think that this was the man, if Eusebius had not been of a different mind. However, it may be argued that St. Jerom had some reason to think his Ammonius younger than Origen, since in the Catalogue he is placed after him: which would be improperly done, if he was satisfied that he was the same Ammoniush who was Origen's master in philosophy; and who was plainly somewhat, though not a great deal, older than his scholar. Accordingly Ŏrigen is placed by Cave at the year 230, and Ammonius at 220. It might be added, for supporting this conjecture, that in the titles of the chapters of St. Jerom's Catalogue, Ammonius is called presbyter; and by Eusebius and Jerom, and every body, the author of this Harmony is called an Alexandrian: all which considerations might lead us to the Alexandrian presbyter and martyr of this name, if Eusebius's opinion upon the point did not lie as a bar in our way; for it may be reckoned somewhat probable, that if the author of the Harmony had been his contemporary, or had lived very near his own time, he must have known it. I therefore speak of Ammonius, the author of the Harmony, at the year 220, where he is placed by Cave, without presuming to determine his time; though I differ from him, and most other learned men, in thinking that he is not the same with Ammonius Saccas.

We have seen two writings ascribed to Animonius, the Consent of Moses and Jesus, and Evangelical Canons, as St. Jerom calls them. The former is quite lost; of the latter we have this farther account in antiquity. Eusebius himself, in his letter to Carpian, says, That Ammonius of 'Alexandria had left us a gospel composed out of the four 'with great pains and labour, subjoining to Matthew's

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h Vid. Euseb. ib. 1. vi. c. 19. p. 220. B. 221. B. C.

k

i Αμμωνιος μεν ὁ Αλεξανδρεύς, πολλην, ὡς εικος, φιλοπονίαν και σπεδην εισαγηόχως, το δια τεσσαρων ἡμιν καταλελοιπεν ευαγγέλιον, τῳ κατα Ματθαιον τας ὁμοφωνες των λοιπων ευαγγελιων περικοπας παραθεις- -EK T8 πονήματος τε προειρημενε ανδρος ειληφως αφορμας, καθ' ἑτεραν μεθοδον κανονας δεκα τον αριθμον διεχαραξα σοι τες ὑποτεταγμενες. Euseb. Ep. ad Carp. * Subjoining, &c.] According to Mr. Wetstein's interpretation of the original words, I should have translated after this manner: Setting over ' against Matthew's gospel the parallel sections,' &c. For he says, Codex Latinus exhibet quatuor evangelistas in unum conflatos: Ammonius autem quaternis columnis quatuor evangelistas distincte descripserat; hæc enim est vis verbi πapalıç, i. e. juxta Matthæum reliquos apposuit. Prolegom. cap. vi. p. 67. But Eusebius uses that verb barely for alleging, subjoining, putting down,' and the like. Thus: Taios, où pwvas non πporεpov πaρаTεdɛiμai, к. λ. H. E. 1. iii. cap. 28. init. So likewise Origen: Ioλv de εsi νυν παρατίθεσθαι τε 'Ηρακλεωνος τα ῥητα, κ. λ. Com. in Joh. Tom. xiv. p. 211. D. Huet.

B

gospel the consonant passages [or sections] of the other 3 evangelists and that, taking occasion from the work of the fore-mentioned writer, he had composed, in another 'method, ten canons in number, which are there sub'joined.'

St. Jerom, in his preface to the four gospels, expresseth himself thus of this author: I have also put down the • Canons which Eusebius, bishop of Cæsarea, disposed into 'ten numbers, following Ammonius of Alexandria.'

Cassiodorius m ascribes the Canons to Eusebius, without mentioning Ammonius.

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Victor of Capua says, I have " understood that Ammo'nius of Alexandria, who is also said to be the inventor of ⚫ the Evangelic Canons, joined the passages of the three [other] evangelists with Matthew, and composed a gospel in a continued series of narration. Eusebius, in his epistle to one Carpian, in the preface to his edition of the 'fore-mentioned Canons, professes to have imitated the design of that person.'

Zachary of Chrysopolis, in the 12th century, who wrote a commentary upon the Gospel of the Four, supposed to have been composed by Ammonius, expresses himself much after the same manner: but I do not think it needful to translate his words.

Upon the whole, though St. Jerom says that Eusebius followed Ammonius, and even reckons the Evangelic Canons among the works of Ammonius, they may have been properly Eusebius's invention, whilst yet the Harmony of Ammonius had been the occasion of that thought; which I think is all that Eusebius's words import: and his account of his own work may be justly reckoned the most authentic and exact.

All that I have said of Ammonius, is only to show that there was such a work, called a Gospel of the Four, or a Harmony of the Four Gospels, composed before Eusebius's

1 Canones quoque, quos Eusebius Cæsariensis episcopus, Alexandrinum sequutus Ammonium, in decem numeros ordinavit, sicut in Græco habentur, expressimus. Hieronym. Præf. in Quatuor Evangelia.

m Eusebius quoque Cæsariensis Canones Evangelicos compendiosa brevitate collegit. Cassiodor. de Instit. Divin. Lit. cap. 7.

Reperi Ammonium quendam Alexandrinum, qui Canonum quoque Evangelii fertur inventor, Matthæi evangelio reliquorum trium excerpta junxisse, ac in unam seriem evangelium nexuisse. Sicut Eusebius episcopus Carpiano cuidam scribens.- -supradicti viri imitatus studium, refert in hunc modum. Vict. Cap. Præf. &c. apud Biblioth. Max. Lugdun. Tom. iii. p. 265. • Unum ex quatuor evangelistarum dictis evangelium claro studio composuit Ammonius Alexandrinus, qui Canonum quoque Evangelii fertur inventor -Zachar. Chrysop. Præf. ap. Bibl. Patr. Max. Tom. xix. p. 741. H.

time by some learned Alexandrian, named Ammonius. The testimonies here alleged afford full proof of this matter, and leave no room to doubt of it: though we do not know exactly who this Ammonius was. This is satisfactory evidence that there were four authentic gospels, and no more, in use in the church; and this work is likewise a proof of the zeal of the christians for those writings, and of their care about them.

II. But before I conclude this chapter, I shall proceed a little farther; for this may be reckoned a fit opportunity for examining two Harmonies of the Gospels, which we now have in Latin; the one ascribed to Tatian in the second, the other to Ammonius in the third, century. What the most ancient writers have said of Tatian's Harmony, has been observed P formerly; as now, what they have said of that composed by Ammonius. Whether either of these is now extant, is not absolutely certain. However, I shall take notice of the judgments of several learned moderns upon those we have, and then make some remarks upon each of them.

Cave is not unwilling to allow both the Harmonies of these two learned ancients to be still extant: only he thinks that, sometimes called Ammonius's, ought to be reckoned Tatian's; as on the contrary that the other, sometimes called Tatian's, ought to be given to Ammonius.

r

Mill thinks the short one, which is the same Cave supposes to be Tatian's, cannot be really his; but is rather an epitome of the gospels composed by some learned catholic writer long after Tatian, in the fifth century: but the Harmony of Ammonius he supposes to be still extant, which is the larger of these two we now have in Latin. And here he and Cave agree.

S

Mr. Jo. James Wetsteint thinks, there is now no where one copy extant of Tatian's Harmony, of which Theodoret saw so many; nor will he" allow the other to have been composed by Ammonius, but thinks it the work of some writer since Eusebius, for which he offers divers reasons. Valesius is of opinion, that the shorter Harmony, called Tatian's, is the work of some catholic christian, and therefore not his. I shall consider his arguments presently. These are the judgments of moderns.

V

P Chap. xiii. p. 149.

a Cav. Hist. Lit. P. ii. in Ammonio.

Prolegom. in N. T. num. 353. Vid. et num. 351, 352.

• Id. ibid. num. 660-666.

t

Prolegom. ad Nov. Test. Græci edit. accuratissimam, p. 65. "Ibid. p. 66, 67.

▾ Vales. Not. ad Euseb. 1. iv. cap. 29.

W

Victor of Capua, when he had found that which is the same with our larger Harmony, took it for w Tatian's, though indeed he was not positive: however it was very probable he was mistaken, since it has the genealogies. Zachary before mentioned commented upon the same Harmony as Ammonius's, and took it for granted that Tatian's was quite lost. But herein he might be mistaken; it might be extant, though he did not know it: and we have been lately assured by Dr. Asseman, that Tatian's Diatessarôn, or Gospel of the Four, is now in the Vatican Library, in the Arabic language: it is one of the books which he brought out of the east. I wish we had a more particular account of that Arabic Diatessarôn; though the Greek, if it could be found, would be a much greater curiosity.

Valesius has three arguments to prove, that the shorter of our two Harmonies is not Tatian's: that Tatian's Harmony was composed in the very words of the evangelists, leaving out only our Lord's genealogy from David; which plainly is not the method of our Harmony: that in the work we have, Christ is more than once called the son of David,' which Tatian had nothing of in his Diatessarôn: lastly, that here our Saviour's ministry consists of three years, whereas the ancients allowed it no more than the space of one year.

As for the first difficulty, I know of no good authority we have for thinking that Tatian's Harmony was composed in the very words of the evangelists. The third objection I hope to answer in my remarks upon this work, and extracts out of it, by and by. But the second argument insisted on by Valesius is of considerable weight; for Theodoret's words are, that Tatian, in his Diatessarôn, left out the w Tatianus quoque-hoc evangelium (ut mihi videtur) solerti compaginatione disposuit.-Arbitror enim propterea non Ammonii, sed hujus [Tatiani] esse editionem memorati voluminis.-Victor. Præfat. ap. Bib. Patr. T. iii. p. 266. A. * Ut jure ambigi possit, utrum Ammonii an

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Tatiani inventio ejusdem operis debeat æstimari. Ibid. B.

y Sane hujus hæresiarchæ [Tatiani] si superesset opus evangelicum, quod sancti Justini lateri adhærens fortassis explicuit, in eo Domini Jesu verba diligenter amplecti, secure legere ovibus vocem cognoscentibus, nil prohiberet. Zachar. ap. Bib. Patr. T. xix. p. 742. A.

z Tatiani Diatessarôn, seu, Quatuor Evangelia in unum redacta: in fol. Bembyc. 123. Asseman, Bib. Or. T. i. p. 619.

a At evangelium Tatiani ipsismet evangelistarum verbis contextum fuit, resectis duntaxat iis quæ ad Davidicam Christi genealogiam spectant. Præterea in opere illo quod editum est, Christus filius David dicitur non semel. Denique tres anni prædicationis Christi in illo opere distinguuntur; cum veteres annum duntaxat unum prædicationi Christi tribuerint. Valesius, in notis ad Eus. H. E. 1. iv. cap. 29.

b Οὗτος και δια τεσσαρων καλεμενον συντεθεικεν ευαγγελιον, τας γενεαλο

'genealogies, and every thing else that shows our Lord to have been born of the seed of David, according to the 'flesh.' And if Theodoret's words are to be understood strictly, that Tatian not only omitted the genealogies which showed our Lord's descent from David, but also all those places of the gospels where Jesus is spoken of occasionally as the son of David,' I see no way of answering this difficulty. Otherwise, there are several things very favourable to the supposition, that this is Tatian's Harmony. It has an air of politeness in the style and method of it, even in the Latin translation, which suits Tatian well enough; who, as Eusebius says, had the assurance to alter some words of 'the apostle Paul, and correct the composition and order of 'his style.' It answers the description which Theodoret gives of Tatian's performance, in two respects; it wants the genealogies and is very compendious. There are here also some marks of antiquity, as may appear hereafter: and from Dr. Asseman I learn, that Dionysius Bar-Salibi, bishop of Amida in Mesopotamia, ind the twelfth century, who was well acquainted with Ephrem's writings upon the gospels, writes in his preface to St. Mark's gospel, speaking of Tatian's Diatessarôn, that St. Ephrem wrote commentaries upon that work, the beginning of which is "In the beginning was the word;" which are the first words of our shorter Latin Harmony.

e

This must be of considerable importance to Tatian, if it may be relied upon: I say, if it may be relied upon; for, as we in this part of the world have been puzzled about these two Harmonies, and each by turns has been ascribed to Tatian and Ammonius, so it is very possible that eastern writers likewise, of late times, may have made mistakes in this

γιας περικόψας, και τα αλλα όσα εκ σπέρματος Δαβιδ κατα σαρκα γεγενημενον TOV Kupiov dεIKvvov. Theodoret. Hær. Fab. 1. i. cap. 20.

See before, p. 149.

d Vid. Asseman. Bibl. Or. T. ii. p. 210.

e

Dionysius Barsalibæus, e Jacobitarum sectâ, Amidæ in Mesopotamiâ episcopus, in suis commentariis in evangelia sæpe laudat Ephræmi commentaria in textum evangeliorum; de quibus, in Præfatione in Marcum, sic loquitur. Assem. T. i. cap. vi. p. 57.

Aliud ab Ammonii et Tatiani Diatessarôn agnoscit, [Bar-Salibæus,] fol. 150. Eliæ nimirum Salamensis Syri, de quo in præfatione in Marcum, cap. 9. Tatianus, Justini Martyris ac philosophi discipulus, ex quatuor evangeliis unum digessit. Hunc librum S. Ephræm commentariis illustravit, cujus ‹ initium, "In principio erat Verbum." Elias Salamensis, qui et Aphthonius, evangelium confecit instar 78 Diatessarôn Ammonii, cujus meminit 'Eusebius in Prologo ad Canones Evangelii. Nam quum Elias illud Diatessarôn quæsisset, nec invenisset, aliud ipsi simile elaboravit.' Assem. T. ii. p. 159, 160.