The Criticism of the New Testament. Frederick Henry Ambrose Scrivener
the letters, being as broad as they are high, are all capable of being included within circumscribed squares. Indeed, yet earlier inscriptions are found almost totally destitute of curves, even Ο and Θ being represented by simple squares, with or without a bisecting horizontal line (see theta, p. 35)29. The Herculanean papyri, however (a specimen of which we have given in Plate iv. No. 10), are much better suited than inscriptions can be for comparison with our earliest copies of Scripture30. Nothing can well be conceived more elegant than these simply-formed graceful little letters (somewhat diminished in size perhaps by the effects of heat) running across the volume, thirty-nine lines in a column, without capitals or breaks between the words. There are scarcely any stops, no breathings, accents, or marks of any kind; only that >, < or [right-pointing triangle] are now and then found at the end of a line, to fill up the space, or to join a word or syllable with what follows. A very few abbreviations occur, such as [symbol like Pi with Rho] in the first line of our specimen, taken from Philodemus περὶ κακιῶν (Hercul. Volum. Tom. iii. Col. xx. ll. 6–15), the very manuscript to which Tischendorf compared his Cod. Friderico-Augustanus (Proleg. § 11). The papyri, buried for so many ages from a.d. 79 downwards, may probably be a century older still, since Philodemus the Epicurean was the contemporary and almost the friend of Cicero31. Hence from three to four hundred years must have elapsed betwixt the date of the Herculanean rolls and that of our earliest Biblical manuscripts. Yet the fashion of writing changed but little during the interval, far less in every respect than in the four centuries which next followed, wherein the plain, firm, upright and square uncials were giving place to the compressed, oblong, ornamented, or even sloping forms which predominate from the seventh or eighth century downwards. While advising the reader to exercise his skill on facsimiles of entire passages , especially in contrasting the lines from Philodemus (No. 10) with those from the oldest uncials of the New Testament (Nos. 11–14; 17; 18; 20; 24); we purpose to examine the several alphabets (Nos. 1–7) letter by letter, pointing out to the student those variations in shape which palaeographers have judged the safest criteria of their relative ages. Alpha, delta, theta, xi, pi, omega, are among the best tests for this purpose.
Alpha is not often found in its present familiar shape, except in [pg 034] inscriptions, where the cross line is sometimes broken into an angle with the vertex downwards ([Symbol]). Even on the Rosetta stone the left limb leans against the upper part of the right limb, but does not form an angle with its extremity, while the cross line, springing not far from the bottom of the left limb, ascends to meet the right about half way down. Modifications of this form may be seen in the Herculanean rolls, only that the cross line more nearly approaches the horizontal, and sometimes is almost entirely so. The Cod. Frid.-August.32 does not vary much from this form, but the three generating lines are often somewhat curved. In other books, while the right limb is quite straight, the left and cross line form a kind of loop or curve, as is very observable in the Nitrian fragment R, and often in Codd. Alex., Ephraemi, Bezae, the newly discovered Rossanensis, and in the Vatican more frequently still, in all which alpha often approximates to the shape of our English a. And this curve may be regarded as a proof of antiquity ; indeed Tischendorf (Proleg. Cod. Sin. p. xxx, 1863) considers it almost peculiar to the papyri and the Coptic character. Cod. N (which is more recent than those named above) makes the two lines on the left form a sharp angle, as do the Cotton fragment of Genesis (see p. 32, note 1) and Cod. Claromontanus, Plate xiv. No. 41, only that the lines which contain the angle in this last are very fine. In later times, as the letters grew tall and narrow, the modern type of A became more marked, as in the first letter of Arundel 547 (No. 16), of about the tenth century, though the form and thickness seen in the Cod. Claromontanus continued much in vogue to the last. Yet alpha even in Cod. Claromontanus and Cotton Genesis occasionally passes from the angle into the loop, though not so often as in Cod. A and its companions. Cod. Borgianus (T), early in the fifth century, exaggerated this loop into a large ellipse, if Giorgi's facsimile may be trusted. In Cod. Laudianus E of the Acts and Cureton's palimpsest Homer too the loop is very decided, the Greek and Latin a in Laud. (No. 25) being alike. Mark also its form in the papyrus scrawl No. 9 (from one of the orations of Hyperides edited by Mr. Babington), which may be as old as the Rosetta stone. The angular shape adopted in Cod. Z (Nos. 6, 18) is unsightly enough, and (I believe) unique.
Beta varies less than Alpha. Originally it consisted of a tall perpendicular line, on the right side of which four straight lines are so placed as to form two triangles, whereof the vertical line comprises the bases, while a small portion of that vertical line entirely separates the triangles ([Symbol]). This ungraceful figure was modified very early, even in inscriptions. On the Rosetta stone (No. 1) the triangles are rounded off into semicircles, and the lower end of the vertical curved. Yet the shape in manuscripts is not quite so elegant. The lower curve is usually the larger, and the curves rarely touch each other. [pg 035] Such are Codd. ANRZ, Rossanensis (sometimes), and the Cotton Genesis. In the Herculanean rolls the letter comes near the common cursive β; in some others (as Cod. Rossanensis at times) its shape is quite like the modern Β. When oblong letters became common, the top (e.g. in Cod. Bezae) and bottom extremities of the curve ran into straight lines, by way of return into the primitive shape (see No. 36, dated a.d. 980). In the very early papyrus fragment of Hyperides it looks like the English R standing on a base (No. 9, l. 4). But this specimen rather belongs to the semi-cursive hand of common life, than to that of books.
Gamma in its simplest form consists of two lines of equal thickness, the shorter so placed upon the longer, which is vertical, as to make one right angle with it on the right side. Thus we find it in the Rosetta stone, the papyrus of Hyperides, the Herculanean rolls, and very often in Cod. A. The next step was to make the horizontal line very thin, and to strengthen its extremity by a point, or knob, as in Codd. Ephraemi (No. 24), RZ: or the point was thus strengthened without thinning the line, e.g. Codd. Vatican., Rossanensis, N and most later copies, such as Harl. 5598 (No. 7) or its contemporary Parham 18 (No. 36). In Cod. Bezae (No. 42) gamma much resembles the Latin r.
Delta should be closely scrutinized. Its most ancient shape is an equilateral triangle, the sides being all of the same thickness ([symbol]). Cod. Claromontanus, though of the sixth century, is in this instance as simple as any: the Herculanean rolls, Codd. Vatican., Sinait., and the very old copy of the Pentateuch at Paris (Colbert) or “Cod. Sarravianus” and Leyden, much resemble it, only that sometimes the Herculanean sides are slightly curved, and the right descending stroke of Cod. Vatican, is thickened. In Cod. A begins a tendency to prolong the base on one or both sides, and to strengthen one or both ends by points. We see a little more of this in Cod. Rossanensis and in the palimpsest Homer of the fifth century, published by Cureton. The habit increases and gradually becomes confirmed in Codd. Ephraemi (No. 24), the Vatican Dio Cassius of the fifth or sixth century, in Cod. R, and particularly in N and E of the Acts (Nos. 4, 14, 25). In the oblong later uncials it becomes quite elaborate, e.g. Cod. B of the Apocalypse, or Nos. 7, 21, 36. On the Rosetta stone and in the Cod. Bezae the right side is produced beyond the triangle, and is produced and slightly curved in Hyperides, curved and strongly pointed in Cod. Z.
Epsilon has its angular form on the Rosetta marble and other inscriptions in stone; in the oldest manuscripts it consists as an uncial of a semicircle, from whose centre to the right of it a horizontal radius is drawn to the concave circumference. Thus it appears in the Herculanean rolls (only that here the radius is usually broken off before it meets the circle), in Codd. Frid-August., Vatican., the two Paris Pentateuchs (Colbert-Leyden fifth century, Coislin. sixth) and the Cotton Genesis. In Cod. Alex. a slight trace is found of the more recent practice of strengthening each of the three extremities with [pg 036] knobs, but only the radius at times in Cod. Rossanensis. The custom increases in Codd. Ephraemi, Bezae, and still more in Codd. NRZ, wherein the curve becomes greater than a semicircle. In Hyperides (and in a slighter degree in Cod. Claromon. No. 41) the shape almost resembles the Latin e. The form of this and the other round letters was afterwards much affected in the narrow oblong uncials: see Nos, 7, 16, 36.
Zeta on the Rosetta stone maintains its old form ([Symbol rather like a Roman capital I]), which is indeed but the next letter reversed. In manuscripts it receives its usual modern shape (Z), the ends being pointed decidedly, slightly, or not at all, much after the manner described for epsilon. In old copies the lower horizontal line is a trifle curved (Cod. R, No. 5), or even both the extreme lines (Cod. Z, No. 6, and Cod. Augiensis of St. Paul). In such late books as Parham 18 (a.d. 980,