334 Proceedings of the Eoyal Irish Academy/. 



interpolation, made specially to refer to rich people, and after that, 

 the fourth, being much the same as the second, was omitted variously 

 in one of the two places, whereas the third (in the vulgar order, 

 the second) still retained some originality, and therefore was pre- 

 served. 



I must not omit to state that Clement of Alexandria gives a full 

 quotation of the whole passage, evidently from his copy of the Gospel, 

 that is to say, from a MS. of the third or second century. There is in 

 this quotation, more than one reading in every verse, which is 

 absolutely new, not being attested by any of our MS. or versions. Tou 

 see what an amount of new readings would come out, if, by some 

 chance, this copy of Clement were recovered. But as to the words in 

 question, Clement's copy was not better than ours ; on the contrary, 

 it contained the second saying, which we have made third, in the 

 enlarged and interpolated form. "We gather fi'om this, that the 

 interpolation is indeed very old in Mark, 



Lastly, I shall say a few words on a very iuteresting addition, in 

 the beginning of ch. xiii. "And as he went out of the temple, one of 

 his disciples said unto him. Master, see what manner of stones 

 and what buildings are here ! But Jesus answering said unto him, 

 Seest thou these great buildings ? there shall not be left one stone 

 upon another, that shall not be thrown down." In D, and in Latin 

 versions, and in a quotation of St. Cyprian there are these words 

 more : "And after three days, there will be raised another [namely, 

 another stone] without hands." ISTow, by this addition, we get at 

 once a very clear explanation for ch. xiv. 57 f : "And there arose 

 certain, and bare false witness agaiast him, saying. We heard him say, 

 I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three 

 days I will build auother made without hands." For the words had 

 been spoken in public, so that they might be heard, and consequently 

 misunderstood and distorted, as is commonly the case, by many people. 

 But which is the true sense ? We read in Daniel, ch. ii., the expla- 

 nation of the dream of Nebuchadnezzar given by Daniel. The king 

 had seen an image consisting of gold, and silver, and brass, and iron 

 mixed with clay, and after that he had seen that a stone was cut out 

 of a mountain without hands (aveu ■)(e.ipwv, the very words in Mark), 

 which smote the image and broke it to pieces. So, says Daniel, " the 

 God of heaven shall setup a kingdom which shall never be destroyed," 

 as " the stone was cut of the mountain without hands, and brake in 

 pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold." It is to 

 this same passage in Daniel that Christ refers to in Luke xx. 18 : 



