HISTORY
OF
THE TRANSMISSION OF ANCIENT BOOKS TO MODERN TIMES;
TOGETHER WITH
THE PROCESS OF HISTORICAL PROOF;
OR,
A CONCISE ACCOUNT OF THE MEANSBY WHICH THE GENUINENESS OF ANCIENT LITERATURE GENERALLY,AND THE AUTHENTICITY OF HISTORICAL WORKS ESPECIALLY,ARE ASCERTAINED;INCLUDING INCIDENTAL REMARKSUPON THE RELATIVE STRENGTH OF THE EVIDENCE USUALLY ADDUCEDIN BEHALF OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.
BY ISAAC TAYLOR.
VERI SCIENTIA VINDEX.
A New Edition, Revised and Enlarged.
LONDON:
JACKSON AND WALFORD,
18, ST. PAUL’S CHURCHYARD.
1859.
LONDON:
PRINTED BY RICHARD CLAY, BREAD STREET HILL.
[Pg iii]
PREFACE.
Two books which appeared more than thirty years ago, and which havebeen long out of print, are brought into one in this volume. The secondof them—the “Process of Historical Proof,” was, in fact, a sequel tothe first—the “History of the Transmission of Ancient Books to ModernTimes.” In now reprinting the two, as one, it has not been difficultto give continuity to the whole: this has been effected, partly byremoving from each volume portions which seemed to be of secondaryimportance, and to be not closely related to the principal intentionof the work; and partly by introducing several entire chapters of newmaterial; and by the insertion of additional paragraphs throughout.What is new in this volume occurs chiefly in the mid portions of it,and at the end.
In the course of this thirty years, the labours of critics, combinedwith the researches of learned travellers,[Pg iv] have thrown much light uponall parts of the subject which is compendiously treated in this volume.No reader who is fully informed in this department will need to be toldthat, within the limits of a volume such as this, nothing more than themost concise mention of these recent labours and researches could beattempted: they are referred to only in the way of suggestion and ofsample. At the first, the two books above mentioned were intended tofind a place in a course of general educational reading; and it is onlyas coming within the range of a purpose such as this, that the Reprintis now offered to the public.
In excluding from the Reprint some chapters of the two volumes whichrelated expressly to the Biblical argument, or “Christian Evidences,”I have been influenced by several reasons—such as these: The firstof them is this, that what may be regarded as the religiousaspect of the general subject has no direct claim to be included inthe treatment of it. In the next place, I have believed—and thinkso decisively—that, for the very purpose of bringing the Biblicalargument home, with the greatest force, to the convictions ofintelligent young persons, the subject should be fully understoodin its broadest aspect. When it is thus[Pg v] presented, and when it isthus understood, well-informed and ingenuous persons will see andfeel, irresistibly, that, as compared with any other mass of factsbelonging to literary antiquarianism, and to historic evidence, theBiblical evidence is many times more ample, and various, and is moreunquestionably certain, than even the best and the