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XIII. 



ON SOUTH-COPTIC TEXTS : E"o. II.— A CRITICISM 01^ 

 M. BOUEIANT'S " ELOGES DU MARTYE YICTOR, FILS 

 DE EOMANUS." By ROBERT ATKINSOI^, LL.D. 



[Eead November 13, 1893.]' 



I HAVE already had occasion, in a paper read before the Royal Irish 

 Academy, May 8, 1893 [antea p. 1), to exhibit the very unsatisfactory 

 treatment of South Coptic by an Italian scholar. But the deficiencies 

 of knowledge which were patent in the case of Prof. Rossi's publication, 

 are to be found in other editors of this neglected language. 



There is now going through the press in Paris a splendid-looking 

 series of folio volumes, under the auspices of the Ministere de V Instruc- 

 tion Pullique et des Beaux Arts, and entitled, Memoiees PUBLi:fes pab 

 LES Membres de la Mission Aech^iologique Fran^aise au Caiee, 

 which contains an edition of a South-Coptic text, not less prolific of 

 discontent than some of Prof. Rossi's worst work. 



These French Memoires are published sous la direction de M. 

 JJ. Bouriant; and it is just M. Bouriant's work that I propose here to 

 criticise. 



Broadly I may say that much of M. Bouriant's version is the product 

 of the methods of hieroglyphic divination so much in vogue. But these 

 times of ignorance have been too long winked at : the cTraotSoi twi/ 

 AtyuTTTtW must put away their <^ap/xaKt'as, and the iyyaa-TpLfxvdoc give 

 up their incantations ; the Egyptian ctkotos yv6c{>o<s must be lifted, and 

 the light of reason take the place of unauthorized speculation. 



The texts I propose to examine are two Eloges du Martyr Victor, 

 contained in pp. 147-265 of the Second Fascicule of vol. viii. ; less 

 than one hundred and twenty pages of about sixteen lines each, some- 

 what under two thousand lines, so that it is not a very extensive 

 material out of which has been gathered this collection of curiosities 

 of translation. 



E.I. A. PROC, SEE. in., VOL. III. E 



