SEPTUAQINT
722
SEPTUAQINT
was quite solemn. In an Antiphonary of the Church
of St. Cornelius at Compiegne we find two special
antiphons. Spain had a short Office consisting of a
h^^un, chapter, antiphon, and sequence. Missals
in Germany up to the fifteenth century had a beau-
tiful sequence. In French churches they sang the
hymn "Alleluia, dulce carmen" (Gueranger, IV, 14)
which was well-known among the Anglo-Saxons
(Rock, IV, 69). The "Te Deum" is not recited at
Matins, except on feasts. The lessons of the first
Nocturn are taken from Genesis, relating the fall and
subsequent misery of man and thus giving a fit prep-
aration for the Lenten season. In the Mass of
Sunday and ferias the Gloria in Excelsis is entirely
omitted. In all Masses a Tract is added to the
Gradual.
Rock, The Church of Our Fathers (London, 1904); American Bed. Rer.. II, 161; Cistercienser Chronik (1S96), 18; Bixterim, Denkwurdigkeiten, V, 2, 46; GrnfiR.VNGER, Annee lilurgique (Paris, 1870; tr. London); Du Caxge, Glossarium; Nilles, Kal. Man. tdriusque eccl., II (Innsbruck, 1897), 13.
Francis Mershman.
Septuagint Version, the first translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, made into popular Greek before the Christian era. This article will treat of: I. Its Importance; II. Its Origin: A. According to tradition; B. According to the commonly accepted view; III. Its subsequent history, recensions, manu- scripts, AND editions; IV. Its critical value; Language.
I. Historical Importance of the Septuagint. — The importance of the Septuagint Version is shown by the following considerations: A. The Septuagint is the most ancient translation of the Old Testament and consequentl}^ is invaluable to critics for under- standing and correcting the Hebrew text, the latter, Buch as it has come down to us, being the text estab- lished by the Massoretes in the sixth century a. d. Many textual corruptions, additions, omissions, or transpositions must have crept into the Hebrew text between the third and second centuries B.C. and the sixth and seventh centuries of our era; the MSS. there- fore which the Seventy had at their disposal, may in places have been better than the Massoretic MSS. B. The Septuagint Version accepted first by the Alexandrian Jews, and afterwards by all the Greek- speaking countries, helped to spread among the Gentiles the idea and the ex-pectation of the Messias, and to introduce into Greek the theological terminol- ogy and concepts that made it a most suitable instru- ment for the propagation of the Gospel of Christ.
C. The Jews made use of it long before the Christian Era, and in the time of Christ it was recognized as a legitimate text, and was employed in Palestine even by the rabbis. ITie Apostles and Evangelists utilized it alsf) and borrowed Old Testament citations from it, especially in regard to the prophecies. The Fathers and the other ecclesiastical writers of the early Church drew upon it, either directly, as in the case of the Greek Fathers, or indirectly, like the Latin Fathers and writers and others who employed Latin, Syriac, Ethiopian, Arabic and Gothic versions. It was held in high esteem by all, some even believed it inspired. Con.sequentiy, a knowledge of the Septuagint helps to a perfect understanding of these literatures.
D. At the present time, the Sej)tiiagint is the official text in the Greek Church, and the ancient Latin Versions used in the Western Church were made from it; the earliest Iranslalion adopted in the Latin Church, the Vetus Itala, was directly from the Septuagint: the meanings adopted in it, the Greek names and words empjloyed (such as: Genesis, Exodus, Iveviticus, Numbers ('Api^/nof], Deuteronomy), and, finally, the pronunciation given to the Hebrew text, passfii very frequently into the Itala, and from it, at times, into the Vulgate, which not rarely gives signs of the influence of the Vetus Itala; this is especially
so in the Psalms, the Vulgate translation being merely
the Vetus Itala corrected by St. Jerome according to
the hexaplar text of the Septuagint.
II. Origin of the Septuagint. — A. According to Tradition. The Septuagint Version is first mentioned in a letter of Aristeas to his brother Philocrates. Here, in substance, is what we read of the origin of the version. Ptolemy II Philadelphus, King of Egypt (284-47) had recently established a valuable library at Alexandria. He was persuaded by Demet- rius of Phalarus, chief librarian, to enrich it with a copy of the sacred books of the Jews. To win the good graces of this people, Ptolemy, by the advice of Aristeas, an officer of the royal guard, an Egyptian by birth and a pagan by religion, emancipated 100,000 slaves in different parts of his kingdom. He then sent delegates, among whom was Aristeas, to Jerusalem to ask Eleazar, the Jewish high-priest, to provide him with a copy of the Law, and Jews capable of trans- lating it into Greek. The embassy was successful: a richly ornamented copy of the Law was sent to him and seventy-two Israelites, six from each tribe, were deputed to go to Egypt and carry out the wish of the king. They were received with great honour and during seven days astonished cverj'one by the wisdom they displayed in answering seventj'-two questions which they were asked; then they were led into the soUtary island of Pharos, where they began their work, translating the Law, helping one another and comparing their translations in proportion as they finished them. At the end of seventy-two days their work was completed. The translation was read in presence of the Jewish priests, princes, and people as- sembled at Alexandria, who all recognized and praised its perfect conformity with the Hebrew original. The king was greatly pleased with the work and had it placed in the library.
Despite its legendary character, Aristeas' account gained credence; Aristobulus (170-50), in a passage preserved by Eusebius, sa.ys that "through the efforts of Demetrius of Phalerus a complete translation of the Jewish legislation was executed in the days of Ptol- emy"; Aristeas's story is repeated almost verbatim by Flavins Josephus (Ant. Jud., XII, ii), and sub- stantially, with the omission of Aristeas' name, by Philo of Alexandria (De vita Moysis, II, vi). The letter and the story were accepted as genuine by many Fathers and ecclesiastical writers till the begin- ning of the sixteenth century; other details serving to emphasize the extraordinary origin of the version were added to Aristeas's account : The seventy-two inter- preters were inspired by God (Tertullian, St. Augus- tine, the author of the "Cohortatio ad Grajcos" [Justin?!, and others); in translating they did not con- sult with one anotlier, they had even been shut up in separate cells, cither singly, or in pairs, and their translations when compared were found to agree en- tirely both as to the sense and the expressions em- ployed with the original text and with each other (Cohortatio ad Grajcos, St. Irenajus, St. Clement of Alexandria). St. Jerome rejected the story of the cells as fabulous and untrue ("Pra!f. in Pentateuch- um"; "Adv. Rufinum", IIj xxv), likewise the alleged inspiration of the Septuagmt. Finally the seventy- two interpreters translated, not only the five books of the Pentateuch, but the entire Hebrew Old Testa- ment. The authenticity of the letter, called in question first by Louis Vivfts (1492-1540), professor at Louvain (Ad S. Augu.st. Civ. Dei, XVIII, xlii), then by Jos. Scaliger (d. 1009), and especially by H. Hody (d. 1705) and Dupin (d. 1719) is now univer- sally denied.
Criticism. — (1) The letter of Aristeas is certainly apocryphal. The writer, who calls himself Aristeas and says he is a Greek ana a pagan, shows by his whole work that he is a pious, zealous Jew: he recognizes the God of the Jews as the one true God; he declares that
