Page:The Journal of Classical and Sacred Philology, Volume 1, 1854.djvu/282

 272 Journal of Philology. by supposing that he wrote from memory, without reference to the original ; which he probably had not by him at the time, for the Epistle to Vossius, prefixed to the work, is dated from Lon- don. It is also however to be remembered that Ussher was not acquainted with the Irish language, and that his quotations from Irish MSS. are always given at second hand, on the authority of the Irish scholars whom he employed to assist him in this branch of his researches. Speaking of the Athanasian Creed, in the prefatory letter to Vossius, already alluded to, he says, " et in hymnorum, partim Latino, partim Hibernico sermone scriptorum, codice vetustissimo altero, notatum reperi, trium episcoporum opera, &c." and citing then a passage as from this MS., in which the Athanasian Creed is said to have been composed by three bishops at the Nicene Council, he adds, "In eadem hymnorum Collectione, Nicetam Deum laudavisse legimus, dicentem Laudate pueri Dominum, laudate nomen Domini. Te Deum lauda- mus, te Dominum confitemur, et quae sequuntur in hymno illo decantatissimo, qui B. Ambrosio vulgo tribuitur : ista praeterea adjecta appendice, Te Patrem adoramus aeternum, Te sempiternum Filium invocamus, Teque Spiritum Sanctum in una divinitatis substantia manentem con- fitemur. Tibi uni Deo in Trinitato debitas laudos et gratias referimus : ut Te incessabili voce laudare mereamur, per reterna sa;cula seculorum. Amen." This account agrees accurately with the copy of the Hymn contained in the Dublin MS., except in the statement that Nicetas is there said to have been the author. This is not the case ; on the contrary, it will be seen that the tradition of its being the joint composition of SS. Ambrose and Augustine is expressly cited, in a title prefixed to the Hymn. How Ussher fell into the error of supposing that it was, in this MS., ascribed to Nicetas, I cannot imagine. Neither can I find in this MS. any allusion to the Athanasian Creed, nor the statement (which Ussher apparently quotes from this MS.), that the Athanasian Creed was composed at the Nicene Council by three bishops, Eusebius, Dionysius, and another whose name is unknown. Nevertheless it is evident that this must have been the MS. which Ussher had before him, as it still remains in his library, and is described by him as being written partly in Latin and