Page:The New Testament in the original Greek - Introduction and Appendix (1882).pdf/192

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Syrian in the Acts and 1 Peter, while in the other Epistles and the Apocalypse a similar base is variously mixed with another text predominantly but not exclusively Alexandrian, often agreeing with A where A has readings of this class. The Pauline fragments M2 and H3 have mixed texts, that of M2 being of more ancient character and more interesting. The historical antecedents of B2, and indeed of all MSS of the Apocalypse, are still obscure.

211. A few words must suffice here on Greek Cursives. By far the most free from Syrian readings is 61 of the Acts, which contains a very ancient text, often Alexandrian, rarely Western, with a trifling Syrian element, probably of late introduction. The cursive which comes nearest to 61 of Acts in antiquity of text, though at a long interval, is 33 of the Gospels; which has indeed a very large Syrian element, but has also an unusual proportion of Pre-Syrian readings, chiefly Non-Western of both kinds though also Western: the same type of text runs through the whole MS, which is called 13 in the Acts and Catholic Epistles, and 17 in the Pauline Epistles. Most cursives of the Gospels which contain many ancient readings owe more to Western than to Alexandrian sources. Among these may be named four, 13, 69, 124, and 346, which have recently been shown by Professors Ferrar and T. K. Abbott to be variously descended from a single not very remote original, probably uncial: its Non-Syrian readings belong to very ancient types, but their proportion to the fundamentally Syrian text as a whole is not great. Nearly the same may be said of 1 and 209 of the Gospels, which contain a large common element of ancient origin, partly shared by 118, as also by 131. The most valuable cursive for the preservation of Western readings in the Gospels is 81, a St Petersburg MS called 2pe by Tischendorf as standing second in a list of documents collated by Muralt. It has a large ancient element, in great measure Western, and in St Mark its ancient readings are numerous enough to be of real importance. Another more than usually interesting text, somewhat of the same type but much more largely Syrian, is that of lt 39, the British Museum Gospel Lectionary called y by its collator Dr Scrivener. In 157 of the Gospels we have the best example of the few cursives which more nearly resemble 33 in the composition of their Pre-Syrian element, though not connected with 33 by any near affinity.

212. The proportion of cursives of the Acts and