EsposiTO — On fhe '■ De Mirabilihoi ^anctae Scrip lurac.'" 20.^ 



From the above examples we see that while a considerable number of our 

 author's biblical citations come directly from the Vulgate, a somewhat larger 

 proportion does not, and can be traced to the Old-Latin Version. Several 

 other readings do not, as far as we are aware, occur elsewhere.^ 



It is also interesting to note that our authoi', doubtless followin" 

 St. Jerome (" Comm. in Danielem " xiv, ], ap. Migne, "Patrol. Lat.", 20, 

 col. 610), excludes the apocryphal additions to Daniel, viz. the story of Bel 

 and the Dragon and the translation of Habakkuk, as wanting the "authority 

 of the Divine Scriptures.'"- A little further on he rejects for the same reason 

 the denterocanonical Books of Maccabees.^ Here he was probably relyino- on 

 the authority of Pope Gregory the Great, (" Moralia," xix, 34, ap. Migne, 

 " Patrol. Lat.," 76, 119). 



IV. — Notes on the "De Mirabilibus." 



Our study of the " De Mirabilibus " may be fitly brought to a conclusion 

 with some remarks on the contents of the work, and on its Latinity. 



In a short Preface (Ed. cols. 2149-2152), after excusing himself for his 

 incapacity, the writer exposes the method by which he has been guided in 

 the explanation of the leading miracles of the Old and New Testament. 

 Leaving aside all allegorical and figurative interpretation, he proposes to 

 demonstrate that in every case in which some occurrence sliould seem to fall 

 outside the ordinary natural laws God is not creating a new nature, but 

 simply ruling that which He had once created.* His material he divides into 

 three books. The first in thirty-five chapters (cols. 2151-2174) deals with 



' Haddan (ap. Haddaii and Stubbs, " Councils," etc., i, p. 188) came to the conclusion 

 that there existed a special British and Irish revision of the Old-Latin vcision. The 

 Irish te.\t of the Vulgate Gospels is analysed by Cliapman ("Notes on the Early History 

 of the Vulgate Gospels," 1908, p. 177) as one containing three elements: [a) a strain of 

 pure Hieronyraiau readings, (6) a considerable admixture of Old-Latin elements, and 

 (o) certain well-defined Irish characteristics. It seems more probable tliat our author 

 employed some such "mixed text" than that he quoted at times from a Vulgate and at 

 times from an Old-Latin ms. 



- ii, 32, Ed. col. 2191: "De lacu vero iteruni et Habacuc translato in Belis ec 

 draconis fabulis, idcirco in hoc ordine non ponitur, quod in auctoritate diviuae Scripturae 

 non habentur." 



•■ ii, 34, Ed. col. 2192 : "In Machabaeorum libris, etsi aliquid niirabilium numcro 

 inserendum conveniens f uisse ordini inveniatur, de hoc tamen nulla cura fatigabinuir : 

 quia tantum agere proposuimus, lit do divini canonis mirabilibus exiguam, quanivis 

 ingenioli nostri moduluin excedentem, historicam expositioneni ex parte aliqua 

 tangeremus." 



* I, 1, col. 2151: " non creare ibi novam naturam, sed gubernare olim creatani Dcus 

 putandus est." 



R.I. A. PliOC, VOL. XXXV, SECT. C. [27] 



