Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/348

322 II. 322 AFRICAN EXPEDITION OF XIMENES. PART their various ancient languages. It was a work of surpassing difficulty, demanding an extensive and critical acquaintance with the most ancient, and consequently the rarest manuscripts. The charac- ter and station of the cardinal afforded him, it is true, uncommon facilities. The precious collection of the Vatican was liberally thrown open to him, especially under Leo the Tenth, whose munificent spirit delighted in the undertaking. ^^ He obtained copies, in like manner, of whatever was of value in the other libraries of Italy, and, indeed, of Europe generally ; and Spain supplied him with editions of the Old Testament of great antiquity, which had been treasured up by the banished Israelites. ^^ Some idea may be formed of the lavish expenditure in this way, from the fact that four thousand gold crowns were paid for seven foreign manuscripts, which, however, came too late to be of use in the compilation. ^'^ The conduct of the work was intrusted to nine scholars, well skilled in the ancient tongues, as most of them had evinced by works of critical acuteness and erudition. After the labors of the day, these 35 Ximenes acknowledges his cognitions eminentissimorum opera obligations to his Holiness, in par- uteremur, et castigatissima omni ticular for the Greek MSS. " At- ex parte vetustissimaque exempla- gue ex ipsis [exemplaribus] quidem ria pro archetypis haberemus ; quo- GrjEca Sanctitati tuse debemus ; qui rum quidem, tam Hebraeorum quam ex ista Apustolica bibliotheca anti- Grajcorum ac Latinorum, multipli- quissimos tam Veteris quam Novi cem copiam, variis ex locis, non codices pcrquam humane ad nos sine summo laboreconquisivimus." misisti." Biblia Polyglotta, (Com- Biblia Polyglotta, Compluti, Pro- pluti, 1514- 17,) Prologo. logo. 39 " Maximam," says the cardi- ^7 Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, fol. nal in his Preface, " laboris nostri 39. — Quintanilla, Archetype, lib partem in eo priecipue fuisse versa- 3, cap. 10. tam ; ut et virorum in linguarum