PREFACE

CAPNIO, You will indeed do very well, my Galatino. For in this way, the errors of the Jews of our age will be most effectively refuted, and the most powerful testimonies will be brought against them from their own scriptures in support of the Christian truth, which they never cease to attack. But so that they might be less able to resist such great truth, it is necessary that you report the very oracles of the holy prophets or the sayings of the ancient Talmudists Scholars and rabbis of the Talmud, the central text of Rabbinic Judaism.—which you are about to bring against the Jews themselves—exactly as they were written: namely, in Chaldaic original: "Chaldaicè," referring to Aramaic, the language of much of the Talmud and Jewish commentary. and in Hebrew.

GALATINO, I will certainly do so most willingly, my Capnio, as you urge: both for the reasons you have stated, and especially so that when the Jews see themselves defeated by their own weapons, they may be forced to acknowledge the truth which they never cease to deny. Thus, having acknowledged it, they may not neglect to both confess and preserve it, if they wish to look out for themselves—lest at last, cast out from the Heavenly kingdom into the outer darkness, they suffer eternal evils. But since it would be both extremely difficult and unpleasant to maintain this in every instance, I shall take care to recount in either Hebrew or Chaldaic (as they themselves have them) only those passages which, above all others, express and attest to the truth against them.

Truly, all things which I shall need to bring forward from their Scriptures, I will strive to translate into our own language as faithfully as the Latin tongue allows, so that they will neither be able to deny the truth, nor dare to say that it is not so among them. Therefore, in translating the words of the Sacred Page itself, wherever I find that our own codices have deviated from the Hebrew, I will follow neither the Septuagint The ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament. nor any other translator; instead, I shall turn them into our own speech exactly as the Hebrew Truth original: "Hebraica ueritas," a scholarly concept popularized by St. Jerome asserting the primacy and accuracy of the original Hebrew text of the Bible over later translations. holds.

For by this means, every path of escape will be blocked for the false-speaking Jews; and many—nearly infinite—passages of Holy Scripture, which are found to be tainted and corrupted among both the Latins and the Greeks (partly due to the length of time and partly due to the fault of scribes), will be truly and excellently corrected for the sake of our faith. In these passages, the Christian truth shines far more clearly and far more perfectly among the Hebrews than in our own Latin or Greek editions. On account of this, I have no doubt that I shall be criticized by many—especially by those who are accustomed to find fault with whatever they have not done themselves, and who disparage everything they do not know.

To be sure, Truth has many enemies, and rivals have never been lacking for those who constantly profess it. For among the Greeks, Athanasius and Chrysostom suffered them; and among the Latins, Augustine and Jerome; and finally, all those who have uniquely embraced Truth itself. Against them, I invoke nothing other than Truth itself, which I hope (with Divine help favoring me) will be my shield on every side. For I submit myself and all my writings to the determination of the most holy LEO the Tenth, Supreme Pontiff, the finest cultivator of Truth itself, and of the Most Holy Roman Church, which is the mistress and teacher of all Churches...
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