It is not necessary to follow the history of the text of the Vulgate since Jerome’s day.  Suffice it to say that the simultaneous use of the Old Latin and Vulgate led to a corruption of both texts, which has not yet been thoroughly removed.  The present standard text is that called the Clementine, from Pope Clement VIII., under whose auspices the Vulgate was edited in 1592.  This is better than the preceding Sixtine edition, A.D. 1590, but not by any means the pure text of Jerome, as it might be recovered, proximately at least, by a careful collation of ancient manuscripts and quotations.

The oldest and best manuscript of the Latin Vulgate Old and New Testaments, is the Codex Amiatinus in the Laurentian Library at Florence.  It belongs to the sixth century, and exhibits the text of Jerome in a very pure form, carrying us back to about 120 years from Jerome’s death.  The Codex Fuldensis is said to belong to the same century.  There are other good manuscripts more or less complete of the eighth and ninth centuries.

    Many other Latin versions have appeared in modern times,
    sometimes in connection with the original text, and sometimes
    separately, which it is not necessary to notice in detail.

II.  SYRIAC VERSIONS.

6.  The ancient Syriac version called the Peshito belongs, in the judgment of biblical scholars, to the second century.  It comprises the Old Testament as well as the New.  The version of the Old Testament was made from the original Hebrew, and thus has the honor of being the oldest translation of the Hebrew Scriptures for Christian use, the Old Latin version having been made from the Septuagint.  The version of the New Testament was made in connection with that of the Old, so that both together constitute one work.

Syrian tradition makes extravagant claims in respect to the antiquity of the Peshito, telling us that it was executed by men sent to Palestine by the apostle Thaddeus (whom tradition connects with the founding of the church at Edessa), and by Abgarus, King of Edessa, a contemporary of the Saviour.  The Old Testament was sometimes referred to a still earlier age—­that of Solomon and Hiram, or that of the captivity of the ten tribes.  Without giving credence to such traditions, we may well believe that it belongs to the earliest period of the Syrian churches, and cannot be placed later than the last part of the second century.  Of the term Peshito, that is, simple, there are different explanations.  The most usual is that it denotes a simple and literal version, free from glosses and allegorical interpretations.  Tregelles suggests that it was called simple in contrast with the translation made by Paul of Tela from the Hexaplar text of Origen (see below, No. 8), which was replete with asterisks and obeli to mark