on each fide, I am inclined to affent to the notion that the
Codex Argenteus * is a copy o f the very original verfion made
by Ulphilas in the Gothick idiom. I was once indeed leaning
to the opinion o f its being a Frankiih verfion, but was induced
B O O K .
VIL
to alter my judgement from the arguments o f Benze-
lius and Lye, in the Preface to the Oxford edition f, and
efpecially from a very ingenious treatife, publiihed by lhre
by which it appears, that feveral fpecimens o f the Oilrogo-
thick tongue have been lately difcovered in Italy, which per-
fedily refembles both the characters and language o f the
verfion in the Codex Argenteus.
But to which foever fide we may incline, as both the Go-
thick and Frankifir idioms were dialedts o f theTeutoftick or
¿ierman, this manuicript muft be confidered as the mod an-
tient fpecimen extant of that language. Its antiquity has
been unquefiionably proved without a diftenting voice. They
who conclude it to be the verfion o f Ulphilas, muft: o f courfe
hold if to have been made in the middle of the fourth century
; arid even tribfe authors § who contend for its being a
Frankiih tranflation, allow It to have been copied in the reign
o f Chilperic between 564 and 587. Its high antiquity as
proved, as well frorn its containing the doxology at the end
of tlie Lord’s Prayer, in the thirteenth verfe o f the fixth
chapter of St. katthew, which is not to be Fdund in any of
the moil antient veriions, as from its interpreting many
paftages in a iitriilar rnanner with feveral o f the Latin tranf-
* _g^e. th e .feveral editions o f the C o d e x and 5 38. ■ ■ • -
A rg en teu s b y Jun iu s ,. Stiernhekn^ and L y e . + P re fa c e ,to L y e ’ s Sj|& E v a n . V e r s . Goth.
Hick es Granuii'. M 'i/o G or tn c a in his T h e - i Mon’u'mehtum veteris lingua: Oftrogo-
faurus L in g . S e g t j L a C r o z e D if f. F hilo l. at thica : N e a p o li haud .pridem repertum,
th e en d o f C h amb erla yn e’ s O r a t , Dorn. In A f t . N o v . R e g . S c ie n .U p fa l. V o l. 1 *
p . 136,' W etfte in ’ s P ro le g . in N o v , T e i l . See alfo D a h lia , V o l . L , p. 204.
{¿a. 68 to 7 1 . ^ ib .jU p . H i f t .j j ) . ,116 to § L a C r o z e and M ich a elis
L 3 . L e L o n g , B ib . S a c . V o l. S . p . 140
lations
lations which are known to have been antecedent to the
vulgate.of St. Jerome*. - «— .— /
Another circumftance worthy of notice, and which enhances
its value, is, that it was undoubtedly tranflated from
the original Greek, and not from any o f the Latin, veriions +.
We will not detain the reader with idle conjedtures from
Watchterus J, that this fplendid Codex belonged to Alaric the
Gothick k ing of Toulouf©; or of Papebroch §, that it was the
identical exemplar, which the emp.eror Valens prefented
to Fritigern general o f the .Vifigaths eftablifhed in Maefia;
but fhall conclude by obferving, that to whomfoever it belonged,
or by whomfoever tranflated, it muft be confidered
as a work o f great authority, and a literary treafure o f high
antiquity ||.
In this library two original manufcripts o f the unfortunate
Eric XIV. caught pay, attention. They are in Latin, and were
compofed in 1566 and 15 6 7 , the two years which immediately
preceded his depofition. They, contain his aftrono-
mical, or rather aftrological, obfervations and predictions
written with his own hand after his daily examination o f the
ftate of the heavenly bodies. The names o f his br.others
occur frequently, accompanied w ith great marks o f frifpicion
and diftruft, and the deaths of feveral perfctns are predicted.
Some hiftorieal fadts are blended occafionally with the obfervations;
and -thefe notes afford a.moft convincing proof of
the diftradted ftate o f Eric’s mind, at the fame time that th e y '
difcover evident traces o f his great learning and extenfi.ve
L e L o n g , Bib lio th e ca -Sacra* V o l. I I . P au l’ s E p ift lc to th e Roman s, was found
P' I4i * . • W o lfe^ b u tt le , and is now preferved, in ,*hP
t Prefatio in L y e , ca p . 2 ; and M ichaelis^ lib ra ry o f th a t ,tow n , where I jaw it in. j ^^'-
Le&ures, p . 16 5 , T h e or ig in a l letter s were p a rt ly era/ed and
J Bib . U p . Hift. p. 1 18 . Written u p o n * ; S e e .’N o n n u lla cap . E p if.
§ L e L o n g , V o l. I I . p. 5 3 1 , , P a u li ad R om .p u .b ljih ed a t B run fwick b y
>11 An other fra gm en t o f this curious ma- F r a n . A n to n . K n ite lL
fcu'feript, containing a few chapters o f St.
H h h 2 erudition.