January 23, 2011 - 9:48pm | by Ian W. Scott
Text Status and Contents: 

The one surviving Greek fragment of Aristeas the Exegete is a single citation found in Eusebius, Praep. Evang. 9.25.1-4. The citation appears to be copied by Eusebius from Alexander Polyhistor (see the opening statement at the end of 9.24 and the closing statement in 9.25.4). This fragment is published here without critical apparatus, based on K. Mras' standard critical edition of Eusebius (see below).

Print Editions: 
L. Bombelli, I frammenti degli storici giudaico-ellenistici (UGFL 103; Genova: Università di Genova, 1986), 60-64, 164-167.
  ** Reprints the text of K. Mras with only one minor alteration (see below).
Carl R. Holladay, Historians (vol. 1 of Fragments from Hellenistic Jewish Authors; TT; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1983), 261-75.
  ** The best available print edition, containing the same text that is published here in the OCP edition (K. Mras' text) but with some critical apparatus and excellent supplementary discussion. Click here to purchase a copy of Holladay's print edition from the Society of Biblical Literature.
A.-M. Denis, Fragmenta, 195-96.
  ** Reprints the text of K. Mras.
Felix Jacoby, Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker (3 vols.; Leiden: Brill, 1954-69), No. 725, 3C.2.680.
  ** Reprints the text of K. Mras.
W. N. Stearns, Fragments from Graeco-Jewish Writers (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1908), 57-59.
  ** Stearns' text varies more from Mras' edition than any other (see below). Nevertheless, none of the textual variations have much effect on the sense of the passages concerned. More significant is Stearns' quite different punctuation of the text.
J. Freudenthal, Hellenistische Studien: Alexander Polyhistor und die von ihm erhaltenen Reste jüdischer und samaritanischer Geschichtswerke (2 vols.; Breslau: Grass, 1874-1875), 231.
 

** This early edition varies from the later text of K. Mras in only three places (see below).

Edition of Eusebius

  • Karl Mras, Die Praeparatio Evangelica (2 parts; vol. 8 of Eusebius Werke; 2d ed.; ed. Édouard des Places; GCS 43; Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1982-83), 1.518-19.
  • ** Mras' edition provides the basis for all recent print editions of Aristeas the Exegete (Bombelli, Holladay, Denis). Holladay reproduces Mras' text exactly.
  • Migne, PG 21, 728 AB

For further bibliography see DiTommaso, Bibliography, 998-1000.

Corrections to Previous Versions: 

Variations in Bombelli's Edition

The one variation between the text of Mras and that printed in Bombelli is in 9.25.4. Like Freudenthal, Bombelli substitutes Βωζίτην for the name Ζωβίτην. This is a conscious text-critical decision which Bombelli explains on p. 167, n. 15.

Variations in Freudenthal's Edition

The following variations are apparent between Freudenthal's edition of Eusebius' text and that of Mras (used by Bombelli, Denis and others). Some of these variations may be due to text-critical decisions rather than typographical errors.

9.25.1 Freudenthal omits the word υἱὸν in the phrase τὸν Ἠσαῦ γήμαντα Βασσάραν υἱὸν ἐν Ἐδὼμ γεννῆσαι Ἰώβ.
9.25.3 Freudenthal substitutes ἀπελαθῆναι for ἀπολέσθαι in the clause πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ αὐτοῦ τούς τε ὄνους καὶ τοὺς βοῦς ὑπὸ λῃστῶν ἀπολέσθαι. This is probably a case of the latter form being assimilated to the verb ἀπελαθῆναι which does appear later in the section.
9.25.4 Freudenthal substitutes Βωζίτην for the name Ζωβίτην.

Variations in Stearns' Edition

9.25.1 Stearns spells Aristeas' name Ἀρισταίας instead of Ἀριστέας.
At the end of the first sentence Stearns reads the noun υἱόν instead of the name Ἰώβ. He acknowledges the alternate possibility, however, in a footnote.
Stearns reads Λυσίτιδι instead of Αὐσίτιδι for the name of Job's home region. Here again he acknowledges the alternative reading in a footnote./td>
9.25.3 In the first sentence Stearns reads Ἰωβὰμ instead of Ἰωβὰβ. Here again he acknowledges the alternative reading in a footnote.
In the second sentence Stearns omits the second pronoun τούς in the phrase τούς τε ὄνους καὶ τοὺς βοῦς.
Like Freudenthal, Stearns substitutes ἀπελαθῆναι for ἀπολέσθαι in the clause πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ αὐτοῦ τούς τε ὄνους καὶ τοὺς βοῦς ὑπὸ λῃστῶν ἀπολέσθαι. This is probably a case of the latter form being assimilated to the verb ἀπελαθῆναι which does appear later in the section.
In the third sentence Stearns adds another pronoun τοῦ immediately preceding the phrase ὑπὸ πυρὸς ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ.
9.25.4 In the identification of Βαλδὰδ, Stearns reads τῶν Σαυχαίων τύραννον instead of τὸν Σαυχαίων τύραννον.
In the identification of Σωφὰρ, Stearns reads Μανναίων instead of Μινναίων.
In the clause τὸν δὲ θεὸν ἀγασθέντα . . ., Stearns reads the particle τὲ in place of δὲ.

Stearns also punctuates and accentuates his text differently from Mras in several places, though none of these differences affect the meaning of the text significantly.

Copyright: 

The text of Mras' edition, re-published here, is considered by the editors to be in the public domain. While the most recent edition of Mras' volume is still within the copyright period, the text of this extract differs in only three words from the 1874-75 edition of Freudenthal (see above). Before using this or other OCP text for another purpose, please click on the "copyright and permissions" link below to read the policy on re-use and re-publication.