I. THEOLOGICAL FRAGMENTS.

1073. OLD LATIN VERSION OF GENESIS v-vi.

A small fragment from Egypt of the Bible in the Vulgate the standard Latin Bible has recently made its appearance at Aberdeen (Winstedt, Class. Quarterly, 1907, p. 266), and Oxyrhynchus now contributes the following specimen of the Old Latin version, a specimen which is not only more extensive but of much greater value, since the Old Latin is imperfectly known and the present text is for about half its contents the sole authority. It is written on a portion of a vellum leaf from a book in a well-formed uncial capital-lettered hand, which is probably not later than the fourth century. The ink is of a reddish-brown colour. As is common in early Latin MSS., the columns, of which there were no doubt two on each page, are narrow. Rulings were lightly made with a hard point. The text was divided up into rather short paragraphs, of which the first lines were made to protrude slightly into the left margin and are further rendered conspicuous by enlarged initial letters. A medial stop is occasionally employed, and points in the same position are placed before and after numerals; the first of the pair of points is, however, omitted when the numeral stands at the beginning of the line, and the second when at the end. It may be also noted that when representing a figure d has the minuscule not the uncial form. Contractions and abbreviations were sparingly used. m at the end of a line is sometimes denoted by an over-written horizontal stroke with a dot beneath it; since the regular purpose of this dot was to distinguish m from n, it may be inferred that n in the same position was also represented by the horizontal stroke, though no actual example is preserved. dominus deus Lord God appears as dns ds in l. 31. Traube considered the former of these contractions to be not older than the fifth century