; and as a natural consequence,
among the Jewish converts also, as well as the Gentile Christians. To
the great body of Gentile believers it was for the Old Testament the
only source of knowledge, as they were ignorant of the Hebrew original.
They studied it diligently, and used it efficiently against the
unbelieving Jews. Hence there naturally arose in the minds of the latter
a feeling of opposition to this version which became very bitter. They
began to disparage its authority, and to accuse it of misrepresenting
the Hebrew. The next step was to oppose to it another version made by
_Aquila_, which was soon followed by two others, those of _Theodotion_
and _Symmachus_.

9. _Aquila_ is represented to have been a Jewish proselyte of Pontus,
and to have lived in the second century. His version was slavishly
literal, following the Hebrew idiom even where it is contrary to that of
the Greek. For this very reason, not withstanding all the barbarisms
thus introduced, the Jews highly valued it, calling it _the Hebrew
verity_. All that remains of it to us is contained in the fragments of
Origen's Hexapla. See below, No. 12. Had we the whole work, its
extremely literal character would give it great value in a critical
point of view, as it would shed much light on the state of the Hebrew
text when it was executed.

10. _Theodotion_ was, according to Irenaeus, an Ephesian. Jerome calls
him and Symmachus Ebionites, Judaizing heretics, and semi-Christians. He
is supposed to have made his version in the last half of the second
century. According to the testimony of the ancients, it had a close
resemblance in character to the Septuagint. He seems to have had this
version before him, and to have made a free use of it. Of the three
later versions, that of Theodotion was most esteemed by the Christians,
and they substituted his translation of the book of Daniel for that of
the Seventy.

11. _Symmachus_, called by the church fathers an Ebionite, but by some a
Samaritan, seems to have flourished not far from the close of the second
century. His version was free, aiming to give the sense rather than the
words. His idiom was Hellenistic, and in this respect resembled the
Septuagint, from the author's familiarity with which, indeed, it
probably took its complexion.

Of other ancient Greek versions discovered by Origen in his Eastern
travels and made by unknown authors it is not necessary to speak.

12. The text of the Septuagint was nev