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texts, shewing a growing preponderance of Syrian readings even where the text of Antioch was not adopted almost or altogether without modification. With the works of Cyril of Alexandria may be named an obscure exposition of faith, formerly called a work of Gregory of Neocæsarea (Cent. ), and now attributed with much probability to Apollinaris, which has a remarkable Pre-Syrian and chiefly Non-Western text. A more than average proportion of similar elements presents itself in the quotations of Epiphanius; and even so late a writer as John of Damascus (Cent. ) makes considerable use of an ancient text.

SECTION V.&emsp;IDENTIFICATION AND ESTIMATION OF READINGS AS BELONGING TO THE CHIEF ANCIENT TEXTS

224—243

A.&ensp;224.&emsp;Nature of the process of identification

224. The constituent elements of each principal extant document, so far as they have been contributed by the several great ancient types of text, having thus been approximately determined, we are now in a position to determine by their aid the ancient distribution of a much larger number of separate readings than was possible when only the comparatively unmixed representatives of each type were taken into account. Here then at last genealogical evidence becomes extensively applicable to use in the discrimination of false readings from true. As each variation comes before us with its two or more variants, each attested by a group of documents, we are now enabled in a large proportion of cases to assign at once each variant to one of the ancient texts on the strength of the grouping of documents which makes up its attestation, and thereby to obtain (to say the least) a presumption of the highest value as to its genuineness or spuriousness.