PREFACE.

The third volume of the Ecclesiastical Chronicle of Bar Hebraeus, which is now appearing, contains the history of the Primates of the East, especially the Maphrians who presided over the Jacobites, and the Catholics who presided over the Nestorians. Since the first section of the Ecclesiastical Chronicle, which concerns the patriarchs, has been completed in the two volumes we previously published, we present here the second section, which we have decided to distinguish with a new column numbering system.

Regarding the edition and method of this section, there is no need to say more, as it is almost the same as that used in the previous section. It differs only in that the various readings are not relegated to the bottom of the book, but are placed in the lower margin of each page for the convenience of the curious reader. These were taken not only from the Cambridge and Oxford manuscripts, but also from a Roman manuscript, noted as no. 388 in the Vatican Library, which P. Martin, a Parisian priest well known to students of Syriac literature, had described for this part of the Chronicle and kindly offered for our consultation in his copy. The codex R, of recent origin and riddled with errors, is closer to the Oxford manuscript than to the London or Cambridge ones.

Finally, before we put an end to this work of long labor and no small fatigue, we gladly extend our thanks to all who have offered us assistance of any kind. Among them, Dr. G. Wright, professor at Cambridge University, deserves praise again, as he has always been most helpful in solving doubts regarding the readings of the manuscripts. We do not wish to omit those who published critical reviews of the previous section in journals, namely in the English The Academy, 15 January 1873, pp. 37 sqq., and in the German Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenländischen Gesellschaft, vol. XXVII, pp. 161 sqq., and Göttingische gelehrte Anzeigen, 2 July 1873, pp. 104 sqq., and also 4 May 1875, pp. 547 sqq. The observations which the very learned Th. Nöldeke, professor at Strasbourg, gathered there regarding the first volume of our work did not reach us until after the second volume had already gone to press. We regret this: they could have been used to enrich the Addenda et Corrigenda added at the end of volume II. In the meantime, quite a few errors corrected by him have been amended and appear there of their own accord. Now, however, you will find the main items remaining to be corrected, noted by Nöldeke, in columns 645 sq. of this volume, kind reader.

June 7, 1877.