Now you're actually getting somewhere. Why would he have to justify his decision? Who else would want to publish his catalogue?Thank you, Adam.
As to the suggestion that MS intended to publish that 1958 "Manufactured" document,
which was never published in that form till his death, nor now,
according to its Preface, it was to prevent others from publishing.
It was not uncommon to use a typewriter for the text (with obvious mechanical or handwritten corrections) along with Greek or Hebrew words written by hand. The work was often mimeographed and circulates among colleagues. Often these handwritten words are pretty awkwardly drawn. Perhaps this indicates the real Greek handwriting abilities of scholars studying dead languages. Yes?
Has anyone looked at the Greek handwriting of this handwritten 1958 ms of holdings? Does it in *any way* resemble the Mar Saba ms that MS says he found? Or in his personal papers, if only to show off his abilities? I don't remember hearing that he boasted of his Greek handwriting skills. There are a few modern calligraphers who may be able to imitate the minuscule scripts in a smooth continuous way, I have seen one in action on a TV special who was playing a medieval monk. He was filmed writing very smoothly, employing ligatures and all, and relatively quickly (could have been sped up for TV).
Perhaps I have not been paying attention, as I think this was brought up many years ago, maybe not here or the predecessor boards. The level of detail available then (many of the documents and mss under discussion had never been published) was much less than now, where several authors and scholars have dug up a good deal of it.
But back to the first sentence of my response. If MS had indeed faked his own discovery, it will be betrayed by these little statements. He may even be giving you, SG and others, a clue to solve it, like the Riddler on the campy 1960s Batman & Robin US TV series. There may be something concrete there to find, and it won't be silly things like Morton Salt, baldness or swindling.
The other odd thing I had noticed, even when I read the books at the library, was how exuberant he says he felt to have discovered the document, and entertaining delusions of grandeur, but ultimately acknowledging that he has letting himself get carried away and then knuckled down with his inquiries of other significant scholars he consulted, those for and against it being a genuine Clement document. That would be a psychological clue, but those kind of clues we are finding are often subjectively pursued (Morton Salt, baldness or swindling, and now a Lawrence of Arabia like dalliance with a swarthy local).
DCH
Statistics: Posted by DCHindley — Sat Apr 27, 2024 11:31 pm