Philonis Judaei Paralipomena Armena

TO BENEVOLENT AND ANTIQUITY-LOVING

READERS

I. Four years ago, specifically in the year of the Reclaimed Salvation 1822, when we first published three discourses of Philo the Jew in our own press, we promised that other works of the same Author (hitherto unpublished) would also be brought to light. This promise we now fulfill by releasing them under the name of Philo's paralipomena things left out/supplements. At that time, I was indeed preparing his remaining works, the translation of which from Armenian into Latin I completed the following year. However, the time for publishing the translation had not yet arrived; in fact, it remained uncertain. Meanwhile, to render the work complete, many friends near and far urged me by voice and letter, as the work was highly desired by all classes of scholars and especially by students of Antiquity.

II. But among my friends, the most praiseworthy and deserving of our Congregation is the noble gentleman, Alexander Raphael the Knight. When he read the edition of the three Philonian discourses in Constantinople, where he was staying at the time, he admired many things written therein, as they were filled with wisdom. Everything pleased him, except for the dedication of the works with which we had adorned the front of that edition, as he is a man of the utmost modesty. Yet, he was fired with such ardor for the benefit of the Republic of Letters that, upon reading the discourses and returning to Venice, he conceived the idea of pressing the work forward, urging the Mechitarists to send the remaining Philo materials to the press at his own expense as quickly as possible. He came, he urged, he commanded. Therefore, singular and highest praise is due from those who care for the publication of the works of learned men to this most noble Knight. These things shall suffice regarding the fulfillment of the promises we gave. It remains to say something about the publication of this work.

III. Let us speak first of the Armenian Codices we used. Codex A, or Arm. I, is royal, as it was prepared for the use of Haethum original: "Haethumii" or Hayton II, King of the Armenians, entirely on parchment; Basilius, the royal Notary, copied it with his own hand in the year of our Lord 1296. I will add a commentary at the end of the work regarding this. Since, however, this Codex lacked certain pages or even an entire quire in some places, we saw to it that the missing parts were supplied from another Constantinopolitan copy, which is our Codex B. The third, which we called C, was with us. It partly shows traces of the 13th century and was partly copied by another hand in later centuries. Although one might wish for the complete perfection that the aforementioned Codex A shows us, it sometimes seems to surpass it. We name the fourth one D. This is the newest, from the century just passed, and it contains separately only Philo's fourth book on Genesis. However, as can be seen in the progress of the work, it is of great help time and again with genuine and sincere readings. Finally, Codex E (a commentator or scribe of ancient solutions, apart from the margins) should rather be called the fifth in order; it is a copy of a very ancient glossary from which certain places are to be confidently compared for us regarding all of Philo's works.