Atkinson — On Prof. Rossi's South- Coptic Texts. 67 



107. The quotations from the Bible are even here a difficulty to 

 the editor; e.gr. at [66/3 21] are two quotations, given in spaced 

 letters by Lightfoot, a>s Sippiv i^ereivev, and cos Ka/xapav e-n-rj^cv, 

 which are literally rendered by the Copt : 



(af )porss ebol nthe nwhbo distese a guisa di un lenzuolo ; 



^ aftajros nthe nwkepe {sic). e lo rese fermo come un cubo. 



That is, he translates hbo by lenzuolo, "sheet", and kepe by cuho, 

 " cube ". He then gives a note stating that his text is " the exact 

 translation of the Greek text ws kv^ov ^^Spao-cv", because he took 

 the Coptic kepe to be the Greek word kv^os. Thus both his words 

 are wrong, for kepe means camera, and hbo is certainly not " sheet", 

 but "tabernacle", o-Krjvrj (cf. Isai. 1. 8), just as the North Coptic 

 text here has aftajros 'mphreti 'nw skene. 



108. And finally we have an old error at [71 y z], where his text 

 reads, naosem nnetherion, rendered si sarehbe dato alle fiere, 

 while really the Coptic is a literal version of the Greek fxiXXet 

 B-qpLOfxax^lv, "is about to fight with wild beasts", for it should be 

 naose mn netherion. 



VI. 



"We have now come to the filth and last Fasciculus of the first 

 volume (1887), comprising Fragments of the Council of Nicsea, of the 

 Life of St. Athanasius, &c. 



Now, in this Text, Prof. Rossi had the advantage of seeing his own 

 original, as transcribed by M. Eevillout, and printed along with the 

 Borgia text of the Vatican, as well as the Greek text of the JDidascalia 

 cccxviii. Vatrum pseudepigrapha, published by P. Batiffol, and which 

 Prof. Rossi says he used "in the interpretation of the incorrect and 

 obscure passages of the MS." But all the same, the version he has 

 given is certainly not what it should be, and the helps afiorded by 

 the previous labourers have not been utilised to the full extent, as 

 may be seen from the following examples. 



109. [11 a 24]: 



senasine gar nsa teientole ntootw nnentausope 

 eujose Shet nhets, 



" Imperocche questo precetto e segidto atiche da quelli che stanno 

 in grado elevato.^' 



But how is this to be got out of the Coptic ? Let us examine the 

 Greek : ^rjTrjO-^a-eTaL yap rj TOLavrr] ivroXr] irapa Twv vireprjcfiaveva-dvTiav 



F 2 



