If I’m going to print a text alongside the translation of Eusebius, then I need to try to print a critical text. Now I’m not going to edit the text — that crosses a line which I have decided not to cross. But if the text has been edited more recently than Mai — not that difficult, in almost 200 years! — then I need to use the more up-to-date text.
I think I’m on top of the Greek and Syriac fragments. I did go and find the text from the catena of Macarius Chrysocephalus, which Mai reprinted from an early publication — it was horrible to read, all abbreviations and ligatures. It’s on Google books, thankfully.
But what about the Latin fragments? There’s a couple of pages of these, excerpts from the Commentary on Luke by Ambrose of Milan, and the Commentary on Matthew by Jerome. And both of these have been edited, I find, by the Sources Chretiennes. So it looks as if I will have to ask for permission on these. But first, I shall need to see whether the text really does differ. I haven’t looked at either much.
Here’s the details I have on Jerome. Even the Migne is more recent than the Mai!
- Migne, ed. Commentariorum In Evangelium Matthaei Libri Quattor, PL vol. 26, coll. 15-218D.
- E. Bonnard, Saint Jerome: Commentaire sur S. Matthieu, SC volumes 242 and 259 (Paris, 1977 and 1979)
- And Thomas Scheck has just translated Jerome’s commentary on Matthew in its entirety (Catholic University of America Press, 2008), which is online in preview here.
I’ll need to get hold of these, compare them with the excerpts used by Mai, and see what the damage is.