Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/352

326 326 AFRICAN EXPEDITION OF XIMENES. I'ART terials much more limited, or at least more difficult II. of access, than at the present day.^^ After every deduction, however, the cardinal's Bible has the merit of being the first successful attempt at a polyglot version of the Scriptures, and consequent- ly of facilitating, even by its errors, the execution of more perfect and later works of the kind.^^ Nor can we look at it in connexion with the age, and the auspices under which it was accomplished, without regarding it as a noble monument of piety, learning, and munificence, which entitles its author to the gratitude of the whole Christian world. Grand pro- Such werc thc gigantic projects which amused jects of O C5 r J ximenes. ^jj^ Icisurc hours of this great prelate. Though gigantic, they were neither beyond his strength to execute, nor beyond the demands of his age and country. They were not like those works, which, forced into being by whim, or transitory impulse, perish with the breath that made them ; but, taking deep root, were cherished and invigorated by the sions, no one will deny, that the turse originem recurrendum est." originality and importance of its Biblia Polyglotta, Compluti, Pr6- views make it a substantial acces- logo. sion to theological science ; and ^8 Tiraboschi adduces a Psalter, that, within the range permitted published in four of the ancient by the subject, it presents, on the tongues, at Genoa, in 1516, as the whole, one of the noblest speci- first essay of a polyglot version, mens of scholarship, and elegance (Lctteratura Italiana, tom. viii. p. of composition, to be found in our 191.) Lampilhs does not fail to youthful literature. add this enormity to the black cal- ^^ " Accedit," say the editors of alogue which he has mustered the Polyglot, adverting to the blun- against the librarian of Modena. ders of early transcribers, " ubi- (Lctteratura Spagnuola, tom. ii. cunque Latinorum codicum varietas part. 2, p. 290.) The first three est, aut depravata; lectionissuspitio volumes of the Complutensian Bi- (id quod librariorum imperitia si- ble were printed before 1516, al- mul ct negligcntia frequentissimi though the whole work did not pass acciderevidemus), ad primam Scrip- the press till the following year.