Letter to Carpianus (complete)
Greek text: PG 22.English: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), public domain (CC0).
Chapter 1
1PG 22 22
᾿Αμμώνιος μὲν ὁ ᾿Αλεξανδρεὺς, πολλὴν ὡς εἰκὸς φιλοπονίαν καὶ σπουδὴν εἰσενηνοχὼς, τὸ διὰ τεσσάρων ἡμῖν καταλέλοιπεν Εὐαγγέλιον, τῷ κατὰ Ματθαῖον τὰς ὁμοφώνους τῶν λοιπῶν εὐαγγελιστῶν περικοπὰς παραθεὶς, ὡς ἐξ ἀνάγκης συμβῆναι τὸν τῇς ἀκολουθίας εἱρμὸν τῶν τριῶν διαφθαρῆναι, ὅσον ἐπὶ τῷ ὕφει τῆς ἀναγνώσεως. Ἵνα δὲ σωζομένου καὶ τοῦ τῶν λοιπῶν δι᾽ ὅλου σώματός τε καὶ εἱρμοῦ, εἰδέναι ἔχοις τοὺς οἰκείους ἑκάστου εὐαγγελιστοῦ τόπους, ἐν οἷς κατὰ τῶν αὐτῶν ἠνέχθησαν φιλαλήθως εἰπεῖν, ἐκ τοῦ πονήματος τοῦ προειρημένου ἀνδρὸς εἰληφὼς ἀφορμὰς, καθ᾽ ἑτέραν μέθοδον κανόνας δέκα τὸν ἀριθμὸν διεχάραξά σοι τοὺς ὑποτεταγμένους· ὧν ὁ μὲν πρῶτος περιέχει ἀριθμοὺς ἐν οἷς τὰ παραπλήσια εἰρήκασιν οἱ τέσσαρες, Ματθαῖος, Μάρκος, Λουκᾶς, Ἰωάννης. Ὁ δεύτερος, ἐν ᾧ οἱ τρεῖς, Ματθαῖος, Μάρκος, Λουκᾶς. Ὁ τρίτος, ἐν ᾧ οἱ τρεῖς, Ματθαῖος, Λουκᾶς, ᾿Ιωάννης. Ὁ τέταρτος, ἐν ᾧ οἱ τρεῖς, Ματθαῖος, Μάρκος, Ἰωάννης. Ὁ πέμπτος, ἐν ᾧ οἱ δύο, Ματθαῖος, Λουκᾶς. Ὁ ἕκτος, ἐν ᾧ οἱ δύο, Ματθαῖος, Μάρκος. ἐν ᾧ οἱ δύο, Ματθαῖος, Ἰωάννης. Ὁ ὄγδοος, ἐν ᾧ οἱ δύο, Μάρκος, Λουκᾶς. Ὁ ἕννατος, ἐν ᾧ οἱ δύο, Λουκᾶς, Ἰωάννης. Ὁ δέκατος. ἐν ᾧ περί τινων ἕκαστος αὐτῶν ἰδίως ἀνέγραψεν. Αὕτη μὲν οὖν ἢ τῶν ὑποτεταγμένων κανόνων ὑπόθεσις φὴς αὐτῶν διήγησις, ἔστιν ἧδε. Ἐφ᾽ ἐκάστῳ τῶν τεσσάρων Εὐαγγελίων ἀριθμός τις πρόκειται κατὰ μέρος, ἀρχόμενος ἀπὸ τοῦ πρώτον, εἶτα δευτέρου, καὶ τρίτου, καὶ καθεξῆς προϊὼν δι᾽ ὅλου μέχρι τοῦ τέλους τοῦ βιβλίου. Καθ᾿ ἕκαστον δὲ ἀριθμὸν ὑποσητῶν δέκα κανόνων κείμενος ὁ ἀριθμὸς τυγχάνει. Οἷον εἰ μὲν α΄, δῆλον ὡς ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ· εἰ δὲ β’, ἐν τῷ δευτέρῳ᾽ καὶ οὕτω καθεξῆς μέχρι τῶν δέκα. Εἰ οὖν ἀναπτύξας ἕν τι τῶν τεσσάρων Εὐαγγελίων ὁποιονδή ποτε, βουληθείης ἐπιστῆναί τινι ᾧ βούλει κεφαλαίῳ, καὶ γνῶναι τίνες τὰ παραπλήσια εἰρήκασι, καὶ τοὺς οἷκείους ἐν ἑκάστῳ τόπους εὑρεῖν, ἐν οἷς κατὰ τῶν αὖτῶν ἠνέχθησαν, ἧς ἐπέχεις περικοπῇς ἀναλαβὼν τὸν προκείμενον ἀριθμὸν, ἐπιζητήσας τε αὐτὸν ἔνδον ἐν τῷ κανόνι, ὃν ἡ διὰ τοῦ κινναβάρεως ὑποσημείωσις ὑποβέβληκεν, εἴσῃ μὲν εὐθὺς ἐκ τῶν ἐπὶ μετώπου τοῦ κανόνος προγραφῶν, ὁπόσοι καὶ τίνες τὰ παραπλήσια εἰρήκασιν. Ἐπιστήσας δὲ καὶ τοῖς τῶν λοιπῶν Εὐαγγελίων ἀριθμοῖς τοῖς ἐν τῷ κανόνι ᾧ ἐπἐχεις ἀριθμῷ παρακειμένοις, ἐπιζητήσας τε αὐτοὺς ἔνδον ἐν τοῖς οἰκείοις ἑκάστου Εὐαγγελίου τόποις, τὰ παραπλήσια λέγοντας εὑρήσεις.
᾿Ammōnios men ho ᾿Alexandreus, pollēn hōs eikos philoponian kai spoudēn eisenēnochōs, to dia tessarōn hēmin kataleloipen Euangelion, tǭ kata Matthaion tas homophōnous tōn loipōn euangelistōn perikopas paratheis, hōs ex anankēs symbēnai ton tę̄s akolouthias heirmon tōn triōn diaphtharēnai, hoson epi tǭ hyphei tēs anagnōseōs. Hina de sōzomenou kai tou tōn loipōn di᾽ holou sōmatos te kai heirmou, eidenai echois tous oikeious hekastou euangelistou topous, en hois kata tōn autōn ēnechthēsan philalēthōs eipein, ek tou ponēmatos tou proeirēmenou andros eilēphōs aphormas, kath᾽ heteran methodon kanonas deka ton arithmon diecharaxa soi tous hypotetagmenous; hōn ho men prōtos periechei arithmous en hois ta paraplēsia eirēkasin hoi tessares, Matthaios, Markos, Loukas, Iōannēs. Ho deuteros, en hǭ hoi treis, Matthaios, Markos, Loukas. Ho tritos, en hǭ hoi treis, Matthaios, Loukas, ᾿Iōannēs. Ho tetartos, en hǭ hoi treis, Matthaios, Markos, Iōannēs. Ho pemptos, en hǭ hoi dyo, Matthaios, Loukas. Ho hektos, en hǭ hoi dyo, Matthaios, Markos. en hǭ hoi dyo, Matthaios, Iōannēs. Ho ogdoos, en hǭ hoi dyo, Markos, Loukas. Ho hennatos, en hǭ hoi dyo, Loukas, Iōannēs. Ho dekatos. en hǭ peri tinōn hekastos autōn idiōs anegrapsen. Hautē men oun ē tōn hypotetagmenōn kanonōn hypothesis phēs autōn diēgēsis, estin hēde. Eph᾽ ekastǭ tōn tessarōn Euangeliōn arithmos tis prokeitai kata meros, archomenos apo tou prōton, eita deuterou, kai tritou, kai kathexēs proïōn di᾽ holou mechri tou telous tou bibliou. Kath᾿ hekaston de arithmon hyposētōn deka kanonōn keimenos ho arithmos tynchanei. Hoion ei men a΄, dēlon hōs en tǭ prōtǭ; ei de b’, en tǭ deuterǭ᾽ kai houtō kathexēs mechri tōn deka. Ei oun anaptyxas hen ti tōn tessarōn Euangeliōn hopoiondē pote, boulētheiēs epistēnai tini hǭ boulei kephalaiǭ, kai gnōnai tines ta paraplēsia eirēkasi, kai tous hoikeious en hekastǭ topous heurein, en hois kata tōn autōn ēnechthēsan, hēs epecheis perikopę̄s analabōn ton prokeimenon arithmon, epizētēsas te auton endon en tǭ kanoni, hon hē dia tou kinnabareōs hyposēmeiōsis hypobeblēken, eisę̄ men euthys ek tōn epi metōpou tou kanonos prographōn, hoposoi kai tines ta paraplēsia eirēkasin. Epistēsas de kai tois tōn loipōn Euangeliōn arithmois tois en tǭ kanoni hǭ epecheis arithmǭ parakeimenois, epizētēsas te autous endon en tois oikeiois hekastou Euangeliou topois, ta paraplēsia legontas heurēseis.
Ammonius of Alexandria, having spent, as is likely, much labour and zeal, left us the Gospel through the Four (the Diatessaron), placing beside the Gospel according to Matthew the corresponding passages of the other evangelists, so that of necessity the connected sequence of the other three was destroyed, as far as the continuity of reading is concerned. So that you may be able, while the whole body and sequence of the others is also preserved, to know the proper places of each evangelist in which they were led to speak, out of love of the truth, about the same things, I have taken starting-points from the work of the aforesaid man and, by another method, drawn up for you the canons set out below, ten in number. The first of them contains the numbers in which all four have said similar things: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. The second, those in which three: Matthew, Mark, Luke. The third, those in which three: Matthew, Luke, John. The fourth, those in which three: Matthew, Mark, John. The fifth, those in which two: Matthew, Luke. The sixth, those in which two: Matthew, Mark. The seventh, those in which two: Matthew, John. The eighth, those in which two: Mark, Luke. The ninth, those in which two: Luke, John. The tenth, those concerning which each of them has written something on his own. This, then, is the plan of the canons set out below, and their explanation is as follows. In each of the four Gospels a number is set beside each section, beginning from the first, then the second and the third, and proceeding in order through the whole to the end of the book. And under each number is placed a note in red ink, showing in which of the ten canons the number is found. For example, if it is 1, it is plain that it is in the first; if 2, in the second; and so on up to ten. If, then, you open any one of the four Gospels and wish to attend to any chapter you like, and to know which evangelists have said similar things, and to find the proper places in each in which they were led to speak about the same things, take the number set against the passage you are at, look for it in the canon which the note in vermilion has indicated, and you will know at once, from the headings at the top of the canon, how many and which evangelists have said similar things. And if you attend also to the numbers of the other Gospels placed beside the number you are at in the canon, and look them up in the proper places of each Gospel, you will find those that say similar things.
Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.
Notes and citation
Summary: Eusebius explains to Carpianus how his ten canon tables, built on Ammonius's Gospel harmony, let a reader find the parallel passages of the four Gospels by section numbers and red-ink canon marks.
- Eusebius's Letter to Carpianus (CPG 3465), the preface to his canon tables, from the archive OCR of PG 22. The opening greeting (“Eusebius to Carpianus, beloved brother in the Lord, greeting in the Lord”) found in manuscripts is not in the staged text.
- Lines are missing in the scan where the red-ink canon note is described (“and under each number … showing in which of the ten canons”); the sentence is translated by the evident sense. The word for “seventh” is lost before the seventh canon and is supplied in the translation. No public-domain English translation was available for comparison; the translation was re-read against the Greek.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (Latin-letter debris inside a split word; OCR; OCR and split word; OCR δ for β; OCR ξ for ζ; lost letter; split word; stray mark): ᾿λλεξζανδρεὺς → ᾿Αλεξανδρεὺς; ὡς εἰκὰς → ὡς εἰκὸς; εἰσαγηοχὼς → εἰσενηνοχὼς; συμξῆναι → συμβῆναι; αὐτῶν] ἠνέχθησαν → αὐτῶν ἠνέχθησαν; ἀτορʼ μὰς → ἀφορμὰς; μέθοζον → μέθοδον; πρῶ τος → πρῶτος; εἰρῆχξ· σιν → εἰρήκασιν; Μάρχοξι Λουκᾶς → Μάρκος, Λουκᾶς; Μάρ- ἰπ φυϊθυβίγοβ, ΜαιΠδι5, Μάγου, ος, → Μάρκος,; Δονχᾶς → Λουκᾶς; περὶ ίνων → περί τινων; βιδλίου → βιβλίου; εἰ μὲν σ΄ → εἰ μὲν α΄; ἀναλαδὼν → ἀναλαβὼν; ἐπιξητήσας → ἐπιζητήσας; χινναδάρεως → κινναβάρεως; ὑποδέδληχεν,. → ὑποβέβληκεν,; οὔ κανόνος → τοῦ κανόνος; λοιὧν → λοιπῶν; Εὐαγγελίον τόποις → Εὐαγγελίου τόποις.
Topics: Scripture and canon
Cite (SBL): Eusebius, Ep. Carp. 1 (PG 22 22; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/eusebius-epistula-carpianum/1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/eusebius-epistula-carpianum/1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Migne PG 22; no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the original.