r of lead are freely
melted down and recast according to the will of the modeller. We cannot
add a single leaf to a genuine flower, but an artificial rose may be
exhibited in quite another form by a fresh process of manipulation.
Such, too, has been the history of ancient ecclesiastical records. The
genuine works of the fathers have come down to us in a state of
wonderful preservation; and comparatively few attempts have been made,
by interpolation or otherwise, to interfere with their integrity;
[412:2] but spurious productions seem to have been considered legitimate
subjects for the exercise of the art of the fabricator; and hence the
strange discrepancies in their text which have so often puzzled their
editors.

CHAPTER III.

THE IGNATIAN EPISTLES AND THEIR CLAIMS.
THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE.

The history of the Ignatian Epistles may well remind us of the story of
the Sibylline Books. A female in strange attire is said to have appeared
before Tarquin of Rome, offering to sell nine manuscripts which she had
in her possession; but the king, discouraged by the price, declined the
application. The woman withdrew; destroyed the one-third of her literary
treasures; and, returning again into the royal presence, demanded the
same price for what were left. The monarch once more refused to come up
to her terms; and the mysterious visitor retired again, and burnt the
one-half of her remaining store. Her extraordinary conduct excited much
astonishment; and, on consulting with his augurs, Tarquin was informed
that the documents which she had at her disposal were most valuable, and
that he should by all means endeavour to secure such a prize. The king
now willingly paid for the three books, not yet committed to the flames,
the full price originally demanded for all the manuscripts. The Ignatian
Epistles have experienced something like the fate of those Sibylline
oracles. In the sixteenth century, fifteen letters were brought out from
beneath the mantle of a hoary antiquity, and offered to the world as the
productions of the pastor of Antioch. Scholars refused to receive them
on the terms required, and forthwith eight of them were admitted to be
forgeries. In the seventeenth century, the seven remaining letters, in a
somewhat altered form, again came forth from obscurity, and claimed to
be the works of Ignatius. Again, discerning critics refused to
acknowledge their pretensions; but curiosity was roused by this second
appa