the Jews who were originally interested in it, while Demetrius Phalereus and the king may have been ac- tuated by some other design.
It is difficult, if not impossible, to ascertain whether Aristobulus's words imply that <dl the books of the Old Test, were translated into(;reek under Philadelphus, or simply the Pentateuch. Hody contends that vofxoi:, the term used by Aristobulus, meant at that time the Mo- saic books alone, although it was afterwards taken in a wider sense so as to embrace all the Old Test. Valcke- naer thinks that all the books were comprehended un- der it. It is certainly more natural to restrict it to the Pentateuch. The Pentateuch, therefore, was completed under Philadelphus.
(2.) The next historical testimony regarding the Septuagint is the prologue of Jesus the son of Sirach, a document containing the judgment of a Palestinian Jew concerning the version before us. His words are these: "And not only these things, but the law itself, and the prophets, and the rest of the books, have no small difference when they are spoken in their own lan- guage." Frankel has endeavored to throw suspicion on this passage, as if it were unauthentic, but his reasons are extremely slender (p. 21, note w). It ap- pears from it that the law, the prophets, and the other books had been translated into (ireek in the time of the son of Sirach, i. e. that of Ptolemy Physcon, B.C. 130.
(3.) The account given b}' Aristeas comes next be- fore us (see Kosenmliller, Uandb. d. Lit. d. bibl. Kritik II. Exetj. ii, 413 sq.). This writer pretends to be a Gen- tile, and a favorite at the court of Ptolemy Philadel- phus, king of Egypt. In a letter addressed to his brother Philocrates, he relates that Philadelphus, when forming a library at great expense, was advised by De- metrius Phalereus to apply to the Jewish high -priest Eleazer for a copy of the book containing the Jewish laws. Having previously purchased the freedom of more than a hundred thousand captive Jews in Egypt, the king sent Aristeas and Andreas to Jerusalem with a letter requesting of Eleazer seventy-two persons as in- terpreters, six out of each tribe. They were despatched accordingly with a magnificent copy of the law, and were received and entertained by the king for several days with great respect and liberality. Demetrius led them to an island, probably Pharos, where thej' lodged together. The translation was finished in seventy-two days, having been written down by Demetrius piece by piece, as agreed upon after mutual consultation. It was then publicly read by Demetrius to a number of Jews whom he had summoned together. They approved of it, and imprecations were uttered against any one who should presume to alter it. Tlie Jews requested per- mission to take copies of it for their use, and it was care- fully preserved by command of the king. The inter- preters were sent home loaded with presents.
The work of Aristeas, which was first published in the original Greek by Simon Schard (Basel, loCl, 8vo), and several times reprinted, was also given by Hody in (ireek and Latin, in his book entitled De Bibliorum Textibus Originaiibus, Versionibus Grcecis,et Latiua Vul- gata (Oxon. 1705, fol.). The most accurate edition, however, is that by Galland, in the Bibliotheca Vet. Patriim, vol. ii. It was translated into English by VVhiston, and published at London in 1727, 8vo. See also Aristeas, Hist. LXXIJ Int. ex Eec. Eld. de Parchum (Francf. 1610 ; Oxon. 1692).
(4.) In all discussions relative to the name of Septua- gint, so universally appropriated to the Greek version of Alexandria, the scholion discovered by Osann and published by Kitschl ought to be considered. The ori- gin of this Latin scholion is curious. The substance of it is stated to have been extracted from Callimachus and Eratosthenes, the Alexandrian librarians, by Tzet- zes, and from his Greek note an Italian of the 15th cen- tury has formed the Latin scholion in question. The writer has been speaking of the collecting of ancient Greek poems carrietl on at Alexandria uniler Ptolemy
SEPTUAGINT
540
SEPTUAGINT
Philadelphus, and then he thus continues : " Nam rex ille philosophis atfertissimus [corr. "differtissimus," Kitschl ; "atfectissimus," Thiersch] et cajteris omnibus auctoribus Claris, disquisitis impensa regi;e munificentia" ubique ter- ranim quantum vahiit vokiminibus opera Demetrii Pha- lerei pkzxu senum duas bibliothecas fecit, alteram extra regiam alteram autem in regia." The scholion then goes on to speak of books in many languages: "Quas summa diligentia rex ille in suam linguam fecit ab op- timis interpretibus converti" (see Thiersch, De Fenta- teuclii I'ersione Alexaiulrina [Erlang. 1841], p. 8, 9). Bernhardy reads instead of '■'■phzxa senum," "et Ixx senum."' and this correction is agreed to by Thiersch, as it well may be : some correction is manifestly needed, and this appears to be right. This gives us seventy elders associated in the formation of the library. The testimony comes to us from Alexandrian authority; and this, if true (or even if believed to be true), would con- nect the Septitagint with the library — a designation which might most easily be applied to a version of the Scriptures there deposited; and, let the translation be once known by such a name, then nothing would be more probable than that the designation should be ap- plied to the translafors. This may be regariied as the first step in the formation of the fables. Let the Sep- tuctf/iiit be first known as applying to the associates in the collection of the library, then to the library itself, and then to that particidar book in the librarj' which to so many had a far greater value than all its other con- tents. Whether more than the Pentateuch was thus translated and then deposited in the royal library is a separate question.