud urbem Jericho anno VII. Antonini Ca¬ racallae, qui Severo patri in Imperium suc¬ cesserat, ut Epiphanius loco notato auctor est. Sexta quoque sine nomine auctoris, eo¬ dem Epiphanio teste, in doliis inclusa apud N;cepolim inventa est Alexandro Mammaeae filio imperante. • Ex quibus omnibus editionibus composuit Cbqgenes, ut Eusebius lib. VI. hist. cap. 13. ea-Epiphanius haeres. 63. et lib. de mens. cltJaonder. narrant, illam quae dicebatur lx|elapla, sive tetrapla, sive etiam octapla. hidfn divisit primum Origenes singulas pagi- isjinsex columnas; ac in prima quidem oracripsit Hebraicum textum litteris Hebrai¬ cis! ; in secunda eumdem textum Hebraicum Grfaecis litteris ; in tertia interpretationem Aquilae ; in quarta interpretationem Symma¬ chi: in quinta interpretationem LXX. Se¬ niorum ; in sexta interpretationem Theodo- tionis Atque haec volumina propter quatuor interpretationes tetrapla, propter sex co¬ lumnas i exapla dicebantur. Addidit deinde quintam et sextam versionem in duabus columnis aliis, et ea volumina octapla no¬ minavit. Septima Origenis editio est, qui Scripturas quidem ex Hebraeo non transtulit, sed inter¬ pretationem septuaginta Seniorum ita emen¬ davit, multis ex Theodotione admixtis, et notatis signo stellae radiantis, multis etiam obelo, id est, veru jugulatis, ut novam edi¬ tionem fecisse videatur. Ita vero probata est eo tempore haec editio, ut brevi Bibliothe¬ cas omnes repleverit, ut scribit S. Hierony¬ mus in epist. 89. ad Augustin., quae est XI. inter epistolas Augustini. Eamdem quoque editionem xowvjv, hoc est. communem , appel¬ lari solitam scribit idem Hieronymus praefat. lib. XVI. in Isaiam. Octava editio. S. Luciani Presbyteri et Martyris est, qui cum in editionibus jam nu¬ meratis multa vitia obrepsisse cognosceret, rursum magno labore novam editionem molitus est. Quam editionem scribit Atha- n asius sub Constantino Imperatore repertam esse Nicomediae, ipsius Martyris manibus descriptam, et in pariete quodam asserva¬ tam. Passus est autem S. Lucianus in per¬ secutione Diocletiani et Maximiani, Maximi¬ no in Oriente tyrannidem exercente, ut idem Athanasius breviter indicat in Synopsi, et fusius narrat Eusebius lib. IX. hist. cap. 6. Nona ac postrema editio Hesychii est, qui interpretationem LXX Seniorum iterum emendavit, atque ^Egypti Ecclesiis tradidit. De quibus editionibus in hunc modum lo¬ quitur S. Hieronymus, praefat. in lib. Para- lip. : « Alexandria et Egyptusin Septuaginta suis Hesychium laudat auctorem. Constan- tinopolis usque Antiochiam Luciani Marty¬ ris exemplaria probat. Mediae inter has pro¬ vinciae Palaestinos codices legunt, quos ab Origene elaboratos Eusebius et Pamphilus vulgaverunt. »