Introductory Notes

Section XLIII

Page 50 of 468

¹²⁹⁴⁷ Simon Cephas said unto him, Our Lord, is it to us that thou hast spoken this² parable, or also to every man?²⁹⁴⁸ Jesus said unto him, Who, thinkest thou, is the servant, the master of the house,²⁹⁴⁹ trusted with control,²⁹⁵⁰ whom his lord set over his³ household, to give them their food in its season?²⁹⁵¹ Blessed is that servant, whom his⁴ lord shall come and find having done so.²⁹⁵² Verily I say unto you, He will set him⁵ over all that he hath.²⁹⁵³ But if that evil servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his⁶ coming;²⁹⁵⁴ and shall begin to beat his servants and the maidservants of his lord, and⁷ shall begin to eat and to drink with the drunken;²⁹⁵⁵ the lord of that servant shall come⁸ in the day that he thinketh not, and in the hour that he knoweth not,²⁹⁵⁶ and shall [Arabic, p. 163] judge him, and appoint his portion with the hypocrites,²⁹⁵⁷ and with those that are not faithful:²⁹⁵⁸ there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

⁹²⁹⁵⁹ Then shall the kingdom of heaven be like unto ten virgins, those that took their¹⁰ lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom and the bride.²⁹⁶⁰ Five of them were¹¹ wise, and five foolish.²⁹⁶¹ And those foolish ones took their lamps, and took not with [12, 13] them oil:²⁹⁶² but those wise ones took oil in vessels along with their lamps.²⁹⁶³ When then¹⁴ the bridegroom delayed, they all slumbered and slept.²⁹⁶⁴ But in the middle of the night there occurred a cry, Behold, the bridegroom cometh! Go forth therefore to [15, 16] meet him.²⁹⁶⁵ Then all those virgins arose, and made ready their lamps.²⁹⁶⁶ The foolish¹⁷ said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.²⁹⁶⁷ But those wise answered and said, Perhaps²⁹⁶⁸ there will not be enough for us and you: but go ye to¹⁸ the sellers, and buy for yourselves.²⁹⁶⁹ And when they went away to buy, the bridegroom came; and those that were ready went in with him to the marriage feast: and¹⁹ the door was shut.²⁹⁷⁰ And at last those other virgins also came and said, Our Lord,²⁰ our Lord, open unto us.²⁹⁷¹ He answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you,²¹ I know you not.²⁹⁷² Watch then, for ye know not that day nor that hour.

²²²⁹⁷³ It is as a man, who went on a journey, and called his servants, and delivered unto²³ them his possessions.²⁹⁷⁴ And unto one he gave five talents,²⁹⁷⁵ and another two, and another²⁴ one; every one according to his strength; and went on his journey forthwith.²⁹⁷⁶ He [Arabic, p. 164] then that received the five talents went and traded with them, and gained²⁶ other five.²⁹⁷⁷ And so also he of the two gained other two.²⁹⁷⁸ But he that received²⁷ the one went and digged in the earth, and hid the money of his lord.²⁹⁷⁹ And after a long time the lord of those servants came, and took from them the account.²⁸²⁹⁸⁰ And he that received five talents came near and brought other five, and said, My lord, thou gavest me five talents: lo, I have gained other five in addition to them.²⁹²⁹⁸¹ His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: over a little hast³⁰ thou been faithful, over much will I set thee: enter into the joy of thy lord.²⁹⁸² And he that had the two came near and said, My lord, thou gavest me two talents: lo,³¹ other two have I gained in addition to them.²⁹⁸³ His lord said unto him, Good,²⁹⁸⁴ thou faithful servant: over a little hast thou been faithful, over much will I set thee: enter³² into the joy of thy lord.²⁹⁸⁵ And he also that received the one talent came forward and said, My lord, I knew thee that thou art a severe man, who reapest where thou³³ sowest not, and gatherest where thou didst not scatter:²⁹⁸⁶ and so I was afraid, and³⁴ went away and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, thou hast what is thine.²⁹⁸⁷ His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest me³⁵ that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I did not scatter;²⁹⁸⁸ it was incumbent on thee to put my money to the bank,²⁹⁸⁹ and then I should come and seek it with its³⁶ gains.²⁹⁹⁰ Take now from him the talent, and give it to him that hath ten talents.³⁷²⁹⁹¹ Whosoever hath shall be given, and he shall have more: but he that hath not, even³⁸ [Arabic, p. 165] what he hath shall be taken from him.²⁹⁹² And the unprofitable servant, put him forth into the outer darkness: there shall be the weeping and gnashing of teeth.

[39, 40]²⁹⁹³ Your loins shall be girded, and your lamps lit;²⁹⁹⁴ and ye shall be like the people that are looking for their lord, when he shall return from the feast; so that, when⁴¹ he cometh and knocketh, they may at once open unto him.²⁹⁹⁵ Blessed are those servants, whom their lord shall come and find attentive: verily I say unto you, that he will gird his waist, and make them sit down, and pass through²⁹⁹⁶ them and serve⁴² them.²⁹⁹⁷ And if he come in the second watch, or the third, and find thus, blessed are those servants.

⁴³²⁹⁹⁸ But when the Son of man cometh in his glory, and all his pure angels with him,⁴⁴ then shall he sit on the throne of his glory:²⁹⁹⁹ and he will gather before him all the nations, and separate them the one from the other, like the shepherd who separateth⁴⁵ the sheep from the goats;³⁰⁰⁰ and will set³⁰⁰¹ the sheep on his right, and the goats on his⁴⁶ left.³⁰⁰² Then shall the King say to those that are at his right, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundations³⁰⁰³ of the world:⁴⁷³⁰⁰⁴ I hungered, and ye gave me to eat; and I thirsted, and ye gave me to drink; and I⁴⁸ was a stranger, and ye took me in;³⁰⁰⁵ and I was naked, and ye clothed me; and I⁴⁹ was sick, and ye visited me; and I was in prison, and ye cared for me.³⁰⁰⁶ Then shall those righteous say unto him, Our Lord, when saw we thee hungry, and fed thee?⁵⁰ or thirsty, and gave thee to drink?³⁰⁰⁷ And when saw we thee a stranger, and took⁵¹ thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?³⁰⁰⁸ And when saw we thee sick, or imprisoned, and⁵² cared for thee?³⁰⁰⁹ The King shall answer and say³⁰¹⁰ unto them, Verily I say unto you, What⁵³ [Arabic, p. 166] ye did to one of these my brethren, the little ones, ye did unto me.³⁰¹¹ Then shall he say unto those that are on his left also, Depart from me, ye cursed,⁵⁴ into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his hosts:³⁰¹² I hungered, and ye fed me⁵⁵ not; and I thirsted, and ye did not give me to drink;³⁰¹³ and I was a stranger, and ye took me not in; and I was naked, and ye clothed me not; and I was sick, and imprisoned,⁵⁶ and ye visited me not.³⁰¹⁴ Then shall those also answer and say, Our Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or naked, or a stranger, or sick, or imprisoned,⁵⁷ and did not minister unto thee?³⁰¹⁵ Then shall he answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, When ye did it not unto one of these little ones, ye did it not⁵⁸ unto me also.³⁰¹⁶ And these shall go away into eternal punishment: but the righteous into eternal life.

Notes

1
Parechein mikropsuchian, perhaps "causes you ill-feeling." The translation of Serapion's letter with this note is taken from Mr. Armitage Robinson's edition of the gospel.
2947
.
2
This translation is based on that which I published in The Gospel and Apocalypse of Peter: Two Lectures, etc. (Camb., 1892). It is now carefully revised in accordance with the photographic facsimile. A corrected Greek text will be found in Dr. Swete's edition (1893).
2948
a [Borg. ms. omits a]; .
2949
i.e., the steward.
2950
Borg. ms. has trusted and faithful. Doubtless we should supply diacritical points to the reading of Vat. ms., and translate trusted and wise. Ibn-at-Tayyib's Commentary, however, has both and wise and the word translated with control, used in a different sense.
3
Par[alem]phthenai is perhaps supported by paralabontes, .
2951
.
4
I know no other instance of stauriskein.
2952
a; b.
5
cf. , where Syr. Pesch. reads: "They say, These bodies shall not remain on the cross, because the sabbath dawneth."
2953
; b.
6
The text here is corrupt: for epesanto I have provisionally read epesan te.
2954
b.
7
For autos horas we must read autes horas (cf. Clem., Hom., xx., 16); aute is the equivalent in later Greek literature of ekeine, as in the modern tongue (cf. Lc. x. 7, 21, and xii. 12; || ekeine, Mt., Mc.)
2955
.
8
I have ventured to substitute meta, "together with" (cf. ), for kata, "down upon." Dr. Swete, however, keeps kata, and interprets it as "against," i.e., to guard the sepulchre against.
2956
a.
2957
b.
2958
b.
9
The form of the question in the Greek suggests a negative answer.
2959
.
10
[cf. John passim.]
2960
.
11
[cf. .]
2961
.
2962
.
2963
.
14
[cf. ; .]
2964
.
2965
.
2966
.
17
For further explanation of the method followed see 20.
2967
.
2968
See § 10, 17, and § 4, 24, note.
18
See notes to § 7, 47, and § 52, 36, of the present translation.
2969
.
19
See below, 12, (2).
2970
.
20
See also below, 6, and 20.
2971
.
21
Bibl. Or., i., 619.
2972
.
22
Mai, Vet. script. nova. collect., iv., 14.
2973
.
23
cf. Zahn, Forschungen, i., 294 ff.
2974
.
2975
cf. § 27, 2, note.
24
See below, § 7, 47, note, and § 52, 36, note.
2976
.
26
See below, foot-notes, passim.
2977
.
2978
.
27
The first leaf bears a more pretentious Latin inscription, quoted by Ciasca, p. vi.
2979
.
28
Can this be a misprint for 95?
2980
.
29
See below, 13.
2981
.
30
He does not state, in so many words, that the list is absolutely exhaustive.
2982
.
31
See, e.g., below, § 13, 42, note, and § 14, 43, note.
2983
.
2984
A Persian word. The Vat. ms. omits it.
32
See the valuable article of Guidi, "Le traduzioni degli Evangelii in arabo e in etiopico" (Atti della R. Accademia dei Lincei; Classe di Scienze Morali, Storiche e filologiche. Serie Quarta, 1888, Parte Prima—Memorie, pp. 5-38). Some of his results are briefly stated in Scrivener, A Plain Introd. to the Crit. of the N.T., 4th ed., ii., 162.
2985
.
33
cf.the foot-notes passim, e.g., § 13, 14, § 14, 24.
2986
.
34
See below, note to Subscription.
2987
.
35
See a glaring case in § 52, 11.
2988
.
2989
Lit. table (cf. Peshitta).
36
The references to the readings of the Diatessaron in Ibn-at-Tayyib's own commentary on the gospels (see next note) are remarkably impersonal for one who had made or was to make a translation of it.
2990
.
37
A specially important part of the general question is this, What are the mutual relations of the following: (1) a supposed version of at least Matthew and John made from the Syriac by Ibn-at-Tayyib, mentioned by Ibn-al-Assal in the Preface to his scholarly recension of the gospels (ms. numbered Or. 3382 in Brit. Mus., folio 384b) and used by him in determining his text; (2) the gospel text interwoven with the commentary of Ibn-at-Tayyib on the gospels, a commentary which De Slane says the author wrote in Syriac and then translated into Arabic; (3) our present work. Of mss. testifying to No. 1 we have some dating from the time of Ibn-al-Assal himself; of No. 2 we have, in addition to others, an eleventh-century ms. in Paris, described by De Slane (catalogue No. 85) as being "un volume dépareillé du ms. original de l'ouvrage"; of No. 3 we have of course the Vatican and Borgian mss. What is the mutual relation of these texts; were any two of them identical? The Brit. Mus. ms. of the second has many points of contact with the third, but is dated 1805 a.d. Does the older Paris ms. stand more or less closely related? Did Ibn-at-Tayyib himself really translate any or all of these texts, or did he simply select or edit them? Space does not permit us to point out, far less to discuss, the various possibilities.
2991
.
38
The text is given below in full at its proper place.
2992
.
2993
.
2994
.
41
Prof. Harris promises an edition of this commentary.
2995
.
2996
cf. Peshitta (and Greek).
42
Harris, Fragments, p. 14, where the Syriac text is quoted.
2997
.
43
Bib. Or., ii., 159 f. Most of them are repeated again by Bar Hebræus (d. 1286), although some confusion is produced by his interweaving some phrases from Eusebius of Cæsarea. (Bib. Or., i., 57 f., and a longer quotation in English in Contemp. Rev., Aug., 1895, p. 274 f.)
2998
.
44
Lagarde's statement (Nachrichten von der Königl. Gesellsch. der Wiss., etc., zu Göttingen, 1891, No. 4, p. 153) that a ms. had been discovered, appears to have been unfounded. Prof. Rahlfs of Göttingen kindly tells me that he believes this is so.
2999
.
45
Migne, Patrol. græc., tom. lxxxiii., col. 369, 372.
3000
.
3001
Or, and setteth; but the Peshitta confirms the rendering given above.
46
Published at Venice in 1836.
3002
.
3003
cf. § 17, 17, note.
47
The two Armenian mss. are dated a.d. 1195.
3004
.
48
Evangelii Concordantis Expositio, facta a S. Ephraemo (Ven., 1876).
3005
.
49
Forschungen zur Geschichte des neutestamentlichen Kanons, I. Theil.
3006
.
50
Edited by Ernestus Ranke, Marb. and Lips., 1868.
3007
.
51
For other forms of the Diatessaron, of no critical importance, see S. Hemphill, The Diatessaron of Tatian (London, 1888), Appendix D and the refs. there.
3008
.
52
Further references, chiefly repetitions in one form or another of the statements we have quoted, may be found in a convenient form in Harnack, Gesch. d. altchrist. Lit. bis. Euseb., 493-496; cf. also the works mentioned by Hill (op. cit.) p. 378 f.
3009
.
3010
Perfect tenses, as in Peshitta.
53
cf. the words of Aphraates, senior contemporary of Ephraem: "As it is written in the beginning of the Gospel of our Vivifier: In the beginning was the Word." (Patrol. Syr., pars i., tom. i., 21, lines 17-19).
3011
.
54
Nachrichten von der Königl. Gesellsch. der Wiss., etc., March 17, 1886, No. 4, p. 151 ff.
3012
.
55
See notes to § 1, 81, and § 4, 29.
3013
.
56
See note to § 55, 17.
3014
.
57
The Armenian version of Ephraem is supposed to date from the fifth century.
3015
.
58
Mai, Script. vet. nov. Coll., x., 191.
3016
.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson and A. Cleveland Coxe (1885–96). Public domain. Text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library.