Mean is discussed, Ibn Tibbon has taken what in his case may be considered great liberties with the text, resulting in such a divergence from the original that Rosin[1] was compelled to assume that the translator had before him an Arabic text differing from that of the manuscript reproduced in Pococke's Porta Mosis. The order of the list of virtues in Ibn Tibbon's version in no manuscript or edition is the same as that of the original, although the manuscripts and editions disagree among themselves in this regard. There are also a number of glosses, explaining in detail some of the virtues. The reason for a change in arrangement seems to be hinted at in one of the glosses, written in all likelihood by Ibn Tibbon, where there occurs the phrase, "and for this reason I have arranged them thus" (ולזה סדרתים כך).[2] The nice distinction drawn by Maimonides between the extremes of the various virtues he discusses was sufficient cause for Ibn Tibbon to have introduced explanatory glosses, as it was impossible for him to find in Hebrew the proper words for the fine Arabic terminology. The necessity of elucidation becomes apparent from the fact that a number of glosses which did not originate with Ibn Tibbon are found in some of the sources.[3] It may, consequently, be maintained that the Arabic text we have today is substantially the same as that from which Ibn Tibbon translated,[4] and also that, on the whole, the Hebrew of the Peraḳim follows the Arabic very closely.
It is needless to go into detail here as to the peculiarities of Ibn Tibbon's translation, as these are taken up in the notes on the text. The critical text of the Hebrew offers in places valuable evidence on obscure readings in the Arabic, attention to which has also been drawn in the notes.[5]
- ↑ Rosin, Ethik, p. 31, n. 2.
- ↑ 2 See Hebrew text, c. IV, p. 21, line 8.
- ↑ See Hebrew text, c. IV, p. 19, notes 16 and 17.
- ↑ The translators of the Mishnah Commentary seem to have had only one copy from which they all translated. Geiger, Moses ben Maimon, p. 83, n. 43.
- ↑ See Hebrew text, c. VIII, p. 42, n. 14; p. 43, n. 7; p. 47, n. 6; p. 53, n. 1.
