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22. Now among translations themselves the Italian (Itala) is to
be preferred to the others, for it keeps closer to the words without
prejudice to clearness of expression. And to correct the Latin we
must use the Greek versions, among which the authority of the
Septuagint is pre-eminent as far as the Old Testament is concerned;
for it is reported through all the more learned churches that the
seventy translators enjoyed so much of the presence and power of the
Holy Spirit in their work of translation, that among that number of
men there was but one voice. And if, as is reported, and as many not
unworthy of confidence assert, they were separated during the work of
translation, each man being in a cell by himself, and yet nothing was
found in the manuscript of any one of them that was not found in the
same words and in the same order of words in all the rest, who dares
put anything in comparison with an authority like this, not to speak of
preferring anything to it? And even if they conferred together with
the result that a unanimous agreement sprang out of the common labor and
judgment of them all; even so, it would not be right or becoming for
any one man, whatever his experience, to aspire to correct the
unanimous opinion of many venerable and learned men. Wherefore, even
if anything is found in the original Hebrew in a different form from
that in which these men have expressed it, I think we must give way to
the dispensation of Providence which used these men to bring it about,
that books which the Jewish race were unwilling, either from religious
scruple or from jealousy, to make known to other nations, were, with
the assistance of the power of King Ptolemy, made known so long
beforehand to the nations which in the future were to believe in the
Lord. And thus it is possible that they translated in such a way as
the Holy Spirit, who worked in them and had given them all one
voice, thought most suitable for the Gentiles. But nevertheless, as
I said above, a comparison of those translators also who have kept
most closely to the words, is often not without value as a help to the
clearing up of the meaning. The Latin texts, therefore, of the Old
Testament are, as I was about to say, to be corrected if necessary
by the authority of the Greeks, and especially by that of those who,
though they were seventy in number, are said to have translated as with
one voice. As to the books of the New Testament, again, if any
perplexity arises from the diversities of the Latin texts, we must of
course yield to the Greek, especially those that are found in the
churches of greater learning and research.
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