RGA - p. 133
Other sixteenth-century editions of the Latin
Vulgate invariably contain the comma, such as those of Andreas Osiander
(Nuremberg, 1522), Petreius (Nuremberg, 1527), Sante Pagnino (Lyon, 1527),
Robert Estienne the Elder (1528, 1532, 1534), Tommaso de Vio Cajetan
(Venice, 1530), Jean Mareschal (Lyon, 1531), Konrad Pellicanus (Zürich, 1532-
1539) and Isidorus Clarius (Taddeo Cucchi) (Venice, 1542). Behind these
apparently conservative editions there is an undercurrent of engagement with
Erasmus’ editorial decisions. Konrad Pellicanus omitted the comma from the
1543 Zurich Vulgate. In a marginal note, he states that there is a great variety of
readings of verse 8 amongst the codices. He preferred to follow the reading given
by Cyril, which was to be found almost without alteration in a very ancient
manuscript of the Vulgate in Zurich. Finally he refers the reader to Erasmus’
notes on the passage.153 In his separate commentary on the Catholic Epistles,
Pellicanus remarked: “The most diligent Erasmus gives ample discussion of the
diverse text amongst the Greeks and the Latins, both ancient and recent, as you
can see in his Annotationes.” In his editions of 1540, 1543, 1545 and 1555,
,,,
The comments of Pellicanus, Cucchi and Beza show that any editor of the New
Testament who took his job seriously had to engage with Erasmus’ critical legacy,
even if they disagreed with his conclusions.155
153 Pellicanus, 1543, NT:106: “Magna hic est codicum uarietas. Cyrillus legit, quia tres sunt, qui
testimonium perhibent, spiritus, aqua & sanguis: & hi tres unum sunt. Quam lectionem ijsdem
ferè uerbis in uetustißimo Tigurinæ bibliothecæ codice inuenimus. Hispana editio sic legit
[…]. Hic enim non additur, quod hæc tria, quæ in terra testantur, unum sint. Vide Annot. Eras.
Nos Cyrilli et aliorum ueterum lectionem, tum probatißimorum Græcorum codicum fidem
sequi maluimus.” On this and the other editions, see Bludau, 1903a, 286-287.
155 Bludau, 1903a, 286-288, citing Pellicanus, 1539, 780: “De vario textu apud Græcos et
Latinos, veteres et recentiores, satis admonuit diligentissimus Erasmus, quæ videas in suis
Annotationibus.” De Bèze’s note is in de Bèze, 1556, 318, cit. Bludau, 1903a, 288
(abbreviated); Heide, 2006, 71 n132: “Nam tres sunt, &c. ὅτι τρεῖς εἰσιν, &c. Hic versiculus
omnino mihi retinendus videtur. Explicat enim manifestè quod de sex testibus dixerat, tres
seorsim cælo, tres terræ tribuens. Non legit tamen vetus interpres [i.e. the Latin Vulgate], nec
Cyrillus, nec Augustinus, nec Beda; sed legit Hieronymus, legit Erasmus in Britannico codice,
& in Complutensi editione. Legimus & nos in nonnullis Roberti nostri veteribus libris. Non
convenit tamen in omnibus inter istos codices. Nam Britannicus legit sine articulis πατήρ,
λόγος, καὶ πνεῦμα. Ιn nostris verò legebantur articuli, & præterea etiam additum erat Sancti
epitheton Spiritui, vt ab eo distingueretur cuius sit mentio in sequenti versiculo, quique in terra
collocatur. — In cælo, ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ: Hoc deerat in septem vetustis codicibus, sed tamen
omnino videtur retinendum.”
The Latin-
German edition edited by Johannes Zwick and published at Zürich in 1535 omits
the comma from the Latin text, but gives it in brackets in the German text. Leo
Judaeus and Konrad Pellicanus omitted it altogether from the Versio Tigurina
(1543).169
169 Düsterdieck, 1852-1856, 2:355-356
Pellicanus, Konrad. In omnes apostolicas epistolas, Pauli, Petri, Iacobi, Ioannis et Iudæ D.
Chuonradi Pellicani […] Commentarij, ad collationem optimorum quorumque interpretum
conscripti & æditi, in usum theologiæ apostolicæ studiosorum. Zürich: Froschauer, 1539.
-----. Biblia sacrosancta Testamenti Veteris & Noui, è sacra Hebræorum lingua Græcorumque
fontibus, consultis simul orthodoxis inter pretibus religiosissimè translata in sermonem Latinum.
Zürich: Forschauer, 1543.
BCEME