tution was adhered to by Noah and bis sons, amid the degeneracy of the age in which they lived, and in spite of the example of polygamy which the accursed race of Cain had introduced; when we consider how very few (comparatively speaking) examples of this practice there were among the faithful; how much it brought its own punishment with it; and how dubious and equivocal those passages are in which it appears to have the sanc- tion of the divine approbation; when to these reflec- tions we add another respecting the limited views and temporary nature of the more ancient dispensations and institutions of religion, how often the imperfections and even vices of the patriarchs and people of God in old time are recorded, without any express notification of their criminality— how much is said to be commanded which our reverence for the holiness of God and his law will only suffer us to suppose were for wise ends permit- ted; how frequently the messengers of God adapted themselves to the genius of the people to whom they were sent, and the circumstances of the times in which they lived; above all, when we consider the purity, equity, and benevolence of the Christian law, the ex- plicit declarations of our Lord and his apostle Paul re- specting the institution of marriage, its design and lim- itation; when we reflect, too, on the testimony of the most ancient fathers, who could not possibly be ignorant of the general and common practice of the apostolic Church; and, finally, when to these considerations we add those which are founded on justice to the female sex, and all the regulations of domestic economy and national policy, we must wholly condemn the revival of polygamy." See Paley, Moral Philosophy, i, 319-3-25; Madan, Thdyphthora; Towers, Wills, Penn, K. Hill, Palmer, and Haweis, Answers to Madan; Monthly Rev. lxiii,338; and also vol. lxix ; Beattie, Elements of Moral Science, ii, 127-129: Wuttke, Christian Ethics, ii. 306 sq. ; Harless, Ethics (see Index); and the literature quoted in the article Marriage. (J. H.W.)
Polyglot Bibles. Although the earliest speci- men of a polyglot was that of a projected work of the celebrated printer Aldus Manutius, of which one page only was published, the first of this kind was the Com- plutensiam Polyglot, entitled Bihlia Sacra Polyglotta, complectentia Vetus Testamentum, Hebraico, Chaldaico, Grceco, et Latino idiomate ; Novum Testament/an Grae- cum et Latinum; et vocabvlarium Hebraicum et Chal- daicum, cum grammatica Hebraica; necnon dictionario Grceco. J>< mandato et sumptibus Cardinalis Erancisci Ximenis de Cisneros (G vols, fob, in Complutensi Uni- versitate, 1514-17). As the title already indicates, we are indebted for this work to the celebrated cardinal, statesman, and general, Francis Ximenes de Cisneros [see Ximenes], who published it at his own expense, at the cost of 50,000 ducats. It was commenced in 1502, completed in 1517, and published in 1522. The editors were iElius Antonius, Ducas, Pincianus, Stunica, Za- mora, Coronellus, and Johannes de Yergara. The last three were originally Jews. The first four volumes con- tain the O. T., with the Hebrew. Latin, and Greek, in three columns, the Targum, and a Latin version of the same. The position of the Latin between the Hebrew and the Greek was to indicate that just as Christ was crucified between two thieves, so the Roman Church, represented by St. Jerome's version, is crucified between the synagogue, represented by the Hebrew text, and the Eastern Church, denoted by the Greek version. The fifth volume contains the Greek Testament, with the Latin Vulgate. The last volume consists of vocab- ularies, indexes, etc. The Greek Testament was fin- ished in 1517; but the MSS. were modern, and not of much critical value (see Dr. Bowling's letter. Monthly Repository for 1827, p. 572). There is little doubt that the celebrated text of the Three Witnesses in this edi- tion was translated from the Latin. There were only 600 copies printed of this splendid work, of which three were on vellum. One of these was sold in England in 1829 for COO guineas.
POLYGLOT IJIIILES
3C8
rOLYHISTOR
The Antwerp Polyglot was published in r
Philip II. king of Spain, ii j, also calli : I' contains, in
addition to ili«- Complutensian texts, a Cbaldee para- phrase, the Syriac version, and the Latin translation of : ntanus, which was a correction of thai of Pag- ninus. Ii also contains lexicons and grammars of the - of i li«- originals and versions. See Am is M"N i \m s.
The .' n addition to the contents of the
former \ Syriac and Arabic version of both
\. I.. with the Samaritan Pentateuch, now published for the ii r-r time, and edited by J. Mori- - polyglot also contains the Samaritan version of the same, h was published in 1645, in 10 vols, large folio. The editor of this valuable but unwieldy work hael le Jay, who was ruined by the publication. i \r. lii. London Polyglot, edited by Brian Walton, after- wards bishop of ' hester, 1- much mure comprehensive than any of the former. It was published in 1657, in 6 vols. I'.'l. The ii r-t volume, besides prolegomena (pub- arately by A. Dathe, Lips. 1777), contains the I . h, exhibiting on one page the Hebrew text,
with the interlinear Latin version of Arias Montanus, the Latin Vulgate of the Clementine edition, the Sep- tuaginl of the Roman edition, and the various read- ings of the Cod. Alex., the Latin version of Flamin- ius Nbbitius, the Syriac with a Latin version, the Tar- gum of Onkelos with a Latin version, the Samaritan Pentateuch with the Samaritan version of the same, and a Latin translation serving for both, and the Arabic «itli a Latin version. The second volume comprises the historical books, with the Targums of Jonathan. The third volume contains the books from Job to Mala- chi, and. besides the versions in all the former lan- ie Psalms in Ethiopic, and a Latin translation. The fourth volume lias all the Deutero-canonical books in Greek, Latin, Arabic, and Syriac; the two Hebrew i and two Chaldee and a Persian Targum