at Alexandria, where there was a band of remarkably
skilful caligraphists. He believes that it was one of the fifty
manuscript copies of the Holy Scriptures which Eusebius, by order of
the emperor Constantine the Great, got prepared in the year 332 for
the use of the Christian Church in the newly-formed capital of
Constantinople. And a circumstance that seems to corroborate this
opinion is, that the Vatican Codex does not contain, as has already
been mentioned, the last twelve verses of St. Mark's Gospel, a
peculiarity which Eusebius says belongs to the best manuscripts of the
Gospels. On this supposition, the Vatican Codex would be the very
first edition of the Bible that had the seal of a sovereign authority.

But it may be of even older date than the time of Constantine, for its
marginal references do not correspond with the Eusebian canons; and
this fact would seem to imply that it belonged to the third century.
Its only rival in point of antiquity is the famous Sinaitic Codex,
known by the Hebrew letter [Hebrew: alef], discovered in a most
romantic way by Tischendorf in the Convent of St. Catherine on Mount
Sinai. Tischendorf has pronounced a decided opinion, not only that
this manuscript is of the same age as the Vatican one, but that the
Vatican manuscript was written by one of the four writers who, he
infers from internal evidence, must have been employed upon the
Sinaitic Codex. This opinion, however, has been disputed by other
scholars; and it seems improbable, for the Sinaitic Codex has four
columns to the page, whereas the Vatican Codex has only three. Its
uncial letters are also much larger and plainer than those of the
Vatican manuscript; and it has the Ammonian sections and Eusebian
canons written in all probability by the original hand.

There can be little doubt that the Vatican manuscript goes, if not
farther, at least as far back in date as the Council of Nice, and is
the oldest and most valuable of extant monuments of sacred antiquity.
It may have been transcribed directly from some Egyptian papyrus, or
through the medium of only one intervening prototype. Perhaps it was a
single copy saved from the fate of many surrendered to be burned by
the class of Christian renegades called _traditores_, who averted the
martyr's death in the great Diocletian persecution by giving up the
sacred books of their religion to their enemies. For this pagan
emperor endeavoured not only to deprive the Christian Church