ESDRAS.SECONDBOOKOF.— Title.— The title which this book bears in the English Apocrypha is derived from the opening words of ch. i., 'the second book of the propliet Esdras ' ; but it is more commonly known by the name which is given it in most Latin MSS, 'The/ourtA book of Esdras.' The variation in the titles of the books of Esdras is due to two causes — (1) The adoption of the Latin name Esdras in the Vulg. for the canonical EzT and Neh ; (2) the composite nature of this book, the first two and tlie last two chapters being later additions to the orig. work, and reckoned by the MSS as separate books. The most frequent arrangement in the MSS is 1 Es = Ezr-Neh ; 2 Ea = 2E8l. 2; 3E8=1 Es ; 4E8 = 2E8 3-14; 5E3 = 2Es 15. 10. The central portion of the book bears every number from one to four. The original Greek had probably no number attached to it. Two suggestions have been made for the original title — (li'Kfpof A rpoi^Ti)!, adopted by Hilgenfeld in his restoration of the Greek, and based on a quotation of Clem. Alex, from 'EtrSpat i ttdo^tJ- Tiji, and of Ambrose from ' propheta Ezra' (Afcss. Jud. 18). The title would then be parallel to A lepfiJt attaclied to 1 Esin Cod. A. (2) Airo<d\i>i|tit "EirJpo, suggested by Dr. Westcott, and found in a catalogue of the 60 books, canonical and apocry- phal, made in Asia (Westcott, Canon', 559). Tlie title is far the most suitable to the contents of the book, but has already become appropriated to a later and inferior Greek Apocalyjjse published by Ti.schen<loi f (Ajmcal. Apocri/pha, 1800).
Original Imnouaoe and Ver.sions. — The original language of 2 Es was undoubtedly Greek j two quotations from the Greek exist, Clem. Alex. Strom, iii. 16. 100 (= 2 Es 5"), and Apost. Con- ttitut. viii. 7 (=2 Es 8"). Otherwise we possess the book only in versions. The Latin version abounds in Grecisms, such as the use of the com- parative with the genit. (' honim maiora,' 'omnium
maior,' etc.), the genit. abs. (10"), the prepositions ad and pro with the inf. (7'" IS**), e/<! and ea followed by the genit., the double negative (• nihil nemini,' ' nunquam nemo '), redundant prepositions after verbs ('timere a,' 15'; ' niultiplicare super,' 9"). The theory of a Ueb. original, of which the Greek was a tr°, has now been given up ; one Hebraism, which, however, had become naturalized in Greek, is of constant occunence, namely, the use of the participle with a finite tense of the same verb {e.g. e.xcedens exces.sit, 4'' ; proticiscens pro- fectus sum, 4'^).
The popularity which this book has enjoyed is shown by the number of versions that have been made of it. For many years the text of t/ie Latin depended on a few MSS, Codex Sangermanensia (S, A.D. 822), Cod. Turicensis (T, 13th cent.). Cod. Dresdensis (D, 15th cent.), which presented a text from which it m as clear that a considerable section was missing between w. 35 and 36 of the 7th chapter. iThe other versions contained 70 addi- tional verses in this place. In 1865 Prof. GUde- meister discovered that this ' missing fragment ' had once been contained in Cod. S, from which a leaf had been purposely cut out in early times ; and drew the certain and imijortant conclusion that all MSS of 4 Es which do not contain the passages were ultimately derived from Cod. S. The discovery of this missing fragment was made by K. L. Bensly, who in 1874 found a MS of the 9th cent, in the Bibliotkiaue Communale of Amiens containing the entire Latin text ; he thus had the unique distinction of adding a chapter to the Apocrypha, for hitherto the verses in the Oriental VSS had not been universally considered genuine. An account of the MS and its discovery, with a full commentary on the new passage, was published by him in the following year (The Missing Fragment of the Fourth Book uf Ezra, Camb. 1875). It sub- sequently apjjeared that he had been anticipated in the discovery, for a transcript of the lost pas- sage, made in 1826 from a Siianish MS, was found among the papers of Prof. Palmer : this was not published till 1877 (Journ. of Fhilol'igi/, vol. vii. 'Mi\. The excision of 7"'"'"^ was probably inudc for dogmatic reasons. The verses contain a lie- scripti'Ui of tlie intermediate state of souls, :ind an emphatic denial of the etlicacy of intercessions for the dead (v.'""), a passage which called forth a severe reproof from Jerome (' Tu . . . proponis mihi librum apocryphum, qui sub nomine Esdxje a te et siniilibus tuis iegitur : ubi scriptum est, quod post mortem nullus pro aliis audeat deprecari : quern ego librum nunquam legi,' Cont. Vigilant, c. 7), and this estimate not improbably accounts for the di.sappearance of the section from Cod. S. The number of known MSS which give a complete text of 2 Es has now been increased, through the dis- coveries of M. Berger, to five. A complete text of the book, based on four of these M.SS and Cod. S, has at length been edited from IJenslys papers, with an introd. by Dr. James (Texts and Htudies, iii. 2, Camb. 1895) ; while the missing fragment has been restored to its place in the Eii'dish Bible in the Revision of the Apocryjiha. The Latin MSS fall into two groups: (1) those which pre- serve a French text. S (Sangernianensis) once in the Abbey of S. Germain des Priis, now in the Bibl. Nat. Paris, 11504-5, Konds Latin, dated A.D. 822, the oldest extant MS, and the parent of numerous later MSS, and A (Ainbianensis), Amiens, Bibl. Comm. 10, cent, ix., containing a text very similar to but independent of S, and agreeing with the quotations of Gildas the Briton in his Epistle (Otii cent.) ; (2) a Spanish text, perha|is traceable to Priscillian (Texts ajidHtw/ics, xxxvi.), represented by three MSS. C (Complutensis), umw at Miidrid, cent, ix., from which Prof. Pahnui