The Vetuslatina and the Vulgate of the Book of Exodus 371

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The Vetus Latina and the Vulgate of the Book of Exodus

David L. Everson

1 The Origin and Nature of the Vetus Latina

The Vetus Latina or the Old Latin (hereafter ol) refers to the Latin versions of the Bible that were translated from the Greek but do not correspond to Jerome’s Vulgate.1 The earliest evidence of the ol appears in the Passion of the Scillitan Martyrs where we read of Speratus, who possessed “the books of and letters of Paul, a just man” (Libri et epistulae Pauli, viri iusti).2 A short time later, Tertullian identifies Latin as the exclusive language of the church in North Africa. During the third century, Cyprian includes lengthy citations of a Latin Bible.3 Already in late-antiquity, the ol was known for its textual diversity. Jerome complains that there are as many forms (exemplaria) of the biblical text as there are copies.4 Similarly, Augustine writes, “Those who have translated the scriptures from the Hebrew language into Greek can be numbered, but the Latin translators are in no way numerable. For in the early days of the faith, when a Greek book fell into someone’s hand and he believed himself to have some ability in both languages, he dared to translate.”5 However, as Rudolf

1 The Greek origin of the ol may be proven by observing Greek neologisms, loan words, septuagintal syntax, and the preservation of Greek errors. 2 The Latin of this text appears in J.A. Robinson, ed., The Passion of S. Perpetua (ts 1.2; Cam- bridge: University Press, 1891; repr., Piscataway: Gorgias, 2004), 114. See also anf 9:280–282. 3 Benjamin Kedar-Kopfstein, “The Latin Translations,” in Mikra: Text, Translation, Reading and Interpretation of the Hebrew Bible in Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity (ed. Martin Jan Mulder; crint 2.1; Assen: Van Gorcum, 1988), 299–338, 299. 4 Pref. to Four Gospels, “For if our faith should be applied to the Latin texts, they should tell us which ones; for there are nearly as many (forms) as there are copies” (Si enim latinis exemplaribus fides est adhibenda, respondeant quibus; tot sunt paene quot codices). All of the biblical prefaces have been taken from Biblia Sacra: Iuxta Vulgatam Versionem (ed. Robert Weber and Roger Gryson; 4th ed.; Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1994). 5 Doct. chr. 2.16; Qui enim scripturas ex Hebraea lingua in Graecam verterunt, numerari possunt, Latini autem interpretes nullo modo. Ut enim cuique primis fidei temporibus in manus venit codex Graecus, et aliquantulum facultatis sibi utriusque linguae habere videbatur, ausus est interpretari.

Dietzfelbinger has pointed out, such comments may have been a reaction to the numerous renderings of select prophetic passages (e.g. Isa 7:9 and 58:7).6 With regard to accessing the ol text, there are two major challenges. First, there are no extant manuscripts which contain the complete book of Exodus. Second, the Beuron edition of Exodus still remains unfinished. Regarding the first challenge, there are five principal manuscripts which, when combined, contain most of the book of Exodus. These are the Codex Lugdunensis (olL, 7th cent., 695 vv. from Exodus), the Vienna Palimpsest (olV, 5th cent., 60 vv.), the Würzburg Palimpsest (olW, 5th cent., 503 vv.), and the Munich Palimpsest (olM, 6th cent., 609 vv.).7 Additionally, C. Vercellone collected numerous ol readings from the Codex Ottobonianus (olO 7/8th cent.).8 When these manuscripts are combined with Sabatier’s great 18th century work (olSb), it is possi- ble to find ol texts (though sometimes fragmentary) for all but approximately fifty verses of the book of Exodus. Regarding the second challenge, Rudolf Diet- zfelbinger has provided an extraordinary amount of introductory and back- ground information for the ol of Exodus in his dissertation, “Die Vetus Latina des Buches Exodus.” This thesis was intended to lay the groundwork for the completion of the Beuroner edition of Exodus. Dietzfelbinger suggests the following Latin text-types for the book of Exodus (the aforementioned mss are placed accordingly):9

K: An older African text (olM, 31:15-end) C: A revised African text E: A European text (olO, olW, and olM, 9:15–20:5) S: A Spanish text (olL and olV) I: An Italian text

6 Rudolf Dietzfelbinger, “Die Vetus Latina des Buches Exodus, Studien zur handschriftlichen Überlieferung mit Edition von Kapitel 1” (Ph.D. diss., The University of Heidelberg, 1998), 13. 7 The respective titles for these mss within the Beuroner edition are as follows, L = 100, V = 101, O = 102, W = 103, M = 104. For L, see U. Robert, Pentateuchi versio latina antiquissima e codice lugdunensi (Paris: Didot, 1881). For V, see Bonifatius Fischer, Beiträge zur Geschichte der lateinischen Bibeltexte (Freiburg: Herder, 1986), 308–314, 382–438. For W, see E. Ranke, Par palimpsestorum wirceburgensium. Antiquissimae Veteris Testamenti versionis latinae frag- menta (Wien: G. Braumüller, 1871). For M, see Leo Ziegler, Bruchstücke einer vorhieronymian- ischen Übersetzung des Pentateuch aus einem Palimpseste der k. Hof- und Staatsbibliothek zu München (Munich: Theodor Riedel, 1883). 8 For O, see C. Vercellone, Variae lectiones Vulgatae latinae Bibliorum editionis, tom. i (Rome: Spithöver, 1860). For a convenient catalog of the ol mss of Exodus, see John William Wevers, ed., Exodus (Septuaginta 2.1; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1991), 22–36. 9 Dietzfelbinger, “Die Vetus Latina des Buches Exodus,” 8.