Four Books Against the Manichaeans

Titus, Bishop of the Bostrenes, who flourished in the middle of the fourth century, left writings against the Manichaeans in Syriac. We possess these in a very ancient manuscript from the British Museum, which G. Cureton discussed in his book, The Festal Letters of Athanasius, page XVI. I transcribed these texts in October and November of 1852. I compared my transcriptions with the manuscript in July of the following year, and again in the same month of 1858. I hope that, despite the weakness of human strength, the accuracy of this copy is certain. However, I must admit that I performed my transcription and initial comparison amidst the constant noise of passersby, sitting beneath the statue of Friedrich Rosen, a location known to all for its lack of tranquility. The law strictly forbade the manuscript, written in the year 411, from leaving that place. I did not wish to conceal these facts so that, if I have suffered any human error, I might have an excuse ready before fair judges of such matters.

I have arranged for my copy to be printed exactly as it is, without changes. This is not because I am unaware that a few errors were made by the ancient scribe, but because I believed that for learned men, it would be more appreciated if access to the book itself remained as open as possible. Furthermore, I have never liked that Hesiodic saying, "the half is more than the whole" original: "πλέον ἥμισυ παντὸς" — a reference to the proverb that the half is often greater than the whole.; and now, I dislike it even more. I wished to publish this book either corrected in accordance with the laws of the craft, or as the Syriac scribe presented it—a man who was not at all incompetent, certainly very studious of elegance and accuracy in his lettering, and, unless I am mistaken, slightly more knowledgeable in the Syriac language than all of us who have now begun to apply our minds to learning it. Therefore, if anyone reading the word πλούσιος rich in the Greek version finds a word in the Syriac version ending in the letter Dolat the letter D, I do not object if he considers himself very learned for having corrected it to Rîsch the letter R; likewise, if he understands that the accusative...