of
letters from the Greek. The former may be the right solution, but the
latter is _a priori_ more probable; and therefore a discussion which,
while assuming the priority of the Curetonian letters, ignores this
version altogether, has omitted a vital problem of which it was bound to
give an account.

I have no wish to depreciate the labours of Cureton. Whether his own
view be ultimately adopted as correct or not, he has rendered
inestimable service to the Ignatian literature. But our author has
followed him in his most untenable positions, which those who have since
studied the subject, whether agreeing with Cureton on the main question
or not, have been obliged to abandon. Thus he writes:--

'Seven Epistles have been selected out of fifteen extant, all
equally purporting to be by Ignatius, simply because only that
number were mentioned by Eusebius.' [72:1]

And again:--

'It is a total mistake to suppose that the seven Epistles mentioned
by Eusebius have been transmitted to us in any special way. These
Epistles are mixed up in the Medicean and corresponding ancient
Latin MSS with the other eight Epistles, universally pronounced to
be spurious, without distinction of any kind, and all have equal
honour.' [72:2]

with more to the same effect.

This attempt to confound the seven Epistles mentioned by Eusebius with
the other confessedly spurious Epistles, as if they presented themselves
to us with the same credentials, ignores all the important facts bearing
on the question. (1) Theodoret, a century after Eusebius, betrays no
knowledge of any other Epistles, and there is no distinct trace of the
use of the confessedly spurious Epistles till late in the sixth century
at the earliest. (2) The confessedly spurious Epistles differ widely in
style from the seven Epistles, and betray the same hand which
interpolated the seven Epistles. In other words, they clearly formed
part of the Long Recension in the first instance. (3) They abound in
anachronisms which point to an age later than Eusebius, as the date of
their composition. (4) It is not strictly true that the seven Epistles
are mixed up with the confessedly spurious Epistles. In the Greek and
Latin MSS as also in the Armenian version, the spurious Epistles come
after the others [73:1]; and this circumstance, combined with the facts
already mentioned, plainly shows that they were a later addition,
borrowed from the Long Re