Lawlou — The Cathach of St. Columha. 283 



It is true that at the beginniug of Bede's explanatio we find the words 

 " Hie psalmus hortatur ad fidem demonstrans ecclesiae salutem ; monet 

 credentes quoniam plerique mortalium pro afflictione bonorum et impiorum 

 prosperitate turbantur, adeo ut et non remuneratas in hac uita uirtutes 

 desiderent et uitia consectentur : ad hiiiusmodi repellendnm errorem 

 psalmus isle componitur qui finem magis utrorumque considerandum crebra 

 repetitions moneret." The first part of this passage, down to credentes, 

 resembles the headings of Ca ; it is just possible that it was originally in the 

 argumentum, and was transferred from it by a seribe. The remainder is a 

 quotation, with verbal changes and an addition at the end, from the 

 Commentary on the Psalms attributed to St. Columbanus.' The rest of 

 the explanatio is, as usual, taken from Cassiodorus. The most probable 

 explanation of the facts is that Bede combined the heading in /3 and 

 the comment of Columbanus, using reasonable licence with both, into a 

 passage which should serve as an introduction to his explanatio. Having 

 done this, it was natural that in his argiomentum he should discard the 

 j3 rubric, and put in its place the leetionary note lege ad sapientiam salomonis, 

 taken from another source.' 



Ps. xxxvii. confesio sapientiae uirtns ad salutem. 



This is not very intelligible ; and a, which inserts in before sapientiae, 

 makes matters worse. B has confessio 2Mtientiae et uirtus'' ad salutem, which, 

 though it is not satisfactory, and is not from fi,* may suggest the true reading. 

 The word patientiae is, at any rate, in harmony with the liturgical note which 

 follows, lege ioh. Let us suppose that the original rubric was confessio. 

 patientiae uirtus ad salutem. lege ioh. The first point being omitted, it was 

 natural to connect patientiae with confessio. A later scribe inserts the 

 seemingly innocent et, and so we reach the reading of B. On the other hand, 

 patientiae was easily altered to sapientiae in transcription, and this slip 

 produces the text of 0. But the phrase confessio sapientiae is difficult, and so 

 from it arises confessio insapientiae, as in a and Q, or insipientiae, as in P. The 

 substitution of sapientiae for jMtienliae may have been facilitated by the 

 liturgical note of the preceding psalm in the source of B, lege ad sapientiam 

 salomonis^ (mistaken perhaps for a marginal correction), and the further 

 change to insapientiae {insipientiae) by xxxvii. 6, " a facie insipientiae meae." 



1 G. I. Asooli, "II Codice Irlandese dell' Ambrosiana," Roma, Torino, Firenze, 

 1878-1889, vol. i, p. 212. 



2 See p. 275. 



^ 2 : 2>oenitentiae et uirtutis. This seems to be a corruption of the printed text. Cp. 

 Ps. xxxix, where FQ (= <p) have patientia populi corrupted in H to jienitentis populi. The 

 readii\gs of DN in Ps. xxxvii (see p. 419) therefore witness to a primitive text reading 

 patientiae. * See p. 275. * In 2, lege salomonis sajnentiam. 



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