laced later than the last part of the second
century. Of the term _Peshito_, that is, _simple_, there are
different explanations. The most usual is that it denotes a
simple and literal version, free from glosses and allegorical
interpretations. Tregelles suggests that it was called _simple_
in contrast with the translation made by Paul of Tela from the
Hexaplar text of Origen (see below, No. 8), which was replete
with _asterisks_ and _obeli_ to mark Origen's revisions, and had
also marginal references. It is agreed that the Old Testament
was translated from the original Hebrew and Chaldee, though the
translators seem to have had before them the Greek version of
the Seventy, and to have consulted it in the progress of their
work

7. The Peshito is a free, and at the same time, a faithful version of
Scripture, holding the first place among the ancient versions for its
general excellence, while it ranks with the Old Latin in antiquity. Its
authority in both textual criticism and interpretation is deservedly
high. As it regards textual criticism, however, its value is diminished
by the fact that its text has not come down to us in a pure state. It
has suffered in the same way as the text of the Old Latin, though not to
the same extent.

Among the manuscripts brought from the Nitrian monasteries, and
deposited in the British Museum, is one of great antiquity, containing
large portions of the four gospels in Syriac. Dr. Cureton published in
1858 the text of this manuscript as "Remains of a very ancient Syriac
recension of the four gospels in Syriac, hitherto unknown in Europe,"
with an English translation and preface. Its appearance was hailed with
lively interest and has excited warm discussions. The manuscript itself
is assigned to the fifth century, but it presents a text which, in the
judgment of competent scholars, is older than the current text of the
Peshito. Whether it is an older form of the Peshito version, or another
and earlier version of the gospels, is a question that has been
differently answered. It is maintained, on the one hand, that the
Peshito is a revision of the Curetonian text, "replete with readings
unknown in the second century" (Tregelles in Smith's Bible Dict.); on
the other, that it is "an older version than the Peshito; which the
author or authors of the latter consulted throughout." Davidson in
Alexander's Kitto. Its great value for critical purpo