Vetus Testamentum Graecum: Septuagint with Latin Translation

and pure Septuagint interpretation. However, when the task of establishing this refinement was demanded of me by Gregory XIII, whose thoughts were directed most especially to the propagation of the Christian religion as widely as possible, I devoted effort to ensuring that the best possible copies were sought out in the more celebrated libraries of Italy, and that the varieties of readings from them were described and sent to me. When these were very often examined by the industry of those learned men whom I had chosen for this, and by the judgment of Cardinal William Sirlet of clear memory (whom I had proposed to consult on more obscure places due to his excellent learning and multifaceted skill in languages), and diligently collated with your copy from the Vatican Library (to which your Kindness recently appointed me), we understood, both from that very collation and from the agreement of the ancient sacred writers, that the Vatican codex precedes the others not only in age but also in quality; and, which is the chief point, that it approaches most closely to that very Septuagint interpretation we were seeking, if not for the whole book, at least for the greater part. Since this was evident to me from many other arguments, even from the very title of the book, which is κατὰ τοὺς Ἑβδομήκοντα According to the Seventy, I took care, on the advice and opinion of those whom I named above, to have this edition of the book amended according to the Vatican copy; or rather, to have the copy itself—because its authority was highly approved—represented word for word, after it had been accurately reviewed where necessary, and even augmented with notes. Moreover, it happened by truly divine providence that what was begun in the time of your cardinalate, at your Holiness's persuasion, and which had been interrupted several times for various reasons, was completed during the very beginnings of your Pontificate; so that this illustrious work, dedicated to your most holy name, might be as a certain perpetual monument among all good men, both of your will toward the Christian Republic and of my respect toward your Holiness.