Corpus of Latin Ecclesiastical Writers, Vol. LXV: Hilary's Treatise on the Mysteries, Fragments, and Hymns

Hosea the prophet’s example has been explained. But Hilary himself excuses his method of proceeding in a few words in chapter 5 of book II.

We shall also recognize that larger parts of the work have perished in A from the very form of the codex. Above all, the beginning of the entire work is missing, which perished with the first folio of the first quire. However, the word Multiplex manifold, with which the preface began, was fortuitously preserved for us in that brief note which the catalog of the Cassinese library of the year 1532 contains regarding Codex A, now Vatican Codex 3961 (see above p. IX). What the author's meaning was can easily be conjectured, both from the words of the preface still preserved and from several passages of the Tractatus themselves, in which Hilary defends his method of interpreting the types of the Old Testament, as well as from the beginning of the preface prefixed to the commentaries on the Psalms, in which he likewise disputes regarding the types of the Old Testament and their diverse interpretation. The words are: "We have learned from the very books that they left written that there are diverse opinions of many in the book of Psalms" (p. 3, 1 sq.). Having said this, we do not doubt that Hilary made the beginning of the Tractatus mysteriorum with these or similar words: "Manifold is the interpretation of the Scriptures or Manifold is the diversity of opinions regarding the meaning of the Scriptures."

Besides the first folio, the two last folios of the first quire also perished; these contained the remainder of the explanation of the types of Noah and his sons, and likely the beginning of the explanation of the deeds of the patriarch Abraham as well. This explanation perished entirely in Codex A; only those fragments handed down by Peter the Deacon and some Germanic monk of the 11th or 12th century were preserved, in which the two opposing wives of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar, are treated, [as well as] the sacrifice of Abraham, and the changing of the names of Abraham and Sarah. Hilary had indicated in the preface (p. 3, 17) that he would treat the justification of Abraham. In his other works, Hilary mentions these deeds from the life of Abraham: Abraham justified¹, the angel of God sent to Hagar, the three men standing before Abraham, the maidservant Hagar cast out of Abraham's house with her son, the angel of God speaking to Sarah, the punishment sent upon Sodom and Gomorrah², the names of Abraham and Sarah changed³, [and] the promises of God given to Abraham⁴. We therefore believe it can be held as certain that all, or nearly all, of these types were also treated in the Book of Mysteries.

¹ De trin. V 15 sq.; in Matth. 2, 3; in ps. 127, 7 p. 632, 23.
² cf. de trin. IV 23—33; V 15 sq.
³ in Matth. 18, 6.
⁴ in ps. 138, 40 p. 773, 3—14.