BY
VENERABLE BEDA,
TRANSLATED BY THE REV. EDW. MARSHALL, M.A., F.S.A.
FORMERLY FELLOW OF CORPUS CHRISTI COLL., OXFORD.
Oxford and London:
JAMES PARKER AND CO.
1878
| Translator's Preface, p. iii | Bede's Prefatory Letter, p. 1 | Bede's Epigram, p. 10 | Bk. I, Ch. I, p. 11 |
| Bk. I, Ch. II, p. 17 | Bk. I, Ch. III, p. 24 | Bk. I, Ch. IV, p. 29 | Bk. I, Ch. V, p. 34 |
| Bk. I, Ch. VI, p. 37 | Bk. I, Ch. VII, p. 44 | Bk. I, Ch. VIII, p. 55 | Bk. II, Ch. VIII (cont.), p. 56 |
PREFACE.
THE Explanation of the Apocalypse by Ven. Beda is the earliest of the many
works of our own writers on that Book, and, as
such, may well deserve to appear in a form accessible to English readers.
But independently of this, it is a commentary of
much value and interest in itself, as is shewn by the constant use of it by
Isaac Williams in his volume on the Apocalypse (The
Apocalypse, with Notes and Reflections, Lond. 1852), and the notices of it in
two recently-published Lectures of the Bishop
of Lincoln (On the Millennium, Lond. 1875), who also, in his "Introduction
to the Book of Revelation," terms it, "A valuable
and interesting exposition" (Greek Testament, Gen. Ep. and Rev., p.152,
1872).
The chief characteristics of Beda's method of exposition may be thus
stated. The several visions are considered not to be
successive, but contemporaneous, with occasional recapitulations, and to represent
the condition of the Church in all ages,
under different aspects. The thousand years, in the twentieth chapter,
are interpreted of the present period of the Church's
existence, in accordance with the opinion of St. Augustine, in the second part
of his De Civitate Dei. The attention is closely
directed to the text, and to corresponding passages of Holy Scripture, that
the meaning of the symbolic language may be
elicited. The previous exposition of Tichonius is mainly, but not exclusively
followed. Beda appears, for example, to have
adopted several opinions from St. Gregory the Great, and Primasius, as well
as St. Augustine.
The date of the " Explanation" is circ. A.D. 710-716.
It is described by Beda as an "Exposition." But it is called an
“Explanation" in the printed editions of his works.
The translation is made from the edition of the Works of Beda by Dr.
Giles, Lond. 1844, vol. xii., which, in this part at least, is merely a reprint
of the earlier text. The notes are limited to the references required
by the text, and the occasional notice of
various readings, with some illustrations from other writers. Some additional
notes will be found at the end.
For the sake of conciseness, the text, as read by Beda, which is not given
completely even in the editions of the original Latin,
where there frequently occurs the sign of omission, has not been translated
in full. But the Commentary itself, by the addition
of the usual numbering of the verses, and the insertion of catchwords in Clarendon
type, has been rendered available for use
with the original Greek, or with any translation. These words, though
not necessarily so, are yet, by far the most frequently,
from the Authorised Version. Care has been taken that the version may
be as literal an one as is consistent with a proper
rendering into English.
It may be stated, on information derived through the favour of Mr. E. A. Bond,
that the MS. of the thirteenth century in the
British Museum, No. 223 of the Harleian Collection, containing a Commentary
on the Apocalypse, ascribed in the colophon
to Beda, is a different work from that printed in Dr. Giles' edition.
Return to Bede on the Apocalypse index page.
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