Let us, then, take a view of some of the chiefest of them, without observing any order, seeing there is no more reason for that which is laid down in this Appendix than for any other that may be fixed on. I shall begin with the Arabic, for the honour I bear to the renownedly learned publisher^ of it and the various lections of the several copies thereof; and the rather because he hath dealt herein with his wonted candour, giving in a clear and learned account of the original and nature of that translation ; which I had, for the sub-
* Dr Edward Pocockc, born 1C04 ; rector of Childrey, Berkshire, in 1643 ; professor of Hebrew in Oxford ; one of Walton's assistants in the preparation of the Polyglott, and one of the most accomplished scholars of his time. — Ex*.
OF LECTIONS GATHERED OUT OF TRANSLATIONS. 411
stance of it, received from him in a discourse before, wherein also he gave me a satisfactory account concerning some other translations, which I shall not need now to mention, though I shall only say his judgment in such things is to be esteemed at least equal with [that of] any now alive.
First, then, he tells us upon the matter that this translation is a cento, made up of many ill-suited pieces,^ there being no translation in that language extant. I speak of the Old Testament. 2. For the antiquity of the most ancient part of it, [it] was made about the year 4700 of the Jews' account, that is, of Christ 950.^ 3. It was, as to the Pentateuch, translated by K Saadias Haggaon. 4. That it is inter- preted [interpolated?] and changed in sundry things by some other person. 5. That he who made these changes seemed to have so done that he might the better thereby bouXiUiv ■I'Trodigsi, as to some particular opinion of his own ; whereof sundry instances are given. 6. That he seems to have been a Mohammedan, or at least much to have favoured them, as appears from other evidences, so from the inscription of his work with that solemn motto, taken out of the Koran, " In nomine Dei miseratoris, misericordia." 7. It may be thought, also, that some other, a Jew or a Samaritan, had his hand in corrupting the last translation, 8. who thought to stamp a divine authority upon his particular opinions. 9. That the foundation of this translation, now printed, being that of Saadias, it is observable that he professeth that he did both add and detract according as he thought meet, that so he might set out the hidden, cabalistical understanding of the Scripture. 1 0. That the other Arabic translations that are extant are out of the Septuagint, either immediately or by the Syriac, which was translated out of it. On these and the like heads doth that oracle of the eastern learning — who hath not only, as some, learned the words of some of those languages, but searched with great diligence and judgment into the nature of the learning extant in them, and the importance of the books we have — discourse in that preface. It is the way of sciolists, when they have obtained a little skill in any langiiage or science, to persuade the world that all worth and wisdom lie therein: men thoroughly learned, and whose learning is regu- lated by a sound judgment, know that the true use of their abilities consists in the true suiting of men to a clear acquaintance with truth. In that kind, not only in this particular are we beholden to this worthy, learned person.
* Pococke's statement was, that tliig translation was not all made by one author, or directly from the Hebrew, but partly out of the Hebrew, partly out of the Syi'iac, and partly out of the Septuagint. — Ed.
2 It was of the translation of the Pentateuch by Saadias that Pococke had affirmed that it had been executed about a.b. 950. Owen seems to refer to the most ancient part of the Old Testcunent ; Walton writes as if Owen had spoken of the most ancient part of the translation. — Ed.
412 INTEGRITY AND PUiUTY OF THE HEBREW AND GREEK TEXT.
I suppose there will not need niucli arguing to prove tliat tliis translation, though exceeding useful in its own place and kind, 3^et is not in the least a fit remedy to relieve us against any pretended corruption in the original, or to gather various lections different from our present copy by. Well may it exercise the ability of learned men to consider wherein and how often it goes off from the rule of faith ; but rule in itself and upon its own account, coming short of all the necessary qualifications laid down before, it is none.
Should I now go to gather instances of the failings of this trans- lation, open and gross, and so proceed with the rest, I think I might make a volume near as big as that of the various lections now afford- ed us; but I have another manner of account to give of my hours than so to spend them.
Whether the Syriac translation be any fitter for this use, any one who shall be pleased to consider and weigh it will easily discover. It seems, indeed, to have been made out of the original, at least for some part of it, or that the translation of the LXX. hath been in many things changed since this was made (which I rather suppose) ; but when,^ where, or by whom, doth not appear; nor doth it in many things seem to have any respect at all unto the Hebrew. The note at the close of the Prophets I suppose to proceed rather from the scribe of that individual copy than the translator; but that the reader may see what hands it hath passed through, he may take it as it is rendered by the learned author of the annotations on that translation: "Explicit Malachias sive libri xii. prophetarum, quo- rum oratio perpetuo nobis adsit, Amen; precibusque ipsorum, pre- cibusque omnium sanctorum, sodalium ipsorum praesertim virginis, quae Deum peperit, omnium sanctorum matris quae pro genere Adami intercedit, propitius sit Deus lectori et scriptori peccatori, et omni- bus sive verbo sive opere, ipsis participantibus." But this good con- clusion is, as I suppose, from the scribe; the usual negligence of whom in his work is frequently taxed in the collection of various readings, as page 8, et alibi.