formed of ἕξ, _six_, and ἁπλόω, _I open_, or _unfold_, a Bible
disposed in six columns, containing the text, and divers versions of it,
compiled and published by Origen, with a view of securing the sacred
text from future corruptions, and to correct those that had been already
introduced. Eusebius relates that Origen after his return from Rome
under Caracalla, applied himself to learn Hebrew, and began to collect
the several versions that had been made of the sacred writings, and of
these to compose his _Tetrapla_, and _Hexapla_: others, however, will
not allow him to have begun till the time of Alexander, after he had
retired into Palestine, about the year 231. To conceive what this
_Hexapla_ was, it must be observed that, beside the translation of the
sacred writings called the Septuagint, made under Ptolemy Philadelphus,
above 280 years B. C., the Scripture had been since translated into
Greek by other interpreters. The first of those versions, or, reckoning
the Septuagint, the second, was that of Aquila, a proselyte Jew, the
first edition of which he published in the twelfth year of the Emperor
Adrian, or about A. D. 128; the third was that of Symmachus, published
as is commonly supposed, under Marcus Aurelius, but, as some say, under
Septimius Severus, about the year 200; the fourth was that of
Theodotion, prior to that of Symmachus, under Commodus, or about the
year 175: these Greek versions, says Dr. Kennicott, were made by the
Jews from their corrupted copies of the Hebrew, and were designed to
stand in the place of the LXX, against which they were prejudiced,
because it seemed to favour the Christians. The fifth was found at
Jericho, in the reign of Caracalla, about the year 217; and the sixth
was discovered at Nicopolis, in the reign of Alexander Severus, about
the year 228: lastly, Origen himself recovered part of a seventh,
containing only the Psalms. Now, Origen, who had held frequent
disputations with the Jews in Egypt and Palestine, observing that they
always objected against those passages of Scripture quoted against them,
and appealed to the Hebrew text, the better to vindicate those passages
and confound the Jews, by showing that the LXX had given the sense of
the Hebrew, or rather, to show, by a number of different versions, what
the real sense of the Hebrew was, undertook to reduce all these several
versions into a body, along with the Hebrew text, so as they might be
easily confronted, and afford a mutual light to each other. He made the
Hebrew text his standard; and, allowing that corruptions might have
happened, and that the old Hebrew copies might and did read differently,
he contented himself with marking such words or sentences as were not in
his Hebrew text, nor the later Greek versions, and to add such words or
sentences as were omitted in the LXX, prefixing an asterisk to the
additions, and an obelisk to the others. In order to this he made choice
of eight columns: in the first he gave the Hebrew text in Hebrew
characters; in the second, the same text in Greek characters: the rest
were filled with the several versions above mentioned; all the columns
answering verse for verse, and phrase for phrase; and in the Psalms
there was a ninth column for the seventh version. This work Origen
called Ἑξαπλα, _Hexapla_, that is, _sextuple_, or a work of six columns,
as only regarding the first six Greek versions. Indeed, St. Epiphanius,
taking in likewise the two columns of the text, calls the work
_Octapla_, as consisting of eight columns. This celebrated work, which
Montfaucon imagines consisted of fifty large volumes, perished long ago,
probably with the library at Cæsarea, where it was preserved, in the
year 653; though several of the ancient writers have preserved us
portions of it, particularly St. Chrysostom on the Psalms, Philoponus in
his _Hexameron_, &c. Some modern writers have earnestly endeavoured to
collect fragments of the _Hexapla_, Flaminius Nobilius, Drusius, and
especially Montfaucon, in two folio volumes, printed at Paris in 1713.
In his edition, Montfaucon has prefixed prolegomena, explaining the form
and detailing the history of the _Hexapla_.
The object of Origen being to correct the differences found in the then
existing copies of the Old Testament, he carefully noted all the
alterations which he discovered; and for the information of those who
might consult his work, he made use of the following marks: 1. Where any
passages appeared in the Septuagint, that were not found in the Hebrew,
he designated them by an _obelus_ =÷= with two bold points =:= annexed.
This mark was also used to denote words not extant in the Hebrew, but
added by the Septuagint translators, either for the sake of elegance, or
for the purpose of illustrating the sense. 2. To passages wanting in the
copies of the Septuagint, and supplied by himself from the other Greek
versions, he prefixed an asterisk ASTERISK with two bold points =:= also
annexed, in order that his additions might be immediately perceived.
These supplementary passages, we are informed by Jerom, were for the
most part taken from Theodotion’s translation; not unfrequently from
that of Aquila; sometimes, though rarely, from the version of Symmachus;
and sometimes from two or three together. But, in every case, the
initial letter of each translator’s name was placed immediately after
the asterisk, to indicate the source whence such supplementary passage
was taken. And in lieu of the very erroneous Septuagint version of
Daniel, Theodotion’s translation of that book was inserted entire. 3.
Farther: not only the passages wanting in the Septuagint were supplied
by Origen with the asterisks, as above noticed, but also where that
version does not appear accurately to express the Hebrew original,
having noted the former reading with an _obelus_ =:=, he added the
correct rendering from one of the other translators, with an asterisk
subjoined. Concerning the shape and uses of the _lemniscus_ and
_hypolemniscus_, two other marks used by Origen, there is so great a
difference of opinion among learned men, that it is difficult to
determine what they were. Dr. Owen, after Montfaucon, supposes them to
have been marks of better and more accurate renderings. These several
marks of distinction have been carefully observed, so far as they have
been recovered from various quarters, in the very accurate edition of
the Septuagint commenced by our learned countryman, Dr. Holmes, and
continued by his able successor, the Rev. J. Parsons, B. D.
For nearly fifty years was Origen’s stupendous work buried in a corner
of the city of Tyre, probably on account of the very great expense of
transcribing forty or fifty volumes, which far exceeded the means of
private individuals; and here, perhaps, it might have perished in
oblivion, if Eusebius and Pamphilus had not discovered it, and deposited
it in the library of Pamphilus the martyr at Cæsarea, where Jerome saw
it about the middle of the fourth century. As we have no account
whatever of Origen’s autograph after this time, it is most probable that
it perished in the year 653, on the capture of that city by the Arabs;
and a few imperfect fragments, collected from manuscripts of the
Septuagint and the catenæ of the Greek fathers, are all that now remain
of a work, which, in the present improved state of sacred literature,
would most eminently have assisted in the interpretation and criticism
of the Old Testament. The Syro-Estrangelo translation of Origen’s
edition of the Greek Septuagint was executed in the former part of the
seventh century; the author of it is not known. This version exactly
corresponds with the text of the Septuagint, especially in those
passages in which the latter differs from the Hebrew. A manuscript of
this translation is in the Ambrosian library at Milan; it contains the
_obelus_ and other marks of Origen’s Hexapla; and a subscription at the
end states it to have been literally translated from the Greek copy,
corrected by Eusebius himself, with the assistance of Pamphilus, from
the books of Origen, which were deposited in the library at Cæsarea.
From this version Norberg edited the prophecies of Jeremiah and Ezekiel
in 1787; and Bugati, the book of Daniel, 1788.
disposed in six columns, containing the text, and divers versions of it,
compiled and published by Origen, with a view of securing the sacred
text from future corruptions, and to correct those that had been already
introduced. Eusebius relates that Origen after his return from Rome
under Caracalla, applied himself to learn Hebrew, and began to collect
the several versions that had been made of the sacred writings, and of
these to compose his _Tetrapla_, and _Hexapla_: others, however, will
not allow him to have begun till the time of Alexander, after he had
retired into Palestine, about the year 231. To conceive what this
_Hexapla_ was, it must be observed that, beside the translation of the
sacred writings called the Septuagint, made under Ptolemy Philadelphus,
above 280 years B. C., the Scripture had been since translated into
Greek by other interpreters. The first of those versions, or, reckoning
the Septuagint, the second, was that of Aquila, a proselyte Jew, the
first edition of which he published in the twelfth year of the Emperor
Adrian, or about A. D. 128; the third was that of Symmachus, published
as is commonly supposed, under Marcus Aurelius, but, as some say, under
Septimius Severus, about the year 200; the fourth was that of
Theodotion, prior to that of Symmachus, under Commodus, or about the
year 175: these Greek versions, says Dr. Kennicott, were made by the
Jews from their corrupted copies of the Hebrew, and were designed to
stand in the place of the LXX, against which they were prejudiced,
because it seemed to favour the Christians. The fifth was found at
Jericho, in the reign of Caracalla, about the year 217; and the sixth
was discovered at Nicopolis, in the reign of Alexander Severus, about
the year 228: lastly, Origen himself recovered part of a seventh,
containing only the Psalms. Now, Origen, who had held frequent
disputations with the Jews in Egypt and Palestine, observing that they
always objected against those passages of Scripture quoted against them,
and appealed to the Hebrew text, the better to vindicate those passages
and confound the Jews, by showing that the LXX had given the sense of
the Hebrew, or rather, to show, by a number of different versions, what
the real sense of the Hebrew was, undertook to reduce all these several
versions into a body, along with the Hebrew text, so as they might be
easily confronted, and afford a mutual light to each other. He made the
Hebrew text his standard; and, allowing that corruptions might have
happened, and that the old Hebrew copies might and did read differently,
he contented himself with marking such words or sentences as were not in
his Hebrew text, nor the later Greek versions, and to add such words or
sentences as were omitted in the LXX, prefixing an asterisk to the
additions, and an obelisk to the others. In order to this he made choice
of eight columns: in the first he gave the Hebrew text in Hebrew
characters; in the second, the same text in Greek characters: the rest
were filled with the several versions above mentioned; all the columns
answering verse for verse, and phrase for phrase; and in the Psalms
there was a ninth column for the seventh version. This work Origen
called Ἑξαπλα, _Hexapla_, that is, _sextuple_, or a work of six columns,
as only regarding the first six Greek versions. Indeed, St. Epiphanius,
taking in likewise the two columns of the text, calls the work
_Octapla_, as consisting of eight columns. This celebrated work, which
Montfaucon imagines consisted of fifty large volumes, perished long ago,
probably with the library at Cæsarea, where it was preserved, in the
year 653; though several of the ancient writers have preserved us
portions of it, particularly St. Chrysostom on the Psalms, Philoponus in
his _Hexameron_, &c. Some modern writers have earnestly endeavoured to
collect fragments of the _Hexapla_, Flaminius Nobilius, Drusius, and
especially Montfaucon, in two folio volumes, printed at Paris in 1713.
In his edition, Montfaucon has prefixed prolegomena, explaining the form
and detailing the history of the _Hexapla_.
The object of Origen being to correct the differences found in the then
existing copies of the Old Testament, he carefully noted all the
alterations which he discovered; and for the information of those who
might consult his work, he made use of the following marks: 1. Where any
passages appeared in the Septuagint, that were not found in the Hebrew,
he designated them by an _obelus_ =÷= with two bold points =:= annexed.
This mark was also used to denote words not extant in the Hebrew, but
added by the Septuagint translators, either for the sake of elegance, or
for the purpose of illustrating the sense. 2. To passages wanting in the
copies of the Septuagint, and supplied by himself from the other Greek
versions, he prefixed an asterisk ASTERISK with two bold points =:= also
annexed, in order that his additions might be immediately perceived.
These supplementary passages, we are informed by Jerom, were for the
most part taken from Theodotion’s translation; not unfrequently from
that of Aquila; sometimes, though rarely, from the version of Symmachus;
and sometimes from two or three together. But, in every case, the
initial letter of each translator’s name was placed immediately after
the asterisk, to indicate the source whence such supplementary passage
was taken. And in lieu of the very erroneous Septuagint version of
Daniel, Theodotion’s translation of that book was inserted entire. 3.
Farther: not only the passages wanting in the Septuagint were supplied
by Origen with the asterisks, as above noticed, but also where that
version does not appear accurately to express the Hebrew original,
having noted the former reading with an _obelus_ =:=, he added the
correct rendering from one of the other translators, with an asterisk
subjoined. Concerning the shape and uses of the _lemniscus_ and
_hypolemniscus_, two other marks used by Origen, there is so great a
difference of opinion among learned men, that it is difficult to
determine what they were. Dr. Owen, after Montfaucon, supposes them to
have been marks of better and more accurate renderings. These several
marks of distinction have been carefully observed, so far as they have
been recovered from various quarters, in the very accurate edition of
the Septuagint commenced by our learned countryman, Dr. Holmes, and
continued by his able successor, the Rev. J. Parsons, B. D.
For nearly fifty years was Origen’s stupendous work buried in a corner
of the city of Tyre, probably on account of the very great expense of
transcribing forty or fifty volumes, which far exceeded the means of
private individuals; and here, perhaps, it might have perished in
oblivion, if Eusebius and Pamphilus had not discovered it, and deposited
it in the library of Pamphilus the martyr at Cæsarea, where Jerome saw
it about the middle of the fourth century. As we have no account
whatever of Origen’s autograph after this time, it is most probable that
it perished in the year 653, on the capture of that city by the Arabs;
and a few imperfect fragments, collected from manuscripts of the
Septuagint and the catenæ of the Greek fathers, are all that now remain
of a work, which, in the present improved state of sacred literature,
would most eminently have assisted in the interpretation and criticism
of the Old Testament. The Syro-Estrangelo translation of Origen’s
edition of the Greek Septuagint was executed in the former part of the
seventh century; the author of it is not known. This version exactly
corresponds with the text of the Septuagint, especially in those
passages in which the latter differs from the Hebrew. A manuscript of
this translation is in the Ambrosian library at Milan; it contains the
_obelus_ and other marks of Origen’s Hexapla; and a subscription at the
end states it to have been literally translated from the Greek copy,
corrected by Eusebius himself, with the assistance of Pamphilus, from
the books of Origen, which were deposited in the library at Cæsarea.
From this version Norberg edited the prophecies of Jeremiah and Ezekiel
in 1787; and Bugati, the book of Daniel, 1788.