The following table shows the manner in which the several parts were arranged:

quatuor editionum, e regione singula verba describens, ut unus dissentiens statim cæteris inter se consentientibus arguatur; sed quod majoris audacia est, in editione LXX. Theodotionis editionem miscuit: asteriscis designans quæ minus ante fuerant, et virgulis, quæ ex superfluo videbantur apposita. Montfaucon, 1. c. p. 10, says, "It can be proved by many passages, that, in his Tetrapla, Origen did not correct the text of the LXX., but applied his healing hand to it afterwards, when he composed his Hexapla and Octapla Compare the scholia on Ps. lxxxvi. 1. c. Holmes is of the same opinion, L. c. sect. 4, 5.

Epiphanius, 1. c., gives the reason why the LXX. stood between Symmachus and Theodotion. "Origen, perceiving how accurate the LXX. were, put their version in the midst, and the others on either side." On the use of the asterisks (*) and obelisks (—) see Montfaucon, 1. c. p. 38, sqq. Carpzov, p. 580. Holmes, sect. 6, 7. The meaning of the lemnisks (÷) and the hypolemnisks Montfaucon, p. 40, sqq.

-) is doubtful.

Σύμμαχος.

Ο.

Θεοδοτίων.

δραμεῖν ὁδόν.

δραμεῖν ὁδὸν

-

αὐτ

δραμεῖν ὁδόν.

[Origen's design was to revise the Alexandrian version, not to restore the Hebrew original; therefore it does not appear that he made any collation of Hebrew manuscripts. But in the Pentateuch, he compared the Hebrew text with the Samaritan, and marked the difference. He prefaced the work with a history of each version; prefixed prolegomena to each book, and added exegetical and critical notes in the margin. Fragments of the prolegomena are still found in the Syriac Hexapla; some of the notes are met with in Epiphanius, and on the margin of manuscripts of the Seventy, but no fragment of the history of the versions has yet been discovered.]"

This voluminous work was the result of many years' labor. Montfaucon' says, It is very probable that Origen turned his hand to compose the Hexapla after he had found the sixth Greek version. He found this, as Epiphanius says, in the seventh year of Alexander Severus, that is, A. C. 228. And since from that time to the year 231, when he went to Cæsarea, he had not time and opportunity for prosecuting so arduous an affair, the work of the Hexapla, therefore, was laid aside till 231, when he continued it at Cæsarea.

Epiphanius says, "Now, in the seventh year (of Antoninus Caracalla) the books of the fifth version were found....... After him, Alexander, the son of Mamæa, reigned thirteen years. About the middle of this time, the sixth version was found. It is known that Origen flourished from the time of Decius to that of Gallus and

C

• See Eichhorn, § 169. Bruns's Account of the Syriac Hexapla, in MS., in the Ambrosian library, at Milan, in Eichhorn's Repert. vol. iii. p. 166, sqq.

L. c. p. 13, sqq.

See Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. vi. 16.

Volusianus, and beyond it....... And during the persecution of Decius...... Origen himself suffered much, but did not attain the end of martyrdom. He came to Cæsarea,...... and dwelt a short time at Jerusalem; then going to Tyre, he remained there twenty-eight years, as the story goes....... He interpreted the Scriptures, and, at this time, composed the Hexapla.""

["The Hexapla, wrought out with diligence, and composed according to such sound principles, lay unused for fifty years, probably because the cost of a book, which must have been forty or fifty volumes strong, was greater than a private man could pay, and perhaps its destruction began soon after its completion. The learned diligence of Origen would have remained without a recom

Epiphanius, l. c. ch. 18: Εν δὲ τῷ ἑβδόμῳ αὐτοῦ (Αντωνίνου Καρακάλ λου) ἔτει εὑρέθησαν αἱ βίβλοι της πέμπτης ἐκδόσεως. Μετὰ δὲ τοῦτ

......

......

τον ἐβασίλευσεν ̓Αλέξανδρος, ὁ Μαμαίας παῖς, ἔτη ιγ. Εν μέσῳ τῶν χρόνων τούτων εὑρέθη ἕκτη ἔκδοσις....... Ἐν δὲ τοῖς χρόνοις Δεκίου Ωριγένης ἐγνωρίζετο, ἀπὸ χρόνου Δεκίου ἀκμάσας, ἕως Γάλλου καὶ Οὐολουσιανοῦ καὶ ἐπέκεινα. ...... Επὶ δὲ τοῦ γεγονότος διωγμοῦ τοῦ Δεκίου καὶ αὐτὸς Ωριγένης πολλὰ πεπονθὼς, εἰς τέλος τοῦ μαρτυρίου οὐκ ἔφθασεν. ̓Ελθὼν δὲ εἰς Καισάρειαν τὴν Στράτωνος, καὶ διατρίψας εἰς ̔Ιεροσόλυμα χρόνον ὀλίγον, εἶτα ἐλθὼν εἰς Τύρον ἐπὶ ἔτη κή, ὡς ὁ λόγος ἔχει, τὴν μὲν πολιτείαν ἐνησκεῖτο, τὰς δὲ γραφὰς ἡρμήνευσεν, ὅτε καὶ τὰ ἑξαπλᾶ..... συνέθηκεν.

See Petavius, on this passage, p. 403, sq. In the reign of Gallus, (A. C. 254,) Origen died, in the 69th year of his age, as Eusebius says, (vii. 1.) Jerome, in Catal. Script., writes, "Epiphanius says he flourished from the time of Decius to that of Gallus and Volusianus, which is too short, since they did not reign more than two years and four months. So for Decius we should say Severus."

It is not correct that he resided twenty-eight years at Tyre. Huet, Origeniana, p. 15. This would make him commence the Hexapla at Cæsarea, in Cappadocia, and finish it in Tyre. Ib. p. 17. Compare p. 269, sq. But before this, in his Epistle ad Afric., which was written in Nicomedia, he himself refers to the Hexapla. It is not improbable that it was, at least, begun, even at Alexandria. See De Wette, art. Hexapla, in Ersch and Gruber's Encyclop.

pense, if Eusebius and Pamphilus, about fifty years after Origen's death, had not brought it from the corner where it lay hidden, at Tyre, and placed it at Cæsarea, in the library of Pamphilus the Martyr. We have not the remotest trace to show that the whole work, with all its columns, scholia, and dissertations, was ever copied. Jerome found it in the library of Pamphilus the Martyr, at Cæsarea; but, after him, no one seems to have thought of it; and it is conjectured that, when Cæsarea was taken by the Arabs, about 653, this monument of the most ancient critical diligence perished with the well-known library.

"But Pamphilus and Eusebius published the columns containing the revised text of the Seventy,.. and probably added passages from the other ancient versions, and some of Origen's scholia. We are to thank them for what yet remains of this great work."]"

Jerome speaks of it as a work of the greatest cost and labor, and says it was used in some places. He thus speaks of it in a letter to Augustine: "If you wish to be a true lover of the Seventy, do not read those passages marked with asterisks, but remove them from the volumes, that you may prove yourself a friend to what is genuine and old. If you do this, you will be compelled to condemn the libraries of all the churches; for scarcely a copy can be found that does not contain them."

Eichhorn, § 172.

Jerome, Præf. in Libr. Jos.: Græcorum anhois, quæ et sumtu et labore maximo indigent. Præf. in Paralip.: Mediæ inter has (Alexandrinam et Constantinopolin) provinciæ Palæstinos legunt codices, quos ab Origene elaboratos Eusebius et Pamphilus vulgaverunt. Ep. 74, ad Augustinum, vol. ii. p. 626: Vis amator esse verus LXX. interpretum, non legas ea, quæ sub asteriscis sunt: imo rade de voluminibus, ut veterum te fautorem probes. Quod si feceris, omnium Ecclesiarum bibliothecas damnare cogeris. Vix enim unus aut alter inveniatur liber, qui ista non habeat. Comp. Proëm