Atkinson — On a South-Coptic Text of M. Bouriant. 245 



the mere logic should not have suggested a different version than that 

 given by M. Bouriant. 



39. Again [151, 1 1], nanw nan para pei meese terf montre-toi 

 bonpour nous en presence de toute cettefoule : so then irapa = ' in presence 

 of ? He would have had a more defensible rendering with nanwn 

 an, " are we not letter than all this multitude ? " 



40. Or what becomes of the particle mere in the clause on [152, 

 3], mere neeiote wem elelhmj nte nobhe nnsere nwcs, which 

 he renders : et si les peres mangent des raisins aigres, les fits auront les 

 dents agacees, mais chacun portera son propre fardeau\ cf. [187, y]. 



There is certainly no et si in the negative^ mere, and the very 

 point of the final clause, is to emphasise the fact of the want of 

 solidarity between the parents and the children ! " The fathers do not 

 eat sour grapes, so that the children's teeth are set on edge, bat &c." 



41. The division of Coptic words is not to be effected without a 

 clear comprehension of the laws of verbal and nominal structure, so 

 that when M. Bouriant gives e'est ce qu'enseig^ie le precepte as a 

 rendering forkata the ntafweh mpsaje nsa tootf [153, i], we 

 can only conclude that he knows nothing ivhatever of the structure 

 of a verbal form such as weh mpsaje! The thing is impossible : 

 it was wehm psaje, i. e. ' as he has repeated it immediately after ; ' 

 see also JSTo. [90]. 



42. The next clause is a quotation from Prov. xx. 26, as he 

 himself says, but he has rendered it, [le roi'\fait retomher les maux sur 

 euz, ignoring the original rpoxpv, and the Coptic n-w-kot. 



43. Most people have some notions of the story of IS'ebuchadnezzar, 

 but they will probably be unaware of the variant provided by M. 

 Bouriant in his translation [154, 11]: il Jit sa nourriture du pain 

 dedaigne par les chiens repus. Here one has to fancy the bloated dogs re- 

 jecting some not very appetising pieces of bread, which then the bull, 

 Nebuchadnezzar, comes and eats ! The Coptic does not say this, but 

 the following : God deprived Nebuchadnezzar of "even the bread 

 the dogs get plenty of", auo pkeoeik ere neuhoor seu 

 mmof afhwroof mmof. The word hwr 6, means ^0 (/(j^r/i^e 0/, z^o 

 defraud of, cf. Gen. xxxi. 7, 14; xlviii. 11 ; Ps. xx. 3. 



44. Nor is it correct to render as he has done at [155, 13], il 

 voulait nuire cL celui qui Vimplorait, when the Coptic has, epetsotp 

 erof, " to one who was letter than himself'' : a not uncommon error. 



45. Nor is it any more tolerable to say that Saul en fut avise afin 

 quHl pM le repousser, when the Coptic has [155, x] : aftame Sawl 



