248 Proceedings of the Royal Iriah Academy. 



57. This is an unlucky page for M. Bouriant, who, on the next 

 line, has given the following perversion of a plain text : — 



De memeqyiJil est ho7iteux d'' engendrer le pecM, comme le dit Salomon ^ 

 et quHl y a certaines Jiontes qui sont glorieuses et denies, de meme il y a 

 certaine oheissance qui conduit VJiomme au del et certaine autre qui le 

 precipite dans Venfer; see also No. 111. 



The simple perusal of that sentence ought to have aroused mis- 

 givings in his mind : il est honteux d^ engendrer le pecM. 



The words are: wntesipe esafjpe pnobe, the whole passage 

 being simply a version, of Prov. xxvi. 11, (.o-tlv alaxvvy} i-n-dyovcra 

 ajjiapTLav k. t. A. He may settle the question, of wnte with his 

 papyrus ; but the meaning is as clear as possible : " There is a shame 

 that engenders sin, and there is another shame that is glorious." 



58. It is incomprehensible to me out of what grammar some of 

 these South-Coptic editors have leamt, to be alle to produce the sort 

 of text which deforms the pages of this magnificent-looking series 

 of Memoires. One can only glance amazed when one reads la blessure 

 faite par un ami est plus sensible que celle faite par %m ennemi, given as 

 the translation of [162, x], nanw ne polh uwsber ehwe mpi 

 nwjaje.^ 



Here if we put the question to M. Bouriant, ' How do you parse 

 mpi' ? one wonders whether it would be a shock to him to find that 

 he could not parse it. Fancy rendering mpi 'than tTiaf ! It is the 

 plural oi pi, 'a kiss'; "better are the wounds of a friend than the 

 hisses of an enemy", Prov. xxvii. 6. Even the second word of his 

 sentence, the little word ne, is intolerant of analysis in his trans- 

 lation : did he take it to be the coptda ? 



59. And his version of the next words in the line is quite wrong : 

 ^ parce que tu ne vois pas que la gloire qui entoure maintenant Diocletien 

 est vai?ie.' But it is mprnau : ^^ do not looTc %ipon him, as he bears this 

 empty glory, so as to say in thy heart, ' his honour is great'." 



60. On the next page the misconceptions continue : unjour viendra 

 oil ceux qui seront nes maudiront leurs parents is a bad rendering of 

 [163, 2], wn whow nasope nfshwer teunw ntaujpof epkosmos 

 nhets. The text says nothing whatever of the man cursing his 

 parents! It says, "he will curse the hour in which he was born into 

 the world." 



61. Here is another perversion which is not luciferous: "we sois 

 pas comme la poussiere que le vent disperse sur la terre et ne te Uve pas 

 au (^jour dii) jugement ; si tu te lives, tu te presenteras d la resurrection 

 pour etrejuge, et Bieu te dira voici mes ennemis Sfc^ 



